“Shit Lena, I don’t even know what to say about any of that.”

Casey sat back in the booth of the small dining area of the General Store, which was once again dead except for the plow guys who strolled in and out all afternoon.

“Yeah, well tell me about it. It happened to me and even I don’t know what to say.” Actually, I had a few choice words for Rex and I uttered them all the way down the mountain until I came to the General Store and found out Cody was still packed in tight thanks to the snow. Two days after leaving Rex’s place, I was still stuck, but at least with my best friend instead of my former stepbrother. “It doesn’t matter. It happened and it’s in the past. I wasn’t expecting a happy ending or anything.” Just some common decency, but I guess even that was asking too much.

“Yeah, but still…” She shook her head, completely speechless by my morning. “He’s an asshole.”

“Yeah, I know.” That brought me to my other, more pressing problem. “He’s not going to say yes, which means I need to leave Cody.”

The buzzer in the kitchen sounded and Casey bounced up to go get our burgers and fries for lunch. “You don’t have to leave, you just want to.” I opened my mouth, but the denial wouldn’t come. “You could try and find another place here and offer the same experience, but you don’t want to.”

She was right. But not for the reasons she thought. “That house means something in this town, Case. It is this town in a way, which is what that kind of business would need to succeed. Other houses in the same price market need a lot of work, and I don’t have that kind of capital.” I looked at quite a few houses in town, but I’d have to put at least six figures into them and that’s before outfitting a professional kitchen. “I can’t make the money work. That’s why.”

“Okay hon, but hear me out. You want to make this happen, yet you’re ready to give up so easily. At least send him your business plan and let him be the asshole who takes this away from you. Don’t deprive yourself of it, Lena.” She dug into her burger and fries with the zeal of a woman who worked hard and burned calories all day.

I mostly stared at my burger while I thought about what Casey said. Was I just giving up at the first sign of trouble? Was that how I would run my business? The answer to both was a resounding hell no. “You’re right. I will send him the business plan along with what parts of the house will be used and anticipated cleaning and maintenance fees.”

“Good.” She grinned, satisfied she’d gotten her way. “That way you can move forward knowing you did everything you could.”

“Yeah,” I sighed and shoved a fry in my mouth. “In the meantime, I’ll start looking for jobs.”

“Where will you go?”

I shrugged. “Wherever I get a job, I suppose. A small town would be ideal because I won’t pay so much to live, but there are more places to eat in the cities. Still want to come with me?”

“Yes. Do you think I could work in a restaurant without any real experience?”

I rolled my eyes. “You’ve been working in a kitchen since you were an inch tall, Case. You have more experience than most chefs I know. It’s all about getting the right person to see you.”

“And you know that person, I suppose?”

I grinned and it felt genuine. “I do, actually. A chef I met at the Food & Wine Festival actually prides himself on taking those who haven’t been classically trained and turning them into Michelin star chefs.” And he happened to live in Los Angeles.

“Let’s go now!” She stood and stared at me expectantly. “What are you waiting for?”

“At the moment, I’m waiting for my best friend to come to her senses. Clearly we have to pack and wait for Ricky Lee to dig Cody out of it’s snowy coffin.” She scowled at me and I laughed. “Maybe we should give you an extra hour to give Ricky a proper goodbye.”

“Oh hush your mouth. Ricky Lee and I are friends. He wants to be more, but, I’m not ready to be someone’s wife or mother.”

And that just reminded me of the thing that had started all of this in the first damn place. “We had sex without a condom.”

Casey stopped in the middle of her Ricky Lee monologue, trying to convince herself that they were just friends. “You what?”

I told her about the moment before he stormed into the bathroom before ultimately leaving me on my own in his cabin. I’ve never had anyone quite that eager to get rid of me before. “We were both asleep.” It wasn’t a particularly good explanation, but it was all I had. Which meant I now needed to watch my period like a hawk. “Why did I come back here?”

“Because you missed me and had a dream,” she offered with a too wide grin.

Yeah, that was why I’d come back. Now I deeply regretted it. “I did.”

The door opened, bringing the chill with it along with a big, broad shouldered man with his head down. Casey grinned and stood to greet the customer or offer directions to a lost tourist. Possibly she’d offer to show him the route to her small cabin. “How can I help ya?”

The man stomped the snow from his boots and removed the hood from his head, revealing a familiar flop of brown hair I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade. “Jared?”

