Their Secret Hideaway, page 1
their secret hideaway
THE MEN OF EVERGREEN VALLEY
FRANKIE LOVE
contents
Copyright
About
1. Fox
2. Tabitha
3. Tabitha
4. Tabitha
5. Fox
6. Fox
7. Tabitha
8. Fox
9. Tabitha
10. Fox
11. Tabitha
About the Author
copyright
Copyright © and 2024 by Frankie Love
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.
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about
Opposites attract when this business man falls for this forest-loving girl.
They fall hard and fast, but is Fox keeping Tabitha a secret for a reason?
He is keeping his family from her, and worse…
When the truth is revealed, will it be too late?
This is wild, fertile land, where the men are ready to whisk their women to bed.
No hook-ups or one-night stands.
Here in the Evergreen Mountains, the men are fiercely loyal.
Here, love lasts a lifetime.
ONE
fox
“You gotta know that you’re dressed far too nice for the occasion, Fox.” Bear is sitting on the edge of his truck’s tailgate, a bottle of soda pop in hand, half-drank. “Your jeans don’t even have any holes in them.”
I let out a long sigh. For a rural farmers market? Yeah, I stood out like a sore thumb. I’m clean and pristine, a button up denim shirt, a fresh haircut and fresher face. I usually keep a bit of stubble, but my father insisted I keep up appearances for one of the recent meetings.
I’m the heir to the throne after all.
Even if I don’t want to be.
This is compared to ol Bear, who’s clothing looks like he’s been wearing it for years, even though it’s all very well taken care of. You can see the wear and tear of everything, and the dirt that’s dug into his boots.
“What are you even coming here for? I usually don’t see you coming to the farmer’s markets,” Bear says. “Got an itch for that super fresh produce?”
I laugh. “Not so much, no. I’m sure I’ll get some, but I’m mainly here to pick up some huckleberry jam my mother picked up when coming through here once. Says she hasn’t been able to pick up anything else like it and has been jonesing for it pretty hard.”
Bear slaps me on the back. “Well, take in the sights and sounds. People are going to take you for a city slicker, but they’re still nice enough.”
“I did grow up here, Bear. You don’t have to treat me like an alien.”
“Just saying. Not everyone’s going to remember you. Few will. Probably give you the same shit I gave you.”
“That’s so reassuring, Bear. Really.”
I grew up right alongside Bear. Hunter and Hawk too. We were our own little clique coming up, inseparable best buds. Then my Dad gets some money in, and we immediately moved away for a few years. I missed most of high school with them, but then my old man came back to Evergreen Valley for business, and started digging his claws deep into the area.
Just this time, our family’s net worth is about a thousand times higher than it was before.
Money shouldn’t change much about you, but I can’t help feeling like I’ve drifted away from my old friends. I adore them deeply and still think of them as brothers, but I have doubts if they feel the same way.
Bear and I head into the market. People all around us are hawking their produce. Apples are the most common crop, and lots of the farmers have their own takes on them. There’s lots of potatoes and carrots too, huge ones that I contemplate getting since my mother loves making a fine beef stew out of the freshest ingredients.
I find the lady selling the jam and pick up several jars, and she carefully sets them in a cloth bag to carry them around in too. That’s nice of her, it would have been awkward to carry around a half dozen jam jars in my arms as I went along for the rest of my trip.
The smell of various foodstuffs fill the air too. I smell what are sure to be some damn good french fries, some gyros, plenty of hot dogs, which I’m sure are made from sausages made from their own pigs, cows, and chickens. It’s a jarring shift from the city, and I have to say, I missed it a great deal.
Bear’s got two hot dogs and a cone full of curly fries on hand, like we’re at a damn carnival. Can’t say I blame him with how good they look, and when I look at him, he shrugs my way. “What? This is for Char too. She’ll love this.”
I smirk and shake my head. “Should get it to her while it's still hot then.”
“She’s with Savvy and her other friends, they have a booth with their arts and crafts stuff.”
We go to another end of the farmer’s market. This place is filled with people selling everything that isn’t meant to be eaten. Lots of woven quilts, finely made sweaters and shirts. Hunter sells some of his own carpentry work here sometimes, even though most of what he makes is just for himself and family. Past old Grandma Diana’s blankets, we finally reach the recent spouses of both Hunter and Bear.
“May I tempt you with a gourmet, artisan, home cooked organic hot dog, babe?” he asks, presenting one of the franks to his wife.
“Can... can hot dogs be organic?” She says, accepting his gift.
“Hell if I know. But if it’s from around here, it’s way better than anything you’re going to get at a grocery store.”
As charming as the scene is, my attention is swiftly snapped away by something far more interesting.
She’s working on sprucing up one of the displays of what I’m sure is her own work, given she has a very similar necklace to the one she’s selling around her neck. Her hair, long wild curls, is the color of sun-kissed honey, it swaying as she moves her head, letting those hazel eyes of hers meet mine, and letting me see the hints of gold and green within them, the green akin to the leaves of forest, bathed in sunlight.
