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T he cool night breeze came across the lake, carrying the scent of autumn and pine. It teased at Aspen’s curls and tugged at the wool blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders. They hadn’t done more than sip wine and talk, but the evening had been one of the most memorable ones of her life.

Colt walked ahead of her, leading the way back to the cabin. The water lapping at the dock was the only sound breaking the quiet.

It was peaceful. Soothing.

“How can you see where you’re going? It’s pitch black.”

In front of her, he stopped walking and half turned to her. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. He directed it at their feet, giving her a better view of the path leading from the dock.

The glow also sent shadows dancing across Colt’s face. She studied the lines between his brows, wondering what secrets put them there.

As if sensing the serious turn of her thoughts, he looped out an arm and tucked her against his side.

“Cold?”

“A little.” She burrowed deeper into the blanket draped around her. There was no way the fibers still held the warmth of Colt’s body, but she imagined that they did.

“When we get inside, I’ll draw you a bath.”

Her skin thrummed at the prospect. “That sounds divine. And you don’t even have to heat water on a woodstove.”

When they reached the flight of stairs leading up to the house, she paused and looked back at the lake.

She had lost a lot. From those losses, she’d learned how to live. Stopping to soak in the moment was one of her ways of keeping the memory alive.

Colt stopped too. He didn’t hurry her into the house. Instead, he took in the quiet surroundings along with her.

When she was ready to continue, she squeezed his arm. He threaded his fingers with hers and they mounted the steps to the cabin.

Once they were inside, he set the picnic basket he’d carried on the kitchen counter and went straight to the master bathroom. She trailed behind at a more leisurely pace, enjoying the view of Colt’s muscled body as he leaned over and switched on the tub faucet.

Water trickled out, tinkling in calming music into the modern oval tub. Aspen shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and folded it, then set it aside on the vanity.

Her lover opened a cupboard and withdrew a fancy bottle. When he tipped some fragrant oil into the bath water, she stepped up beside him and dragged in a breath through her nose.

“That smells amazing. What is it?”

He showed her the bottle with a handwritten label. “Something my sister found in town. There’s a night market every weekend.”

“Oh! Clients will love that event!” She pulled out her phone to make a note.

Colt chuckled and placed the bottle back in the cabinet. He extracted a fluffy white towel and draped it over the heated rail. Finally, he flipped a switch on the wall. Warm orange flames came to life in the fireplace, licking at a gas log.

“I’ll leave you to it.”

She set aside her phone and reached for him. “What are you going to do while I relax in this awesome tub in front of the fireplace?”

He directed a lock of her hair behind her ear, a small smile playing on his hard lips. “What would you like me to do?”

She shot a look at the tub and then back to him. “Join me?”

Surprise lifted his dark brows. “You want me to get in the tub with you?”

His question gave her pause. Maybe it was a little too romantic for the likes of the former SEAL, but she wasn’t going to back down now. Her momma always told her to own it.

Taking a step back from him, she reached for the hem of her top. With only a beat of hesitation, she pulled it over her head. Still grasping the fabric, she dropped her arms, letting the cloth graze the floor.

Colt’s eyes hooded as he zigzagged his gaze over her breasts. They filled out the bra cup in the perfect B she’d requested from the surgeon. She could have had any size she wanted, but she only wanted the size she’d been born to have, nothing more, nothing less.

She released the top, and it puddled by her feet. She unfastened her jeans next, aware of the low tingles darting through her belly at taking off her clothes for Colt again.

She wasn’t usually so insatiable, but something about spending time with the hunky man made her body come alive. Soon they’d go their separate ways. She wanted all the good memories she could get.

He whipped off his shirt and tossed it. She followed the arc of the garment as it flew straight into the sink.

“Nice shot.”

He chuckled. “Thanks.” Veins snaked up his strong arms as he reached for his belt. In a few quick moves, he had his belt unbuckled and his fly unzipped.

Behind his tight black underwear, his swollen cock stretched clear up to the waist of his open jeans.

She darted her tongue over her lips, practically tasting that salty-sweet flavor of his precum.

When she stripped away the rest of her clothes and dipped one toe into the tub, he stepped up, offering his hand. Warmth spread through her chest as she accepted his assistance as she stepped into the tub.

She sank into the heated depths. Seated in the center, she felt small. “This is huge compared to that horse trough.”

“I hope so. It cost a hell of a lot more.” He stepped in behind her. Water surged up her skin, and then he sat down, taking up all the space.

