Luke parks the truck and turns to me, but I’m too caught up in the beauty that’s right outside my window to pay him any attention. I clutch my chest, breathless and in awe of the majesty of this secluded hideaway. This is going to be ours. Soon there will be no more his and mine. The thought of that sends a shiver through my body and warms my insides.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s…it’s…”

I can’t find the right words to describe what’s in front of me. We’re thousands of feet in the air, perched on the side of a tree-lined mountain with nothing but wilderness for miles.

“This is ours,” Luke says.

I drag my gaze away from our mountain and finally turn to him. My eyes burn as tears form. I’m overwhelmed by his generosity and selflessness when it comes to us. “It’s perfect.”

He pulls my hand from my chest and nestles it between his palms. “Madison. I want to build our dream home on this spot. Just over there.” He motions with his chin to a clearing near the southern edge. “I want nothing more than to make you happy.”

I don’t look because it doesn’t matter where he builds the house. Luke will be there and that’s the most important thing to me—not the location. He’ll build it with his own two hands, and I know every inch of the house will be built with love.

“I’ll be happy anywhere, Luke. As long as we’re together.” I swallow hard and push back the tears that are still threatening to spill over.

“Well, then let’s just go back to my cabin.” He smirks, knowing full well that it’s way too primitive for me.

“No. No.” I laugh softly and shake my head at his playfulness. It’s a side to him I’ve come to crave. “I want this house.”

His lips slide into an easy smile and he moves across the seat so that our legs are touching. Goosebumps break out across my skin when he nuzzles my hair. Putting his mouth next to my ear, he whispers, “I’m callin’ in my wish.”

The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand at full attention as if fleeing whatever craziness he’s about to drop on me. “I thought anal the other night was your payback.” I have a feeling his idea isn’t going to be something I’ll love.

“Nah.”

He closes his teeth around my earlobe, sucking lightly and tugging until I’m unable to think and my breathing grows ragged.

“We’re going to camp here tonight, survivalist style.”

My eyes that had fluttered close while his mouth made love to my earlobe snap open. “Um, no.” I pull away. He’s not going to use his sexual powers to fool me into sleeping under the stars, rolling around in the dirt.

“Come on, Mad. It’ll be fun,” he tells me in a voice that would make someone who knows him like I do actually believe his words.

I cross my arms over my chest and stare out the window again at the wilderness in front of me. There are no homes for at least five miles and no help if something should happen. “It’s too dangerous.”

His fingers touch my chin, bringing my gaze back to him. “Bullshit. I’ll protect you. I’d never let anything happen to you.”

“But there are bears and things out here.”

His eyebrows lift. “And things?”

“Uh, yeah. You know…other animals.”

He laughs, shimmying his body closer, he pins me against the truck’s door. “There’s nothing to be scared of, except for maybe me.”

My hunger for him intensifies, erasing the fear of the wide open wilderness. “Okay,” I say too easily. I can’t take it back once it’s out of my mouth.

He leans forward, pressing his lips to mine. With his fingers still resting against my chin, he steals my breath with the most devastating kiss. There’s as much passion and longing in the way our lips move together as there was the very first time our lips met. Nothing has waned for me, only grown more intense over time.

My heart’s pounding, reeling from the realization that we’re sitting upon what’s going to be our spot, the slice of heaven that he’s sharing with me. I snake my arms around his neck, burrow my fingers in his hair, and melt into him.

He pulls away first, breaking the contact I could’ve stayed in forever. Well, at least through the night, safe inside the cabin of his truck.

“I want to stay in here all night,” he says, his breathing hoarse and affected.

“We can do that.”

“There are things we have to do before nightfall.” His hand slides down my neck, cupping my breast before thumbing my nipple.

I sigh, completely compliant with his wishes.

“Once we’re done, I want to make love to you under the stars.”

