Evie couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so at peace. Lying in Declan’s arms, her head on his hard chest, listening to his even breathing, may have been the best thing she’d ever experienced. Never before had Evie felt so safe and protected by a man. Not that she needed a man to protect her. But it was nice to know that with Declan, she felt protected. It was a new feeling and she liked it.

Maybe too much.

It wasn’t going to last. The idea that she may never wake up like that again hit her with a pang of sadness. But just because it wasn’t real didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it. Evie snuggled in a little closer and pressed a tender kiss to his neck.

The kiss must have woken him because a few moments later, Declan stirred and his eyes opened. “Hey there.”

“Good morning.”

He pulled her tighter and kissed her nose. “It is now.”

She didn’t want her heart to trip over itself, but dammed if it didn’t. She put her head down again and inhaled his scent. It was all so ridiculous and she needed to remember why he was there. It wasn’t real. They weren’t engaged to be married. He wasn’t hers. When this was all over, he would be gone.

She didn’t want to think about it.

“Have you been awake long?” He yawned. “What time is it??”

“I woke up with the birds chirping. It was so nice, I just wanted to enjoy it before heading back to the real world.”

“Ah, the real world.” Declan turned over onto his side and propped himself up with an elbow. “What time do you need to be back?”

“Tony said he’d have Jonah back by eleven, but I wanted to be back a little early just in case.”

In case her son was desperately homesick and missed his mom or Tony couldn’t handle the responsibilities of being a real father, or Lauren decided having a stepson wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, or… Well, she just wanted to be back.

“We can pack up and head down whenever you like,” Declan said. “How are you doing with all of this?”

He sat up in the tiny tent and Evie got a full view of his naked chest in the daylight and her gut clenched in desire. He did things to her she couldn’t even begin to explain, but she liked it. A lot.

“I’m okay,” she said after a moment. “Better than I thought I’d be. But I think that has a lot to do with you.”

“Me?” He grinned knowingly.

“You helped to distract me.”

“I did, did I?” He leaned in until he hovered over her. “And how did I do that?”

“You seem to have your ways.”

“Oh,” he said with a low growl. “I have my ways.” His hand slid over the sleeping bag until it reached the zipper. He slowly inched it down until he could get his hand inside, where his fingers promptly cupped around her breast. His fingers flicked lazily over her nipple, stirring the sparks inside her that he’d ignited the night before.

“Mmm.” She closed her eyes and melted into the touch. Evie hadn’t dated a lot after Jonah was born, and she’d only slept with two men besides Tony, but none of those experiences had been anything like being with Declan.

Not even close.

“And then I have this way.” He bent and took her nipple into his mouth, sucking lightly until it slipped from his lips with a pop.

“Oh, I like that way.”

“You do, do you?”

“Mmm, hmm.”

“What about this way?” Dec’s hand slipped down her body between her legs. She jumped a little, but his talented fingers quickly had her moaning with pleasure.

Her climax built quickly under his attentions and then he moved.

“We should probably get moving if you want to get back—”

“No way.” She moved faster than she thought possible, unzipping from the sleeping bag and straddling him, until he was pressed flat back. “We have plenty of time for this.”

He chuckled. “I thought you might say that.”

---

By the time they’d finished up with Declan’s distraction techniques, made a quick easy breakfast of coffee and oatmeal and packed up, it was later than they’d expected. Not that either of them cared. Especially Declan. He would have been more than happy to stay up on the mountain in their little piece of paradise all day. Heck, even another few days.

Forever.

The truth was, the last twenty-four hours had been some of the best he could remember and he didn’t want it to end. Being with Evie had been so natural and it just felt right. The little voice in his head had been screaming at him to stop. To not touch her. To not start something he couldn’t finish. But the other voice telling him the exact opposite had been louder.

A lot louder.

They grew quieter as they hiked down the trail back toward town as their spell broke, and their reality started to creep back in. He knew she would be thinking of Jonah and Tony, wondering how it had gone. No doubt planning for the worst, not really sure what the worst was.

“Well, that was a whole lot more fun than having dinner with my family,” he joked to break the silence.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Dec. I totally forgot about your family. We’ll have to make it up to them. I didn’t mean to blow it off. It was just—”

“It’s fine.” He laughed and reached out his hand to her. “This was more important.” Evie threaded her fingers through his and he squeezed. “And like I said, a lot more fun.”

She blushed a little so he squeezed her hand again. Declan had no idea how things were going to be between them when they got back to Cedar Springs, but what he did know was that as long as he was close to her, he’d be okay. The rest he could figure out later.

It didn’t take long to reach the car and the drive back to Evie’s house was even faster. There was no sign of Tony or Jonah when they arrived so Declan offered to unload the gear while Evie cleaned up.

It was eleven thirty before Declan finally heard Tony’s car pull up out front. From the bedroom, Evie had heard it too and with her hair still wet around her shoulders, she ran out into the living room.

