And he’d been true to his word. They’d played one round of pool, which she’d won easily. He allowed her a brief bout of gloating, but rather than take her up on her offer of a rematch, he had pulled her and their bottle over to an empty booth and slid in beside her.

His name was Cole. Cole Blackburn. He was a charter pilot, which explained the jacket, although she’d have found it unbearably sexy even if it was purely a fashion statement. For a man who’d spent the entire night sitting in silence, he was surprisingly easy to talk to, attentive, funny, and obviously intelligent.

As she requested, he never asked her what brought her to Alaska, but he did hang on her every word as he asked her every other question under the sun. He held her gaze with those dark eyes of his, and she told him things she only ever shared with the people she was closest to. Not just the highlights—her awesome job as a chef, her time in culinary school in France, and her travels through Europe.

She told him about the rough parts, too. How poorly she and her mom got along in her late teens, after her parents had divorced. How she’d left home at seventeen and tried to go live with her dad, only to find out he didn’t want her and the blame she’d placed on her mother had been totally unfounded. How she’d been filled with guilt over how wrong she’d been but her stubborn pride had kept her from going home for so long.

The years between that realization and the start of culinary school at twenty-one had been rough, and it was hardly light conversation, but somehow he seemed to want to listen, and she seemed to want to tell him.

She chalked it up to loneliness, and those eyes you could drown in.

It wasn’t all bleak though, and Tali found herself laughing more than she had since she’d arrived in Newcomb.

It was nice, having someone her age to talk to. A lot of the young people from Newcomb it seemed had headed off to Anchorage or Fairbanks for college or to start families somewhere with more opportunity. As much as she’d come to enjoy the company of her middle-aged regulars, she missed people her own age.

Cole was funny, albeit in a somewhat dry way.

With his charter plane, he’d run flights for hundreds of wealthy tourists over the years, and they got into a bit of a contest trying to outcompete each other with stories about the entitled rich people they’d had to serve. She caught him wiping away tears of laughter when she told the story of her shellfish disaster before he pulled her in, kissed her cheek, and said, “Oh, you poor thing.”

He was easy with his touch, but Tali found she didn’t mind at all (even though, when his hands found their way to her body, it became infinitely more difficult to finish her sentences coherently).

His eyes never left her face as she spoke, but his hands roamed, rubbing along her thigh as she talked. His thumb found its way to that little bit of exposed flesh at her hip bone and grazed across it, just sensual enough to increase her heart rate and make her tongue go dry.

She stopped drinking after her second, but it became clear the fog in her head had much less to do with alcohol and more to do with him. He was a force of nature, like gravity, pulling her in with dark eyes and gentle caresses. If he asked her, she knew she’d be powerless to say no.

And that’s exactly what he did.

“Tali,” he said suddenly, while she was in the middle of some rant even she didn’t care about anymore, some complaint about a recent television commercial that she was muttering about just to have something to say. If she stopped talking for even a moment, his gaze became too hot to bear, and so she babbled on in a desperate effort to fight the rising tension and desire building up between them.

“Hmmm?” she asked, surprised to be interrupted in the middle of her tirade.

“I hate it, too. You’re right. It’s stupid as hell. But you know what I hate more?”

“What?”

“That I’m in this dusty bar right now instead of sprawled across my bed with my head between your thighs.”

Her mouth fell open.

Her face burned.

Her stomach flipped like she’d just taken the first plunge on a roller coaster.

“I...oh.”

To her surprise, Cole burst out laughing at her reaction and immediately buried his head in his hands, “Oh, shit. Tali. I’m so sorry.”

He was still chuckling and she cringed with shame. “I...w-why are you laughing?”

Oh man. Had she fucked this up? She just...she had not been expecting him to be so direct and...

“I’m sorry,” he said again, still grinning.

He lifted his head from his hands and his gaze was warm. He leaned over, taking her head in his hands, pulling her closer and resting his cheek against hers. “I honestly thought that maybe being from LA, it might not shock you quite so bad. But the look your face just gave away how off the mark I was. Sorry. God, you’re sweet though.”

She laughed against his neck, inhaling his musky scent. “Um. Well. It was a... good line. Just...a little unexpected,” she said, pulling back to meet his eyes. “Not unwelcome though,” she added, smiling shyly.

