Free Bearly Loving: Foxhollow Den #2 (Alaskan Den Men Book 10) by Kizzie Waller

 
     
     
Chapter One
     
     
    Samantha Taylor didn’t know who’d illegally parked the truck-house combo monstrosity in front of Total B.S. Donuts, but the wastrel would know her wrath if he didn’t move it soon. And by wrath, she meant a good talking to or possibly some finger wagging. Whoever occupied the front seat wasn’t there to buy donuts. She’d had the placard open sign turned and the door unlocked for over an hour. A steady stream of familiar customers came through and bought most of the baked donuts her cousin Bobbie had prepared in the early hours of the morning. She’d watched carefully, and the person who sat with a hat covering his face and with his boots perched on the dash board had yet to come in to buy, or move really, during that hour.
    Standing at the front window, she glanced up and down the street spanning the length of the small nest of buildings that made up Foxhollow’s main shopping district. There were at least ten open parking spaces where the blue, rusted-edged truck with a camper—big enough for a family of four—could park legally. Instead, it took up three spots in front of her store, effectively blocking her customers from parking at their convenience a few steps from the entrance.
    Samantha made it a point to stay as far away from conflict as possible, which was a direct reflection of the last conflict-filled six months. A ruined wedding. Land feud. Poachers. Naked in the woods. The growing list did not need an incident of arguing with an inconsiderate person in front of her business. The town had enough reason to gossip about her, and she refused to give them one more.
    Her groan filled the now-empty dining area of the café.
    After another twenty minutes of pacing, she told herself it was good business sense that propelled her out the door to give the driver a polite warning. Nothing bad could come from a polite warning. The café was her chance at winning back the trust of her community, and she’d be damned if the smallest little misdeeds by others would get in the way. If he refused to move, she’d call the sheriff and make it his business.
    She squinted under the glare of the bright sunlight and approached the truck. The window on the passenger’s side was opened about halfway. Perfect. He’d be able to hear her when she asked him to move his eyesore down the road. She rapped the glass with her knuckles and waited. The man didn’t make any effort to move, so she knocked harder.
    Nobody could sleep through that much noise. She leaned her face through the window hole. “Excuse me?”
    Nothing but steady breathing from the vagrant. Good thing she didn’t have the same anger control issues her cousin wrestled with, or she’d have gone full bear and shown some serious teeth by now. Of course, Bobbie had found a mate to help her with the whole anger problem. Not that Samantha was jealous. Men complicated things right before they ruined everything. Like a ruined wedding. A land feud. Poachers. Naked in the woods.
    “I’m calling the sheriff’s office.”
    The man in the truck finally lifted the hat off his face.
    Samantha instantly recognized Carter Wright, twin to Ray Wright and older brother of Bobbie’s kinda-sorta fiancé, Grant. Also one of the family members involved in the Wright-Taylor land feud. Samantha’d had the biggest “dear diary” crush on his younger self in high school. He and his brothers had spent most of high school teasing her and their younger sister, Caroline. Prank after stupid prank.
    Carter’s senior year, he’d finally asked her out, and they’d shared some fun times that started to lean toward serious. Not sexy-good-times serious, but she wouldn’t have said no. And then immediately after graduation he’d left to roam the state without even a “see ya later.” From time to time he’d materialize in Foxhollow to toss a smartass remark in her direction, acting as if they’d never shared a single romantic moment. Not that she cared.