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FRISK ME, OFFICER My Dad’s Best Friend

SYLVIA FOX

CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 15. Five Years Later Also by Sylvia Fox

Copyright © 2016 by Sylvia Fox All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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CHAPTER ONE

W hat a boring weekend this was going to be. And I was so

freaking glad. So glad I could have hopped out into the snow, stripped bare, and streaked through the whole neighborhood with wild abandon. I parked the car in my parent’s quiet driveway and stared wistfully at the white-panelled home nestled among towering oak trees, snowflakes cascading onto the tiled roof. Even though I was glad I’d gone to school, I’d missed this place. And college was starting to wear me down. Now that most of my friends had turned twenty-one, my life felt like a never-ending party full of togas and beer pong. The stench of stale alcohol that clung to the ratty carpet in our rented student apartment couldn’t be scrubbed away no matter how hard I tried.

I wanted peace and quiet and zero drama. And that was the whole plan for the weekend. I’d packed some novels I hadn’t managed to get around to reading for months—it was practically impossible to read for fun these days—light a fire and snuggle in for a blissful weekend of calm. My parents were gone for a ski holiday, I’d left my textbooks in the city, and nothing could get in the way.

After grabbing my bag from the passenger seat, I eased open the car door and breathed in the scent of fresh air and

wilderness. It invoked in me a sense of home the way the city university campus never had, no matter how hard I’d tried to fit in. My family didn’t live in the middle of nowhere, not really. We were down a long and winding road where a house sat every quarter mile or so. That road led into the heart of our small town with a picturesque Main Street that had managed to keep the big chain stores locked out all these years. Quaint and small, a place where everyone knew everyone. The total opposite of life in the city.

When I’d left three and a half years ago, I hadn’t realized how much I’d miss it.

Letting out a deep sigh, I slung my bag over my shoulder and trudged through the inch-deep snow toward the front steps. Mom had hung a wreath on the door, and snow glistened where it fell on the festive foliage. It was still a few more weeks until Christmas, but my parents were a fan of getting the decorations up as early as possible.

As I made my way up the steps, my feet hit a folded newspaper wrapped in a plastic sleeve. My lips twitched into a smile as a soft warmth spread through me, even though the temperature was flirting with zero degrees. Mom and Dad were so old school. In a world full of social media and news apps, they still subscribed to the town newspaper with a kind of fierce loyalty a sports fan would have for his home team.

Nostalgia swept over me as I slid the paper from the sleeve and scanned the headlines on the front page. I remembered sitting at the dining room table doing the crossword puzzle while Dad read each week’s stories aloud.

When my life was quieter, slower. When I had more time to enjoy the world around me instead of seeing it rush by in a speedy whirlwind of light and sound.

My eyes caught on the top headline, and my whole body sti ened. The calmness I’d felt only moments before got

zapped away by the pure unease that rushed through me.

Snow Peak was a small town hidden in the mountains.

Population 871. It didn’t get much tra c or people passing through. Everyone felt like the whole town was family, and every single person tried their hardest to be an upstanding and contributing citizen. Because of that, this place nestled in the hills hardly ever experienced any crime. Wyatt McDowell, my dad’s best friend and sheri of Snow Peak, used to come over every Saturday night for card games and drinks with my parents. So, I had a unique insight into the “criminal underbelly” of the town. Which was to say, there wasn’t one. Some speeding tickets and the occasional local who had too much to drink at Snow Peak Bar & Grill. That was the extent of it.

But this headline…A String of Robberies on Great Bear Road Leave Snow Peak in Terror! I twisted around and flicked my gaze across the quiet lawn. Suddenly, I felt like I was being watched. Great Bear Road was our road, the one winding right in front of the house. My parents hadn’t said anything about these robberies, but maybe they didn’t know about them yet. They’d left two days before for their trip, and I doubted they would have gone, leaving me alone here, knowing there was some lunatic—or more—out robbing Snow Peak residents.

Shivering, I slammed the front door and flicked the locks before grabbing the landline from the entrance table. Cell phone reception was notoriously terrible where my parents lived, so they still relied on landlines. And I knew that Wyatt was the second saved number on the phone, second only to me. If anyone tried to break into this house, I knew he’d be here in a heartbeat to save the day. He might not have to deal with true crime ninety-nine percent of the time, but he was tough. He’d protect me if it came to that.

Wyatt. My gut clenched. Thinking of him melted some of my worry away. When I’d left for college, he was the only thing in this town I’d thought I’d miss, but at the time it hadn’t really mattered. Staying and seeing him every day would only make things harder. Or so I’d thought. I hadn’t been able to shake thought of him all these years, that perfect specimen of pure rugged man that no college boy could ever compete with.

Heat flared between my thighs just at the image I had of him in my mind. Strong, confident, one hundred perfect man. I remembered the way his biceps strained against his uniform when he moved, the way his dark eyes roved across me, the way his lopsided smile had brightened up his usually stoic face when I tried to make him laugh.

I’d wanted him so badly back then, but of course he hadn’t felt the same. He was my dad’s best friend, after all, and I’d been just a lovestruck eighteen-year-old girl. And idiot me, I’d thought he’d felt the same. He’d shown up to my eighteenth birthday party with a telescope and an o er for him to show me the stars.

I mean, who the hell wouldn’t think that was some grand romantic gesture? Now that I’m legal, I had thought as I followed him out onto the lawn, we can finally show each other how we really feel.

What an idiot I’d been. He’d never seen me as anything more than a little girl, and he’d just been trying to be nice.

Maybe he’d even thought of me as his surrogate daughter, since he didn’t have one himself. I grimaced and tried not to remember the way he’d looked at me when I’d grazed my hand against the bulge in his pants. I’d sworn his cock had been hard, but he’d jumped away from me like I was diseased. He’d turned around and stormed away with the telescope still clutched his hands, disappearing into the

night without another word, taking my dreams of stars with him as he left me there standing in the cold. All alone.

The next day, I’d applied to NYU, and I’d never looked back.

The fire crackled as I turned the page of the romance novel I’d found in my mom’s drawer. She always kept a few stashed away somewhere, her guilty pleasure. I’d brought my own books, but with Wyatt on my mind, I wanted something a little racier than the novels I usually liked to consume…I was aching for a release.

But all it was doing was making the ache between my thighs intensify, and no matter how hard I tried to erase him from my mind, all I could do was imagine the hero of the tale as Wyatt. His strong jaw, his rippling muscles, his dark and stormy eyes. My chest began to heave as I imagined reaching for his belt, and this time, him not pulling away. I wanted to wrap my hand around his hard cock and stroke him until he came all over my hand, until his cum coated my fingers.

Moaning at the thought, I slid my hand underneath my bra and began to draw slow circles around my nipple, imagining it was his tongue lapping against my breast. Every muscle in my body clenched tight, and shivers coursed along my skin in excitement. God, I wanted to feel his mouth on my skin, sucking, tasting, sliding in exquisite circles until I came so hard that I couldn’t hear myself think. He would plunge his fingers into my wetness. And goodness was I wet.

Moisture pooled into my panties, so much that I was going to have to put on a clean pair once this was done.

The sound of crashing glass shook through my erotic thoughts, and my entire body went cold in the blink of an eye. In one swift movement, I had my shirt back down over my breasts and my feet on the floor. The sound had come

from the second floor. The sound that only a busted window would make. Fear ripped through me, and I yanked the phone from the co ee table, quickly pushing the number two and waited breathlessly as I dialled, all the while crouchwalking to hide behind the long and slender couched pushed up against the nearest wall.

Someone had broken into the house. And there was only one man I could call.

CHAPTER TWO

T en

minutes later—though what felt like ten hours—I finally heard the crunch of tires on the snowy driveway out front. I stayed glued to my spot behind the couch, breath held in my throat, not daring to make a noise. Not even a relieved sigh. Whoever had broken in upstairs still hadn’t ventured down here to the living room, but I wasn’t going to take the risk of letting him—or her—know where I was.

Not that it would be terribly di cult to find out. The fire still flickered and flamed, announcing my presence like a beacon in the night.

The sound of boots crunching through snow sent my nerves skittering even more. In the logical part of my brain, I knew it was Wyatt. He’d said he was on his way here, without hesitation, as soon as I’d breathed the words into the phone. It was him. It had to be. But it didn’t stop the fear from shaking through me, pure adrenaline putting every hair on my arms straight on end.

It could be anyone. It could be the accomplice to the thief upstairs. Maybe they’d seen the fire, and they’d called for backup.

Backup in the form of guns.

For once, I wished my parents had a di erent view on weaponry so I could arm myself against any possible assault.

But I was a sitting duck.

And there was nothing I could do to stop myself from being taken down.

The clunk of the locks turning sent a whoosh of relief through me. Wyatt had keys to the house. My dad had given him a set a long time ago. In fact, he’d had them for as long as I could remember. He was the man they called if they needed someone to check in on things while they were out of town. The mail gathered, the plants watered. And the man they called when my flighty mother somehow—once again— had locked herself out of the house.

It was something, I suspected, I’d inherited from her. I’d locked myself out of my apartment in New York too many times to count.

Wyatt cracked open the door and peered inside, and his eyes immediately locked on where I peeked out from behind the couch. The warmth in my body returned in a blaze, hotter than the fire burning beside me. God, he looked good.

Far better than I’d remembered. It had been a long damn time since I’d laid eyes on him, and I wanted to drink in everything about him while I could.

His jawline was covered in a scattering of stubbled, making him look manlier and much more rugged than the last time I’d seen him. It made him ooze pure sex. The brown uniform he used to wear had been replaced by a new dark blue, and it matched the color of his eyes. Eyes that pierced right into my soul. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks, and I put a hand against my neck, feeling the rapid beat of my heart.

I should be terrified about the break-in, absolutely terrified. But I wasn’t. Not with this man in the room. He radiated pure confidence and power and something else.

Something that undeniably drew me to him like a moth to a flame. And the determined look on his face told me that he’d do whatever it took to protect me.

