Lying in the darkness, Tyler finally saw the light. She’d resolved years ago to never get involved with a man again, and by falling for her, in all her prickly, perfect glory, he’d upended her carefully drawn plans. Telling himself to tread lightly, he reached for her hand and was relieved when she didn’t immediately pull back.

“I can see how that might’ve influenced your thinking about certain things. How long ago did this happen?”

“College.”

“That’s a long time, Charley, and I’m sure the guy was young—more a boy than a man. Am I right?”

“I guess.”

“Did you love him?”

“Yeah.”

There was no hesitation in her reply, which told Tyler the man in question had done a number on her if the damage he’d left behind had lasted this long. “Will you tell me what happened?”

“It’s not something I like to talk about.”

“I know, honey, but if you keep it bottled up inside and don’t let it out, how will you ever put it behind you where it belongs?”

After a long pause, she said, “Suffice to say I got fed a bunch of bullshit that I completely believed, and when I found out he was a liar, it about killed me. I never want to feel like that again.”

“And so you haven’t let yourself go beyond the surface with any guy since then?”

“No.”

“Could I ask you something else?”

“If you must.”

“When your brother Will married Cameron, do you think he intended for it to be a short-term thing before he moved on to someone else?”

“No, of course not. Will is crazy about her.”

“How about Nolan when he married Hannah? You think he’s going to bail when things get tough?”

“Nolan adores Hannah. He’s not going anywhere.”

“How about Gavin? Hunter? Colton? In it for the long haul, or are they looking to score and move on?”

“Long haul,” she said in a small voice.

“Not all men are assholes, Charley. You happened to cross paths with one who is, but that doesn’t mean all men are going to do to you what he did. Look at how long your dad has been with your mom. My parents are the same. My mom made me wish I were deaf the other day by talking about getting busy with my dad. They’ve been together more than forty years, and they’ve still got it going on. Your grandparents were married more than fifty years when your grandmother died.”

She released a deep shuddering breath. “I didn’t see it coming. That was the part that I couldn’t understand. I grew up with seven brothers. It takes a lot to pull one over on me, and I had no idea he was stringing me along.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Charley, but by holding on to what he did for all this time, you’ve missed out on so much.”

“Have you been in love before?”

Surprised by the question, he said, “Twice.”

“What happened?”

“One of them didn’t feel the same way about me, which basically sucked. The other moved to California after we got out of college. I didn’t want to go with her, and we tried to make it work for a while, but it burned out. Neither of us was very good at long-distance relationships.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?”

“My whole life is here—my family and friends. I didn’t want to move that far away from everything and everyone else who mattered to me.”

“If you’d really and truly loved her, you would’ve gone with her.”

“I realized that myself about a year after she left when I started asking myself what the hell I was doing trying to make it work with three thousand miles between us.”

“So maybe it’s possible you’ve never been really in love?”

“Well, there’s this third one who’s sort of vexing but really, really sexy and cute, especially when she’s telling me all the reasons she doesn’t believe in love. I could really fall for her.”

“You shouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be wise. You’ve already had a one-sided relationship. You don’t need another.”

“I’m hoping she might fall for me, too. She’s given me some time to prove to her that she can trust me to be everything she wants and needs. But she’s been hurt really badly in the past, so it’s going to take some finesse on my part to show her she’s got nothing to fear where I’m concerned.”

“You probably shouldn’t be in bed with me when you’re finessing another girl.”

Laughing, he turned to curl up to her, pressing his body against hers. “As long as I have Charley Abbott in my bed, I don’t need anyone else.”

“You say that now.”

“I’ll say that forever.”

“Forever is a really long time.”

“I know, and if I had my choice of who I’d want in my bed forever, it’d be you.”

“You can’t possibly know that.”

“I do know that. I’ve known it for a long time, actually.”

“How does anyone know something like that?”

“How does Will know he wants to be with Cameron forever? Or Colton with Lucy or Hunter with Megan? How did Nolan know that he couldn’t live without Hannah? People know, Charley. They just know.”

“Tell me the truth . . .”

“Always.”

“Did you push me off that mountain so you’d get the chance to tell me this stuff?”

Laughing again, he said, “While I’m not sorry to have the chance to tell you this stuff, I never would’ve pushed you off that mountain. I died a thousand deaths until I knew you were going to be okay. I’ll never forget the terror of that run back to the car, not knowing . . .” His throat closed around a tight knot of emotion.

Her hand found his face in the dark. “I’m sorry I put you through that.”

“I’m not sorry you ended up in my bed.”

He loved the sound of her laughter.

Reaching for the hand she’d placed on his face, he pressed a kiss to her palm. “It’s good between us, Charley. Maybe you can’t see that yet, but I hope you will. I really hope you will.”

“I want to try,” she said in a small voice that told him a lot about what a big deal it was for her to admit that. Charley Abbott’s voice was never small.

“That’s a really good place to start.”

Charley woke in the morning expecting awkwardness with Tyler after the intimacy they’d shared on multiple levels during the night. But it wasn’t awkward. He was as sweet as always, making her breakfast and coffee before her session with Debbie the killer physical therapist. Before he left her to go to work, he kissed her forehead and then her lips.

“If you’re a really good girl and work hard in your therapy session, I’ll buy you lunch in town before your doctor’s appointment.”

“Oh boy. I’ve been craving a turkey BLT from the diner.”

“Sounds good to me.” He kissed her again, studying her in that intense way of his. “You okay?”

“I’m good. You?”

“Really good. Better than I’ve ever been in fact. I’ve got a new girlfriend who’s sexy as hell and funny and challenging. Not sure how I’m going to think about anything but her today.”

