Rugged Daddy Read online

  Rugged Daddy

  A Mountain Man’s Surrogate Romance

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Epilogue

  Excerpt: Stone Heart

  Excerpt: Bad Seed

  Copyright

  Click here to join Rye’s Newsletter and receive a steamy bad boy romance in your inbox for free.

  CHAPTER 1

  CAMERON

  Sweat poured down my brow as my arms throbbed with pain. Chopping wood was my twisted form of therapy - a therapy that also supplied my primary source of heat.

  Even with the summer temperatures, it got dangerously chilly at night. The wind would whip by the windows and easily drop the house to shivering temperatures if I ran out of wood.

  My phone rang, ripping me from my trance. I pulled it out from my pocket and saw that the caller was the principal of my daughter’s school.

  Not this shit again.

  “Hello.”

  “Mr. Thompson, we need you to come in as soon as you can. It’s about Rebecca.”

  I’d never get used to hearing my beautiful little Audrey being called Rebecca. Hell, I’d never get used to hearing someone refer to me as ‘Mr. Thompson’.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. Adrenaline was coursing through my body, my brain automatically going to the worst-case scenario.

  We’ve been found.

  “Rebecca is still having a lot of trouble adjusting to the other children. I know we agreed to give it through the rest of the semester, but summer’s upon us and she still isn’t branching out.”

  I closed my eyes and consciously slowed my breathing, willing my heart to return to its normal rhythm.

  My baby girl was safe.

  Now I was just pissed.

  “I don’t understand why that’s an issue,” I said. “She could simply be introverted. I’m introverted.”

  “Being introverted and being unable to socialize are different. I need you to come in so we can talk.”

  Who the hell did she think she was? She didn’t know a damn thing about my daughter.

  “We can talk when I come to pick her up,” I said.

  “Could you come in sooner? I’d like to discuss things with you while Rebecca’s still in school.”

  “Then, I’ll be taking her with me when I leave.”

  I hung up the call without saying goodbye. This preschool bullshit was getting ridiculous. Judging a child because she wasn’t social enough? Were they kidding me? The girl lived on top of a fucking mountain. Of course, she wasn’t going to socialize much. That was the whole reason she was enrolled in their institution, to have a chance to adapt and learn to interact with kids her own age. They were supposed to be teaching her how, not judging her for fuck’s sake.

  What drives a man to move himself and his child to the mountains?

  Losing his family.

  In the mountains, no one could hurt the most important person in my life. My daughter was my world, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her.

  My brother had had a gambling addiction; a bad one. I’d told him to quit the stuff when it got bad. Offered to pay for any rehab he needed. But when I found out his loan shark had ties with the wrong crowd, I liquidated every single asset I needed to pay off his debt and to keep my daughter’s uncle in her life – but I was too damn late.

  The worst day of my life was that day I watched my brother get shot down in the street from an alleyway by a fucking coward. I found the son of a bitch who pulled the trigger, and I beat him to a bloodied pulp. All my rage blocked the logical part of my brain – the part that told me I’d surely place a target on my back.

  So here I was, in the middle of the mountains, protecting the only family I had left.

  And all the while, feeling like a coward for running.

  I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I was a single father who knew nothing about raising a little girl on his own.

  I was trying desperately to make it work.

  The nightmares were terrible, and they kept me up at night. I’d toss and turn, and that piercing gunshot sound would always wake me up. Sometimes when I looked down at my hands, I could still see my brother’s lifeless body as I cried in the rain, begging for him to open his eyes.

  I missed my brother more than I could stand.

  My contact in the FBI suggested fleeing. Hudson Clay was my best friend, and the man I’d turned to for advice and an ear to listen, told me I needed to run, liquidate everything I owned, and find somewhere solitary to live out the rest of my days.

  I liquidated all my assets, sold off the controlling shares of my company, stuffed my billions in scattered portfolios that led back to shell companies, and then built a huge log cabin in the middle of Whitefish, Montana.

  It was the most secluded place in the United States, a cabin in the middle of the woods that was completely off the grid. Solar panels lined the roof, and a generator fed off gasoline I stored by the droves in a shed at the back of my property. The only city utility I had was running water for the indoor plumbing, and that was hooked up in my fake name, one of the identities Hudson had secured for me and my daughter.

  We would live in the mountains, but the way I saw it, I had to do everything in my power to make the best of it for my daughter’s sake. So, I did. I’d built our home for comfort and luxury and outfitted my log with everything she could possibly want. She had a dedicated play room with all her favorites. I’d carved out paths in the woods and uprooted trees so I could build her a huge playground to play on. Everything I did, I kept off the grid, and if I needed to go to town, it was all fake names and fake IDs.

