Shifter Mountain: A BBW Paranormal Romance (5 page)

Kay gulped.

"I see."

"I'm guessing that maybe he
will
have a problem with this financial arrangement?"

"Probably," Kay admitted.

"Well, like you said, he hasn't been around in a few days.  So we'll see what happens."

Jordan turned back towards his truck.

"Bob!" he called out.

Bob stuck his head out the window.

"Everything's a go," Jordan said. "I need you to head back to Nashville and get the camera crew together.  Take my truck, I'm staying here."

"You are?" Kay said.

"You are?" Jimmy said.

"Yeah.  I'm going to go check out that cabin you offered, Kay."

Jimmy looked at Jordan strangely.

"What?" Jordan demanded.  "I'm going to hold down the fort, so to speak, that's all."

"I'm not sure this is such a great idea," Kay said.  "I mean it's fine when you come back, and I have a chance to get the cabin ready."

"I'm going to stay, just in case your husband shows up, so we can hash this whole thing out.  I don't want you to get blamed for something that was my idea."

Jimmy shrugged, giving up easily.  He could tell that Jordan had his mind set.  He looked at his cellphone.

"Well, thankfully there's cellphone reception up here, so if you run into any trouble, you call me right away."

"Will do," Jordan said.

Jordan gave Bob the keys to his truck, and then he asked Kay to
show him the other cabin.

Bob watched Jordan and Kay disappear into the woods, and then he drove off, following Jimmy and his Jeep back down to the base of the mountain.

Chapter 6

Kay picked through the tall brush as Jordan followed her down a dirt path.  Maybe they had walked for about
15 minutes before they came upon a clearing.  The cabin she had led him too was larger than he expected and well built.

"This was the cabin my father rebuilt after we had a fire," she said.  "The old one burned down to the ground about eight years back."

"That's awful," Jordan said. "Was anybody hurt?"

"Yeah," Kay said. "My mother and two brothers.  They died in the fire."

Jordan slowed down a bit, but Kay kept walking.   She sounded too matter-of-fact-about it.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It was hard, but it was awhile ago.  I miss them, but..." then her voice trailed off.

"But what?"

"I miss my Momma," she said.  "My brothers...they were a bit like Cephas."

"Where's your father?"

"He died right after I got married."

"Was he like Cephas, too?"

"All the men around here are pretty much the same."

Jordan started thinking about the father he had but couldn't remember.  And about himself.  Then an unwelcome thought came to him.
If his mother had never left, would he have grown up to be this kind of man, too?  One who treats women like dirt?

Then he thought about the trick his mind had played on him when he threw a rock at that Hellbender.  Scopes Mountain was a strange and somewhat unlikeable place.  But that holler had called to him, with that view of Lake Surepa.  And he still wanted to know if he had kin up here.  Although, now Jordan was wondering if he would hate his kin once he met them, if they were no good.

"You said you grew up here?  When did you leave?"

"When I was three."

"You got family around here still?"

"I thought maybe.  That man at the
general store said my family's name sounded familiar, but they haven't been around these parts now for a long time."

"I thought people never left
Scopes Mountain," Kay mused. "They wish they could, but they can't."

"Can't?  Why not?  My mother did."

"Most of the time they can't.  But it sounds like your mother was the exception to the rule."

They had reached the porch by this point.  Kay opened the door and let them inside.  She opened the shutters on the inside of the windows to let the sunlight in.

"I have to say, this cabin is in better shape than I expected."

He wasn't just being polite.  The cabin wasn't even dusty and was fully furnished.

"I try and keep this place up," Kay told him.  "Quite frankly, it's nicer than my husband's cabin.

"How many beds?"

"The king size in the main room, and then three other bedrooms, one with a twin, and two with a double.  Even though after the fire it was just down to him and me, my father built the cabin back up to its original layout when there were five of us in the family."

"W
e've got a lot of people coming, so it seems most everyone will need to camp out.  Not a problem.  Part of the adventure for the crew.  We'll bring a good cook up for them, so they won't have anything to complain about.  And, I do believe I saw a first rate barbecue grill out there."

