Mountain Man's Rival: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Mountain Men of Liberty Book 13) Read online

  Mountain Man’s Rival

  An Enemies to Lovers Romance

  K.C. Crowne

  Contents

  Also by K.C. Crowne

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  Mountain Man's Lucky Charm (Preview)

  About the Author

  Also by K.C. Crowne

  K.C. Crowne is an Amazon Top 8 Bestseller

  All books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited and can be read as standalones.

  Mountain Men of Liberty Series (This series)

  Baby for the Mountain Man| Junior for the Mountain Man| Knocked Up by the Mountain Man| Baby For Daddy's Friend | Triplets for the Mountain Man | Taken by the Mountain Man| Secret Baby for the Mountain Man | Mountain Man’s Accidental Surprise | Quadruplets for the Mountain Man | Delivering His Gifts| Mountain Daddy’s Fate | Mountain Man’s Lucky Charm | Mountain Man's Rival

  Doctors of Denver Series

  Doctor’s Secret | Doctor’s Surprise Delivery | Irish Doctor’s Secret Babies | Millionaire’s Surprise Triplets | Doctor's Baby Plan| Knocked Up by the New Zealand Doctor

  Lumberjacks of Grizzly Falls Series

  Lumberjacked | Lumberjack’s Baby

  Rainbow Canyons Cowboy Series

  Taboo Cowboy |Cowboy’s Baby|Her Cowboy Daddies | Southern Charm| Cowboy’s Bride

  Big Bad Daddies Series

  Big Bad Doctor | Big Bad Daddy| Big Bad Taboo Daddy | Big Bad Prince|Big Bad Mountain Man| Big Bad SEAL| Big Bad Boss| Big Bad Sugar Daddy| Big Bad Mountain Brothers

  Bearded Brothers Mountain Man Series

  Her Mountain Daddy| Beauty and the Beard| Bride and the Beard| Built and Bearded |

  Firemen of Manhattan Series

  Big Bad Fireman’s Baby| Big Bad Firefighter| Big Bad Fire Daddy|

  Spenser Sisters Reverse Harem Series

  Men on a Mission| Christmas with Four Firemen| Dirty Cowboys

  Checkout KC’s full Amazon Catalog

  All books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited and can be read as standalones.

  Praise for K.C. Crowne

  Archenemy (n.)

  1) main enemy

  2) the devil

  3) Declan Wilde

  Declan was my brother's best friend.

  I wanted him to be my first.

  My happily ever after.

  Turned out, however, cold-hearted b*stard

  was a much more fitting description.

  Now, fifteen years later, the devil himself shows up unannounced on a very important night.

  The hairs on my neck rise up.

  "Declan? What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

  "Eva. There's something I need to tell you. It can't wait."

  Years ago Declan made me run away from the small town where we lived. Now, he has the nerve to show up unwelcome. I'm much stronger - and this time there's zero chance I'll let him win. Game on.

  Prologue

  EVA

  Slipping my phone from my pocket, a smile stretched across my face as I read the message.

  See you after school today?

  Before I could type a response, a shrill voice called out from across the hall. “What are you smiling about, dork? You know we’re not supposed to have phones on us at school.”

  I didn’t finish my message before slipping it back into my pocket. My skin flushed as I turned around to face my locker so I didn’t have to face Amy Graham, as if that somehow would excuse me from her wrath.

  I should have known better.

  “Hey, don’t ignore me, bitch,” Amy said, sliding in beside me and pushing my locker neighbor, Freddy, out of the way as if she didn’t even see him.

  Her best friend, Jessica, sidled up on my other side, sandwiching me in between the two cheerleaders.

  “So, who sent you a message?” Jessica asked, twirling her light blonde hair around her fingers, her blue eyes wide and innocent as if she didn’t intend to do me any harm.

  “No one,” I muttered under my breath, grabbing what I needed from the locker and slamming it shut. I turned around to make my escape as the rest of their little entourage showed up. Tucker and Carl now blocked my escape.

  Dammit.

  I shot a look at Freddy, who was smaller than me and also a target, knowing I was likely to get no help from him. He offered an apologetic shrug before hurrying down the hall toward the exit.

  It was the end of the day and most of the teachers were either helping with bus duty or somewhere else entirely. The halls were emptying out except for Amy and her ragtag gang of bullies.

  Amy smirked; I wasn’t going anywhere unless they decided to let me go.

  It never got violent with them, never physically, at least. However, their words were just as biting and painful, and sometimes I wished they’d just beat me up and get it over with rather than deal with the lasting effects of their words.

  I couldn’t wait to graduate. Just a few more days and I’d be free of these shitty people, and once I left for NYU in the fall, I’d never look back. I’d never have to visit if I didn’t want to. I could leave Liberty, Utah, behind for good.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, a reminder that I couldn’t leave everyone behind for good.

