Mandisa wrapped her arms around Slade’s waist as they rode Queen-Sorrel through what seemed to be endless fields of greenery.

When they’d left his lab, he’d offered to take her “up the road,” as he called it, to a private dining room. She’d nixed that idea, wanting to be rid of her business suit in the worst way. He’d suggested they hit up some of the microbreweries in the area on Rainey St. as an alternative. But once he told her they were usually packed to capacity during the afternoon and evening hours, she begged him to take her back to his ranch for lunch and some of Mama Indy’s coffee.

After eating at Mama Indy’s table, enjoying both the food and the company, the evening sky was pressing upon them. They changed into riding clothes, said quick goodbyes to Slade’s family, and headed directly to the stables.

Mandisa had ridden a few times since she’d arrived. She wasn’t going to win any prizes, but she was beginning to become comfortable with the beautiful creatures Slade loved so much. He’d walked only one horse out by the time she met him. He climbed up, settled himself effortlessly in the saddle, and then offered her a hand. With quick ease, she was seated behind him, and they headed away from the main road and into a thicket of trees.

She wrapped her arms around his waist. Soothed by his warmth and the serenity of their surroundings, Mandisa leaned into Slade, resting her cheek against his strong back, allowing the mild rhythm of the horse’s gait to lull her into relaxation.

She didn’t recognize this part of his land. It was covered with tall trees whose branches and leaves acted as a lush veil, shielding whatever and whomever it protected from the intrusion of outside eyes.

Mandisa snuggled closer to Slade, savoring the calm his nearness and their surroundings offered. She wasn’t clueless—after that blowup at the lab, she knew exactly why Slade had brought her here. He either wanted her to forget, or he wanted to divest himself of his memories instead. She’d wager his motivations rested somewhere dead center of both those objectives.

Whatever was going on between Slade and his father, she felt its hold bleeding away from his relaxing form. The earlier tension seeped out, leaving him calm and loose as he sat in the saddle.

She felt him pull the reins of the horse, bringing her to a soft stop. “Don’t fall asleep back there. Wouldn’t do for you to fall off. If you get hurt, you’ll have to extend your stay while you recuperate.”

He slid off the horse with ease and held his hands out, beckoning Mandisa to lean forward. With his hands firmly planted at either side of her waist, he took on her weight, guiding her off the horse until her feet were safely planted on the ground. Slade joined one of his hands with hers and used the other to swing his saddlebags over his shoulder.

He led her into the thick foliage, pulling back branches and leaves until they were in the middle of a clearing. Just as the last rays of the day’s sun dipped beneath the horizon, Mandisa saw the twinkling of slow-moving water in a placid stream.

“Slade…” Mandisa didn’t have words beyond the whisper of his name. It was more of a tether to reality for her as the perfection of the scene unfolded before her.

She felt Slade step behind her, enfolding her in his arms, the heat of his body permeating her flesh, seeping deep into the fabric of her soul. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. This was too much for her. It was sensory overload. To feel so much in such a short time left her raw and desperate for the man holding her.

Slade leaned down and pressed a warm kiss to her cheek before stepping away from her and pulling her to a spot under a tree near the stream’s edge. He released her hand, pulled a blanket from his bags, and spread it across the ground. He sat down, leaned comfortably against the large tree, and crooked his fingers to beckon her.

Without thought or hesitation, she walked the few steps to the blanket and sat down between his legs, allowing him to encircle her in his arms. The moment was perfection. No sounds passed between them other than the soothing hum of the water sliding across rocks as it ebbed and flowed.

They remained that way, locked up in each other’s arms, allowing their surroundings to add to the fullness of the moment.

“This feels so right,” he whispered. His voice was so quiet she had to wonder which of them he was addressing, Mandisa or himself.

“Hmm?”

“This…you…us,” he answered. “It feels right for us to be together here. Don’t you agree?”

Without question she did, but could she allow herself to admit that being here with a perfect stranger, doing nothing but sitting by a stream made everything in her life seem right?

“All vacations feel that way, Slade. That’s why we love them.”

“This isn’t just vacation fun, Mandisa. This is more than that, and I think we both know it.”

She leaned away from him, turning slightly to meet his gaze. “Slade, we both knew this was temporary. I’ve got little more than a week left here, and I’m going back to Brooklyn.”

