Emily glanced around the pool area, but she knew where Levi would be. He stood at the end of the dock, his back to the resort.

She closed her eyes and paused on the edge of the sand before stepping onto the wooden platform. What could she say to make things better? By the time her feet were moving, she still didn’t know.

He’d called her his back there, but he hadn’t meant it because he’d made it clear he didn’t want anything serious. Claiming someone as yours was about as serious as it got, so what was he doing?

“Levi?”

His shoulders didn’t tense and he showed no outward sign of registering her presence. Probably because he’d already heard her coming. Pretty obvious with her spiked heels making clacking sounds on the wood. Come to think of it, she was sick of these darned shoes. They’d been pinching the hell out of her toes all evening.

Emily lifted her foot and pulled off one heel, then the next, setting them on a bench near the end of the dock and Levi. She sighed. “I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. When Hunt suggested the children’s program, it was an excellent idea. He asked me not to offer up information on who’d given it. But I told him that if you asked, I would tell you. I’m sorry if it sounded like I lied.”

His shoulder hitched slightly and he peered halfway back before his gaze returned to the water. “It’s fine. This isn’t about you. Hunt knows how to get under my skin, and he does it every chance he gets.”

This was the part that had bothered her since she first met Hunt. “That’s the thing; he seems to be trying to shock you. He didn’t want to kiss me.”

Levi looked back fully this time, with a mocking smile. “You truly believe that?”

“I’m not saying Hunt regrets kissing any woman, but he wasn’t doing it for himself. He was doing it to get your attention. Think about it, Levi. He didn’t come to you with a great idea—because he knew you’d shoot him down. You’d shoot down any idea that came from him.”

“Because everything out of his mouth is repulsive and juvenile.”

“Everything?”

Levi turned back to the water, as though he didn’t want to hear it. But that was the problem. He needed to hear it.

“Hunt was sincere when he came to me with the idea for the children’s program—almost shy about it. What you saw tonight was him angry and trying to get your attention.”

“He shouldn’t have touched you. Shouldn’t use any woman to get to me.”

“You’re right. But sometimes when people are desperate, they do foolish things. It’s what my sister did when she slept with your brother. She wasn’t happy in the relationship and she ruined it. But I think Hunt genuinely cared for her. I don’t believe he slept with her to hurt you.”

“Why are we even talking about the past?” he growled. “It’s done. I can never forgive him for what he did. Not back then, and not after he touched you.”

“Why not? Everyone deserves forgiveness, particularly a brother who loves you. You’ll never be happy and move on until you do.”

He snorted. “Hunt doesn’t know what love is.”

“He knows more about love than you.”

Levi swung around, eyes flashing in the dim light. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Her chest turned to fire. “I can’t possibly be the only one feeling this.” She gestured between them forcefully. “You called me yours tonight. You’ve kissed me. Repeatedly. I felt those kisses in every cell of my body.”

He looked away, chin lifted.

“Darn it, Levi!” She let out a harsh sigh. “I get it that some people screw around for the fun of it, but that’s not you. Especially not after your history with my sister. You wouldn’t choose me for something casual. There has to be more. And for the record, I don’t believe what we have is wrong. It’s the rightest thing I’ve ever felt.”

Levi’s jaw tightened and he looked back. “That’s the problem. I didn’t choose you. This wasn’t planned. I’m not ready for a relationship.”

Emily looked up and growled. “You are a stubborn, stubborn man. Some of your best-laid plans—to become a firefighter, to marry my sister and produce the perfect family—they haven’t worked out. You even admitted it on the golf course when you were being playful and relaxed for once. Now you’re reverting, trying to control everything. As though that will make us all safe. Make you safe. Well, I have news for you. It won’t. We have something special and you’re throwing it away. Why? Because you didn’t expect it.

“What will it take to chip away at that wall you’ve built around yourself? I’ve laid myself bare to you. Told you how I feel.” She reached around her back and started unzipping her dress.