He motioned for me to stay behind the couch before moving quickly up the stairs. I wanted to call out for him to stop, for him not to leave me here alone down here. All the tension in my body roared back as I listened to every creak on the stairs as he slowly made his way toward the culprit upstairs. After several long and agonizing moments, I heard his boots hit the stairs once more.

And then he was back, a slight amused smile dimpling his cheek.

“You can come out now, Becca,” he said, reaching out a hand. It was warm and rough and strong. The butterflies in my stomach darted around, my whole body hot from just that one innocent touch. Remembering how I’d reached out to grab his cock three years ago, my face flamed even more. I wondered if he still thought about that night. I wondered if he was thinking about it now.

“Are they gone?” I asked, relieved that there would be no confrontation here tonight.

“Oh yes.” His smile widened, his hand still holding tight onto mine. He towered over me, even though I wasn’t a short girl myself. He was well over six feet, and his broad shoulders were almost twice as wide as mine. He was built like a tank, a very ripped one. A very, very sexy one. “They are now back outside where they’re meant to be.”

Frowning, I cocked my head. “What are you talking about?”

“The wind’s picked up in the snowstorm. The tree just outside your bedroom window got blown up against the glass a little bit too hard.”

The tree. Of course. I let out a nervous laugh and shook my head. I should have known. It wasn’t the first time the

branches outside had crashed through my window, and it surely wouldn’t be the last. They were so close that their leaves brushed up against the glass during the summer, and so close I’d used the tree to sneak outside when I’d been grounded in high school. And even though my parents had known, they’d always kept that branch there, like some sort of nostalgic relic they couldn’t bear to see go, even if that meant I went to parties when I wasn’t supposed to.

“Right, of course.” I slowly pulled my hand from his, his warm skin sliding across mine. I shivered. I couldn’t help myself. And Wyatt’s eyebrows rose just the slightest of an inch before his face relaxed into a neutral expression. But I’d seen it. The slight surprise he’d caused that reaction and the realization of why.

I was such a stupid open book with him. It was freaking embarrassing.

But that smile was back again, and he wasn’t running for the door. Not this time. Instead, I caught his eyes wandering a little bit south. They caught on the bottom hem of my shirt that I’d hastily pulled back over my bra after I’d heard the breaking window. I hadn’t managed to pull it all the way down, and the curve of my hips and stomach were on full display for him now.

He glanced up, his eyes suddenly full of an intense heat that took my breath away. My panties, ones that were already soaking wet from my earlier fantasies, got filled with my juices, and I felt a trickle go down my leg. I was wearing only a pair of girly boxer shorts, my loungewear of choice, and suddenly felt very aware of how half-naked I was right now.

I hoped he didn’t glance down. He might see the moisture slipping down my leg and the way my skin was pebbled by goosebumps.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a gru voice. “You seem a little on edge.”

“Yes, well.” I let out a strained laugh and took a deep breath, trying to calm the way my heart thundered in my ears. “I thought someone was trying to break in. I didn’t know what they’d do if they found me.”

“You don’t have to be scared.” He took a step closer to me, so close that a piece of paper would barely fit between us. Warmth radiated o his body, and every cell in my body yearned to shift just a little bit closer so that my breasts would touch his chest. I imagined how hard his cock would be once he felt them pushing against him, my hard-as-arock nipples at attention and turning him on. He sucked in a sharp breath, almost like he could read my mind.

Could he read my mind?

It wasn’t like I’d ever been very good at hiding my feelings, not from my parents, not from my friends, and not even from him. He’d known me for so many years. He’d been around through most of my life, and he’d witnessed all the big good and bad moments I’d had.

People always told me that they could read me like a book.

Could he read the desire pulsing through me right now?

The way his whole body went sti told me he did.

CHAPTER THREE

“ W hy shouldn’t I be scared?” I said so softly I wasn’t sure

he’d be able to hear me over the thunder in my ears. I could barely hear myself.

“Well, I’m here now, and I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” He dropped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

My whole body instinctively leaned closer to him. He sti ened even more, but he didn’t push me away. “You know that, don’t you, Becca? I might not encounter a lot of serious crimes here in Snow Peak, but I know how to use this gun, and I would not hesitate to do so.”

His words sent thrills along my skin, even though I knew I wasn’t special in this regard. Wyatt would protect anyone in Snow Peak. He’d lay his life on the line to keep the citizens of this small town safe. That was the kind of man he was, and that was part of what drew me to him in the first place.

He was so strong and so good that it made my heart ache. I wished that I could show him that. He deserved to know.

He deserved for someone to show him just how good he was. He’d always seemed so lonely, and I hadn’t ever been able to understand why. Wyatt was undeniably the best catch in the town yet he’d been single all his life. He stood out from all the other men, shining in ways they only dreamed

of. And none of the local boys had ever been able to hold a candle to his burning flame. I’d thought when I went to college that I’d meet someone else who would. I mean, out of all the boys in the city, surely one of them could measure up.

But I still hadn’t met anyone quite like Wyatt. And I was starting to think I never would, not in all the rest of the years of my life.

I still wished he felt a special protectiveness toward me and me only, one that was di erent to everyone else. I wanted him to see me, the way I saw him.

But I was his best friend’s daughter, and it was dumb of me to be so hung up on a man I could never have.

He was o -limits. He saw me as his friend’s kid.

It sucked.

“Of course I know that,” I said, breaking away my gaze and forcing myself to look at something—anything—else.

Maybe he would stop reading my mind if I focused on something else. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m here by myself for the rest of the weekend, and there are some assholes out there robbing all the houses on this street.”

He frowned and dragged his hand down his face.

Suddenly, he looked tired, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Shoulders I very much wanted to rub and rub and rub, until all the tension in his body melted away.

“I’m sorry I haven’t caught the culprits yet, Becca,” he said. “I’m doing my best to track them down, but they’ve done a good job of covering their tracks.”

“That’s very comforting,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

He moved back in close again and brushed my hair behind my shoulders, leaning down to look me straight in the eyes.

My breath got caught in my throat and desire swirled through my veins. His lips were so close, I could taste his breath as began to speak. He smelled like pine needles, snow, and minty cologne, and all I wanted to do was close my eyes

and breathe him in, forgetting everything else in the world but this man.

He was what I imagined sex smelled like.

Imagined. That’s right. I was still a virgin. Virgin Becca who had held out for a man she could never have.

What a loser.

“Look at me.” He tucked his finger underneath my chin.

“I promise you don’t need to worry. They hit all those houses in one night, and that was several days ago. There’s nothing to suggest they’re going to hit again. They didn’t hurt anyone. All they did was steal some electronics and run.

It was probably a couple of high school kids. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about, okay?”

Pretty. I blinked, time slowing as I processed his words.

He’d just called me pretty.

“Okay.” My hand went to his chest out of its own volition.

I had no control over what my body did now. I felt like a pussy cat, purring at his proximity and his touch, giving into the overwhelming desire to have my hands on him. Here, now, and for as long as I could.

My fingers pressed against the soft material of his uniform, begging to move down and down and down until they rubbed against the bulge below his belt. And there was a bulge. Even in the dim lighting, I could see his cock pressing hard against his uniform, the outline of a manhood bigger than it had ever been in my fantasies.

My heartbeat picked up speed as he unmistakable shifted toward me. Could he be feeling the same way? Could he feel the sexual tension ricocheting o the walls. The air felt thick with desire, but I couldn’t tell—yet again—if I was purely imagining it just because I felt it so deep down in my gut. I’d thought I’d felt it all those years before, too, and I’d been wrong. Was I wrong this time? Again?

As he shifted closer, my hand pressed tighter against his chest, and I could feel his heartbeat. It was racing, just like mine. And now I could feel his hard cock against my hip.

More juice dripped down my leg, and it was all I could do not to moan aloud.

He wanted me. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, there was no mistaking how his body was reacting. Despite his best e orts, he oozed desire just as much as I did.

“I should go.” His voice came out a grunt, and suddenly there were feet before us instead of nothing but clothes.

“The snow is coming down thick and hard…”

He swallowed, and my mind got stuck on his words.

Thick. Hard. Just like him. My pussy ached so much it hurt. If he didn’t take care of my need, I’d have to use my own hand on myself or else the pain would become unbearable.

It was already unbearable now.

“Please stay,” I said quickly, in a whisper. I couldn’t make my voice speak louder than that. “What if they come here to rob the house?”

He shook his head and took a step back. That one step took away all the heat in the room. “They’re not going to come here. Just lock up tight and try to get some sleep.”

And with that, he was gone.

CHAPTER FOUR

T he next morning, I awoke on the couch, still as confused

as I’d been when I’d drifted to sleep the night before. I’d stayed downstairs since my bedroom window was smashed in, and I felt weird about sleeping in my parent’s bed. Plus, it just felt safer down by the fire.

One moment, Wyatt had been practically ravaging me with his eyes. He’d been close that I swore he looked as if he was going to kiss me. The next moment, he’d been beelining toward the door with such fierce determination that it took me back three years into he past. To the night when I’d tried to seduce him on the lawn, underneath the blazing stars overhead.

But this time, I knew I wasn’t making things up in my mind. I’d felt his hardness. I’d seen the way he looked at me.

I could feel his heartbeat thrumming under my hand. He’d moved closer when I’d touched him, not pulled away. It was only until we were seconds from taking things further that he decided to run away.

He wanted me. Just like I wanted him.

But he’d stopped it from going anywhere, and I knew exactly why.

I was his best friend’s daughter. There was a nineteenyear age di erence between us. I sure as hell didn’t care, but he did.

Sighing, I went upstairs to shower and get ready for the day. My whole body still clenched tight from the lack of release, from the pent-up desire still charging through me.

I’d started to pleasure myself last night as I tossed and turned on the couch, but I’d stopped just as soon as I’d begun.

I didn’t want to be the one to do it. I wanted Wyatt to give me the release I so desperately craved. And even though he’d run away, I knew where he’d be tonight. I’d just have to remind him of what we both knew he wanted, of what we both needed.

