Wild Man
Table of Contents
Epilogue
About Wild Man
Freya
Beau
Also by Sherilee Gray
About the Author
BREAKING HIM
Wild Man
The Smith Brothers #2
Sherilee Gray
Copyright © 2017 by Sherilee Gray
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 Design by Cover Couture
Photos (c) Shutterstock
Photos (c) Depositphotos
www.bookcovercouture.com
Contents
About Wild Man
1. Freya
2. Beau
3. Freya
4. Beau
5. Beau
6. Freya
7. Beau
8. Freya
9. Beau
10. Beau
11. Beau
12. Beau
13. Freya
Epilogue
Also by Sherilee Gray
About the Author
BREAKING HIM
About Wild Man
The first time I saw Beau Smith’s face, I fell for him…hard. There’s just a few tiny problems. He lives wild. I’ve never left the city. He wants a wife who can handle his harsh world. I just want him.
He’s been burnt in the past, and he won’t let me in easily, but there’s no denying the spark between us, so intense it could set the woods on fire. And with every hot and dirty night we spend together, I can feel his walls crumbling.
But once he realizes I’m not what he signed up for, that I lied to him about who I am—will he still want me, or will I lose my wild man forever?
Warning: The Smith Brothers are not just identical twins, they’re big, burly, bearded, insanely hot mountain men. They’re also sweet, and very, very dirty. Did I mention dirty?
1
Freya
Man seeking wife.
My car hit another pothole, jarring me so hard my shoulder hit the driver’s door.
I gritted my teeth and kept going.
Those three words had jumped out at me when I’d logged onto DateRealMen.com for the first time. And I hadn’t been able to scroll past them.
Today I finally got to meet Beau face-to-face. Though meet seemed like the wrong word. I felt like I already knew him.
The man I spoke to back in Eaglewood said Beau’s house would take about two hours to reach—taking the one and only road that led to it—but calling it a road was a stretch; this was more like a track. A muddy, rutted, potholey track.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter when I bounced over a particularly rutted section, cursing when the bottom of my car actually connected with the ground, making a horrible scraping sound. As excited as I was to see Beau, I was starting to think driving to his house to surprise him wasn’t such a hot idea because right then I wasn’t sure I’d make it.
I could admit my decision to leave Denver yesterday, a week earlier than scheduled, had been a little rash, but I hadn’t been able take it another second. Everything in my life was a disaster. I’d just been through the month from hell, in which anything and everything that could go wrong, had. Some of the highlights: my mother joining a nudist commune; my roommate, Sally, moving her prick of a boyfriend into our apartment without my agreement; and coming home from a business trip to find Bruce, my pet hamster, dead.
And last but not least, I’d quit my job two days ago—in spectacular style. There was no going back after the way I’d told my boss where he could stick it. So, I was also unemployed.
Which was the catalyst for my mini meltdown and early departure from the city.
I’d just wanted to see Beau.
In person.
Waiting another day hadn’t been an option. I wanted to finally feel his arms around me, to have him hold me, comfort me, make everything all right. Talking via email, text, and occasionally over the phone when he went to town wasn’t enough.
I wanted to touch him, know that he was real and not my imagination.
When I signed up to the dating site, I’d just come back from a shitastic date. Another self-absorbed metrosexual who spent more time and money on beauty products and grooming than I did. He didn’t make my heart race. He didn’t make me hot and bothered just looking at him, and he didn’t say sweet things that turned me into a gooey mess.
Beau did all those things.
I’d never believed in love at first sight—how could I when I’d never seen it, felt it? In fact, I didn’t know much about the regular kind of love either. My parents didn’t believe in showing emotion or affection, or maybe they just weren’t capable of it. Oh, they faked it when they had to, because like any child, I’d craved it from them. But then they’d turn around and put conditions on it, withhold it to get what they wanted.
That pretty much set me up for failure in the relationship department.
I knew Beau wasn’t the healthiest choice for me, but I’d taken one look at his profile picture—God, stared deep into those intense blue eyes—and I’d felt it like a bolt of lightning. The problem was Beau didn’t believe in love at all. He wasn’t looking for it, didn’t want it.
Love was never going to be a part of the deal.
He told me this at the end of our first conversation, but by then I was already hooked, completely and utterly. I tried to tell myself to end it, that nothing good could come from this, but we just clicked. He started calling me whenever he could, and there was no mistaking that he cared for me. He liked me.
And yeah, I knew it was naive, and with him I was acting like that kid desperate for love and affection all over again—affection that came with conditions I wasn’t sure I could meet—but I couldn’t make myself end it.
So, there I was, bumping and sliding along a dirt track, going after the man I loved and hoping that by the end of our two weeks together he’d realize he loved me, too.
