Emma woke the next morning with early dawn sunlight streaming across her face. She stretched from head to toe with a smile on her face.

She remembered every detail of last night. Every erotic moment. She’d never been made love to the way Aiden had. And she’d had two serious relationships. But this man she’d only met yesterday had turned her world upside down.

She was still wearing his shirt and shorts when she got out of bed. Curious to see what the day would bring, she padded with her bare feet into the living room.

There was a note on the couch.

Dear Emma,

I had to go out and help my brother tend the horses. If you want a fire, just light a match, and it should be good to go. There’s plenty of firewood already stacked next to the fireplace.

If you want coffee, it’s ready to brew. Just flip the switch. There are muffins in a canister on the counter and plenty of food for lunch in the fridge.

Oh, and in case you don’t want to work on your own stuff, my Kindle is on the end table. Download whatever you want to read.

I should be home to make dinner. Please make yourself at home.

Yours truly,

Aiden

P.S. You might want to wear my socks. They’ll stretch over your bandage.

Emma read the letter twice. And picked up the socks he’d left lying next to the note.

Did the man ever sleep? They’d been up well after midnight, then he was already up and out by dawn.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but she hadn’t expected to be left alone for the day. And she surely hadn’t expected her every need to be taken care of.

She gathered up her clothes and took a shower. The hot water running over her head felt heavenly. She stayed in the shower until the water cooled.

Back in her own clothes, she felt a little more like herself. She sat on the couch and examined her swollen ankle. She was getting some interesting discoloration. She wrapped one of the bandages Doc had left around her ankle. The wrapping wasn’t as pretty as what he had done, but it seemed to serve the purpose. She then pulled on Aiden’s socks.

Careful with her ankle, she went to the kitchen, turned on the coffee, and found some creamer in the fridge. While she waited for the coffee to brew, she ate a blueberry muffin at his kitchen table. The wall in the breakfast area was floor-to-ceiling glass, offering an astounding view of the lodge below. This view was breathtaking: a place she could enjoy working.

While sipping the hot coffee, she set up her MacBook on the table and transferred the video of the bears from her phone to her computer.

Since her secret plan of searching for shapeshifters had fallen apart, she reviewed some notes for her dissertation and opened the file to fill in a section she hadn’t had time to write.

She worked straight through for a couple of hours, then stood up and stretched. She walked over and lit the fire he had laid out in the fireplace. He’d been right. It caught immediately and brought warmth to the room.

She wandered back to sit at the table with her computer. But now she was distracted. She watched as two black bears came around from the back of the lodge and ran toward the mountain. Aiden’s dog Beau was with them.

At least it looked like Beau. It was hard to see from here. Didn’t dogs chase bears?

That jogged a memory from yesterday when she’d seen Beau with the bear that sent her off the edge of the boulder.

It was most peculiar. She would ask Aiden about it tonight. In the meantime, she went to the Internet to see if she could find anything about bears and dogs. Despite a few videos depicting heartwarming moments between polar bears and dogs, the consensus was that bears eventually ate their dog friends.

Beau and the bears disappeared into the woods, so she went back to the couch and put her feet up, letting the warmth of the fireplace drift over her. She picked up the Kindle on the end table and turned it on. Aiden had no books in his library. Why did he have a Kindle with no books? She downloaded the latest time travel novel by Isabella Quinn, one of her favorite authors, and began reading.

She read a few sentences before her thoughts wandered back to Aiden. To his handsome face. His hands against her skin. His lips on hers. Her body pressed against his as she trembled from the aftereffects of her own little storm.

The one thing she was certain about was that she wanted more. More of Aiden’s hands on her.