Each other.

The Snow Peak Festival happened every year in early December. Most of the town would gather in the square and watch the fifteen-foot tree get erected in the center. Kids would join in and add their own handmade decorations to the bottom while the adults kicked o the holiday season with spiked egg nog. It was a yearly tradition going back at least a hundred years, and Wyatt always went in uniform, keeping an eye out in case of any trouble.

Of course, there never was any trouble. Not in Snow Peak.

The worst that would happen involved someone drinking too many steaming cups of egg nog, and they’d need a ride home in Wyatt’s cop car.

This year, I intended that to be me. Minus the egg nog of course. If I was finally going to realize my fantasy with Wyatt, I wanted to be one hundred percent sober. It wasn’t the kind of thing I’d ever want to forget.

Sarah, an old friend from high school who had stayed behind to help out her mother’s hairdressing business, swung by the house around six to pick me up. I’d spent the afternoon shovelling the thick snow from the driveway, breathing in the fresh air and working my muscles in ways I hadn’t in months. It felt good to be outside and hear nothing but the soft wind sighing through the trees, to look up at a clear sky with nothing to obstruct it but the clouds rolling by overhead.

I felt more relaxed than I had in months, even though my body still yearned, unwaveringly, for Wyatt’s touch. It had been awhile since I’d visited home, and I’d usually brought my textbooks with me, spending my o hours studying instead of stopping for a moment to appreciate what I had here and now.

Maybe, I’d thought to myself at times, I could move back home after I graduated. Live the kind of life I missed. But then what would have been the point of my degree? There was no way for me to use my my law studies in a town like Snow Peak. I needed to be in the city where all the big firms were headquartered. There was one lawyer in our town, and he barely got by. It just wasn’t the kind of place that could support that kind of career. So, I was stuck. Stuck moving forward with a life I wasn’t sure I even wanted anymore.

Not to mention I had so many more years to go if I really wanted that kind of career. My undergraduate degree was only the beginning. And I just wasn’t sure how much longer I wanted to be in the kind of atmosphere I’d been in for the last three and a half years. Competitive, fast-paced, gruelling.

I’d thought it was what I wanted when I left. But as the years went by, I’d started doubting that more and more.

But my parents would flip out if I didn’t go ahead with what I had planned. They’d paid for college, and they

expected me to go through with what I had planned with their help. How would they react if I told them I didn’t want to take this all the way to the top? Horror. Absolute horror.

It hurt my heart to imagine the disappointment on their faces.

Sarah honked the horn, knocking me out of my reverie, and I jumped into the passenger side while she cranked up the radio. She’d put on our favorite song from high school, the one we’d played on endless repeat every time one of us needed a pick-me-up. I’d called her that morning and told her everything about Wyatt. I’d expected her to respond in shock, but she laughed instead, telling me it was about damn time the two of us admitted the way we really felt.

We, she’d said. Not just me. She was convinced Wyatt had been in love with me since the day he showed up with that damn telescope talking about the stars.

I didn’t dare hope she was right.

“It’s so freaking good to see you, Becca,” she said as she reversed the car out of the drive and pointed the nose toward town. “You need to come home more often.”

I thought about telling her that I’d definitely be here a lot more often if I decided not to continue on to law school, but I still couldn’t voice the words aloud. They felt like they belonged to a di erent person, a di erent life, a di erent Becca who hadn’t decided to run away in humiliation.

Instead, I went the vague route. “I’ll be done in May, and I might come home all summer this time.”

Something I hadn’t done before now. Instead, I’d stayed in the city for work experience, racking up internships like they were going out of style. I’d told myself that it was to improve my chances at getting a job down the line, but now that I was home, it felt like my motives had been a lot di erent than that. It felt like I’d been trying to avoid coming back.

Like I’d been trying to avoid seeing Wyatt.

And deep down in my gut, I knew I was right.

Sarah squealed and grabbed my arm. “That would be so freaking awesome. You have to come home for the summer.

And…” She wriggled her eyebrows. “Just imagine how much time you and Wyatt would get to spend together if you were here for a few months instead of a few days.”

My heart thumped. Oh, I had imagined. Over and over as I’d fallen asleep on the couch.

“We don’t even know if he’s going to make a move,” I said, trying to calm myself before my fantasies ran my mind into overdrive. “He’s my dad’s best friend. I have a feeling that might be a deal breaker for him.”

“Oh please.” Sarah whipped the car sideways, bringing the courthouse clock into view. “If he was so against going there, he would not have acted how he did last night. That man is half a second away from bending you over and shoving himself inside you.”

“Sarah!” My face flamed, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. She’d always been blunt and to the point and had no qualms talking about sex like she’d talk about anything else.

Her favorite band, having dinner, the various flavors of ice cream. Sarah, unlike me, was not a virgin. And she hadn’t been since she turned fifteen. Part of me was always jealous about her experience but then I remembered that I didn’t want any other man. All I wanted was Wyatt.

“You know I’m right.” She parked the car at the curb just outside of her hairdressing studio and pointed at where Wyatt’s cop car squatted on the opposite side of the street.

“He’s here. Just like clockwork. As soon as the tree goes up, I’ll disappear, giving him the perfect opportunity to give you a ride home. And by ride, I mean a ride on his cock.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Sarah

and I weaved through the crowd, my hand permanently raised in a half-wave. Every face I saw was familiar, and a deep sense of belonging and rightness settled over me. There was Mrs. Johnson, the geography teacher from high school. There was Mr. Mason, the elderly gentleman who refused to stop running the post o ce even though he was pushing eighty. And Wanda Wickers, Jessica Armes, and Alison Baker, girls I’d gone to high school with.

They all three had rings on their fingers and babies on their hips.

I felt a pang of jealousy and kept moving through the crowd.

With the career I had planned, I didn’t have the time or the opportunity to have children for a long while yet. I’d need to get through law school first, get established in a firm, and prove myself before taking time o to have a baby.

Other women I’d talked to in the field had waited until their thirties to have children, if even then.

At twenty-one, I was still so young, but I already felt my womb aching for a baby. Or two. Or three.

Frowning, I scanned the crowd for Wyatt’s ruggedly handsome face. Overhead, the festive lights twinkled under a

dark sky. Snow Peak loved to decorate our quaint downtown streets during the holidays, and this year, they’d gone all out. Everywhere I looked was draped in red and green, even the egg nog cups that cheery residents held in their mittened hands.

Suddenly, I froze. There he was. He stood just o to the side, his arms crossed as he watched the festival. The blinking lights flickered on his face, highlighting the smile that donned his lips. My gut clenched at the look of pure love in his eyes. This man was so fond of this town. Proud even.

He gave a nod to every person that passed by him, murmuring their name and giving them a pat on the shoulder when they did the same to him.

His eyes shifted toward me, and then suddenly our gazes caught. The whole world around us seemed to slow. His smile brightened for just a moment before he shut it down again, like he was dousing water on a flame that refused to go away. But he even though he’d erased the smile, the heat in his eyes told a di erent story. There were so many people between me and him, but none of them even mattered. The intensity in his eyes made me feel as if we were the only two people in the square.

But just as suddenly as his eyes had been on on me, they were gone. Old Mr. Weathers, the organizer of each year’s festival, stopped in front of him, patting Wyatt’s arm to thank him for being here tonight. Wyatt dragged his eyes away from me and made polite conversation, but he kept glancing at me in between his smiles as I moved away, heading toward the center of the square where everyone gathered to watch the erection of this year’s tree.

I could feel his eyes hot on my back, but I didn’t know if I imagined it or not.

“He’s looking at you,” Sarah whispered into my ear. “You seriously were not kidding. I thought he looked at you a

certain way before, but this is something else.”

An hour later, Sarah had disappeared and some of the crowd was beginning to disperse as well. The parents of younger kids were leaving to tuck them into bed, and the elderly folks were heading home to tuck themselves into bed. All that remained were the middle-aged adults without kids and a few rowdy teenagers who were—I knew from experience— sneaking egg nog into their cups no matter how closely anyone watched.

And Wyatt.

I wound my way past the tree and its blinking lights and stopped as I reached his side. He leaned against a railing with his arms crossed over his chest, exuding pure strength.

“Evening, Becca. You enjoy yourself tonight?”

“Yes,” I said, rubbing my mittened hands together.

“Though I might need a cup of egg nog to warm myself up.

It’s cold out tonight.”

Hint, hint.

He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think your dad would forgive me if I let you have some alcohol on my watch.”

“Let me?” I frowned, irritation bubbling inside me.

Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe he did see me as a kid if he didn’t realize it was perfectly legal for me to drink. Maybe he still thought of me as a kid. All the fire doused in my belly at the thought. “You know I’m twenty-one, right? I can drink whether you like it or not.”

My voice came out more of a snap than I intended, and his eyebrows went even higher on his forehead. “Twentyone?” He shook his head and smiled. “I thought you were still twenty. You’ve sure grown up, haven’t you?”

“Oh, I’ve grown up in more ways than one.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. They were a

challenge, almost a dare. I was flirting with danger here, but it was time to stop dancing around the subject. We both knew what I wanted, and his hard cock had told me last night what he wanted, too. We were both adults, and he needed to see me as one. The flirting was on.

His eyes dropped to my chest. My breasts were covered in my thick coat, but that sure hadn't stopped him from instinctively glancing at my curves. “Yes, I noticed.”

A thrill went through me, and a boldness I’d never known clutched my gut. “Sarah left earlier without telling me, and she drove me here. I need someone to give me a ride home.

Preferably you.”

“Alright.” He gave me a nod, his scorching hot eyes never leaving my face. “Sounds like you better come with me.”

CHAPTER SIX

M y knee jiggled as Wyatt drove down Great Bear Road, the

silence hanging thick and heavy between us. I’d been in his car many times before, but never like this. There was an unspoken tension brewing between us, and it took all my self-control not to reach out and brush my hand against his pants. I wondered how he’d react if I lowered my head and wrapped my mouth around his cock.

