I blinked and rolled over, waking up from one of the best sex dreams I’d ever had; me and Jason… in the hot springs…

“Holy shit,” I gasped out loud and shot straight up in bed. Still mostly dark outside… and running water in the bathroom across the hall… “Holy fucking…” I scrambled around for my ugly pink bathrobe, inwardly cursing the printed white bunnies gamboling over the fleece, and slipped into it anyway. “Shiiit,” I finished out loud. I switched on the overhead light and used my fingers to brush my hair back. It was useless and I knew it. The more I tried to tame it, the more it sprang out around my face. My damned hairbrush was in the bathroom… with him…

I dug into the dresser drawers, desperate to be fully dressed and presentable before he saw me like this… and then I remembered. Almost everything I owned was in the dryer downstairs. I looked at yesterday’s worn-out jeans and sweater on the chair, biting into my lip… debating… and decided to take the risk. I cracked my door just enough to make sure the bathroom door was still shut and then I took off down the stairs, trying to piece an outfit together in my head. Not too sexy… but not too broke-ass country girl… I had a newer pair of jeans and a green pullover that made my eyes look brighter…

I stopped dead in the warm kitchen, mostly from the scent. Hot, rich coffee was ready on the stove, and a batch of… I sniffed… Jason’s buttermilk biscuits, without a doubt. There was bowl of fruit salad waiting on the oak table alongside a pair of mugs and a neat stack of freshly chopped wood by the backdoor. I heard the pipes moan as the water shut off upstairs.

He wasn’t going to make this easy.

But I slipped through to the service porch with a smile on my face anyway. It had been so long, I’d almost forgotten just how good it feels to have a man around the house. Especially when that man is Jason. He was the kind of man who could do damned near anything he put his mind to. I dug into the dryer, feeling a pang of regret that I’d been asleep while he was chopping firewood. Call me cliché, but there’s something about a man with an axe in his hands, all bare-chested and sweaty…

Distracted by the image in my head, I took way too much time to find panties that matched the bra. It wasn’t like anyone was going to notice but me. Then I pulled off the old robe and let it fall to the floor. The heat from the kitchen didn’t reach this part of the house and my nipples stiffened in reaction to the cold. It hit me like a shockwave, shooting straight down my belly to my core. My pussy squeezed tight in answer and sent a demanding pulse up my spine. It was at the height of that sensation I heard the door open behind me. I opened my eyes and turned at the ragged sound of his breath.

“Ember…”

He was standing in the doorway, in nothing but a towel that was too small for a man his size. It covered his hips… but little else. In his arms, he carried the clothes he’d worn the night before.

“These are all I’ve got…” he said slowly, taking me in with his eyes. “Figured I’d wash them before you were up…” He stepped close enough I could feel the heat of his shower rising off his skin. He dropped his clothes into the washer without looking away from me. I stood like I was frozen, my nipples quivering less than a hand’s length from the hard, bulging muscle of his chest. He leaned down, his mouth so close…

But he simply picked my robe up from the floor and tossed it in with his clothes. The next thing into the washer was the towel he was wearing. And all he had left was a cocky smile and a raging hard-on.

“Breakfast’s ready,” he said casually. “I thought I might as well make myself useful before we head out to get your truck.”

“Jason… I…”

“There’s another cord of wood stacked on the back porch and I took care of the leak under the bathroom sink.” He went on as if we weren’t both standing naked and mere inches apart. It was surreal.

“You’ve got some holes I ought to plug…” he continued.

“For Christ’s sake,” I shot back, angry now. But he cut me off with a smile, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against his entire hard and heated length. He laughed, confidently, carelessly and angled my head back with a gentle tug on my hair. He looked into my dark eyes with his crystal blue ones and grinned playfully.

“The wind last night, babygirl. There are some places in the roof that need patching.”

He licked his lips and dropped his eyes to my mouth. He hadn’t moved a muscle, but I could feel his eyes burning like a kiss. His full length was crushed against my belly and I could feel him pulsing. Warm, liquid heat was making a slippery spot between us.

“But my clothes won’t be ready for a while…” he said darkly, clearly enjoying himself,

“so you might as well take full advantage of me while I’m here…”