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OKAY, SO WHAT really was the damage here? She’d just spent the most grueling semester balancing both a full school load and a job. It had taken her six years because she had to work so much, but in two weeks she’d be graduating. So apparently sometime last night she’d decided to cut loose and have a little fun. No harm, no foul.
Now she planned to roll with it right out of this cabin and back to reality. She was expecting an offer from one of Dallas’s largest engineering firms. But Hastings Engineering had cultivated a reputation of reliability and respectability. And Hayden had seen enough news stories about people being fired or having to wipe their social media accounts because of one accidental naughty message or naked selfie going viral.
Alarm swooshed through her. She was naked. She had a phone. She’d clearly indulged in something last night.
Don’t panic. You wouldn’t normally take a naked selfie, so chances are you didn’t last night. But still...
“We’ve got to find our phones, Tony. Now. And somewhere around here has to be our keys. I’m checking by the hot tub.”
“I’ll take the TV. Too bad this place doesn’t have a coffeemaker.”
Coffee sounded like heaven. Something that would take her mind off what may or may not be stored on the cloud right now that could torpedo her career before it even began. No, she had to find that phone. Hayden advanced on the hot tub as if it was a beast blocking her path to caffeine. The dark red heart-shaped tub lay recessed inside a wooden platform. Burned candles lined the tub. Good grief, they’d really gone for the romantic cliché. Hell, they hadn’t even bothered to drain the thing.
Too much of a hurry?
Hayden felt her cheeks burning and darted a glance toward Tony. Wrong move, because right now the towel was slipping and all she could see was his gorgeous ass. Maybe that wasn’t so bad. Because his ass was muscular and toned and a treat she wasn’t likely to enjoy again. Maybe she’d had the right idea last night.
If she were to put her new roll-with-it philosophy to the test, she could drop the bulky sheet at her feet. Cross toward him. Slowly trail her fingertips down the muscular slopes of his back...
Her nipples puckered against the sheet, and the tight hold she had on the restricting barrier slackened. An oh-so-heady, limb-loosening blast of desire rushed through her.
She whirled away from him. Sex with a stranger might have sounded like a good idea at one in the morning. But Hayden had only ever made love to a guy she cared about. Who cared about her. Could she have mind-blowing sex with a stranger? Apparently she had last night. But right now? In the cold light of day when it went against everything she believed at her core?
Tony’s not exactly a stranger, the daring side of her brain reminded her. That side of her had been quiet for so long, beaten down by long hours in the library and physically exhausting work in the restaurant that paid her tuition and rent. She couldn’t afford a mistake. Not at this point in her life when she was about to make all the dreams for her future now her reality.
Something silver and shiny winked in the sunlight. She pushed one of their discarded red towels aside with her toe to get a better view. It was her favorite hoop earring. She dropped to the floor to pick it up. An inexpensive high school graduation gift from her grandmother, but it was priceless to Hayden. She scooted around the floor trying to find the other earring. She couldnot roll with losing those.
Bingo! There it was. She stretched to reach it.
Tony made a strange choking sound just as she thankfully grabbed the cold metal hoop.
“What?” she asked. Maybe she should be asking what now?
“The sheet shifted when you started crawling on the floor, and...I think I found your tattoo.”
Hayden’s stomach tightened. “Seriously? But I didn’t see—”
“It’s in a spot, uh, not easily noticed.”
The fact that Tony appeared completely uncomfortable was a point in his favor. Hayden took a deep breath. After all, she’d been perfectly resigned to a tattoo five minutes ago. Yeah, perfectly.
“Okay, tell me quick, like you’re ripping off a bandage. Butterfly, flower or heart?”
“Dragon.”
“As in cute, puffy smoke or...?”
“Scales and flame. Medieval. Kind of fierce.”
Hayden collapsed against the smooth wood of the hot tub’s platform. So much for rolling with it. She began to laugh. “I’ve always heard tattoos were painful, but I’m not even tender.”
A quick two-rap knock on the door startled them both and a voice sounded from the other side. “Good morning, it’s Betty from last night.”
“Betty?” she mouthed at Tony. His shrug said he had no recollection, either.
“I have your breakfast,” Betty said.
“Open the door,” he whispered to Hayden as he raced for the bathroom and shut the door. Her stomach had rumbled at the mention of food, so any kind of I’m-literally-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo meltdown would just have to wait. She tightened the sheet under her arms and made for the door.
A smiling, kind-eyed lady greeted her from the other side of the door. The sun shone brightly behind her and a light breeze ruffled her hair. Birds sang their morning songs in the trees. It was that perfect kind of day that always seemed to spring up when your personal life was completely out of whack.
“I have your breakfast basket right here. Biscuits and gravy, pumpkin spice muffins and a carafe of coffee.”
Yes!
She had about a million questions for this woman. But they could wait until after she was dressed. And fed. And without a gorgeous man in her field of vision.
Betty gave her a little smile and leaned in close. “I see the clothes I left for you last night are still here on the porch, so I’ll just hand you the basket.”