Like the bursting of a dam, her words seemed to give him the permission he needed to surge forward, capturing her mouth in his with a ravenous kiss. The force of it pushed her against the cushioned back of the booth, and his hands came up to tangle in her dark wavy hair. His mouth was hot against hers, hungry. Tali gasped, melting into it, her hands coming up at once to grip at his shearling collar, pulling him deeper into it. The scrape of his black stubble against her chin was as incredible as she’d imagined, and she moaned into his kiss.

The sound seemed to wake something in him. He growled and he pushed harder into the kiss, pressing her against the back of the booth, making her dizzy and hot.

She was swooning. She was actually swooning. She was familiar with the concept, but had she ever actually felt it before, this overwhelming, fast-acting desire?

God, his mouth was like heaven.

She shuddered as she remembered where else he wanted to put it. She couldn’t even remember the last time a man had even offered to do that for her, let alone actually do it and do it well.

If his kissing was anything to go by, she had no doubt Cole would know exactly what to do down there.

Her head was already spinning, even though she was damn near sober now. The dizziness was all him, the scrape of his neatly trimmed scruff against her neck, the needy pressure of his lips, that hot tongue that was starting to work its way past her lips, making her groan, sending that swoop down low in her belly, making her heart race and her pussy slicken. Her hands roamed over his chest now, across solid pecs and rock-hard abs that she longed to feel without his (very nice, but very obstructing) black button-down in the way.

Had a single kiss ever gotten her so wet so fast? It hadn’t even been a full minute. She was putty in his arms, and she started to sink back into the booth, melting against him like butter. She arched her neck, wondering if he’d take the hint and find the spot she knew would make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up—wanting to feel the weight of him on her, wanting that solid muscle and those deft hands all over her.

For a moment, he started to sink with her, groaning as she gave his bottom lip a quick, sharp nibble, but then to her dismay, he pulled away.

“What are you doing?” she asked, reaching for him as he started to get up. “Cole, don’t—”

“Not here,” he grunted. “Come on. Let’s do this right.”

She frowned. Doing it right would mean taking a much too long break from touching him, and now that she’d started, she didn’t want to stop. Maybe not ever.

“But I...I’d need to close up the bar and—I mean, where do you even live? No offense, but you seem like the kind of person who’d live completely in the middle of nowhere and I just—Cole—I want—”

He laughed, extracting himself from the booth and standing up, then extending a hand to her and pulling her to her feet without any effort at all. “Thanks for the honesty. I guess you’re not wrong either. Of course, you’re in Alaska. Pretty much everything outside this square mile of town is the middle of nowhere. But I promise to make it worth your while. Come on, darlin’. I’ll have you stripped bare in my bed inside of fifteen minutes.” He slapped her on the ass. “Quick.”

“Hey!” she scolded, but she was laughing. She grabbed the money for his bottle and scurried back behind the bar.

“What, no ninja moves this time?” he called to her as she went, but she only shook her head.

So, this is absolutely crazy, she thought to herself as she put the rest of the money into the register.

For her anyway.

She was not the kind of girl who went home with a perfect stranger. She was the kind of girl whose jaw dropped at the unexpected mention of oral sex—something Cass had always found hilarious and mercilessly exploited. Tali had been too busy for much of a dating life at all in the last few years, and she’d never once had a one-night stand.

This was new for her.

Yet even though she’d done most of the talking and she didn’t know much about him other than that he was a pilot who’d lived in Alaska his whole life—Cole didn’t feel like a stranger. It felt like she’d known him forever. It felt right.

Despite all the efforts she’d made to get to know people, despite Mabel’s warmth and the smiling faces of the Foxhole regulars and her determination to stay positive, it hadn’t all been rosy. Winter was setting in and bringing with it long hours of darkness and an increased assault on her happiness.

She felt a little more homesick every day. There hadn’t been much improvement with Ella. Like a loser, Tali had even started watching Ella’s favorite show at high volume in the living room in hopes of enticing her downstairs, but that hadn’t worked at all.

She was stressed, sad about Matty, and the loneliest she’d been in years.

Looking at Cole, talking to him, feeling his hands on her skin—it lit a spark in her just when it’d seemed like her fire was starting to fade out.

Why should she fight this?

She was lonely and he was gorgeous and sweet. And seemed a little lonely too.

This was right, and she was going for it.

She slammed the register shut and looked up across the bar at Cole. He was gazing at her, desire written plainly across his perfectly sculpted face. The eye contact sent another surge through her, a rush of excitement. Passion.

