Freya had told me during one of our conversations that she used to go rabbit hunting with her uncle when she was a kid and how much she enjoyed it. I decided a day doing something I knew she liked would make up for our rocky start.

Then I planned on taking her home, carrying her up to bed, and finally fucking her. We’d been enjoying each other the last couple of days, not taking it any farther than making each other come with hands and mouths, but I didn’t want to wait anymore. Honestly, I didn’t think I could. I’d never wanted a woman the way I did Freya.

I looked down at her. She was walking beside me, eyes darting around the woods.

I frowned. She looked a little on edge, or maybe that was just the way she looked when she went hunting. How the hell would I know? I wanted to know, though. I wanted to know everything I could about her.

A vision of her and I doing this in the future, maybe a couple of kids at our sides, flashed through my mind. A family hunting trip, working together to get the meat we needed for the winter, working in the garden I planned to get started now the house was finished. Living a good life with a capable partner at my side.

My wife.

And when we finished a long day working on the property, I’d climb in the shower with her and make her come so hard she’d never regret marrying me, for choosing to go back to the kind of life she’d had growing up—for choosing me.

Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but after talking to her for months, then the last few days together, let’s just say I knew we were more than compatible in all the ways that counted. I cared about Freya. I liked being with her, spending time with her…listening to her scream with my head buried between her thighs.

“So, did your dad teach you to hunt?” Freya asked, jarring me from my thoughts.

Good thing too, considering the direction they were going. “Yeah, he bought me my first gun when I was eight. We spent a lot of time out here together.”

“You must miss him a lot,” she said.

I held a branch back in our path and waited for her to pass. “My dad was an amazing guy and a great teacher. He taught Hank and I everything we know about this life. Losing him the way we did…” He’d fallen and broken his leg while out hunting. The cold had taken him before he was found. I cleared my throat. It still hurt to this day. “He was just larger than life, you know?”

She touched my arm. “Helping rescue your friend’s father, that must have brought back some painful memories,” she said softly.

I’d told her about my dad and my parents’ breakup during our talks. “I was just glad to help,” I said, not wanting to get into it, or my feelings. I’d avoided them since my dad passed away when I was a kid. I wasn’t about to dredge them up now.

“You do that a lot, don’t you? Whenever you’d call, there was always someone you’d been helping out.” She gave my arm another squeeze. “You’re a good guy, Beau.”

Looking down into her soft green eyes, seeing that sincere expression on her face—shit, it hit me in a way I didn’t know how to deal with. I’d felt the opposite about myself for so long I didn’t know what to say. So, I did what I usually did, and changed the subject.

“What were your parents like?” I asked. “I’ll bet your dad was one of those protective types. Beautiful daughter like you, he must’ve been scaring away boys all the time.”

Her eyes that were gentle and full of emotion went blank. It was only for a moment, but I didn’t miss it. “My parents were…distant. You could even go as far as saying cold. I’m not really sure why they chose to have a child.” She smiled, but it looked forced. “At least they weren’t on my case all the time.” She laughed, and again it sounded forced. “The things I got up to, parents like mine were a teenage girl’s dream.”

“Do you talk often?”

“They divorced a few years back. I talk to my dad maybe a couple of times a year, my mom a little more often.” She screwed up her face. “I guess her calls will be even less frequent now.” Freya glanced at me. “She’s joined a naturist commune. Apparently, she’s throwing off the shackles of her past, and that doesn’t just include clothes.”

Christ. I got the feeling she was downplaying just how awful her life had been growing up. God, just imagining her being brought up like that, how alone she must have felt, did something to me, ignited something raw and primal inside me. I felt protective of her. Shit, possessive.

Something else, something deeper.

I struggled for the right thing to say. “I’m sorry,” I said, which was pathetic under the circumstances, but all I had. “You’d said you weren’t really close to your parents, but I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

She shrugged. “Could’ve been worse.”