I envision Luke pumping into me slowly, the grass tickling my skin and the stars twinkling above us like a million little flashlights creating shadows across our bodies. Then the slow movement of his hips as he grinds into me, warming us from the inside out.

He opens the door and climbs out while I’m still inside fantasizing about his body moving against mine. I hadn’t noticed the camping gear he had stowed in the back when he loaded my luggage. This idea didn’t just come to him. He planned it from the moment I agreed to go back to his cabin so he could pack up his life and head back to LA.

“There better be a tent in there.” I join him near the rear of the truck and start to pull out duffle bags of what I assume are supplies and toss them to the ground.

“I may have lied a little.” He grins sweetly, but there’s a hint of mischief in his eyes. “We’re not going to be survival camping.”

“We’re not?” My insides that had twisted at the thought of roughing it for a night begin to relax. Luke wouldn’t do that to me, especially after I went easy on him when I trimmed his beard.

“No. I have all the supplies we need for a relaxing night under the stars, including a tent and cooking supplies.”

I scan the truck bed, looking for some groceries, but I don’t see anything. “Food?”

“We’re going to forage and hunt. That much will be survival.”

I gasp, horrified at the idea of killing an innocent creature. “I won’t hunt, Luke.”

His eyebrows furrow and his gaze darkens. “I need meat. Especially if I’m going to fuck your brains out later. We can’t live off leaves.”

“I refuse to kill an innocent creature,” I tell him and stand my ground.

He rubs a hand down his face and groans. “You eat meat, Mad.”

“Sometimes,” I lie.

“It doesn’t just show up on grocery store shelves. It has to die sometime.”

“Fuck,” I hiss and my stomach turns. “I can’t.”

He hoists the final bag from the back and throws it over his shoulder before grabbing the rest in his other hand. “Fine. We’ll forage.” The last word sounds bitter coming from his mouth, but it doesn’t matter. I think it’s a win.

“Good.” I follow behind him, watching my step as we walk through thick brush toward the edge of the tree line. But then it dawns on me that maybe there isn’t anything up here to eat besides leaves and twigs. What will we do then?

I sit on a rock after Luke orders me to do nothing but relax while he sets up our camp. Watching him closely, I take in the way he moves when he’s comfortable and in his element. His relaxed demeanor is sexy, and the ease with which he sets up everything perfectly turns me on. It reminds me of when I peeked at him through the window above his bed after the first time we slept together. Something about his ruggedness makes everything inside me come to life.

When the sun hangs a little lower in the sky, almost kissing the edge of the mountain, Luke pulls his shirt over his head and tucks it in his back pocket. Leaning forward, I rest my elbow on my knee and my chin in my palm to admire the view. His muscles ripple, hardening and straining under his skin with each movement. I’m fascinated. Even though I’ve seen them a hundred times, it never gets old.

He’s mine.

The knowledge of that fact makes this okay. When I’m with him, I feel untouchable, cocooned in an impenetrable force field of his love. Luke Dawson came into my life during a time when I least expected it and turned everything upside down.

He saved me. He says I saved him, but in all honesty, he brought me back to the woman I was always meant to be. No longer did I live in the shadows of the man at my side. I finally had the type of love that Susan told me to chase.

But it was the opposite. I ran. He chased. We both fell together.

A coyote howls in the distance and she goes rigid underneath me. “I got you,” I whisper in her ear, slowly sliding back into her with sure strokes.

Her legs tighten around me and her fingernails scorch my back. Then she tilts her hips, taking me deeper and relaxing under my touch.

There’s nothing but stars twinkling above us in a cloudless night sky. The flames of the fire flicker, creating shadows across her face. My body aches for her. There’s not a second of the day that I don’t want to be joined with her in some way. A kiss. A hug. Or buried deep inside her. Since the day she barged into my cabin, I haven’t had my fill.

I knead her ass, digging my fingertips into the soft flesh as I thrust into her. The strokes are long and drawn out, meant to touch every inch of her inside. I’ve never had the primal need to mark someone before, but Madison brings it out in me.

