Rhett woke up to a cloud of curls in his face and a pounding on his door. Groaning, he buried his face into the soft skin at the back of Nat’s neck, pressing a sleepy kiss there as she began to stir.

“Who is that?” she murmured.

Rhett sat up, staring at the clock on his bedside table. It was nearly eight o’clock. What? Shit. He jerked out of bed, spinning around, looking for his clothes.

“What time is it?” Nat asked, rubbing her eyes as she struggled out of the veritable cave of blankets she had somehow formed in the night.

The knocking on his door was getting increasingly frantic. Who was that? He grabbed his phone and realized it was dead. He hadn’t plugged it in. He’d been… distracted.

It hit him all over again, then and there, as he stood there, stark naked in his bedroom, a pair of jeans in one hand and his phone in the other as he looked over her in his bed. The pleasure the sight gave him was immeasurable. It felt undeniably right, waking up next to her. Even if he had been jerked out of his sleep by whoever was at his door.

Who was at the door? The knocking hadn’t ceased, and he pulled on his jeans, giving up looking for a shirt for a second. “Stay there,” he said.

“I really should get up,” Nat said, flipping a dark wave of curls off her face, yawning. “Work, you know.”

“Nat, I want to make you breakfast. And we need to…” he was about to say they needed to talk, but someone started shouting his name outside.

“I gotta…” he jerked his thumb at the door and she nodded.

He hurried down the stairs and across the living door to the hall, opening the front door. Jess, his manager was standing there, two men behind her.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Jess said, her blue eyes round with anxiety. “But these gentleman showed up and have been insisting I shut off the water lines that feed into the bathhouse and the sanctuary. I told them that of course I couldn’t do that, but they have been very insistent they talk to you.” The look on her face told him she was pissed, but she was a hospitality professional and wasn’t going to let it show in her voice. “They grew so insistent that I thought it best that I bring them over here, since I couldn’t get you on your phone.”

“Thank you, Jess,” he said. “I appreciate it. I can take it from here.”

She nodded, turning on her heel and stalking off, shooting a quick glare at the two men before she did.

“Gentleman,” Rhett said. “I assume Mr. Durbin sent you regarding the water rights?”

“We’re here to serve you with a cease-of-use of all water rights pertaining to land parcels 456 and 458,” said one of the guys, slapping a manila envelope onto Rhett's chest. Rhett raised an eyebrow at the guy, wondering if he knew how much fire he was playing with. He was a man who was slow to rile when it came to a physical fight, but when he was riled—watch out.

“And Mr. Durbin has directed that we personally observe the shut-off of said water sources and get video proof of it. For the legal record, of course.”

Rhett opened the envelope, scanning the document. Then he tore it in half. The burlier of the men’s mouth pressed together in a mean, assessing line. Rhett smiled back, a smile that was more of a snarl, with teeth and gum.

“Unfortunately, you gentleman have wasted a trip out here,” Rhett said. “Lucky for you, it’s a gorgeous drive back to the city.”

“You can tear up as many copies as you want,” said Mr. Burly. “I’ll just call the sheriff to come out here and enforce the rule of law. Mr. Durbin is doing you a favor by not just showing up with deputies in the first place.”

“How thoughtful of him,” Rhett drawled. “But Mr. Durbin’s little legal loophole is no longer valid. He based his entire claim on the fact that I was an unmarried man. That’s no longer the case.”

Mr. Burly’s thick eyebrows drew together in confusion as he looked at his partner. “You’re lying,” he said.

“Honey? Are you going to come back to bed? I miss you.”

Rhett turned and his heart nearly ripped out of his chest as he caught sight of her. She had on his button-up from last night, only a few buttons actually fastened, her long, tan legs going on for miles, her hair the very definition of sex hair, and the look on her face… all heat and newlywed desire.

She giggled—an entirely un-Nat-like giggle. “Whoops, I didn’t realize we had company. Don’t be long.”

She waltzed away, closing the door behind her.