What the hell? she thought, grinning and attempted another ninja leap across the bar, her feet connecting hard with the wooden floors when she reached the other side.

“Nailed it,” he said, even though she clearly did not.

“Let’s go,” she said, running to him and dragging him out by the hand.

She watched him head for the driver’s side of his truck and stopped short, digging her heels into the snow. “Wait a minute,” she said. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think? Promised to get you wet, didn’t I? And I don’t just mean that beer you spilled all over yourself when I walked in,” he said, smirking at her over his shoulder.

“You saw that?” she squeaked, going hot from her neck to the tips of her ears.

“Yep,” he grinned. “It was cute.”

“Well, wet from beer is as far as it will go, Cole, unless you let me drive. You are way too deep in your whiskey for me to set foot in that thing with you behind the wheel.”

“I’m not that bad. Shared with you, didn’t I? I…” he started, shaking the bottle at her, but then quailed slightly under her stare.

“I’ve got a perfectly good truck right here. Don’t be a stubborn ass,” she muttered and inclining her head toward Matt’s truck.

“Darlin’, I think you need to rethink your definition of ‘perfectly good,’” he said, eyeing Matt’s rusted pickup. “I can help with that,” he added, leaning over to kiss her neck for a moment, then nipping down. She gripped his arm tight, gasping. “That rust bucket is not fit to get up my road. Hell, it’s not even fit for a scrapyard.”

She glared at him. She had to admit—it was kind of a piece of shit though.

“Fine. Let me drive yours, then.”

His eyes went wide and he sucked in air through his teeth. “Uh. No. Nope. Sorry, darlin’. No one drives this baby but me.”

She took a few steps closer to him, placed a hand on his chest and gave him a gentle shove that pushed him up against the back of his truck. “Then it seems like no one drives this baby tonight either,” she smirked, pointing at herself and feeling probably a bit too smug at her own sass.

He threw his head back and groaned, but she could tell he was amused too. “Wow. You are a ball-buster if I’ve ever met one.” He reached into his pocket. “This is a real gesture of how much I like you. I haven’t handed these things over to a living soul since I got it.”

She smirked and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek as she took the keys out of his hand. “If I can navigate through LA traffic with a clean license, your dumb truck will be fine. Come on.” She unlocked the truck and climbed in.

“Hey,” she muttered breathlessly, reaching for his hand with hers. She’d barely gotten a couple miles out before he started rubbing her pussy through her jeans as she drove, and it was killing her. She meant to drag him away, but found herself unable to do it, instead just resting her hand over his large, callused hand. “If you’re so worried about your truck, you might wanna cut that out.”

“You’re doing great,” he murmured, tugging the zipper down and working two fingers into the space. They grazed across the front of her wet panties. “You’re soaked. And I know that beer dried up hours ago.” He kissed her neck as his fingers pressed the cotton against her clit.

“Cole,” she moaned, trying to concentrate as he applied pressure to her throbbing nub. “It’s snowing, you idiot.”

“This is nothing.”

“Not to someone who never drove in snow until a couple of weeks ago,” she muttered, but he’d found his way around her panties now was touching her bare flesh with his.

“We’re almost there,” he murmured. “Turn left up here.” He continued to stroke up and down her clit, making her suck in her breath hard. Finally, after driving past a long stretch of empty, snow-covered fields and small stands of conifers, he murmured, “This is it.”

Which was damn good, because even with the empty roads, she wasn’t sure being hit with the rush of an orgasm behind the wheel of a moving truck was a good idea. Thankfully, he pulled his hand away as she turned into his driveway.

It was dark, and she couldn’t see anything around them but the headlights of the car, which illuminated a cabin. It was small and wooden, with a simple bench on the porch, and surrounded by pines on all sides.

“Here we are,” he murmured and then added, a bit sheepishly, “it’s not much.”

“It looks lovely,” she said, turning off the ignition and jumping out into the snow.

As soon he opened the front door, he started to kick off his boots, so she followed suit.

Then they were out of the cold and he was on her, hands on her hips, mouth on hers. He was much taller than her, and the angle was awkward, so he fixed the height difference by lifting her off her feet with ease. She wrapped her legs around him and let him carry her. He pushed her up against the front door and kissed her hard while pulling open the zipper of her jacket. He tugged it off her shoulders with one hand while the other squeezed her breast through her sweater, making her gasp. His thumb and forefinger found her already-hard nipple and tugged at it, making it pebble beneath his touch as her head fell back against the door.

