Chapter 2

2

COLTON

A n angel had been plopped down on Earth in front of me. A naked angel at that.

She wasn’t just an angel, though. She was the woman I’d been looking for all my life.

Crazy that I knew that within seconds of meeting her. I didn’t know anything about her except she was here for some makeup conference, which meant she wasn’t in Rosewood Ridge long term. In fact, next week at this time, she’d be gone. These conferences only lasted a few days—a week at most. That meant I had a limited time to convince her I was worth giving up everything and moving to the mountains.

She gave me permission to move closer with a nod and shrug. She looked back over her shoulder at the waterfall, and that was when I made my move. Well, if “move” could be defined as taking five mud-covered steps toward her. But I left several feet between us, not quite bold enough to make a real move just yet.

“Is this manmade or natural?” she asked, looking back at me.

If she was surprised to find me so much closer, she didn’t show it. I was trying my damnedest to not gawk at her breasts, which I could see faintly outlined underneath the water. The image of her lifting her arms and accidentally showing off a hint of pink nipple would be imprinted in my brain forever.

“Natural,” I said.

Were her breasts natural or enhanced? I was guessing natural, but my only expertise came from the women I’d been with over the years.

“From what I understand, this was one of the first tourist attractions in Rosewood Ridge,” I said. “People would come here, stay at an inn just off the interstate exit, and drive up to the mountain to see it.”

“Oh yeah, I guess the retreat center is the only hotel up in the mountains.”

“There are plenty of vacation rentals, though,” I said. “Most of the cabins up here are rentals.”

“You live in a cabin up here, I assume?”

“My cabin is about midway down the mountain on the main road.”

Why didn’t I just give her directions while I was at it? Actually, that wasn’t such a bad idea, especially if she used those directions to stop by later today. I could show her my bedroom. I could take her all around the world in my bedroom.

“You’re lucky to be surrounded by all this beauty,” she said. “I’m stuck in suburbia.”

“Stuck?” I asked.

“It’s where my family is,” she said. “My friends too. I guess I shouldn’t say stuck. It’s just…my life.”

Without warning, she pushed back, propelling herself until she was in a floating position. Her legs were off the ground, but her chest was still too far under the water.

I was dying to dunk underneath and see if I could catch a glimpse, but that would be a total creeper move. So, I stood still, my hands clenched into fists next to me as I resisted the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch her.

“Why do I stay in Dallas?” Olivia asked, staring up at the sky. She floated precariously close to the waterfall. “I can work from anywhere. I just need customers. I guess this town would be a bad choice for that.”

My chest tightened. “Why?”

What if she decided she had no interest in living here? I’d just discovered the woman of my dreams, and I’d have to leave the best job I’d ever had to be with her. That was unfair as hell.

“You said there weren’t any women in this town,” she said.

I breathed a sigh of relief at her answer. “ Eligible women,” I said. “There are a ton of women now. The retreat center has brought some of them here, but it seems like our mountain men keep snatching up the tourists, which is great for the population.”

She stopped floating and rose to her feet. The movement put her breasts teasingly above the water again, although not quite all the way to the nipple. My dick stirred, and I tamped it down.

“How old are these women?” she asked. “The ones who are pairing up with mountain men.”

“I’d say around your age. Mid-twenties?”

I was fishing. I wanted to know exactly how old she was.

“I’m twenty-three,” she said. “I’ll be twenty-four in September. How old are you?”

I hadn’t expected that question. “Thirty-five. Is that too old?”

Her eyebrows arched. “Too old for what?”

My question had slipped out, but her tone was downright flirtatious. I had to once again calm down my dick. It turned out her flirting got me hard.

“I didn’t know whether you had a maximum age when it came to the men you date,” I said.

She reached out her right hand and let the water from the waterfall cascade over it. I’d been inching toward her, whether she noticed it or not. My goal was to get within touching distance again.

“What makes you think I’m available?” she asked. “I could be married or engaged.”

“No ring. Although I guess that doesn’t mean you’re available.”

“You looked for a ring?” she asked.

She took a step closer to me. I tried not to get my hopes up that she’d done it on purpose.

“You bet,” I said. “And it wasn’t easy either. You’ve barely lifted your left hand above water the whole time I’ve been here.”

She lifted her hand and looked at it. Completely bare. There could be plenty of other reasons for that. Maybe she took her ring off to sleep at night and didn’t put it on this morning before she stormed off from the campsite where she and her friends were staying.

“I’m available,” she said and lifted her gaze to my face. “You?”

“Single as it gets.” What the fuck did that mean? “I’ve been waiting all my life for a woman like you.”

That was…a lot. Blurting out those words could scare her off.

I held my breath, waiting for her eyes to widen and her expression to harden. She might even jump out of the pond, throw on her clothes, and make me keep my eyes closed throughout the process. Then I’d kick myself for the rest of my life for blowing it.

