Morning light streamed through the windows of the cabin. Sarge blinked his eyes several times before he rolled over on his side. Into a cascade of hair. He spluttered, disoriented, his heart racing as his mind attempted to catch up. He never let a girl stay the night. So who the hell did he find himself next to? One sniff of the hair that threatened to go up his nose and the previous night came flooding back to him.

It surprised him that in the long run, he and Tamsin had not ended up having sex with each other. All he'd been able to think about was burying his rock hard cock deep inside her from the second he'd seen her naked body at Griff's house. But when he finally had her naked underneath him, the urge to take care of her needs and wants overrode his own. And when she had knelt down in front of him and placed her sweet lips around his dick, he was lost. And he never lost control.

Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he paused. The scent of her still lingered on his fingers. His dick stirred to life, but he refused to give in to his desire again.

From the second that they had run through the woods together, his bear pulsed with the need to bond with her. He thought that if they slept together last night, he could work that out of his system and appease his animal. But lying next to her with her warm body within reach made him ache for things he refused to allow himself to have.

Whatever voodoo magic she’d performed on him last night wouldn’t take down the walls he’d so carefully erected over time. A girl had destroyed him before, and it had taken him too long to recover. He couldn't risk himself or his heart again.

Tamsin stirred beside him, her soft snores no longer squeaking in the air. “Morning, sexy,” she rasped. She stretched and rolled onto her side, her ass backing up and rubbing against his morning wood.

If he gave into his bear, he'd wrap his legs and arms around her, teasing her nipples into hard nubs and coating his cock with her slick juices. She ground her curvy ass against him again, and Sarge felt his control slip a little further. One more time and he'd have to take her. Make them both groan in ecstasy.

Unwilling to lose himself again, he bolted out of bed, leaving her alone. She rolled onto her back, and the sheet fell low enough to show off her perky breasts. Mouth drooling and dirty ideas swirling in his head, Sarge forced his feet to take one step at a time into the bathroom. Getting into the shower before it got hot, he took care of himself before he exploded.

By the time he pulled himself together and risked emerging, Tamsin had slipped his T-shirt on again. She crossed her arms over her chest, hiding those magnificent breasts, waiting for her turn in the bathroom. Her icy stare plagued some part of him deep inside, but he ignored it.

Realizing that he wasn't going to say anything, she rolled her eyes and huffed into the bathroom, slamming the door with enough force that the cabin shook.

“Shit.” Sarge rubbed his beard. For a second, he regretted washing her scent of his fingers.

How could he dare to tell her that nothing about this morning was her fault? That it was on him that they needed to part as friendly as possible? Girls tended to hate the It's Not You, It's Me defense. And after everything he’d shared with her last night, she deserved more than empty words. Then again, she deserved more than a dumbass asshole like him, too.

Manning up, he approached the bathroom door and knocked on it. “Tamsin. Can we talk?”

Nothing but the sound of the shower answered him. He pounded again. “Listen, I swear it's not you.”

Should he follow it up with an apology? Would that be enough to appease her? Of course, what she couldn't see was that he was saving her. Rescuing her from dealing with his shit. Because they understood each other on a level that others didn’t, he'd let her into more of his heart than he'd intended to.

But he hadn't told her where all the bones were buried. Even with her uncanny ability to see straight through him, he still had secrets to hide. At the same time, he didn't want her to think about him on the same level as her shithead of an ex-husband. Or hate her as much as she hated Everly. Sarge rested his forehead against the door.

He lifted his hand one more time to get her attention, but the sound of pounding against the front door echoed from the other side of the cabin. With way too much relief, he welcomed the distraction. Throwing on the same pair of shorts from the night before and wrapping a nearby blanket around his body, he answered the insistent knocks. Griff's mother stood in the doorway with a plate of hot, steaming muffins and a large thermos in her hands.

“Morning." No one should be that cheerful at that early hour. “I hope you and Tamsin had a fun night together.” Maya pushed past Sarge, no doubt enjoying his shock. “I figured the two of you might need a little fuel this morning. So I stole some chocolate chip muffins from Griff.”

“Wait. How do you know Tamsin's here?” he asked, closing his gaping mouth.

She grinned. “Surely my powers of deduction have not gone unnoticed by you.”

Sarge still stood in the open door, stunned by the intruder. Griff had told more than one story about his mother's crazy ability to guess things. But Sarge didn't believe in magic, so maybe she was just fishing in the dark. Still, she wasn't wrong.

Closing the door, Sarge let out a deep sigh. “She's in the bathroom.” He pointed in that direction and then picked up a muffin.

“I thought I might be coming over a bit too early. Afraid I might have interrupted something.” Her eyes twinkled. “But it seems that whatever mojo you had working last night has fizzled.”

Sarge stopped mid-bite. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m guessing that there is a part of you that can't believe that there’s something so good as someone like Tamsin out there for you. It's got you running scared, hasn’t it?” Maya sat down at the small cabin table and patted the seat next to her.

He could throw her out. Or open the door and run far, far away. Instead, Sarge found himself unable to disobey his friend’s mother. He sat down like an obedient child and waited.

She poured him a cup of coffee. “I can't believe that you think you're the only one to have his heart broken in the whole wide world. Nor do I think that you will never find happiness.”

Sarge's eyebrows lifted at her choice of words. “How do you know?”

“Ever since you befriended my son, I've watched you and gotten to know a little bit about your character. You're so wide open and generous with the few that you let in. No one has been a better friend to Griff. Not even his own brothers.” A shadow of pain crossed her face.

