Long after Charley had fallen asleep, Tyler lay awake staring up at the ceiling thinking about the way she’d come apart in his arms and then made him see stars when she returned the favor. He’d never come so hard in his life, and he was dying for more of her. She’d no sooner given an inch, however, when she took back the mile in progress he’d thought they’d made since her accident.

She didn’t want a husband and kids and a life committed to someone else, or so she said.

He’d said what she wanted to hear tonight, because he was nowhere near done with her or done trying to convince her that they could have something special. So he’d bought himself some time by saying what she wanted him to. He hadn’t lied so much as stretched the truth to accommodate her needs. That didn’t really count as a lie if his intentions were honorable, did it?

He was convinced—absolutely, positively convinced—that they could be magic together if only she allowed herself to at least try. And he wasn’t about to give up on her before they’d had a chance to see what might develop. In the back of his mind was the voice of his mother warning him to be careful to guard his heart, his siblings saying he could’ve chosen an “easier” woman, his friends teasing him about being a masochist. Those voices were drowned out, however, by the sound of her voice asking if she could touch him.

His body reacted predictably to that memory, hardening to the point of pain as he recalled the exquisite pleasure of her lips and hand wrapped around his cock as she sucked him to completion. It would be a very long time, if ever, until that memory didn’t rank at number one on the list of things he never wanted to forget.

The only thing that could top that memory was more of her. Despite her warnings, he was falling harder for her every day and night they spent together. And while she hated when he acted as if he knew her better than she knew herself, he suspected he’d hit a bull’s-eye with his comment about her well-protected heart. Her eyes had hardened and her lips had tightened with displeasure that told him he was spot on.

Someone had hurt his darling Charley—and hurt her badly enough that she’d convinced herself it was easier not to bother than it was to put herself on the line for a man. He was determined to show her how wrong she was about that. But he’d have to proceed carefully. He’d have to keep his own feelings hidden until she was ready for all the things he wanted to give her.

That might be the most difficult challenge of all, because he was definitely in love with her. He’d suspected he might be a long time ago, but the day she’d disappeared down the side of that ravine and he’d had all that time to wonder what he’d do if she was dead . . . Any doubt had been erased during those interminable hours. He loved her, he wanted her, he desired her—and only her.

As long as she was living in his house and sleeping in his bed—with him—he had a chance to convince her to let down her guard. He’d show her romance and affection and friendship and passion that would leave her dazzled. And if he went to all that trouble and still came up short?

Well, he’d cross that covered bridge when he came to it.

After taking his son back to Chloe’s in Burlington, Max Abbott returned to Butler feeling out of sorts, the way he did whenever he was separated from his son by a couple of hours. Chloe had very little to say to him when he picked up or dropped off Caden, which left Max wondering what she was thinking and constantly on edge whenever he was not with his son.

It wasn’t that he thought she would mistreat the baby, but her general apathy toward their son was worrisome. That worry had brought Max to his aunt Hannah’s house, where he let himself in through the mudroom door that was always unlocked. He took off his boots and hung up his coat before venturing into his aunt’s cozy kitchen, where she was sitting at the table with his cousin Grayson, who Max had come to see.

“Max!” Hannah jumped up to hug and kiss him. “What a nice surprise.”

He returned her embrace. “Sorry to barge in on you guys.”

“Not at all,” Hannah said. “Can I get you a cup of something warm?”

“I wouldn’t say no to that.”

“Have a seat, honey. I’ll get it for you.”

“Thank you.” He shook hands with Grayson, who eyed him shrewdly, already aware that this wasn’t a social call.

“How’s the baby?” Hannah asked.

“He’s great.” Like the proud father he was, Max whipped out his phone and showed them the new photos he’d taken during the last few days he and Caden had spent with Will and Cameron.

“He’s absolutely gorgeous,” Hannah declared.

“I think so, too.”

“He looks just like you did as a baby,” Grayson said.