  “Who’s texting you?” Amy asked, reaching for my phone.

  I clamped my hand down over my pocket, fighting Amy off. “It’s none of your business,” I muttered.

  “Everything that goes on in this school is our business,” she informed me.

  Tucker chuckled, while Carl just rolled his eyes.

  “It’s probably just her dad,” Tucker said. “No one else would text her. She doesn’t even have any friends.”

  They were wrong, of course, but I couldn’t let them see who was messaging me. I wouldn’t give in to them.

  “Hold her arms, Tucker,” Amy ordered. “So I can get her phone out of her pocket.”

  Tucker moved forward, pressing me against the locker while Jessica giggled beside us, continuing to twirl her hair and keep me from escaping to the side. Tucker closed in on me just as a voice called out from down the hall.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  Relief washed over me as Tucker backed up and called, “Hey, Declan. Not much, man. Just chatting with Evelyn.”

  Amy’s eyes moved away from me and toward Declan. Even though she was dating Tucker, I saw the way she looked at Declan. Jessica’s eyes lit up too. It was hard not to check out the handsome linebacker with the shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes. Taller than both Tucker and Carl, he was easily one of the biggest guys at school with his broad shoulders and massive arms. Yet he had a smile filled with nothing but warmth.

  He was one of the few guys on the football team that wasn’t a complete, raging asshole. He was actually really nice, and it wasn’t his muscles that made my heart race every time I saw him, but they certainly didn’t hurt.

&nb
sp; Amy perked up as Declan walked closer. “She’s my partner for biology, and I just wanted to get some notes from her.”

  “Liar,” I mumbled under my breath, making it sound like a cough. We weren’t partners in any class, thank God.

  Amy didn’t hear me as her focus was on the handsome jock in front of us that made her boyfriend look like a potato in comparison.

  However, Declan’s baby blue eyes were on me. “You must be confused, Amy. Evelyn is my partner in biology,” he said with a sincere smile. Also a lie, but I wasn’t going to correct him.

  Amy’s jaw dropped as she stared at Declan, and it was nice seeing Little Miss Perfect Comeback for Everything at a loss for words.

  Declan smiled at her, waiting for her to dig herself out of this hole.

  “Yes, well, it’s easy to get people confused when they’re just so… boring,” Amy said with a flip of her hair. “Come on, Tucker. Walk me home?”

  Amy pushed past me and took Tucker’s arm. Jessica was beside her, latching on to Carl. Every muscle in my body relaxed as I watched them walk down the hall.

  “Are you okay?” Declan asked, his blue eyes sincere.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. They’re just assholes.” I adjusted my backpack over my shoulder.

  His voice lowered, and he stepped closer. “I was waiting for you outside and started to get worried. Thought maybe you found a new boyfriend.”

  It was hard not to smile when Declan was around, even harder to not throw myself into his arms and kiss him. My boyfriend. He called himself my boyfriend. He thought of me as his girlfriend, but my heart still raced every time those words escaped from his sexy lips.

  I held it together, though. We were in school, and I didn’t want anyone to know that Evelyn Palmer, resident nerd, was dating the football star. Not because I was ashamed of Declan, but I could only imagine that my life would get harder if Amy and Jessica knew Declan was interested in someone like me. Little old me with my baggy jeans and band shirts. With my black hair in space buns. I was the chubby girl who was always mocked for being overweight and given cruel nicknames. Somehow, I managed to nab Declan Wilde, and to this day, I wasn’t exactly sure how.

  “So, umm, are we still on for this weekend?” I asked, unable to look him in the eyes, afraid I might act on my desires to kiss him.

  “Only if you want to,” he said softly. He lifted my face so I was staring into those baby blues.

  My heart fluttered, and I nodded. “I do, Declan. I’ve never wanted anyone more than— I mean, I never wanted anything more.”

  “Me too,” he said, leaning in close. Too close.

  Footsteps down the hall pulled my attention back to where we were, and I glanced down the hallway. Freddy was heading back to his locker. The mean kids likely had scared him away before he was finished getting his stuff.

  I backed away from Declan, his hand falling away from my face and to his side.

  “This weekend then,” he said, giving me a knowing smile.

  A warmth blossomed inside me as I pictured our plans for the weekend. Just the two of us. Alone. In a barn. And I’d already told him I was ready to give myself to him fully. What better time than the day before we graduated and left this shithole behind?

  “Would you like me to walk you home?” Declan asked, even though he likely knew the answer already.

  I cringed because I hated saying no to him when I would love nothing more. “Declan, you know how my dad is…if he saw me with a boy, he would lose his shit.”

  We walked side-by-side toward the exit.