Wetness coated my panties. I’d only brought three pairs with me on this trip. At this rate, I was going to have to go into town tomorrow and buy some more if I was going to make it through the rest of the weekend in clean underwear.

Wyatt pulled into the driveway and cut the engine. He didn’t glance at me as he got out of the car, moved to the door, and opened it for me. I slid out into the night, pressing close to him as he leaned around me to shut the door. His scent overwhelmed me. Pine and minty cologne. It made my ears ring and my eyes water. My tongue swept across my lips, and when I looked up, I could see his gaze locked onto my every move.

“Let me walk you inside to make sure that everything is safe,” he said in a strained voice.

I didn’t argue.

When we got inside, Wyatt took his time going through the house and checking each room. I told myself that he’d do this for anyone else. That was just the kind of man he was, always caring and concerned. But as the moments ticked by, the ache in my pussy growing, the more and more it felt like he was taking his time. Almost like he didn’t want to leave.

Like he was postponing the moment when he’d have to walk out that door.

“Everything is clear,” he said when he finally returned.

He moved to stand by the fireplace, the opposite end of the living room from where I stood waiting, fidgeting with the hem of my low-cut shirt.

I’d picked this one out especially for him. It was an old tank top from high school, one that was a little too small and a little too tight, and it accentuated my cleavage. And I hadn’t worn a bra, and my hard nipples pressed against the fabric, headlights in the dark room. I could tell that he hadn’t missed the e ort. His gaze was transfixed on my girls.

“Thanks for making sure it was safe. I think I may take a bath now. Lather up in the steamy water with some bubblebath after spending the night in the cold.” I cocked my head, trying to put on a seductive smile. “Do you think that sounds like a good idea?”

He let out a guttural sound so low that I almost didn’t hear it. “Becca, don’t.”

My heart thundered in my ears. This was working. Fuck me, it was working.

“Don’t what?” I backed up against the table behind me and let my ass knock against the romance novel I’d been reading the night before. It slid o and fell with a clunk to the floor. “Whoops.”

I turned around and bent over to pick it up, holding my ass high in the air and wriggling it as I grabbed the book,

showing o my legs in the skirt and tights I’d worn. Before I stood, Wyatt was behind me, and his hand grazed across my ass. Blood roared in my ears, and my breath caught in my throat. Slowly, I straightened, but he put a hand on my back and held me there.

“Is this what you wanted?” he asked slowly before giving my butt a quick spank. My juices drenched my panties even more, my entire body tingling.

I didn’t dare move for fear he’d run away again. “Yes.” His hand slid slowly down my butt before slipping between my thighs. His long fingers pressed against the thin material of my tights, material that was soaked from how wet I already was. He paused, feeling my wetness, and for a split second, I thought he’d decided to stop. But instead, his grip on my back tightened. His fingers pressed harder against my drenched spot, rubbing and teasing and making my whole body squirm.

Wyatt McDowell was touching me. The only man I’d ever wanted, the man of my dreams and of my fantasies. His fingers were stroking against my pussy, and even though there was fabric between us, I felt as if I were on the very brink of the best orgasm of my life.

“I want to see that pussy of yours.” He growled the words as he pulled his hand away, leaving me breathless and aching for more. “Stay bent over.”

Before I could react, he ripped my tights in one swift motion, and cool air grazed across my skin. I gasped, feeling the desire flooding through me, my womanhood exposed to him in a way that it had never been exposed to anyone ever before. He was the only man in the world who had ever seen my pussy, and knowing his eyes were gazing at my pink lips made me ooze even more.

“My god,” he said, his voice rough in his throat. “You are so fucking wet for me.”

“I want you inside me,” I said through rapid breaths.

Every second that went by made me feel more desperate for his touch. I was so turned on that I shoved my ass even higher and pressed my wetness against his crotch. His dick was so hard, so thick, so big. I gasped and began to rub myself against him, grinding against his crotch with wild abandon. I tossed aside all my inhibitions and let my body take control over my thoughts, as I rubbed his cock with my hot and aching pussy in a feverish energy.

With a growl, he leaned forward and nipped my ear before pulling my ass o his crotch. He plunged his finger inside me, slipping into my tight cavity with an ease, even though no one else ever had. I was that wet, that turned on, that my drenching pussy was his for the taking. And boy did he take it. His fingers fucked me so hard and so fast that my ears began to ring.

“My god,” he said, fucking me even faster with his fingers. “You’re so eager for me, baby. That’s it, baby.”

He slid another finger inside, pressing them both against my slippery walls. I cried out, both in pleasure and in pain. I was sure he would break my virginity this way, and even though I wanted him to do it with his cock, I couldn’t stop myself from pounding my ass against his hand. He spanked me. Once, then twice. So hard that my skin burned from the intensity of it. And as good as it felt, all I could think about was his cock.

I twisted around, heat shuddering through me. He looked almost shocked by what was passing between us, but it didn’t stop him from rubbing his thumb against my clit, sending me to the very brink. I reached for his buckle and began to unzip his pants just as the lock in the front door tumbled.

Wyatt’s hand froze, his eyes widened, and he launched himself across the floor.

“What the hell?” I gasped as the front door began to open. Boots kicked against the edge of the step, a familiar sound that drained all the blood in my face. It was what my dad always did when he came home in the snow. It was as routine as the sun rolling into the clouds. Crack the door, stomp the boots to dust o the snow, slip them o , and come inside.

Shit. My parents had come back. And they would walk in at any second.

And find…

Shit, shit, shit.

My heart hammering, I pulled my skirt down over my ass, but it barely covered the huge rip in my tights. I straightened my shirt and grabbed my mom’s shawl from the back of the couch to cover my hard nipples that were on display for the world to see. Then, I pressed down my hair, tried to calm my breathing, and gave Wyatt one quick look.

His face was pale, and the bulge in his pants was still very much there….as well as a damp spot where I’d been grinding my drenched pussy on him like a cat in heat.

He shifted behind a chair to block his crotch from my parent’s view a mere two seconds before the door opened all the way.

“Becca!” My dad’s face lit up when he saw me. “Glad to see you’re here and okay, kiddo.”

Kiddo. I refused to glance Wyatt’s way when that damn nickname from my childhood popped up again. Surely it would only remind him that I was nineteen years his junior and that I was his best friend’s daughter. The total opposite of how I wanted him to think of me.

“And Wyatt.” My dad looked surprised but not unhappy.

It probably would never occur to him that his best friend had been moments away from taking his daughter’s virginity.

Before they’d shown up.

Perfect timing.

“Dad.” My heartbeat thrummed in my neck, and my whole face was flaming from embarrassment. “What are you doing home?”

“We heard about the robberies.” He held open the door while my mom slid in behind him, still fully decked in her ski gear. They must have hightailed it o the slopes as soon as they’d heard. “We weren’t about to have you staying here all by yourself if there are hoodlums causing a ruckus. Oh hello, Wyatt. I didn’t expect to see you here at this hour.”

Wyatt cleared his throat, clearly as uncomfortable as I was. “Becca here needed a ride home after the festival this evening. I felt it was only right to check things out in here and make sure she was safe. She had quite the fright last night.”

“Oh?” My dad lifted his eyebrows. Shit. I hadn’t called and told them about the window for precisely this reason. I hadn’t wanted to them to show up out of nowhere and put a quick damper on the sex I so desperately wanted. Finally.

After years of aching for it.

And now that they were home, I certainly wasn’t going to get it now. Their presence was a blinding reminder of why we couldn’t start things up in the first place.

“I’ll explain later,” I said quickly. They weren’t going to be happy about the window upstairs, and they really weren’t going to be happy I hadn’t told them sooner.

“Well, thank you Wyatt for looking after our girl. I know you always have.” My dad moved over and patted Wyatt’s back who gave him a tight smile.

“I best be going,” Wyatt said. “It’s late.”

“Nonsense.” My dad gave him a megawatt smile, making him look ten years younger than he actually was. “It’s Saturday night, and you know what that means. Why don’t you stay like old times?”

Wyatt swallowed hard, but he didn’t argue. Instead he trailed out of the living room toward my dad’s study. Toward the bar with the whiskey and the cigars. They’d sit in there for the next few hours chatting about who the hell knew what. Tales from their college years, probably. As soon as they disappeared, I slipped upstairs, toward my room with the broken window.

I needed a blast of icy air to calm me down.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I didn’t get much sleep. For one, I had to sleep on the couch

again after showing my mom exactly what had caused a scare the night before. And two, I could hear Wyatt’s voice rumbling down the hallway as he and my dad talked for hours. I tossed and I turned, memories flickering through my mind. The feel of his hand on my wetness. The way his finger had slipped inside me. The way he’d gazed at me like I was the only girl in the world.

When I woke up, Wyatt’s car was still in the driveway.

He’d obviously crashed on the couch in dad’s study at the end of the night. He used to do that a lot, always doing the right thing by not driving, even if he’d only had one drink the entire night.

I wasn’t ready to see him. Not yet. Things had felt so weird when my parents had shown up, and he hadn’t glanced at me at all during the strained conversation when they first arrived. He felt guilty, I could tell. And I hated that.

I wanted to wrap myself around him and tell him he had nothing to be ashamed of. Sure, I was his best friend’s daughter. But I was also a grown woman who could make her own decisions in life. And being with him was the only thing I’ve ever felt sure of.

Not college, not my degree, certainly not the city. I’d never been truly, one hundred percent sure that was what I wanted to do. I’d always felt like a piece of me wasn’t convinced it was right. I’d always felt like a part of me had stayed behind. I’d run from my mortification more than I’d headed toward a new life. Leaving Snow Peak had been a way to get away from Wyatt’s rejection. Now that there was a chance I’d been wrong all this time, it no longer felt like a piece of me was trapped here.

It felt like all of me was anchored to this town, from the very tips of my toes to the top of my head.

This was my home, and I needed to stop running.

“Morning.” Wyatt edged into the kitchen, his voice deep and quiet. “We should talk about what happened.”