  But I wasn’t a fool. I knew that even with the luxury I provided, she’d still feel lonely. I knew she needed a playmate.

  Dammit, what child wouldn’t?

  For now, the best I could do was to enroll her into the best private preschool in town for some normality and socialization.

  After hours of chopping wood, I was in no condition to walk into my daughter’s school. I pushed into my bedroom, and could already feel the coolness of the water I’d splash in my face. I turned on the faucet and dipped my dirty hands in it, watching the water taint itself brown.

  Then, I made the mistake of looking up.

  Smoothing my hands over my unkempt beard, I took in the tanned texture of my skin. The way my eyes gazed from beyond a thick bearded jawline and a disheveled mound of dark hair. My shoulders ached, and I rolled them to ease the throbbing veins protruding from my skin.

  I ripped my shirt over my head and wiped off my chest. I’d looked like this for some time. The beard got longer, the hair got thicker, and the eyes got more stoic.

  More stern.

  The bags under my eyes made me look much older than my thirty years. I rose to my full height of six three and studied my reflection. My dark brown hair was tousled from sleep, and my d
eep blue eyes were haunted.

  All I made time for these mornings was my therapy of chopping wood or the self-defense classes I’d plowed myself into. The classes gave me a peace of mind that if in the event we were ever under attack, I’d be ready. I was determined to prepare for the worst. My efforts resulted in well-muscled arms and a sculpted chest that narrowed to a V at my waist.

  I scrubbed a hand over my beard and sighed deeply.

  I climbed in the shower to wash the sweat and the haunted memories from my body and mind.

  The soap and water cascaded down my broad chest and thick thighs, and I scrubbed myself as if I could physically remove the memories that haunted me.

  Welcome to my world.

  ***

  “Thank you for meeting me, Mr. Thompson,” the principal said, with the most disingenuous smile I’d seen in a while. “I’ve enjoyed our chats.”

  “Good afternoon, Miss Holmberg. What seems to be the problem?”

  “Maybe if you observe Rebecca for a few minutes, it’ll shed some light on why I’m worried.”

  The principal started walking and I had no choice but to follow her. I didn’t enjoy it whenever she called me into her office. Her eyes always lingered a little too long whenever I was around.

  Her long, thin legs spilled into a slim pair of hips and a tightened waist she obviously kept up in the gym. Her heels gave even more height to her, which always put her lips right at my chin. And she made sure to remind me of it. Stood a little too close, until I could feel her breath on my neck. Brushed her arm against me and stretched her pinky finger out to caress mine. Her outfits were always crisply pressed and there was never a hair on top of her head that was ever out of place.

  She was pretty, but certainly not my type. Too prim and proper for my blood.

  I stood from the chair in her office, and she led me outside to a playground. All the kids were running around and playing. Some were on the swings, some were playing in the dirt, and some were trying to figure out how to play hopscotch and failing miserably like you’d expect a four-year-old to do.

  “Rebecca’s over in the corner by herself,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes before I focused my stare on my daughter. She was hunched over in the corner with a stick, poking at something on the ground. I grinned as I watched her. I knew what she was doing. Audrey had been fascinated with bugs ever since we made our move to the mountain. I’d never seen a four-year-old girl so entranced with the world around her.

  I folded my arms across my chest and watched my beautiful daughter play. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the only hairstyle I’d been able to master. Her emerald eyes were fixed on the ground as a smile crawled across her cheeks.

  “See what I mean?” the principal asked.

  “No, I don’t. You’ve got children eating dirt, but you’re upset because my daughter’s in a corner exploring the world around her?”

  “What I’m concerned about is that her isolated home life is affecting how she blossoms in school. I really think Rebecca should be in a place where she can flourish, especially because she’s without a strong female influence in her life.”

  I watched the woman rake her eyes down my form, and I bit back a growl.

  Was this lady serious?

  If she thought for one second I was going to ask her out on a date, she was sorely mistaken.

  She reminded me of my ex-wife to a tee.

  “It’s obvious the only social interaction Rebecca gets is when she comes to school, and that’s detrimental to her development. I understand that some people like their privacy, but you must take your daughter’s well-being into account. Maybe living in a place so secluded isn’t the best for her. After all, there are plenty of people in town that would take her and you under their wing.”

  My eyes flickered over to her and I found her staring a little too hard.

  “Trust me, you have no idea the lengths I go to when taking my daughter’s well-being into account.”

  “I can only imagine how you’d feel about someone else in your life, if you came down into town a little more often,” Mrs. Holmberg said.

  I wasn’t sure how much longer I could tolerate the bullshit.

  “All I’m saying is Rebecca might open up more if she had more consistent interaction with children her age. I think her isolated atmosphere isn’t doing Rebecca justice. I’m only concerned. It’s my job as the principal of this school.”