“Hey.” Declan stopped her with a gentle hand to her shoulder. “Be easy. I know you missed him, but try not to make a big deal about it. This was his first night with his dad. You don’t want Jonah to feel bad about leaving you.”

She nodded. “You’re right.”

“Take a deep breath.”

She did.

“Okay.” He took her hand in his. “Let’s go see him.”

They hadn’t even made it down the walk when Jonah flew out of the car and headed straight to her. Evie released Declan’s hand and crouched down just in time to absorb her son’s hug.

“Hey, buddy, I missed—”

“Mom. I had the best time!” Jonah wiggled out of her arms. “First we went mini golfing and I totally beat Dad. He scored like a six on every hole. Six is the worst.” Jonah turned to explain to Declan, who nodded. “But Lauren is like a crazy good golfer and she got par almost every time.” He turned to Declan to explain what par meant. Declan tried not to laugh at how serious Jonah was, as if Dec had never played mini golf before. But he nodded and listened very carefully before Jonah returned his attention to his mother to tell her, “And I got a hole in one! My very first one and I got it on the windmill hole, Mom. It’s the hardest hole and I lined it up and swung and I made the shot. My first one.”

“That’s awesome, buddy.” Evie ruffled his hair and smiled, but Declan could see the hurt in her eyes, too.

Tony and Lauren had joined them out of the car and stood with their arms around each other, beaming like proud parents, as if they’d done the hard job of raising him into the awesome kid he was and hadn’t just taken him out for a day of fun.

“And then Lauren said I got to have ice cream because I got my first hole in one, and I got to pick whatever flavor I wanted.”

“You did?”

“Yup.” Jonah smiled. “And I picked strawberry, Mom, ’cause I know that’s your favorite and you would have wanted to celebrate with me.”

Declan’s heart squeezed in his chest, and he watched Evie carefully, but she only smiled and hugged her son. Declan could see how hard it was on her, but she did a good job hiding it and it was doubtful anyone else noticed.

They listened for another few minutes while Jonah excitedly told them every detail about staying at the hotel and swimming in the pools and how fancy the Springs resort was. Not one time did Evie let on that she was anything less than excited for Jonah to have had an awesome day with his dad.

He didn’t know how she did it, though, because watching Tony’s self-satisfied smirk as Jonah went on and on about all of their experiences was starting to piss Declan off. He knew how hard Evie worked to give Jonah a good life. And of course it was fun to fill up a day with frills and fun and extras of all kinds, but that wasn’t real life. That wasn’t what raising a child was all about.

And just because Evie couldn’t afford all of those things for Jonah didn’t mean she was any less of a parent. It meant she was more.

So much more.

It wasn’t a competition and Declan knew what he was feeling inside was ridiculous. But he couldn’t help it. And dammit if he didn’t want Jonah to have all of those fun things with his mom, too.

“Sounds like you had a great day, buddy.” Evie gave him another squeeze. “But I’m glad you’re home.”

“Me too.” Declan had an idea, and maybe he should have run it past Evie first, but he couldn’t stop himself. “Because I have a surprise for you.”

“You do?” Evie stared at him.

“I haven’t even had time to tell you yet.” He wrapped his arm around Evie and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “While you were in the shower, Ian called and had some news.”

“Oh yeah?”

“What?” Jonah said. “What’s the surprise?”

Declan knew his brother was going to kill him, but it was such a good idea that even if Ian did get mad, it would be totally worth it. “Ian, and the Dockside, are going to host the first annual Dockside Days and we get to be honored guests. Which means…” He looked to Evie quickly. She was watching him warily but she didn’t say anything, waiting for him to finish. “We get to take out the paddleboards and the kayaks if we want and maybe even go for a boat ride and go water-skiing.”

“Water-skiing?”

“Absolutely.” Declan’s chest puffed up in pride at the way Jonah’s interest grew. “And that’s not even the best part,” he continued. “The best part is we also get to take out the jet skis.”

“The jet skis? I get to go on the jet skis?”

“Of course. And there will be races and games and all kinds of fun stuff going on.”

“No way.”

“Way.”

“When?”

Declan hesitated, but finally said, “We just have to confirm the date with Ian. But soon. That’s what he wanted to tell me.” He crossed his fingers behind his back and hoped against hope that his older brother wouldn’t kill him.

“Really?” Evie asked him quietly. “Dockside Days?”

“Oh yeah.” He pulled her close. “It’s going to be great.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Ian’s going to love the idea, Jonah gets to do the jet skiing that you promised him and you can finally have that dinner with my family. It’s like three birds with one stone.”

“Right.” She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed before she pressed a kiss on his chest. “Well, even if you just made it up,” she whispered so only he could hear. “Thank you.”

The only thank-you he needed was in that exact moment—seeing the smile on her face and the appreciation in her eyes, and feeling the weight of her slight body pressed up against his chest. He’d made a career and a life out of helping people. It was what he did. But never before had helping anyone felt as good as what he was doing for Evie. In that moment, he knew he’d do whatever was in his power to make that woman happy for as long as he could.