Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Thea
For Valentine’s Day this year, Cupid brought me a positive pregnancy test. OK, so I'm pretty sure I can't blame the guy with the arrow for my new baby bump. That's on me.
And a certain mountain man that was most definitely on me. And under me. And well, you get the picture. Now I'm showing up on his doorstep with the most unexpected holiday surprise he's ever going to get.
I plan to tell him and leave. But when an unexpected snowstorm keeps me stranded with the bearded mountain man, can I stop myself from asking him to be my Valentine?
Jasper
The moment I saw Thea Madison, I knew she was meant to be mine. But she left me before I could tell her about our beautiful future together.
Weeks later, she’s back in my small town for Valentine’s Day. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift, especially when she tells me that she’s carrying my baby.
Now, I just need to convince the curvy woman of my dreams that we’re meant to be. If I do, I might get everything I’ve ever a family to call my own.
If you love a holiday romance that’s sweeter than a box of truffles with a melt-in-your-mouth alpha who says the filthiest things, it’s time to meet Jasper in The Mountain Man’s Valentine Baby. This Valentine’s Day love story is a stand-alone romance set in Mia Brody’s Courage County which is the perfect place to find your next book boyfriend!
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Thea
I thread through the crowd, ducking my fourth handsy cowboy of the night. When I finally step outside of the bed and breakfast in Sweetheart, North Carolina, I let out a small sigh of relief.
I’m on a second-floor balcony and I seem to have found the only one that’s unoccupied. It’s filled with a long row of rocking chairs, no doubt set up this way so newlyweds can serenely enjoy their first morning cup of coffee together after a wild night spent making love in the honeymoon suite. Ugh, couples are the worst.
Weddings aren’t really my thing. I wouldn’t be here except that my biggest client, Zac Maple, has gotten married today. He’s a great guy, and he fell for an amazing woman named Dotty. I’m sure they’ll have decades of wedded bliss together.
But right now, I’m stuffed into a too-tiny red dress that’s called to every cowboy in a hundred-foot radius. I’m never wearing a dress again after this. Or attending another wedding.
“Weddings are what people do when they fall in love and want to brag about their happiness to all of their single friends,” I mutter as I pace down the balcony, aiming for the corner rocking chair that’s tucked away in the darkness.
“I couldn’t agree more,” a deep, masculine voice says. It has a raspy sound, like whiskey poured over gravel.
I look up to find a man with dark eyes staring back at me in the fading light of dusk. He rakes his gaze down my figure, and I shiver as if he just caressed me.
He’s seated in the rocking chair like he had the same idea I did—to hide away from the wedding festivities.
There’s a small sketchbook resting on one of his thick thighs and a pencil clutched too tightly in his scarred hand.
I saw him with Zac’s brothers. He’s one of the best men. Actually, he was the only best man I could focus on. It was something about his dark eyes and the way he carried himself with quiet confidence despite his limp.
Suddenly, my plans are dashed. I can’t hide away and work on the crochet project in my purse.
Crochet was a hobby I started when I first began touring with Zac in a crappy secondhand tour bus that smelled like moldy cheese. Back then, he was a no-name country music singer with more dreams than money. I was a no-name manager with more dreams than clients. Now years later, he headlines sold-out concerts across the country, and I’m the most-sought-after talent manager in Nashville.
The best man tucks away his pencil and sketchbook into his suit coat. “Seems I’m not the only one whose plans for solitude were dashed.”
As he moves, I can’t help but notice the way the material of his suit clings to his big, bulky frame. I imagine what it would feel like to have his arms wrapped around me, squeezing me tight. His full, bushy beard would probably brush the top of my head. Why does that thought make me feel warm all over?
“I thought I was alone,” I explain to him, my voice sounding too breathy to my own ears.
“Clearly, you are.” His brown gaze is still assessing me, like a predator that has spotted prey and is trying to size it up. The thought should make me uncomfortable, but it doesn’t. I like the way this big man is looking at me. I like the idea that he’s sizing me up and deciding which part of my body he’d like to feast on first.
I shrug. I’ve never had anyone so I can’t be sad about it. “I always have been.”
Something flickers across his face, sorrow and grief mixing. In this one moment, I think maybe he’s as lonely as I am. Maybe he understands what it’s like to be completely alone in the world. Whatever he’s feeling, he blinks it away and the emotion is gone from his face. He clears his throat. “I’m Jasper, Zac’s best man. Despite the title, I also hate our happy friend.”
I relax at his introduction and consider taking the seat in the rocking chair next to him. But it’s hard to breathe as it is and if I don’t sit exactly right, the wire in this shapewear will spear into me like Moby Dick.
I keep standing, trying to ignore the chill in the late December air. In my desperate attempt to leave the wedding reception, I left my white cardigan behind. “I’m Thea. It’s great that he’s happy. But give the rest of us a break, right? I’m wearing shapewear, for fuck’s sake.”
He looks me up and down again, and his tongue darts out to lick his bottom lip. “I don’t know what that is, but damn if I’m not curious now, Thea.”
He says my name softly like he’s savoring it, and I can’t help it. I feel giddy under his attention. I’m surrounded by handsome, powerful men every day who can have whatever they want. But there’s something about this man and his gaze. He makes me feel like I’m the powerful one for a change.