We just needed to spend time together. Communication had been limited because, obviously, there was no cell service in the mountains. And yes, I was well aware of how suspicious that sounded. There were stories like this on Catfish all the time. He can’t video chat because he doesn’t have a computer. Or, in my case, he had bad service. At first, I was skeptical, but the more we talked, the more I was positive he was the real deal.
Beau had never once asked me for anything, only to be patient while he finished building his house, so we could finally meet.
I drew in a steadying breath and another wave of nerves hit me. So much hinged on this first meeting. Beau wasn’t looking for a hookup, and he didn’t want a long-distance relationship. He’d made it clear what he wanted from the start. He was looking for a wife. A woman who wanted the same things he did. Who had the skills to live off the land, in the house he built with his own two hands in the mountains. To raise a family.
I wanted all those things, and I wanted them with Beau. The fact I’d omitted a few things, or more embellished, was not something I was comfortable with, but come on…love at first sight, remember? I mean, I could learn to fish and cook and sew. It couldn’t be that difficult. But love? That wasn’t something I could just walk away from. I got that a man in the wild needed in a wife with those skills, but surely being with his soul mate trumped all that?
A bend in the road appeared out of nowhere. “Shit!” I stomped on the brake.
The car didn’t slow. It kept moving, skidding in the mud. “Oh God, oh God, oh God…” I yanked on the wheel, trying to get some kind of control. It didn’t work. I screamed as it kep
t sliding. The car jolted and the wheels on the right side seemed to disappear from under me as it dropped into a ditch. The car made a crunching sound as it hit a bank then rocked to a stop.
I sat there, still gripping the steering wheel, stunned.
Something warm trickled down the side of my face and I reached up and wiped it away. My fingers came away wet. Blood. I’d cut my head.
I couldn’t open my door, so I climbed over to the passenger side and shoved the door open.
I stood there for a few seconds, trying not to completely freak out. It was 6:00 p.m. and I was thanking God it wasn’t dark yet. I grabbed my phone and hoped like hell that by some miracle there might be service. Of course, there wasn’t. “Crap.”
I looked around, and there was…nothing. Okay, not nothing. There were trees, a lot of trees, and mountains, and I could hear water running in the distance somewhere. I’d been driving for about two hours, so I had to assume that Beau’s house wasn’t far. But then I guessed that depended on the speed and skill of the driver. The man that told me the distance would be used to the road, the terrain. I could still be thirty minutes away from his house, or more.
Panic started to crawl up my throat.
Think, Freya. What would Bear Grylls do?
The last few months I’d been binge-watching Man vs. Wild every weekend to prepare for this trip.
Higher ground!
Maybe if I got to a higher vantage point I’d see something and work out where I was.
There was no way I could carry all my bags, so I grabbed the small pack I’d brought for when we went hiking or whatever—something else Bear never went without—and put my phone, handbag, drink bottle, and a change of clothes in it.
Then I started up the nearest hill.
It was rocky and slippery. The new spring foliage was coming up everywhere, but the ground was squishy from the snow that must have covered this area a month or so ago.
I was puffing by the time I reached the top. I also had a bloody knee from slipping over twice. I lifted my hand to shield my eyes from the setting sun and did a slow circle.
Panic washed through me again when I saw…nothing.
Nothing but pine trees dwarfed by snow-topped mountains.
I was going to rot here. Beau might not come by this way for a week, when he was meant to pick me up in town. I’d be a corpse by then. Rotting in my car…
Hang on, was that…
I squinted, lifting my pack to block the setting sun from my eyes. Yes! It was smoke! A house. It had to be.
It was the first sign of life I’d seen along this road, and since Beau told me it was only him and his brother that lived out here, and his was the first house, it had to be him.
I started back down the hill. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to walk there—I wasn’t a great judge of such things—but surely no more than an hour.
An hour and a half later, I was hobbling over stones, tripping over logs, and had tears running down my face. My new hiking boots were instruments of torture. I had blisters on my blisters. And I was scared out of my mind.
I scanned my surroundings, jumping again at the sound of more twigs breaking behind me. There was a rustling next and my heart pounded harder in my chest.
I had no idea what it was, but it started about ten minutes ago. I’d convinced myself it was the wind, but now I wasn’t so sure.
I pushed through a bushy, shrubby tree, twigs and leaves pulling at my clothes, and stopped dead. More tears, of relief this time, instantly sprang to my eyes. A house.
I hobbled toward it. There was a porch that I would guess went all the way around. Two chairs sat to one side of the door, and sitting on one of them was Beau. There was no mistaking him. He looked just like his picture.
Tears were streaming uncontrollably down my face by this point. “Beau!” I called.
His head whipped around to me and he shot to his feet. A gun seemed to appear in his hands out of nowhere. He lifted it…and fired.
I screamed, covered my head with my hands, and dropped to the ground.
2
Beau
I jumped off the porch, gun aimed and ready to take a second shot. Blood rushed through my ears as I approached the grizzly lying still, two feet from the woman now curled in a ball on the ground.
