The Mountain Man's Devoted Refuge: A Steamy Later-in-Life Small-Town Romance (Granitehart Ridge Artisan Protectors)

Her food truck broke down, blocking my festival booth. She has two weeks to work the festival. I have two weeks to make her stay. Dane I left the firehouse to become a blacksmith, trading danger for the heat of a forge and a hammer in my hand. Now I forge custom blades at mountain festivals and keep my distance until a burned-out pastry chef breaks down in my vendor space. Tori Haring is all soft curves and creative fire buried under exhaustion. When she stumbles and I'm there to catch her, she fits against me like she was made for it. I see the way she carries too much, manages too much, and never stops until she breaks. She came here to make enough money to survive. She has no transportation and nowhere nearby to sleep. My cabin is close, and I'm not letting her stay anywhere else. Two weeks working side by side. Fire and sugar. My hands build her custom tools while hers create something beautiful. The whole town watches me claim her in small, deliberate ways. I bring her coffee. Build her tools. Stand between her and anything that gets too close. She only has fourteen days at this festival, but I've already started building her a kitchen. She thinks I'm moving too fast. I'm just making sure she can't leave. Tori I came to Granitehart Ridge for a two-week festival that could save my failing bakery. I didn't expect a silent, broad-shouldered blacksmith who watches me work like it matters, or who builds solutions to problems I didn't know how to voice. With Dane Vasser, I don't have to hold everything together. He forges. He steadies. He claims me when the old weight tries to pull me under. When my storefront lease calls with a start date that would pull me back to the city and the debt I've been running from, I have to choose: the life that's killing me, or the man who quietly built a place for me to stay. Leaving is the practical option. Staying means trusting the safest thing I've ever felt. He built me a kitchen before I knew I was staying. That's when I realized: he wasn't hoping I'd choose him. He already knew. Tropes You'll Love Possessive alpha blacksmith Ex-firefighter protector hero Curvy burned-out baker heroine Instalove (he falls first, claims hard) Food truck breakdown meet-cute Two-week mountain festival forced proximity Shared festival booth (Fire and Sugar) Acts-of-service devotion and competence He builds her a future Body positive worship and praise Size gap Public small-town claiming Later in life Low-angst, steamy 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. Part of the Granitehart Ridge Artisan Protectors series. Each book is a complete standalone with its own HEA, but the brotherhood and found family connections make them even better together. 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.