This was too much.

She was still completely clothed and yet this was the most aroused she’d ever been in her life. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to make it to the bedroom; she felt like she could die of ecstasy here in the entranceway. Her jacket slid to the ground, and he must have hit a light switch because she suddenly had a view of his cabin. She’d expected sparse, but this was practically empty. She glanced around briefly, saw a small kitchen and a living room with a single couch, a fireplace and bookshelf. No television. No pictures.

But then he was kissing her again, and the cabin and the world around them dissolved until it was just the two of them, bodies and lips pressed together, desperate and hungry. She could feel his cock pushing up hard against her, straining against his dark jeans, huge. He’d already got her so wet and needy on the damn car ride, she was sure he could still slide it into her without much effort, her walls stretching readily to accommodate the girth.

He turned them around again and made his way through the cabin, stumbling to the bedroom, unable, it seemed, to keep his mouth off her long enough to steer them properly. They hit the couch, then a wall, and he laughed apologies into her mouth and hair.

Finally he crashed them up against the bedroom door. Her back hit it, and she heard him fumble with the knob, followed by the creak of it opening wide. A few more steps and she toppled, landing hard on a firm mattress, and the weight she longed for was on top of her at last.

Her sweater hadn’t made it to his bedroom, and she was just in a tight camisole, her breasts bursting over the top of it. The light of the moon was all that illuminated his small bedroom, but it was enough to see the awed, hungry look in his eyes before he kissed the tops of her breasts, his hands reaching up under the cotton of her shirt, snaking across her back to find the clasp of her bra.

He took a while fumbling with it, growling against her yearning flesh as he did, and let out a rumbling, satisfied mmm when he finally got it and tore it away.

She heard the soft sound of it landing somewhere on the floor, and then he was tugging down her cami to expose her supple breasts. His mouth came down on the center of her right nipple, sucking hard.

“Cole,” she groaned, reaching down to grip at his short, dark hair. “God, Cole.” She could feel the raw, animalistic energy coming off him now, and thought back on how quiet he’d seemed sitting there in the bar on his own with a drink in his hand. To look at him, you’d never know this raw hunger existed inside him, but somehow a part of her must have picked up on it to have been drawn to him so instantly.

“I love the way my name sounds on your lips,” he murmured against her breasts, which he was still licking, sucking, kissing, grazing with his teeth and applying just the right amount of pressure.

Fuck.

He tugged her top up over her breasts and pulled it off, leaving her torso bare before him. He came back to them for a moment, but then his mouth started to kiss lower, slowly and tantalizingly across her abdomen. She writhed underneath him, lifting her hips, torn between begging for more and shoving him away because it was too much. If he got where he was heading with his mouth, she was sure she’d just melt away into nothing.

His hands found the button of her jeans, and the moment he popped them open, he gave a hard, almost violent tug that lifted her hips and brought her pants down to her ankles, where they snagged for just a moment before he pulled them off and tossed them aside.

He paused then, looking down at her, naked before him except for thin cotton panties that were all but soaked through. She felt shy beneath his gaze. He was still in his black button-down and jeans, fully clothed except for a few loosened buttons. He was devastatingly handsome. Living in LA for the past several years among rake-thin models, perfect young actresses, and every block saturated with symmetrical faces hadn’t exactly made her self-esteem soar. But seeing him kneeling on the mattress above her, dark eyes filled with such lust and need made her chest feel full, made her swallow hard.

She had to see what was under those clothes, even though she’d felt enough of his arms and his hard abs to know that the sight might actually make her head explode.

“This isn’t fair,” she murmured, biting her lip. “You’ve got too much on.”

“Yeah?” he asked in that growl of his. “You want to see me too?”

“Please,” she said, reaching up for him desperately, but he moved out of her grasp. He held her gaze and started to unbutton his shirt slowly—painfully slowly—teasing her.

Each button exposed just a little bit more of sculpted chest, and she was feeling the loss of his hands on her body.

“Sometime this century would be nice,” she said, reaching to squeeze his thigh.

“Typical city girl. In such a rush. You’ve got a lot to learn, darlin’, about slowing down to enjoy the little things,” he said, still three buttons from the bottom.

