He didn’t want to admit the shower felt good. He refused to wear a suit, but he put on a clean pair of jeans and a fresh shirt to meet Tyler in his study.

“Tyler, this is even shitty for you.” Lee glared at his business partner.

“Why? Did you have a better idea to collect?” Tyler poured a glass of bourbon and dropped two ice cubes in the middle.

Lee exhaled. “Not really.”

“Then stop second-guessing me. We could use some help with StarCon even though we aren’t there right now. I think this is exactly what we need. The timing couldn’t have been better.”

“Niall McIntosh is a dick. The fact that you got into business with him in the first place makes me wonder what in the hell you’re doing these days.”

Tyler waved him off. “It wasn’t business. I don’t do business with men like him. It was a bet. There’s a huge difference. He’s the one who lost. Not me.” He threw back his drink.

“Give me one of those.” Lee walked toward the bar, waiting for a stiff drink. “I need a double after this fuckup of yours.”

Tyler laughed. “Niall texted a few hours ago, so I know payment will be here any minute.”

Lee shook his head. “Payment? That’s what you’re calling it?”

The mountains loomed behind them. The snow kept falling. Whoever was driving the girl here would have to navigate winding icy roads. The conditions weren’t ideal.

“Niall lost,” Tyler explained. “I don’t know why you’re so pissed at me.”

Lee’s blue eyes fired. “Because the payment is a girl. You bet an actual woman for us? And I don’t like that she’s coming here.”

Tyler grinned like a wolf. “I sure did. And she’s fucking gorgeous.”

“Like that makes this any better.”

“Want to see her picture again? Might help you commit to how real this is. How much you’re going to have her.”

Lee groaned, “I don’t need her picture. This is unorthodox. Even for you.”

“Relax.” Tyler patted the leather sofa. “She’s our guest.”

“An unwilling guest,” he reminded his friend. “I doubt she had a say in this entire thing.”

“Two months with us and I think that has the possibility to change.”

“We don’t even know her. What if she’s like Niall? Have you thought about that? She could be the scum of the Earth like him.”

“Stop being so damn pessimistic. I don’t like this Grizzly Adams side of you.”

“It’s called being realistic. You don’t know what the fallout from this is going to be. You think I’ve gone all wild man, but you’re reckless. Just because we’re out of the city doesn’t mean your actions don’t have consequences.”

Tyler shrugged. “Details.”

“While I’m trying to keep our empire going, you’re thinking with your cock as usual.” Lee swirled the bourbon in his glass and inhaled half of it. It burned going down. But he needed it to cope with what his best friend had done.

“Our empire needs an empress. Don’t you think?”

Lee pressed his elbows into his knees. It was hard to deny what Tyler said. The company didn’t run as smoothly when they were spinning in bachelor purgatory. They needed a woman. They thrived when they had one.

It had been too long since they had shared a bed.

But did that still apply out here? Would a woman complete the seclusion? Did he need a girl to fully immerse himself in his primal side? Was she the missing piece?

“We’ve never done it this way.” Lee looked up.

“Doesn’t mean, it’s not the right way.” Tyler was confident there was nothing wrong with his bet. Nothing to regret. Collecting his debt from Niall McIntosh was the only right thing to do as far as he was concerned.

“There was nothing else of Niall’s you wanted? Nothing at all?” Lee pressed him. The fact that a woman was getting ready to be delivered to the cabin wasn’t something he could picture.

Tyler scoffed. “Would you suggest I take one of his burned out warehouses or one of his taxi fleets? Maybe you’d suggest the taverns.” He shook his head. “He doesn’t have anything I want. Except this.” He waggled his eyebrows. “She’s flawless. You’ll see.”

“Then who let him in the game if he doesn’t have anything to gamble with? You should have known better than to let a loser like Niall McIntosh into a game with those kind of stakes. He didn’t have anything valuable from the start, Tyler.”

Tyler drank the rest of the bourbon in his glass. “He does. He has her. As far as I’m concerned she’s all the payment I need for sixty days.”

“This is fucking unbelievable. Sixty days with someone who is a stranger.”

Tyler laughed. He was always the risk-taker. Lee knew StarCon Global wouldn’t be where it was if his friend hadn’t been willing to try the adventurous deals. Make decisions no one else would touch. But it didn’t end with business decisions. Tyler let everything bleed over into his personal life. He seemed to like it best when his two worlds collided. That meant it melted into one, for Lee too.

Lee hated he had to the rational one. The one who kept his head down. The one who constantly brought his friend back on track.

But he knew when he had to back down. There was no talking him out of this one. “But nothing changes, man. It’s on her terms. Just because we’re up in the mountains, we’re not going caveman on her.”

Tyler smiled. “Of course. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I wouldn’t want her if she wasn’t the one asking for us.”

Lee knew that to be true. Tyler was stubborn and prideful. He’d never chased after a woman. His cockiness prevented him from ever throwing his heart into a relationship. It was the reason they lost Jessie.

All she wanted was to hear him say the words. She would have done anything for them. But Tyler couldn’t let his guard down long enough to be vulnerable.

Lee worried he never would.

The conversation was interrupted when the front intercom buzzed. Tyler pressed the speaker button.

“Yes?”

“It’s James. I have your payment from Niall McIntosh.”

Tyler’s eyes lit. He punched in the code that would allow James access open the front door. “We were wondering where you were.”

“It took a little longer than I thought. I’ll be right in.”

Lee looked at his friend. “You sure you don’t want to back out of this? Have James take her back?”

“No fucking way. I won her fair and square. You’re going to thank me. I swear.”

They stood, waiting for James to enter. Lee straightened his back, running his fingers across the edge of his beard. Tyler straightened his tailored jacket and tugged on the cuffs of his shirt. There was a nervous energy that ran between them.

The double doors opened and Johnson walked into the office, carrying a woman over his shoulder.

“Put me down,” she squealed. She kicked and thrashed in his hold. Her blond hair flew in all directions.

All he could see were limbs.

“That’s enough, James,” Lee instructed him. He didn’t like how this was going.

Tyler stood next to him as James unwrapped the girl from his grasp and placed her feet on the floor. His hands wrapped around her waist while she squirmed free and pushed forward away from him.

For a second, Lee thought the world fell away.

She brushed her long locks from her face. Her green eyes glowered with anger. Her cheeks were flush and her plump lips with in a perfect heart shape. Fuck. His ribs felt as if they were caving in.

She was beyond beautiful. She was stunning.

He broke his gaze to look at Tyler. Lee had no idea what to say.

He realized for the first time, his best friend didn’t either.