by Kitty Jones
Quarantined With the Lumberjack
Kitty Jones
Copyright 2020 by Kitty Jones
He's a lumberjack with a heart of gold...
She's a graduate student who is conducting research in a small mountain town...
When a virus sweeps the Earth by storm, the town becomes quarantined, but she doesn't have anywhere to stay.
That is, until the lumberjack takes her in.
He's big, strong, and sinfully delicious.
Is she going to make it through the quarantine with her heart intact?
Contents
Chapter One
Author
The Doctor’s Naughty Little
Punishing the Babysitter
Chapter One
“And what would you say is the best thing about living in a small town?” Luna pushed her glasses up her nose. They were always sliding down, and it was annoying to keep pushing them back. She made a mental note to order a new pair online when she got back to campus. If she finished her interviews here today, she’d be able to get back on the road and make it halfway back to Denver before she’d have to stay in a motel.
You know, if she was lucky.
“Hmm,” the older woman thought for a moment. She, like many of the other people Luna had interviewed over the past few days, was more than happy to talk about their experiences living in the mountains. That was what Luna’s graduate thesis was all about: life off the grid.
She was trying to create a project that showcased exactly what went into living off of the grid. Her goal was to discuss different reasons that people decided to go live off in the wilderness and to offer up suggestions for the government and other communities to offer better and stronger support systems for such people.
“Well, I don’t exactly live in town,” the woman said carefully.
“Right. You live up in the actual mountains, is that right?” Luna tapped her pencil on her notebook. She was recording the interview, as well, but she liked taking notes. There was just something about writing with a pencil and a piece of paper that made her feel a little more legitimate, like she deserved to be here.
Like she knew what she was doing.
“That’s right.”
“What do you like about that?”
“Well,” the woman looked around the coffee shop the two of them were sitting in. Luna had chosen this place to conduct the interviews because it was a safe, neutral location. She could buy the people she was interviewing a cup of coffee or tea, and they could take their time chatting. Caroline Reynolds was a kindhearted woman who was obviously nervous about being interviewed, especially by someone she didn’t know very well.
Or at all.
Caroline had responded to Luna’s request for interviews. She’d posted her request online last week, and Caroline was one of the last people to respond. Luna had spent the last week traveling to different mountain towns in Colorado to ask questions about what it was like to live, well, away from everything.
“Hey,” Luna reached for Caroline’s hand and touched her gently. “It’s okay. You can take your time, okay?”
Caroline smiled.
“I know, dear. I’m just trying to find the best way to explain my way of thinking. It’s like this,” she said carefully. “When my husband died, I didn’t want to be in the house we had shared. I wanted someplace new. My grandson is a lumberjack and he built me a cabin on my land. He comes up every week and brings me food and supplies. Oh, I can still drive to the store and take care of myself, but he spoils me.”
“That’s very nice,” Luna said, blinking.
A lumberjack grandson?
How interesting. Maybe Luna should interview that guy.
“Does your grandson live in the mountains, too?”
“Oh, yes,” Luna said. “He has his own cabin, as well. He built it by hand.”
“That must have been difficult.”
“You’d be surprised what you can do when you put your mind to it.”
“Well, what’s one of the biggest draws of living in the woods, so to speak?”
“Well, I’m not too worried about all of this virus stuff,” Caroline said.
“I understand. So being in an area with a low population is going to be beneficial, is that what you’re saying?”
A new virus had been quietly spreading throughout the world over the last few weeks. In fact, the first cases had just been announced in Denver. A couple of colleges had closed already, but Luna was holding out hope that hers wouldn’t. She wanted to finish up her interviews so she could get back on the road. One of the reasons was so that she could hunker down and work on her thesis writing.
She had done so much when it came to conducting interviews and research that she felt like she was going to be able to write a really good, really well-rounded paper.
That is, as long as she could get home in time.
“Absolutely,” Caroline nodded. “You see, when I was a girl, a very long time ago,” she laughed, “things were different.”
“How were they different?”
“Aside from the obvious – no cell phones or computers – we also spent a lot of time on our own. We didn’t have to be around people all of the time. Young people today…” Her voice trailed off and she looked at Luna.
Luna didn’t like feeding answers or suggesting opinions to the people she interviewed, but she found herself smiling.
“Social media?”
“They’re always on social media!” Caroline said. “Even older people. I have friends who love social media. They’ve forgotten what it’s like to be isolated. This virus…”
Caroline shuddered, but didn’t say anything else.
“So do you think that dealing with a virus or some sort of outbreak would be better when you’re living off the grid?” Luna pushed.
“Yes,” Caroline said quickly. “Oh yes.”
“Why?”
“When you’re alone, you have time to rest and heal your body, but you also don’t have these huge groups coughing on you,” she said.