He looked over, blinked and then a gorgeous grin lit up his face. He looked so much like his older brother. He and Rex shared the same piercing blue eyes and the same disheveled brown hair, but they were night and day. Rex was big and imposing where Jared was lean and ripped, and he always had a smile for everyone. “Sweet little Lena. You’re looking good, kid.”

“Thanks. You too. All grown up. What are you doing in Cody?”

He frowned. “Mom said she hadn’t heard from Rex or you in more than a week.”

I groaned and gave him a brief rundown. “I left Rex’s place a couple days ago and I’ve been stuck down here since. How’d you get into town?”

“I’m always prepared.” He laughed when I rolled my eyes. “I just bought some land for my adventure business and it has a Heli-pad.”

I whistled long and low. “Well congratulations on your life, Jared!” I stood and gave him a hug. “You’re bigger than I remember.”

“Really? Because you’re even tinier than I remember.” He tugged my hair and I swatted his hand away and took a step back.

“This is my friend Casey. I don’t think you’ve met before.” Jared hadn’t lived with us more than a couple months, choosing instead to go live with his father in New York.

“I’m sure I would have remembered if you had a sexy redheaded friend.” He stepped to the counter and grabbed Casey’s hand, smiling at her skeptical expression. “Nice to meet you Casey.”

“Damn you McGregor boys are hotter than hell!” She pulled her hand from his grasp just to fan her face, and Jared laughed, looking pleased as punch.

“And I’m the hottest one.” She giggled and I shook my head, leaving them to their Olympic level flirting session. Jared was back in town, for good it seemed. I missed him when he left, but now he would just remind me of the loss of my own dream.

No, not the loss, I had to remind myself. The postponement of my dream, that’s all it was.

That’s all I would allow it to be.

* * *

I’d been back in Cody for about a week when I decided I needed to make another trip back up the mountain. To see Rex. The first thing I did when I set foot inside my childhood home was grab my laptop and send him a copy of my business plan for which the bank had approved the loan. He’d opened it five days ago and still hadn’t responded.

The jerk.

This time though, I came prepared. In my trunk was a blanket, water and fourteen cans of beans, soup and chili. No matter what happened, or where, I was prepared. For the weather, anyway.

Nothing could prepare me for seeing Rex again. I spent the past week waking up in the middle of the night, sweating and panting. And throbbing between my legs. Thoughts of him and of what we’d done wouldn’t leave me alone even when I slept. Hell, especially when I slept. Our limbs, tangled and sweaty as he thrust into me, licked me, touched me all over, played on a loop I couldn’t shut off. Not that I hated every minute of the playback, not at all. But after I woke up in the remnants of my dream—damp sheets, heaving chest, the languid feel of satiation—the rest slowly came back.

The anger and vehemence of his words. Like I want to get pregnant by some wounded but sexy as hell reclusive lumberjack who apparently thought he was god’s gift to women. Please! I had plans for my life that didn’t involve living like a hermit on this damn mountain. No. What I needed from Rex was simple and totally professional.

Completely.

Fully.

“Shit.”

No matter what, I would not sleep with him. In fact, I wouldn’t be there long enough to take off my coat, let alone my panties.

The drive up the mountain took some time because at least a dozen cars climbed in front of me, eager to get to their weekend cabins. The fact that out of towners didn’t know the mountain and the snow piled on the both sides of the road freaked them out. Which meant my transmission was working overtime to climb Shadow Mountain at twenty five miles an hour. In second gear.

But most of them turned off well before I did because Rex lived pretty close to the top, so I pressed on the gas and eventually made the familiar turn onto his uneven driveway. If it could be called that. After killing the engine, I got out and walked up the stairs, knocking with a purpose.

Exactly one minute later, because yes, I was counting, Rex pulled open the door and I had to bite the inside of my lip to stop the moan that wanted to escape at the sight of him. The bastard.

“Yes?”

His arrogant tone and knowing smirk was the perfect antidote for the instant lust that affected me. “You haven’t responded to my email.” Arms crossed, I took a step back out of the reach of his man scent, and glared.

“Yeah, that. It looks good.”

Good? I’d spent months working on that plan and running the numbers and he tossed a ‘good’ at me like I should be grateful. “That’s all you have to say?”

“No.”

Counting down from ten, I closed my eyes and imagined punching him right in that big fat cock of his, and strangely I felt better.

“Well?”

