Vega Brothers: Julius: Mail Order Bride BBW (The Bear Shifters of Vega Ranch Book 1)

by Kim Fox

  He paused mid-shot and stood back up, reaching down into his jeans and pulling out his phone. Oh shit. What picture did you put on the profile?

  Ava wasn’t in the best state last night and she could have put anything for her profile picture. She probably grabbed a picture of Blake Lively or someone equally hot. She kind of looked like Blake Lively if Blake Lively gained seventy pounds or so and had a less prettier face.

  The blond hottie glanced up from his phone and looked around the bar. Shit! Ava turned away and stared at the wall behind her. She was grimacing. She couldn’t bear to look at the disappointment in his face as he saw that she was way less good looking than him.

  He was way too hot for her. She wasn’t one of those women who hated how she looked but she was realistic. This guy was magazine cover hot with his hard muscular body and movie star smile. He was just out of her league. She wasn’t bad looking but she liked her late night sweets and baked goods while hating sit-ups and StairMasters at the same time. That was never a good combination.

  “Hi,” a voice said from in front of her. It was the same sexy voice from this morning, the one with the sexy timber that made her toes curl. The voice that sounded better than chocolate.

  She gulped as she opened her eyes and turned around. There was no disappointment written across his face. He looked her up and down with a happy smile on his delicious lips. His green eyes were stunning up close. I didn’t think eyes could be so bright.

  It was all happening so fast and it didn’t make sense. She had never had a guy this hot even be remotely interested in her before. What is going on?

  “I’m Julius,” he said with a sexy grin.

  She gulped. “I’m Ava.”

  “Come have a drink,” he said, sliding his hand onto her lower back and guiding her to the bar.

  Ava breathed a breath of relief. Now that he knew what she looked like and wasn’t running for the door she got excited. She hit the jackpot with this guy!

  They sat at the bar and the large bartender came over. “Hello,” he said as he reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer for Julius. “What would you like?”

  “I’ll have the same,” she said.

  “Alright,” the bartender nodded grabbing a second beer. He dropped one in front of each of them and Ava glanced down at the large tattoo of a lion on his forearm. I wonder what the significance of that is?

  “Thanks, Jack,” Julius said.

  “Jack?” Ava asked, cocking her head to the side. “What’s your last name?”

  “Manchester,” he said with a smile.

  “Very clever,” Ava said with a giggle.

  “Thanks!” Jack said as he walked over to serve a guy waiting at the other end of the bar. “You’re the first person to ever get that.”

  “What’s clever?” Julius asked, looking confused.

  God, he even looks hot when he’s confused.

  “Jack London was the author of The Call of the Wild,” she said. “Jack Manchester. It’s close enough.”

  Julius laughed. “I never realized that. Smart and beautiful,” he said with a grin. “Lucky me.”

  “Hot and a charmer,” Ava said, taking a sip of beer as her cheeks heated up. “Lucky me.”

  “So, who are your friends?” she asked, not wanting any awkward silence to settle down on them.

  “Brothers, not friends,” he said, turning and looking over his shoulder. “I wouldn’t hang out with them if I didn’t have to.”

  She laughed. The smaller one with the short brown hair and tattoos of what looked like writing passages on his forearms smiled at her. He was good looking like his brother.

  The other one was a larger man and had a rough, handsome look to him. He leaned over the pool table to take a shot and the light above it lit up his rugged face. He had a long pink scar that ran down the side of his cheek giving him a dangerous toughness to his look.

  She found Julius to be the hottest of the three and she was happy that he was sitting beside her.

  “That’s Hannibal with the manuscript tattooed on his body and Scarface over there is named Khan.”

  “Hannibal and Khan?” she asked. “Are those their real names?”

  Julius laughed. “Hey!” he called out over his shoulder to them. “She asked if they were your real names!”

  Hannibal shook his head while Khan just ignored him.

  “Hannibal, yes,” Julius answered when he turned back to her. “The big guy no. I’d tell you his real name but then I’d wake up in the hospital with a broken tooth.”

  Ava watched them curiously. These guys weren’t like any guys that you’d find in the city, especially Seattle. These were rough, tough guys who worked the land with their bare hands.

  They were real men.

  “Three boys,” she said. “Your parents must have had their hands full.”

  “Four boys, actually. We don’t let Alexander be around people.”

  “Why not?” she asked with a chuckle.

  “It’s better that way. For everyone.”

  “Is he a little rough around the edges?” she asked.

  He laughed. “He’s like broken glass around the edges.”

  Ava smiled and shifted in her seat to get a little closer to this hot stranger. So far it was going great and worth the drive up here. It was still yet to be seen if he was worth the drive home as well.

  “So what do you do for work?” she asked.

  He told her about his family ranch and how he recently returned home to run it with his brothers.

  “Where were you?” she asked.

  “Overseas.”

  Ava glanced down at his thick forearm. “Were you in the army?”

  He looked at her sideways as he took a sip of his beer. “What makes you ask that?”

  She motioned with her eyes to the bullet hole shaped scars on his arm.