Hayden couldn’t hide her cringe. Betty looked as if she could be Hayden’s grandma’s younger sister, and Hayden felt as if she’d been caught doing something very, very wrong. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. What must this kind woman think of her?
Of course when she considered this situation rationally, a stranger’s opinion shouldn’t bother her. You don’t live for others; you live for yourself.
Blah blah blah. Hayden understood all about the validation trap. That didn’t mean she could shake it off easily. It bothered her that Betty assumed Hayden had been apparently way too intent on the man in her bed last night to even employ the ten seconds it would take to grab a bag of donated clothes.
Nothing like that would ever bug the other young women in her engineering classes. But then, most of them hadn’t been raised by grandparents who seemed old-fashioned even to people of their own generation. In a word, she was mortified.
Betty’s voice lowered. “Sorry again about not being able to find a bra in your size, but there’s an extra cami in the pile so you can layer.” Then she flashed Hayden a comforting smile and the embarrassment and awkwardness churning inside her vanished.
Hayden loved Betty in that moment. The woman would be in her will. If she ever wrote a book, it would be dedicated to her. But coffee or clothes, which was more important?
“Thanks,” she gushed to their host as she took the basket.
Betty handed her the small mesh grocery bag with the clothes that had been left for them the night before. “Bill has your car down by our cabin. He’s gotten most of the smell out, but, you know, humans never win when they face a skunk.”
“Huh? Oh, yes, so true.”
“But it was so sweet of you to save the dog, although it wouldn’t have been the first time he’s lost a battle with a skunk, too.” Betty turned to leave. “Oh, and checkout was at noon. But since you guys didn’t get here until after ten last night, and we don’t have any other bookings, feel free to stay until two.”
Hayden closed the heavy oak door and leaned her head against the smooth wooden surface. Then she realized she’d missed the opportunity to find out more from the woman. “I was going to ask so many questions,” she mumbled.
“You still can,” Tony said as he emerged from the bathroom, still looking as gorgeous as when she’d woken up in his arms. Still same towel low on his hips. Surely that bag contained some sanity-saving pair of pants he could wear.
Still, she couldn’t handle any more conversations with Mr. Should Be a Model for Pec and Ab Magazine. She thrust the sack of clothes into his hands.
“You can get dressed first,” she offered, sounding way too cheerful and helpful.
A small smile played about those beautiful lips of his. Did he suspect she wanted, no needed him to be covered?
The attraction she had to this man was puzzling. Hayden didn’t believe in love at first sight. Not even love after six months. But she did believe in possibilities. And pleasure. And she knew the man leaning against the wall could give her both.
“Hayden?” Something heated and primal flickered in his dark gaze. Her heartbeat slowed. He pushed off the wall with his shoulder and crossed toward her.
Beat.
A shaft of sunlight blazed across his magnificent body, and she noticed the word fearless tattooed across his bicep.
Beat.
He stopped a foot away, towering over her. Big. Strong.
Beeaaatttt.
Her breath hitched and his eyes narrowed at her gasp.
“Do I frighten you, Hayden? Say the word and I’m out of here.”
She was all kinds of afraid of how he made her feel. But no, that wasn’t what he’d asked. She shook her head.
“Then give me your hand.”
Her hand balled up into a fist for a moment, then she lifted her arm. He clasped her fingers in his grip, strong and sure. His head lowered a fraction, as if he was going to kiss her. Hayden’s lips parted in anticipation, and the slow cadence of her heart flipped, now ratcheting up in speed. She spotted want and need in his gaze—and regret. He stopped.
Disappointment razored through her. He was going to give her space.
“Coffee,” she told him. “Everything’s better after coffee.” Tony didn’t drop her hand, and instead walked beside her toward the table where she’d stashed the breakfast from Betty. “Oh, I almost forgot. Apparently we lost a fight with a skunk last night.”
“That explains the burned clothes and bottles of apple cider vinegar.” Tony released her hand to rummage through the bag of clothes.
“I’ll unload our breakfast while you change. In the bathroom.” It was an act of self-preservation. She couldn’t handle Tony dressing in front of her after that near kiss.
“Yes, explains the clothes...but not the hot tub,” he told her as he shut the door, his voice low and setting off a chain reaction of awareness in every part of her body.
Nope, it did not explain the hot tub. Nor that path of towels to the platform bed. Hayden felt her face heat for about the hundredth time. Her skin was probably growing all blotchy. She never handled embarrassment well.
Hayden opened the wicker basket Betty had delivered and pulled out a coffee carafe and mugs. She quickly poured two cups, and then took a long draw from the mug, so glad the brew wasn’t piping hot because she would have gulped it down, burned tongue or not.
She was reaching for the carafe to top off her cup when Tony emerged from the bathroom dressed in jean shorts and a T-shirt announcing I Do A Body Good.
“Oh, if only I could remember,” she teased, surprised she’d so quickly slid into a playful mood. Coffee did a body good, too.
