Chapter 4

4

DENVER

“ Y ou have to be fucking kidding me.”

I muttered those words under my breath as I stepped back from the customer service desk at the hardware store Bryce had sent me to. Apparently, the tarps that were waiting for us didn’t exist, but I’d spent a full forty-five minutes going in circles with these guys to get to that point.

I looked down at my phone screen again. Bryce seemed too busy to pay attention to his phone. I’d texted and called and gotten nothing but silence in return.

And now Cassie was walking toward me. The last thing I wanted to do was to fail in front of her. That thought slammed into me. Since when did I care all that much what some chick thought?

When I met a woman who was far more than just “some chick.” That was the answer to that.

“Let’s go,” Cassie said.

She had a big smile on her face. I saw that as she drew closer. I tried to puzzle over what had made her so happy, but I was too busy thinking how adorable she was. Beautiful, sexy, cute— the whole package. She had to be the closest thing to a perfect woman I’d ever seen.

She had one major flaw, though. She lived about three hours away.

“I’m not leaving here until I get the tarps,” I said.

It was a stupid threat. These guys couldn’t pull a tarp out of their ass just because I refused to leave until they did. One of them had already called around to the other stores in the area and found no tarps in supply anywhere. Not the kind we needed, anyway.

“Bucks Pools and Spas,” Cassie said. “Ten miles up the interstate. They’re holding some for us.”

I stared at her, this time in awe for completely different reasons. She’d asked me a bunch of questions about the size and type of tarp, then headed outside. I just assumed she was trying to look for it online. But that was a last resort. Rain was blowing through town tonight, so we needed to avoid further damage to the interior.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

She nodded, already backing up. A smile spread across her face as she spun and started walking forward, toward the exit.

“I could kiss you right now.”

Those words spilled out of me as I followed her. She might not be facing me, but her footsteps faltered a little, making it clear she’d heard. She kept moving, not even looking back.

Yes, I definitely could kiss her right now…and a whole lot more than that. And not just because she’d saved the day by tracking down tarps.

She’d said she wanted sex. I could definitely give her that. The problem was, I wanted more.

“I called a bunch of places,” she said once we were in the truck. “One of the smaller hardware stores in town suggested I try this pool place. I thought it was a long shot, but sure enough, they have tarps.”

“Thank you for doing that,” I said.

My tone sounded a little on the chilly side. It was my body’s way of trying to put some distance between us.

“No problem,” she said in her usual upbeat voice. “It’s just amazing.”

I glanced over at her as I pressed the button to fire up the engine. “What’s that?”

“The way you guys pitch in and help people. You’re going to so much trouble for someone you barely know.”

I knew the son of this particular homeowner, so that wasn’t entirely true. But the general idea of what she was saying was truer than she even realized.

“People look out for each other in Rosewood Ridge,” I said. “It could be a complete stranger stranded at the side of the road and we’d stop.”

“I have a feeling you’d do that even in a big city, though,” she said.

I nodded. “But the problem is, in a big city, you’re surrounded by people who wouldn’t do that.”

I knew that from experience. I grew up in downtown Chicago. Even rode the train to school every day. There was a sense of isolation when you were surrounded by people who didn’t even talk to each other. I didn’t like it.

So it was funny that I’d chosen to move here to isolate myself. Maybe I just liked the comfort of knowing people were nearby if I needed them.

“It’s this exit,” Cassie said, pointing.

She pulled me out of my thoughts, and I realized I’d almost driven right past it. This woman was a distraction in every kind of way. In fact, even as I took the off-ramp, I found my eyes drifting to those bare legs. She wore modest shorts and a T-shirt, but she may as well have been in a bikini, as close to an erection as she’d had me all morning.

The parking lot was completely empty when we pulled in. There was a giant above-ground pool covering half the parking lot, but the building itself looked like a warehouse.

“Is this place open?” I asked.

“If not, we’ll bang on the door until someone comes and brings us our tarps.” Cassie was already reaching for the door handle, ready to hop out, before I’d even come to a full stop. “I can just run in and get them.”

“No way.” I shook my head. “I’m going with you.”

She gave me a strange look, and I couldn’t blame her. I was feeling way too protective of her, considering we’d just met. It wasn’t like we were in a dangerous situation. But I’d be damned if I could figure out what was going on, so I shoved those thoughts aside and hopped out of the truck, following her to the door. It opened easily with a tug, and I held it for her, waiting off to the side as she breezed through it.

