“You’re a prince.”
He narrows his eyes and moves in closer, not touching me but certainly crowding. He smells like mint and sunshine.
“I’m just a man, Aspen.” His lips graze my cheek. “A man very taken with you, I might add.”
I swallow hard. Holy shit. My breathing comes harder, and an ache sets up shop in my very core.
I want him.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so attracted to a man before. Not even Greg. No one.
And if I ponder that for too long, the guilt will likely set in.
Instead, I turn my head and brush my nose over his jawline.
I want him to touch me. I want to feel things that have been missing from my life for years.
Suddenly, I want it with this perfect stranger.
“Aspen,” he whispers.
“Yes.”
“Tell me you don’t feel this.”
I swallow again. “I can’t.”
He growls as he plunges his hands into my hair and closes his lips over mine in the kiss of the century. His moves are smooth and sure. Assertive.
That’s what Callum is: confident.
But before the kiss goes any further, he backs up and stares down at me with intense brown eyes.
“I can’t do what I want to you here. All of bloody Montana could look through those windows, and I won’t have you caught in a scandal.”
“Office,” I reply immediately. With his hand in mine, I lead him through to the back of the café and my personal space there. It’s not fancy, but it’s private.
“Brilliant,” he says as he shuts the door behind him. Once I’ve pulled the blinds on the window, he comes right for me. He frames my face with his hands as he kisses me again, deeper and harder than before. We’re a tangle of material and limbs as we hurry out of our clothes. Suddenly, he boosts me up onto my desk.
And I can’t stop staring at his bare arm.
It’s covered in ink from his shoulder to his mid-forearm. Right where the rolled-up sleeve of his dress shirt would end.
“You have tattoos,” I say.
“Several,” he agrees and smiles just before he rips a condom wrapper open with his teeth. Where he got it, I have no idea, but I’m damn grateful he has it. And then he’s moving over me, and inside me, as if he’ll die if he doesn’t fuck me right now.
I cry out, but not in fear or pain. No, this might be the best sex of my life, and I can’t get enough.
“So fucking beautiful,” he murmurs against my breast before tugging my nipple into his mouth, sending me over into an orgasm that would make the gods weep in gratitude. “That’s it, love. Again.”
I shake my head, but I’ll be damned if I don’t fall over that edge again, and then once more when he presses the pad of his thumb against my clit.
I’m a shaking, gasping mess when Callum buries his face in my neck and succumbs to his climax.* * *One Year LaterIt’s been a hell of a day, and I’m ready to close up shop and go home, pour a glass of wine, and stare at the mountains from my back deck for the rest of the evening.
Owning a business is rewarding and wonderful. It also kicks my ass on the daily.
I’m thinking of my back deck view when the bell over the door sounds. I glance up to see my friend, Princess Ellie, walk in with her security, along with her brother, Callum and his security detail.
Holy shit, Callum’s in town.
I haven’t seen him since that day here in my café. I’ve never told a soul about what happened—even Ellie. Since she’s been living in Cunningham Falls this summer, she and I have become good friends. But she doesn’t need to know that I had a one-night stand with her brother.
Or, more specifically, a single, late afternoon stand.
I mean, it was just incredible, earth-shattering sex. The kind that sticks with a girl for the rest of her life, no matter what happens after the fact. And I’m content keeping it for myself.
It’s a happy memory.
After losing my husband and daughter so many years ago, a memory that makes me smile is exactly what I need.
“Hey, Aspen,” Ellie says with a big grin. “I believe you’ve met my brother, Callum.”
I’m just about to agree when he frowns and shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe we have.”
I blink rapidly. Are you fucking kidding me?
Just like that, my happy memory pops like a balloon.
He was the best sex of my life. The only sex I’ve had since my husband died, and he doesn’t remember it?
The next few minutes are a haze as Ellie and Callum place their orders and sit at one of the nearby tables. Callum faces my way, watching me work.
He forgot me.
I shake my head as I pour milk into a carafe.