“I didn’t sign up for lessons in patience,” she said, reaching up for him again, trying to sit up as she did. She wanted to get at them herself, to speed the process along. She’d felt his cock against her, and she was ready to have it inside her.

Cole had other ideas and actually slapped her hand away, just hard enough to surprise her. He grabbed the wrist that had reached for him and tugged it over until he found the other one, taking both her wrists in his hand. Before she could think about fighting him, he had them pinned to the pillow above her head, and his mouth was on her neck again, biting, growling.

“Gonna teach you anyway,” he said against her neck, and then began his slow descent down her body again, mouth moving across her flesh, exploring her skin with an unpredictable pattern of kisses, licks, and bites that had her gasping. The closer he got to her pussy, the more she started to squirm, the urgency building in her, making her lose control of her thoughts as she burned with need.

He tolerated it for a time, but then he stopped what he was doing to give her a hard, stern look. “Stop moving so much,” he growled and released her wrists. He took both of his massive hands and brought them to her hips to hold them firmly in place, pressing them hard into the mattress.

“Cole,” she moaned, trying to thrust up against his strong, determined arms and not able to move him even a centimeter. “Please, just fuck me. I need you to fuck me.”

“Not yet,” he said, pulling her panties down to her knees in a swift motion before bringing his hot mouth down to her sopping pussy, making her cry out at the sensation, much higher than she usually sounded. He laughed, and she felt the rush of air against her folds. She tried to move her hips again, but his hands still had her pinned.

Agonizingly slowly, his tongue raked across her throbbing clit, starting at the top and moving down it. He only let her thrust up into his mouth when he’d made his way across the length of it, then delved inside her as she came up to meet his mouth moaning his name, unable to say anything more coherent than that.

God, it felt so good. She’d only ever had two men do this for her, and they’d never done it like this. It was too much, and she was already too damn close, and she wanted to see him, dammit.

“Cole,” she said sharply, pulling his hair as he explored her so sweetly, so hungrily with his mouth, his stubble scraping against her thighs. “Stop. Please,” she begged.

He looked up, goddamn puppy dog eyes between her legs, and she couldn’t believe this was real, that this was her life. “What?” he asked, brow knitted. “Is it not—?”

“Trust me,” she breathed. “It’s good. It’s so good. But I just…I want to see you. And I want your—your—” She was pretty far gone, but she still felt embarrassed about saying the word aloud. He seemed to get the idea though, and his eyes darkened even further.

“My cock?” he asked, kissing her hip bone. “Is that what you mean? You want my cock inside you?”

She nodded, biting her lip. “Please,” she begged.

“Say it,” he murmured, kissing her thigh. “I want to hear you say it.”

She blushed furiously, but there was a thrill in his gentle command.

“Please,” she choked out in a whisper. “Cole, I want your cock. I want to feel it inside me. Please.”

“Can’t deny a request that sweet,” he muttered, kissing her belly and kneeling up on the bed again.

This time, he shrugged out of his shirt quickly, and she drank in the sight of his ripped torso, the dark curls on his chest, the carved Apollo’s belt, the hair that trailed down beneath the waistline of his dark jeans. She reached up, grazing her fingertips across it as his hands worked his belt buckle. She watched him tug, sliding it out past his belt loops and tossing it aside, never breaking her gaze.

Then he undid his pants, not as slowly as he’d done the shirt earlier. He seemed to be losing his own restraint now too, and soon his jeans were around his knees and she could see the dripping head of cock poking out through the hole in his boxers. He was as huge as she’d felt pressed against her, and she knew her eyes widened at the sight of it.

Soon enough, he’d worked his way out of his boxers too, and she gazed up at this perfect specimen of man above her. She’d never looked at a man like this, so shamelessly, so wantonly. Her past experiences had included a lot of fumbling beneath the sheets, shy avoidance of looking too long. But this was a blessing, a gift, being able to look at a man like this, a man who seemed to so enjoy having her look at him, and she couldn’t squander it.

She let eyes graze over the entirety of his thick, dripping cock, the meaty mushroom head of it, the veins that ridged down the thick, hard shaft until they found the base. No one that big had ever been inside her, not even close. Still, his fingers and his mouth and everything about him had made her pussy soaked with desire, and it was aching to be filled again.

“Cole,” she moaned. “Fuck me. Please. Now.”

This time, he didn’t make her wait.

