Candice spent the rest of the day hanging out around Wyatt’s house and painting on the back porch. The idea that there were people after her frightened her. But she felt safer at Wyatt’s home than she would at a strange hotel.

The way that he had acted this morning made her feel like they didn’t have a chance. Candice’s insecurity about her own life made her believe that he had never been interested in her in the first place. All she was to him was a cheap thrill. It was her fault that she had put herself out there like that. What did he think of her now?

There wasn’t anything that she could do about it. She had to just let it go. Obviously she and Wyatt weren’t meant to be. Every time she told herself that, the bottom dropped out of her stomach, and she felt mildly sick.

When she heard his truck pulling into the driveway outside, her heart leapt into her throat, and she could barely contain her excitement. He had promised to take her up to the lake to go fishing this evening, and she’d been looking forward to it all day.

She told herself that she would stop flirting. It was all way too humiliating. If he wanted to be with her, then he was going to have to prove himself. Wyatt might be drop dead gorgeous, but Candice wasn’t that easy.

He opened the front door, and Candice took a sharp breath into her lungs and held it. He looked like a dream as he walked into the living room where she was sitting with her sketchbook. She’d been absentmindedly drawing pictures of Wyatt without a shirt on from the memory of the night before. Her face flushed, and she quickly slammed her sketchbook closed.

“How was your day?” she asked, genuinely curious about his work. 

“I went down into the valley. It’s the start of antelope season, and the opening of any hunting season always brings out the biggest idiots.”

“You arrest anyone today?” she asked with a coy smile. The image of Wyatt bending her over his truck and putting handcuffs around her wrists flitted through her mind, and she made a little moan that she hoped he couldn’t hear.

“No, but I gave out a lot of tickets. More than a typical day on the job. How was your day? Is that a new painting?” he asked, moving towards her sketchpad that had the damning pictures inside of it. She pulled the sketchpad away from his grasp and scurried out of the chair to keep him from seeing it.

“No, these are just some really bad drawings,” she said nervously. “You don’t want to see that.”

“I’d like to, but that’s okay. So, are you ready to go down to the lake? If we catch anything, we can cook it over a campfire up there. If you’d like.”

“I’d love that,” she said. Candice had already packed a bag with her painting gear, and her swimsuit was already on underneath her clothes.

She might not be willing to flirt with Wyatt anymore, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take the chance to go swimming in the lake. She’d heard it was absolutely beautiful up there, with warm, crystal blue water and a white, sandy beach. She wanted nothing more than a sunset swim while the fish were roasting.

“Well, let’s get going,” Wyatt said.

When they pulled off onto the Forest Service Road that led to the private entrance of the lake, Candice couldn’t help remembering her encounter with the men who’d chased her the other night. A shiver of dread went up her spine.

Those men had already killed someone. The fact that it had been a shifter had made her feel less vulnerable, but the truth was they were after her now, too. When Wyatt stopped the car to open the gate, Candice caught his arm and pulled him back into the truck.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” she said.

“Why not?” he asked her.

“Because the last time I was up here, I was attacked. I just don’t know if I should be up here again.”

“If they’re foolish enough to try anything, I’ll be right here to protect you. I’ve got a gun,” he said with a smile, tapping the gun at his waist.

“It isn’t your responsibility to protect me,” she said, her fear mixing with her humiliation at his rejection that morning.

“It is and more,” he said, getting out of the car.

“What?” she said under her breath. The way he seemed to want to take care of her one minute and then the next minute he was so flippant about it all confused her.

When they passed the wilderness campsite where she had been attacked, a shiver went down her spine, and she held her breath. Wyatt looked over to her and patted her hand.

“Everything’s going to be all right,” he said in a soothing voice. Something about Wyatt made her feel safe, even if she was kind of mad at him. As they made their way over the mountain, Candice took in the breathtaking landscape.

The view in to the valley was a sweeping expanse of evergreens broken only by a few jagged cliffs here and there. She rolled down the window and inhaled deeply, taking in the exhilarating scent of pine in the heat of the summer afternoon. As the lake came into sight, the glittering silver waters took her breath away. “It’s so beautiful,” she gasped.

“Yes, it is,” he said with a grin.

They drove down into the valley and parked near the white, sandy beach. Candice jumped out and trotted toward the water while Wyatt pulled the fishing gear from the back of the truck. He met her on the shore, where he set down two folding chairs and a cooler.

Candice took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air and sighed. She sat down in one of the folding camping chairs, and Wyatt handed her a piece of paper and a pen.

“What is this for?” she asked, looking at the paper.

“It’s an application for a fishing license,” he said with complete seriousness. Candice stifled a chuckle, but then hastily filled out the form. She handed it to him with a smile, then asked, “What would you have done if I went fishing without a license?”