As soon as I stepped inside, I was met with a blast of chilly air, along with the smell of chlorine. Did these pools actually have water in them? Maybe it was an air freshener they used to put people in the mood to buy.

“Hello?” Cassie called out. She came to a stop, then turned in a semicircle to face me. “Are we supposed to go to the back?”

I shrugged. “Let’s go take a look around.”

I wanted to spend time around this woman, even if it was just walking around a pool shop. It might not be the best option, but I couldn’t seem to pull myself away from her.

“I need this for my backyard when I have a house,” she said when she flopped down on a lounge chair a few minutes later.

The lounge chairs were part of a fun setup with an umbrella, along with a tiki bar nearby. The entire thing had me thinking about whisking this woman away to a tropical island, where we’d do nothing but sip fruity drinks and make love all day, every day.

“Try it out,” Cassie said.

I looked around. Why did I have a feeling we’d get in trouble for this? Nobody had shown up to help us yet, but I was technically on the clock. My boss was loaning us out for all this volunteer work. Still, the chance to sit next to her and relax was too much to resist.

I settled into the other lounge chair. I’d barely closed my eyes to enjoy the moment when she said something that popped them back open again.

“You said something earlier about kissing me,” she whispered. “Now’s your chance.”

I looked over at her. Yes, I had mentioned that I could kiss her. And I’d imagined doing just that at least a thousand times since she first walked into that kitchen. But we were in the middle of a store. Anybody could walk by at any moment.

“There are no cameras,” she said. “I already looked. And this is a pretty hidden-away corner of the place.”

I was staring at her again. I tended to do a lot of that, I’d noticed. But this time, I was trying to think through what she was offering. I could kiss her. I just had to find the courage.

How could I turn down the chance to kiss her? Who gave a damn if one of the store employees showed up and didn’t like what we were doing?

“Come here,” I said.

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and I’d never seen a more beautiful sight. In fact, I’d do just about anything to keep that smile there.

The positioning was awkward, but I made it work. I was determined to make it work. I leaned over and pressed my lips to hers, already thinking through how I could get closer to her. But all thought went out the window the second our kiss began.

She tasted like strawberries—no surprise, considering I’d just watched her eat a strawberry-covered waffle. But that wasn’t what took over my senses. No, it was this kiss, which sent heat rushing through my body. So much for the erection I’d been battling all morning.

A brief noise squeaked out of her—a loud sigh. That was when I stopped holding back. I sat up, moving as far toward her as I could, and slid my fingers along her jawline, finally entangling my fingers in her hair.

“Get over here,” I said when I finally pulled away from her.

Now she was the one looking around. She quickly scanned the area, then stood, coming over to stand next to my chair. After staring up at her a long moment, I reached out and took her hand, then tugged her toward me until she was straddling me on the chair, her long hair falling around her face in what was the sexiest sight I’d ever seen.

“This might be illegal,” she said with a smile.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

And with that, I urged her face toward me, resuming our kiss. This time, we weren’t held back by awkward positioning, so I took full advantage of the chance to plunge my tongue into her mouth, bringing a moan from her.

As my mouth worked, my hands moved over her backside, sliding under her shirt and enjoying the feel of her soft skin against my fingertips. My hands made their way to her breasts, which were covered by a lightweight silky cloth that parted easily under my touch. I settled both bra cups under her breasts to give my thumbs free access to her nipples.

At first touch, she pulled away from the kiss, eyes wide as she looked down at me. Her expression made it seem like she’d never been touched there before, but that was impossible. A woman as beautiful as Cassie would’ve had at least two or three lovers by her early twenties.

Spurred on by her reaction, I ran my thumbs over her nipples and her eyes slid closed. At the same time, her hips began moving, which meant she was rubbing along my erection. Now I was the one who moaned.

God, I hoped nobody was around the corner, listening to this. But what the hell did I care? As long as I got my tarps at the end of the visit, I could walk out of here and never set foot in this shop again.

The store around us was completely forgotten once I felt her fingers on the fastening of my shorts. I should stop her. Maybe we could take this to the truck. Or to my cabin, where we could shower before returning to the worksite. But then her hand dove beneath both my shorts and briefs and all hope of stopping this was lost.

Holy hell, that felt good. Especially when she lowered her mouth to initiate another kiss. The combination of her mouth on mine and her hand stroking my hard cock made it impossible to think about anything else. She’d taken over all my senses, and I knew, deep down, that I’d never be the same.