Damn, she’s doing something to me. I’ve never thought anything so poetic before in my life.
Those lovely eyes meet my own, and I’m feeling a bit off guard. Which is weird, since girls didn’t usually do that to me. I’ve always been able to play it super smooth and super cool with everyone.
“Hmm?” She says. “And who might you be?”
Her voice has an ethereal charm to it, like she’s some sort of fey in the guise of a full grown human woman, and goddamn, what a woman she is. I can’t help but look her up and down. Her dress is something right out of a thrift store from forty years ago, but she wears it perfectly. It’s her own style, and she lives it. She knows what she wants, and doesn’t falter with her confidence in what some might see as a style that doesn’t belong in the twenty-first century. It’s today, it’s on her, so it’s in style, and she won’t hear a word to the contrary.
She’s looking right at me and that’s got me a bit weak in the knees. Nevertheless, I’m going to pull myself together, slicking my hair back and giving her the ol’ charming smile. “Hello there. Fox Foster, and would it be too much for me to ask a beautiful woman’s name?”
The pretty lady cackles. “Going right for what you want, huh? I like that.”
“Does that mean it’s too much to ask for your name?”
Her grin widens. “No. Of course not. I’m Tabitha. And I’m guessing you’re one of the boy’s friends?”
“Not one of them. All of them. Hunter, Hawk, and Bear and I go way back. We were almost brothers. I just had to go away for a while.”
She does seem vaguely familiar. Maybe I saw her briefly at Savvy and Hunter’s wedding? The whole damn thing was such a whirlwind that you could show me photographic proof that I was there and I’d cast doubts at you.
Finally able to take my eyes off her, I can see what she’s peddling. Handcrafted glass, various metals with unique styles of painting. They weren’t what most people usually went after with pendants and rings, these were for people who wanted their jewelry to communicate something more than their wealth. I pick up an earring. “Don’t think this is my style, but I think my mother would love this.”
Tabitha comes over to take a gander at what I’m holding. “Oh, that’s some petrified bark, stained with a little bit of red. The bark represents the earth, where the red represents the blood that keeps flowing through it, a tiny encapsulation of eternity.”
I chuckle. “I just thought my Mom would like the color, but she’ll definitely like that idea too.”
“Maybe I’ll meet her some time and talk about it.”
My smile grows. “We met thirty seconds ago, and you’re already talking about meeting my parents, huh?”
“What, you think I didn’t notice how you were looking at me, and thinking all sorts of untamed thoughts?” Her accusatory tone bounced off her charming grin.
“I wouldn’t call them untamed, but they were thoughts that do eventually end up with you meeting my parents.”
“Let’s not go too fast,” she says leaning against me. “There’s plenty of dirty, filthy, and fun things we need to do before we get to something as wholesome as that.”
“Oh, yes. There is. Would you like to join me on getting started
She’s cracking up, and I’m right there with her.
This girl is something special, and to think, I would have never run into her if a certain someone didn’t yearn for huckelberry jam.
TWO
tabitha
This Fox guy is definitely a charmer, and I’m not the first girl he’s used his charms on.
But I can’t say I’m going to care about that.
There’s an earnestness about him. Most guys trying to be cool in front of me don’t immediately confess to buying gifts for their mothers, or fess up that they’re only there to run an errand for her.
Fox, though? He doesn’t even try to hide it.
Him being quite the looker certainly helps things. Tall, dark, and handsome, stone cutting jaw, piercing blue eyes, and one hell of a smile. Absolutely conventionally handsome in every sense of the word, but it’s what’s considered conventional for a reason, it’s hot as hell and ninety-five percent of women are going to dig that.
Even if I always thought of myself as a girl who goes down her own path, I can’t deny the appeal that Fox has, not for a moment.
“So you can see that I’m a self-established business woman who is running her own jewelry store filled only with her own artisanally produced designs,” I say as we continue to go over my stock. I’m not looking to sell more things to him at this point, but I just want to keep talking to him more than anything else. “May I ask what my dear customer does for a living?”
Fox is struck with a bout of sudden nervousness. I’d seen it in guys before, it’s all too common nowadays.
I run my hands around the collar of his shirt and adjust it a little bit. “I’m not going to run you off if you’re between jobs or if you’re a starving artist yourself, you know. I’m fascinated by you, and not your potential wallet.”
“You didn’t seem like the type that would be bothered by that.”
“Then why the anxiety? Are you an orphan-crushing machine mechanic or something?”
“Nope. Possibly worse? I’m a real-estate developer.”
I raise an eyebrow. “That’s a vague job title. Why don’t you tell me what you actually do?”
He sighs. Whatever he does, he’s not particularly proud of it. “I work with my father to buy up land in Evergreen Valley and then turn it into luxury properties.”
