Warm orange flames lick up the blackened bricks inside the cabin’s fireplace. The wind whips outside as the sky darkens to a midnight blue. Luke’s figure passes by the window from time to time. He left his dinner unfinished to take care of some things outside before the storm comes in.

The thought had occurred to me that Luke might have exaggerated the danger of the impending weather to keep me here, but no part of me wants to take my bruised and banged up self down the mountain right now. Especially if snow is in the forecast.

I cringe inwardly and let my bandaged palms warm around the tea Luke prepared for me. Now I am alone with my thoughts. I was stupid for leaving him in such a rush. Now I’m paying for it with my injuries and having to face Luke for far longer than I’d expected.

He didn’t deserve to bear the brunt of my confusion. He was a man—without a doubt, every inch a man—and I’d basically thrown myself at him. I’m not sure what I’d expected to happen. And even when I had offered him everything, essentially free reign over my body, he never made me feel cheap or ashamed.

My eyelids feel heavy. Maybe it’s the tea, or my full belly, or being swaddled under Luke’s quilt in front of a crackling fire. But even after my respite this afternoon, I feel as if I could sleep for hours more. I let my eyelids drift closed and the tension of the day, of my life, and everything that haunts me evaporates into the darkness.

---

When I open my eyes again, only a dim amber glow lights the room. Hours must have passed, because the sky outside is black and the wind whistles through the invisible gaps between the logs more fiercely than before. I pull the quilt around me tighter, but the cold has already seeped into my bones. My fingers and feet are freezing. I squint and try to make out shapes in the room, but I can’t see where Luke keeps the firewood.

I don’t want to bother him, but the cabin will be frigid by morning if we neglect the fire. I blink a few more times and try to get my bearings before limping slowly toward Luke’s bed in the back corner. I feel around in the dark, careful not to bust myself on the way. My knees hit the soft edge of the bed and when I reach down, Luke’s body is warm under my hands.

“Is everything okay?” His voice is gravelly from sleep, and its texture resonates through me unexpectedly.

“The fire died. I can’t find the firewood to get it going again.”

“Shit, sorry.”

He sits up abruptly and simultaneously pulls me down onto the warm place he’d just occupied. He launches himself toward the amber glow, and within a few minutes he’s got it stoked up and throwing a heat I can already begin to feel.

He saunters back, his feet shuffling softly against the pine floor. The silhouette of his massive frame coming toward me has me pressing my knees together. He really is a sight.

“Thank you,” I utter softly, gazing up at him.

Before I can rise and get back to the chair, he’s on the bed beside me, pulling me down until I’m tucked against his chest and under a blanket we’re now sharing. I shiver and sigh, because despite the cold air all around us, he’s a furnace of warmth. I don’t argue with his embrace, or his lazy caresses down my arms that end with my fingers warming up between his. I nuzzle against his neck and inhale, shamelessly reveling in his scent. The cologne designers have it all wrong. If they could bottle one hour of chopping wood, people would go nuts for it.

I should go back to my chair, but with every breath against his skin, every minute wrapped up in his heat, I soften and settle in. Something about Luke is a natural sedative—that is when he’s not being a living, breathing aphrodisiac and driving me out of my mind.

I press my lips softly against his neck. “You smell good,” I whisper.

He rises up on his elbow and stares down at me. Shadows play off his face as he smiles. “You smell good too.” He lowers down and kisses my cheek gently. “You taste good too.” With his free hand he traces a finger over my cheek and along my lips. “Only part I’m having a problem with is your mouth.”

I frown, and his smile widens.

“Maybe it’s the city girl in you.”

“How do you know I’m from the city?”

“I wasn’t born up here, you know. I’ve been all around the world. I know a city girl when I see one.” He continues feathering his fingertips along my jaw. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just been a while since I’ve been around anyone.”

I exhale and close my eyes for a long moment. “I’m sorry. I’m going through a lot right now. I’m not always this…defensive.”

“Tell me about it.”

I shake my head. Tension starts in my belly as I say the words, and the avalanche of my past comes down on me. “It’s too much.”

“I spent years witnessing things no one should ever see. I promise you can talk to me about anything.”

Guilt rides over all the things I want to say. “That makes me feel even worse. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. I’m sure what I’m dealing with right now is nothing in comparison.”

He’s silent a moment before lowering his mouth to mine. The second our lips touch, my body comes alive. I slide my thigh along the roughness of his and hook it over his hip. Before I can fully entwine with him, he breaks the kiss.

“Madison, tell me.”

I blink, trying to pull myself back to the conversation we were having.

