Read Jake (Men of Clifton Montana Book 1) for Free Online Page A

you could
come out here, Liv. I miss you.” Becca could feel the tears building up.
    “I miss you, too,
Becs. Have you met anyone?” Olivia laughed. “I sound like a scorned lover.”
    Olivia never failed
to make Becca laugh. Since they met in junior high school, they’d been
inseparable. Becca had wonderful parents, whereas Olivia was from the wrong
side of the tracks. For some reason, the two girls had clicked. Olivia had gone
from foster home to foster home but was never adopted. Becca’s parents took
Olivia in and wanted to adopt her but never got around to it before time ran
out. Olivia had grieved alongside her when Becca’s parents died as if they were
her own. Becca wanted Olivia with her but at least for now, it wasn’t going to
happen.
    “I’ll call Steve,”
Becca moaned. “I really, really don’t want to.”
    Olivia laughed. “Hey,
I have to look at him every day and listen to him whine. All you have to do is
call him.”
    Becca told her about
meeting Stan and the men of the ranch. How she’d met Emma, and Gabe Stone, but
it was when she talked about Jake that she felt her whole body going into
overdrive. She got hot just thinking about him.
    “I don’t know what
it is about Jake Stone. I know he wants me to sell the ranch to him and instead
of agreeing with him, I told him he’d never get his hands on it,” Becca said
with a groan. “I can’t believe I did that. Then he comes in here and finds me
in the tub--”
    “What? He found you
in the tub?”
    Becca explained
about the bathtub, the fire building, how he’d touched her hair and even how
she wondered if he was going to kiss her.
    “Did you want him
to kiss you?” Olivia asked softly.
    “Pffft…no,” Becca answered
in a long sigh, and then admitted the truth to Olivia and herself. “Yes. Damn it,
I did. He’s gorgeous, Liv.”
    Olivia laughed. “Who
would’ve ever thought you’d want a cowboy. They’re nasty.”
    That made Becca
burst out laughing. Olivia joined in. They continued to talk for a while before
deciding to call it a night.
    After hanging up,
she locked the doors. It was then she realized that Jake Stone still had a key
to her house.
    “Oooh,
that man!”  
    She traipsed
upstairs to get a blanket and pillow so she could sleep on the couch in the
living room. She would close the pocket doors and stay warm, and pray the power
stayed on.

 
 
 
    Chapter Three

 
 
    An hour later,
Becca had to go to the back porch to get wood for the fire so she ran upstairs
and put her boots on. As she was coming down the stairs, her foot slipped when
she was half way from the bottom. It happened so fast, she couldn’t grab onto
the banister. She knew she was going to fall, but there wasn’t a damn thing she
could do about it. Becca landed on her butt, bounced down the stairs, one at a
time, and hit the floor hard enough to bring tears to her eyes.
    “And that is why
your name isn’t Grace,” Becca grumbled as she sat on the floor stunned.
    When she tried to
stand, her ankle hurt too badly to put any weight on it. With little gasps of
pain, she pulled herself up to the bottom step. What was she going to do? She
needed to get wood. At that very moment, the power went out. Becca screamed out
of frustration. This night could not get any worse.
    With determination,
Becca hopped to the living room to get her purse to retrieve the small
flashlight she kept on her keychain, and then hopped to the kitchen to call
Stan. Biting her lips to take her mind off the pain, she picked up the phone. When
she found it was dead, a squeal of frustration escaped her lips. “Hell!” She
was wrong. This night could get worse. There was only one number for Stan and
it must be a landline, not a cellphone. Becca sat down at the kitchen table,
shaking with nerves. Her ankle ached like it was on fire. Then, her eyes landed
on the paper with Jake’s numbers on it.
    No. No way! She could not call him. Her
heart warred with her common sense.
    Just