She looked over at Ryland, who was staring intently up at the sky, avoiding her gaze, as if the subject were painful to talk about.

  Of course it was.

  She felt like an idiot for how she had judged him from the start. It didn’t change what she had to do, but it did mean that maybe he could be on her side. Maybe they could work together. And she could let down the huge wall she’d erected between them because they would have to be enemies.

  “Tell me more,” she said because it needed to be real.

  So he did, and as he told her a long story of childhood abuse and deprivation, she realized she would never know how to judge someone again. Because even the most seemingly successful person could have a childhood full of nightmares.

  When she couldn’t take any more, she put a finger over on his lips, stopping him. He’d been repeating facts in a robotic manner, and she understood now why everyone had left Bear Canyon.

  It wasn’t to go help the family name by succeeding in the world; it was to outrun the past.

  And she now understood why they all treated the Brawl as a duty, why they stuck close together when they came back here, and often talked about how they couldn’t wait to leave, no matter how beautiful it was.

  But there was just one question left. Something she had to know, something she’d thought she would be able to figure out when she came here.

  She’d thought it could wait because she’d thought she could punish his sons in his place, but now she realized they were innocent. Not her enemies.

  “Ryland, I need to know something.”

  He rolled onto his side, looking weary but a little relieved after telling her everything. “What now?”

  “Where is your father? Where is John Brolin?”

  His lips tightened into a hard line and then he got to his feet, brushing the grass off. “I’ve told you enough secrets for one day. That one is staying inside me.”

  His face was hard, and she could see he wasn’t going to budge. He’d been brave for her, and she could see it in the wide set of his feet, the stubborn tension in his shoulders and powerful arms as he folded them.

  He’d exposed as much of his past to her as he could, and now he was raw and vulnerable.

  And more beautiful than he’d ever been before.

  Wind blew his short brown hair, exposing the white there, and his skin looked extra smooth in the overcast light. The thin sweats he was wearing plastered to his body with the cool breeze, and he looked as if the last thing he expected was anything good from her.

  But everything was changing in front of her eyes. Everything about Ryland Brolin made sense now. His protectiveness of his family, the way he worked hard in the gym, the lack of entitlement despite his wealth. And yes, even his awkward, controlling nature.

  They were more alike than she’d ever thought, and now, without a wall between them, she wanted him, deeper than she’d ever wanted anything before.

  His eyes narrowed, catching the pheromones in the air, as he realized what she was thinking, and he took a step forward and then waited, pausing.

  She took a deep breath, pushing all other thoughts away, and ran to him, knocking him down into the grass and smothering him with kisses.

  She didn’t know how this would affect her plans. How it would affect everything.

  She just wanted to be one with him, the person she’d known for months, the person she’d made love to before, the person she should have known she could trust even when everything she’d previously known said to stay away from him.

  She’d have this, and then they could work out the rest.

  10

  Ryland didn’t know what had come over Lea, but he liked it.

  Especially as a distraction from all the horrible things he’d just had to expose.

  She was kissing him, her curvy body pinning him to the soft, cool grass as her hands scraped down over his chest and shoulders, caressing his abs.

  Holy shit, she was aggressive.

  He kept seeing new sides to her and loving all of them. He loved the Lea that had sent a huge shifter flying. The Lea that had patiently trained him, the Lea that had made love to him and sassily turned him down.

  And the Lea that had carefully listened about his childhood and, instead of looking down on him, seemed to think better of him.

  And not in a pitying way, but somehow it seemed as if they were on the same team. Maybe realizing the Brolins weren’t some perfect family helped her feel like they weren’t as different as she thought.

  From the sound of it, she’d definitely had a rough childhood.

  He wanted to make it all better, forge a future that was totally different for both of them.

  He’d do that after the Brawl. After he won.

  Right now, he was totally focused on the curvy, fit, sumptuous, brave, amazing woman in his arms.

  He curved an arm up around her and reversed their positions. She looked up at him in shock, and then her dark lips curved and she wriggled slightly, inviting him to go farther. She was the girl from the gym, passionate and intense, and he wasn’t on top because he insisted on control or anything like that.

  Despite this being his secret place, this was still out in the open, and he wanted to make sure she was protected, covered, for his eyes only.

  He wanted to be able to hear everything around them, and he wanted to be able to fall on her if someone stumbled on them.

  She reached up and pulled on the hem of his sweatshirt, and he easily stripped it off over his head, loving the feel of the cool mountain air that appeared to be getting colder. He looked up to see the sky darkening to a light gray.

  Perhaps it would rain.

  That would feel amazing, little ice pricks on his skin, waking him up, making him feel alive.

  She tugged at the waistband of his pants, and he stood to take them off for her. He didn’t really care if anyone saw him.

  But honestly, she was the only person who had ever stumbled onto this clearing.

  No one else had ever wanted to explore the land around this part of Bear Canyon. John Brolin’s land.