“You’re big. Guess you needed a big tub.”

He stretched his long, muscled, hairy legs on each side of her and hooked her around the waist, drawing her back against him. With a sigh, she rested her head on his chest and let the heat and sweet bath oil work to relax her.

That seemed impossible when every fiber of her being shivered on the edge.

She’d expected this to get very sexual. Instead, it was sensual.

He settled his fingertips into the muscles on the back of her neck and began lightly kneading it.

She let out a low moan. “That feels so good.”

His breath tickled over her earlobe. “You like being pampered.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“Me.”

She twisted to shoot him a look. “You don’t enjoy a good massage or breakfast in bed?”

“I might if I ever experienced those things, but I haven’t.”

She sputtered. “You’ve never even had a massage?”

“Nope. I played baseball in high school, but I wasn’t going to be one of those pansies who needed the trainer to rub them down all the time.”

“Colt.” She stared at him. “You don’t always have to be the toughest guy in the room.”

The noise he made in the back of his throat was part grunt, part chuckle.

Before he could guess her intention, she climbed out of the tub and got back in behind him. Wrapping her thighs around his waist, she leaned in close to whisper in his ear.

“Relax.”

“Hmph.”

She pressed her fingertips into the stiff muscles on the back of his neck. Using the water on her fingers, she skimmed her hand up and down his neck. When she felt him begin to relax, she moved a hand to each shoulder and started working what felt like years—maybe decades—of tension out of his muscles.

She had no idea what hour it was, and she lost herself in giving back to the man who’d shared his space so generously with her. Touching a man at all was strange. Touching one without the intent to gain sexual pleasure… Well, that was very different for Aspen.

“I bet you bring all the ladies here.”

She felt him go still.

“I figured you guessed by now that I don’t date.”

She stopped working on the tense knots on his shoulder blades. “Never?”

“Never.”

She drew in a breath to share that she didn’t go out with the opposite sex often either, but a vibrating sound came from somewhere nearby.

“That’s your phone.”

“Oh!” In a flurry, she rose from the tub and made a dive for her device she left on the counter. Water dripped off her skin, but she ignored it as she skimmed the text she just received.

With a slosh, Colt emerged from the tub. He grabbed the towel off the heated bar and swathed her in it, then grabbed a second for himself.

She glanced up from her phone to find him staring down at the screen. “Thank you,” she said absently.

He scrubbed the terrycloth over his bare chest like it had offended him. “Who is texting you at eleven-thirty at night?”

“The client who wants a cozy cabin retreat.”

He leaned in closer to read over her shoulder. “‘Let’s plan a trip to Wyoming’ doesn’t sound like a client to me.”

She peered at his face. “Are you jealous?”

“Hell no. You’re free to do as you please.”

“Colt. I can assure you that I’m a free woman and this is my client. He’s a billionaire—he is eccentric. If he gets the idea to take a vacation, he texts me right away, even at eleven-thirty at night.”

He leveled her in a flat look that said he didn’t buy her story but he wasn’t going to argue about it. He swiped the towel over his shoulders.

“Billionaires keep weird hours. He’s actually married, and he wants to plan an anniversary trip for him and his wife. I expected something like this would come up soon…”

Another text rolled in, and she redirected her attention to the screen. This message had her biting down on her lip. “He needs me to find a place now —or he’ll find someone who can. I can’t let that happen. I was afraid of this. It’s the reason why I was searching in Montana for a retreat. I thought this client would want to go to Montana because he loves fly fishing there. Now I only have a few hours to find a place for them in Wyoming!”

Colt lowered the towel from his body. Aspen didn’t know what to focus on. His big, hard body was very distracting, but she needed to focus on her job. Her business was her life.

But does it have to be?

“I don’t see the issue, princess. I live in Wyoming.”

Agitation sputtered inside her veins. “But we didn’t find any places to add to my catalogue!”

He stepped up to her. Took the phone from her hand. “I know a place.”

Then he lowered his mouth to hers in a hard stamp that felt like he was leaving his mark on her soul.

* * * * *

Colt couldn’t resist the draw of Aspen’s warm, damp body. He cupped her ass and hauled her naked body up against his.

She issued a rasp of surprise.

“Like you don’t know I’ve been aching hard in that tub with you, waiting for the minute I could take you.” He ground out the words at the same time he ground his stiff cock against the V of her thighs, raising a sharp cry of want from her.

He was acting like a possessive dick, but he couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t like the idea of any man texting Aspen after business hours, and certainly not when she’d just been naked with him.

