“What were you thinking?” She stepped back to take inventory of him. When Sage called and said Dalton had laid his bike down on the highway, she’d nearly had heart failure. She’d only just found him. There was no way she was losing him.

“I’m fine.” He limped forward and cupped her cheek. “Better now that you’re here. I’m so sorry.”

Cannon cleared his throat behind them. “That would be my cue to leave.” He backed up toward the door. “Sage says the last guest room is yours to use. She also said she’d bring home dinner.”

Samantha and Dalton tried to stifle their groans, but it was hard to silence the sound of terror. “Man, I need to teach that woman how to cook.”

Cannon laughed. “Been there, tried that. What we need is one of those places that sells prepared meals for the busy family.”

Samantha’s eyes brightened in the dim light. “That’s a brilliant idea. I wonder if there are enough people in Aspen Cove to keep it open?” She imagined the town could figure it out. They managed to keep a bakery, a bar, and a diner in business.

Cannon left them alone. They stood in the middle of the living room, staring at each other.

“Let’s get you to bed.” Samantha led Dalton down the hallway. He moved slowly, favoring his left side. He inched onto the bed and sighed when he was settled.

“How did you get here without being seen?” He shifted to his right to get comfortable. His left side was on fire. She could feel the heat rising from his skin.

“Katie choreographed it all. She contacted the sheriff, who had his deputy distract the reporters while I snuck out the back door. Real cloak-and-dagger kind of stuff.” She laughed at how she’d hunkered down and ran from cabin to cabin until she cleared the deck and dove inside the opened back door to the bed and breakfast. Cannon closed the blinds, and she waited and worried. “If you weren’t already shredded to pieces, I’d skin you alive myself. You left me.”

“I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you. I still want to protect you.”

Samantha climbed onto the bed and curled up next to his body. She was careful to stay away from the left side he favored. “I know, and I love that you wanted to save me. I can’t remember a time when anyone gave up something for me, but I don’t want you to give me up to save me. I don’t want to give you up.”

“You know you can’t keep me. You’ve said so yourself.”

“What if I could? Would you want me to?”

He wrapped his arm around her and tugged her tight against his chest. “Yes. I’ll always want you.”

She tilted her face toward his, and he kissed her softly and slowly. A lingering kiss that said he was happy to see her.

“We’ll figure it out.” She had no idea how it could work, but she had to find a way. She knew the press would hound her. They would also hound him. That’s what worried her the most. She’d signed up for it. He hadn’t.

His past and his presence could ruin her career. Maybe it already had. The headlines were full of stories and pictures. The latest one was of her and Sage and Katie giving the press the finger. Right next to it was Dalton’s mug shot, but she cared less about her career than she did about his privacy.

“You need to rest.” She reached for the quilt folded at the foot of the bed. He hissed as she pulled it over him. “I’m sorry. How bad is it?”

“I’ll survive.”

“What can I do to ease your pain?” Her hand ran up and down his chest until it settled on the waistband of the scrubs Doc had sent him home in.

His beautiful blue eyes turned from blue to a stormy, gunmetal gray. “Don’t tease an injured man.”

Her hand slipped below the elastic band and stroked the length of him. “Maybe if I made you feel good somewhere else, you’d forget how much you actually hurt.” When he opened his mouth, she gripped him tighter. Instead of a rebuttal, she got the sweet moan of pleasure.

“Let me make you feel better, Dalton. Let me take your pain away, if only for a minute.” She didn’t wait for permission. She carefully inched his pants down and gasped at the extent of his injuries. Gauze covered him from hip to ankle. “Oh honey, I had no idea it was this bad.” Her fingers skimmed the bandage. “Maybe I shouldn’t touch you.”

“Please,” he begged. “Touch me.” He lifted his hips. “Samantha. Touch me.”

She started at his lips and kissed her way down his body. She wasn’t sure if it was the wisest thing to do, but his throaty hum of pleasure told her it was the best thing to do. Hovering over his silky hard length, her tongue darted out for a taste.

“Christ, Samantha.” He let out a long, shaky breath and stilled.

“Shh. Let me love you.” His body was hot, hard, and ready.

Dalton didn’t speak. He didn’t move. He gripped the bedspread in his hands and held on for the ride.

She stroked him with the heat of her mouth. Taking as much of him in before she hummed a song.

Dalton released a low and throaty groan that was so sexy, it made her body quiver to give him such pleasure. As he tensed beneath her touch, she increased the pressure, quickened the pace. His hands threaded through her hair, guiding her where he wanted her.

She looked up to see his eyes closed and a look of pure pleasure on his face. His breath quickened, and his muscles tensed.

“Samantha, I’m—” He tried to pull her away. He sank his hips deeper into the mattress.

She ignored him and continued until her efforts wrenched a groan. His muscles tensed, then shook, and he came with a curse. She didn’t let up until his body finished shuddering and his muscles relaxed.

He reached for her and pulled her up and next to him. “God, Samantha. That was … everything.”

Samantha knew the sentiment well. Each time Dalton loved her body, it was everything. She feared without him, she’d have nothing.

