I sweep up the pieces of broken glass and watch her from the corner of my eye. She seems like she was starting to warm up to me and now she’s closed off again. She’s sitting on the couch, strumming her fingers on her chin. One leg bounces, shaking it nervously. I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s so damn beautiful. I want to hold her, but I’m sure that would scare her away. I’ve had no interest in any woman since she’s been gone, but my body is fueled by her. I haven’t walked around with a hard-on in years. Everything she does turns me on. The way her hand is twirling in her hair, to the soft, sexy tones of her voice. My fingers itch to touch her olive skin, to have it next to mine. There is another part of me that is begging to be inside her. I look at my crotch. I hold in a groan and turn away from her to adjust myself.

“Dinner should be ready soon. I saw some wine in your fridge. Would you like me to pour you a glass?”

“I think with your record of breaking glasses, I should pour it.” She gets up and takes two glasses out of the cabinet.

“Can you grab the cheese while you’re in there?”

“You eat cheese on chili?” she asks, bending over to get it out of the bottom drawer in the fridge.

I can’t keep my gaze from roaming her ass. She still has an amazing body. “Smothered in cheese.” I lick my lips to be able to answer her.

I don’t look away fast enough, and she catches me admiring the view. A sweet, shy smile forms on her lips. I think I even see a little blush of pink across her high cheekbones.

I set the table and place the chili into bowls. She’s very quiet as she eats. She peeks up at me from time to time from behind her long black lashes. “Tell me more about your life in California.”

“I have a good life, a good career. It’s amazing what I’ve accomplished in the last twelve years. I was a young woman who came to town with nothing more than the clothes on my back. Completely lost. I’ve worked hard and met the right people and made a lot of money. I have a six-thousand-square-foot house in the heart of town.”

“Do you live in that mansion by yourself?” I ask between bites of food.

“No.” She puts her spoon down and wipes her mouth. “My friend and business partner Paul lives in the house with me.”

A pang of jealousy hits me. I asked the question but wasn’t prepared for her answer. I stop eating and sip my wine.

“It’s not what you’re thinking. We are only friends. Well…we were more at one time.” She reaches across the table and takes my hand. “I’m sorry, but I want to be honest with you.”

“I guess I can’t expect you to not have had a life.” My words come out a little harsher than I meant. She pulls her hand away. “I’m sorry.”

“Have you had any girlfriends in all these years?”

“No,” I state flatly.

She blinks rapidly a few times then stares at me. I think she is completely astonished by my answer. “I believe the difference is, I knew what I lost, and you had no idea.”

She stands and puts her half-eaten bowl in the sink. She turns around and leans on the counter. “If we are going to work our way through this, you are going to have to quit being angry or hurt over something I didn’t do on purpose. I can lie to you if that would make you feel better.”

That’s the spunky woman I remember. She never took my shit, and she was never a liar. I can’t help but smile at her.

“What?” she asks.

“You are still the same spunky Timber. You always stood up to me.”

She sits back down across from me. “Really? Did we fight a lot?”

“Oh yeah. We fought and then we made up like crazy. Sometimes I think you would pick fights with me just so we would have angry makeup sex.” I laugh.

“So, we were happy?”

“Extremely.” She bites at the inside of her cheek. “Are you happy?” I ask.

“I’m…content. I stay busy to try not to think about my past. There was a point I was obsessed with it, so much so, that I had stopped living. I wouldn’t leave the house for days. I would scour the internet for any hint of my life. Paul pulled me out of that. I was grateful, but never in love with him.”

“I guess I’ve been so consumed with how I felt, I never considered what your life must have been like. For that…I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” She takes my empty bowl and stares out the back window. “It’s really snowing hard. I don’t think you should go home in this mess.”

My chair scrapes on the linoleum as I turn to look at her. “Are you asking me to stay the night?”

“In the spare bedroom. We could talk some more or play games. I saw a few board games in the bedroom closet.”

I stand nose to nose with her. “I don’t know if I can stay in the same house with you and not want to touch you.” I run my hand down the length of her arm.

“Could you try? I’d really like you to stay.” I can tell by her eyes that she would really like to touch me too, but it’s too soon for her. Same silly girl as before, making me wait for our wedding night. I will go slowly with her, but my body aches to lie next to her.

