Totally. It was all fine and well.

  I even planned a dipnetting trip with Chase, Russell, and Archer this summer. We were joking about how it was easier to go as a group so we could help each other carry our coolers. Dipnetting in the summers in Alaska was insanely fun. It was a ton of work, but it usually resulted in a chest freezer full of fresh salmon.

  Russell and I also planned a day of backcountry skiing, which I hadn’t had a chance to do since I got home. Chase and Hallie offered to babysit if we needed it.

  At some point, Tiffany went to check on Ross, and I needed to go to the bathroom. Phoebe directed me to the one off a small alcove that led from the kitchen into the garage. I finished washing my hands and stepped out to find Tiffany waiting.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Wes

  Tiffany’s eyes widened when she saw me. “Oh,” she said, her voice coming out low and husky.

  One single word out of her mouth, and my body felt singed from the heat coursing through it. The arousal I’d been trying to keep at bay all evening swelled.

  We stared at each other in the small space. We were protected from view, and no one was in the kitchen. All of the voices were a distant murmur.

  “Ross seems to be making a friend,” I observed.

  Tiffany nodded, staying right where she was with her back against the wall. I wasn’t thinking when I stepped closer. “How are you?” I asked, resting a hand on the wall beside her.

  Her eyes met mine, and the sound of her breath drawing in sharply was like a little bolt of lightning, electrifying the air around us.

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  We stared at each other as my heart thudded hard and fast against my rib cage. “I need to kiss you,” I murmured.

  I stepped closer yet again. Our bodies were flush now, and I could feel her nipples, tight little peaks, pressing through the fabric of her shirt and mine. My cock throbbed. I knew she felt my arousal, nestled in the cradle of her hips. She shifted slightly, just enough that her hips rocked against me.

  I let out a low growl before dipping my head and claiming her mouth in a kiss. For a moment, my mind went blank when her tongue glided against mine. She made this little sound in her throat. I rocked into her, and her hips rolled to meet my motion. Abruptly, I remembered where we were. As if we were entirely in tune, we broke apart at the same time, staring at each other.

  Her breath came in little pants. I leaned my head back, scrambling for control. When my gaze met hers again, she bit her lip. It was all I could do not to start kissing her again.

  “I want you,” I said flatly.

  She let out a startled, almost disbelieving laugh. “Wes, this is crazy.”

  “I know.” I rocked against her again, and she released a little moan. “Fuck,” I muttered.

  “We have to get it together,” she said quickly.

  I took another deep breath, marshaling my discipline and stepping back reluctantly.

  Somehow, I got the need raging inside me under control and managed, or at least I thought I did, to return to the living room and socialize like a normal human being. I was profoundly relieved the evening was winding down because looking Chase in the eyes was challenging.

  “Is that okay with you?” Tiffany’s question broke through my fuzzy thoughts.

  I’d been so damn busy trying not to look at her that I’d lost the thread of the conversation. “Excuse me, I zoned out. Is what okay?”

  When I glanced up, my gaze passed briefly by Hallie’s. There was a mischievous, knowing glint in her eyes. I forced myself to look at Tiffany.

  “Tommy asked if Ross could spend the night,” she explained.

  “Tomorrow,” Phoebe chimed in. “He can stay here.”

  “They can have my office for the whole night,” Archer said with a dry chuckle.

  “If it’s okay with you all, it’s definitely okay with me.” I glanced at Ross. “What about you?” He nodded enthusiastically. “Sounds like a plan. What time should I bring him over?” I looked over toward Archer and Phoebe.

  “Let’s say five,” Phoebe said. “Archer was already planning a pizza night.”

  “I love any excuse for pizza,” Archer said with a wink. “And we were planning to do a fire outside with marshmallows, s’mores, the whole deal. That’ll be dessert. If I can break these guys away from video games, that is.”

  “I’ve never had a campfire,” Ross piped up.

  “You’re in for a treat,” Tiffany offered with a warm smile. “They’re the best in the winter.”

  Fuck me. I could not even look at her, not if I wanted to hold my need at bay.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tiffany

  It was late, and I was restless. I’d never been a great sleeper, even when I was younger. Maybe it was the wondering about how things were with my mom or the occasional fraught arguments she would start with my dad. It was almost as if it angered her that he was a steady, stable presence in our lives and hers. Whenever it came to my mother when I was a little girl, a churning sense of uncertainty mingled with a needy wish for her to pay more attention to me and not to view me as an inconvenience, for her to want me, to love me.

  As an adult, I could see that she did the best she could, which was not very good at all. Her own sense of need felt yawning sometimes, as if she couldn’t get enough of what she hoped from the world and those around her. I had a distant recollection of my grandparents, her parents. They’d not been very warm or very stable and were mostly distant, like her. I recalled they both died sometime during elementary school, but the details were thin.

  As I’d gotten a better sense of what my father had given me and my brother, I understood that he gave us the very quality she simply didn’t have—we mattered because of us, not because of what he needed from us. His steady love felt like a soft ray of sunshine, casting warmth and light.