My heartbeat picked up speed. He looked better than he ever had before. I’d seen him many times first thing in the morning, but there was something new about him now. A rawness I’d never seen before. His dark hair was slightly mussed, but his eyes were bright, lit by a flame I felt in my gut.

The floorboards creaked overhead, signalling my parents heading toward the stairs. “I’m not sure here is the best place to talk about it.”

He nodded his head and dragged a hand across his stubble. A hand that I was very much aware of, especially where it had been only a dozen hours before. “You’re right, but Jack mentioned you would be heading back to the city today, so I don’t know when else we could discuss…it.”

Frowning, I glanced away. He was right. My original plan had been to stay the weekend only, head back on Sunday afternoon, since I still had some classes to attend Monday.

This had only been meant as a temporary escape before the last slog through this semester’s final classes. I had an exam at the end of the week, one I needed to study for, but I’d

purposely left my textbooks in the city so I could get a temporary break from it all for a few days.

And yet…my feet felt firmly stuck in place.

“I could go back tonight or tomorrow morning.”

His gaze latched on mine. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

“I’m sure.” My voice hitched up at the end, wavering underneath his close scrutiny. It was so hard to look at him without draping myself all over his body and begging him to take me hard, even knowing that my parents were only upstairs. They could head down at any minute and catch us in the act, but it didn’t douse my desire one single bit.

“I’m going into the station to do some paperwork this afternoon.” He began to edge out of the kitchen when footsteps pattered on the hall outside. “Come by around two, and we’ll have that chat.”

I flicked down the visor and spread a dark red gloss across my lips. I’d never been one for makeup, but these weren’t normal circumstances. I was about to go “meet” with the man who had been finger fucking me the night before, a man I’d been fantasizing about for as long as I’d been old enough to understand what fantasizing was.

I had no idea what to expect. I’d called up Sarah to fill her in, and she’d suggested there were two ways it could go.

Either he was going to let me down gently and explain why what happened could never happen again. Or he was going to give me an exquisite finish to what we’d started last night. I was eagerly hoping it was the latter. Hence, the dark red gloss that made my lips look much poutier than they usually did.

After climbing out of the car, I headed into the station. It was quiet and dark in the usually bustling o ce space, no

one else in sight on a Sunday afternoon. It was a small town, but Wyatt usually had a crew working in the station alongside him. He had a deputy, a receptionist, and a couple of assistants who did general work not related to cases. Not enough happened in this town to warrant much more than that.

Quietly, I strode through the station and poked my head inside his o ce door. Papers littered his desk, and a four co ee cups were scattered across the oak surface. Even though it was Sunday, Wyatt had donned his uniform, and he looked like the sexiest thing on earth, even though his eyes showed hints of weariness.

“You look busy,” I said, suddenly unsure if I should be here, interrupting his work like this. As much as I wanted to lay our cards on the table, I didn’t want to distract him from what was clearly a mountain of paperwork.

He sighed and nodded his head. “I took on this job because I want to protect the good people of this town. As I’m sure you know, crime is few and far between, so the courthouse has sent over a bunch of paperwork that is frankly not my specialty. Driver’s license applications.

Marriage licenses.”

“The courthouse.” I raised my eyebrows.

“They’re short sta ed.” Wyatt dropped a pen on his desk and leaned back in his chair before crossing his massive arms across his chest. “Old man Albert retired a few months back, and one of the girls who did a lot of this kind of stu ran o to the city for a high-paying career rather than small town life. Kind of like you.”

“Maybe I should put in an application.” I could barely believe I’d said the words, but it felt like the best idea I’d had in years. I could be at home—and near Wyatt—while using my degree that I’d worked so hard and so long for. It was win-win, no matter which way I looked at it.

“You?” Wyatt rubbed the stubble on his jaw and frowned.

“Becca, I hope this isn’t about me. You’ve been working hard at school all this time, and you won’t have near the same opportunities here that you do in the city. You know as well as I do that there are no big fancy law firms here.”

“I’ve been thinking of moving back for awhile.” I edged into the o ce and perched on the edge of the desk. I mean, I would be lying if I didn’t say that you weren’t in my mind, but it’s more than just that. It’s this place. It’s my home. It’s calm and fresh and full of chirping birds and clear skies.”

“I’m in your mind? Oh, Becca, sweetheart.” Wyatt sighed and stood from his desk, and I suddenly felt as if I’d made a terrible mistake. The look in his eye wasn’t one of heat. It was one of resignation, like he was going to say goodbye. To me, to us, to whatever was clearly between us, to what had clearly been between us for a very long time. “We can’t do this. It isn’t right.”

“That’s not what you seemed to be saying last night.”

“I got caught up in the moment. Your dad would kill me.”

He sighed and closed his eyes. “Don’t you want to go back to your school and hook up with some guys your own age? Have fun while you’re still young? I’m sure a new one is beating down your door every weekend.”

Anger flashed through me. He thought I was some easy lay who hooked up with guys left and right, probably because I’d been so easy with him. “They can beat on the door all they like, but they’re not having any of this. There’s only one man I’ve ever wanted, and he’s certainly not some dumb college kid who doesn’t know how to talk to a woman, much less fuck her.”

Heat sparked in Wyatt’s eyes as he sucked a breath in through his parted mouth. “You don’t mean to tell me…?”

“I’m a virgin.” I lifted my chin. “No one has ever seen me, no one has ever touched me, and no one has ever been

inside me.”

“My sweet, sweet girl,” Wyatt murmured before leaning forward and crushing his lips against mine.

CHAPTER EIGHT

M y whole body came alive as Wyatt drove his tongue into

my mouth. Moaning, I closed my eyes and pressed my body against his, feeling the hard planes of his masculine chest.

His massive cock dug into my hip as he ground against me, passion flowing between us. Within seconds, my panties were soaked through. Another pair ruined. But who the hell was I to care?

All I cared about was Wyatt. His hands, his lips, his cock. I wanted every single part of him to be touching me, stroking me, fucking me so hard that I wouldn’t be able to walk the next day.

His teeth nipped at my neck as he ripped open my shirt, my breasts spilling into view. My nipples were so hard they hurt, and the ache between my thighs intensified with every passing beat. He’d gotten me so worked up the night before, and I still hadn’t had a release. If he so much as touched me now, I might dissolve into a pile of screaming ecstasy.

But he took his time. His tongue lapped against my full and quivering breasts, teasing and sucking and taunting me with each exquisite stroke. Wriggling under his touch, I dropped back my head and moaned so loud that any passerby outside the window would surely be able to hear me.

Wyatt didn’t seem to care. Instead, it seemed to excite him even more.

He pulled back and pulled my jeans and panties from my trembling body, sucking in a breath as his eyes raked across me.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he said in a deep growl before lifting his shirt over his head. His entire body was corded with pure muscle that rippled as he moved.

And then his pants went. And then his tight boxer briefs.

His massive erection sprung into view, thick and pink and throbbing with a need that surely matched my own. I wanted him inside me, then and there and for the rest of my life.

Over and over again until nothing existed in the world but us.

He lifted me onto the desk and pushed me back, his lips trailing across my skin, his fingers digging into my hips. My whole body shivered with anticipation as his mouth went lower and lower and lower. Until it hovered teasingly just an inch from my clit. He leaned forward and dragged his tongue across my wet and aching pussy.

And oh my god, I’d never felt anything like that before my in my life. It drove me absolutely wild, and I couldn’t stop my body from bucking on the desk and my legs from tightening around his neck.

“Oh, you like that, do you?” he murmured before diving back in. His tongue slid along my clit, sending new shockwaves of pleasure through my trembling body, and he licked me with a feverish energy that made me feel like the most delicious woman he’d ever tasted.

I wanted more, more, more, but it felt so freaking good that I couldn’t hold on anymore. He lapped up every drop of my juices before diving his tongue into my folds. And that was all I could take. My orgasm stormed through me so hard

and so fast that my ears roared with the thunder of my exhilarating release. My body shook and shuddered, and my pussy clenched tight just as a wave of juice slipped through my opening and spread across his lips.

“That was just the beginning.” Wyatt smiled as he moved on top of me, his huge cock standing at attention. “You sure you want this, baby?”

“I want you inside me so bad.” I could barely talk after what had just happened. I was so spent I couldn’t imagine would I would feel like after he was done with me. But I’d never been more sure of anything in my life.

“I’ll be gentle.” He poked my pussy with his dick before sliding gently inside me, his thickness pressing against my tender walls. He went inside easily after how wet he’d made me, both from his tongue and from my own gushing juices.

Still, it felt like he could barely even fit. He was so thick and so long. There was no way in hell other men were even near this big.

But even though a flare of pain went through me, it felt so good that I didn’t want him to stop.

Not now, not ever.

“That okay, baby?” he asked, brushing soft kisses against my cheek and forehead. He was being so gentle, so kind. It made my heart swell as he pushed deeper inside me until his bulging head pressed the back of me. “You feel so good, so sweet.”

He began rocking against me, his cock slipping in and out slowly and steadily. My muscles tightened around him as my pleasure began to build once again. Arching my back, I opened my legs wider and wider, wanting him deeper inside me even though it felt as if I couldn’t take any more of him.

All I wanted was to be as close to him as I could possibly be, and that meant taking as much of him as I could.

Suddenly, he lifted me from the desk as if I weighed nothing more than a doll and flipped me over, pressing my face down onto the desk. He shoved inside me once again, this time with much more intensity than before. Groaning, I pressed onto my tiptoes to lift my butt higher into the air, to give him more access to fuck me as hard as he possibly could.

And he did. His pace picked up speed, his junk slamming into my ass, driving me wilder and wilder with pleasure. I writhed and moaned and clutched at the papers on the desk.

It felt as if he were taking me as his, claiming me as his own, showing me exactly how much I belonged to him, no matter how hard and how much he’d tried to push that feeling aside.

He gripped my waist and slapped my ass, and his loud groans joined my own cries of desire. I screamed out his name, over and over, as my pleasure built up to a roaring crescendo. I came again, hard, so hard that my scream tore at my throat. And as I shuddered, I felt his dick do the same, his seed emptying into my body.

