It felt good to stretch his legs after being cramped up in the airplane for so many hours. Rhett adjusted the canvas rucksack over his shoulder as he strolled through the airport. He felt a buzzing coming from his pocket and he fished his phone out, seeing an email from Carter.

Rhett—

Family emergency’s taking me to Portland. My CFO, Nat, is going to be escorting you to the ball. Trust me, you’re in better hands with her than me. She’s the real deal. She’ll get you talking with the people you need and you’ll get investors by the end of the night. I gave her your number, she’ll be texting you plans to meet up. I’m really sorry, but there’s a chance I’ll still be in Portland when you get back and we’ll have a beer.

—C

Rhett frowned, typing a quick message back that it was fine and he hoped everything was okay. He made a mental note to check in with the Daniels when he got home. Carter’s parents were great—he’d spent every winter break in college with them—and the past few years they’d brought Olivia up to River Run during the summers to ride horses and enjoy the mountains.

As he navigated his way out of the airport, his phone buzzed again, this time it was a text from a New York number he didn’t recognize.

Hi, this is Nat Banks. I’ve sent a town car to meet you at the airport and I have Carter’s keys at the offices for you.

He sent a text back: No worries, I can take a cab. See you soon.

Almost immediately, a text flashed back on his phone: You will not take a cab. The car is waiting for you. Take it.

“Someone’s bossy,” he muttered under his breath as he made his way outside. The hustle and bustle of the people getting picked up filled his senses as he peered around, spotting a sleek black town car and a young woman with a sign that said Mr. Oakes.

“Hi,” he said, coming up to her. “I’m Rhett Oakes.”

“Ms. Banks sent me for you, sir,” she said. “She wanted you to come by the Purely Pleasure offices?”

“She’s the boss,” Rhett said, his curiosity about this Ms. Banks thoroughly piqued. He got in the car, leaning back against the plush seat as his driver navigated out of the maze of the airport and towards the city.

Carter had spoken of Natalie Banks a few times, now that he’d thought about it. Something about her being a whiz with numbers and being organized as hell to boot. When it came to Carter that was sure to be a blessing. His friend was a great guy, but he was prone to getting distracted by thinking about an invention and wandering off after leaving the stove on. Or the faucet. Or one memorable time when they were roommates: both. Thankfully the fire damage hadn’t been too bad, being slightly combated by the water damage.

He was grateful he’d been able to call Carter up for help. Inheriting River Run, the 1800 acre retreat his grandfather had owned, last year had been a surprise. He wasn’t exactly the golden child of the family—more like the black sheep. There’d probably been a lot of rumblings amongst his cousins, but it wasn’t like they could contest the will—not if they wanted to get what was left to them in it, which was his grandfather’s outdoor gear company. Oakes Sporting Goods was a large company with stores all across the country and it had been his grandfather’s pride and joy. Which was probably why it had been left in the capable hands of his cousin Emmy instead of someone like Rhett, who wasn’t suited for city or company life.

Maybe that was why Grandpa had left him River Run instead. Maybe he had finally understood in a way his parents never seemed too—the desire to exist in nature, with himself, with his animals, surrounded by mountains and trees and not much else.

Maybe his grandfather had seen that he did have ambition—a lot of it, actually—but it wasn’t the same kind as the rest of his family, where everything was a competition or a battle and no one really ever won or fought clean.

He wanted to do good. To preserve the land that had been entrusted to him. To celebrate it and have others lives enriched by it. If he was able to expand the lodge the way he wanted, the revenue it would bring could mean Rhett would have a working wildlife rehabilitation center up and running within a year.

He lost himself in the thoughts about what an angel investor would do for River Run as they made their way into the city and to the Purely Pleasure offices. When the car pulled up to the tall skyscraper, Rhett got out of the car.

“Ms. Banks is waiting for you on the 30^th floor,” his driver said.

“Thanks,” he said, digging in his pocket for a tip, but she held out her hand.