Later on, when he located his wits again, he would give that thought the time it deserved. Right now, he was going to get what he wanted. And he wanted the taste of her pussy on his lips.

Sliding his hand between her damp thighs, his fingers met her slick folds.

“Colt!”

He circled her clit two times, then three…and shoved two fingers into her channel. Her tight walls clamped around his digits.

Her body bowed. Supporting her quaking limbs, gaze fixed on her beautiful face, he thrust his fingers in and out of her pussy.

Her soft moans drove him even crazier. For a moment, he felt his grasp on control slip.

No. He refused to slake the dark need pounding in his balls until she came first.

He captured her mouth, delivering kisses that drugged him as much as her. Each juicy push of his fingers inside her brought another cry to her lips.

When he dropped to his knees and met her gaze, he saw the knowledge of what he was about to do ripple through her vivid green eyes.

Planting his hands on her rounded thighs, he parted them and buried his tongue in her sweet folds.

She sucked in a harsh gasp and grasped his shoulders. Rocked her body into his mouth as he swirled his tongue around her clit. The points of her nails sank into his skin like tiny sharp daggers.

Damn, he loved that. He’d never been one to tolerate a woman clawing him, but he wanted to feel the sting of Aspen’s nails on his flesh as he drilled her.

She arched, rolling her curvy hips forward.

He thrust his fingers deep again while trapping her hard nubbin beneath his tongue. The push and pull of her body with his, as he gave her what she needed and she took it without apology, had his cock throbbing.

“Come for me, princess. Then I’m going to thrust my cock inside you while you’re still coming and make you come again.” He lapped at her faster.

“Colt! Oh yes! Yesss!” Her body quaked with tension as he drove her on and on without mercy.

When she let out a groan, he curled his fingers against her G-spot and suctioned his lips to her clit.

In a rush, she let go. Pulsing. Contracting. Liquid heat bathed his fingers and threw him off the edge.

True to his word, he jerked to his feet and lifted her, turning for the bedroom in the same move. In eight steps he reached the bed but it was eight too many.

And getting a goddamn condom in place took even more precious seconds. By the time he had his cock at her entrance and ensnared her in his gaze, her orgasm was over.

But her eyes still burned with desire.

“I need to start timing this better.”

“Next time! Get inside me!” Her urgent whisper stole the last thought in his brain.

In one hard jerk, he filled her. To the hilt.

She wrapped her legs around his back and rode each plunge of his cock. The smooth, slick glide in was torture. The tight, gripping withdrawal was torment.

“Deeper. Colt, I need you deeper.”

He slid a hand under her ass and held her off the mattress at the angle they both craved.

Her eyes rolled back in her head.

Yes, that was the face he wanted to see her wearing, morning, noon and night.

With a disjointed rhythm, they galloped toward the pinnacle of bliss. The music of their bodies and cries flooded the air. He felt her clamp around his stiff length as her orgasm struck…and he was a goner.

He came in hard, fast pulses. Over and over again, he filled her until the final jolt of electricity rendered his brain mush. He collapsed on top of her. She lay still beneath him, the rise and fall of her chest the only indication that he hadn’t killed her with pleasure.

When he lifted his head and met her stare, he couldn’t stop a cocky grin from taking over his face.

“You look pleased with yourself.”

“You know it.”

“I guess you should be. Two orgasms in about five minutes.”

“I can do better.”

She issued a throaty giggle and kissed him with a tenderness that ignited sparks much, much higher in his chest.

He liked the travel concierge. He liked her brains, her wit and her outlook that when life handed her lemons, she made lemonade. She made him smile more than he had in years. Hell, maybe ever.

What would his family think?

He rolled off her and couldn’t resist delivering a pinch to her bottom.

“Hey!” She giggled.

“You’d better get a good night’s sleep. We head out first thing in the morning.”

She eyed him, suddenly serious. “You said you know a location in Wyoming? Why didn’t you just take me there in the first place?”

“I couldn’t have taken you there. You needed a place to stay overnight while your plane got fixed. And you were bent on visiting those dumps in Montana.”

She groaned and plastered a hand over her face. “Do we have to think about those places ever again?”

“Sometimes you have to look back to see how far you’ve come.”

Her beautiful eyes took on a glint of emotion. “That’s really beautiful, Colt. And deep.”

“I can do deep.”

She trapped her lip between her teeth. “Pretty sure you just did.”

They burst out laughing.