“Want you to myself.” Naked. Panting. Biting my shoulder to keep from yelling out my name.

  “I’m down for that.”

  We hit the end of the sand, and the going got slower through the vegetation, but we both kept moving like our lives depended on it. Hiking through that crap with a hard-on to end all hard-ons was not a comfortable undertaking. The only thing that kept me stepping forward was the hope that relief would come soon.

  The shore curved around into a cove of sorts, and once we were there, I searched for the sandy spot I’d once been able to get to practically with my eyes closed. Ava knew exactly where I was heading, and I soon felt her pulling at my hand.

  “It’s over here,” she said.

  We were on top of it by the time I saw the small patch of sand, the surrounding brush a lot thicker than it had been before.

  “You come here often?” I asked in a cheesy, pickup-line voice.

  Ava let out a musical laugh as she turned to face me and pulled me flush with her body. “I did a couple blue moons ago. Always with you.” She stood on her toes and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “Only you.”

  I wrapped my arms around her and bent down to kiss her good and full, showing her how much I wanted her, not that she needed any encouragement. She ran her hands up under my shirt, shoving the tee I’d changed into before leaving work up to my neck. Putting a few inches between us, I reached back between my shoulder blades, grabbed the fabric, yanked it off, and tossed it to the ground, then tugged the waistband of her shorts toward me and gave her tank the same treatment.

  Within thirty seconds, we stood there naked in the moonless night, our mouths going after each other, hands all over. I palmed the globes of her ass and lifted her off the ground, then waded into the lake. The water was refreshing but not what I’d call cool. It could’ve been icy and it wouldn’t have slowed me down tonight.

  Ava’s legs flew around my waist, her ankles locking at the small of my back, pressing her damp heat to my groin and making my eyes roll back in my head. She ground her pelvis into me, moaning low and so fucking hot that I no longer cared whether our bodies were submerged before I entered her sweet, slick heat.

  I managed to get us thigh-deep in the water before she slid just right and impaled herself on my cock.

  “Cash,” she breathed out as if relieved.

  I was too, for about six seconds, then I needed more, needed to feel that friction, needed relief from that incredible pressure.

  Clinging to her ass, pulling her as close to me as humanly possible, I bent my legs enough to lower us beneath the surface. Our bodies thrust and ground in a primal rhythm, our intensity climbing, as I lost my ever-loving mind to the ecstasy of sex with Ava. The sight of her white tits in the darkness, bouncing then pressing into my chest, only made me wilder with need. She was perfectly in tune with that as she clenched her muscles around me, moaned that sexy-as-hell groan a few more times, then came apart in my arms. I watched her orgasm raptly, even as it pushed me closer to my own edge, made everything inside of me tense up, reaching, needing.

  I came so hard I could barely stand as I clutched her to me and pulsed inside of her, grunting out, “Fuck, Ava.”

  I felt her teeth on my neck, and that turned me inside out, stopped my fucking breathing, and then had me finally gasping for life-affirming breath.

  “Jesus,” I managed, panting, my arms still around her as if my life depended on our intimate connection.

  “Yeah,” she said, and I was gratified to note she could barely get the single syllable out as she tried to catch her breath.

  I carried her with me to shallow water, sat my ass down on the sandy bottom where it was just a couple of feet deep, enough to keep our lower bodies submerged and our heads and chests in the open air.

  Her lips were on mine as her body settled into me again, her legs straddling me, but the kiss was gentle, sated, lacking the urgency of a few minutes ago.

  “It’s been a while since we did that here, huh?” she asked between kisses, her lips curling upward. “We could’ve gone to the cottage.”

  “That’s next,” I said, grinning but meaning it. I had no intention of going to my place tonight unless she kicked me out.

  The truth was, I hadn’t planned to jump her before we could even have a conversation, but here we were.

  “I couldn’t help myself,” I said, running my hands over her lithe back and her slender thighs. “I had every intention of asking you how your interview went first.”