“You made me wait until we got married to have sex.”

“Did I really?” She smiles.

“Yep, no lie.”

“You must have been a very patient man.”

“I was young and stupid and didn’t realize what I was missing out on. Now, I don’t know how long I will be able to honor your hands-off policy.”

She laughs out loud. “Well, at least you’re honest. But I’m not a young girl anymore either. I think we have some issues we need to work out.”

“I have one painful issue I need to work out.”

She looks at my hard-on. She raises up on her tiptoes and kisses me this time. “I never said that I wasn’t attracted to you.” Her arms wrap around my neck, and she deepens the kiss, exploring me.

My heart races and my hands find the small of her back. I pull her hard against me. I know she wants me. I even remember the sensual noises she makes after all these years, but I draw back. “If you want this to happen, I have no problem taking this further, but nothing happens until you say so.”

Her eyes say she’s debating it, but her body stiffens the moment she decides. “I think I’d like to get to know you better. If I’m not who you think I am, then you had a two-week fling with just some woman. If I’m Timber, it changes the game. I’m willing to have a holiday affair with you, but what happens to you when I go back to my life?”

I have no doubt who she is, but I’ll wait until she knows. I want to make love to my wife, not someone that is a stranger in her heart. “Monopoly.”

“What?” She giggles.

“We used to spend hours playing Monopoly. Go get it from the closet.” I let her slip from my arms and slap her in the ass as she turns away. She yelps and smiles. She used to like a little kink and being spanked; it was part of our makeup sex.

We play until the wee hours of the morning. We’ve laughed so hard my sides hurt. It felt like old times to me, but I’m trying to remind myself that this is all new to her. She seemed relaxed and very comfortable with me; it’s encouraging. I even caught her checking me out when she thought I wasn’t looking.

At three a.m., we finally called it a night, and she let me kiss her sweet lips before we parted to separate bedrooms. I couldn’t sleep knowing she was in the next room. After I had tossed and turned for about an hour, I heard my door creak open. I pretended to be asleep as she quietly crept across the carpeted floor. I could feel her stare on me, but she never spoke or touched me. After a few minutes, she crept out the same way she came in.

In the morning I wake to the smell of coffee filling the cottage. I pull on the same jeans I had on yesterday and make my way down to the kitchen where she is sitting on the couch sipping from a mug with the fire already going.

“Good morning,” I say.

“Morning. Did you sleep well?”

“You tell me. You kept waking me up coming into my room,” I tease her.

She turns bright red and throws a couch pillow at me, and I snatch it before it hits the floor. I mock throw it at her.

“Don’t you dare”—she’s on her feet—“you will spill my coffee.”

“Then I suggest you put it down out of the way, sweetheart.” I cock a serious eye at her.

She sits back down. I walk over and take the coffee out of her hand. “You have two seconds. You started this war, and I will finish it.”

She’s trying to figure out if I’m serious or not. I start my count. “One.”

She flies off the couch and heads for the stairs. I chase after her, catching her at the bedroom door. She laughs as I hit her with the pillow several times.

“Hey, no fair. I only hit you once.” She runs and grabs a pillow off her bed and lobs it at me.

I pick it up. “More ammunition.” I stalk her to the far side of the bed where she has a pillow raised. When I’m close, she hits me with it. I bend down, taking her by the knees and pick her up, throwing her on the bed. She squeals as she bounces a few times. I raise my arms in the air and jump on top of her, pinning her to the mattress.

“You are too heavy. Get off me!” She’s breathless.

“You’re calling me fat?” I ask, running my nose from her ear down her neck.

“No, not fat, but too strong!” Her hands are pushing on my bare chest, and it’s turning me on.

“You need to apologize, or I’m going to fuck you right here and now.”

Her eyes grow darker, and I feel her clench her thighs together. I know she wants me inside her as bad as I want to be there.

She bites her bottom lip and closes her eyes tight. “I’m sorry.”

I exhale deeply. “You should be.” I get up, taking her with me. “Now do you think a guy could get a decent cup of coffee?”

She smiles and pats my cheek. “I’ll get you a cup.”

She walks out of the room. I grab a pillow, hold it to my face and yell into it, trying to suffocate my sexual frustrations.