“Don’t laugh. Your shirt is worse,” he said, tossing her a bright pink T-shirt with Too Hot To Handle across the chest.
“Betty and her husband must have an interesting sense of humor,” she said as she raced for the bathroom to change.
Fifteen minutes later, Hayden no longer had to walk with a bedsheet trailing behind her like a train. She dumped the sheet on the straightened bedding. Betty’s bag had also provided her a change of underwear, the promised cami and a pair of khaki shorts. After a quick finger comb to her hair, she joined Tony at the table. The enticing scent of pumpkin spice muffin was too much and she reached into the basket and plopped a piece into her mouth. Delicious.
They sat in silence for a moment. They needed to have a conversation, but what was the protocol here? She’d missed the How to Talk to the Stranger You Just Slept With etiquette lesson. Of course avoidance was the preferred course of action in any social situation. A lesson taken straight from her grandma. Hayden bit back a smile as she remembered the woman’s advice. Hayden, dear, don’t force it. Things have a way of working themselves out, you’ll see.
Now people would call that “escape coping,” but sometimes Grandma was right and things did work themselves out.
In other words, just roll with it. Yes, that’s exactly what she’d do.
But first, one piece of information was best not avoided. For both their sakes. “You don’t have to worry about pregnancy or anything. I’m covered there.”
Alarm flashed through his brown eyes. “Hell, I hadn’t even thought about that yet.”
“Too busy trying to figure out how to ditch me?” she joked.
“No. Too busy trying to figure out what kind of idiot forgets making love to the most beautiful woman he’s ever been with.”
She let out a small laugh, but Hayden was torn. Torn because she didn’t know how to feel. All her emotions warred with each other as if they were battling for the last brownie in the pan. She was mortified that she couldn’t remember last night. Thrilled that she’d connected with Mr. Amazing and Hot. She was a contradictory mess of embarrassment, satisfaction and chagrin. And Tony thought he was the idiot. “I guess I’m strangely flattered.”
Tony leaned toward her, his brown eyes intent. “We have two options. Go our separate ways and forget this ever happened. Or find out why we hooked up and why neither of us can remember it.”
“How we hooked up. I know why.”
A slow smile curved his gorgeous lips. Tony had mentioned he was a filmmaker. Cue the rainbow. And the birds chirping. Hell, bring in a unicorn because at this moment all the embarrassment and mortification vanished. “I don’t even know where we are,” she said, breathless.
“The back of that take-out menu says Broken Bow, Oklahoma,” he told her, nodding to a couple of menus stuck to a bulletin board with tacks near the kitchen sink. Yeah, the couples who stayed in this lover’s cabin probably didn’t plan to venture out during their whole stay. Drop the supplies at the door and go was more likely their approach once they spotted that heart-shaped tub and platform bed.
“Uh, the last place I remember is Texas,” she said.
“Dallas?” he asked and she nodded. “There’s a start. We must have met in Dallas. Of course, I can’t even figure out how to get back there because I still can’t find my phone.”
“Same. Do you have a map in your car?”
Tony flashed her an embarrassed glance, so Hayden knew the answer was no. Her grandparents had embraced technology as much as the next person, but when it came to navigation, Grandma Taylor insisted on paper. Every year, she gifted Hayden with a new and updated atlas in case technology failed. But Betty had only mentioned one car, and chances were that it was his.
“Maybe Betty can loan us a map,” he offered. “Or we can stop at a gas station on the way out of town. You in?”
Was she? Hayden could only do damage control if she knew exactly what she’d done last night. And that meant she had to stick with Tony. “Yes—we have a plan,” she said, hopeful for the first time that day.
Five minutes later they stepped out together on the wooden planked porch. Two rocking chairs swayed in the breeze. In the distance, the trees loomed tall and lush, so different from the flat terrain of Texas where she’d grown up. Two hawks flew a lazy pattern above her head and the sound of locusts filled the air.
She pointed out two squirrels chasing each other around the trunk of a tree. “You know what’s strange? I’ve lived in Texas all my life, and have never been to Oklahoma. You’d think at least once I would have crossed the border.”
“I’ve never been to Oklahoma, either. Something we have in common.”
“Tony, I bet’s that’s how we ended up here,” she told him, gripping his arm. The muscles beneath her fingertips bulged. “I can’t believe how excited I am to realize that.”
“It sucks not feeling in control. Not knowing what you’ve done.”
Something dark and regretful lurked in his tone—as if he’d weathered a similar situation in his past. She gave his arm a squeeze before dropping her hand down to her side. Until this moment, Tony had been teasing or reassuring. But since waking up, she’d only been concerned about herself. Hayden hadn’t given a second thought to how he must be feeling. Instead, she’d pegged him as that dude—the kind of man who congratulated himself on getting lucky. But there was more to him than that.
“I’ve been kind of a bitch to you, haven’t I?” she asked as they approached a larger cabin marked Office.
He gave her a wink. “It’s okay—I can handle a few knocks.”