  “I’m not complaining.” She pushed up to a stand, robbing me of the feel of her wet, naked body on top of mine. She held out her hand and I stood, my eyes feasting on every inch of her petite, knockout body now that I wasn’t so desperate to get inside of her.

  We walked back to our clothes. I spread my T-shirt out for her to sit on and settled my own ass right next to her, on top of my jeans, hoping for no sand in my ass but knowing there was a shower in our near future.

  “So tell me about it,” I said as she propped her hands behind her and angled her head back, her breasts pointing to the sky. There wasn’t any moonlight, but I could see her just fine, and in no time, I was sporting a semi.

  “The meeting was really good,” Ava said. “I liked all three of the people from Stream a lot, got a good feeling from them, you know?”

  “That’s important.”

  “Afterward, Willa told me she got good vibes from all of them. Then early today, Sheldon Milano from Stream reached out to her and was ‘very upbeat.’”

  “That sounds promising, Ava.” I put my arm around her and squeezed her to my side. “I’m so damn happy for you.”

  “It felt good. Feels good. But I also don’t want to jinx anything. So many things could derail it.”

  I nodded. “They’d be idiots not to hire you.”

  “My lack of experience is kind of glaring.”

  “But your talent makes up for it.”

  With a laugh, she said, “How would you know?”

  “I know you. I have every bit of faith that you’ll kill it in TV land.”

  She leaned her head on my upper arm. “Thank you. We’ll see what happens.”

  “When do you think you’ll hear something?”

  “Probably not as fast as I want. But I’m going to put my head down, dig in here, and try to get the inn settled while I’m waiting.”

  “Any more leads for a manager?”

  “I received a couple more resumes, one guy I might interview, but no one who’s exciting me.”

  “The right person will show up soon.” And that would be one more step toward our time together ending, but I locked that thought out of my head the second it popped up.

  I didn’t know whether she believed it, but she nodded. “How was your week? Any word from the show?”

  I couldn’t help grinning as I sat up straighter. “Apparently they sent someone out undercover earlier this week. We just got news this evening. They loved our food. We made the cut to the next round.”

  “Cash! You buried the lead! Congratulations.” She grabbed my head and kissed me enthusiastically.

  “Thanks, gorgeous. It feels good. The only downside is that the Cove made it too.”

  “In the Marks Resort?”

  “Right.”

  “You don’t think you could both get on the show?”

  “They never do two restaurants from the same town.”

  There were a million small towns in America, and Small Town Smorgasbord always liked to mix it up. They’d been to every state, and had only gone back to a handful so far. I’d seen every episode.

  “So what’s the next step?” Ava asked.

  “They’re still traveling around, adding to the list of restaurants who made the cut. Sometime next month, they’ll start contacting the winners to set up filming.”

  “So there’s nothing to do but wait.”

  “Right.”

  “This is going to turn out right, Cash. I can feel it.” She squeezed my forearm as she leaned into me from the side.

  “For both of us.” I kissed her temple, feeling more optimistic than I had in ages. “We both seem to be on the exact track we’re meant to be on.”

  “We are,” she agreed. “I believe that.”

  Her fingers trailed along my bare thigh, distracting me. I wound my arm around her again and pulled her close, trying not to act like a complete insatiable horndog even though that’s what she made me. I entwined those fingers with my other hand as we both looked out over the quiet, dark lake. As always, it was peaceful on this side, and this was my favorite time to appreciate it, when there weren’t screaming, laughing people ruining the beauty of it.

  “Cash?” Ava said a couple minutes later.

  “Yeah?”

  “I wish it didn’t mean we’d end up thousands of miles apart.”

  “I know.” Fuck did I know. I kissed the side of her head again, noting her hair was starting to dry and that our bodies were mostly dry too. We could either get our clothes on and go back and shower or I could take her into the lake and mess her up again. I was open to either. And yet I sat there without moving, appreciating the hell out of this time with her.

  “Can I be honest with you?” she asked.

  “Always.”

