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“Let me check outside.”

“Rosey—”

“I’m just going to stand on the porch to see if the rain has started up again.”

She closes the door behind her, but not before a cold swirl of air whooshes inside to curl around my ankles.

She comes back inside. “It’s very black, but it’s not raining.”

“It’s not due to restart until around five tomorrow morning.”

“Star Falls has been good to me so far,” she says. “I have faith this place will come through the storm okay.”

I hope she’s right.

When all my ingredients are in the pan and the hours-long simmering process has begun, I turn to find Rosey staring at me. Has she been watching me the entire time I’ve been cooking? Our eyes lock, and a bolt of energy passes between us, like she knows I’ve been thinking about how she’d taste if I kissed her… everywhere. Like I know she’s thinking about how hard my chest would feel if she pressed her palm against it.

Her mouth parts. She runs her tongue across her bottom lip.

I’m mesmerized.

I’m good at compartmentalizing—like how I keep New York and the Colorado Club separate. How I don’t think about how I’m missing Monday nights with the guys while I’m in Star Falls. I don’t let myself think about how I walked away from everything I knew when I got to New York. I should be able to put Rosey in the box marked “employee” and move on.

But if I’d done that, I’d be up in the Colorado Club now, not down here in the cabins. I wouldn’t have been there when her ceiling started to leak. I wouldn’t be here now, wondering how I’m going to resist her for a full night.

“You want a drink?” I ask.

She nods, not taking her gaze from mine.

I don’t move to make her one. “Anything else you want?” I ask.

She nods again.

I know what she’s thinking. I knowexactlywhat she’s thinking. I want it too. I want to be in front of the fire, naked and under her, over her, inside her. I want to be kissing and sucking and licking and biting. I want to be exploring and wondering and making her moan.

I wanther.

I push a hand through my hair. “I’ll get you a drink.” I grab a glass from the cupboard and turn on the faucet. I need some iced water over my head right about now.

When I turn back to the living room, Rosey’s right there in front of me. I hand her the drink. Her fingers circle the glass, but I don’t release it. I can’t move. Don’t want to.

I scan her face, looking for signs that she doesn’t want this. All I see is her desire. Want. Need.

I pull the glass from her hand and put it on the counter behind me.

She’s stayed stock-still.

“Rosey,” I say. It’s a question.Do you want this as much as I want this? Can I kiss you? Can I have you?

“Yes,” she releases on a sigh. Then she nods, in case there was any doubt.

I close the distance between us and dig my hand into her hair, holding her in place. My eyes flit from hers to her mouth.

“Tell me no,” I say. It would be easier if she did. It would be far simpler if I didn’t have any entanglements here in Star Falls. The only label I want here is owner of the Colorado Club. I want any labels I’ve had in my past—son of Mack Miller, the kid whose father gambled away the farm, the boy whose father died—I want them all to dissolve until it’s just me and the Club, one entity, zero tragic backstory. I certainly don’t want to be the guy who fucks his employees.

But I can’t walk away from this moment unless Rosey tells me to.

She shakes her head. “I’m telling you yes.”