Rex stepped back and turned, walking into the cabin and leaving me to follow. I did follow, but I absolutely did not stare at the way his gray thermal hugged his broad back and wrapped around thick biceps and a narrow waist. Well, Dad did always tell me to dream big and they don’t come much bigger than Rex.

The jerk.

The hot jerk.

“Rex, just tell me.” His silence gave me his answer, but I needed him to say it. To look me in the eye and tell me that he was forcing me to leave my home.

“I haven’t made up my mind yet.” He looked so smug, so self-assured as he leaned against the mantel above the fireplace. So fucking superior.

“Why not? What is making you hesitate?” I stayed behind the sofa, leaving at least ten feet between us, not that there was any heat between us now. Okay there was heat, but not hot enough to override the anger coursing through my veins.

“You,” he said simply as though that were enough.

“Me? Care to elaborate?” He just stared at me with a blank expression on his face, and suddenly I wanted blood. All of it. But killing people was still illegal in Cody. Though people accidentally fell off mountains every day around the world. “Just say no, Rex. Don’t drag it out.”

The look in his eyes changed, turned to lava it burned, so hot and I knew I was in trouble if I didn’t get out of there now. “You want to convince me?”

I gasped, more shocked that he had the balls to say that to me than at his actual suggestions. “No. I don’t, actually. Thanks for nothing, Rex.” I gripped my purse in my hands, gave him one last loathsome look and turned on my heels. Fuck him. “Screw you, Rex!” It didn’t even feel good to say that as I crossed the living room and headed down the long, dimly lit hall. I just wanted to get the hell away from him, and get the hell off this mountain. What had I ever seen in him beyond his good looks which he had no control over? Except that body. Ugh, not that body. It was horribly hideous.

Clearly someone had replaced my morning vitamins with crazy pills, but the door was a few feet away and then I could go home and drown my sorrows in chocolate and booze for the rest of the night. Tomorrow I would get up and start making a plan B.

“Where you going, sweetheart?” His big hand wrapped around my arm and I was grateful I still had on my coat so the heat of his skin couldn’t touch me.

“I’m leaving. Clearly I wasted my time coming up here again.” I should have known he was jerking me around, because as I learnt last time, Rex wasn’t just gruff. He was an asshole.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he purred against my neck, voice all deep and velvety, sending a spear of lust right down to my pussy. “Coming is never a waste of time.” His deep laugh vibrated against my back, through my coat and I shivered.

Dammit. I didn’t know what to say. Letting Rex fuck me again wouldn’t be smart. It would feel good, incredible in fact, but it would make me feel like absolute shit afterwards. Guaranteed.

People can and have, recounted all the mistakes I’ve made in my life—that unfortunate perm junior year of high school, handcuffing myself to the doors of the beef slaughterhouse senior year—but I always learned from my mistakes. “That’s debatable,” I manage to grit out as his hands cupped my breasts over my coat.

“No, it’s not. Coming,” he groaned in my ear, nibbling it as he pulled my zipper down and put his hand down my sweater, cupping my breasts. “Is never, ever,” his fingers slipped inside my bra and squeezed my nipples. “A waste of time, especially when I’m the one making you come.”

I wanted to tell him he wasn’t all that. To tell him that I didn’t come as hard as I did, or that I faked it. But he turned me around lightning quick and pressed my back up against the door, his big hard body a delicious heavy weight on me. A predatory smile flashed as he cupped my face and his mouth crashed down on me. It was instantly electric and I should have hated it, resented it even, but I didn’t. Instead I reveled in it, giving my hands permission to roam the peaks and valleys of his body while he made love to my mouth.

Beer and chili swirled on my tongue, igniting my senses. “Are you wet for me? I’ll bet those panties are already soaked for me.”

I wish I could have proven him wrong, but one finger and he’d know the truth. “Only one way to find out.” He stared at me for a long, hot moment and then began to tear my clothes off like they were on fire. “Too many damn clothes,” he groaned when he had me down to my underwear, tearing my purple panties off my body with is hands. “Mmm, better.”

I leaned back and let my head fall on the door with a thunk. It didn’t knock any sense into me though, because I gasped, sighed and sank into his touch when his fingers slid through the slick moisture between my thighs. “Ah,” I groaned and he pulled back with a smile.

“So fucking wet,” he groaned and thrust two fingers deep, filling me up wickedly and starting a hot pressure building in my toes. “Fuck, so wet.” His lips went to my neck, my shoulder as he thrust deep, thumb swirling around my clit.