His gaze fixed on her arms. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’ve seen you jump in the lake.” She slid her dress down to her waist, her breasts on full display in her pretty lingerie. “Do you find the answers to your problems there?”

Levi’s gaze dropped, his eyes darkening more than they already were in this light.

Lisa hadn’t only outfitted Emily with attractive work clothes; she’d given her proper lingerie too. Somewhat modest, given Emily’s natural tastes, but the pretty scarlet pieces were still sexy.

She slipped the dress off entirely, clothed only in her bra and panties.

Levi swallowed, his eyes fixed below her chin. “Emily, if you’re thinking about jumping in the lake to prove a point, don’t. You’ll regret it.” He said this while staring at her chest and waist…her legs.

She walked past him to the edge of the dock. “I want to see what you find out here in the middle of the night. Is this where you’re finally honest with yourself?”

She glanced at the dark water. It was really dark. But Levi swam in the lake at night all the time. And she was sick of being kept at a distance. She’d never gone out on a limb like this for a man. But there was a lot she’d risk for Levi.

Not knowing how deep the water was at the end of the dock, she sat on the edge and pushed off, feet first.

And instantly regretted it.

“Oh my God, oh my God!” She floundered, her arms pumping to keep her as far out of the water as she could get. “It’s freezing! Why the hell do you do this?”

Levi sighed. He kicked off his socks and shoes, tore off his jacket, and jumped in after her. He emerged gracefully and wiped the water from his face. “You do know how to swim, don’t you?”

“Not when the temperature is below zero!” She immediately swam over and clung to him, wrapping her arms and legs around his body.

He was her boss… Whatever! He had hang-ups about them as a couple? Too darn bad! She needed heat, and now.

“It’s about sixty. Plenty warm,” he said, but wrapped his arm around her protectively.

“Sure, when you’re a heater. Why are you so warm?” She pressed her face to his cheek, then climbed higher up his body so that her chest was out of the water. “Don’t move, and don’t you dare leave me. I might die of hypothermia.” She clung tighter, and a vicious shiver racked her body. She might be cutting off his air supply, but he was a big guy—he could deal.

“I appreciate the view,” he said from the vicinity of her breasts. Which might have been smashed against his face. Again—not her concern. There was cold, and then there was this. And she was a Popsicle. “However, I told you that you shouldn’t jump in.” He swam slowly to the side, with her in his arms.

He was giving her a lecture? Now? “Where are you going? We’re in survival mode. No swimming around.”

His large arm was secured around her back, holding her to him, but he wasn’t changing course. “I’m not swimming around. I’m taking you to the shore.”

Her teeth chattered against the top of his head. “Good plan.”

Emily was still clinging to Levi, legs and arms wrapped around him as he walked out of the water. And it wasn’t any warmer outside with the sun down. “I’m serious. I really might die of hypothermia.”

A rumble like a low chuckle came from his chest. “Can’t have that.”

He was walking across the sand. “Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere to get you warm.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to walk through the party with me like this, or my humiliation will be complete tonight.”

His second arm came up around her—yes, he’d been carrying her entire body weight with one arm. The man had been a fireman. “There’s no way in hell I’m taking you through a group of people dressed the way you are and…wet.”

“That makes it sound so dirty.”

He tipped his head back and flashed her a grin.

See now, this was the Levi she’d fallen in love with. The man beneath the responsibility that weighed him down like a stone. This was the man capable of laughing and teasing. The one who was gentle with his elderly dog and gentle when it came to her. Except when it came to letting her inside his heart.

Levi stopped in front of a small building near the pool area, which, thankfully, was empty of guests, and punched in a code on the keypad. He entered a room that was some kind of changing area with windows along the ceiling that let in light. White Club Tahoe towels were stacked on shelving in the corner and there were hooks with fresh terrycloth bathrobes.

This room was new to her. She’d worked at Club Tahoe for over a month and had yet to visit all the outbuildings. Too busy helping Levi.

He set her on the tile floor, and she wrapped her arms around her body. Levi handed her a towel, then scanned the robes. He grabbed a small one and draped it over her shoulders.