  He covered the scars with his hand and sat up straight on the stool. “I served some time,” he said cautiously. “But it’s not exactly public knowledge.” He looked around as he said it.

  Ava was insanely curious and it often got her in trouble or made her push further than she should have. Her mother had always said that her curiosity would get the better of her one day. She tried to tone it down but if there was a way to turn off curiosity, she hadn’t found it. “Did you get shot in the army?” she asked.

  “No,” he answered. “I got shot in the leggy.”

  He said it just as she took a sip and Ava laughed so hard that she spit out her mouthful of beer all over his jeans. “I’m so sorry,” she said, wiping the beer from his hard thighs. It was already soaked in and wasn’t coming off but she still stroked his leg for an extra few seconds, enjoying the hardness of his muscles underneath his jeans.

  “Keep stroking my leg,” he said with a sexy smirk on his handsome face, “and you’ll awaken the beast.”

  Ava felt a flood of warmth rise up to her cheeks at his words and the sexy way that he said them. Now that was a beast that she wouldn’t mind meeting.

  “So what are you going to do for work now that you’re home, Mr. Caesar?” she asked.

  “Work on the family ranch,” he explained. “We have some cattle, crops, you know…stuff like that.”

  Ava didn’t know. Family ranches, cattle, crops was a whole other world than what she was used to. You didn’t come across a whole lot of roaming cattle while on the bus, she never saw acres of crops in downtown Seattle, and the only cowboys that she’d ever seen were the hipsters hanging out in the local Starbucks wearing cowboy boots that they bought at Forever 21.

  This guy was a real, legit cowboy. And a hot one at that. This would be a good story to tell at parties but it would never work out between them. They might as well have been from different planets.

  “What do you do in Seatrelle?” he asked.

  Ava cleared her throat while she shifted on the bar stool. “I just had my last day of work this morning,” she said, suddenly realizing how bad that sounded. She w
as unemployed now. A real catch.

  “Cool,” he said holding his beer up for a cheers. She clinked her bottle to his. “So what’s next?”

  She combed her fingers through her hair. That was the big question. “I haven’t figured that out yet.” Her Pinterest board hadn’t given any advice on the steps to take to follow your passion and live your dream life after quitting your job. Well, there was only so many words you could fit on a meme.

  “How come you want to get married?” he asked. That was a strange question.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The website that we met on,” he answered, “is for women looking for a husband.”

  “It was?!?” she asked, her eyes flying wide open. Wow, I was really out of it. Ava wanted to get married some day but she would never have made a profile on a website specifically for that.

  “I’m not looking to get married,” she quickly added. She didn’t want to seem too desperate.

  “Oh,” he said, his eyes dropping to the floor. He actually looked disappointed.

  “I mean I do someday,” she added. “Just not right this minute.”

  They chatted easily for a while, going through a few more beers as the bar slowly got emptier and the night got darker. Julius was a lot of fun and easy to talk to. They made each other laugh often and he made her spit out her beer on him a few more times throughout the night. She told him about her family and her younger sister Elena who was a successful reporter who worked for New York’s largest newspaper. He talked about his brothers and his family ranch.

  The bartender, Jack, was yawning and the place was empty except for a cowboy sleeping on a table when they finally decided to leave. She tried to pay her share of the bill but Julius insisted.

  “Thank you, Mr. Manchester,” she said to Jack as she left.

  “Come back and see me when you come to your sense and leave this fool,” he teased.

  Julius laughed. “Sorry bub, she’s all mine.”

  He slid his hand on her lower back as they walked outside. Ava gasped when she gazed up at the billions of stars lighting up the clear night sky. The moon was a full one and the light was enough to light up the Absaroka mountains against the night. You could see the line where the dark mountains finished and the brilliant night sky started with billions of sparkling diamonds decorating it.

  Ava leaned against her car and gazed at Julius as he stood in front of her with lust in his eyes. She still didn’t know where she was sleeping but from the way that he was looking at her it seemed like he might be sleeping next to her, or on top of her.

  “Did you have too much to drink?” he asked.

  She only had a couple of beers and she felt fine. She always had a high tolerance for alcohol and could usually drink most guys under the table. She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  “Still,” he said, licking his lips. “I’ll follow you home in my truck.”

  Ava laughed. “You’re going to follow me a long way.”

  “Huh?” he said, looking confused. Fuck he’s hot. “Seatrelle is only twenty minutes away. I can handle that.”

  “I don’t live in Seatrelle, wherever that is. I live in Seattle.”

  “Seattle?” he asked, jerking his head back. “Like the city, Seattle?”

  “No, the planet Seattle,” she said with a laugh. “Yes, the city.”

  “I don’t understand,” he said, running his strong hands through his wavy blond hair.

  “I don’t either,” she said with a chuckle. “It’s been a weird day.”

  He smiled. “You drove all the way over here for a blind date?”

  Oh God, now that he said it, it sounded really desperate. Like crazy, stalker, pathetic desperate. Her mind started racing with things to say that would take it back, that would explain it without making her sound undateable.

  He stepped forward and slid his firm hands onto her soft waist. “Well, that deserves a goodnight kiss.”