What the fuck?
The bear didn’t move. I’d managed a clean shot. God only knew how. Christ, my heart was still pounding.
I crouched down, but I couldn’t see the woman’s face. She was still in a fetal position. “You all right?” I tried to keep the anger from my voice. I didn’t kill bears, and anybody with sense in their heads knew spring in the Rocky Mountains was not the time to traipse through the woods alone and, by the looks of it, unarmed.
She peeked up at me through her hair. “Oh, my God,” she whispered.
“Christ, are you—”
“You shot at me,” she blurted.
I reached out to help her to her feet, and she jerked back, scrambling away, as she said a whole lot louder, “You shot at me.”
It was dark, and the woman was in shadow, I had no idea who the hell she was, but she’d obviously lost her damn mind. She had to be lost or perhaps she’d been in some kind of accident? People didn’t just stroll up to my house, ever.
I tried again. “Are you hurt? Why are you out here on your own?” I reached for her, and again she yanked her arm out of my reach.
“I should have listened to Sally. She said this was a mistake, that I’d end up in a shallow grave in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. She was right. Oh my God, she was right!”
She backed up some more, visibly shaking.
“What are you talking about?” I gritted out, my patience wearing thin.
She shook her head. “I knew you were too good to be true. I knew it.”
I stared at her. Who the hell was she?
She turned her head slightly, and moonlight caught her features. Features that were more than a little familiar. I’d memorized them, had dreamed about that face more times than I could count. I squinted, trying to get a better look at her. “Freya?”
She was still backing up.
I lifted a hand. “Stop.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
She took another step…
And stumbled over the dead bear behind her, landing on top of it. That’s when she screamed, so loud my ears popped.
I rushed over, hauled her up into my arms, and hung on. She was so freaked I was scared she’d take off into the night and get herself killed.
Jesus, she was small, but the woman had curves, and lots of them. She was a nice armful. I’d thought many times about how she’d feel against me, but not once had I imagined that she’d be struggling to get away when it finally happened.
Still, I couldn’t help but dip my head and breathe her in, something else I’d thought a lot about. Women all had their own special scent; they were sweeter, and Freya was just as intoxicating as I’d dreamed. Her hair smelled like flowers…
Her boot connected with my shin. “Ow! Christ!” I lifted her off her feet to stop her from grinding her heel deeper.
She struggled harder. “Let me go, psycho!”
I guess I probably should have cleared things up before I started sniffing the woman. I’d just been waiting so damn long for this, I’d gotten a little ahead of myself. I pressed my mouth to her ear. “I wasn’t shooting at you, Freya. I was shooting at the bear stalking you.”
Her struggling eased and I watched her turn back to the bear, then up to the porch where I’d been sitting, and finally to me. The fear was fading fast and was quickly followed by understanding.
She blinked up at me. “Oh.” She tensed. “So, you’re not…”
“A psycho? Not that I know of.” I lowered her but kept hold of her arm, still a little worried she’d bolt.
She blinked up at me. “Well…” She bit her lip. “This wasn’t exactly how I, ah, planned our first meeting.”
“Me either,” I said. Understatement of the goddamn year.
I reached up and tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. I felt her tremble, and going by the expression on her face, it definitely wasn’t from fear. I liked that. A lot. And, shit, the ground suddenly didn’t feel too steady under my feet either.
Her gorgeous green eyes looked over my face, dropped to my mouth, then back up to my eyes. “Hey,” she said, voice soft, a little husky.
“Hey.”
Then we just stared at each other.
Finally, she said, “You look just like your pictures.”
“You’re even more beautiful,” I said, meaning every word. Freya Thomas was the loveliest creature I’d laid my eyes on. Her hair was a deep auburn, and even with twigs and leaves tangled in it, I could see it was soft and had a gentle wave. Her eyes were wide and the most stunning green, her nose, small and cute, and her mouth—Christ, her mouth was wide and her lips lush and full. She was like a curvy little wood sprite.
I gave myself an internal shake and asked the most pressing question. “What are you doing here, Freya?”
Her skin turned pink, and she lifted her hands palm up. “Surprise. I decided to come a week earlier.”
I frowned, confused as hell. “I’m thrilled you’re here—shit, you have no idea—but…” I looked behind her then back down. “What’s going on? How did you get here? And more importantly, where’s your gun?”
She was chewing the side of her mouth, and her hand, now on my forearm, squeezed. Shit, just that bit of contact made me hard. I forced myself to concentrate and ignore my dick. The two weeks we’d planned to spend together weren’t about fucking, they were about making sure Freya was suited to this lifestyle, that we were compatible in all ways, not just between the sheets. This wasn’t about lust, and it sure as hell wasn’t about love. It was about finding a partner for this life, a life that was tough and harsh and often unforgiving.