She had barely slept a wink, and was still staring at the ceiling when her alarm went off at five-thirty. Instead of trying any more, she wrenched herself out of bed with a huff.

If you were mine, I’d tear the world apart for you.

“Who says that?” she muttered to herself, throwing her blankets aside. “I’m Rhett,” she muttered. “I’m a giant lumberjack mountain man,” she began pulling the pillows off the bed. “My eyes are the color of forty-year-old whiskey.” She grabbed the top sheet and began to tuck it into the mattress. “I literally run with wolves.” She flopped back on the half-made bed, her hair fanning out. She grabbed a pillow and pressed it into her face, letting out a little frustrated scream.

Why did he have to be so… him? Sometimes it was infuriating. He was probably up already, off to feed the horses and the cows and the cougars or whatever creature he was rehabilitating this month. She could just picture well-worn denim clinging to his perfect butt, and… Oh my God, Nat, you need to stop thinking like this! You’re going to ruin everything!

Her second alarm went off, this time alerting her that she had a phone call scheduled in fifteen minutes. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she got up and padded across her plush room—Rhett always gave her the executive suite when she stayed at the lodge—and opened the door. A tray with a French press carafe and her parmesan-and-chive omelet with sourdough French toast was already waiting outside the door. She picked it up and closed the door behind her, carrying the tray over to the bed as she poured herself a cup of coffee and unlocked her phone.

100 new emails.

30 new voicemails.

45 text messages.

“Just another day in paradise,” Nat said, mixing in the entire ramekin of homemade caramel that accompanied each pot of coffee for that secret touch of sugar. She ate her omelet one-handed as she went through and answered the most urgent emails. The sourdough toast was deliciously tangy and the eggs fluffy and perfect… if only she could eat like this every day.

Maybe I should hire someone to, like, cook for me, she mused as she tapped out a response to Renee Kemp, Purely Pleasure’s resident sexologist. Renee had been on a six-month sabbatical as she taught over in London, and would be heading back with Liberty, the head of their Portland flagship store, who was over there scouting locations for their newest store.

Her phone buzzed, Liberty Evans appearing on the screen.

“Hey, Liberty,” she said.

“How was the wedding?” Liberty asked immediately. “It kills me I wasn’t there!”

“You were very missed,” Nat said. “I’m sorry again you had to miss it.”

“Don’t apologize,” Liberty assured her. “When a property like the Kingston property goes up for sale, you’ve got to jump on it. And I wasn’t about to let you go! Maddy needed her maid of honor.”

“It was beautiful, and Maddy and Carter both send their love.”

“They’re off on their honeymoon?”

“They should be landing in Australia as we speak,” Nat said. “Hopefully, Carter can stop working on that battery project of his long enough to get some sun.”

Liberty giggled. “I’m sure Maddy will make sure he’s plenty distracted. Anyway, let’s talk about the property.”

“Yes,” Nat said, her focus snapping to the two-story, classic London storefront that had gone on the market just last week. “Have you made progress with the leasing agency?”

“Let me tell you, it’s been almost impossible getting anyone to talk to me. I swear, some of these guys hear an American accent and when I say my name is Liberty, they think I’m making a joke.”

Nat couldn’t help it, she snorted a little as she laughed. “Sorry,” she said. “I just… I didn’t think of that.”

“It’s hilarious, I know,” Liberty said dryly. “Anyway, I finally tracked down the guy at the agency who’s in charge of the Kingston property. In fact, the guy is a Kingston. The place was his family’s, and he’s all attached to it and insists on handling the sale himself. Problem is, he doesn’t want to sell. He just wants to rent it.”

“Wait, what? That won’t work—we want to buy,” Nat said. “Why was it listed for sale if he’s not interested in selling it?”

“Apparently it was a mistake,” Liberty sighed. “Someone mixed up the forms and it was supposed to be advertised to rent.”

“He’s not open to selling at all?” Nat asked.

“This guy, he’s… stubborn.”

“Figure out his price,” Nat said. She loved that property and it was in a perfect location.

“But—” Liberty said.

“Everyone has a price,” Nat said. “You’ve got this, Liberty.”

“I don’t know if I do,” Liberty said, sounding a little panicky. “He’s all… Britishy! And I’m so not. I’m just a store manager, Nat. I’m not a CEO or a negotiator or any of the things you are. I don’t have a business degree. I don’t even have a college degree or a high school diploma… I have a GED.”

“You are incredible,” Nat said, hating that Liberty had this insecurity about the fact that she wasn’t as educated as some of her friends. Education came in a lot of forms, and degrees didn’t guarantee you’d learned anything. “You are so smart, Liberty. You’re savvy and you’re a meticulous planner and you know how to sell anything. You’re a born saleswoman and the way you run the Portland store is the main reason why I’m even interested in opening more storefronts when so much of our business is online. Because you’ve created an oasis in the Portland store, somewhere women can come to feel empowered and understood, somewhere they can explore fantasies and themselves and their partners. We can do that in London, too. Just convince Mr. Stuffy Pants to sell us the building. If we have to go a little over budget, that’s fine. The pre-orders for the pearl sensation glove are through the roof after those reviews in the blogosphere and the double page feature in Cosmo. We can afford to spend some more if we have to.”

“I’ll try,” Liberty said.

“You’ll kill it,” Nat said, assurance in her voice. “Call me if you need anything. Doesn’t matter about the time difference.” She glanced down at her laptop, at Renee’s email. “You’re meeting Renee tomorrow before two fly back, right?”