Rhett turned back to the two men, eyebrow raised. “My wife, gentleman,” he said. “She’s smart as hell and gorgeous, and I finally wore her down with my charm. I guess I’m just lucky when it comes to timing. We weren’t even thinking about how it would effect Mr. Durbin’s plans. Give him my regards. And tell him that my edict stands: He sets foot on my property, we’re gonna have trouble.”

Without another word, he turned and walked back into the house, closing the door behind him.

Nat was standing in the hallway, an expectant look on her face.

“Did it work?” she whispered, tip-toeing over to the door, peering through the peephole. “They’re leaving!”

“You were great,” he laughed.

“I figured a lusty visual would help,” she said, with a cute little flourish that made him want to grab her hips and pull her against him and kiss her. “Now they’ll go running back to Durbin, and he’ll realize his plan is foiled. I would high-five you, but last time I tried to do it with Maddy, she made fun of me.”

A smile tugged at his lips as he held out his palm, and her eyes lit up as she slapped it against his. But instead of pulling apart, his palm slid against hers, and he pulled her gently forward, slow enough to give her time to pull away if she wanted.

She stepped closer to him, her thumb rubbing against the back of his hand.

“Hi,” she said softly, her gaze dropping away from him, like she was feeling too shy to meet his eyes.

“Hi,” he said.

He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to drag her back to bed and spend the rest of the day learning her body even better. But he needed to check on the bear cubs, and Durbin’s cronies would be informing him of Rhett’s move in this sick game of chess Durbin had forced him to play. He needed to be on alert and ready for Durbin’s next move.

“We should talk,” he said.

She bit her lip, not saying anything.

“But I really need to go check on the bears,” he said. “I didn’t plug my phone in last night because…” he trailed off, and he could feel the tips of his ears begin to heat. Was that a smile on her face? Please let it be a smile. He had no idea what she was feeling right now, he wanted to be sensitive, but he needed to know to what in order to do that.

God, please don’t let her regret it.

“Can you give me an hour, maybe two?” he asked, desperate for her to meet his eyes, and then finally she did, and he saw no regret there. But there was a question he didn’t know the answer to, a curious sort of knowing that lit her face, that gave her a thoughtful, searching air.

“Take all the time you need,” she said.

“But you’ll be here when I get back?” he asked, because she had a habit for disappearing sometimes. She might just whisk herself back to the city as if it would save her.

“Yes,” she said. “I told the office I’d be working remotely for the week. I’ll be here when you get back. I’ll make lunch, okay? Go check on the bears.”

He didn’t want to leave her, but duty called. He leaned forward, brushing a light, sweet kiss across her lips, and her breath hitched at the touch, as if it was unexpected and needed at the same time. She made a little noise and lifted her hand, winding her fingers into the length of his dark blonde hair, bringing him closer as her lips and then tongue touched his.

“Fuck, Nat, if you keep that up, I’ll never get out of here,” he muttered.

She laughed against his mouth, her teeth scraping teasingly against his lower lip as she withdraw, sending a shock of heat through his groin at the idea of her tugging harder, at her teeth grazing across other parts of him.

I want to do everything with you. I want to learn everything that excites you, that you dream about, fantasize about, and then I want to do every single one of them with you.

“Get out of here,” she said, tapping her foot lightly against his. “The bears are waiting.”

“The bears are cockblockers,” Rhett muttered, making her laugh harder. He loved that—her laughter was the purest sound in the world, and no matter how many times he heard it, it lifted him up, made him think better things were possible.

“Go!” she commanded. “I’ll see you later.”

He turned to leave, but found himself turning back in the doorway, looking at her.

“You saved me, Nat,” he said, and her expression melted a little. “You saved me before, in New York. And you saved me again, last night right out there on that deck. You always say that I’ve done more for River Run than anyone else. But that’s not true. You have done more. You saved me. You saved this place. I can never…”

“You never have to,” she interrupted gently. “That’s what friends…” she stopped, her eyebrows knitting together, and the tension between them seemed to stretch and ripple, like a tangible thin. “That’s what I’m here for,” she said, the careful correction meaning something that he didn’t dare to believe. Not now. Not so soon. “I’ve always been good at fixing things,” she said, with a little shrug.

But who helps fix you?