  When he was naked, he straddled her again on his knees, loving the feel of her curvy thighs under him. He helped her shrug out of her windbreaker, discovering a sporty tank top under it. She liked to work out, but over her muscle, she had soft fat lending her curves everywhere, rounding her shoulders, giving her generous breasts and a soft, giving tummy and irresistible hips. He ran his hand down to her jeans and undid the button, helping her wriggle out of them.

  Then he reached under her tank top and undid her bra, helping her pull out of it without removing her top. Her breasts slid free into his hands, feeling unbelievably soft and warm. But he wasn’t willing to undress her any further.

  Panties and a tank top were as far as he’d go unless she was locked safely in a house with him, where the world could never find them.

  He lowered his lips to take her nipple in his mouth over the tank top. He grazed her lightly with his bottom teeth, and she moaned, arching back. His hands held her waist, and he remembered from before that she liked when he moved his thumbs lightly over her love handles, stroking the soft skin there just under the tank.

  His lips found her other nipple, already peaked for his enjoyment, reaching for him as he took it with a warm, suckling kiss. He played with it gently with his teeth and released it, savoring her groan.

  One hand came up to palm her breast while his other hand found her clit, rubbing softly. He kissed her neck, biting gently and sucking as he moved up to her ear, noting every little squirm, every little breath or gasp, finding every sensitive spot.

  He didn’t just want to please her; he wanted to learn her. Wanted every time together to be a time to know her more. To grow closer. He lowered his body against her, still playing at the apex of her legs, making her wetter as his lips fell over hers. He took her in a deep kiss, thrusting his tongue deep as she moaned and opened, pushing up against him, urging him deeper as her hands dug into the grass around them, helpless. He heard the blades tear as he worked her closer to climax, and he reached for her hands to guide them to his shoulders.

  “It’s okay to dig in,” he murmured against her lips before swiping in with another deep, claiming kiss, swallowing any reply.

  He wanted to take all of her, meld her to him until there was no separation between them. Wanted to make them one being, one life, one person.

  But as that was impossible, he just wanted to see her go over the screaming edge of bliss, knowing he’d taken her there.

  He rubbed one last time, harder, and she came, flailing in his arms and captured by his strength as he silenced her moans with his kisses, kept her words of disbelief and pleasure only for him.

  Her arms found a home on his shoulders and dug in as he’d said she could, so hard she probably drew blood, but it made him grin in satisfaction.

  She could carve her pleasure all over his body as far as he was concerned.

  Nothing had ever been more important in his entire life. For once, all the money, the businesses, and even family concerns faded into the distance, and everything was just here, now, with her.

  Everything he wanted in the entire world. He was tempted to push aside her panties and take her right there in the field, but he had no protection, and even with her beautiful brown eyes glazed and desperate, he knew when she came to, she wouldn’t like that he had mated her without her explicitly stating it.

  So he decided to compromise and knelt between her legs, spreading them wide and putting his head at her center. If he couldn’t feel her, then he could taste her.

  “What are you—” Her words cut off as her head flew back, her body arching, her hands grasping the grass again as thunder cracked overhead.

  Perfect, with the weather bad, there was even less chance they would be discovered. They were really and truly alone.

  He slid aside her panties with his tongue and slipped inside her gently, noting her soft heat. The delicious tasted of her. Then he used his hand to move the panties farther so he could slide his tongue up to her clit, rubbing the little nub softly with his tip. She gasped and twisted in the grass, but he moved his hands back to her knees, holding her.

  She was helpless to his touch, her whole body contorting under the pressure of his lips, his tongue, as he explored every part of her, learned her intimate places like some kind of map, the most important of his life. All along the way, he enjoyed the taste of her, the wetness, the heat, the sound of her voice calling his name, calling for mercy, and begging him not to stop as he brought her over the edge again and again, unable to stop as long as she was feeling it.

  And she definitely seemed to be feeling it, screaming his name to the stormy sky as it slowly began to rain overhead.

  He wondered how the drops felt on her curvy body as she arched and writhed under his hands.

  He could barely feel the rain on his back. The drops were still tiny pricks he could ignore as long as his mouth was on her, as long as his hands were running over her knees and down her calves to her ankles, her beautiful little feet. She squirmed when he touched them, and he grinned and scooted down to give them attention.

  He lifted one and sucked it into his mouth, and she gasped, writhing. Definitely sensitive there. He’d never pictured himself doing this, but for her, it was the most erotic thing in the world. Everything she enjoyed was.

  Her skin glowed with pleasure, and she writhed as he worked over each toe and then moved to the other foot, sucking there as well.

  She arched and looked about to lose it, so he crawled back over her, leaning on one hand while the other came between her legs to finish what he’d started.

  “I don’t think I can. I don’t—”

  But then he bit down on her earlobe, and she came, shattering into screams in his arms, biting down into his shoulder as she tried to keep her cries back.

  But he heard his name from her lips, and it satisfied something deep inside him.

  Mate. Mate.

  This time it was clear. No shock. No uncertainty. She was his, and he wanted to do this for her for the rest of his life.