"Oh, yea
h," Kay said, flashing the second slight smile Jordan had seen yet today.  "My daddy knew how to barbecue.  Low and slow.  A whole pig overnight.  And his secret sauce, of course."

"I think every serious cook who grills has his own secret sauce," Jordan said, matching her smile with his own.

"Oh, no, my daddy's sauce really was a Big Secret," Kay told him. "One thing's for sure, Jordan Lawless, we got ourselves a lot of secrets here on Scopes Mountain."

Her voice was sweet and teasing, but hidden in that tease was a warning.  Jordan could feel it. She had accepted his financial offer, and he was hoping she was accepting a kind of friendship, but she was very much on edge.

Jordan glanced around the main room and saw a guitar leaning up against a wall.

"That also your daddy's?"

"Maybe it's mine," Kay said.

"Maybe?" he asked.

"Not maybe.  It's mine.  I play a little."

"Play me something," Jordan said.

"No way.  You're the professional.  I'm thinking maybe you should play something for me instead."

Jordan now felt a wave of confidence.  He always was at his best with a guitar in hand.

"I could play you one of the songs from my new album?"

"Which song are you doing the music video for?"

"Well, that's not a song I wrote.  I'm doing a cover of my mother's favorite song."

"Which song is that?"

"
High on a Mountain
," he said. "She used to sing it to me when she put me to bed when I was little."

"Well," she said. "That would indeed be a classic.  Let me hear your version of it then."

Jordan picked up the guitar, strummed a few chords to ensure that it was in tune to his liking, and then settled himself in the most comfortable chair he saw.  Kay relaxed on the couch.  She was suddenly aware she was about to get a private serenade from the hottest man on the Country and Western music charts, and it made her feel as wobbly as Jello.  Good thing she was sitting down.

Jordan's voice was a clear Tenor with wiggle room just above and below that range whenever he needed it.  His falsetto was as strong as his head voice, so he really was capable of delivering on a complicated melody.

Jordan strummed his guitar and eased into the first verse:

As I looked at the valleys down below
They were green just as far as I could see
As my memory returned oh how my heart did yearn
For you and the day that used to be

When he came to the refrain, he looked up to see Kay watching him with wonder.  The sun was starting to set outside, and the warm red of sundown streamed in through the windows, setting her countenance in a flattering light and setting off a sparkle in her eyes

 
  High on a mountain top wind blowing free
   Wondering about the days that used to be
   High on a mountain top standing all alone
   Wondering where the years of my life have flown

When he finished singing
the song, Kay stayed silent for a moment.

Jordan put the guitar down and stretched back in the chair.  It was nice, this moment just between the two of them.

"Well," she finally said.  "I'm guessing that Bluegrass isn't your usual style, but you sure have got that 'high, lonesome sound' down pat."

It was a real compliment.

"Thank you.  I wasn't so sure about it at first, but it feels right.  To put it on the album."

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"I could eat."

"How about I fry us up some catfish."

"I wouldn't say no," Jordan said with a grin.

They closed up the cabin and walked back to Kay's place in the dwindling light.  Inside, he noticed a marked difference between her family's home and this cabin where she lived with her husband.

"I just caught the fish this morning," Kay said, pulling out a brown paper package from the fridge. "So it's good and fresh."

"You go fishing often?"

"Ever since I was a kid."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Sure — grab a couple of mason jars and poor us a couple glasses of 'shine from that jug over there in the pantry.  You'll know it when you see it."

"'Shine," Jordan said with a laugh. "Now you're talkin'.  This the real deal or is it from the liquor store?"

"Made it myself."

"Made it yourself?" 

Now Jordan was impressed. Jordan hadn't had real moonshine since he was a teenager.  Knocked him on his ass.

"Am I gonna go blind?
"

"I know what I'm doin', Mister," Kay retorted.  She was busy dredging the catfish in flour, then through an egg batter, then back through some
breadcrumbs.  She had heated up oil in a skillet that was just about to bubble.