  She hesitated. “When I go back to California for good, it’s going to take a bit to get over you again.”

  “Same,” I said, closing my eyes and breathing in the faint scent of her hair mixed with the smell of the lake.

  Ava let out a sigh. “I don’t know how to handle that.”

  “You’ll be so busy being a head writer you’ll barely remember me,” I said lightly at the same time I hoped like hell that wasn’t true. I didn’t want her to hurt, but I didn’t want her to forget about me.

  Because it was becoming more and more obvious that I was going to have to fight like hell to be able to forget about her.

  I shut down those thoughts again because they didn’t do any good. I wanted Ava to have what she dreamed of. Period.

  “Want to put our clothes on so we can go back to the cottage and get naked again?” I asked, grinning, my dick full-on hard as I brushed my fingers over her breast.

  She leaned into my hand and gasped quietly. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 19

  Ava

  Sunday morning, I crawled out of my bed early, reluctant to leave a slumbering Cash but hoping he’d sleep for another hour or two. To say we hadn’t gotten a lot of z’s since I got back in town Friday evening was an understatement. I couldn’t regret it, though, despite the way my eyes burned with fatigue.

  I headed to the maintenance room to get the paint supplies Halstead had picked up. He’d wanted to help me today, but he’d worked lots of overtime the past two weeks, knocking out his items on the Operation Inn Overhaul list, and I’d finally convinced him he could help me paint the interior as he had time over the next week but to take today off. Painting was one thing I’d decided I could handle myself, and I hoped to get a couple of the guest rooms on the west wing done before dinner.

  The A/C had been repaired. The roof replacement was scheduled to start on Tuesday with a guarantee it’d be done before Labor Day weekend, when we had seventy percent of the rooms reserved. I’d ordered a new, expensive inn management system and the computers to go with it. Levi Dawson’s construction crew was showing up tomorrow morning to screen in part of the deck. I was waiting for bids on the exterior painting, but that was less vital to have completed before our busy end-of-the-summer-season weekend for Labor Day. There were several other smaller projects either in process or waiting for bids, and there was the manager problem yet to be solved, but the to-do list was shrinking.

  I unlocked the maintenance room and picked up a paint can, tray, brushes, plastic tarps, a roller, and tape, then headed to the west wing. I set everything down in the guest room closest to the lobby, then went to check in with Deshon and Sadie Brent, who was on her second day of training. After checking in with them and ensuring Deshon’s wife hadn’t yet gone into labor, I headed to the kitchen to get the donuts I’d stocked up on yesterday. Cash and I had discussed some possibilities for uses of the kitchen, but I hadn’t decided on anything yet. Until I did, I’d be using Sugar. No more early-morning baking disasters for me.

  By seven, I’d eaten two donuts—I told myself I needed the carbs for the work I was determined to get done today—and was heading back through the lobby when the main door opened and Cash walked in, looking awake and energetic and…not alone. He carried an open-topped box that looked like it held more painting supplies.

  Not seeing me, he turned back to whoever was behind him, laughing, and as they entered, I recognized his brother Seth.

  “Hey,” I called out to them.

  They weren’t alone. Seth was holding the hand of a pretty brunette. It took about three seconds for me to recognize her—she was one of my favorite country singers, Everly Ash. I tilted my head to the side, unsure what I wanted to find out first, what she was doing here at my inn or why she was holding Seth’s hand.

  But before I could get answers to either question, Cash’s sister, Hayden, came in with a pretty woman about her age. Behind them were Cash’s youngest brother, Holden, and two other guys.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Cash as he came toward the spot where I’d frozen in place near the door to the west wing.

  “I told you I’d help you paint today,” he said, grinning.

  “You did. Hi, Seth. It’s good to see you.” There might’ve been a little question in my tone.

  Seth let go of Everly Ash’s hand long enough to hug me. “Hi, Ava.” He pulled Everly closer. “Meet my fiancée, Everly.”