  She flopped on the ground beneath him, and he looked down at her, satisfied. He’d loved her from head to toe, literally, and she looked it. Her panties askew, her tank top pulled to the side revealing one beautiful breast.

  He pulled it straight and adjusted her panties, a small grin on his face at how tired she looked, how overwhelmed.

  “But wait,” she said as he got her bra and started helping her into it, followed by her pants and her windbreaker. Now that he’d given her all the pleasure she could handle, he wanted her to be safe.

  “But you, you didn’t…” She gestured at him, at his still obvious hard-on, as he pulled on his boxers and sweats again to cover himself. He was about to pull his sweatshirt on, but she bit her lip. “Not that. Leave that off.”

  He grinned and did as she said, tossing it to the side. Then he sat in a cross-legged position, pulling her onto his lap and trying to warm her in the misty rain. She was only slightly damp from the rainfall, and it was now coming down a little harder.

  She huddled into him. “You’re just going to give me like a dozen orgasms and not let me do anything for you?”

  “Letting me give you a dozen or so orgasms is doing everything for me,” he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

  “Oh, you sucked my toes,” she said, burying her head in her palms. “I can’t believe I let you do that.”

  “They were yummy.”

  “No, they weren’t.” She groaned.

  “Well, your screams were. I pretty much would do anything to hear those again.”

  She ran her hands through her hair, which had mostly fallen lose from her ponytail. She let it loose, and it looked wavier than usual. “I have it relaxed,” she said at his curious look. “It gets curlier in humidity, though.”

  “Do you want to go back?” he asked. “I kind of like the rain.”

  She looked up at the sky, and he could still tell her heart was racing. She was still having afterglow, so beautiful to look at. He wanted to kiss her pert nose, her stubborn chin, her full lips. But he settled for resting his cheek on the top of her head and holding her close in his lap.

  “I’m not a little kid. You don’t have to hold me like this,” she said, sounding a bit grumpy.

  He ducked down to try and see her expression, but she turned away, so he reached out with two fingers and gently tilted her head to his. “I’m not holding you like a kid,” he said. “First, I wouldn’t even know how that worked.” He shook his head. “I’m holding you like something I treasure. Something I want to protect, something I want to belong to me forever.” He looked over her. “Damn, I would love to take you.”

  “But you didn’t bring protection.”

  “No,” he said. “That would have been presumptuous.”

  She sighed. “Since I was giving you such a hard time, I suppose so. But from now on, you should have it.”

  “Why?” he asked. “I think we did just fine like this.”

  “But you didn’t even—”

  He cut her off with another kiss, this time to her forehead. “No. I told you. I got everything I wanted. That and more.” He looked up at the sky and sighed before resting his head on hers again. “Thank you for accepting me. What I told you, I mean.”

  “Nothing to accept,” she said. “I just feel like an asshole for assuming your life was easy.”

  “You’re not an asshole. I play things close to the chest. With you, for the first time, I don’t want to.”

  “I get that,” she said. “Playing things close to the chest I mean.”

  “But you still aren’t ready to tell me your secrets,” he said. She shook her head, and he brushed a few small water droplets from her hair. “I understand. But you won’t push me away anymore?”

  She sighed. “I don’t know what this is. I don’t even know what came over me. But I just know you’re right. There’s something here, and I can’t fight it anymore. I’m not promising to be your mate, but I want to explore it. But just, please, can we keep it discrete? While I’m working?”

  He nodded. “As long as you’re careful.” He rubbed his chin. “Then again, with how you can fight, I guess I don’t have to be as worried as I have been.”

  “Yeah, I can take care of myself, mostly.”

  He hugged her tighter. “I want to take care of you.”

  “That’s so weird,” she said, leaning against him with a long, ragged breath. “I never thought I would like that. But if I really think about it, I guess I do.”

  So they sat there in the rain, holding each other and laughing and talking, totally unaware of someone in the distance that had just stumbled upon them and was now watching, menace in their eyes.

  11

  When they finally walked back to the cabins, it was late evening. Ryland invited her back to his place for a shower, but Lea wanted to take one alone.

  She needed some time in the steam to just think. Her legs were still shaky from everything Ryland had done to her, and her heart was still shaky from everything that had changed.

  He seemed disappointed until she told him she’d be back to see him when she was finished.

  The closer they got, the more she wanted to be around him.

  She had just closed the door behind her when she heard a voice speak out in the darkness. She flipped on the light in the kitchen and gasped when she saw her brother standing there.

  “You’re not supposed to come near me,” she hissed. He looked so much like her, the same dark-brown skin, dark eyes, and dark hair, though his was shaved short. The same stubborn features, though his were frozen in a deep scowl.

  “And you weren’t supposed to fuck a Brolin.”

  “What were you doing, following me?” She didn’t like the wild look in her brother’s eyes.

  “Yes, I was,” he said. “I was worried about you after that fight, and I figured since I can’t be seen with you without someone catching on to our plan, I would follow at a distance.”