As she dropped in the fish filets, a small splatter of hot oil caught her on the forearm.  Kay realized she was being a little careless.  She was behaving a little to relaxed and free.  And if there was one thing she most certainly was not, it was free.

The momentary wince of pain made her remember that her life was not this easy.  It was not this good.  Her life was not about making dinner for a man she actually liked — a man who serenaded her and who would fetch a glass of moonshine when she asked, rather than the other way around.

Jordan returned to the kitchen with the jar of moonshine and the mason jars.  He poured them both a drink halfway up the edge.  Kay turned to look at him over her shoulder, quickly licking a couple of
breadcrumbs off her thumb.

"That sure smells like heaven, Kay," Jordan said. He handed her a glass of 'shine, which she managed with one hand, while her other hand dangled a pair of metal tongs over the quickly frying fish.  At just the right time, when the catfish was just the right shade of golden brown, she snatched them from the skillet and set them on a plate lined with paper towels to catch the draining grease. She placed the tongs down on the counter, then turned her full attention to Jordan and to her glass of 'shine.

"We call it
Sugar Fire
," she said.  "Have you tasted it yet?  Once you taste it you know why we call it
sugar
.  And..." she added with a devilish grin..."why we call it
fire
."

"Look at you, all proud of your moonshine," Jordan said. "No, I haven't tasted it yet.  I was waiting for you.
"

She blushed at that.

"Where's your still?" he asked her.

"It's back at the other cabin.  And I have two stills."

"How much you sell it for."

"$25 a gallon," she said. "$15 a pint."

A dark look crossed his face.

"How much of that money you get to pocket?"

"We have a 25/75 majority split with the sellers.  Then there's what we have to pay off the police and locals with."

"I mean," Jordan clarified, "How much do
you
get.  Versus your husband, I mean. Since it sounds like you do all the work."

Kay cradled her 'shine glass with both hands and looked away, feeling suddenly a bit ashamed.

"Sorry," Jordan said. "I didn't mean to pry.  Look, never-mind that.  We need to make a toast.  I say we make a toast to your catfish."

"You haven't tried it yet."

"But I can smell it, so I already know what I'm in for."

Kay chuckled.  She knew her catfish was to die for, even if Cephas never had complimented her on her cooking.

"Alright," Jordan said, "how about this: To our business arrangement.  And, hopefully, to a new friendship?"

Kay tensed up at that.  She really, really liked this man.  And increasingly she had to admit to herself, not in a friendly way. 
More than friendly. But there could be nothing more than that, and when Jordan Lawless — superstar Country and Western stud  — was done here with his music video, and done with Scopes Mountain, he would head back to Nashville, and to whichever gorgeous and more deserving woman, or women, were waiting for him in Music City.

Kay forced her
self to smile in order to put him at ease, and she let Jordan close the distance between them by clinking her mason jar with his.  Then they both took a sip.

Jordan could taste
the sugar in the 'shine, there was no doubt. 

He looked at Kay a
nd thought her lips might taste sweet like sugar, too.

To shake off the thought — which he knew he shouldn't be having about another man's wife – h
e took another sip from his glass, and then he tasted the fire, too.

"There's cinnamon in this?" he asked.

"You can't ask a woman to give up the secret to her moonshine!" Kay chastised him.  "I told you, Jordan Lawless, we've got secrets on this mountain."

"Yeah, I know you do," Jordan said. 
He grinned slyly.

"Maybe a little ginseng, too?"

"How — how did you know about the ginseng?"

"Where do you get it from?"

"The holler where you're filming.  Ginseng grows there.  All over the place."

Suddenly, Kay felt a cramp and clutched her side.

"Are you okay?" Jordan asked, immediately concern.

"It will pass," she gasped.  She had still not
fully recovered, it seemed, from the other night.

When she saw Jordan looking at her with such caring and concern, she felt a wall go up around her heart.  It was almost more painful than the cramping, to be the recipient of the kindness of a man, which was nothing she had ever been used to.