Flopping onto my back, I flung an arm across my eyes, blocking out the light from the bedside lamp. Waiting for tears. Surprised when they didn’t come.

Was I simply too exhausted to let out all the feelings I’d held in all day? Was that possible? And what was I going to do about the future? I couldn’t go on like this. Living next door to him was a special kind of torture. And even after he moved, he’d still be right there in town, at all family functions. We’d still bump into each other all the time.

Maybe it was time to think about moving away from Bellamy Creek. Applying for a teaching job somewhere else. Making a fresh start.

While I was pondering it, someone knocked on my door—three hard, staccato beats.

I groaned in annoyance. “Go away, Griffin. I’m not coming down.”

Three more knocks.

Exasperated, I hauled my ass off the bed and shuffled to the door in my bare feet, my velvet gown dragging behind me. “Stop it, Griffin! You’re going to wake the entire inn. And I’m not coming—” I opened the door.

Then I stopped talking.

It wasn’t my brother.

Fifteen

Cole

Pushing inside her room without being invited, I held the door open with my hand. “You don’t have to come down, but goddammit, you need to listen to me.”

She looked taken aback for a moment, then shook her head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because we don’t want the same thing, Cole. I mean, yes, tonight we probably want the same thing,” she said, her eyes traveling over my shoulders and chest and down to my crotch before she quickly flicked them up again. “And there was a time in my life when I’d have done it in a heartbeat, just to be with you like that. But I’m—”

“Stop talking,” I said, putting a finger over her perfect lips. The door slammed shut behind me. “Stop talking and listen. All night I’ve been trying to tell you you’re wrong, and I can’t fucking get the words out, because you keep cutting me off.”

Her eyes flashed with fire as she pushed my hand away. “I’m protecting myself, Cole.”

“You don’t need protecting, Cheyenne. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” I took her head in my hands and looked her in the eye. “You’re safe with me.”

“But last night you said—”

“Last night, I was still confused. I couldn’t think straight. I haven’t been able to think straight for months where you’re concerned. And then when you told me how you’d felt all that time, it was like being hit by a train. There were all these things I wanted to say to you but couldn’t.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I know that was a lot—what I told you.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be sorry. I needed to hear it. I needed to be pushed into facing the truth.”

“What’s the truth?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“That I have feelings for you. And they’re not going to go away just because I ignore them.”

Cheyenne’s mouth had fallen open, and I traced her bottom lip with my thumb.

“Believe me, I’ve tried to ignore them. I’ve tried to talk myself out of them. I’ve denied them to anyone who asked.”

She blinked. “People have asked?”

“Yes. Apparently I am not an expert at hiding the way I feel about you.”

“You hid it from me.”

“Well, I don’t want to hide it anymore,” I told her, loving the way it made her expression melt from surprise into bliss. “Not from you, not from myself, not from anyone. That’s why today was tough—because I realized that even though I have no fucking idea what I’m doing, I don’t want to lose you.”

“You don’t?”

“No.” I kissed her lips, then whispered against them. “When you have something precious in your hands, you need to hold on tight.”

She slid her hands up my chest and looped them around my neck, pulling me toward her. Slanting my mouth over hers, I moved my hands into her soft, thick hair the way I’d been dying to all night long. It fell in loose waves over her shoulders, pouring like champagne down her back. My fingers found the zipper at the back of her dress and pulled it down, the erotic sound sending a jolt of desire straight to my cock.

Her hands moved to my tie, loosened the knot, and pulled it free of my collar. I took my hands off her just long enough to shrug out of my suit jacket and toss it aside, then ran my palms down her velvet-covered rib cage and hips while she unbuckled my belt and yanked my shirt free of my pants.

Impatient to feel her skin against mine, I unbuttoned my shirt and threw it aside as she undid my pants. I groaned when she slipped her hand inside them, wrapping her fingers around my cock. For a moment, all I could do was stand there, reveling in the sensation of her touch. I’d been so hard for her so many times but had never felt her hand closing around me, or heard the sigh of desire on her lips, or the eager moan of anticipation as I thickened in her fist.

Recovering my senses, I whipped my T-shirt over my head and kicked off my shoes. Then I turned her to face the bed and slipped the off-the-shoulder sleeves of her dress down her arms. It fell to the floor, revealing a pair of lace underwear in a color that matched her skin tone. I gathered her hair in my hands and buried my face in it, inhaling deeply before sweeping it aside and putting my lips on her throat. She tilted her head and reached up with one arm, threading her fingers into my hair as I kissed my way down her neck, my cock pushing against her ass.

My mouth traveled down her shoulder blade, and I dropped to my knees behind her, pulling her underwear down her legs. She stepped out of them and the dress at the same time, and I turned her to face me. Looking up the length of her body, I felt a surge of arousal so powerful I nearly growled like an animal.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I managed to say instead, running my hands up the sides of her thighs, pausing to grip her hips.

Her lips curved into the kind of smile I hoped she’d never given to any other man. “Thank you.”

Flattening my hands on her belly, I slid them up over her full, round breasts, her nipples tight and hard against the center of my palms. She moaned as I teased the stiff peaks with my fingers and traced a circle around her belly button with my tongue.

“Cole,” she panted, reaching down as if to pull me to my feet. “I want you.”

“You’ve got me.” I stood up just long enough to tip her backward onto the bed, then I knelt at her feet again and pushed her knees apart. “So be patient. I’ve waited for this a long time.”

“You have!” She sounded shocked as she propped herself up on her elbows.

But I wasn’t interested in arguing who’d wanted each other first or more—all I cared about was now, and now was pretty fucking good because I was licking my way up one inner thigh and then the other, stopping just short of putting my mouth where I wanted it.

Above me, I heard her whimper and try to protest, but her frustrated sounds gave way to sweet little sighs of rapture when I finally stroked up her warm, wet center with my tongue, lingering at the top, teasing her clit with slow, sensual circles. Ravenous for her, I licked and sucked and buried my tongue inside her, my hands hooked beneath her legs, holding her to me as if she might try to escape.