“Yes, I’m so excited to see her again!” Liberty said. “I’ve missed her.”

“Give her my love. Text me as soon as Mr. Kingston caves. I’ll send you photos of the wedding as soon as I get them.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, Nat. You’re the best boss a woman could ask for.”

Nat smiled, feeling proud. “You’re a great employee. I’ll talk to you later.”

Dawn was beginning to streak across the sky as she finished the crusts of her toast and downed another cup of coffee. Then she took a long, hot shower, washing off the party from the night before and the leftover makeup she hadn’t removed.

She pulled on a pair of worn Levis and a short gray t-shirt, and threw on a flannel shirt she’d picked up somewhere over that, because Oregon mornings were chilly in the early fall. Her hair was still a little damp down her back as she shoved her room key in her pocket and wandered out into the pink dawn light. She breathed in the scent of fog and pine trees as she walked down the lodge’s porch steps, heading toward the east meadow, which was about a mile’s walk down one of the dirt roads that ran through River Run’s recreation areas.

Birds were just starting to warm up, chirping their songs as she strolled past a tangle of forest that hid River Run’s little lake. Eventually, the land flattened out to meadow and pasture, and she spotted the horses. She could see some new ones mixed in with the herd she was used to, including Goliath, the black stallion she always rode.

I should’ve grabbed some carrots from the kitchen, she thought as she clambered up on the fence and swung onto the top rail to sit and watch them.

Goliath whickered softly when he spotted her, trotting forward. “Hey, boy,” she said as he pressed his face into her stomach, smearing her with spit as he searched her for treats. “Sorry, no treats this time.”

When he finally pulled back, treatless, he looked like he was pouting.

“Maybe we’ll go for a ride before I go back to the city,” she suggested, and that seemed to mollify him a little, but he still turned and walked back to join the other horses in the pasture. Probably off to gossip about what a jerk she was for not spoiling him with sugar lumps.

The thunder of hoof beats filled her ears and she twisted on the fence, looking over her shoulder to find the source of the noise.

And she damn near fell off the fence, because once a horse girl, always a horse girl. And there was nothing hotter than a man who could ride a horse… and do it well.

When he saw her, he slowed Remus, the dappled gray he rode most often, and came to a full stop in front of her.

“You’re up early,” he said.

She bit her lip, unable to tear her gaze from the way his white t-shirt was stained with sweat, how there was a little bead trickling just so down his bearded neck. She could feel herself getting hot and bothered when she flashed back to last night, to the scrape of his stubbled cheek against her own. It had made her shudder with desire then… and now.

“I… had a phone meeting,” she said, trying to keep it together. He was on a horse! In this thin t-shirt! It wasn’t fair! “London time. Liberty, she’s scouting locations for our new store there. She thinks she has a lock on a property I really want.”

“Cool,” he said.

“I hope so.” What would his skin taste like if she pressed her mouth to the strong line of his collarbone, exposed by the loosened neck of his old, soft t-shirt. “The wedding… it was beautiful. You did good.”

He smiled, and it was that bashful, pleased smile she so rarely saw. He didn’t talk a lot about his family beyond his two brothers. She knew his mother had died when he was very young and he’d been far closer to his grandfather than his brothers. She got the feeling he’d never gotten much praise from his father, which is why it always made her happy when she could let him know how proud she was of him.

Because she was proud—what he’d done with River Run was nothing short of incredible. She’d never doubted his ability to do it for a second, but clearly, there had been others in his life—and his family—who had.

Well, he’d shown them all, she thought with satisfaction. She was a competitive woman—she wasn’t one to hide that. She liked winning. And she was glad Rhett was so successful. He was the kind of man who took that success and put it toward creating good in the world… because he was good.

“I hope they have a wonderful honeymoon and an even better life,” he said. “Carter… he’s the best.”

Nat smiled. “He really is. And so is Maddy. It’s kind of perfect that my two closest friends fell in love. Like it was meant to be. They both have that sweet streak.”

“Nothing like us,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at her, and she tried to ignore how much she liked the way us fell from his lips.

“I don’t think anyone would describe me as sweet,” she said.

“No,” he said, his eyes growing warm as he looked down at her. “I think you got twice the spice and half the sugar.”

She looked down, trying not to smile, because she knew that from him, it was a compliment. From other men, it might’ve been an admonishment or a warning.

But not from him.

“You’re one in a billion, Banks,” he said lightly.

“Right you’d tear the world apart for me” she replied, and when his eyes widened, she realized it was absolutely the wrong thing to say.

“You remember that.”

She laughed shakily. “I wasn’t that tipsy last night.”

But he was still looking at her, puzzled, as if the fact that she remembered him saying something searingly hot, as if that was a surprise. And she realized she’d just inadvertently confirmed something for him.

He hadn’t known. She felt herself go hot all over.

He hadn’t known that she was still attracted to him. He’d thought… what… that it had just gone away? That their night in New York had meant nothing to her?

It was just a kiss, Nat. He probably thought you were over it. It was just a kiss.

But it wasn’t… was it? Because it had been years since that kiss. And here they were. They kept ending up here, with each other… and it was getting so hard to resist.

“Nat—” he said, and the meaning in her name, the weight in his voice, it made her want to curl into him and never leave.

She took a deep breath, wondering if for once, she could be brave when it came to him.