“My mom says that, too.”

“Poor bastard,” Gray said with a sly grin that made Max laugh for the first time all day.

“Save it. My brothers have already said the same thing.”

“They’re all just jealous, Max,” Hannah said, putting a steaming cup of hot chocolate on the table in front of him. “The youngest cousin is the best looking out of all of you.”

“Gee, thanks a lot, Mom,” Gray said.

“You’re not ugly and you know it, Grayson.”

“I think he’s kind of ugly,” Max said with a smile for his cousin. “There, now we’re even.”

“What brings you out in this weather, Max?” Hannah asked as she continued to move about the kitchen.

“I was hoping to talk to Gray about a few things.”

“Sure,” his cousin said, all kidding aside now. “Whatever you need.”

“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Hannah said.

“You don’t have to, Aunt Hannah.”

She hugged Max from behind. “Talk to your cousin. I’ve got some work to catch up on. And bring me that baby to snuggle the next time he’s in town.”

“I will. Thanks for the hot chocolate.”

“Any time, honey.”

When they were alone, Gray looked at him expectantly. “What’s on your mind?”

“My son is on my mind twenty-four-seven.”

“As well he should be. I heard you and Chloe broke up.”

Max nodded and stared down at his hot chocolate. “We called it quits between us a couple of weeks before he was born. It just wasn’t working, and there was no sense in staying together for his sake when we’d only make each other miserable.”

“Sounds like you made the best decision for yourselves.”

“I guess.”

“Did you not want to break up with her?”

“No, I did. By the time she finally said she was done, I’d been done for a while. She turned into someone totally different after she got pregnant. She was really pissed off about it, and took most of it out on me, as if she hadn’t been a willing participant when it happened. I got tired of her crapping on me for something we did together.”

“From what I’ve heard and seen, you’ve done the best you could throughout this entire situation.”

“I’ve tried, but she isn’t making it easy.”

“How do you mean?”

“She’s being really weird about him. About Caden.”

“In what way?”

“She’s very . . . detached, I guess you could say. I worry about whether she’s taking proper care of him when I’m not there.”

Grayson sat up a little straighter in his chair. “Like you think she’s neglecting him?”

“Not technically, but if he has to cry for a while before his bottle, she doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that, whereas I can’t stand to hear him cry. I feed him right away when he cries. She takes her own sweet time getting to him. Stuff like that. And I noticed he had diaper rash when I picked him up this time, which was new. That leads me to wonder how long she’s letting him sit in dirty diapers. It’s making me crazy, Gray. I know she has rights, but so does he and so do I.”

“Are you thinking about asking for full custody?”

“God, no. As much as I want to be with him every day, there’s no way I could do it on my own.”

“Yes, you could, Max. In our family, no one is ever alone. You’d be surrounded by help.”

“Still . . . He needs his mother, too.”

“Not if she doesn’t want him.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“We need to have a talk with her.”

“We do?”

“You and me as your lawyer. Since you two have broken up, your custody arrangement needs to be formalized.”

“We were just going to share custody.”

“Which you can still do, but you need to make it legal, Max. What if she were to get a wild idea about moving out of state or overseas and taking your son with her?”

The very thought of such a scenario sent Max into a panic. “She can’t do that!”

“If you don’t have a legal agreement in place that prohibits either of you from moving or taking him overseas, she can do it—and so can you.”

“Will you help me with this, Gray? I’ll pay you for your time. Whatever it takes—”

“Of course I’ll help you, and you won’t pay me.”

“You’ve just left your job to open a practice. You have to let people pay you.”

“I’ll let people pay me. I won’t let you pay me.”

His cousin’s generosity nearly reduced Max to tears. “Thanks, Gray. I really appreciate this.”

“Give me a couple of days to get my head around the details, and then we’ll go to Burlington and talk to Chloe, okay?”

The thought of having that conversation with her made Max feel sick. “Are you sure that’s the right thing to do?”