  Yet I still couldn’t believe love was worth it. Not even trying was the safe, smart option.

  “Ugh,” I muttered to myself, rolling onto my stomach and groaning into my pillow.

  My insides were churning. This whole thing with Wes was muddling my emotions. I wished, desperately, that I didn’t want him so much. Our kiss tonight had felt like the equivalent of flooring the gas pedal on the need racing through me. I couldn’t find the brakes to slow it down.

  Even now, my arousal was still present, dancing like hot sparks through my veins.

  I took a breath, rolling onto my back and ordering myself to stop thinking so much about Wes. My body was doing the opposite of everything I demanded. The second I tried to kick him out of my thoughts, he came back with insistence. I could remember the feel of his hands on my skin, his lips molding over mine, and the way he felt inside me.

  My phone vibrated on my nightstand. Without touching my phone or even looking at the screen, I knew it was Wes. I told myself not to look, but I couldn’t help it. Like everything with him, my body had a mind of its own, driven by a force beyond my control.

  Reaching over, I snagged the phone. The text banner displayed his name.

  Wes: Are you awake?

  My face felt hot. My body was so sensitive, so attuned to him that the mere fact he texted me from miles away had my skin feeling hypersensitive. My nipples tightened, and I could feel the fabric of my tank top lightly abrading them. I was smiling as I typed out my reply.

  Me: Yes.

  The dots indicating that he was typing appeared almost instantly, and I could feel the drum roll of my heartbeat pounding through my body as I waited. Butterflies twirled in my belly, sending tingles scattering through my system. My legs shifted restlessly.

  Wes: I was thinking you could come over tomorrow night. I’ll make you dinner.

  I bit my lip, smiling to myself.

  Me: Is this a date?

  My pussy clenched, and I became acutely aware of the arousal slick between my thighs.

  Wes: Yes. I just want to see you.

  My heart pounded faster.

  Me: Well, I guess it’s good I want to see you too.

  Wes: Sweetheart, I want more than to see you.

  I stared at the screen, trying to calm down. Before I could talk myself out of it, I swiped his contact to call him.

  He answered immediately. “Tiffany.”

  “Hey,” I whispered huskily.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, the sound of his voice low and gravelly, sliding over my nerve endings like warm honey.

  “Lying in bed, not falling asleep.” He was quiet for a moment. “You’re supposed to tell me this is stupid,” I added.

  “What if I don’t care if it’s stupid?”

  “Wes,” I whispered, his name almost a plea.

  “Either I come all over my hand by myself or with you,” he said, his words shocking and blunt.

  My body reacted with my pussy clenching. Without thinking, my free hand slid over my belly, dipping past the thin elastic of my practical cotton panties. My fingers dipped down into my folds. They were slippery wet, and my clit was a swollen bud. I couldn’t hold back the little whimper that escaped.

  “Tell me how wet you are.”

  His low command elicited an immediate response with my hips bucking. “Wes,” I pleaded.

  “How close are you?” he asked

  I couldn’t help myself. My fingers swirled around my clit, sliding back and forth. My release was waiting, a sharp piercing need.

  “Almost there,” I choked out.

  My hips were rocking of their own accord, and oh, how I wanted him! Right here. With me. Filling me.

  “Come with me.” His voice was raw. “Now,” he growled.

  My body instantly followed his command. My release sizzled through me, everything going taut before breaking loose. Deep tremors raced through my body, the pleasure so fierce that everything was a haze in my thoughts as I gasped, crying his name.

  The ripples slowed, the pleasure rolling through me in waves as I gradually caught my breath. I could hear the ragged sound of his breathing through the phone line as I slowly drew my fingers away, thinking I had never done this with anyone. In a way, it felt more intimate than being with him skin to skin. Because I was letting him bear witness to my need taking over.

  “Do you think you’ll fall asleep now?” he asked, his tone teasing. Yet I sensed he was also quite serious.

  “Yes,” I said with a low laugh.

  “I will too. Sweet dreams, Tiffany.”

  “Wait.”

  “Yeah?”

  “What time should I come over tomorrow?”

  “Let’s say five-thirty. I’m dropping Ross off at five at Phoebe and Archer’s place. Any requests for dinner?”

  “Surprise me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Tiffany

  Hands on my hips, I watched as my father finished a shelf he was building in the garage at his house. He lightly tapped the top shelf down with a mallet on one side, saying, “There.”

  It was a simple yet elegant three-level shelf made of wood my father had planed himself.

  “What’s that for?”

  “Ross. It’s a shelf for his video games. See.” He gestured. “The top shelf is for the console and then room for his games. I know he plays online, which I don’t even understand.” My father rolled his eyes. “But he said he has some games too. I’ll make two shelves for him, one for your place and one for Wes’s.”

  My heart squeezed as I looked at my father. He straightened and set the mallet on his workbench. I felt as if a string tugged on my heart, reminding me of how fiercely I loved my father. He had always worked to be a mainstay in my life, a source of stability while I had scrambled internally over the fractured relationship with my mother.