“I’m sorry I left you. I really thought I was doing the right thing.”

“Dalton, we are stronger together.” Samantha curled into his side until she heard his breath deepen and slow. When she knew he was asleep, she rolled out of bed and sat in the chair in the corner with her phone.

Deanna had been texting her regularly throughout the day. Each hour, she’d sent a message with the name of the newest sacrificial lamb. Dave was firing a person an hour. Samantha was hiring a person per hour. By the end of the day, she’d have her own crew. All she needed was a label and a recording studio.

The next hour, she traded messages with her accountant. He wasn’t pleased with the turn of events, but he wasn’t a fan of Dave’s, so he understood her need to protect those loyal to her.

She dozed for a minute, dreaming about a future that didn’t seem possible. In the dream, she and Dalton walked hand in hand down Main Street. It was spring, and her friends peeked their faces out of the shops to say hello. Children played in Hope Park. Businesses moved into the Guild. It was perfect until she woke up and realized it was a dream. The beauty of dreams was, they cost nothing and anything was possible.

Dalton stirred, and she rushed to his side, climbing onto the bed to snuggle next to him. “You okay? You need anything?”

He wrapped his free arm around her. “I’ve got everything I need.”

For three days, they hid out at the bed and breakfast. No one was the wiser that Dalton had returned to Aspen Cove or that Samantha had left her cabin. Sage and Katie pretended to visit each day. They’d stay a few minutes and bring clean clothes. Bowie made a middle-of-the-night visit to Dalton’s and picked up a few things he needed.

Three beautiful, blissful days were spent in each other’s arms. It was like putting her life on pause while they caught up. It was easy to get to know a person when you spent every minute of every day with them. She liked what he did for her body, but she loved what he did for her soul. She’d come to Aspen Cove to find clarity. For those hours Dalton was gone, nothing was clear. The minute he returned, it came together. She may have had it all, but she had nothing without him.

Come Sunday, they had to vacate their room at the bed and breakfast. Sage had a group arriving that afternoon. Samantha and Dalton braved the world together. What was done was done. She was getting a lot of backlash from her relationship with Dalton, but if she let society decide who she could date, she was no better off than when she allowed Dave to be a dictator.

She had heard nothing from him in two days, which was simultaneously nice and terrifying. Dave was not the type of man to go down easy.

Dalton was stiff and sore, but each day he moved more fluidly. At night when he made love to her, she couldn’t even tell he was injured.

They looked outside. They had two choices: They could walk proudly out the front door and up the street into the throng of persistent reporters, or they could sneak back along the edge of the water to their cabins. Samantha decided their path when she said she would not hide the best thing in her life.

Hand in hand, they left the bed and breakfast and walked down Lake Circle. About a half dozen photographers turned in shock to see the couple appear. Shutters clicked, and the questions came nonstop.

When they reached the front of Dalton’s cabin, Samantha’s heart dropped to the hard ground. Spray painted in red over the exterior of his cabin was the word ‘Killer’.

She turned toward the reporters. “Where were your cameras when this was going on?” She stomped forward until she was in front of Jake. “I expected more from you. You have a responsibility to report the truth. Report the damn truth, and do it with fairness and integrity.” Her voice rose until it hit near hysteria. She pointed to Dalton, and then looked back at the reporters. “He killed a man, and by definition that makes him a killer, but do your damn homework. He’s not a killer. He’s the best man I know.”

She marched toward Dalton and threaded her fingers through his in a sign of unity. “My house or yours?”

“Mine. I’ll make you an edible meal.” She followed him inside. The cameras clicked, and she knew the next picture posted would be of her and Dalton walking into his home, beside them the red paint, running down the wood like blood.

In minutes, Dalton was in the kitchen whipping together a meal worthy of Michelin’s highest three-star rating. Samantha set the table. They sat in front of the window overlooking the lake. Days ago the water was solid, but today cracks and fissures marred the once smooth surface, proving that everything changed.

“In a few weeks, you won’t even know the lake was ever covered in ice.” Dalton poured them a glass of white wine and sat down next to her to enjoy the salmon and grilled veggies.

“Hopefully in a few weeks, all of this other stuff will be a memory too.” Samantha laid her hand on top of Dalton’s. “I’ll get someone to fix your house.”

“It’s not a big deal.” Though his words were positive, the lines on his face were etched with concern.

She sipped her wine. Actually gulped it. She needed the alcohol to numb her anger. Name-calling was one thing. Destroying someone’s property was another. Why did his crime count and the vandal’s didn’t?

“It’s a big deal to me. If I wouldn’t have come here, your life wouldn’t have changed.”

He dropped his fork, and his tight expression softened with such love and passion. “If you hadn’t come here, Samantha, my life wouldn’t have changed.”

“Yes, that’s what I said.” She picked up her glass and emptied it.

“Change isn’t always a bad thing.”

“I don’t want to be bad for you.” She forked a bite of perfectly cooked fish.

“Baby, you’re so bad, you’re good.”

“Get me drunk, and I’ll show you how bad I can be.”

He topped off her glass.