“I’m absolutely positive.”

On Sunday morning, Tyler shoveled the driveway so he could take Charley to Megan’s bridal shower at the Abbotts’ barn. All morning he waited for her to ask for his help packing up so she could stay at her parents’ place after the shower, but she didn’t ask, and he certainly didn’t offer.

She was getting around much better, and he’d be surprised if she wasn’t off the crutches within the next few days. While he celebrated her progress, each milestone brought them closer to the day when she would return to her life already in progress—most likely without him a part of it.

He helped her put the brace on over a pair of jeans that did miraculous things to her ass. Her face was flushed from the effort it took to shower and dry her hair and make herself presentable. She wore a gray turtleneck sweater that clung to curves he now knew were as generous as they looked. It took all he had to not let his thoughts stray in the direction of the hot make-out sessions they’d had every night this week. He couldn’t think about that or he’d be a walking, talking hard-on, and Charley would definitely notice.

So he thought about innocuous things like stock market fluctuations rather than the pale pink color of Charley Abbott’s nipples.

“Tyler?”

Oh damn it, had he zoned out on her? “Yeah?”

“I was just asking if you were ready.”

“Whenever you are.”

“Are you going skiing with the guys?”

Her brother Will had called to invite Tyler along on the ski trip the guys were taking to get Hunter out of the way for Megan’s shower. “I was planning to go. Is that all right with you?”

“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I wasn’t sure if hanging out with your brothers counted as getting too involved with you.”

She gave him a disparaging look. “You’re more than welcome to be friends with my brothers.”

“Good to know.” Taking that as a positive sign, Tyler loaded up his skis, boots, poles and the clothes he needed for a day on the slopes and walked the equipment out to the Range Rover. In truth, he had a million things he needed to do for work, but he wasn’t about to miss out on an opportunity to gather some more insight into Charley and what made her tick.

He went back to help Charley into her coat and to stand watch as she attempted to navigate the two steps that led into the garage. She bit her lip in concentration, which naturally led him to think about her biting his lip the night before. Running his tongue over the spot in question, he could still feel the pleasurable sting.

She reached the side of the SUV and looked up at the passenger seat the way a novice skier would eye the black diamonds.

“Give you a lift?”

“I suppose you’ll have to.” She sounded defeated, and he didn’t like that.

“You’ll be doing it by yourself in no time.” When she had her balance on her good leg, he took the crutches from her and stashed them in the backseat before returning to lift her into the passenger seat.

Once he had his hands on her, though, he didn’t want to let go.

“Tyler,” she said, sounding as breathless as he felt.

He was trying to give her the space she’d said she needed. But damn, it was tough now that he knew how sweet she tasted and the noises she made when she came. He didn’t think. He acted, capturing her mouth in another of the heated kisses that he could easily become addicted to.

At first, he didn’t think she was going to respond, but then she was kissing him back the way she did in bed every night lately. Tyler had no idea how long he stood there, kissing her as if kissing were about to go out of style or something equally awful. He wanted to pick her up and carry her back inside. He wanted to strip her bare and sink into her wet heat. He wanted to make love to her until day became night and night became morning. And then he wanted to do it all again.

A huge shudder traveled through his body as the salacious thoughts registered one on top of the other. Her hand on his neck calmed him and reminded him of where they needed to be. He withdrew slowly from the kiss. “Wow,” he whispered.

“Mmm.”

Tyler opened his eyes to find hers still closed, her lips damp and swollen from their kisses. She’d never looked more beautiful. “Charley . . .”

“We should go.”

It took a moment for her words to register and for him to climb out of the fog of desire he’d slipped into while kissing her. He stared at her, wanting to etch every detail of how she looked in that moment into his memory bank.

“Do I have something on my face?” she asked, seeming unnerved by his inspection.

“No. You’re just . . .”

“What?”

“Beautiful.”