“I would’ve had to put you in these cuffs over the back of my truck,” he said with a growl. Candice gasped, but Wyatt frowned. “It’s a $50 fine for fishing without a license,” he said. His face took on a ruddy, red hue as if he were embarrassed about what he’d just said.

Embarrassment wasn’t exactly what Candice was feeling at that moment. She’d told herself she wasn’t going to flirt, but she’d gotten them both into this silly mess again. Hearing her own fantasy coming out of Wyatt’s mouth sent a shiver of desire down her spine and into her core.

“You’re bad, Wyatt McCloud,” she teased.

Wyatt turned away, not acknowledging if he was or was not, in fact, bad. He set up the fishing poles and handed her one before sitting back in his folding chair and casting out his line.

Feeling a little more hopeful, Candice joined him there and cast her own line into the water. She wanted to catch a big, juicy lake trout and eat it with Wyatt under the stars. The afternoon light was fading into evening, and Wyatt popped open the cooler he brought and handed her a bottle of beer. He’d already popped the cap for her, so she took a deep swig and sighed. This was the kind of day she wished would never end.

As she set her bottle in the sand, she felt the tug at the end of her line. With a shriek, she yanked back on the pole and began reeling the line as hard as she could. “It’s a big one!” she said through gritted teeth. Standing, she tried to put extra strength into reeling, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Wyatt put his arms around her and reinforced her arms while placing his hands over hers.

He lent her his strength and helped her reel the fish to the shore. “Keep going. You’ve got it,” he whispered in her ear. His hot breath sent a tingle down her neck. She could feel his hard chest against her back, and desire wetted her core. She could see the shiny, silver scales of the fish’s back as it struggled at the edge of the water.

“Hold it steady, and I’ll scoop it out,” Wyatt said. She didn’t know if she could hold onto the thrashing fish. Wyatt grabbed the net and hurried to the shore, scooping the wriggling trout into the green basket.

“It’s a big one,” he marveled, holding it up. “This thing must be thirty-five pounds.”

“Is that big?” she asked.

“Biggest trout I’ve seen come out of this lake in a long time,” he said. “And I would know. I’m the warden.”

Candice giggled, coming closer. She watched Wyatt pull the hook out of the fish’s mouth, but looked away when he pulled out a pocket knife.

“I’m gonna gut it. You might not want to watch.”

“Well,” she said breathlessly. “I’m going to go for little swim.”

She turned away from the brutal sight of Wyatt gutting the fish and pulled her top off. Underneath, she wore the pink, polka dot bikini she’d bought the day before. She heard a low growl behind her and glanced back to see Wyatt staring.

He quickly turned away when he noticed her looking. She smiled and pulled down her shorts. Candice was all curves, and she loved to show them off to Wyatt, feeling a little less mad at him now. From Wyatt’s reaction, she knew he liked it, too. No matter. All she wanted was to take a sunset swim in the warm lake waters.

She kicked off her shoes and tiptoed out to the shore, dipping her foot in the lake. It felt divine, like a warm summer’s day. Without any further hesitation, she dove into the water, letting her hair and makeup get washed away in the mountain lake.

She came up with a sigh, throwing her hair back over her shoulders in a spray of water. “This is marvelous!” she called to Wyatt as he prepared a fire on the beach.

“It looks that way from here,” he said, throwing a dried branch on the fire. She could smell the scent of pine wood burning as it mixed with the scent of the lake. She giggled and dipped back in, swimming in chest deep water farther out into the silver gleam of sunset.

Candice swam happily in the lake, exploring around the shore, until Wyatt called her back to eat. She waded up to the beach and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around herself.

“Have a nice swim?” he asked, his eyes heavily lidded as he cut the trout with a pocket knife.

“Fantastic,” she said, beaming. The lake was completely secluded, like their own little paradise.

Wyatt served her trout on a paper plate, and she dug in with her bare hands, the charred skin burning her fingers. She took a bite of the fresh fish and moaned. “Oh, my God. This is perfect.”

“I brought some spices with me. Here, have another beer.” She took the beer and swigged, the flavor of the lager going perfectly with the lake trout.

“I haven’t been up here to go fishing in a while,” Wyatt said, relaxing back in his chair. “I haven’t been swimming in even longer.”

“You should go swimming after dinner,” Candice offered.

“Maybe, if you’ll keep me company.”

“I’ll think about it,” she teased.

After they finished dinner, Wyatt stood to clean their things. “So what about that swim?” Candice asked, dropping the damp towel on her chair.

“I’ll have to go in my underwear.” He frowned.

“There’s no one here,” she said, waving her hand around the secluded lake.

He growled and set the cooler in the truck bed. “Okay, you convinced me.” He went back to his chair and pulled off his cowboy boots.