After Rhett left, Nat found herself wandering around the upstairs of the house. She had spent plenty of time downstairs, but hadn’t spent any time upstairs, in the loft where Rhett’s bedroom was, as well as the small sunlit library tucked in the back, and the truly impressive bathroom that was more than fit for a king. She wandered and snooped, because if she didn’t, she was going to think about it. Or go into the bedroom and roll around on the sheets that smelled like him—them— and that was something only people in romantic comedies or horror movies did… right?

When wandering didn’t help her avoid her thoughts of Oh my God, I slept with Rhett she took a shower. And then, of course, her thoughts turned to Oh my God, I really should have sex with Rhett in this shower.

She shouldn’t sleep with him again. She couldn’t. She had already made a mess of this, coming over here last night and being all stubborn and demanding and…

Admit it, you pushed him because you wanted this to happen.

She sighed, turning the water even hotter as she stood in the 360-degree spray. It was like standing in a delicious heated rainstorm, but it didn’t do anything to cool the heat inside her.

She liked sex. Of course she liked sex. She was an empowered woman, working at a company that produced products that empowered women. She loved her body and what her body could do.

But…God, she hadn’t realized her body could do that.

He had made her come so fast. He’d touched her like he knew her every wish and desire, like he’d given so much thought to her that he just knew. The pressure of his palm against her core, the hot mist of his breath against her neck, how when he finally thrust inside her, she’d almost sobbed at the feeling, of the rightness, of the desire to keep him there, to make love to him forever. ..

D-O-O-M. That spells doom, and that’s where this ends!

She shook the thoughts from her head, droplets cascading everywhere as she stepped out of the shower and dried off. By the time she got dressed and went downstairs to look in Rhett’s fridge, he’d been gone almost an hour. There was barely anything in it, so she grabbed a Post-it note, scrawled Went to the market on it, and grabbed her keys.

She loved the country roads surrounding River Run; especially how, on some of them, every rare person you passed would raise a hand to wave at you, like Howdy, neighbor. It had been the same where she’d grown up, and she missed that kind of familiarity sometimes.

She played the staticky oldies station as she made the thirty-minute drive to the store, parking in front and grabbing her purse out of the back as she headed inside, already making a mental list in her head. She headed to the bulk bin section first because she’d noticed he was out of oatmeal and wanted to make rice pilaf for dinner. Being friends with Rhett had forced her to majorly up her vegetarian cooking game, which turned out to be rather handy, since a lot of her new Portland friends were vegetarian or vegan.

She had loved New York—Since childhood, it had been her dream destination, the place she’d fantasized about for so long—but she was so glad Carter had moved Purely Pleasure back to Portland. Not only was it a smart financial move since real estate wasn’t as expensive, but she loved the feel of Portland, of the culture. It was a very sex-positive place, too, which always worked for the company, obviously.

As she shopped, she turned over ideas for Purely Pleasure’s new advertising campaign in her head. She was meeting with the photographer in a few weeks and she was excited to get started. Slowly filling her cart, she made her way through the store, her mind occupied with some ROI figures from their last ad campaign she was running in her head. She was distracted, which is why she almost jumped when a voice drawled behind her,

“Oh, look, it’s the little woman.”

Nat’s skin was crawling before she had even fully turned around. “Mr. Durbin,” she said, keeping her face as neutral as possible. “Hello.”

“Picking up groceries for the new husband?” Durbin asked, arching one of his brows in a way that made him look like one of the cheesier Bond villains.

“That is what one does in a grocery store,” Nat said.

“So you’ll be moving out to the country, I assume,” Durbin said, stepping in her way so she couldn’t even move past him. “Now that you’re married and all.”

Suspicion prickled down her spine. “I don’t think that’s any of your business,” she said.

“Oh, but it could be the court’s business,” Durbin said. “Fraud is a big deal to the government, Ms. Banks. Especially tax fraud. A woman like you makes a heft salary. Are you planning on jointly filing with your dear husband?”