“That won’t be necessary, sir,” she said.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Ms. Banks has taken care of it.”

“Ms. Banks takes care of everything,” she said with a wry smile.

“I guess I’m about to find out,” he said. “Thanks for the ride.”

He went inside the skyscraper, happy to escape the noise and bustle of the city for the relatively quieter hustle of the office building. He took the elevator up to the 30^th floor, stepping inside a sleek lobby with the words Purely Pleasure above the receptionist’s desk.

“Can I help you?” The receptionist, a tall guy with a plaid bow-tie and matching suspenders looked up from his computer, his eyes widening a little as he took in Rhett.

“Ms. Banks is expecting me. Rhett Oakes.”

“Of course,” the receptionist said. The little plaque on his desk said his name was Tom. “If you’ll follow me.”

Carter had clearly done well for himself, Rhett thought as he followed Tom through the hall. There were rows of sleek glass-walled offices, women and men working hard in each of them. At the very end of the hall, the guy came to a halt.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Tom asked.

Rhett shook his head. “I’m good.”

“Then you can go right in,” he said.

“Thanks.”

Rhett knocked lightly, and a voice called, “Come in.”

He opened the door, stepping inside, and that’s when he saw her.

He wasn’t sure what he had expected. In all his stories about Natalie, Carter had never mentioned what she looked like.

One glance at Natalie Banks and Rhett was wondering if all those years of squinting at a microscope had messed with Carter’s eyes, because she was one of the most strikingly beautiful women he’d ever seen in his life.

Her hair was wildly curly, exploding around her face like it had a mind of its own. Her eyes were wide and dark, endlessly warm, like the depths of a campfire on a snowy day. And her lips…

God, those lips. Lush. Full. Painted a teasing, bright red.

They were begging for his kiss.

She looked up and instead of her gorgeous lips spreading into a smile, they pursed a little and her dark eyes flashed and swear to all that was holy, he tried to ignore the spike of arousal that hit him. But she looked so annoyed at him.

And it was so damned hot. He loved bossy women. Loved a challenge. Someone who could meet him step for step—in life, in bed, in intelligence, in adventures. It’d been a long time since he’d had that. Too long.

“You must be Rhett,” she said.

“I am.”

“I’m Nat,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you. You got in the car. I’m surprised.”

“You really didn’t have to send me a car,” he said. “I could’ve found my way here.”

“Carter has asked me to make sure you have everything you need,” she said. “You needed a ride.”

Everything I need? He thought, his mind going to a very dirty place, very fast. The idea of wrapping his hand in those gloriously messy curls and bringing her lips against his was exactly what he needed.

“So I hear you’re my date tomorrow,” he said, sitting down in the chair across her desk. Was it his imagination or did her eyes flare again—and this time with a different kind of heat—as he stretched his long legs out?

“If you’ll have me.”

“Are you kidding? I’ll be the most envied man there.”

And there it was: color, climbing across the high sweep of her cheekbones. He felt a little thrill in his stomach, unable to stop the smile spreading across his face.

He wasn’t the only one in this office who was a little turned on.

A reluctant smile tugged across her lips.

Make that a lot turned on.

“You’re a charmer” she declared.

“I try,” he said. “Gotta be amusing some way. I don’t get out often.”

“Carter said you were quite the wilderness enthusiast.”

He laughed, unable to stop himself.

“What?” she asked.

“The way you said “wilderness enthusiast” is like how some people say “outhouse”,” he said.

She scowled at him. “I am not some wilting city flower,” she said. “I’ll have you know that you’re talking to a girl scout, a 4-H champion and a future farmer of America.”

“Wow, what happened?” he asked and it startled a laugh out of her.

“Life. College. And I didn’t exactly want to run a 2,000 acre cattle ranch like my Daddy hoped I would.”

So she was a rancher’s daughter. He wouldn’t have called that, looking at her. She was so polished and put together. Except for that wild hair. “That where you come from?” he asked.