  In the aftermath of our mother passing, learning about the two flings my mother had, strangely, didn’t make things worse, at least not as to how I felt about her. It did tangle into the knot of mistrust I had about relationships. You could be a good person and still have someone treat you badly

  “I love it, Dad,” I said when I realized he was waiting for me to say something. “Ross will love it.”

  Just then, the sound of tires on gravel reached us. Glancing out the side door of the garage, I saw my brother’s truck. “Oh, Chase is here.”

  My father nodded when my gaze swung back to him. “Yeah, he’s dropping off some tools he borrowed.” He turned and started tidying the shelf just beside his workbench. He was a man who kept things organized.

  As Chase entered the garage, my father commented, “I’d love for you and Wes to come over for dinner with Ross. I may not play video games, but I still want to get to know him.”

  Chase grinned. “Ross kicks ass at video games, but Wes says he likes doing stuff outside. Maybe you could take him on one of your trips.”

  Our father had been a wilderness guide for years. He still did it but not as often as he used to. He was well known in the area and tended to be recommended to more experienced groups because he knew all the best places and was highly skilled as well as safe.

  “That’s a great idea. I’ve got a winter hike scheduled soon, just a day one. I’ll see if he’d like to go.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Chase replied. His eyes shifted to me. “Tiffany could go with you.”

  “I don’t like being cold,” I said flatly. While I was an Alaskan girl, born and bred, I didn’t like being cold. I loved the outdoors, but when it came to winter, I liked looking at the snow and then hanging out in front of a warm fire.

  Chase chuckled. “I know.” He held up one of my father’s familiar tool bags, saying, “Here you go.”

  “Thanks,” my dad said lightly as he turned and crossed over to lift it from Chase’s hand.

  “What were you doing? It’s not like you have any shortage of tools,” I commented.

  “I do have plenty of tools, but I don’t have a hardwood floor nailer.”

  “How are things going at the house?” I asked.

  “Almost done,” Chase said with a nod.

  “Just in time for the baby,” my father observed.

  “I still can’t believe you’re a father!” I impulsively stepped to my brother and threw my arms around his waist to give him a quick hug. Chase returned my hug before stepping back with a grin.

  “Here and there, I still can’t believe it. Dad’s got a bonus grandkid now.”

  Our father winked. “And I love it.”

  That sense of uncertainty unspooled inside me. I hadn’t fully adjusted to the reality that Sarah had passed away. It was still startling the way it played out. I couldn’t help but wonder why Sarah and George wanted Wes and me to share guardianship.

  “Speaking of, what’s up with you and Wes?” Chase asked.

  I glanced at my brother, my eyes narrowing as I cast him a glare.

  Our father looked back and forth between us. “What don’t I know?”

  “Nothing,” I said too quickly.

  My dad chuckled as he finished putting away the last of his tools. “I need some coffee. I’m going to the kitchen to make it.” He met my eyes. “Are you hanging out?”

  “I need to run. I have a few errands to take care of.”

  My dad crossed over, dusting a kiss on my cheek and squeezing my shoulder lightly. “Give me a call. Maybe I’ll text you the time for my winter day hike next weekend. If it works out for Ross, I’d love for him to come. Perhaps Wes could come with him if you don’t want to.”

  With that, my father disappeared through the doorway that led from the garage into the kitchen, and I looked over at Chase. “What the hell?”

  His brows hitched up as he gave me a knowing look. “You and Wes have something going on. I’m not blind. Everybody noticed. When I asked Hallie about it, she wouldn’t say a word, which told me everything I needed to know.”

  I groaned. “Nothing is going on.”

  My brother studied me for a moment before his gaze softened. “You know, we both have our share of baggage from Mom. I’m living proof that it’s worth letting go of that weight.”

  My throat felt tight, and tears stung my eyes. I experienced a familiar mix of annoyance and an old, achy pain in my heart. I wasn’t about to fall apart in front of Chase, so I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, scrambling for some composure before I opened them again.

  “I know,” I said, striving to sound casual. “There’s nothing to worry about with Wes and me. No matter what you think.”

  I was lying, but I wasn’t ready to talk about it, not with Chase, not when I already knew I was being foolish and reckless.

  His eyes searched mine before he shrugged. “I’m here if you need me. He’s an old friend, and I work with him, but if he hurts you, I’ll kick his fucking ass.”

  And on that annoying note, I left.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Wes

  After taking a shower, I walked out of the bathroom and glanced around my bedroom. My mother had helped me furnish this house before I moved in. It had simple modern furniture with clean lines. The bed was piled high with pillows and a lightweight down quilt. I tried to imagine the space through Tiffany’s eyes. Even though I lived as a bachelor, at least my place looked comfortable and clean.

  I snorted to myself. I didn’t usually worry about what a woman might think of where I lived. I could honestly say I’d never even considered it. Before moving back to Willow Brook, I’d mostly lived in apartments. As a hotshot firefighter, my life was nomadic because I moved where the season took me. When I decided to come back home to help my mom, one benefit was that the hotshot crews here had a home base. Alaska was big geographically with an unfortunate number of wildfires, but that meant there were year-round crews.