Mister Boss (The Mister Mountain Men Book 1) Read online

  Mister Boss

  The Mister Mountain Men #1

  Lark Avery

  Copyright © 2019 by Lark Avery

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Designer: Bookin’ It Designs

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. Ash

  2. Meg

  3. Ash

  4. Meg

  5. Ash

  6. Ash

  7. Meg

  8. Ash

  9. Meg

  10. Ash

  11. Meg

  Epilogue #1: Ash

  Epilogue #2: Meg

  About the Author

  Also by Lark Avery

  Introduction

  I’m the sheriff of Snow Ridge, Montana. My job is to protect my community so what I say goes around here, with no negotiations.

  Now tell that to the new town doc.

  Meg Chambers, MD is a world of trouble for me with her made for sin curves. Plus, thanks to our town housing shortage, she’s renting a room in my house so I’m not only her boss, I’m her landlord. That makes her totally off-limits.

  And that’s a crying shame. All I can think about is how I could put that lush mouth of hers to better use than sassing me and what her breathy voice sounds like whispering her dirty fantasies in my ear. I’m obsessed with making her mine yet it’s the last thing I can do.

  Unfortunately, Meg rushing off to save patients in dangerous situations isn’t my only problem. Some sick bastard is harming members of my community. And the closer I get to discovering the culprit, the more danger Meg is in. I will do anything to protect what’s mine (and make no mistake Meg will be mine), to hell with the consequences. But that means I have to choose between the woman I’m meant to be with and the town that trusts me.

  Author’s note: Are you ready for a smutty medical romance mountain man style? I hope so because I had a blast writing Ash and Meg’s story. Forget everything you know about bad diagnoses, co-pays and insurance nightmares. Join Ash and Meg as they fall in instalove & track a bad guy. It’s time to play doctor in Snow Ridge.

  1

  Ash

  Dr. Meg Chambers was strictly off-limits for fucking. Why?

  1.) My badge read: Ash Barlow, Sheriff/Mayor of Snow Ridge, MT. Yep, I was her boss.

  2.) She was renting my spare bedroom.

  3.) Did I mention both of us could lose our jobs?

  I only finished writing number three on my list before my pen froze. That’s what I got for sitting in my truck during a blizzard. Hell, I might as well add roadkill clean-up crew to my list of duties. In a community this small I did just about every job there was, and right now there was a murder of crows circling above despite the lousy weather. Their shrieks alerted me to the fact that something very dead was close by.

  As for the crows, under normal circumstances, I’d let nature take its course. The crows needed the food, and I wasn’t looking for extra work. Something about this gave me a bad feeling, though.

  At the very least, checking this out would give me some distraction and a legit reason for delaying going home. Ever since Meg showed up in Snow Ridge two months ago, fresh out of training and looking for a place to set up her medical practice, I’d been fighting the urge to claim her as mine.

  But the terms of both our employment made fucking around not the wise move. And it didn’t matter that from Snow Ridge on a clear day I could see Canada, mountain gossip spread faster up here than a wildfire during a drought. Now, with the winter’s most significant storm bearing down on us, I was going to be trapped in my cabin with her heart-shaped face, curvy ass, and sassy mouth for God knows how long. It was my new definition of torture.

  Meanwhile, trying not to fuck her into submission these past few months had been driving me to distraction. And she was not making it any easier to keep my hands off her, especially because she enjoyed taunting me by leaving her bedroom door ajar when she was changing. I regularly found her panties and lace bra hanging on our shared bathroom door hook. She had a twisted streak that I was dying to taste.

  I strained my ears at night listening for any sounds she made pleasuring herself. Meanwhile, I was beating it off regularly to thoughts of her next door. And it didn’t help because my cock was rigid again as soon as I heard her moving around every morning.

  However, my poor hard cock had to suffer if Snow Ridge was going to progress beyond a former mining town. Now the entire place consisted of a taxidermy shop, a gas station, and several empty buildings. It was not much of a community, but it was a start. Our sparse community had residents scattered all around these mountains. Meg being a physician, was a big deal to a place like Snow Ridge.

  It was terrible timing that there was no place for Meg to stay except with me upon her arrival. The inn I was renovating wouldn’t be finished until spring. Renting out my spare bedroom was the only option to get her up here. The close quarters meant we spent a lot of time together; it was a cabin, the shared living space was hard to come by. My brain imagined how she’d look sprawled on my bearskin rug with all her supple skin flushed by the firelight or backed up against the kitchen counter pleading out breathy moans as I wrung a series of orgasms out of her that made her limp.

  Tired of thinking, I cut my truck engine and killed the headlights. Time to see what the crows were fighting about. Up ahead the outline of my log cabin was a beacon after a day of renovations and, even worse, struggling with building codes. Sheriff duties had been light lately with all the recent snow. That was one thing to be thankful for. My cabin was five miles away from the town, so getting back and forth was generally not a problem, but with heavy snow, I used my snow machine.

  I set my list scribbled on the back of a supply order down on my truck seat.