The door to the café jingled and Luna tried not to gawk at the tall, handsome, and slightly scary-looking man walked in. He was like a bull in a damn China shop. He was much too big for the tiny coffee house. Luna swallowed hard and turned back to Caroline. She tried to ignore the heat growing in her belly or the sensation of yearning between her legs.
How long had it been since she was with someone who made her heart go pitter-patter?
More importantly, how long had it been since she was so wet she could feel herself dripping onto her thighs?
A long time.
Too long.
“That’s right,” Luna said, turning back to Caroline. She tried to stay focused on the interview, but it suddenly felt impossible. Why did it feel impossible? Why did all of the air seem to be sucked out of her lungs?
She shouldn’t be afraid of her feelings right now. She really shouldn’t even have any sort of feelings right now. Not for a guy like that, anyway.
She had enough trouble in her life without throwing a dude into the mix.
No thank you.
“So Caroline,” she said. “Tell me about your family. Do you have a lot of time to spend with your grandson? You said he’s a lumberjack?”
Luna looked down at her notebook and then back up at Caroline. To her surprise, the burly-looking man from the doorway had moved over and was now standing beside Caroline.
“Yes,” the man said. “I am.”
Chapter Two
“Y-Y-You are?”
The woman couldn’t have been older than 25
. Maybe she was 26, but he doubted it. Brody eyed the girl as she shoved her glasses up her nose. They just dropped right back down again, sliding down the bridge of her little button nose, and he fought back a smile.
Fuck, she was cute.
“Yeah,” he said. He tore his eyes away from the beauty and looked down at his grandmother.
“Brody?” Grandma said. “It’s not time for you to pick me up yet.”
“Change of plans,” he said. “There was a stay-at-home order issued. I’ve got to get you back to the house. No one is allowed to leave anymore except for essential items.” He felt a little bad telling his grandmother that this was going to be her last coffee shop visit for awhile. Grandma didn’t like staying in the house. For a woman who lived in the mountains, she spent a lot of her time back in town.
“Really?” Grandma asked. She looked worried, but not as worried as the girl across from Grandma did. A sort of nervous expression flittered across her face when he mentioned the stay-at-home order. She was a graduate student, Brody knew. Grandma had been very excited to be interviewed for the girl’s project, but Brody had been hesitant to let her go.
He hadn’t been very comfortable with the idea of a stranger waltzing into town and asking questions, especially of his grandmother. He might have been overly protective of her, sure, but someone had to be. He was the only family she had left. Brody’s parents had passed away in a car accident years ago. Grandma and Grandpa had raised him themselves, taking special care of him throughout the years.
Now, even though his grandmother lived on her own, Brody was still very careful about what she did. Call him overprotective or bossy: he didn’t care. He had to look out for her because Grandma was very precious to him.
This woman didn’t seem like she was the kind of person who would hurt a fly, though, and Brody was man enough to realize that he’d somehow been mistaken.
She wasn’t dangerous at all, and it was obvious that the woman and Grandma had been having a very nice chat together.
“A stay-at-home order?” The girl asked, looking up at him. “What does that mean?”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, dear,” Grandma said. “Right, Brody?” She looked up at her grandson with a look he knew all too well. Grandma wanted him to reassure the girl that everything was going to be okay.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that.
“Starting at midnight,” he said.
“What happens at midnight?”
“Everything closes except for grocery stores, gas stations, and the post office, just about.”
“Really?” She whispered, looking at him.
“Really.”
“I should probably go then,” she said, turning to Caroline.
Grandma frowned, wrinkling her nose.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish the interview.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” the young woman said. “You’ve been very helpful, and I really appreciate everything you gave me. Your information is really going to help me round out my thesis.”
“Luna, if you need anything at all,” Grandma started to say, but Luna waved her hand.
“Don’t worry. I know where to find you.”
She stood up and started to reach for Grandma, but Brody shook his head.
“No touching,” he said.
“What?” Luna looked surprised, and fuck if he didn’t want to kiss that damn look right off her face.
“Social distancing?” He said. “Surely you’ve heard of it.”
“Oh, right,” Luna said, but she spoke in a way that made him think she always had her head in a book. Maybe she actually didn’t know about this sort of thing. Maybe she really had no idea what was going on in the outside world. It was no longer socially acceptable to touch another person. In fact, it was no longer recommended that people stand within six feet of each other if they were strangers who didn’t live together. Brody felt like Luna and Grandma had been pushing the limits on that one, but he wasn’t going to push his luck by complaining.
“Well, in that case,” Grandma said. “You take care of yourself.”
“Thanks,” Luna said. “You too.”