“Except maybe Samson,” Sarge added.

Maya cocked her head to the side like a bird. “Perhaps. The two of you love my son in very different ways. But isn't that the point? That you do let people in, and that you can love.”

“It's not the same thing,” countered Sarge.

“Love is love, dear boy. You've chosen to let in your two teammates and make them family. That means you can choose whomever you want to be special to you.”

Sarge put down the muffin. “But being friends with Samson and Griff is not the same thing as—”

“—loving a mate? Maya finished. “No, I suppose you're right. If one of the boys betrayed you, it might not hurt as bad. Makes me think that might be why you've kept yourself so isolated from potential mates all these years.” She reached up and lifted his face with her hand. “Sweet boy, Hurt is a black hole that will eat you alive if you keep feeding it. Love is the thing that will close that vacuum, and then you'll be amazed at how full to the brim of life and love you can be.”

“That's easy for you to say.” Sarge regretted his words the moment he uttered them. In his defensiveness, he'd forgotten about Griff’s family’s past and the death of his father.

Maya took a sip of coffee. “Did you know that when I met Griff's father, Titus, Sr., that I refused to date him?”

“No. Griff never told me that.”

“That's because he doesn't know all of the story. He only knows the fairytale of me falling in love with his father, marrying him, and having a beautiful family. But getting to that point wasn't easy. And it wasn't without any stumbles along the way.” The matriarch put down her cup of coffee, staring at the dark brew.

“But he didn't break your heart,” protested Sarge.

“We kind of broke each other's. My bird inside me knew from the second I laid eyes on him that he was mine. But I ran away from those feelings because I wanted to be free and not caged. So I turned him down against all of my instincts.” She sighed. “Titus, well, he was mad at me and decided to get back at me for the pain I’d caused. So he started dating someone else. And even though I had no right to be jealous because I had rejected him first, it still tore me up. Made me think it might break me. It is true that sometimes we don't know what we have until we lose it.”

Sarge swallowed the mouthful of muffin he'd been chewing on. “But you ended up together in the long run.”

“Because I stopped being stupid and went back to him, begging for a second chance. Everyone should have more chances than one to grab onto love. Because what's the alternative?”

Sarge thought about his life. Tamsin knew about him asking his mother to move out to Seattle. But he'd held back how much it had crushed him that his mother refused to do so. He was more than grateful to Griff and Samson for their friendship because, without them, he'd have nobody. Since he tried to convince himself that being alone was better for everyone else, he knew that year after year, he got a little bit worse.

Maya pushed her chair back and stood up. “I guess I'm done lecturing you, son.” She patted his shoulder. “Forgive me. I can't help but meddle. It's in my nature to try and help others find their paths to happiness.”

Sarge appreciated Griff’s mom’s attempts to help him. The conversation made him miss his own mother, but he swallowed the rising emotions. “No worries.”

“One last thing.” Maya touched his face again. “Fear is a liar. It abhors happiness and will attempt to drag you down at all times. Give into it, and you may lose yourself forever. It doesn't do wonders for your animal either. And we all know where that can lead.”

The clan from his childhood had a strict policy about putting down the shifters that went wild or lost control. He knew all too well where he might be headed in life if he didn’t change. “Thanks for the talk, Mrs. Berenger.”

Maya grinned and shook her head. “Oh, I'm not done yet. Get your behind out here, Ms. Tamsin,” she called out.

With hesitant steps, Tamsin rounded the corner from the bathroom. “Good morning, Ms. Maya.”

“Don't think I didn't know you were listening. Same goes for you too, dear girl. But I have another reason for being here.”

“What's that?” Tamsin’s suspicious tone perked Sarge’s curiosity.

“I need the two of you to do me a favor. There’s a delivery to be made, but I have too many things to do. I want the two of you to get the things out of the back of my car and load them into your SUV. There's also a bag with some fresh clothes for you, Tamsin. I stopped by your parents’ house before coming here.”

Tamsin groaned. “Great, so everybody knows I shacked up with him last night?”

Maya made her way to the cabin door. “No, I covered for you. Just this once. Told them that you came back to Griff’s house. Although you're a grown woman, and I don't think it would shock them as much as you think for them to find out you’d spent the night with a good man.”

Sarge smirked. “Good man. Right,” he mumbled under his breath.

Maya approached him with unnatural speed. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look down at her. “A good man,” she emphasized with a little nod.

Sarge's heart beat faster, wishing for her words to be true. He waited for the mother to release him and cleared his throat. “So who are we making a delivery to?”

“Load the boxes first, and then I'll tell you,” Griff’s mother commanded, grabbing the promised bag and handing it to Tamsin.

It didn't take him long, and it gave Tamsin long enough to put on some new clothes. In the daylight, he missed his T-shirt slipped over her delicious curves. He may never wash that shirt again so that he could at least retain the sense memory of last night.

“Okay, Ms. Maya, where do we take all of this?” Tamsin gestured at the boxes in the back of Sarge's SUV.

Griff’s mother handed her a wrinkled piece of paper. As soon as Tamsin read the address, she squeezed her eyes shut. “No, you've got to be kidding me.”

“What?” Sarge asked.

Maya waved at the two of them with way too much twinkle in her eyes. She opened her car door. “Have fun, you two.” She got in and slammed her door, driving off before Sarge could ask her anything else.

“Do you know where we're supposed to take the stuff?” he asked Tamsin.

“Oh, yeah.” She waited for him to unlock the door, and slid into the passenger seat.

He joined her and turned over the engine of the SUV. “So where are we headed?”

“You'll see.