  Climbing out of the truck, I kicked the fresh snow aside with my work boots. Sugar-like granules puffed into showers. Snow like this would soon freeze into a dense mass. It would make everything slick with an icy covering on the snow.

  My community was nothing special to look at now, but it was going to be a year-round community. That was the way it was when I was growing up before the mines went bust. My plan—along with my silent partner and twin brother, Dane—was to build an inn. Following the “if we build it, they will come” logic, we were hoping that guides, photographers, nature-buffs, and hunters will discover Snow Ridge. Visitors need shelter, food, and clothing, along with souvenirs and entertainment. Those were all services we could provide to create more jobs up here.

  Getting that dream to a reality was taking a hell of a lot of effort. Truth be told if I’d known how much work it was, I’d never have agreed to the job. I never wanted to be a sheriff. But setting up some law and order was another element for legitimizing this place.

  My first love was hockey. I grew up playing it on iced up mountain ponds out here. I devoted most of my thirty-odd years to it, and I did pretty damn well. I played with the Seattle team for several years and even had a fancy condo there. But the injuries caught up with me. It was not an unfamiliar story for a professional athlete, but like everything else in life, until it happened to you, it seemed impossible.

  I never had a backup plan.

  When I hung up my skates, I had to figure out a way to make a living. I didn’t have a lot of options. I never went to college. Coming back to Snow Ridge was the only thing that made sense. Unfortunately, it meant rebuilding th
e community. That was not something life as a star hockey player prepared me for. I was used to hard work though so that hadn’t changed.

  Outside my truck, the snow blew in my face. The air smelled damp, even with the freezing temperatures. More heavy snow was headed this way. I followed the crows until an ice-covered metal chain crunched under my boot.

  I squatted, carefully brushing the loose snow aside. A hare was crushed by a bear trap’s metal teeth. Only a slight dark stain marred the snow; the hare’s blood froze quickly. Taking a closer look, I noticed that the bastard who did this had sawed off one of the animal’s legs.

  No wonder the crows were upset. They were smart enough to avoid traps usually. But it was winter, and they were hungry.

  A snarl escaped my chest into the night as I fingered the chain. Fuck! This trap was within my property lines. All that I held dear was in my cabin two hundred yards away; I would not let her be harmed. And this wasn’t the first time I’d found a trap like this on private property in the last few months.

  Whoever was setting bear traps around my Snow Ridge community was going to pay for this. Hunting was a way of life here, but bear traps were illegal. This trap, like the others, was set to cause maximum suffering before death. The location on my private property spelled trouble. No one in these mountains made mistakes like this. You didn’t set a bear trap to catch a rabbit. The intended victim here was much larger.

  The rabbit’s foot being sawed off and taken as a grisly souvenir cemented my concerns. Snow Ridge didn’t need a psycho on the prowl, we already had enough challenges as a community as it was. After separating the victim from its snare, I headed toward my cabin. Rage bubbled inside me, I hated feeling helpless. I was the fucking sheriff after all.

  Being taunted was not an experience I enjoyed. I swung the sprung trap by the metal chain against a fir tree. The release of energy and the satisfying smack was short-lived when a fresh load of snow dumped on me from above. The chill of the snow sliding down the back of my jacket collar only intensified my anger. No doubt about it; I wanted to kill the perpetrator. But right now I had to stop by the cabin if only to reassure myself of Meg’s safety. The thought that she could have come across this trap made me move a little faster.

  Around the side of my cabin, I hung the trap on a high hook out of harm’s reach. The crows could finish the rabbit off now that it was free from the trap. I took a few deep breaths trying to calm the fuck down before I went inside.

  It wasn’t helping.

  I knew when I saw Meg I’d feel better and that was the hell of it.

  My cock twitched at the very thought of her. Great. Now I was going to greet her pissed off and with a massive hard-on.

  As I rounded to the front of my cabin, the hair on the back of my neck prickled. A man stood at the edge of the clearing.

  For a moment, time stood still. It was like I’d conjured the culprit setting the traps right before my eyes. I reached for my sidearm, but I’d left it in the truck.

  Fuck!

  I’d been distracted thinking about Meg, which lead me to do the dumbest thing I’d done in a long time. It ranked up there with when me and twin brother Dane as reckless teenagers, ran out of gas in our truck. We hiked to the nearest house we knew in the area only to find that we were being tracked by a mountain lion along the way. Her massive prints along with her cry, which sounded like a young woman scared the shit out of us. And yep we’d left our weapons in the truck. I promised myself I’d never do that again. It was the kind of thing that killed you out here in the mountains.

  I blinked myself back to the present as a fog in my brain cleared. My hands flexed in my gloves, ready to take a running start at the perpetrator.

  “Hey, Ash. Is Meg home? Trudy needs help.” The man raised his hand in greeting.

  My cousin, Tristan.

  With his muscular build and strong jaw, he carried the Barlow family traits of arrogance and impatience. No doubt this was why he was a law professor who was usually down in Missoula most of the time. Tristan wouldn’t be here tonight unless there was trouble.

  Neither the hare nor I was having any luck today.