“Building homes isn’t a bad thing,” I say, crossing my arms.
“You must have not heard the luxury part. I think I’m the only person at this farmer’s market who could afford the properties after we’re done building them.”
I know what he means. The kinds of places with elevators just for their cars.
I hesitate. He does seem to have reluctance in what he’s doing, and it is his father’s business. Kids more often than not just get swept up in whatever their parents do, and are too financially dependent on them to really break away just out of moral objections.
Or he could be another charming rich boy good at acting like he actually cares about this sort of thing. That is also perfectly possible.
I look past him and see Hunter and Hawk coming up behind him, and note the jovial conversation Bear and Char are having. He’s one of their friends. He grew up in Evergreen Valley, so he has to have some of the values that make this small town great.
“I see you met Tabitha,” Hunter says, “And from how close you are, you’re getting to know her quickly.”
Hands on my hips, I shake my head. “What, I’m not allowed to have friendly conversations with my customers?”
“I’ve seen you chat up customers,” Char says as I realize she’s been nearby and likely watching me this entire time. “You don’t chat up customers like you’ve been chatting up Fox.”
“When are you so judgmental?”
She shrugs. “Just thinking about you and Fox is a bit unusual is all,” she says, before eating a curly fry and looking innocent.
“What’s unusual about a man and woman getting to know one another, Char? I never looked at you and Bear and thought, ‘Oh wow, that’s so weird.’”
A sarcastic grin grows on her face. “It’s more of... well, you know. You, the free spirit who can’t be held down, who breaks all the rules as soon as you’re presented with them... and him, the rich guy who looks unnatural in anything but a suit and tie.”
Fox adjusts his shirt. “I think I look fine in this,” he protests.
“It’s too clean,” Bear chimes in. “Go roll around in the dirt or something, throw it in the wash. Make sure it’s on the wrong setting too. Then do it a few more times like that. Then, maybe, it’d look a whole lot more natural on your everyday Evergreen Valley citizen.”
“Hey, I’m not going to hold someone's clothes that are too clean against them,” I add in. “He can’t help that he’s been deprived of the sweet air and environment of Evergreen Valley. I pity him, to be totally honest.”
“I’m sure if I hang around long enough, I’ll be as messy and tan as I used to be,” he declares.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re just giving you shit, man,” Hawk says, punching Fox in the shoulder as he walks past.
Fox shakes it off. “You want to go take a walk for a bit? Away from the judging eyes of our so-called friends?”
I look over my stand, and how the sun is starting to set. I’m not exactly going to get a whole lot more sales, and it’s not like I needed the money anyway. “I think I’d like that. Give me a moment.”
I head back and start packing everything up. Everything fits in a few suitcases, enough that I can carry it in one trip if I want to awkwardly waddle with all of it.
“Do you mind if I handle some of the merchandise?” He asks as he takes one of my bigger suitcases.
“Not at all. It’s appreciated.” I turn to Char. “Could you do the rest of the business of shutting down for the day, Char? I got something I’d like to attend to.”
“No prob, Tabby,” she says, slurping down another curly fry. “I’ll let you go spend some time with your man.”
“Thanks, Char, you’re the bestest.”
She chuckles. “I know. Now go. Go spend time with the new man in town. Shed the last bit of your rebellious spirit you have left.”
I glare at her with a playful venom.
She goes on and on as she helps me out, just so I can’t hate her for it. “Just think, tomorrow you’re going to be following all the latest fashion trends, listening to only what the Top 40 radio stations tell you to listen to, and caring deeply about celebrity gossip.”
Fox has the big trunk of my merch lifted up, and we head out into the parking lot. He stops by his truck, and pops open the door to put the cloth bag he was carrying with him inside. I take stock of what I’m assuming is his vehicle.
“That’s a bit of a whiplash.”
“Hmm?” He says, shutting and locking the door.
“Your truck is rusty and filthy. Just like every other truck out here.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
I gesture at him, all of his fancy clothes and his haircut that looks like it came from some sort of high end boutique.
“A good truck is a good truck. It still runs well and I haven’t even had to maintain it much. It belonged to my grandfather, even.”
“And you haven’t thought of getting a vehicle more suited to your current career and status?”
“My father has tried to pressure me to get a BMV or even a driver, but that sort of thing ain’t for me. If it starts, I’m going to drive it, and I’m going to keep driving it until it doesn’t start anymore.”
“You’re a very unusual man, Fox.”
He looks back at me. “Hearing such a thing from a girl like you? I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
We finish packing everything away in our vehicles, and all that’s left is him and I. I’m leaning against my car, which is just a typical hatchback sedan. It has good mileage while it can still haul things, and that’s all that I really care about. Fox joins me, his hips against my own. Respectable now, but with how quick we’re basically making a date out of it, I had doubts it was going to stay respectable for long.