He pushed her thighs apart at once, and positioned himself at her entrance. He leaned down, kissing her neck as he pushed past her drenched pussy lips, quick enough to make her gasp and but slow enough to allow her walls to stretch to accommodate his girth. It just kept going, going, until finally it seemed he was in her to the hilt. She threw her head back, moaning.

“You okay?” he murmured into her hair.

“Yes. Please. Move,” was all she could gasp out.

And so he did. He started to thrust into her softly, slowly, but it soon became clear neither of them was interested in soft or slow. He’d woken up something inside her, something raw and wild and hungry. Her nails in his taut back urged him on, and his ripped body had more than enough strength to pound into her the way she needed.

How had she never known that this, this was the way she’d needed to be fucked? It felt so damn good, he felt so damn good rutting against her, nuzzling her neck, biting her breasts, grunting and grinding.

She’d never felt so animalistic in all her life, and she was too wrapped up in the ecstasy of their desperate coupling to feel embarrassed about the noises he pulled from her swollen mouth as he thrust inside her, hitting places she didn’t know could feel like that. Twice already he’d brought her so close to the edge, and she found herself careening toward it once again. She wanted to hold back, to let this incredible feeling last, but this time she knew there was no stopping the rush that was building inside her.

“Cole,” she moaned into his shoulder, a desperate whine. She wanted to tell him that she was going to come, but her swooning head couldn’t form the words.

He must have felt it though, in the way her pulsing walls gripped at his length, because he increased the power of his thrusts. He was getting there too, she realized, as his pacing became more frenetic, his grunts less controlled. She felt her whole body climbing toward climax and rising, rising toward a peak and then hitting it hard. The shockwaves of it pulsed through her, crashing like waves, making her gasp his name and dig her nails into his shoulder blades. Her neck lolled back limply as little pulses kept coming while he continued to pump. He’d obviously been waiting on her to make sure she reached her peak, but now that she had, he allowed himself to follow close behind.

She pulled him close to her, loving the desperate noises he made as his own orgasm came upon him. She kissed his neck, snaked her arms over his lower back, murmuring his name as he came hard. At last he was done, and he showed his first sign of tiring, arms shaking just a little as he held himself over her, smiling down at her. She smiled back, and let him all but collapse down onto her. He shifted, finding his way into a comfortable place in her arms, his head resting on her breasts.

“God,” he gasped, breathless.

“Yeah,” she murmured, stroking his hair. “I know.”

When she slipped back into consciousness the next morning, the first thing she realized was this was the warmest she’d been in over a month. The next thing she realized was why. Cole. He had her pulled flush against him, his hard torso up against her back, a strong arm draped across her belly, his stubbled chin resting in the crook of her neck. He was softly snoring.

She smiled, head spinning a little.

God, that was nice.

This was nice. She didn’t want to leave. But she should. He was way too warm, and she was sure it had to be at least eight or nine o’clock. She didn’t know when Ella would be getting back from the Callaways, but she had to be there when she did. Because she was a responsible adult.

Even if she had gone home with a stranger for the first time ever. With mind-blowing results.

She started to squirm out of his grasp as gently as she could, not wanting to wake him, but it proved useless. As soon as he felt her starting to slip away, he reached out and pulled her back in a crushing bear hug.

She hacked a little, and laughed. Damn, he was strong.

Well. So much for subtle. She nudged him with her elbow, trying to straddle the balance of firm yet gentle. After several attempts she realized it would take a little more force than that to bring him out of hibernation, and she nudged him hard.

“Huh?” he shouted groggily, sitting up. She laughed.

He looked amazing, even squinting up at her through bleary eyes.

“Sorry. You had me a little caged in there,” she muttered. She felt shy now, naked in the light of day, and wanted to cover herself up. It seemed that in spite of his grogginess, he was alert enough to snatch the sheet out of her grasp before she could do so. He gave a her a long look that left her feeling raw, exposed, desired. She shuddered. “I...I have to go,” she said.

He looked at his watch and frowned. “So soon? Stay a while, darlin’. I’ll make us breakfast.”

She sighed.

Well, that was sweet—his willingness to let her stick around, even to cook for her. It made her belly do that swooping thing once again, to realize he wasn’t feeling regret or angling to get rid of her. She knew that was often the way it went with these one-night stand things. Not personally, but she had enough friends who were more adventurous than her when it came to dating.

