Mountain Boss

Mountain Men Series, Book 1

De: S.J. Tilly

Narrado por: Erin Mallon, Connor Crais

Courtney

I’m just so exhausted—always living on the edge of desperation, one paycheck away from ruin.

But this new job…

It could be the fresh start I need.

It could change everything.

The contract is only for three months, but if I keep my head down, work hard, and prove myself, maybe I could stay longer.

Maybe I could make Black Mountain Lodge my home.

As I pull down the gravel drive, surrounded by the forest and mountains and bright blue skies, I feel something I haven’t felt in a while.

I feel hope.

Sterling

My new employee is late.

I’m already in a bad mood about having to train him, still salty about my old guy retiring on me.

But while I’m waiting, a woman pulls up my drive.

A woman straight from my damn dreams.

Curvy and pretty, looking at me with wide eyes framed with sooty lashes.

And suddenly, I’m no longer thinking about my late employee.

But then she opens her mouth and asks for me, introducing herself as Courtney, my new hire.

Courtney. Not Court, like the application said.

And I realize there’s been a mistake.

I can’t have this woman working here. Living on my property. Distracting me. I mean, my staff.

No. She can’t work for me. End of story.

Except she won’t leave. She even threatens to sue me.

Fine. If she won’t let me fire her before she even starts, then I’ll just have to make her leave on her own.

©2025 S.J. Tilly LLC (P)2025 S.J. Tilly LLC

Hot Mountain Boss! ⛰️ 🥵

Courtney Kern (MFC) is struggling financially and has taken a maintenance position with Black Mountain Lodge for three months that includes lodging. She arrives at the lodge without realizing her boss, Sterling Black (MMC), assumed by her name, “Court”, that his new maintenance employee was a man, because all of his employees are men and the only place he has for her to sleep is the barracks with his men and that won’t work!

She’s not having any excuses for why he doesn’t want her working at this lodge so, she stays and their inevitable attraction grows more and more each day until Sterling acts on it.

Sterling is the boss, he’s controlling and demanding of her, but she’s not entirely sure where they are with what’s going on between them, but she does know that it’s not casual to her.

Excellent story, not sure why/who decided to do so many, extremely small chapters in this book and questioning why they also decided to break up smexy times with a new chapter???
The first few times it happened I thought Ms.Tilly was giving us a “fade to black” story, also known as a “closed door” romance 💘. Still no idea why anyone decided to do this 🤔, but alas it did continue to open scenes, just with the interruption of chapter breaks?

Anyway, 5⭐️, I enjoyed the story and all of the characters.

10/10

Oh my mountain boss!!!! SJ has exceeded expectations & this book was amazing. Courtney & Sterling are so beautiful together and the love story is so sweet

Loved the duet narration!

Loved the story! It was sweet and Sterling was the best grumpy cinnamon roll mountain boss with a dirty mouth 😂 The duet narration was awesome and both of them did an amazing job! The only thing that I really hated was the constant chapter changes with each POV! It was like, “I looked at her and thought she was cute”. CHAPTER 5,846- Courtney: “I stared into his handsome face thinking he was so grumpy, but I loved it!” CHAPTER 5,847…… It was so frustrating and was really distracting! Overall though, it was a good book 👍

Mr. Black

The ate this up in just a day!! I was smiling and kicking my feet the whole time. SJ Tilly truly knows how to write the best boyfriends. I love how hard Sterling fell for Courtney!! I might just listen to this whole audiobook again😍🙌🏼

SOOOOOOOO good!

This was such a quick sweet read, I truly love SJ's short chapters, although it seems overwhelming with the amount of chapters most of them are extremely small. With a light tone, just the right dash of drama, and plenty of heart, it’s the kind of story that makes you smile from start to finish. The short chapters and breezy flow made it nearly impossible to put down—reading it felt like a warm, cozy hug.

The story opens with Courtney en route to her new gig in the Colorado mountains, where she’s landed a maintenance job that comes with lodging. But instead of a smooth arrival, she’s met with an unexpected surprise: a brooding, ruggedly handsome mountain man who instantly sends her heart racing.

Sterling Black, the aforementioned mountain boss, was expecting a guy named Court—not a curvy, gorgeous woman with a determined streak. His initial instinct is to send her packing, but Courtney isn't going anywhere without a fight. Begrudgingly, he lets her stay, but since the main bunkhouse is all-male, she ends up in the lodge's laundry room, which comes with a bunk bed of its own. Despite his best efforts to stay distant, Sterling finds himself constantly distracted by the stunning woman now living under his roof.

There are a few early hiccups—like Courtney assuming Sterling intentionally gave her a bunk with no mattress but once he realizes the mistake, he immediately steps in to make things right.

The chemistry is electric, their flirty banter is on point, and watching them fall for each other is just pure fun. The way their relationship unfolds is both adorable and spicy, with plenty of swoon-worthy moments along the way.

Beyond the romance, the relationships in the book add so much warmth. Sterling’s crew has that tight-knit, brotherly vibe, and their camaraderie brings an extra layer of charm to the story. And let’s not forget Courtney’s quirky friendships—with a bear and a cactus, no less—which only add to the book’s whimsical feel. I truly loved every character in this book, they were all just so funny and like their own little family.

Connor Crais and Erin Mallon did AMAZING bringing this story to life!!!

spicy but female narrator annoying

The story was fine, adequately spicy. The male narrator was good, but the female narrators 's tone was soooo annoying. She ended every chapter with the same inflection, and there are a LOT of chapters. Listener beware.

DUET SJ Tilly?!?!?!?! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

FINALLY A DUET SJ AUDIOBOOK!! 🤩🤩
Another great SJ Tilly story.
Took me a while to like Sterling (Kind of like how it takes a while to like Vincent/Mr. Sin) but he's great to Courtney. Not too sad, very funny and cute.
Male narrator sounds like Jacob Morgan / Zachary Webber 😛😛

Too many short chapters!

There are waaaay too many way too short chapters! The story and narration is awesome! The short chapters interrupt the natural flow of the scenes and narration. Otherwise, it was great!

Holy. Freaking. Flannel.

STERLING BLACK. Mountain Boss. Grump. Posessive alphahole. Panty thief. Perfect. Are these not red flags, you ask?

Not when S.J. Tilly knows how to take the aforementioned alphahole and peel back the layers to show us loneliness, longing and need, to give us the soft center he has for one Court... er, Courtney... Kern.

In fairness, he's surrounded all day every day by men. Secluded. Set in his ways. Expecting a strapping new maintenance guy, he's in for the surprise and annoyance of his life... his guy is the woman of his dreams.

Courtney's graduated from the school of hard knocks, and is on her way to a PhD on the subject when this new job falls in her lap.

As determined as Sterling is to run her off (he's got no time for love, she blackmails him into letting her stay), she's as determined to win the "game" he's playing, so much so that she endures countless discomforts, hiding her shaky financial status, all while doing a bang-up job as the new maintenance person.

What neither counts on is their growing attraction and vulnerability that each exposes in the other. This is a most satisfying age gap, forbidden boss/employee, he falls first, steamy romance.

And who better to voice Courtney and Sterling in duet than Erin Mallon and Connor Crais? Both made me laugh, fume, cry and swoon over their performances of a pining, stalker-ish alphahole mountain man and his gritty, determined, curvalicious, braid-wearing spitfire.

I've been a fan of Tilly's since reading her Sleet hockey series, and I am officially now in my mountain man era.

Addicting

As with all of SJ Tilly’s books, I could not stop listening to! Definitely a slow burn but in a good way!