“Stop teasing me,” I grunted out.

The bastard laughed and dropped to his knees, tossing one leg over his shoulder and licking me long and slow. More teasing that made my thighs quiver and my heart pulse. His fingers hooked deep and he pulled my clit between his mouth, sending me off in a blaze of fireworks that shot from every single one of my pores. “You want this cock?”

Smug bastard. “Unless someone else’s cock is available?”

I laughed, but he growled and turned me around, pressing me into the door face first and burying his face in my neck. His tongue twirled in hot wet tornadoes, he sheathed himself and let his cock press up against my pussy, already drenched. “Fuck, feels even better than I remember,” bit out as he slammed what I guessed were nine inches of solid steel cock into my body. He growled, deep and intense enough to make my skin pucker with desire. His teeth sank into my shoulder as he slid deep, my body pulsing and clenching to adjust to the invasion.

“Ah, fuck.” I arched my back against him and he slid deeper, pushing me against the wall and making me gasp. Pant. Scream. “Rex!”

“Yeah, that’s right. You know who this pussy belongs to. Me.” His hips pumped into me fast and hard, hands gripping my hips as I pushed back with my palms flat on the wall. “Fuck! You’re so tight.”

“Rex,” I said again because what else could I say? He filled me up deliciously, made my skin heat until it felt like it was boiling. “Yes!” My hand smacked the wall beside my head, pushing me further back as he hit that spot that made my legs go weak.

From this position I could feel everything. Every thick inch of him, every vein and every time his cock grew harder inside of me. Hips smacked against mine, hard and fast, and with a kind of hunger that was missing the last time. It was like his body had been as hungry for me as mine was for him. That thought was terrifying. And empowering. “I’m not gonna last, too tight.”

I grinned, grateful he couldn’t see the smile that spread across my face as one hand slid down my belly and between my legs. Two fingers grazed across my swollen clit as he pumped in and out of me, my eyes closed so that I could feel every nanosecond of this mistake. I absorbed the shock of his body smacking against mine, the sharp crack of slick flesh against slick flesh, the smell of sweat, vanilla and sex in the chilled air. And then it hit, tingles began at my feet as he thrust hard, deep, traveling up my legs and hips, spreading over my breasts and up my neck until the flames of orgasm shot out of every pore. My body shook but he held me, tight, as he drove deeper and harder, I pulsed around him, milking his cock as he chased his own pleasure.

He grabbed my hair and pulled back hard, forcing me to arch until he sank so deep he became a small part of me. A dark laugh erupted from his gut and he licked my neck, gripping my hair tighter as he pumped faster and faster until he was buried even deeper, growling his pleasure and his teeth into my neck.

That growl, so animalistic and so visceral did something to me and I gripped him hard as another wave of pleasure swamped me and I cried out.

“Fuck, Lena you’re trying to kill me.” He laughed, the sound vibrating my body and making him shiver with aftershocks. “Your pussy is like hot sunshine and cold beer. Perfect.”

I ignored the way his words settled over me like a warm blanket. It didn’t matter. He liked my pussy, not me. And only because he was the only one who’d been there. Men were stupid, that was no surprise. The surprise was the mix of affection and annoyance that flashed inside of me. I winced when he pulled out, unable to look at him as something a lot like regret settled in my gut. I scanned the floor for my clothes, sliding my jeans on and stuffing my ripped underwear into a pocket.

“Lena,” he began in a tone that sent a chill through me.

“Yeah?” I grabbed my jacket and scarf, tossing them over my arm before I let my gaze meet his. My free hand dug for my keys as I waited for whatever he had to say.

“I’m not signing off on use of the mansion.”

My shoulders sank and that chill turned into heat. Searing white hot fire at his words, spoken so casually. “Why didn’t you just say that then?”

He shrugged. “You have to ask?”

I rolled my eyes, disgusted with both of us. Him for fucking me and then ripping away my dream. My future. Me, for letting him. “Right.” I turned and pulled open the door, stepping out and walking away.

“You can be mad at me,” he called out, “but I don’t want to be stuck dealing with it when you get bored.”

I felt the tears pool in my eyes but I used every ounce of strength I had and turned to face him. “Fuck you, Rex.” I yanked open the car door and started the engine, refusing to set eyes on that prick again. I had no use for him.

Or for Cody any longer.