“Listen,” he says with a firmness that holds my attention. “You’re hurt. That sprain won’t heal for a little while. We’ll have snow by morning, and I have no idea how long it’ll take to melt so I can take you back down to the retreat. I’m happy to have you here with me, but if you’re going to be a smartass from time to time, I’d at least like to know why. Otherwise I’m going to start thinking it’s all me.”

I imagine forming the words he wants to hear, and how it’ll change how he sees me. “It’s not you, Luke. I know this is my fault. You don’t have to take care of me, but I appreciate that you have.”

He slides his rough palm up my thigh. “Let’s think of it like a happy accident. Now talk to me.”

I sigh and twist a falling strand of his hair between my fingertips. He’s enough to take my breath away sometimes. But I need to just get this out. Rip the Band-Aid off.

“I finalized my divorce last week. It just hurts. We were together for a long time. Then, things changed.”

I search his gaze for judgment, but his calm expression doesn’t change.

“How long were you with him?”

“Since high school. We moved to Los Angeles together. Built up our careers. Before I knew it, I wasn’t enough for him anymore.”

“I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “I’m only sorry I wasted so much time. He is the only one…”

Luke frowns slightly, and I exhale a shaky breath. It’s almost embarrassing to admit it in the context of Jeremy’s infidelity.

“I’ve never been with anyone else. Can’t say the same for him…”

Luke tightens his hold on my thigh and ends my confession with a kiss that leaves me breathless and on fire.

I kiss her hard because I’m not sure how to process everything her confession makes me feel. I want to destroy the man who hurt her. What a goddamn fool. I want to erase him from her memory and eradicate the pain that I see in her eyes. I don’t know Madison very well, but life is simple here. It strips away the unnecessary, the unimportant. I have a feeling that by the time I bring her back down the mountain, I’ll know her soul. My first impression is that she has a kind one. She’s strong too, but I need to strip down her defenses—the ones that sent her stumbling through the brush as she ran away from me without a parting word.

My own defenses kick in a little. I wasn’t happy with her breakaway stunt, and as satisfied as she’d been after our little rendezvous, it hurts that she ran away so fast. Still, she lifts her hips, and I mold my palm to her ass, squeezing it appreciatively. I fucking love this woman’s body. I’m not even trying to keep her from grinding herself against me. I want her too, but I need answers first…

I harness enough willpower to break our heated kiss and stare intently into her half-lidded eyes. “Why did you run away from me?”

Her gaze cuts sideways toward the fire, but I turn her back to face me. Her lips flatten, and I recognize the little flash of fire that comes right before she says something pissy. Just when I think she’s going to, her lips soften. Everything softens and tears glimmer in her eyes as she begins to speak.

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I have no idea why I feel so out of control when I’m with you. It doesn’t make any sense for me to want you the way I do. I don’t know if it’s chemical or if I’m just such a mess right now.”

“You’re not a mess.”

She swallows hard and tries to look away again. I guide her gaze back to me. I’m not letting her run away from me anymore. She huffs out a sigh before speaking again.

“I came to Avalon to get better, but I feel like maybe I’m just running away. I worry that when I go back home, I’ll be the same. Everything will still hurt like it does now. Maybe this is just a waste of time.”

My jaw tightens. Somewhere inside her fear and vulnerability, I hear my own truth. I’d wrestled with those thoughts before. Was I running away up here? No, I couldn’t survive anywhere else. This mountain is where I found my peace.

I push my emotions to the side, because Madison is the one hurting right now. And I fucking hate it. I need to take it away. I cup her cheek and hold her gaze to mine.

“Let me make love to you.”

Her breath comes out in a rush. I want to steal the next one with a kiss. I could seduce her body, but I don’t want her second-guessing her instincts and running away again.

“Say yes to me, Madison, and mean it. Then all you’ll feel is me worshipping you. I can promise there’ll be no room for him in your thoughts when I’m inside you.”

Her next breaths come fast and her body is toasty beneath me. Her little icicle toes are warm now and sliding up the back of my calf. I growl and press myself down into her a little. She’s petite, and I don’t want to crush her, but the way I want to slam our bodies together right now is almost more than I can bear.

“Do you have protection?” She utters the words that stop my lust dead in its tracks.

I shake my head. “Never had a need. Sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinking either… It’s been a long time for me.”

She worries the inside of her lip with her teeth. “I’m on birth control. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Hope blooms around the non-starter of me not stocking my cabin with a box of condoms I’d likely burn through over the next few days if I fucking could. I need to be inside her with a fierceness that makes me dizzy.

