The Grumpy Lumberjack and the Curvy Planner
(2026)(Book 14 in the Lumberjacks of Evergreen Valley series)
A novel by Emily Crescent
He drove off while I stood on the town steps and everyone watched me break.
Marcus Reed: cedar and sawdust, flannel that fits like armor, hands built to haul beams and steady falling things. He’s blunt. He’s territorial. He’s the kind of man who doesn’t say ‘stay’ unless he’s already meant it and then terrified he’ll mean it wrong.
We haul an arch in a storm. He pins me under a tarp. He steadies my ladder. He tastes like coffee and rain and something that makes my knees fail. We steal a night in a truck. We bleed apologies with cookies and ribbon. I pin a ribbon to his jacket and he leaves. He fixes a sheared bolt while I watch the Mayor chew her nails. He rushes back. He promises. He promises again.
If he chooses the Jubilee, I lose him to duty and gossip. If he chooses me, he risks saying words that have broken him before. I’m terrified. I’m furious. I’m desperate.
He says he’ll stay. But will he choose me in public when every eye is on the truss—and on us?
Genre: Romance
Marcus Reed: cedar and sawdust, flannel that fits like armor, hands built to haul beams and steady falling things. He’s blunt. He’s territorial. He’s the kind of man who doesn’t say ‘stay’ unless he’s already meant it and then terrified he’ll mean it wrong.
We haul an arch in a storm. He pins me under a tarp. He steadies my ladder. He tastes like coffee and rain and something that makes my knees fail. We steal a night in a truck. We bleed apologies with cookies and ribbon. I pin a ribbon to his jacket and he leaves. He fixes a sheared bolt while I watch the Mayor chew her nails. He rushes back. He promises. He promises again.
If he chooses the Jubilee, I lose him to duty and gossip. If he chooses me, he risks saying words that have broken him before. I’m terrified. I’m furious. I’m desperate.
He says he’ll stay. But will he choose me in public when every eye is on the truss—and on us?
Genre: Romance