But if that happened, I’d find a way to win her back. As long as there was hope, I’d figure it out.

She didn’t budge. Instead, she stood there staring at me. For a long moment, I wondered if she’d even heard me. I was about eight feet away from her now, and the waterfall was loud.

“How do you know what kind of woman I am?” she finally asked.

Was it my imagination, or had she taken a step closer to me? She sure seemed closer, and I hadn’t moved. My feet were firmly rooted in the mud beneath me. I didn’t even bother calming myself down this time. She couldn’t see the bulge in my underwear anyway, so did it really matter?

“Just a feeling I had the second I met you,” I said. “There’s something about you that?—”

I didn’t finish that sentence. There weren’t words for this thing I felt for Olivia.

“Attraction,” she said. “Yes, I feel it too.”

She took a step toward me. My heart was racing, and blood was rushing to my groin. This time, I did reach down and adjust myself, mostly to relieve some of the discomfort.

“It’s not just that you’re hot,” she said. “It’s like something’s pulling me toward you.”

I took a tentative step closer, water sloshing around my body as I moved. “Like a magnet,” I said. “There’s no fighting it.”

“A magnet,” she repeated.

Her gaze dropped to my mouth, and we were close enough that I felt the charge in the air between us. Was that what they meant by sparks?

Finally, she took a step closer. There was no fighting it anymore. I moved toward her, wrapping my arms around her at the same time she rose on tiptoe and lifted her face toward mine. Our mouths met in a kiss that immediately pulled a groan from her.

My tongue snaked out, sliding into her mouth as I tightened my hold on her. I echoed her moan at the feel of her breasts against my chest. She pulled away from the kiss and gave me a teasing smile as she stepped back and grabbed my hand, tugging me toward the waterfall.

My dick was on full alert by then, ready for whatever she had planned. Hell, she could drown me under that waterfall if it meant five minutes of sheer bliss with her.

Instead of moving toward the waterfall itself, though, she headed toward the gap between the falls and the rocks behind it. This was the sort of thing I would have done as a child at a waterfall like this, slipping behind it to create a grotto. But this was a completely different kind of playtime, and I, for one, lived for the adventure of it all.

We barely made it under the waterfall before she was in my arms again. My hands roamed her backside as we continued our interrupted kiss. More than anything, I wanted to lay her flat on her back so I could see, touch, and kiss every square inch of that beautiful body, but I also loved the curtain of privacy the waterfall created.

She moved back against the wall, propping herself against it, her hands moving over my shoulders to my neck, her fingers tracing my jawline. I positioned her leg so it hooked around my hip, running my fingers over the outside of her thigh, then her ass. I wanted to slide a finger into her, but the positioning was too awkward. So instead, I lowered her to the ground and separated from her enough to run my hands over her breasts and down her waist.

Finally, I broke the kiss and looked at her as I slipped my hand between her thighs, sliding a finger inside her. Her eyes widened as her stare connected with mine.

“Oh,” she said.

Her eyes drifted closed, and she leaned back against the rock wall as I stroked her clit. I took in the part of her body I could see from the waist up. She was bared to me. Her breasts were perfect—large and full with rose-pink tips hardened into pebbles. But even below the water, I could make out the curve of her waist and my hand between her parted legs.

God, she was gorgeous. A perfect human being. It was selfish of me to think she’d been put on this earth for me, but I’d let myself believe that. I’d also spend the rest of my life making up for the years I’d spent without her.

She clutched my left arm, her grip tightening as I continued moving over her clit. Even underwater, I could feel how wet she was—her body preparing for me. She arched her back, her chin lifting upward, her eyes squeezed shut.

And then she gasped and let out one quiet “Oh,” and I knew she was coming on my finger. That was all well and good, but I wanted her to come on my dick. I needed it. I needed it more than I needed my next breath.

A good thirty seconds passed before she opened her eyes. Her expression had changed. She’d gone very serious.

Oh crap. She was about to change her mind. She’d made a mistake.

I didn’t care that I might not get satisfaction from this encounter. No, this was much bigger than that. This was my future with this woman. I had to find a way to save it at all costs.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

I held my breath as she looked off to the side. For a second, I thought she was going to say we had company—that she could see them through the waterfall. That would be a relief. Anything but that she’d changed her mind about me. Even being caught with a naked missing woman—something my buddies would never let me live down—would be fine if it meant I wasn’t losing her.

“I have to tell you something,” she said.

Shit. Double shit. That was never good. What could it be? She was married? She had a kid? She had three kids? She was gay? She was a secret informant for the FBI, here to investigate mountain men who slept with missing women…?

All those thoughts raced through my mind as I waited for the three words she finally spoke. Three words that changed everything…in a good way.

“I’m a virgin.”