Savage Daddy (Mountain Men #3) - Jason Collins Page 0,1

probably kill me. Or fire me. Or both.”

“No. Yes. I’m Jack Timms.” I nodded, rising from my chair in the lobby. “I just thought… I was expecting the guy from the front desk who checked me in.”

“Oh, you’re talking about Eddie?” the man asked. “He had to go talk to Parker in the back about something. He sent me over here though, so I could show you to your room.”

“Right. And you are?”

“Austin.” He held out his hand as he spoke. “Austin Williams.”

“Austin Williams…” I repeated his name while I shook his hand.

“Jack Timms,” Austin repeated my name with a playful air as he softly pulled his hand back to his side. “Are you ready for me to show you to your room?”

I was straight.

I knew I was straight.

Didn’t I?

I had to be straight, right? I’d only been interested in girls my whole life. And it wasn’t like I felt like I’d been hiding some unearthed part of me, or somehow denying who I was in the past. I’d genuinely cared for the women I’d gone out with, even if things had never turned out in that seemingly perfect way, with a house in the suburbs and a few kids in soccer practice.

And yet, I couldn’t take my eyes off Austin Williams. I was careful about stealing glances at him as he walked me to my room at the Bed & Breakfast. I didn’t want him to think I was staring for the wrong reasons, hell, I didn’t want him to think that I was staring at all.

But I couldn’t seem to help myself. I mean, I’d seen gorgeous people before, but no one like Austin, no one with his disarming presence or warm demeanor, no one with a smile that seemed to make his entire face beam with the expression.

No one who’d made me utterly speechless at first sight.

“So, what brings you to town?” Austin asked as he continued to walk by my side. “Are you taking a vacation?”

“No. Not a vacation,” I answered. “I’m actually here to handle whatever’s left of my father’s affairs. He died a few months ago. I guess he was sick, but I didn’t know until it was too late, anyway. We… weren’t very close in the end.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Austin replied. “My father died a few months ago too—”

“Wait. Austin Williams,” I interrupted him, stopping in my tracks. “You wouldn’t happen to be… but I thought Edward only had two sons, Parker and Eddie—”

“And me.” Austin offered me a wry smile. “Don’t worry about it. It was a surprise to me too. Apparently, my father was a complicated man.”

“Complicated is one way to put it.” I returned his smile. “Fascinating is another.”

“Fascinating?”

“I’m not going to lie to you, Austin,” I started. “I’m not going to tell you that Edward was the best father in the world or that he spent enough time with his kids. But I will tell you this, he was a damn good friend. And one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known.”

“You were close to him?” Austin murmured, his eyes staring back into mine.

“I was.” I nodded along with my response. I studied Austin’s expression for a moment or two, the way his gaze subtly slid off to the side before returning back to my own, the way his lips opened and closed as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the right words.

And in that same instant, I realized that Austin wanted to know more about his father.

He just didn’t know how to ask.

“If you want to know more about your father, I wouldn’t mind trading a story or two with you,” I offered.

Austin’s eyes lit up with a smile. “Really?”

“Really.”

“How about over dinner?”

“Dinner?” My heart started to race in my chest as confusion flowed through my veins.

Shit.

Had Austin been able to tell that I was stealing glances at him as he’d walked me to my room? Had he somehow been able to read my thoughts? Did he know how many times I’d called him beautiful inside my head?

“Yeah, it’s just something we do sometimes with the guests,” Austin explained. “I mean, not all of them. But… since it seems like you might be a friend of the family, I thought it might be okay to invite you over.”

“Oh. A family dinner.” I held back a sigh of relief. “Sure. That sounds great.”

“Fair warning, though,” Austin started. “You might be the only guy there who has good things to say about my