Even now, seated deep, I want to go further and lose myself inside her. Madison makes everything else disappear—the worry, the fear, and the regret of the things in my past. None of it matters when I’m with her. She chases away the demons that have haunted me for years.

I gaze down at her, memorizing this moment. “I love you.”

She stares up at me with darkened, lust-filled eyes. “I love you too.” The words warm my insides hotter than any fire.

She sinks her heels into my ass, holding my body against her. I’m a willing captive to her wordless command. She moves with me, grinding herself against me until she starts to tremble. She’s close, and I’m right behind her. Her muscles go rigid as her breathing sputters. Needing more, I thrust into her quickly and pull out, swiveling my hips with each forward movement. She rides the waves of pleasure, her nails biting into my skin. The pain-pleasure mix is enough to send me over the edge. The spine-tingling orgasm leaves me gasping for air.

Her legs unfurrow. She goes slack underneath me, but her nails remain buried in my skin as she holds my body against her. We gaze at each other for a moment, and I think she’s going to speak. Instead she lifts her head and kisses me, feeding me the air I so badly need.

“Thank you.” She pulls back far enough to look into my eyes.

“For what?”

“For everything.” She smiles, releasing her grip on my back.

“I should be thanking you.” I roll to my side, taking her with me. “You saved me, Mad.”

She places her head on my shoulder and studies me. “I was a shell of my former self, Luke, until I met you.”

“We saved each other.” I pull her body close, leaving no space between us.

“It’s really beautiful up here.” Her eyes move to the sky and to the stars reflecting against the darkness in her eyes. “I can’t wait to spend every night with you in this place.”

My lips find her forehead. “Me neither.”

She’s mine. It wasn’t all just a dream. I never thought I’d find someone else to share my life with again. But fate had other plans. Actually my dick did. If it wasn’t for the fact that her naked flesh and soft moans stopped me at the springs, I never would’ve met her. Instead of lying under the stars with her in my arms, I’d be alone in my cabin watching the fire crackle.

Exhausted from the day and spent from her orgasm, she drifts to sleep in my arms. For a moment I think about staying outside next to the fire, but it’s not safe enough. The coyotes in the distance haven’t quieted, and remain too close for comfort. Moving slowly, I place my arms under her body and climb to my feet. She doesn’t wake as I carry her toward the tent just a few feet away and set her down on the sleeping bag. I adjust her body around mine to keep her warm through the night. I close my eyes, find the peace that only she gives me, and let the songs of the forest lull me into a deep sleep.

I wake abruptly to the sounds of screams. I sit straight up and look around me. Madison’s gone, but the spot to my side is still warm. Without hesitation, I grab the knife I had stowed under my pillow and rush to my feet.

“Madison!”

Panic rises inside me as she shrieks louder. They’re terror-filled screams, echoing through the valley below.

“Madison!” I yell again, trying to gauge my distance by the way her voice carries through the trees. Pushing aside the branches, not caring that I don’t have any shoes on, I bolt through the forest toward her pleas. Then I see it. A coyote has her pinned with her back flush against a tree. It’s growling, showing its teeth in aggression. Madison is frozen and naked.

“Stop yelling,” I tell her when she screams my name, finally catching sight of me. “She’s feeding off your fear.”

She seals her mouth shut, her eyes wide and her chest heaving in fright. “She wants to feed off me,” she says quickly, trying to burrow her body into the tree.

I step forward. The coyote turns and shows me her teeth, but I stop my advance. Based on the time of year, I know there’s a good chance she’s protecting cubs who are probably stowed somewhere nearby.

“It’s okay, girl,” I say, dropping my voice to a calm, even tone. “We won’t hurt you.”

“Are you fucking crazy? Kill it.”

