Healing with the Mountain Man by Julia Stone

His best friend’s daughter is all grown up—and trapped with him in a thunderstorm.

Alani:

Dean was always a mystery—my dad’s buddy during the war, distant and unreadable.

When he answered my first email three years ago, I clung to those messages like lifelines.

Now I’m here, under his roof, and everything feels heavier than it did on screen.

He’s kind, but guarded. Protective, but cold.

I came to this mountain to find peace, but all I can think about is him—his silence, his scars, the way he looks at me when he thinks I’m not watching.

When the storm hits and the lights go out, there’s nowhere to hide.

Not from the past.

Not from the heat between us.

And definitely not from the truth neither of us is ready to say out loud.

Dean:

We agreed in the emails—if she ever needed a place to land, I’d be here.

It felt safe when it was just words. A promise I never thought she’d cash in.

But now Alani’s on my porch, suitcase in hand, asking if the offer still stands.

My best friend’s daughter. Twenty-one. All grown up.

I offer her the spare room in my cabin, tell myself it’s temporary, that I’m just helping her get her start.

She wants peace and quiet to chase her photography.

But there’s nothing peaceful about having her under my roof.

Not when her presence stirs things I’ve buried deep.

And when a storm rolls in, knocking out the power and trapping us together…

There’s no more hiding from the truth—or from her.