“But what if you weren’t, Mandisa? What if you decided to stay?”

Mandisa didn’t understand what he was asking. Not really.

“Whatever you decide about this prospective business deal between us, I’m not ready to let this thing go. I’m not sure if it’s something that can last forever, but I know it needs more than a few weeks before we walk away from it.”

She turned around completely, sitting cross-legged as she faced him. The crisp blue of his eyes sparkled like the water in the stream. His eyes calmed her, called to her in ways nothing else had.

“Slade, I live in Brooklyn. You live in Texas. We both have busy careers. How can we cultivate this into more?”

“There’re planes, buses, cars, web cams, phones—all sorts of apps and devices that will allow us to see each other either virtually or in person. I’m just not ready to let this—or you—go, Mandisa.”

Mandisa reached for his hand, stroking the strong digits of it with her thumb. “Is this about what happened with your father earlier?” She wasn’t certain how the two could be related, but she knew more than most the stupid things a person could get into when motivated by anger.

“Partly, but not in the way you think. When I saw you in that lab I was elated to watch you in your element. Seeing you move around my facility, imagining you there permanently, working with me to create something magical in the cosmetics world—it all just felt so real. It was right. Then later when my father attempted to horn in on your time. I got possessive.”

“But why? He’s your dad, not a contender for my affections.”

She watched Slade nod, seeming to agree with her statement. “I know that, but I just didn’t want to share you with anyone else. Especially not when I have so precious little time left before I have to let you go.” A look of discomfort that fell over him, the uneasiness slightly etching the lines of his face. “I realized I don’t want to let you go. I want to keep you, keep us. I want to make certain no one has the privilege of touching you except me.”

“But Slade—”

“Mandisa, I know all the reasons it doesn’t make any sense. But I also know when we’re together, nothing—and I do mean nothing—feels as good as this. Give it a chance.”

She closed her eyes, needing to break away from the power of his cerulean gaze. Everything the man said was one-hundred-percent correct. None of what he was asking made any sense. They didn’t know each other well, they were here for more than pleasure, and there was so much to lose if things went south.

If things went wrong, both their businesses could be negatively impacted, his less so than hers, but still, there was so much risk.

She opened her eyes again, prepared to let him down, prepared to do the sensible thing. She was familiar with sensibility. She was a scientist. She didn’t deal in dreams and whims. Yet when her gaze met his again, Mandisa couldn’t think of the myriad of logical reasons she should back away from this man and his offer. She forgot all the practical points she was going to make to counter his very emotional proposal.

All she could remember was the way it felt to have her body pressed against his. A perfect mixture of safety, desire, and freedom she’d never experienced before. Not even when she was in her lab doing what she loved had she ever felt so at peace as she did resting in his arms.

“Slade, we don’t…” She couldn’t continue. Whatever lie she was about to speak into the atmosphere died as soon as she heard her own voice. His gaze locked with hers, and everything inside her begged her to capitulate, to give him what they both wanted.

She sat up on her knees and crawled slowly to him, stopping when she was straddling his legs, seating herself in his lap. His eyes were so bright with expectation, tinged with just the slightest bit of vulnerability.

The look he gave her crushed her, decimated the scientific detachment she wanted so desperately to use as a barrier to him and his ability to infect her rationalism with his optimism. Logic told her to walk away, to run. But looking at this sexy man bare himself to her wrecked her, made her want to latch onto the thin thread of hope he was offering.

“Why can’t I say no to you? Why can’t I do what I know is the right thing when it comes to your ridiculous requests?”

Slade didn’t answer Mandisa. He must have known she was speaking more to herself than him. He brought their foreheads together until they touched gently while he smoothed a tender hand over the top of her head, resting his fingers at her nape.

“Slade, you have to promise me this won’t affect our wager. That this won’t impact whatever business deal comes out of this bet. I have employees who depend on me.”

“And I don’t?” His answer was a little raw, either from annoyance or their physical closeness.

“Yes, this could negatively impact you too, but I have more to lose than you. I can’t screw this up simply because you fuck me senseless.”

A cocky grin spread across his face, making her heart beat just the slightest bit faster. He slid a lone finger down into her cleavage, slipping one button after the other open as he continued his downward trail.

“I do fuck you senseless, don’t I?”