  Ava gulped as he leaned forward. She had never kissed a guy as hot as Julius and he did not disappoint. She moaned as he kissed her deeply, exploring her mouth with his tongue. She leaned in closer, pressing her breasts against his muscular chest as he wrapped his arms around her back. Her head was swimming when he pulled away. She grabbed onto his arm to stabilize herself as she smiled, feeling drunk on lust.

  “What about the drive home?” she asked with a grin. “That must deserve a kiss too.”

  Julius stepped in and kissed her longer and harder this time. She felt her legs weaken and her panties dampen as he groaned. His chest began to tremble lightly and she heard a soft purring sound coming out of it, which almost sounded like a wild animal. He was too good of a kisser to pull away and investigate and when he finally did pull away the noise was gone.

  If fire shone green it would have been the exact color of his eyes. He stared at her with intensity brimming out of them.

  “You’re not driving back to Seattle,” he said in a growl.

  Ava gulped as she stared into his impossibly bright green eyes. She was transfixed by them, transfixed by him. “I’m not?” she asked with a gulp.

  “You’re staying at my place,” he said, the words coming out like an order. She was ready to follow him anywhere and do whatever he said.

  Ava wasn’t the type to follow strangers that she just met back to their place. She also wasn’t the type to put out on the first date. But today had been a day of firsts; the first time she had quit a perfectly good job, the first time she had broken up with a boy and the first time she had driven eleven hours across state lines to go on a blind date. And so far it was all going pretty well. She was ready to ride this day out to the fullest.

  “Come in my truck,” he said. “You’re coming with me.”

  Maybe it was the alcohol or the shiver-inducing timber of his voice, or maybe it was the way he was looking at her with lustful intentions, but she nodded. “Okay.”

  He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her away from her car. “You can leave your car here,” he said. “It will be fine and we can come pick it up tomorrow.”

  “I have a bag in the trunk,” she said, walking around the car to get it. She opened the trunk and peeked over at Julius as he looked away in the opposite direction. Wow. She still couldn’t believe that he was interested in her. All night she was waiting for a camera crew to pop out of the shadows and for Ashton Kutcher to run out and tell her that she had just been punked.

  She grabbed the bag and followed him to his pickup truck. It was nice and looked fairly new. When they hit the road and the lights of the town disappeared into darkness in her side mirror she started to panic a little. The seriousness of what she was doing hit her like a punch in the gut. She was driving out into the wilderness with a stranger. Nobody knew that she was in Montana. Nobody knew that she had gone on a date with Julius. He could be bringing her back to a shack to murder her.

  She glanced over at the side profile of his handsome face and her nerves calmed. There was an overwhelming feeling in her gut that told her that he could be trusted. It was the same feeling that had encouraged her to drive all the way to Montana. There was something about this guy that she just knew everything would work out.

  He pulled off the main road onto a long dirt road that stretched out into the darkness beyond the light of the truck’s headlights.

  “Is this where you live?” she asked, looking around, wishing she could see more than the darkness allowed.

  “Vega Ranch,” he said with a nod. “It’s been in my family for four generations.”

  She gasped when the headlights lit up the log house. It was more like a log mansion than a log house. It looked like a house that would pop up on her screen saver at work and make her secretly hate her life until it flashed away. It belonged on a real estate agent calendar or pinned on her Pinterest account under her dream life board.

  It sprawled down what to Ava seemed like one or two city blocks back home. It had enormous windows between the thick, beautiful lo
gs that lined the outside walls and a huge wooden balcony. I have to see this during the day. And lucky her, she would get to.

  “This is where you live?” she asked, gawking out the window. Was this guy a millionaire? He must have been.

  “That’s the family ranch,” he said as he pulled into the parking area.

  A large farmhouse caught her eye in the distance. “What’s in there?” she asked.

  “That’s the horse stables,” he said like it wasn’t the most amazing thing in the world.

  “You have horses?” she asked in shock.

  He looked at her and grinned. “This is Montana. Everyone has horses.”

  “Can I see them?” She turned in her seat and clasped her hands together. “Please!”

  He smiled. “They’re sleeping but we can go take a peek.”

  She ripped open the door and bounced out of the truck, feeling like she was floating on air. Ava loved horses but unfortunately led a horse-free life.

  Julius stepped out of the truck and she skipped around to meet him. “We can go riding tomorrow,” he said. “There’s a nice spot by the river where we can have a picnic.”

  She almost came in her panties right there at his words. This guy was a dream guy. She still had no idea what the catch was but she was more than willing to ride this out until it popped up.

  They walked up to the stables in the darkness. The lights of the truck turned off, leaving only the moon and stars to light up their path. It was eerily dark and quiet and she got a shiver as she looked around her at the forest. Julius seemed so confident and sure of himself as he walked so she stepped a little closer to him for comfort. She was so used to being in the city all of the time and it was unsettling to suddenly be dropped in the middle of the wilderness in the middle of the night.

  Julius slid his hand into hers and she immediately felt better with this strong, rugged cowboy by her side. If any danger presented itself, she felt like he would know how to handle it.