Her eyes narrowed. “It’s Ms. Banks-Oakes,” she corrected him sharply. And then she smiled with even more deadly heat. “We both hyphenated. Wasn’t that so modern of Rhett? I do love how enlightened my husband is. He’s not bogged down with more traditional mindsets like some men. Which is perfect for a woman like me. I keep joking and saying we should get a helicopter because it’ll be easier than the commute from Portland some weeks. Though, I guess it might not cost too much. I noticed that you had a helicopter land on your property the other week. Do you know a pilot? I’d love to get in touch with him to learn more.”

Durbin’s eyes narrowed. “Are you spying on me?” he asked.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Nat said. “I hike when I spend time in the mountains. And your property is lower than River Run, which means my higher climbs give me a very good view of your farm. And I do so love the high climbs.”

Durbin’s lip curled. “You’re quite the boss bitch, aren’t you?” he asked. “I’ve read about you. That Cosmopolitan feature was quite a revelation. I’m sure your father is very proud of your sex industry work.”

Instead of rolling her eyes, she zeroed in on him, her gaze narrowing.

“Try any barb you want to throw at me, Durbin,” she said. “You think I haven’t heard all of them in every board room I’ve ever been in? Every man’s office I’ve ever walked into and been called sweetheart? I was spitting bronco dust when I was twelve years old and I’ve gotten a lot tougher in the years since. Women like me… they scare men like you. Men like you call us ball-busters and emasculating bitches, but deep down, you’re spinning in scared circles because you know the truth: I’m smarter and I’m slicker and I’m better—because I’ve had to be. Because the toxic masculine bullshit that’s enabled you your entire life has forced me to be better. And nothing pisses off a man like you more than a woman who’s not just better than him—but who knows it. And I know it. I’ve got such a tight grip on my power no one will ever take it from me.”

“You sure about that?’ Durbin said.

“Just try, and you’ll find out,” Nat dared him.

“Nat!” A chipper voice broke through the tension, and she looked over her shoulder to see Jess, River Run’s general manager, loping toward her. “I’m so glad I found you! Remember that recipe for garlic chicken you were talking about? Can you run me through the ingredients?’

It was an out, and Nat was so grateful for it, for the secret sense that women seem to have in these situations. .“Come on,” she said, smiling at Jess in relief. “I’ll walk you through it while we grab the ingredients.”

She pushed her cart past a glaring Durbin, not even meeting his eyes.

“Thank you,” she said to Jess as soon as they headed to the produce section and were out of earshot.

“You were looking cornered,” Jess said. “I don’t like that guy. I saw him at the hardware store the other day. He was buying so much fertilizer and blast dynamite, my teenager joked he must be growing pot or building a bomb.”

Blast dynamite? Nat thought with alarm. Did that mean he had found gold on his property and was preparing to start blowing his part of the mountain up? Surely he wasn’t allowed to do that.

“He’s not the most pleasant person,” Nat said. “Thank you again for the save.”

“No problem,” Jess said with a smile. “I’m really happy you’ve been coming by more often. The boss… Rhett is always very happy to see you.”

Will I ever be able to come back after this is all done? Nat thought. Will it ever be the same? Do I want it to be?

“I’ll let you get back to your shopping,” Nat said, because she didn’t know how to reply to that, afraid of confirming or denying and what that might mean.

“Bye, Nat,” Jess said, heading down the bread aisle as Nat turned toward the check-out.

Durbin was nowhere to be seen as she headed out into the parking lot with her groceries and loaded them into her car. But she was disturbed enough to take out her phone and dial Jace Oakes’s number, letting it ring as she locked the doors of her Lexus and kept an eye on the grocery store’s door.

“Hi, this is Jace,” he said.

“Jace, it’s Natalie Banks,” she said.

“Nat, hi,” his voice immediately warmed. “You calling me to take me up on that dinner invite? I meant it, you know. I know you’re friends with Rhett, but my baby brother can’t hog you all the time.”

“You’re sweet,” Nat said. “But I’m actually calling about a legal question, if you don’t mind.”

“Shoot,” he said. “Always happy to help a friend of the family.”

“Hypothetically, if someone got married to help another person out of a legal situation, would that be punishable if proven or fraud or something?”