  2

  Meg

  Setting the last photo in place, I stepped back to study my work. The lone pine table in Ash’s cabin was covered with colored paper debris. It looked like a craft store vomited.

  None of that mattered, though. I pushed the paper, scissors, glue, glitter, and stickers aside to create more space. The final scrapbook page had one picture centered and matted with contrasting shades of blue paper.

  The pic was of Ash’s bare chest covered in tats while he was wielding an ax. He stood next to a freshly cut woodpile. There was a fine line of dark hair on his chiseled torso that ran down into his jeans. The background of the photo was faint, fuzzy with snow. Nothing was clear about the location or time of day. Ash was all that mattered. He stuck out in the picture—and in Snow Ridge in general—as if he was backlit.

  Needless to say, he was so fucking hot. I was about to cream my panties just looking at this pic that I took only a week ago.

  I needed to focus. I couldn’t just spend all my time salivating over my boss’ cock. I should have more self-respect than that. But I didn’t. I craved Ash.

  But I couldn’t have him, so I was trying to make do with his approval by creating him a scrapbook. A girl had to work with what she had. When I moved into my room here, I found a shoebox full of old pictures on the top shelf of my closet. Armed with the box of scrapbooking supplies I brought with me, I’d been working away over the last month on recreating Ash’s life in pictures. Pouring over the pictures, I felt like I’d come to understand the brooding lawman I was living with.

  Pretty much every picture, once he started walking, was him on ice skates, clutching a hockey stick. I’d savored his scowls and frowns from birthday party pictures. Only the candid shots of him playing hockey showed his smile, which I’d seen so rarely.

  Running my fingers around the edges of the last picture, I wondered what he’d think. I’d been considering ways to present it. And ways he could show me his appreciation for it. It was naughty of me, but I couldn’t help fantasizing about him. After all, he was one hot alpha male, and we were alone in this cabin together most of the time.

  But Ash was a man of his word. I could see he was bound by the rules of my employment just as he followed all the other laws. Too bad for me. It made for one horny and lonely doctor when her hot sheriff boss lived under the same roof.

  Ash knew the terms of my employment when I arrived here; namely, a relationship between employees and employers was forbidden because of potential lawsuits. I served as a physician in Snow Ridge at the pleasure of the Montana Medical Review Board. If they didn’t like my job performance, I could lose my job here, and they wouldn’t pay back my crushingly substantial medical school loans. I was stuck between choosing financial freedom and following my heart. And as unsexy as it sounded, the former was winning.

  The great room in Ash’s cabin had grown a bit chilly for my comfort. I threw a few more logs on the fire. Two months ago, my plan was simple: move to Snow Ridge and set up my medical practice. After being here for almost that long, I was making slow progress in winning the area residents’ trust. And that was with Ash’s support as a community leader. Everyone was so suspicious of someone new even when they needed my help.

  I was not patient by nature, which was probably why the review board gave me this assignment. They banked on me not finishing my stint here so they wouldn’t have to pay off my loans. I was going to show them. Turns out, the last laugh was on me. I’d fallen in love with Ash and was forced to live under his roof in this “friends with absolutely no benefits” arrangement.

  And trust me, my vibrator wasn’t cutting it.

  I’d made some inquiries about other lodgings, but Snow Ridge residents were unwilling to take an outsider into their homes. They reluctantly allowed me to treat them when they exhausted other options. Me sleeping u
nder one of their roofs? Not so much. With no temporary accommodations in Snow Ridge, until the inn was completed, I was happy to have Ash’s spare bedroom.

  Even the cabin’s thick walls didn’t entirely block out the howling wind tonight. Another Snow Ridge winter storm but this was supposed to be the worst one yet. Being this far north meant soul-freezing temperatures combined with months of long dark days.

  Where was Ash? I thought he’d be back by now.

  My cell phone buzzed like an angry beetle scuttling across the paper-laden table. Scooping it up, I answered it on the third ring.

  The line went dead.

  Damn paranoid Snow Ridge residents—all several hundred of them and that didn’t include the small mining camp to the south and the science facility to the north. They had yet to call on me for my services, but Ash said they’d come around. I hoped that happened sooner rather than later.

  Being the only doctor meant I’d given my cell phone number out freely. It was either that or die from a combination of boredom and sexual frustration. There was a miserable diagnosis I wouldn’t wish on anyone: terminally horniness.

  Grabbing a throw off the couch, I wrapped it around me. Whoever it was would call back. No sense freezing my ass off any more than I had to. I might as well try and warm-up, especially if I’d be heading out for a house call.

  When I came here from Las Vegas, the temperature was just one of many shocks. I was a city girl, and this was country living for sure. I always knew I wanted to be a doctor, but it took a hell of a lot of schooling and even more money. I left my family behind in Vegas to get some of my school loans repaid by working here. Back in Las Vegas where it was always some degree of hot, the snow sounded cozy and romantic. Now though I realized the weather was mostly trying to kill me up here. It was not where I thought I’d be when I graduated that was for sure but having that much debt significantly limited my options.