  Deep breaths. Deep, deep breaths.

  “Andrew—can I call you Andrew?”

  “Mr. Thompson’s fine,” I said.

  “But ‘Andrew’ suits you so well. A strong name,” Mrs. Holmberg said with a smile.

  I bit down onto the inside of my cheek, keeping my eyes hooked on my daughter. I didn’t want to give this woman anymore of my time if I didn’t need to. I’d already made the decision that my daughter was coming with me once this asinine, pointless meeting was finished. I didn’t need to waste anymore of my time allowing this woman to embarrass herself trying to flirt with me. She needed to take a hint.

  “Look, if you don’t put her in a social atmosphere, you’ll never know if her introversion is her choice or forced on her by you.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  I turned my gaze toward the woman, and she shrugged. It took all I could not to give her a piece of my fucking mind, but I knew I couldn’t. If I started in on the story, I’d never be able to stop. And if I didn’t stop, it would blow our identities. It would put us in more danger, and that wasn’t happening because some woman was trying to piss me off and simultaneously get me to ask her out.

  “Someone has to say it, Mr. Thompson. The teachers here are worried about your daughter,” she said. “There are days where she shows great promise, and then she has days like this, usually after the long weekend at home. It’s like she’s wanting to blossom, and then she goes home and closes back up again.”

  Well, we don’t have much fucking choice.

  “I’m not trying to upset you, but I am trying to provide for you a different point of view on this. She very well could be introverted like you, or she could be stifled by the life you live. One is completely fine, but the other is incredibly detrimental to her health and development.”

  “I’ll take it into consideration,” I said through my teeth. “Rebecca, come here princess!”

  My daughter whipped her head up and smiled when she saw me. She dropped her stick and came running for me, her arms out and her wisps of hair blowing behind her. I smiled and took her into my arms, gazing into the deep blue-colored eyes she’d gotten from me.

  I was lucky she didn’t look much like her mother. That was a time in her life she didn’t remember, and the less she looked like her, the fewer questions I hoped she would ask as she got older.

  Her mother left when she was little more than a baby and had never looked back. All Audrey knew was me, and if I had my way, it was all she would ever know. Her mother wasn’t worth the effort it took to come up with a lie to tell my daughter.

  “Ready to go?”

  “I missed you, Daddy.” She wrapped her arms around my neck.

  I glared at the principal as she shook her head.

  I held my daughter in my arms and walked her out to my car, but I could feel her mood immediately changing. That happy little smile that warmed my heart faded into a frown as she burrowed deeper into my neck. I wasn’t sure what had happened or what caused the change, but I knew what would cheer her up.

  “Want to go out for an early dinner?” I asked.

  She nodded but still didn’t smile.

  I buckled her into her car seat and climbed behind the wheel.

  “How was school?” I asked.

  “Okay,” Audrey said.

  “Did you do anything fun?”

  “I found a caterpillar.”

  “Did you play with it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did it do anything funny?”

  “No. Just cu
rled up.”

  “Sometimes caterpillars do that.” I was trying, but it didn’t look like I was going to get much conversation out of her. I hated it when she felt this down.

  “When does it butterfly?” she asked.

  “It wraps itself up in something called a cocoon, and then it falls asleep. When it wakes up, it’s a butterfly.”

  “I want wings. Wings are cool.”

  “They sure all.”

  ***

  We entered Aubrey’s favorite place to eat because, according to her, they had the best macaroni and cheese. We sat down and ordered the same thing we always got when we came in, but her eyes wandered around us, falling on other children at tables and in booths.

  I knew that she so desperately wanted to connect with other children, but she just didn’t know how.

  The principal wasn’t completely wrong.

  I knew it, and that made me furious.

  I watched her eyes pan over to another child in a booth next to us, and I turned around. I watched the child feed her little brother a bottle as the parents praised her for doing well.

  My heart sank.

  I knew she wanted a sibling to share her life with and spend time with. I wished with all my heart I could give that to her. All the money in the world and I couldn't give her the one thing she wanted more than anything else.

  How would I even go about doing something like that?

  Hello, my name is Andrew—but not really—and my daughter wants a sibling soon.

  Do you like mountain homes?

  Because we’re running from the fucking Mafia.

  Yeah. Great pick up line.

  All the shit I’d gone through with my ex-wife had solidified my intent to stay single. I wasn’t opening myself back up to that kind of pain.

  I’d loved that woman. She had been my world. I had wanted to fill our New York mansion with children who looked exactly like her.

  Now, I thanked my fucking stars that the one child we did have looked like me, down to the brooding stares whenever Audrey looked off into space.

  The same stare she had now.

  “Rebecca?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you want a brother or sister?” I asked.