A flush overtook her cheeks, giving Tyler pause to wonder if that was the first time in her life that Charley Abbott had actually blushed.

“Thank you.”

Tyler pulled the seatbelt across her and snapped it into place and then forced himself to withdraw, closing the door behind him. Walking around to the driver’s side, he ached from the discomfort of unfulfilled desire. Every time he went near her, he ended up in this condition.

The ride downhill from his place to town was dicey, thanks to the snow that had fallen overnight. He took the hairpin turns with care, thankful for the four-wheel drive that was a staple of winter in Vermont.

“What do you do when it really snows?” she asked, breaking a long silence.

“I stay home. I’ve got everything I need up there, including a generator if the power goes out.”

“Oh, fancy.”

“It’s more a necessity. Without power, I can’t run my business.”

“We’ve got one at the store, but it’s only enough to keep the refrigerators going and the heat on so the pipes don’t burst.”

Speaking of pipes bursting, he thought, as he adjusted himself to make room for the erection that wouldn’t quit when she was close by. Her scent filled the air around him, making him wish it had snowed enough to keep them at home today. Not that he’d want her to miss out on time with her family, but he was feeling greedy for more of her. Today was going to be a very long day as he anticipated what would probably happen when they got home again later.

Twenty slow minutes after they left his house, he pulled into the driveway at her parents’ big red barn. Sturdy SUVs and pickup trucks were parked outside and a number of dogs frolicked in the snow. Tyler eyed the path to the door and surmised that Charley wouldn’t be able to navigate the mud and slush with her crutches.

He got out of the car and went around to help her. “You’d better let me give you a lift, honey. Otherwise, you’re apt to slip and fall.”

She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth as she surveyed the terrain and came to the same conclusion. “Okay.”

Tyler kept waiting for her to snap at him, to tell him not to call her honey because she wasn’t his honey. But she didn’t. Rather, she released the seatbelt and went willingly—or so it seemed to him—into his arms for the ride inside. Her brother Will appeared at the mudroom door as they approached and opened it for them.

“All hail Queen Charlotte,” Will called over his shoulder. “Make way for Her Highness.”

“Bite me,” Charley said to her brother, who laughed.

“I’ll pass. The last guy who bit you broke a tooth.”

“That is not true,” she said with a meaningful smirk that immediately put Tyler’s hackles up. The thought of another guy biting her . . . Ugh.

“Take her in there.” Will pointed the way for Tyler, who’d never been inside the charming home before. As a man who appreciated architecture, he wanted to take in every detail of the restored barn. It had been lovingly decorated for Christmas and looked like something you might see in a magazine.

Though he wanted to linger for a closer look, he had precious cargo in his arms that needed to be delivered. He followed the sound of voices to the great room, where a raging fire in the stone fireplace was one focal point. The other was the massive Christmas tree that occupied the other end of the huge room. In the center of the room, an easy chair had been decked out with white balloons and streamers and other decorations.

“Anywhere but there,” Hannah said, pointing to the chair that had been reserved for the bride.

Tyler carried Charley to the sofa and put her down carefully before dragging an ottoman over so she could rest her leg on something. “You want a pillow, too?”

“Nah, the footstool is fine.” She unzipped her coat, and he took it for her. “Thanks for the lift.”

“No problem. Pick you up after?”

She glanced up at him, doing that uncertain thing with her lip again, and he decided he rather liked making her uncertain. He suspected that didn’t happen very often. “Sure.”

“Great.” His entire system flooded with an unreasonable amount of relief. “See you then. Have fun.”

“You, too.”

Tyler knew he should walk away, that he should leave her to enjoy the shower while he went skiing. One afternoon apart wasn’t going to change anything, but even knowing that, a pang of anxiety struck him anyway.

“You ready to roll, Tyler?” Will asked.

“Yeah, whenever you are.” He left Charley with one last smile and followed Will back to the mudroom, taking the anxiety with him as he went.