He kept himself inside me as he leaned forward to wrap his arms around me, his hands grazing across my nipple.

Despite myself, it stood erect once again at his touch. Desire still roared inside me, insatiable. For Wyatt. Now that I’d experienced just how good it felt to be fucked by this man, I wanted him again. And again. And again. I could spend hours like this.

“Wyatt?” A familiar voice filtered through the o ce door.

“You here?”

A familiar voice. My dad’s voice. Shit, not again. I glanced at the clothes scattered across the floor, the flush in Wyatt’s cheeks. I knew my face must be just as red, and my hair had to be standing up at all angles. Not to mention the scent of sex that hung heavy in the air.

I grabbed my clothes from the floor and hastily got dressed while Wyatt did the same. Maybe he could rush out to reception before my dad got back here and detour him back outside while I figured out a way to sneak out back.

But wait. My car was out front. Dad would figure out I was here.

Just as Wyatt snapped the button of his jeans, footsteps slowed outside the o ce door.

“Becca?” My dad’s head popped inside, and everything froze for an agonizing moment. His eyes caught on my face before drifting down to my rumpled clothes. They moved over to Wyatt who looked just as bedraggled as I did. His uniform shirt still hung open, revealing his six-pack abs. It wouldn’t take a scientist to know exactly what had been going on in here.

“Wyatt.” My dad’s voice went icy, and he clenched the door in his fist. “Can you come out into the hallway please.

We need to have a chat.”

CHAPTER NINE

W yatt disappeared with my father without saying a word

to me. He didn’t even glance my way. This was bad. This was really bad. Maybe my dad would understand. I was a grown woman after all. Even though he would always see me as his little girl, he had to know I’d get involved with a man eventually, right? And okay, so maybe it wouldn’t thrill him that his best friend was the man I’d chosen, but at the end of the day, Wyatt was already a permanent fixture in our life.

Surely he’d rather have a good man he knew be with his daughter rather than some city asshole he’d never met before. Right?

All of these thoughts flying through my brain didn’t stop me from panicking. Not when I could hear the raised voices down the hallway. I strode back and forth, back and forth, trying to walk the anxiety out of my body. Dad and Wyatt had been friends for so long. As much as I wanted Wyatt to be a more special part of my life, I didn’t want my dad to lose that kind of friendship. He didn’t have that with anyone else.

They were comrades, confidants, total BFFs. I’d hate to be the thing that tore them apart.

The raised voices finally died down and Wyatt returned to his o ce, my dad nowhere in sight. He edged into the room,

his body sti , his back straight. And he avoided my eyes once again, making the gnawing panic in my gut grow ten times too big.

“Your dad wanted me to tell you that he’s waiting out front to help you get home. He says you need to get on your way so you can get back to the city before it’s too dark.”

“Help me get home?” My body began to shake. “Back to the city, tonight?”

“That’s right. You should be on your way.”

He was being so distant, so cold. After I’d just given him everything, how could he suddenly turn o like this? Like we hadn’t just been the most intimate we could possibly be? I’d just given him my virginity, and he knew it. A tear slipped out of my eye and trailed down my cheek.

“Wyatt, what did he say to you?” I asked, moving closer to him. He followed my move by backing up and opening the o ce door even wider.

“It doesn’t matter what he said,” Wyatt insisted. “What matters is that you need to get back to school and make sure you finish your degree. It was nice seeing you, Becca. You’re going to get everything you want out of your life, and I wish you the very best.”

CHAPTER TEN

I t had been three weeks since my mortifying encounter with Wyatt McDowell, and I’d barely made it through final exams because of it. No matter what I did, no matter here I went, the way he’d coldly pushed me out of his life was all I could think about. I knew my dad had something to do with the sudden way Wyatt had turned away from me. He’d said something to him to cause it, though I hadn’t been able to get him to share.

He hadn’t been angry at me, not really. It seemed like he’d shifted the blame one hundred percent onto Wyatt, and even though it wasn’t fair, that was just the way my dad was.

I was his daughter, his baby girl, and Wyatt had been the man to “take advantage” of me, or at least that’s the way my dad saw the whole thing.

I hadn’t been able to explain to him that the whole situation had been just as much my idea as it had been Wyatt’s. I mean, I’d practically flung myself on the man.

Dad hadn’t been able to see it that way, of course, so he’d shipped me right back to school to finish the semester.

I wasn’t really looking forward to going back home for the holidays, but the end of the semester had hurtled toward

me like a runaway train. It was time to face the music, and there was no escaping it.

My stomach twisted and turned at the thought, and halfway down the interstate, I had to pull my car onto the side of the road to throw up in the bushes. I’d felt ill all day, a sure sign that my anxiety had gone into overdrive. Usually, the thought of home made me feel calm and peaceful, but this trip was di erent. I had to face my parents for the first time after the incident with Wyatt. We’d barely spoken on the phone since then. I knew my dad was really unhappy about what he’d caught me doing, even if he didn’t blame me for it. It was as if he saw me for who I was for the very first time, and he wasn’t ready to admit I was grown.

And I had no idea how I’d react if I came face to face with Wyatt while I was home.

Surely I would see him. It would be impossible not to, even if my parents had banished him from their lives. He’d be out patrolling, and I’d see him passing by, and it would kill me if he didn’t so much as say hello.

After he’d been so cold to me, it was hard to imagine he’d do anything more than that.

As soon as I arrived in Snow Peak, I swung by Sarah’s hairdressing studio before turning my car toward home.

Anything to delay the inevitable. She was closing up shop when I strode through the door, the little bell jingling as it shut behind me.

“Oh, Becca.” She moved over to me and slung her arms around my neck, pulling me in close for a hug. Since my trip, even though we’d been miles and miles apart, Sarah and I had grown as close as we’d been in high school. Certainly closer than any of the girls I knew in the city. And instead of our newfound friendship making me feel better about the entire situation, it had made me even more homesick than I’d ever been. After everything had happened, it didn’t feel

right not being in my home town. But I didn’t know how I could come back now, and I didn’t know what I’d do even if I did.

Seeing Wyatt every day and not being a part of his life would hurt me far more than living somewhere else. I’d never be able to move on from him if I had to confront my feelings for him every damn day of the rest of my life. That was why I’d run o to the city in the first place, and it was why I’d scrapped my tentative plans to move back home when I finished my degree.

“How are you feeling?” Sarah pulled back, her eyes searching my face. “You look…a little bit pale. You doing okay, hon?”

“To be honest…” The scent of Sarah’s shop filled my nostrils. It was sweet with a hint of a bitter tanginess that hung in the air anytime someone came in for a color appointment. Usually I didn’t mind it. In fact, as strong as it was, it was usually quite pleasant.

But right now, it sent an overwhelming wave of nausea through me.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” I threw my hand over my mouth and rushed toward the bathroom in the back of the shop. After retching out my guts for the fourth time that day, I splashed my face with water and took several deep breaths in through my nose. This was ridiculous, I told myself. There was no reason I should be this freaked out about being home.

“Would you like some water?” Sarah asked, lifting a cup from her side when I finally left the bathroom.

Shakily, I nodded and took the cup from her, letting the cool water soothe my throat. My head pounded and my skin buzzed, but the water helped douse my urge to vomit once again. I pressed my hand against the wall and eased into one of the chairs. I needed to get a grip, especially before I

headed home. If I started throwing up like this around my parents, they’d freak out far more than necessary.

“So…when you and Wyatt did the nasty in the police station a few weeks ago, did you happen to use a condom?”

I glanced up at her, and all the blood—what was left of it, at least—drained from my face. “No, we…” I shook my head, realizing where she was going with this, but I wasn’t ready to admit it quite yet. “It can’t be. I’ve only had sex that once, and there’s just no way…”

“When was the last time you had your period?” Her voice was quiet and calm but still serious and pointed, the way she’d always been. Sarah didn’t mince her words, and it was part of what I’d always loved about her. And it was hammering the point home faster than I would have figured it out on my own.

“Over a month ago.” I gripped my knees tighter. “This can’t be happening.”

She squatted down before me and wiped the tear from my cheek. “Before we jump to any conclusions, I think we need to go get you a pregnancy test.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“I t’s positive.” I walked out of the bathroom and waved the stick in the air. Sarah and I had gone to the pharmacy

down the street, and I’d taken the test in the privacy of her studio’s bathroom. We’d been in and out in only moments, and no one had seen us go into the shop. But this was a small freaking town, and the woman manning the counter had known who I was. People liked to gossip in Snow Peak, and I dreaded to think how long it would take for the news to spread.

Becca Williams, the girl who had run away to a big city, had come home for the holidays, knocked up from some fling she’d had, losing herself in the fast-paced life.

But that wasn’t it at all, and I couldn’t tell a soul. Except for Sarah, of course. There were no flings, no random boys I’d let into my bedroom. I’d had sex once. With the man of my dreams. With the man I thought I might very well love.

What were the odds that that was all it took for me to get pregnant? Apparently, the odds were pretty damn bad. Or good, depending on how you looked at it.

I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it yet. In my mind, I’d expected to be shocked and scared by the discovery, but a

calmness—a rightness—had settled over me the moment two pink lines had spread across the test.

I was pregnant. With Wyatt’s baby. I’d dreamt of this moment before, too, just as I’d dreamt of him taking my virginity. Building a family with him had seemed so far outside of reality, I hadn’t dared entertain the possibility of it ever truly happening, but I would have been lying to myself if I said that it hadn’t been something I liked to imagine in my deepest of desires.

A baby in my arms and Wyatt by my side.

It was too good to be in true.

Probably because it wasn’t true. Just because I was going to give birth to his child didn’t mean that he’d come running back to my side. He’d already made up his mind about our relationship. I didn’t see how or why he’d change his mind now. And I didn’t want him to. As much as I wanted him— needed him, even—I wanted him to be with me because he wanted the same, not because he felt some sort of obligation or guilt for knocking me up.

I guess I’d find out soon enough. It was time for me to go tell him the news.

