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His mouth covers mine in a desperate kiss.

The water sluices over us, the now-decreasing temperature cooling our heated skin.

“I love you,” Erik says once he lifts his lips from mine. “I love you so much.”

Tears burn in my eyes. “I love you, too.”

And the unspoken words I haven’t shared with him yet.

I want to spend my life with you.

Because I know, even now, that Erik’s my future.

We stay under the water for another minute or so, until goosebumps start breaking out across my skin. And of course, perfect, protective Erik notices immediately. He reaches over to flick off the water and steps out of the shower, still holding me. Then he sets me onto my feet, grabs one of the thick towels off the rack, and dries me off carefully.

Once he’s taken care of me, including toweling off my hair and combing the tangles from it gently, he wraps me in a plush robe before drying himself. Then he lifts me into his arms and carries me back into the bedroom, setting me down on the king-sized bed.

“Stay here,” he orders, giving me a mock-stern look. “Let me take care of everything.”

“Yes, sir,” I reply. Before he turns away, his eyes flare with interest. And I tuck that little nugget away to remember for later. For another time, when I can find out if that’s something else he likes.

Would I like it? Letting him dominate me a little? Calling him sir?

As I lay in bed, watching Erik stoking the fire in the fireplace, I decide I just might. Because I know it would only be pretend. Erik would never ask me to do anything I didn’t want to. Not my gruff on the outside but adorably protective and squishy on the inside boyfriend.

Once Erik has the flames going again—which doesn’t just add a nice touch of ambience to the room, but also a welcome warmth to the early November weather—he returns to the bed to give me another kiss. Little droplets of water still glisten in his beard and hair, picking up the hints of bronze and gold there. I touch his jaw as I ask, “Have I ever told you how much I like your beard?”

He blinks, surprised. “You do? I wasn’t sure. I’ve been using that oil, but if it’s still too rough, I could shave it off.”

“No way.” I’m adamant. “I like it. It makes you look all tough and dangerous and sexy.”

“Tough and dangerous and sexy?”

“Yeah. You look really hot when you get all intense and protective. And you get that dangerous gleam in your eye. Like when—” I cut myself off. Now’s not the time to bring up old memories of Erik having to protect me, no matter how sexy he looked in hindsight doing it.

“Anyway,” I hurry to continue, “You look sexy with your beard. So don’t you dare shave it off.”

Erik grins at me. “Well. I guess I’ll leave it alone, then.” Stepping back from the bed, he heads across the room to the door that leads to the hallway. Then he punches in a long code in the security keypad he set up the first day we got here; part of an extensive system with motion detectors on all the doors and windows and alarms set to sound if an intruder eventhinksabout trying to break in.

I know why he did it, and honestly, I’m glad. It makes me feel better, too. Because as much as I wanted this trip, and I’mtruly enjoying it, Iwasa little nervous about leaving the B and A ranch for the first time.

Erik opens the door and pokes his head out, doing a quick sweep of the hallway. Then he bends down to grab a large basket from the ground and brings it back inside, pausing to secure all the locks behind him.

“I ordered a selection of pastries this time,” he explains as he carries it over to the bed. “And bacon. I thought the carbs and protein would be good after our hike yesterday.”

“Sounds perfect.” My stomach rumbles in anticipation as soon as the scents of fresh cinnamon rolls and savory bacon hit my nose.

While I’m pawing eagerly through the basket of goodies, Erik turns towards the nightstand for a second. Then he climbs onto the bed with me and wraps his arm around my waist. He pulls the covers up to our waists and kisses me on the cheek. With a little chuckle, he asks, “So I guess you’re hungry, huh?”

I take a bite from the warm cinnamon roll, humming with pleasure at the decadent flavor of buttery dough and rich cream cheese frosting. “A little bit. I mean, I did work up an appetite. The hike up Dix Mountain yesterday, and then our shower… althoughyoudid most of the work for that.”

Erik gazes at me, completely ignoring the basket of food between us. “Did you have a good time yesterday? Hanging with my friends.” He stops. Amends, “Well, they’re your friends, now, too. In fact, I think they like you better than me.”

“Hardly. They love you, Erik. I could tell. But I liked them all a lot. Finn and Hanna are great, and I can’t wait to get out to Sleepy Hollow to visit them and the rest of the team. Enzo and Winter are awesome, and from what they told me about their little town, I’d love to see it. And Webb—he’s really nice, too. Kind of snarky, but not in a mean way. He’s just funny.”

“Hethinkshe’s funny,” Erik adds with a laugh. “But yeah. They’re all great. And I was really glad that you could meet them.” He pauses, his expression sobering. “I was thinking, now that things have settled down more. We could take more trips in between jobs. Head to Vermont, of course. And Sleepy Hollow. But maybe we could go out to the West Coast, too. Visit Tyler.”

“I think that would be really nice,” I reply. “I’d love to meet all your old teammates. And maybe in the summer, we can visit Ally and Julia again.”