She gathered up her belongings and scurried out of the coffee shop. Brody turned and watched as she climbed into a beat-up little Saturn. That thing had to be at least 15 years old. It was a wonder it was still running. He frowned. A beautiful woman like that shouldn’t be driving such a piece of shit. If Luna was his girl, he’d make sure she had everything she needed to stay safe and comfortable. He’d go above and beyond with making sure that her car worked and that she had something reliable.
“Where does she think she’s going?” He turned to his grandmother. “She can’t be from around here.”
He would have noticed.
“She’s from Denver,” Grandma said. “She’s staying at the inn in town while she interviews some of us old folks.”
Brody watched as Luna finally got her car started and slowly pulled away from the curb. The street-side parking in the little town was usually a nightmare for tourists who didn’t like parallel parking, but the city girl seemed to be just fine. She drove off and Brody shook his head to clear his mind. He turned back to his grandmother.
“Interesting,” he said. “And how did the interview go?”
“Oh, it was fun!” Grandma grinned. Brody helped her up. He guided his grandmother out of the little coffee shop. He tried not to think about girl too much. Luna. Her name was Luna. They went to his SUV and he helped his grandmother in. He walked around and got in the driver’s side and then looked over at his granny. She was still the prettiest woman he’d ever met, and by far the loveliest. She had a kind heart, and that was something hard to find.
“Do you need anything before I take you home?” He asked her. He was pretty sure that she was just fine on supplies, but he wasn’t going to be coming back in town very much. Not with the virus spreading like wildfire. He already regretted letting Grandma out of the house before the stay-at-home order was issued. Now they’d be forced to stay at home unless they needed to leave for something essential, like buying groceries.
Grandma wouldn’t be doing any of that, though. He’d take care of everything. Brody hadn’t always been the best grandson, but he was going to be. He was going to prove his worth and show that he could do this thing.
“I’m fine,” she said, thinking for a minute.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Brody looked over at her and narrowed his eyes.
“What aren’t you saying?”
“What?” Grandma squeaked out, but Brody knew he’d caught her. Grandma might try to be sneaky, but Brody wrote the book on sneaky. He wasn’t going to be outdone by her. Not today.
“There’s something else. There’s something you aren’t telling me.”
“It’s just that I’m worried!” Grandma blurted out.
“About what?” Brody was surprised. Grandma rarely worried about much of anything. In fact, she was the most prepared, down-to-Earth woman he’d ever known. She’d taught him everything he knew about life in the wilderness.
Grandma looked over at him and shook her head.
“It’s just Luna.”
“What about her?” He tried to keep his voice even, like he wasn’t feeling totally attracted to the random graduate student who had interviewed his grandma. He needed to play this cool, but Grandmother wasn’t an idiot.
“I know you’re attracted to her, so just keep it in your parents.”
“Grandma!”
“Honey, I wasn’t born yesterday. I saw the way you looked at each other.”
Well, he might as well shoot his shot.
“Does that mean she’s single?”
Grandma laughed and shook her head.
“You’re so much like your daddy,” she said. “He used to ask the same sort of question. I don’t know if she’s single, but I do know she’s going to try to drive back to Denver.”
“Are they?” Grandma furrowed her brow. “That makes me worry even more.”
“She can’t stay with you,” he told his grandmother. She was a kind old woman and she’d do whatever it took to take care of the people around her. Brody knew that if he let her, Grandma would let the girl into her house and she’d take care of her for as long as Luna would let her.
“I don’t have the space,” Grandma said carefully. “But you do.”
She looked over at Brody and gave him big doe eyes.
“Grandma…”
“What? I’m just saying. You do have a spare bedroom.”
It was true. He’d built his home because he wanted to start a family someday and didn’t want to have to move right away. He didn’t want the hassle of having to build something when he had a darling wife and kids running around. He wanted everything now.
The problem was that he was too damn busy to actually have time to date. There were plenty of eligible women who lived in town and Brody wasn’t the kind of person who was unaware of his own appearance. He knew he was attractive. In fact, he took care to make sure that he exercised, worked out, and always looked his best. He knew women noticed him, and that was fine with him.
But Luna…
She was the kind of woman he wanted to notice him. She was smart and sweet, and his grandmother had been impressed with her. That spoke volumes.
“I don’t know if inviting a random woman to live at my house during lockdown is a good idea,” he said slowly.
“I’m not suggesting anything drastic,” his grandmother said. “I know she has a room at the hotel, but Brody, if the roads are closed down, I don’t know if she can afford to stay there for two weeks.”
He shook his head and looked over.
“Would you feel better if I stopped by to check on her?”
“Yes, please!”
She clapped her hands.
Grandmother actually clapped her damn hands like a little teenager, and that brought the dumbest grin to Brody’s face.