My raised fist hovered in front of his o ce door, my heart beating wildly in my chest. I couldn’t bring myself to knock, no matter how hard I tried. What would he say when he saw me standing here? What would he do? Would he shut down again and icily tell me to get the hell out? I didn’t know if I could take it if he did, especially not with the news I’d come to deliver to him.

No, I thought to myself. I can’t do this right now. I needed to let this sink in first and come to grips with it myself. I’d only just found out moments ago that I was pregnant. I needed to figure out what this meant for my life. I’d come

running over here without thinking things through. This had been a mistake. I wasn’t ready to come face to face with him yet.

But before I could turn around and hightail it out of there, the door opened. Swallowing hard, I took a step back and met Wyatt’s wide eyes. The stubble on his face had thickened in the past few weeks, and the bags under his eyes had darkened. While he still looked like the handsome man I knew and loved, he looked far more worn down. Sad, even.

Depressed.

“Becca?” He flicked his eyes around the station behind me, clearly nervous about someone catching me outside his o ce door. “What are you doing here?”

“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” I said, taking a deep breath to steady my nerves. The rush of excitement, fear, and love I felt for this man was almost overwhelming. I’d done my best to push it down while I’d been finishing the semester at school, but now that he was standing before me, it had come roaring back in full force.

“Becca.” He sighed and shook his head, dragging his eyes away from mine. “We can’t do this. I’m so sorry I gave you the wrong idea when you were here last time, but it’s done.

It’s over.”

Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away. As much as his words made me want to turn around and run right out of the station, I forced my feet to stay put. I needed to tell him this, and he needed to hear it. “That’s not why I came here. Please hear me out.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I can’t.” He took a step back into his o ce and began to close the door, but I stuck a foot out to stop it from closing all the way. Pain flickered across his features. I could tell this was killing him as much as it killed me. “Please, Becca. Listen to me. Your father would not be a happy man if he found out you were here.”

“I’m pregnant, okay?” I blurted out the words. They hung in the air between us for a long moment, my voice echoing in my ears. Wyatt’s face went through a myriad of emotions.

Shock, confusion, pain, and then pure unadulterated joy. His lips lifted into a smile, and the exhaustion in his eyes was replaced by a shining light.

“You’re pregnant.” His voice came out hushed. “Are you certain?”

“I just took the test a few minutes ago, and then I came straight here to tell you.” I moved into his o ce, and this time, he didn’t try to stop me. I shut the door quietly behind me and leaned against it, trying to keep as much distance between us as possible. The way he was looking at me, I wasn’t sure I could control myself if my body got much closer to his. All I wanted was for him to touch me, to please me, to be inside me once again. I was carrying his baby, and I was one hundred percent his. And I wanted to show that to him the only way I knew how.

“I wanted to come here to tell you that I want to keep the baby,” I said after a deep breath. I’d known this the moment I’d taken the test, but it felt good to voice it aloud. “I haven’t decided much more than that, but that’s one thing I know for sure. You don’t have to be involved if you don’t want to, but I thought you should know about it either way. I mean, I hope you’ll be involved. But I understand if that isn’t what you want.”

His smile grew even more. “Oh, Becca. Sweetheart. You just made me the happiest man alive. Of course I’ll be involved in our baby’s life. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And I’ll do whatever it takes to look after you, if that’s what you want.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

T hat night, after my parents had fallen asleep, I climbed

out the newly-replaced window in my bedroom, scaled down the tree, and ran down the driveway to where Wyatt was waiting for me, his car idling on the side of the road. It felt exhilarating to meet him like this, under the dark cover of the still and quiet night.

We’d decided to hold o on telling my parents about the pregnancy until I’d had a chance to go to the doctor for an o cial check-up. That and I really wanted to buy us a little more time. After the way my dad had reacted to finding his best friend and his daughter post-coitus, I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be thrilled by the news that said friend had put a baby inside said daughter.

Apparently, he’d been civil to Wyatt since then, but things had been strained. No more Saturday nights drinking whiskey, smoking cigars, and chatting up a storm.

But that didn’t mean that Wyatt wanted to put a hold on everything else. In fact, he’d seemed eager to spend time with me, though I wasn’t entirely sure what was going through his mind. Did he still want me? Or was this just about the baby? I guessed I would find out soon enough.

He had the heat blasting when I slid into the passenger seat, and he shot me that sexy, lopsided grin of his that warmed me all the way to my toes. And the car was filled with the pine-and-mint scent of him. It took all my selfcontrol not to slide across the seat and climb on top of him, riding him all the way to our destination.

One he’d kept secret.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he turned the car away from town, heading further out of civilization. I’d thought we might spend the evening talking at his house where we could discuss the upcoming months, how we’d break the news to my father, and where I’d live once I’d had birth.

But Wyatt just smiled.

Twenty minutes later, I saw what he had in mind as he pulled his car into the lot just beside the state park. Trees loomed high all around us, their branches hanging low from the weight of the snow, and the clear sky overhead showed an array of twinkling stars. Wyatt cut the engine and turned to me with a smile so warm that I thought I would melt.

“Here we are.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip. “As nice as this park is, I don’t really understand what we’re doing here. It’s freezing outside and it’s the middle of the night.”

“Of course it’s the middle of the night.” He jerked his chin toward the back of the car. “Look what’s in the backseat.”

Craning my head over my shoulder, I saw what he meant.

I swallowed hard, not daring to hope but hoping all the same. It was the telescope, the one he’d brought over the night I’d shown him how I felt on my eighteenth birthday.

The night I’d thought he wanted me the same way I’d wanted him. And I didn’t know what this meant now, knowing he’d brought the telescope along. Surely he

remembered what had happened that night. Surely he knew what this would make me think.

“The telescope?” I asked in a whisper. “So, you didn’t want to meet me to talk more about the baby?”

“We have time for all that.” He reached over and squeezed my knee, and a million electric jolts went through my body. He kept speaking, leaving his hand on my leg, and all I could concentrate on was the spot where his fingers touched my skin, even if it was only through my jeans. “I remembered that I never got to show you the stars, and I thought it would be good for us to spend some time together.”

“Some time together,” I repeated like a parrot. My heart began to race, my mind desperately trying to make sense of what he said. Was he just trying to be nice, like he’d been doing on my birthday? Or was there more to it than that? I couldn’t tell. He hadn’t said a word about what had happened between us a few weeks before, and it had been hard to read his eyes any more than to see that he truly cared about what happened to me. But that wasn’t any di erent than usual. He’d always cared. And before he’d ripped o my clothes and taken me for his own, it had never been anything more than simply that. Were we right back to that again?

“You seem upset,” he said quietly, reading my face and my emotions just like always.

“I can’t figure out what’s going through your mind,” I said, my breath hanging in the cold air that had seeped into the car. “I feel like there is an elephant in the room, and neither of us are acknowledging it.”

He squeezed my knee again and levelled his gaze at me.

“You mean what happened between us. I’m sorry, Becca. I’m not really the kind of man who likes to talk about his feelings.”

“Feelings?” My mind caught on the word. “So there are….feelings?”

He let out a light laugh, a sound that rumbled in his chest.

“Of course there are feelings, Becca. Feelings I’ve never felt for anyone else. I brought you out here because I want to spend time with you. As a woman and a man who are going to be spending a lot more time together from now on.”

That still didn’t explain things for me, not nearly enough.

Spending time together could mean anything now that we were going to have a child together. Did he mean changing diapers and picking up babysitting duty? Or did he mean something else? All I wanted was for him to explain exactly what he felt, if he felt anything at all.

“Together how?” I pressed, twisting my body to face him.

His eyes went dark and hot, and he pressed his other hand to my cheek. “Together in every way.”

My heart kicked against my chest.

“I love you, Becca. I’ve loved you for a long time.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

W yatt gripped my face between his hands and pressed his

lips on mine. My whole body sighed in response, an intoxicating mixture of satisfaction and desire pouring through me. He loved me. Wyatt McDowell, the sexiest, most wonderful man in the entire world, had just told me he loved me. And now his hands were roaming all over my body, making me grow instantly wet.

He gripped my hair in his hands and dropped his lips to my neck, dragging his tongue across my skin. I shivered underneath his touch and felt the need between my thighs begin to ache. I hadn’t dared hope all this time that he would ever fuck me again, but here were we now, and it was all I could do to stay in my seat.

In fact, to hell with that.

I launched myself toward him, climbing over the console to straddle his lap. Fire licked in his eyes, and he smiled deliciously at me in response. The steering wheel dug into my back, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was what else was digging into me…and that was his sti cock pressing against where my pussy rubbed against him, hard and fast.

“I like this side of you, Becca.” He lifted my shirt over my head and undid the clasp of my bra in one fluid motion. My

breasts bounced as they fell out of the lacy material, my nipples hard and erect before him. His tongue darted out, twirling circles on my skin just as he squeezed my fleshy mounds tight in his masculine hands.

“Oh!” I squealed, half in pleasure and half in pain. But I pressed my breasts against his face, begging for more.

He gripped them again before taking one fully into his mouth. I dropped my head back and moaned as I began to rock against him, grinding my desperate pussy against his crotch. He was so rough and so gentle, all at the same time, and it drove me wild with a need I’d never felt. I wanted it rough, and I wanted it now.

Wyatt unbuttoned my jeans and somehow got them halfway down my legs while I continued to rub myself against him. I’d worn a lacy thong to match my bra, just in case, and they were so soaked that I began leaving streaks on his pants. He slipped his hand between my thighs to feel my wetness and growled, spanking my bare ass in response.

“You’re so fucking eager for me, aren’t you, baby?” His lips darted across my ear before he nipped at my lobe. “How do you want me to fuck you?”

“I want you to fuck me hard,” I breathed, my blood pulsing with desire.

It didn’t take anything more than that. He unzipped his pants and rammed his rod into my aching folds. His cock was so hard and so big that he stretched me far more than I thought I could go. It hurt, but I found the pain drove me wild. And it felt so good that nothing else existed in the world.