I was about to pull her to a stop and kiss the frown from her lips when a rabbit darted across out path.

I stilled. “Look, just over there,” I said, and tilted my head in the rabbit’s direction. “You take the first one.”

Her eyes widened, and she bit her lip. “Um, right, okay.” She lifted the gun, holding it awkwardly.

“Safety’s still on,” I said.

“Oh…yeah, of course.” Then she stared at the gun, shifting from foot to foot.

I reached over and pointed to what she was looking for. “You’ve shot a gun before, right, Freya? You hunted with your uncle all the time?”

“Yes…yep. I used a different gun is all,” she said, not looking at me.

I pointed to movement in the long grass. “You’re good to go. Point and shoot.”

She lifted the gun and I turned to her target. The rabbit chose that moment to hop out, leaving the cover of the grass.

The gun went off. Freya missed the rabbit completely, the shot going wide. I turned to her, but she wasn’t standing beside me. She was flat on her back, the gun on the ground beside her. Her hand was covering her eye and she was in obvious pain.

“Shit.” I rushed over to her. “You okay?”

She shook her head and I could see her throat working. God, she was going to cry. I couldn’t handle any more tears.

“Let me look,” I said, and carefully lifted her hand. I winced. “You’ve got some serious scope bite there.”

“Scope bite?”

I helped her to her feet. “When was the last time you shot a gun?”

She didn’t answer.

“I’m guessing a while?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Let’s head back to the house, put some ice on that.”

So, she wasn’t the best shot. Yeah, I was surprised after what she’d told me, but she’d lived in the city for a while now. I had no idea if I’d lose some of the skills I had if I was away from home as long as she was. When I left the mountain it wasn’t for that long, certainly not years, so I’d never tested the theory.

I slung an arm around her shoulders as we walked back to the house. “It happens to a lot of people, you know that, right?”

She turned to me. “Has it ever happened to you?”

I grinned down at her. “Nope.”

She elbowed me in the side. “No one likes a show-off,” she said, teasing, but there was something in her eyes I didn’t get, something that had me fighting a frown.

We got home, and Freya was on the couch with some ice when Hank’s truck rolled up to the house. He walked up the steps and shoved the door open without knocking, like he always did, before I had a chance to stop him.

He pulled up short when he spotted Freya. His head swiveled to me, then back again.

She jumped to her feet, a huge smile on her face, and walked over to him. “Hank, it’s so nice to meet you! Beau’s told me so much about you and Birdie and the girls, I feel like I already know you all. And they way you two met, wow. So romantic.” She shook her head. “When Beau said he was an identical twin I expected you to be the same, but not the spitting image. Well, except for the fact that you’re a little, um…”

“Bigger?” Hank muttered.

Freya turned pink, and, damn, she looked pretty, so pretty I was momentarily distracted by what was going on or what was about to happen.

“Well…yes,” Freya said, then she grabbed one of his hands with both of hers, giving it a squeeze. “Not that Beau isn’t big. He’s…” She glanced at me. “Well, look at him.” She blushed harder. “Anyway, it’s so nice to meet you.”

Hank was a little better with the opposite sex since he’d met and fallen for Birdie, but he wasn’t used to women randomly touching him, and he’d only just figured out how to talk to them. Well, if it involved more than two words he still left it to Birdie or me.

So, I wasn’t surprised when my brother took an abrupt step back and looked at me. “Who is this?”

Christ. Sometimes I wondered if he was dropped on his head as a baby. Tactless prick. I cleared my throat. “This is Freya.” I stared him down, willing him to play along, that some of that twin magic people talked about would suddenly kick in and he’d read my mind. “You remember, I told you about her.”

Hank frowned, his heavy brows dropping low, and I knew I was screwed. “No, you didn’t. You’ve never mentioned her.”

Freya’s face turned bright red. “Oh…well, this is, um, awkward.” She took several steps back and turned to me. “You didn’t tell him about me?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. What the hell could I say? “I was waiting until…I mean, I guess I wanted to…” Fuck. Everything I said made me sound like a bigger asshole.