  “I know, but I can at least walk you to the corner,” he said softly.

  “I’d love that.”

  We walked out of the school. There were few people outside, and thankfully, no sign of the mean girls from earlier. A couple was making out on a bench just off school property, and another couple walked hand-in-hand toward the ice cream shop.

  My heart ached. I so badly wanted to reach over and take Declan’s hand in mine, and I knew he would have happily held it. He didn’t have to worry about the mean kids; no one would dream of picking on him. He also didn’t have a father like mine either. Most kids I went to school with were lucky enough to be treated like the almost-adults we were. Even though I was eighteen, my dad acted like I was ten.

  “So did you talk to your dad about NYU yet?” Declan asked as we walked down the street.

  “Uh no, I think I’m just going to leave and not tell him,” I said with a laugh, staring down at the sidewalk.

  “You don’t think he’ll ever come around to the idea?”

  “He wants me to go to Utah State and get a ‘real’ career, not waste my time on art.”

  “Has he seen your work?”

  “He has.”

  “And he still thinks it’s a waste of time?”

  “Yep, because it’s art and he says there’s no money in art,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He wants me to be a dentist like my uncle.”

  I slowed my pace as we approached the corner, not wanting the time with Declan to end. I loved talking to him. Since we’d been assigned as partners for the senior art project, I couldn’t get enough of him. He was one of the only people I could talk to about anything as well as one of the only high schoolers I’d met that could hold his own in a discussion about classic literature or art history. Not many people in Liberty knew that about him, but he was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for and was not just your typical jock.

  “I can’t picture you as a dentist.”

  “Me either,” I muttered.

  “Your mom knows, right?”

  “She does, and she’s expecting me in June, and then I’ll move into the dorms in August,” I said. “Already bought my ticket and everything.”

  “Are things better with her?”

  I shrugged. “As good as they can be considering I hardly know her, but this will be my chance, I guess.”

  “And what about Matt?”

  “What about him?” I asked.

  “Your brother should know… I hate keeping a secret like this from my best friend.”

  “We’re keeping an even bigger secret from him,” I reminded him with a grin.

  We stopped at the corner, and we should have parted ways right then and there, but instead, we stopped. I forgot that we were trying to keep our relationship a secret.

  “Yeah, but not for too much longer,” Declan said, stepping closer to me. I looked up at him and bit my lip to stop myself from kissing him. “You said once we graduate and before you leave, we can tell the world about us.”

  “Only if you promise to visit me in New York,” I said, pointing at him.

  “Every chance I can get.”

  His lips pulled back into that adorable, crooked smile of his, and my stomach was filled with a familiar fluttering.

  “Evelyn!” A familiar voice called out from down the block, causing us to step apart. I turned to find my twin brother, Matt, standing outside of our house down the street.

  “I should go…”

  It was painful, but I knew I’d be seeing him this weekend, and we’d have all the time in the world then. I would no longer have to obey my father once I walked across the stage at graduation. I was going to live with my mom in New York City, and that was that.

  I’d be free in just a few short days.

  Declan waved as he headed in the opposite direction. He lived further out of town, so he’d grab his car, which he always parked down the way so he had an excuse to walk me to the corner.

  I watched as he walked away, a smile pulling at my lips as Matt approached.

  “Did he walk you home again?” my brother asked.

  “Yeah. Amy and Jessica were giving me shit again.”

  “Do you need me to—”

  “No, Matt,” I snapped, turning to my twin brother. “I can take care of it. We only have a few more days left anyway.”

  “Well, Amy is headed to Utah State as well…”

  “It’s a big campus.�
�

  I hated lying to my brother. We’d always been so close, but I wasn’t sure he would approve of me moving across the country and living with our mother. He hadn’t spoken to her since she’d walked out on us ten years prior and had told me countless times he would never talk to her again. He wouldn’t approve of my plan to live with her and connect with her while I was in New York. We’d also never been apart, not for more than a day or two.

  “Come on. Dad’s probably wondering where we’re at,” I muttered.

  Though Dad never seemed to worry about Matt. Not as much as he worried about me.

  Only a few more days, I told myself.

  Tomorrow. It all changes tomorrow.

  I stared out at the expanse of darkness from our secluded spot in Declan’s barn, the one place that I could let my guard down. It had been our special place for the last few weeks.

  Soon I’d be on the other side of the country, but he’d visit me. We’d have my dorm room, and I could visit him in his too. We wouldn’t have to hide our love anymore, and my heart was happy as I imagined walks through the park hand-in-hand.

  “You know I’m going to miss you so much,” Declan said, taking my hand in his as if he read my mind and knew my heart’s desires. “But you’re going to do great things, Evelyn. I just know it. NYU is going to be so good for you.”