His hands gripped my hips, and he began to rock my body against him. Slowly at first, but it took only moments for our pace to quicken, for my desperation for him to take control of my body. I held on tight to his shoulders as I slammed my

pussy against him, harder and faster, so fast that the car shook underneath us.

As my pleasure began to climb, Wyatt dragged his hand across my bare ass, stilling just on the edge of my back hole.

And then his finger flicked out to press against it. My pace slowed and I sucked in a breath. What was he doing?

“Do you trust me?” he murmured as he continued to suck on my breasts.

More juices squirted from within me as he lifted me into the air and pulled out his cock. My heart thundered, and my breath shook. I had an idea of what he was about to do, and it turned me on just thinking about it, even though I had no idea what to expect.

“I trust you,” I whispered.

He dragged his hand across my clit, which was covered in my juices. And then he plunged his cock back inside me while edging his finger into my second hole. Oh my god, I’d never thought something could feel so good. His finger slid all the way inside, and he began fucking me in both holes.

Gasping, I let him fill me completely until my body rocked hard as I came. My orgasm was more intense than it had ever been before.

Wyatt followed just behind, squirting his silky cum inside me as he grunted in pleasure.

And then once I’d caught my breath, he started right back up again.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

T he

next morning, I walked down the stairs a little gingerly. Wyatt had fucked me hard, over and over, until I was nothing more than a trembling heap in his arms. He’d kissed my forehead, told me he loved me, and had promised that he’d bring me back to the park another day to see the stars. Neither one of us were in any shape to do anything more than get some sleep after our fucking spree that lasted hours.

As my feet hit the bottom stair, I heard a familiar voice rumbling down the hallway from my dad’s study. Wyatt. My whole body went hot with panic. Had my dad heard me come home last night? Had he found out what was going on between me and his best friend before I’d had a chance to tell him?

This wasn’t going to go well…

My feet took me down the hallway out of their own volition. A part of me wanted to run right out of the front door and escape what was happening, but another part of me was tired of worrying. Maybe it was time to confront this whole thing head-on. As much as my dad might hate it, this was my life. And I was going to do what I felt was right.

That just happened to be spending my life with his best friend.

“Becca.” My dad glanced up and gave me a soft smile. He sat in one of his leather chairs, Wyatt in the other. They didn’t look as though they’d been arguing. They both looked calm. Relaxed even. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” I said slowly, edging into the room. This was weird. The two of them had barely spoken in weeks, and now they were having a chilled-out convo the moment Wyatt and I had gotten together. Something smelled fishy, and it wasn’t the plate of mu ns my mom must have brought in when Wyatt had arrived this morning.

“Well, Wyatt.” My dad stood from his chair and gave his best friend a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you for coming over. It was good to clear things up. Good luck.”

My dad disappeared into the hallway, leaving me standing in the middle of the room, completely bewildered. What had I just walked in on? And why the hell had my dad left the study as soon as I’d come in?

“What was that all about?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

Wyatt looked up at me, his eyes twinkling. “I thought it was about time your dad and I had a chat. There’s was something quite important I needed to ask him.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat. Had he told my dad about the baby already? If so, why hadn’t he flown o the handle about it? None of this made any sense.

Wyatt went down on one knee, pulling a small black box from his pocket. My hand flew to my heart, and I sucked in a breath so loud that his lips quirked in response. This wasn’t…this couldn’t be…there was no way this was really happening. Tears pooled in my eyes as he opened the box,

holding up before him a diamond ring that sparkled in the morning sunlight streaming in through the windows.

“Becca Williams, I’ve felt something for you ever since you were eighteen. I didn’t think it was right, so I pushed you away. I’ve never been more wrong about something in my life. You make me feel like a better man than I’ve ever felt I was, and I want to spend my life trying to make you happy. I wanted to do this right, so I’ve spoken to your father. And he’s given us his blessing. He sees that I love you, Becca. More than anything. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” I cried out before launching myself into his arms.

“A million times yes.”

Chapter Fifteen

FIVE YEARS LATER

W yatt strode in from work and lifted me from the floor. It

was a ritual we’d been doing since we got married. He’d come in from a long day patrolling the quiet, boring streets of Snow Peak, he’d kiss me like he hadn’t seen me in months, and I’d wrap my legs around his waist. Even though we saw each other every single day, our love was stronger than ever. And our bedroom antics had only gotten hotter as the years had gone past.

Jacob, our oldest son, came running through the house, his feet pitter-pattering on the hardwood floor. Wyatt let me go and pulled his son into his arms, laughing and scu ng his wild and dark hair. Jacob looked just like his father, and it made my heart so full it burst.

After I’d graduated, we’d gotten married in the small church here in Snow Peak a few months before I’d gone into labor. We’d been blissfully happy ever since, and two more children had come along after Jacob. It turned out that Wyatt and I were something of a baby factory. We couldn’t keep our hands o each other, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

In fact, a part of me wanted a couple of more babies to add to the family.

I’d never imagined myself as a full-time mom, but it turned out I’d found my true calling in life, though I helped out at the courthouse every now and then just to pacify my parents. They’d surprised both me and Wyatt, and had fully supported our decision to get married and grow a family. Dad and Wyatt had resolved their di erences, and they were as close as they’d ever been, maybe even more. Whatever Wyatt had said to my dad that day he’d asked for my hand in marriage had convinced my dad just how much he truly loved me. And that was all that mattered to my parents. They wanted me to be happy, and Wyatt had made me the happiest I’d ever felt in my life.

“How was work?” I asked, smiling up at him after Jacob ran back into his room to play with the train set that he’d gotten from his grandparents for Christmas.

Wyatt smiled. “Calm as ever, Mrs. McDowell.”

Good. Calm was just how I liked it.

Wyatt reached for my coat that hung on a hook by the wall and tossed it my way. “Come outside. I have something to show you.”

I followed him to the porch out back and watched as he lugged the telescope behind him. After we’d moved in, he’d upgraded to one that was bigger and better, and we spent many nights out here viewing the sky above. It reminded the both of us of how we’d come together in the first place. It reminded us of what truly mattered in this world. Each other, our family, our beautiful children. The bond we’d always had.

“You might think this is a little bit cheesy, but did you know that it’s been five years today since we first…expressed our feelings for each other?” He waggled his eyebrows.

My lips quirked. I knew exactly what he meant, and I’d never forget that night for the rest of my life.

“Of course I know.” The day he’d taken my virginity was branded in my mind forever.

“I thought I’d do something a little special to celebrate it.” Wyatt reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

Eyebrows raised, I took it from him and read the words.

My heart skipped a beat. It was one of the cheesiest, sweetest, and most romantic things he’d ever done for me, and he’d done a hell of a lot over the years. Not because of what it was, but because of what it represented. He’d bought me a star.

“Oh, Wyatt.” I smiled and looked up at him. “Thank you.

This is really sweet.”

“Do you want to see where it is?” He moved over to the telescope and fiddled with the controls, turning the base until it was pointed at a pocket of sky overhead. “Okay, found it.”

He motioned for me to come close, and I pressed my eye against the piece. A bright star in the center of the viewer twinkled before me. It wasn’t any di erent than any other star in the sky, but it still stood out to me, signifying a love so strong that it burned hotter and brighter than any other I could see.

“Wyatt, it’s beautiful.” I pulled away from the telescope, went up onto my tiptoes, and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Even after all this time, the taste of his lips on mine still thrilled every single part of me. “I wish I knew how to show you how much this means to me.”

“Oh, I have a few ideas.” His lips quirked and he wrapped his strong arms around my waist. I melted against him, feeling none of the chill in the air, no matter how heavily winter had fallen around us. He was mine, and I was his, and we would be this way for the rest of our lives.

He lifted me from the ground and carried me inside, up the stairs and toward the bedroom. As soon as the bedroom door was shut, he tossed me onto the bed and stripped bare, his naked body rippling before me. A perfect specimen of a man. And he was one hundred percent mine.

“Get naked,” he growled as he moved across the room, his massive cock twitching in anticipation. “I think it’s time for us to make another baby.”

It took only seconds for my clothes to end up in a heap in the floor.

Another baby. It was as if he’d read my mind.

We were going to make another baby.

I couldn’t wait to see what the future had in store.

ALSO BY SYLVIA FOX

I’ve had my eyes on my best friend’s dad for years. Brett’s a pilot, but beyond that, he’s all man.

I’m saving myself for him … even though my fantasies may never be realized. I get o to the idea of us so many times — I’m literally aching for his touch.

But then I need a ride home for Thanksgiving break … and Brett’s in town with his plane.

I finally have a chance to see his cockpit … and damn if I’m not hoping to join the mile high club with this pilot.

I’ll let him fly me anywhere … I just hope he wants to take me away.

My dad’s best friend Colt is hot as sin. Like, late night vibe-fest kind of hot. Sure, he’s older, but that doesn’t matter one little bit because Colt Barrett is a man that deserves his own classification. Older. Younger. He transcends it all. He’s one hell of a man and my attraction to him was inevitable the minute I became woman enough to notice.

An early snowstorm traps us alone together in my parents’ house over Thanksgiving and the heat between us is more than either of us can handle. It should all work out just fine, right? I mean, we’re both adults and my parents don’t have to know anything about our little a air.

Until I get pregnant. All I want is a happily ever after with the man of my dreams.

It could all be mine as long as my dad doesn’t kill him first.

Dr. John Hardwicke is known as "Professor Hotness" around Moultrie College.

And I'm his student. Professor Hardwicke is head of the Political Science department, which just so happens to be my major.

He's the man who can make all my dreams come true ... in the classroom AND the bedroom.

He's also my father's best friend.

So I doubt he looks at me the way I look at him ... or does he?

When my parents decide to go on an anniversary trip during my Thanksgiving break, it puts me in a bind. I have nowhere to go ... until the professor o ers me a place at his table.

And on his c*ck.

Things just got a lot more complicated for this co-ed. But when it comes to the professor, this student is the highest of achievers. I always make the grade.