It was nice to know he wasn’t one of those next-day jerks, as Cass liked to call them. Hell, even if he was, she probably wouldn’t regret her choice. Just thinking about his gorgeous body and the things he could do with it made her want to dive back beneath the covers with him.

But she couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, Cole. I’ve got...things I need to do,” she said, shimmying into her underwear and then her jeans.

She didn’t really feel like ruining this bubble she was in by talking about having to get home to care for her dead brother’s angry preteen daughter. “Shit. My bra. Where’s my bra?” she said.

Smiling, he reached down under the blankets and unearthed it.

“Thank you,” she blushed, taking it from him. Her top was hanging off the corner of his bedside table. She grabbed it and pulled it over her head. She was pretty sure her jacket, sweater, and boots were somewhere outside his bedroom. At least she hoped so.

“Um. Well. That was fun. Thanks,” she said, red-faced, leaning down to kiss him briefly.

“Yeah,” he agreed, smirking a little. “It was.”

“I guess I’ll see you around,” she said, hating how awkward this felt.

“Small town. Probably sooner than you think,” he said.

She gave him a stupid little wave and scooted out of the bedroom.

She had her first boot on when it hit her, and she hobbled back to his bedroom, burning with shame.

She knocked on the door—which seemed pointless as she’d already seen every last glorious inch of him—and muttered, “Um, Cole. I just remembered. We took your truck here,” she said, popping her head in.

He was already in his jeans, but his godly chest was still bare. “Yep. We did,” he grinned, and she let her head fall against the door frame, too tired and sheepish to do or say anything besides watch him get dressed.

Their drive in was less awkward than it could have been, though Cole got more credit for that than she did. Her brain seemed to want to think about little besides what he looked like naked, his hard cock leaking precum for her, or to recall the sensation of him sliding his girth into her, making her moan his name. He managed to pull off the small talk she couldn’t. She hadn’t been to this part of Newcomb before, so he pointed out different roads, told her who lived on them, showed her a ridge where some wolves had denned pups that summer, told her about a river that was great for salmon fishing, and a bunch of other tidbits that she couldn’t fully concentrate on.

At last, they were back at the Foxhole and Matt’s rusted truck.

“I believe that rust bucket is your chariot?” he asked, slowing to a stop.

“It is. Thank you,” she said. “For the ride. Uh. Both of them,” she added with a grin.

He raised his eyebrows at her. “Wow. That was... you can get out now.”

“Shut up,” she said, punching him in the arm. He was so damn solid it probably hurt her more than it hurt him. “Okay. Well, I’ll see you.”

She started to reach for the door handle, but his hand came out to grab her wrist before she could go. “Tali, wait,” he said.

“Hmm?”

“Look, there’s something I should probably say. I know you said you didn’t want to talk about what brought you here, but I just thought I should say… Last night, when we were talking, I figured out who you were. I know why you’re here. And I’m sorry. About your brother. I’m really sorry.”

His eyes were soft and sincere. Her stomach sank a little, like it always did when Matty was mentioned. “Um. Thank you,” she said, and she could tell he meant it. “Did you know him?”

He nodded. “I did. Definitely not as well as some, but he was a good man. One of the best this town has seen, I’m sure you already know. I didn’t make it to the service. I’m sorry. I was doing some work out of Anchorage at the time. Didn’t hear about it until after it was too late. I paid my respects, though. After. In the way that I could.” He’d gotten quiet. “Anyway, it’s not fair that it happened to him. It’s not fair that you’ve got to be here.”

“Thanks, Cole,” she said, a lump in her throat. He reached forward and gave her hand a quick squeeze.

“Tali.”

He bit his lip, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to say his next piece. For once, he seemed to be the one who was struggling to make eye contact with her. He turned away from her, looking out over the steering wheel. “As much as I….wish the circumstances were different, for my part, I’m glad you’re here.”

She swallowed.

He sounded so raw and sincere. She’d heard dozens of stories from dozens of one-night stands that her friends had had over the years, and no one had ever described these palpable, rippling feelings crackling in the air between them. He was not looking at her like she was someone who’d given him a night of fun that he’d put up on a shelf and forget about.

There was so much in his eyes, so much that it was overwhelming and a little terrifying.

It made her heartbeat quicken again, but she couldn’t get her tongue around a coherent response to the waves of intensity coming off him. She reached out and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. “I’ll see you, Cole,” she said, and stepped out into the snow.