There was a long silence. “Nat, please tell me you like, got married to some guy so you wouldn’t have to testify against him,” Jace said. “And that you didn’t marry my little brother in a bid to keep that bastard Durbin off his ass with the water rights.”

“Um, okay, I won’t then,” Nat said.

“Nat!”

“I’m sorry, Jace, but the options you were presenting—the consequences of waiting—were too much. Rhett and I both felt so, and—“

“You and Rhett… Rhett and you,” Jace repeated, as if his mind was blown. She thought briefly that she hoped his secretary would check on him or get him some water or something. “I can’t believe this,” he went on in a stunned tone.

“Well, believe it,” Nat said. “Now tell me, if Durbin somehow proves we got married just to get around this stupid law he dug up, will that mess anything up?”

“I… you married Rhett,” Jace said slowly.

“Yes, Jace, get with the program,” Nat said impatiently. Rhett really was the smarter of all his brothers, apparently And the handsomest and most capable. Though maybe she was a little biased, considering her thighs were still sore from just how capable Rhett was. “Can Durbin use fraud as a way to mess with us?”

“Us,” Jace echoed, like in a fever dream.

Nat rolled her eyes. “Jace,” she said patiently. “Come on. Lawyer mode.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just shocked that my neanderthal baby brother somehow landed the most eligible woman in Portland,” Jace said. “Maybe I should think about adopting the whole mountain man look.”

“I am not the most eligible woman in Portland,” Nat scoffed. “And I am just doing Rhett a favor. But I need to make sure that favor isn’t going to bite us in the ass.”

“Durbin could take you to court, but it wouldn’t make much sense to, since once the law was pointed out to the judge, they’d move to dissolve it.”

“So we’re safe,” Nat said.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Jace said. “You tied Durbin’s hands, and now I have enough time to get the law off the books, so Durbin can’t pull any more shit in the future.”

“Perfect, thank you, Jace,” Nat said.

“You’re welcome.” He said. “And welcome to the family.” He sounded sincere, but still positively bemused.

“It’s not like that,” she said softly, unable to deny how good that sounded.

“Nat, my brother…” Jace paused. “There are times I don’t think I know my brother well,” he said finally, after a long moment. His words were clearly carefully chosen. “But when it comes to marriage, all of us Oakes are the same. We’re one and done. Ride or die. Till the ends of the fuckin’ world, as one of my more colorful cousins puts it. He wouldn’t… he wouldn’t have done this, even for River Run, unless you meant a lot to him.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” Nat said, unable to acknowledge the giant elephant in the room—or rather, the car. “Thanks for your help. And please, keep this quiet, okay? Rhett probably didn’t want me telling you in the first place, but I needed to be prepared if we were going to face some more problems because of this, and I couldn’t ask the lawyers I work with because… well…”

“I understand,” Jace said. “Bye, Nat.”

“Bye.”

Feeling relieved—Durbin was clearly just trying to scare her—she pulled out of the grocery store parking lot and headed back on the road toward River Run. After a few minutes, she realized a black truck with tinted windows in her rear-view was trailing her. It continued to do so almost all the way home, making the back of her neck prickle with concern.

Marriage may have solved the legal problem of Durbin’s interference, but it clearly wasn’t going to keep him from whatever plans he had. Rhett had to be on guard—River Run was somehow in Durbin’s way, which meant it was in his crosshairs.

Her fingers gripped the steering wheel as she made the final turn onto the road that led to the lodge, watching as the black truck speeded past her.

As she pulled up on the back road behind Rhett’s refurbished barn, the back door opened and Rhett walked out onto the deck, looking almost painfully handsome. His ripped jeans and unbuttoned flannel shirt, the sides hanging loose and open, made her heart tilt inside her chest, as if she’d missed a step going down the stairs.

“How are the bears doing?” she asked.

“Good!” he said. “I’ve got some great video on my phone, and Molly’s with them right now. Did you have a nice trip to the store?” he asked, pulling out one of the canvas sacks full of groceries.

“Yeah,” she said. “Totally uneventful.”