“I’ve heard she’s a prickly pain in the ass who’s making everything difficult for you.”

He nuzzled her neck. “Not everything.”

Charley leaned her head away from him, to give him better access to her neck.

“Some things with her are as easy as breathing.”

“What things?”

“The way I want her and need her and think about her more than I think about anyone else. That part is easy.”

“You need me?”

“Mmm, you’ve become quite necessary to me since you’ve been staying here. I can’t imagine this place without you anymore.”

“What about when I go home?”

“I don’t want to think about you leaving. Too depressing.” With his fingers on her chin, he held her still for a deep, sensuous kiss that made her wish the therapist wasn’t due to arrive any minute.

As she had that thought the door to the mudroom opened and closed.

Tyler pulled back, smiling softly at her. “To be continued.”

After he said hi to Debbie, Charley watched him cross the room toward his office, noting again the superb fit of his faded jeans. When she thought about the things she’d shared with him, things she never shared with anyone, her heart kicked into overdrive, beating at a rapid, erratic rate. Had she said too much? Given him more insight into her than she’d intended? God, she was such a hot mess where he was concerned.

“That is one very sexy guy you’ve got there, Charley,” Debbie said wistfully.

“Oh he’s, um . . .” She’d been about to say he wasn’t hers, but she stopped herself out of respect for him and the agreement they’d brokered the night before. “Yes, he is.”

Over the next hour, Debbie took her through the pace of physical therapy, commenting repeatedly on how much progress Charley had made. “I’ll be surprised if the doctor doesn’t tell you to put down the crutches after today.”

“That’d be nice. My armpits and hands would thank him.”

“Just make sure you take it nice and easy at first,” she said as she put on her coat to leave. “We don’t want any setbacks.”

“No, we don’t. Thanks for everything.”

“So you don’t hate me anymore?” Debbie asked with a smirk.

“Oh no, I still hate you. Just not as much as I did at first.”

Debbie was still laughing when she went through the door to the mudroom, after promising to be back for more of the same tomorrow.

Charley hobbled into the kitchen to put water on to boil so she could make some tea. She took a moment to fully appreciate the gourmet kitchen that had been designed by a true cook with extraordinary attention to detail. In addition to a huge gas stove, a double oven, spacious black granite countertops, matching black appliances and beautiful tile, the space boasted an incredible view of the mountains in the distance.

She poured boiling water over the tea and while it steeped she thought about how at home she felt here. It was more than the incredibly comfortable and luxurious house making her feel that way. It was him, too. He’d gone out of his way to make her feel at home, and it would be hard to go back to her tiny apartment after the spaciousness of his home.

Taking her tea with her, she took a trial run without the crutches, sitting at the table in front of the windows with the view of Butler nestled in the valley below. That was where Tyler found her when he emerged from the office a short time later.

“What’s this? No crutches?”

“Test drive. I couldn’t crutch and carry tea.”

“How’d it feel?”

“Not bad, which is good.”

“That’s very good.”

“How are things in the office of world domination?”

Laughing at her description, he said, “Humming right along.”

“You know what just occurred to me?”

“What’s that?”

“You haven’t run since I got hurt.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“That’s no way to train for a marathon.”

He shrugged off her concern. “There’ll be other marathons.”

“You shouldn’t stop training because of me.”

“It wouldn’t be any fun to run with the group without you there glaring at me.”

“I never glared at you.”

“Um, yeah, you did. And P.S., you’re cute when you glare.”

“Well, that’s disappointing. I was going for intimidating, not cute.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but your claws have always been sexy to me.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you might be a masochist?”

“Just about everyone I know has told me that since they figured out I’m into you.”

Charley looked up at him, stunned by his confession. “So they think you’re crazy for liking me,” she said, irrationally hurt by people she didn’t even know.

“No one has ever used the word crazy,” he said with the adorable smile that did weird things to her insides every time he directed it her way.

“But they think you’re crazy for liking me.”

He sat next to her and cupped her cheek, caressing her face with his thumb. “I don’t care what anyone thinks, Charley. The only one who matters to me is you and what you think.”

“But your family—”

Leaning in, he stole the words from her with a kiss that devastated her defenses. When he had kissed the fight right out of her, he said, “My family wants me to be happy. They like to tease me about my affection for a challenging woman. They don’t think I’m crazy for wanting you.”

“You are though. You have to know it’s crazy to want—”

Again, he kissed her until she forgot what she’d been about to say.

“I’m crazy about you in all your prickly, difficult, sexy, funny, challenging, gorgeous perfection.”

Stunned by an unexpected swell of emotion that seemed to come from the very heart of her, she closed her eyes.

He kissed her eyelids. “You’re my dream girl, Charley,” he whispered.

She reached for him, and he wrapped his arms around her as best he could with her leg extended between them, cupping the back of her head when she laid it on his shoulder. Regardless of her firm resolve not to get too involved, no man had ever cared for her the way he did. His tenderness set off a wild desire in her to forget the lessons of the past and leap blindly off the high dive into whatever this was with him. For once, she chose to let that desire run free, rather than immediately tamping it down.

While he held her, she focused on breathing, drawing deep breaths into lungs that were suddenly starved for oxygen.

“How about I take you into town to see what the rest of the world has been up to while we’ve been in seclusion up here?”

Appreciating that he’d chosen not to focus on her emotional reaction to what he’d said, she nodded. “I’d love to stop in at the office, but I’m not sure I can do all those stairs.”

“No worries. I’ll get you up there.”