She quickly pulled her arms through the sleeves and stared up at him, her teeth chattering.

Levi shook his head and tugged his wet dress shirt off. His pants came off next.

Delirious as she was from the cold, the view of his near-naked body wasn’t helping her wooziness.

He wiped down with a dry towel and sat on the long padded bench along the wall. Draping a new towel over his midsection, he lay back lengthwise. “Hop on top.”

She didn’t even hesitate. She crawled on him and plastered her body to his warm skin, shivering.

“Better?”

“A little,” she managed between the shivers. “There’s a draft.”

Using some kind of crazy guy strength, he shifted and flipped her, until she lay on her back on the bench with him covering her. “Good now?”

Emily grabbed his neck and yanked his head down until it was flattened against her chest, heating her there too. “Much better. Stay like this until my limbs defrost, please.”

He chuckled, and the action caused friction between their bodies. “Told you not to do it.”

“You’ve already rubbed it in my face. And anyway, you swim in the lake at night all the time.”

“I’m a man. The cold doesn’t bother me as much.” He pinched her waist. “Not enough on these bones to keep you warm.”

“I’m athletic, not skinny.”

“Never said anything about skinny.” His hand slid down to her hip, where he squeezed.

Heat burst inside her belly and suddenly she wasn’t feeling so cold. All the places where their bodies touched lit up.

She pulled her hands from where they were tucked up under his chest and wrapped them around his back, feeling the smooth dip along his spine.

“Am I smashing you?” He started to lift up.

“Don’t you dare move.” She held him to her and kept up with her exploration along his spine to his broad shoulders, and down again. She rested her hands on the smooth curve where his back met firm ass. She wanted to slide her hands down farther too, but that might be taking advantage of the situation. Not that she wasn’t, because she was beginning to really enjoy this.

His nose grazed her chest along the curve of her breast. “What am I going to do with you?”

What was that supposed to mean? She could think of a lot of things he could be doing with her, all of which she’d fully welcome. If he truly wanted her.

In defiance of his stubbornness, she reached down and grabbed his firm ass. “I don’t know, Levi. What will you do with me? I’m not going away, you know.”

Though she’d considered doing just that—leaving early and not fulfilling her promise to his father.

Levi let out a long breath. His hand slipped up her side to her breast, and pressed it in, giving his mouth better access to kiss and nuzzle it. “I don’t want you to go away.”

Her hand froze on his ass where she’d been squeezing and getting her fill of him. This was the easy part, she reminded herself. There was never any doubt about their physical attraction to one another. It was the other part that was in question—the relationship side—and whether there could be a future there. “If you don’t want me to go away, then stop pushing me away.”

He scooted up and touched the side of her temple, staring down at her for a long moment. “I can’t make promises.”

Emily swallowed, her heart constricting. She’d shared her heart, stripped nearly bare, and jumped in freezing water…and not a damn thing had changed.

Maybe it was their position, lying so close. Or the dimmed lighting inside the room. Or maybe she didn’t care anymore. She flexed her hips, rubbing against him.

His jaw tightened and his gaze dipped down her body. “You sure you want to go there?”

“I don’t know,” she said saucily. “Can you handle this much intimacy? I wouldn’t want to scare you away.”

He shifted and opened the bottom of her robe, wrapping her legs around his waist. His lips descended in a kiss that stole her breath, hips flexing, rubbing her center and sending heat blasting out from her core.

Emily tore off the towel that had been slipping from his body. He wore nothing but his wet boxer briefs. Between that and her wet lingerie, it felt as though they were naked.

His breathing increased as he ground his erection into her. He pulled the robe off her shoulders.

Before she could worry about all the reasons why this was a bad idea, Emily tucked her now warm hands beneath his boxer briefs and slid them down the back of his ass to his muscled thighs. She glanced up and he was staring at her.

His hand moved to her hip and he dragged her panties down, removing them along with his boxers.