“Yeah, up near Portland. Carter said your place is in Oregon?”

“Near Mt. Hood,” he said.

“It’s beautiful up there,” she said.

“I love it,” he agreed. “It’s all I ever wanted. Some land.”

“And now you have it,” she said.

“I just need the money to make it something special,” he said.

“Well, that’s where I’ll come in,” she said. “Did Carter give you a rundown of the Ball?”

He shook his head.

“It’s one of the biggest events of the winter season,” Nat explained. “Everyone who is anyone in New York will be there. All the rich investors who would be interested in a project like yours. Carter gave me a list of people he wanted to introduce you to, but I’ve added more from my own personal acquaintances as well. People I know who’d be drawn to something outdoorsy like this.”

“Did Carter explain to you why I’m doing this?” he asked.

She frowned, her delicate eyebrows knitting together. He instantly wanted to soothe the worry from her face. The urge, his reaction to her, he needed to get it under some kind of control. Especially if he was going to spend the next night with her trying to woo investors. “To improve and expand your lodge, correct?”

“That’s one part of it,” he said. “You see, I own a lot of the undeveloped land to the east of the lodge as well. Almost a thousand acres. If I play my cards right and get the right investors to really improve the property, I can make River Run a vacation destination. And the lodge and cabins and guests will pay for what I really want to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“I’m not a hotelier, Natalie,” he said. “I just happened to have Grandpa who knew I liked the woods so he left me this. I didn’t ever expect to manage something of this scope. I went to school to be a vet. I specialize in wild animals. I studied wolves for several years. Those thousand undeveloped acres? I want to turn them into a wildlife sanctuary. Eventually open up an entire education and rehabilitation center. But I can’t do any of that without funding. Without creating this luxurious retreat for my guests. If the lodge can fund the wildlife sanctuary, I’d be the happiest damn man in the world.”

“That’s a very noble goal,” she said.

He shrugged. “I’ve always gotten along better with animals than with people.”

“Even the wild ones?” she asked.

He grinned. “Especially the wild ones.”

She blushed again and he was starting to think he might make it his calling in life to keep making her do that, it was so beguiling.

“Well, I think there are a few people who’d be very interested in investing in your venture,” she said. “Off the top of my head, Wyatt Jamison would be the perfect fit.”

“The billionaire real estate guy?” Rhett asked skeptically.

Nat nodded. “I know him through some mutual friends,” she said. “He’s flashy, I know. But he’s very into mountaineering and extreme winter sports, so something like this might interest him.”

“I don’t want to work with anyone I can’t respect,” he said.

She shot him an incredulous look. “If someone’s going to fork over a few million dollars to you, it shouldn’t matter.”

“But it does,” he said. “This property isn’t just an investment. It’s my family. Their blood, sweat and tears are in every inch of that land. All my grandfather’s work. I don’t take that lightly.”

She was quiet for a moment and he was half-afraid she might laugh. He knew if she did, all the heady attraction he was feeling would dissipate.

But instead, she nodded. “That’s…incredibly bad business,” she said. “But I understand.”

“You do?”

She bit her lower lip, causing his stomach to tighten unbearable, his focus drawn to that little spot. “You’re an idealist,” she said. “Noble. A straight-shooter.”

It had been a long time since he’d felt so fully understood so quickly by someone he’d just met. “I try to be.”

“Okay,” she said. “Then this is how I see this working: you keep being your noble self. And I’ll be the barracuda that keeps that bad investors away.”

Something warm was filling his chest, something like happiness and relief and a surety he’d never really touched until this moment, until this woman, who’d he known barely 30 minutes, offering to have his back, to be his sidekick, his partner in this little adventure, to get him what he needed.

“That sounds perfect,” he heard himself saying.

A smile crept across her face and in that moment, he had a flash of knowing that he tried to ignore.

But damn, this woman might be the end of him. In the best possible way.