Christmas with the Devoted Mountain Man
(2026)(A book in the Christmas with Mr. Grump series)
A novel by Tiffany Bloom
Her GPS sent her up my mountain by mistake. The snow closed the road behind her. Nine days until Christmas, and I've already decided she's not leaving.
Charles
Twenty-two years in the firehouse taught me to read a building in four seconds. What's holding. What's about to come down.
Joyce Oakes pulls into my yard in a snowstorm, apologizing before she's out of the car. She's a museum conservator sent to authenticate the 1911 carousel I've spent six years restoring, and her paperwork lists my barn instead of the town square.
The snowstorm blocks the road behind her.
So I feed her. Warm her truck before she asks. Put my hands on her waist every time she climbs onto that platform, and I find plenty of reasons to need to. She goes quiet when I compliment her, like praise is something she has to earn back. Her ex taught her that.
I'm fifty-one. I don't need time to know what I want.
There's a horse under a tarp in my barn that nobody has seen. I started carving her face into the shield on the second morning.
Joyce
I restore beautiful things nobody looks at twice. Somewhere in the last eighteen months, I became one.
Charles Strauss doesn't ask what I need. Coffee appears at my elbow before I stand up for it. He warms my hands between his and looks at every curve I've spent years hiding like he's been waiting on it.
He walks me through the festival in the square, Christmas lights and woodsmoke, and the frozen thing in my chest starts to give.
I'm forty-nine. I thought the wanting part of my life was behind me.
Then my director books my flight for the twenty-sixth.
Christmas Eve, the carousel turns for the first time in forty years, and he pulls the tarp off the horse he's been hiding.
He never asked me to stay. He made me permanent and waited for me to catch up.
Tropes You'll Love
Possessive ex-firefighter woodworker hero
Curvy burned-out museum conservator heroine
Instalove (he falls first and never wavers)
GPS error meet-cute, wrong address, right man
Snowed-in mountain cabin forced proximity
Nine-day countdown to Christmas Eve
Small-town Christmas festival, lantern-lit square
She lost her Christmas spirit, he gives it back
Acts-of-service devotion and quiet competence
"Let me feed you" caretaking
He carves her into something permanent
Body-positive curve worship and praise
Size gap
Public small-town claiming
Found family, Granitehart Ridge brotherhood
Later in life, second chance at joy
Low-angst steamy holiday comfort read
Guaranteed forever HEA
This steamy escape delivers instalove, instant obsession, no cliffhangers, and no cheating. Safe, swoony, and just the right length for a satisfying binge.
What to expect from Tiffany Bloom's stories
My stories bring the steam and the heart, full of feeling, a little sweet, and a little addictive. You'll always get a safe, satisfying love story with a guaranteed HEA every time.
This book is part of the Christmas With The Grump series.
Genre: Romance
Charles
Twenty-two years in the firehouse taught me to read a building in four seconds. What's holding. What's about to come down.
Joyce Oakes pulls into my yard in a snowstorm, apologizing before she's out of the car. She's a museum conservator sent to authenticate the 1911 carousel I've spent six years restoring, and her paperwork lists my barn instead of the town square.
The snowstorm blocks the road behind her.
So I feed her. Warm her truck before she asks. Put my hands on her waist every time she climbs onto that platform, and I find plenty of reasons to need to. She goes quiet when I compliment her, like praise is something she has to earn back. Her ex taught her that.
I'm fifty-one. I don't need time to know what I want.
There's a horse under a tarp in my barn that nobody has seen. I started carving her face into the shield on the second morning.
Joyce
I restore beautiful things nobody looks at twice. Somewhere in the last eighteen months, I became one.
Charles Strauss doesn't ask what I need. Coffee appears at my elbow before I stand up for it. He warms my hands between his and looks at every curve I've spent years hiding like he's been waiting on it.
He walks me through the festival in the square, Christmas lights and woodsmoke, and the frozen thing in my chest starts to give.
I'm forty-nine. I thought the wanting part of my life was behind me.
Then my director books my flight for the twenty-sixth.
Christmas Eve, the carousel turns for the first time in forty years, and he pulls the tarp off the horse he's been hiding.
He never asked me to stay. He made me permanent and waited for me to catch up.
Tropes You'll Love
Possessive ex-firefighter woodworker hero
Curvy burned-out museum conservator heroine
Instalove (he falls first and never wavers)
GPS error meet-cute, wrong address, right man
Snowed-in mountain cabin forced proximity
Nine-day countdown to Christmas Eve
Small-town Christmas festival, lantern-lit square
She lost her Christmas spirit, he gives it back
Acts-of-service devotion and quiet competence
"Let me feed you" caretaking
He carves her into something permanent
Body-positive curve worship and praise
Size gap
Public small-town claiming
Found family, Granitehart Ridge brotherhood
Later in life, second chance at joy
Low-angst steamy holiday comfort read
Guaranteed forever HEA
This steamy escape delivers instalove, instant obsession, no cliffhangers, and no cheating. Safe, swoony, and just the right length for a satisfying binge.
What to expect from Tiffany Bloom's stories
My stories bring the steam and the heart, full of feeling, a little sweet, and a little addictive. You'll always get a safe, satisfying love story with a guaranteed HEA every time.
This book is part of the Christmas With The Grump series.
Genre: Romance