Cabin Mates

HEATH

If Emily would stop looking like she thinks we’re serial killers, it would make this easier.

It would also go more smoothly if she didn’t keep flashing us her little white panties by bending over and whirling around. That fucking sundress will be the death of me. It barely covers anything at all.

My brain is scrambled with thoughts of Emily is here, too and What are the chances and Fuck Wyatt, take her for yourself.

None of which helps, because we’ve definitely gotten off on the wrong foot here. And I used her fucking name.

Time to introduce ourselves. “I’m Heath Taylor. This is Wyatt Dane. We happen to recognize you from the college. It’s a coincidence that we’re in your family’s cabin, I promise.”

“He knows where I live,” she repeats, her bright eyes flashing.

I can practically hear Wyatt swallowing around the protest he wants to spit out.

His damn crush on Emily is one of the reasons I suggested we get away to Virgin Peak this weekend. Hoping that escaping Conception Ridge and all the rules there—where I’m his boss, and she’s an off-limits fantasy, and we’re both tangled up wanting things we cannot have—would fade away. Because one thing Wyatt already does better than me is talk about his feelings. The man is an open book about what he wants. Me? I’ve locked down my real desires for a very long time. Since I was younger than Emily.

And I’m tired of living a half-life. All work and no play has made me…well, wildly successful in business.

And miserably alone in my personal life.

“We renovated your dorm. No reason for you to remember us, but, uh…” Fuck, I can’t lie to her. “You made an impression on us.” I cock my head at Wyatt. “Him, in particular.”

That’s a bit of a lie. We were both taken with her. I recognized Wyatt’s crush, the way he lingered outside her room and timed his trips to the truck to get more supplies with her class schedule.

And I knew what he was doing, because I was fucking doing it too.

I clear my throat. “You don’t need to leave.”

“She doesn’t?” Wyatt sounds surprised.

Emily looks confused. “I don’t?”

“No.” I shove my hands in my pockets to keep from grabbing her and hauling her up my body. Rubbing those panties against my thick erection as she squirms to get free. “It really wouldn’t be safe for you to drive down the mountain in the dark.”

And fate delivered her to us. After all the resistance we exhibited over the spring… I flick a glance to Wyatt. His gaze is locked on her bare shoulders. Exactly as he used to look at her when we were replacing the windows in her dorm room, and she was studying at her desk, her noise-cancelling headphones making her oblivious to his hopeless lust.

Hopeless, because I forbade him from acting on it.

That wasn’t just professional interest as his boss, though. A darker thread of jealousy was woven through my order. Secretly, I felt it too. There was something about this girl from the moment we laid eyes on her. We were both drawn to her so much we kept returning to her wing to make the most minor of touch-ups.

Wyatt must have painted the walls outside her dorm room three times.

“I couldn’t stay,” she says nervously.

“How many bedrooms does this place have?”

“Four. And the loft.”

“So there’s more than enough space for all of us.” I hear a ding from the kitchen. “And your pizza is ready. At least stay and eat it first? We brought our own dinner. Let us give you a chance to get to know us and make up for the weird introduction.”

“I don’t know.” She laughs slightly. “This is so weird, I’m sorry.”

“God, no, don’t be sorry. What are the chances, right?” I step back, giving her lots of room, and gesture to the kitchen. “Your pizza, miss.”

“Miss!” She laughs again, harder this time. “Oh no. Don’t do that.”

“That’ll be hard. We’ve been calling you little miss for months,” Wyatt says.