She lifted a hand, stopping my verbal diarrhea. “It’s fine, really. I totally understand. I’m just…I’m going to head upstairs and leave you guys to it.” She turned back to Hank. “It was nice to meet you.”

I wasn’t the best at reading emotions, but Freya was not fine. She was hurt that I’d kept her a secret, and I didn’t blame her. I’d messed up.

Hank’s gaze darted between us, and he looked uncomfortable as hell, the situation finally sinking into his thick skull.

Freya rushed upstairs.

“Dammit, Hank,” I gritted out when she was gone.

My brother crossed his arms. “How the hell was I supposed to know you’d lied to some woman? I can’t read your mind.”

“No shit,” I muttered. “You also lack basic goddamn social skills. How the hell does Birdie put up with you?”

Hank smirked. “I make it worth her while.”

I was beyond happy that my brother had found the woman of his dreams, but right then the woman of mine thought I cared so little about her that I’d kept her a secret from my brother. No, I hadn’t told him, but I wasn’t keeping her a secret, I just…Hank wouldn’t understand what this was, what I wanted.

“What are you doing here?” I said to him. I didn’t have time for small talk. I needed to go smooth things over with Freya.

Hank shrugged his big shoulders. “Birdie told me to ask you over for dinner.” He glanced at the stairs. “You can ask…” Hank frowned.

“Freya,” I bit out.

Hank scratched his beard. “Yeah, you can bring her along, too.”

I shook my head. “Thank Birdie for the offer, but I’ll have to pass this time.”

Hank shrugged again. “More for me.” He headed for the door then stopped and turned back to me. “You care about her, about Freya?”

My fingers curled into fists, but I did my best to appear as relaxed as possible, when that question struck me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. “Yes, of course.”

Hank frowned again. “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”

“I would have,” I said, hating the twist in my gut. I hadn’t planned to. I’d planned to wait and see how this visit went before I mentioned her to my brother.

Hank stared at me for a while, like he was trying to mentally penetrate my brain for the truth. Finally, he nodded. I wasn’t sure he believed me.

We said our goodbyes and he walked out.

As soon as the door closed, I strode from the living room and took the stairs two at a time. Freya knew what this was, she knew this mini vacation was all about getting to know one another better, making sure we were compatible. But she’d looked genuinely hurt. And the last thing I wanted to do was hurt her.

The room I’d given her to use was closed up tight. “Freya?”

“I’m just getting changed,” she called out.

I stood there, staring at her closed door, listening to her moving around on the other side. “Look, about what happened down there. I never told Hank about you because…” Shit. “I, ah…I thought you knew what this was, what we were doing here. If that’s changed, if you’ve changed your mind about what you want…”

“I haven’t,” she said, her voice muffled.

The door opened, and I stepped back, thinking she’d walk out. She didn’t. She stood there in a towel, hair damp from the quick shower she’d obviously just had. My mouth started moving, but no words were coming out.

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “But I think there’s one thing we’ve yet to try…you know, for compatibility’s sake,” she said, her voice huskier than usual, her face flushed from the hot water she’d been standing under.

Blood pumped to my cock, and I was hard in a matter of seconds. “Yeah, what’s that?” I choked out.

She let go of the towel she was holding at her chest, and it dropped to the floor, pooling at her feet. She stood there in front of me, completely naked. “I think we need to fuck, Beau, before we make any major decisions.”

My mouth went dry as I ate up the sight of her. I’d seen her pussy, her tits, when I’d gotten her off, but not all at once, and she was more beautiful than I could have imagined.

“I think that’s pretty important between a husband and wife, don’t you?” she said, voice softer now.

I tried to keep my shit together. I tried to regain my control, but there was no reining it in. Instead of lifting her off her feet and carrying her to my bed, I charged her like a bull going after a red flag.