Emily’s heart raced. Her breath hitched and her hands shook. Maybe it was stupid, but she loved him and didn’t want to miss the chance to be with him.

She could do this. Only sex. Because if she didn’t seize this moment, she might regret it for the rest of her life.

Levi fit his hips between her legs, his hot length against her thigh. He kissed her chest, her breast, and lifted her slightly. By the time he’d lowered her to the bench again, her bra was on the floor and his mouth was around her nipple, sucking.

Sparks went off inside her belly and she grabbed his arms, pulling him up, signaling she wanted him to come higher. He was too big to actually move without his help.

He inched up, dragging his body along hers, kissing her chin, her mouth, dipping his tongue inside and mimicking where she hoped this was going.

His mouth trailed to the corner of her lips, and he murmured, “Birth control?”

“Yes, but have you been…?”

“I’m clean.”

And then he was inching inside her. Her body shook, but she was so hot. This shaking had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the man she’d loved in some fashion or another from the moment she’d met him. Only now she didn’t know that young guy anymore. The mature version of Levi was kind, gentle, protective—insanely stubborn—and he was fully seated inside her.

Levi was touching her breasts, kissing her, his body moving in a slow rhythm that had her heart thundering in her chest, sparks of pleasure erupting from where they were connected.

His head lowered near her ear, his breaths sawing in and out. “You feel so good. Too good.” He moved one foot to the ground and reached to touch her center, still thrusting inside her.

And she had the perfect view of just how sexy he was. Broad shoulders and chest down to a flat stomach that had more dips and ridges than she’d seen on anyone. With his large hand touching her, his thick penis surging, she thought she might lose it. Or come.

She tilted her head to the side, biting her lip as a rush of pleasure and convulsions swept over her. A moan erupted from her mouth. She was panting, clinging to him as her orgasm hit.

He pulled her arms above her head and thrust into her over and over. “God, Emily. So good.” He kissed her open-mouthed and demanding, causing residual flutters to erupt from her core.

She felt him swell inside her, and he groaned, his body tensing and shaking with his climax.

After a moment, his breathing slowed and he dropped his head to the side of the bench near hers, his leg still braced on the ground, holding up his weight.

Leaning on his foot, he shifted and carefully sat up, pulling her onto his lap. He wrapped the robe around her. “Remind me to not seduce you on a bench next time.”

She gave him a sidelong look, unsure what he was feeling. “Did you seduce me? I thought I was the seducer. I took off my clothes first, after all.”

“Good point. Remind me to remind you to keep your clothes on until we’re somewhere I can really love your body. This bench had maneuverability issues.”

She pulled her head back so she could see his face better. “There’ll be a next time? I thought you didn’t want this.”

He looked away and closed his eyes. “I’d like for there to be a next time. But I told you…”

No promises, he’d said. Which was beginning to sound like the story of their relationship.

Her throat burned and her stomach turned queasy. Damn him. Damn. She’d known he didn’t want anything serious. She’d been okay with it moments ago…but now it hurt like a bitch. Because making love had opened her heart even more. And he was still reluctant.

She wiggled off his lap, stood, and tightened the robe around her. “I get it.”

He looked up, and it wasn’t a look of happiness. It was of resolution and maybe even fear.

It was stupid to take things this far. He’d made it clear where they stood, and she’d made love to him anyway. Because she’d hoped if he just let himself go, he’d see how right they were for each other.

Only that never worked, and she was smart enough to know it.

“Really, it’s fine.” She tried to smile, but her face felt stiff.

Not knowing what else to do, Emily reached for the door and slipped out, running to the dock where she’d left her clothes and shoes. She ran to the side of the building near the employee entrance and dressed under the cover of night, ignoring Levi’s distant calls to her. Running was a bit like wearing her heart on her sleeve, but she couldn’t stay. Not one minute longer. She retrieved her purse from inside her office and left the building.

She had to let Levi go. Give up the dream. Not the one she’d had at twenty-one, but the one that had built over these last few weeks as she’d gotten to know the real Levi.

And had fallen in love with the man, not the fantasy.