Now she wants me to murder something, and for what? Defending her territory? I ate berries and leaves tonight in the name of saving animals. I wasn’t about to kill the coyote unless it was absolutely necessary. “She’s afraid, Madison. She’s defending her home and probably her babies. Stay calm and keep still.”

“Well, I’m afraid too,” she says in a sweet, gooey tone.

I lift the knife slightly, just in case the beast pounces on me.

“Hey, girl.” I try to draw its attention away from Madison. When I step on a branch and it cracks, the animal turns to face me, her growl dropping deeper. “We won’t hurt you,” I tell it. Even though it can’t understand my words, I do nothing to seem aggressive toward the coyote.

Slowly she backs away and her lips close around her teeth. She looks at Madison and then back to me. We’re motionless. Frozen like statues, waiting for her to make the next move.

Madison’s eyes are wide and unblinking, but her body sags after the coyote makes a high pitched noise like a dog and then jots away from us.

“Fuck,” she hisses, leaning over and clutching her legs for support. “I thought she was going to eat me.”

“Look.”

I motion in the direction of the coyote and her two pups hidden behind the brush. They squeal out a howl as three sets of eyes watch us through the moonlit darkness.

“They’re so cute,” she says, her expression softening.

I hold my hand against her when she goes to move. “Wait for them to leave.” I shake my head. “And you wanted me to kill her.”

“I’m an idiot.” She pouts her lips, but keeps her gaze pinned on the two pups. “I don’t know if this wilderness gig is for me, Luke.”

I smile at her honesty, but I know she can handle it. “Just don’t traipse around here naked, alone, and reeking of sex when we move here and you’ll be fine. What in God’s name were you doing out here?”

“I had to pee.”

I shake my head and laugh at her ballsiness. “Next time wake me up. Don’t come out here alone. I almost had a heart attack.”

“I almost got eaten, so we’re even.” She laughs softly. “Can we go now?”

The coyotes have vanished. I nod and hold my hand out to her, ready to have her back safely in my arms. “Do you want to head up to the cabin?”

She curls into me and walks tucked underneath my arm. “What about our stuff?”

“Leave it. I plan to spend plenty of time up here. I’ll get it next time.”

“We can stay if you want.”

“I’ll never fall back asleep. Let’s go, and we’ll crawl into my bed later.”

“Sounds like heaven,” she says, looking into my eyes when we make it back to the fire. “I had a great time tonight.”

I wrap my hands around her biceps, stroking her skin with my thumbs. “Even with the coyote?”

“Even with the coyote, because I was with you.” She places her head on my chest.

I kiss the top of her head and thank God she wasn’t hurt. “Me too, even though you took ten years off my life the way you were screaming.”

“Would you have killed the coyote for me?”

“I would’ve killed it before it had a chance to ever touch you, Mad.”

“That’s hot, Luke.”

“What?”

“You were kind of badass back there. It’s almost sexier than the bar fight.”

“Fuck.” I shake my head and pull away from her just enough so I can see her face. “Promise me that you won’t do any more shit like that?”

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and bites down before a broad grin breaks free. “I promise.”

The woman keeps me on my toes. I thought I had a pretty full life. I thought I was happy before she walked into my cabin uninvited. But I was wrong. I just glided through the days without any real purpose. Loving Madison has become the sole reason for my existence.

“Um, where are our clothes?” she asks, breaking my train of thought.

I glance around, but see nothing. “Somewhere around here.”

“We can drive naked.” She laughs. “I’ve never done that before.”

We’re a couple hundred miles from the cabin, but there’s a good chance at this time of night that not another soul will be on the road. Sitting next to her, watching her tits jiggle as we drive down the dirt roads makes the risk of getting arrested entirely worth it.

“I’m game if you are,” I tell her as we walk toward the truck.

“Life’s short, Luke. Live a little.” She nudges me in the ribs with her elbow. “You need to take a leap sometimes without overthinking everything.”

I pull her into my arms and kiss her deeply. She doesn’t realize it, but I leapt a long time ago, right into her arms.