He reached inside her shirt and underneath the underwire of her bra, pulling one globe and then the next free of the satin material. He rolled one pert nipple into a perfect peak between his thumb and pointer finger, drawing an involuntary moan from her.

She couldn’t deny his taunt. He did fuck her senseless, made her do all sorts of ridiculous shit like agreeing to spend three weeks with him when three days had been enough to turn her world upside down.

Slade moved to the opposite nipple, bringing it to the same pointed perfection, making her moan even louder. Mandisa reared back, her body instinctively bucking against him, searching for the right amount of friction to soothe the growing ache between her legs.

He let his hands stray from her tender breasts and move down her sides, to her waist. He unbuttoned her jeans, sliding his hand beyond her navel, past her mound, and into the wet crease between her pussy lips.

“I need you out of these jeans, darlin’.”

She kicked off her boots, and they worked in conjunction to free her from the prison of the denim material. He motioned for her to return to her perch above his lap and slid his fingers between her dripping folds.

One fingernail scrape against her clit and electric waves sparked from her core and traveled throughout the rest of her body. She pushed her hips toward his thick fingers, seeking the pressure she needed to chase the orgasm already building inside her.

He teased her, rubbing gentle circles around her clit, denying her the speed and force she needed to complete her climax. She moaned again, biting her lip to try to quiet the sound.

“There’s no one out here but the two of us,” he whispered closely in her ear. “No one can hear you, no one can see you. Let go, baby.” He bit her earlobe, immediately licking the tender flesh to sooth it. “Let me have all those wonderful sounds you’re gonna make while you fuck yourself on my fingers.”

He slid his fingers farther down, sinking into the depths of her cunt first with one then two fingers, making her cry out in delight as he twisted and stretched them inside her. His middle and ring fingers inside her while his thumb rubbed against her clit had her slick walls trembling, tightening around his digits, milking them for every bit of pleasure they could give her.

She was hovering over the brink of orgasm when she felt the middle finger of his opposite hand breach her mouth.

“Get it wet for me,” he commanded, and she complied willingly. She allowed his finger to enter her mouth, curving her tongue around it, bathing it like she would his cock had he blessed her with it. When he was satisfied, he removed his finger and slid his hand down her back until she felt his wet digit slide down the crack of her ass. He wiggled it until it rested comfortably between her cheeks.

Mandisa’s quick breath must have relayed her apprehension. She’d never engaged in anal play before, never allowed herself to be breached there.

“Sshh, darlin’. Trust me.”

Her body relaxed at his coaxing. Slade always took care of her—this would be no different. She steadied her breath as he circled the tight flesh. She didn’t know if it was his actual caress or just the idea of him touching her in two secret places at once, but all the sensation she was experiencing seemed to be heightened.

He quickened his pace, forcing her to push back and forth between his hands, chasing the sparks of orgasm the dual stimuli were giving her.

She could feel herself succumbing to his ministrations. She needed an anchor, something to keep her grounded as he pleasured her. She crushed her mouth to his, burying her fingers in his hair, biting down on his bottom lip as her climax struck her, splitting her down the seam of her cunt. When she began to feel her orgasm ebb, her muscles relaxing into a mild quiver, he pressed the tip of the digit he’d been circling around her back entrance and pushed inside.

The breach was painful. Her skin felt stretched beyond capacity upon his entrance. But soon the pain subsided, the sensation morphing into something seductive and desirable. Her muscles tightened again, latching onto what should have been the end of her orgasm and throwing her right back into another cresting wave of pleasure.

Muscles locked, all she could do was scream. The sound was rough, raw, burning the inside of her throat as it escaped into the air.

And through it all, he kissed the skin of her lips, neck, face, and any other part of her he could reach as her body splintered into a million pieces above him.

When she finally stopped coming, he gently removed his fingers from her cunt. His mouth bowed into a satisfied smile as he admired the traces of her wetness remaining on his digits. With a spark of devilment in his eyes, he painted her mouth with it. He licked her lips clean, pulling her trembling body closer to him until she collapsed against his chest. When she was safely in his arms, he slowly removed the tip of his finger from her ass and circled the abused flesh until any remaining discomfort dissipated.

“I swear…swear to God you’d better be worth…worth this, Slade.”

He laughed slightly, rocking her, petting her, lulling her into dazed comfort. “I promise, darlin’. I am.”