“It’s your call, Madison,” I say softly, sending a thousand prayers up that she says yes. I know I’m clean, and I believe she is too. But… “You’ve got no reason to trust me.”

“But I do.”

She slides her fingertips across my scalp and my balls tighten. I draw in a breath hoping it’ll help me hold onto the last thin shred of my willpower.

“You’ve got to tell me now. Before I can’t stop myself.”

She arches and I press my fingertips into her flesh, drawing her tighter and closer to me. Need her. Need to get all the way inside her. Until she screams my name again, and again…

“Make love to me, Luke.”

With a growl, I lift my hand to her collarbone, tuck my fingers under the flap of the shirt I’d given her, and yank hard all the way down. The snaps fly free, right along with my willpower. I pull the shirt apart and bare her chest. I don’t waste another second molding my palm to her breast and massaging the plump flesh. She jolts a little and I pause, gauging her reaction.

“Your hands,” she says.

I turn my palm up. The skin is slightly discolored in places where hours of manual labor have callused the flesh. I close my fist and curse inwardly. That couldn’t feel good on her baby-soft skin. Before I can apologize, she grabs my hand, pries my fingers apart, and replaces my palm back against her chest.

“I like it.”

I don’t move, but she massages her fingers over mine, mimicking how I’d touched her before.

“I like the places where you’re rough. Just startled me for a second. But I like it.”

Something warms in me and I decide to believe her, until she gives me any indication to stop. I run my thumb over her dark nipples and lean down to suck one deeply into my mouth.

She moans, arches into the contact, and her legs shift restlessly around mine. I turn my attention to the other nipple, sucking it harder and longer, imagining how wet she’s getting for me.

“More. I need more.”

Heaven help me, I could post up at her tits for hours. Until the tips were reddened from my tongue and teeth and her flesh was swollen with arousal. But her throaty plea spurs me on. I lift to my knees and tug the boxers off her legs. Something about her wearing my shirt turns me on so I decide to leave it. I push my boxers down and spread her legs to rest on either side of my thighs.

My mouth waters at the sight of her cunt again, glistening in the faint light. Even with that proof of her arousal, I sink a finger into her heat and flick her clit until she bucks and moans. I need her more than ready for me. She’s got a tight little channel for me to work my way into. I have no idea about the man who loved her and left her, but I’m guessing by the way she gawked at my cock this afternoon, I’m a lot bigger than he was.

She clenches around me and my patience disappears. I lower down, kiss her deeply, and nudge my aching cock against her opening. Slowly I push in. A low groan leaves my chest as her wet heat envelops me inch by inch. She sucks in a little breath and tightens, halting my journey to the end of her.

Her eyes are wide. “You’re big.”

I smile. “And you’re perfect. You feel so fucking good around me.”

She lets go of a sigh and a little bit of tension.

I brush my lips over hers. “Relax for me, beautiful. Let me in.”

I thrust gently, feel her soften beneath me and give me the space I need to push all the way home. Once I’m there, she cries out and locks her thighs tightly around my waist. That’s pleasure…and this is home. Right here. I thrust again and she’s trembling.

I scan her features, frozen at the possibility that I have inadvertently hurt her. “Are you okay?”

She arches and drags her nails down my shoulder. “Don’t stop. Oh my God. Don’t fucking stop.”

Relief and pleasure slide through my veins. Thank fucking God. After a few more tentative thrusts, I slam my hips hard against hers. Her lip trembles fiercely with the rest of her, and her pussy locks on me like a vise. Fuck me. She’s coming already. Except this can’t end yet. I ignore the burning need to come. Instead I focus on her. I study every expression, every desperate sound, and correlate them to the way I’m fucking her and touching her, memorizing what her body tells me gives her the most pleasure.

Nothing could satisfy me more. Almost nothing…

I’ve lost count of the minutes. Her orgasms bleed together and my own resolve starts to break down. I don’t want this to end, but the promise of coming inside her is too sweet. The sensation creeps down my spine, giving me a little taste of how amazing it’s going to feel letting go.

She slides her palms to my ass and squeezes. I lurch farther into her tight tissues with a groan. I catch her by the knee and push it up to her chest so I can fuck her deeper. Her jaw falls and our gazes lock.

“Are you ready, beautiful?”

“Yes.”

The way she whimpers that single word makes me want to pull out and lick her to another few orgasms before I claim my own. Before I can follow that thought any farther, I’m driving into her so hard I swear I’m hitting something. She’s holding onto the log posts at the head of my bed for dear life and screaming my name, coming hard for me one more time. It’s the best sound…

Then I let go, and nothing has ever felt so fucking right.