  “Um, yeah,” I said, smiling, “I know of you. I’m a big fan. It’s a pleasure to meet you, but”—I addressed Seth—“how the heck did she end up with you?”

  “Plain dumb luck,” he said humbly. “Best luck of my life.”

  “It’s a story, for sure,” Everly said warmly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You can read multiple versions of that story online,” Seth said with a scowl.

  “But I could probably be convinced to tell you all about how I fell for this guy while we paint,” Everly said.

  “You’re going to paint?” I asked, looking between the three of them.

  “We’re all going to paint,” Hayden, who yanked me into a warm hug, said. “Ava, Ava, it’s so good to see you.” When she ended the hug, she said, “This is my friend Sierra, her husband, Cole, and this hottie is my husband, Zane. We let Holden tag along as well.”

  “Tag along. We’ll see how many more walls I can paint than you,” Holden said to Hayden. He came over and side-hugged me.

  I shook Sierra’s hand. She had her hair up in a ponytail and wore paint-splattered cargo pants and a cropped tee. “You and Hayden have been friends for a long time, right?” I asked. “I remember hearing her talk about you when I used to live here.”

  “We met in second grade,” Sierra said. “Then we ended up marrying brothers.”

  “Zane North,” Hayden’s husband said as he stepped forward and shook my hand. “I’m the good brother. Cole’s our black sheep.”

  “Reformed,” Sierra said. “Most days.” She nudged her shoulder into his arm as he came forward to shake my hand.

  After meeting everyone, I must have looked at Cash stupidly.

  “I rounded up painting help,” he said. “We’ll knock out the whole wing today.”

  “I… All of you?”

  “Dylan’s showing up in a couple hours too, and Jake will be here after lunch as long as he can get away from the store,” Cash said.

  “I… I don’t know what to say. You…” I zeroed my gaze in on Cash. Handsome, considerate Cash. “You did this?”

  “I asked my people to help. They’re the ones who showed up. My dad and Faye said to wish you well. They wanted to pitch in but they’re watching Calvin and Jasper, Zane and Cole’s nephews.”

  “So we threw Harrison into the mix,” Hayden said. “Don’t kid yourself. Faye and our dad wanted to be here, but they wanted to play with their grandbabies more.”

  “Well, thank you all for coming to help a stranger. It means the world to me,” I said.

  “Cole and I got married here at the inn,” Sierra said, looping her arm through her husband’s. “I love this place so much. It has a good soul.”

  “Sierra owns a remodeling company,” Hayden explained. “Restoring historic buildings is her passion. And she’s good.”

  “The best,” Cole said.

  “You’re biased,” Sierra said.

  “But also right,” her husband insisted.

  Zane merely nodded at me, as if to back up his brother without having to admit it out loud.

  My brows shot up. “We should definitely talk then,” I said to Sierra. “This place needs a lot, but I don’t want to modern it up too much.”

  “I’m up for it anytime. Today or another day,” Sierra said.

  “Yes,” I said enthusiastically, “thank you. That would be awesome.”

  The door opened again and Magnolia came in, followed by more people.

  “Hey,” I said. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the Lily Pad?”

  “Dotty gave me the day off,” Magnolia said. “Cash told me he was gathering people to help paint, so I brought some friends too.”

  Three women followed her in, full of warmth and smiles. I recognized one as Olivia, from Sugar.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I said, “other than thank you all, and you’re amazing.” The last I said to Magnolia as I hugged her. “Lunch is on me for sure. Hey, Olivia. It’s good to see you.”

  “I brought snacks,” Olivia said, holding up a large bakery box I guessed was either cookies or donuts.

  “Bless you. I’m blown away.”

  “This is Shawna Jenkins,” Magnolia said, indicating the one closest to her, “and Anna Delfico.”

  “I recognize your names,” I said, shaking hands with Shawna and Anna. “Thank you, all. I can’t believe this. You’re so thoughtful,” I said to Magnolia.

  “This was all Cash’s idea,” she said, nodding to him.