“Your secret is safe with me.” I laughed. He held up the camera and I snuggled against him. After the picture clicked, I stayed on his lap and turned to face him. “Thank you.”

We shared a brief moment, feeling something was changing between us. My heart pounded and I cleared my throat.

Blake handed me the camera. “No problem.” I slid off his lap and he stood. “You ready to hike some more?” He took my hand, helping me off the rock.

I could tell he was waiting for me to complain. Instead, I held my head high. “Lead the way.” Once we ventured away from the lake, the snow got really deep. I slipped a few times, but caught myself before falling face first into the snow.

Blake was a little ways ahead, but stopped and turned around. “You okay back there, princess?”

I waved him on. “Don’t worry about me!” I shouted. Picking up my pace, I reached down and grabbed a handful of snow. Each step he took, I did double to catch up to him. My fingers were numb from the snow, but I was almost there. Just a few more steps . . .

Blake sidestepped and tackled me out of nowhere, making me scream. His feet slipped and we both fell to the ground, laughing as we rolled around in the snow. He ended up pinning me to the ground, his legs straddling my waist and his body flush with mine. I shivered and it wasn’t because of the snow.

“You should know better than to sneak up on someone like me,” he said. His eyes strayed to my lips.

“I didn’t think you’d hear me,” I whispered breathlessly.

“You’d be surprised what I notice, princess.” He trailed a finger down my cheek to my rapidly beating heart. “Like how your heart is racing right now. I didn’t know I had that effect on you.” I blew out a nervous breath and he smiled, his lips getting closer to mine. “Tell me what you want,” he murmured.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because once I say the words, I can’t take them back.”

He brought his hands to my face, his thumbs tracing my cheeks. “Maybe this will help.” His lips closed over mine and I melted against him, willingly giving in. I’d never been kissed like that and I didn’t want it to stop. I wanted more. He pushed his tongue inside and I moaned as the heat rose between my legs. Holy hell, I wanted him. Rocking my hips up into him, I dug my nails in his back and he growled, pulling away.

“Fuck, Hadley.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, breathing hard.

He brushed the hair off my face and kissed me again. “You make me want things I can’t have.”

I nodded. He said exactly what I was thinking. “I know how you feel.”

Blake

What the fuck am I doing? I’d wanted to kiss Hadley since the first time she’d opened her smart mouth, but being with someone like her would only cause me problems. Once she went back to California, she’d move on with her life and I’d only be a distant memory.

What did I care anyway? I could have a different girl every night if I wanted. The problem was, I didn’t want just any girl. I wanted the one I could only have for a short while. That seemed to be a trend of mine, wanting the women who would never belong to me. Reach for the stars, my mother always told me. I literally was reaching for a star, a country star.

“Want some hot chocolate?” Hadley called out.

I threw on a shirt and joined her in the kitchen. She’d changed out of her wet clothes and into a pair of pink pajama pants and a tank top. She leaned over the counter, her tits bulging out of the top. Jesus help me, she was going to kill me and didn’t even realize it.

“Actually, I’ll just take a beer.” I grabbed one out of the refrigerator and guzzled it down.

“Slow down there, killer,” she teased. “You’re not sulking because I won the bet are you?”

I threw the bottle away and pulled her into my arms. She came willingly and I could see she wanted me. It made my dick so fucking hard, especially when she rubbed up against it. She bit her lip and smiled, teasing me with her half-lidded blue eyes. What the hell was I going to do? I was supposed to keep her safe, not put my dick in her.

“No, I’m hoping if I get a buzz, those pink Mexican boots you order tonight won’t look so bad.”

She burst out laughing. “Speaking of which, can I use your laptop? I want to get those ordered up before you try to change my mind.”

I nodded toward my computer. “Go. I don’t want to spoil your fun. You just better not take any pictures of me in them. If I find them in a tabloid, I’ll hunt you down.”

Giggling, she pushed me away and grabbed my laptop. “I think I might like that.”

So would I. While she snickered at the computer, I started dinner. I wasn’t about to trust a woman to use my grill. Stepping outside, I fired it up and watched the sun set behind the mountains. It made me wonder how many days I had to wait around while amateurs tried to find her stalker. She pounded on the window from inside. When I turned around, she pointed to my phone on the counter.

“You have a call,” she shouted.

I rushed inside and scooped it up. “Yeah?” I answered, hoping I made it in time. I didn’t have the number programmed in my phone, but I knew who it was.

“Mr. Evans, how are you?” he asked. It was George Rivers, Hadley’s father. She was still searching for those fucking boots, so I snuck back outside.

“I’m fine. Yourself?”

“Can’t complain. I’m calling to check on Hadley. Is she doing okay?”

I glanced back at her through the window. “She’s fine. Have you not talked to her?”

“She doesn’t exactly talk to me much these days. When she does, it usually ends in a fight. I just want to keep her safe.”

“As do I.”

“Maybe one day, she’ll understand why I’m so protective. If she only knew how many threats I got on her life every week.”

“What?” I growled.

He sighed. “Only a few people know about this, so I’m trusting you to keep it to yourself. The last thing I want is for Hadley to find out. That’s why I hired Scott to protect her. I had to know someone was with her at all times.”

“Have any of the threats ever been carried out?”

“No. Most of them were just given to scare me, I think. It still doesn’t change the fact they were threats. Does Hadley know I’m paying you?”

“No. I’ll tell her when it’s all over. I don’t think that’s something she needs to know.”

He sighed. “Agreed. She’ll see it as interfering. Just watch over my baby girl. She’s all I have left.”

“I will, Mr. Rivers. Hopefully, the case will be solved soon and she can go home.” As much as I wanted them to catch the bastard, I also didn’t want her to leave.

“I can only hope so. I bet it kills her not to be singing.”

“I’m sure it does, but she’s had time to write in peace. And having the privacy, away from constant cameras shoved in her face, is doing her some good as well. She needed a break.”

“She has been pushing herself too hard.” He blew out a heavy sigh. “Oh, before I go, I just wanted you to know I sent the money to your account, paid in full. It’s a thank you for watching over my girl.”

I swallowed hard. There was ten million fucking dollars in my account. “You’re welcome, Mr. Rivers. We’ll keep in touch.” As I set the phone down, a feeling like I was deceiving Hadley hit my gut. But the things I could do to my ranch with that money would be phenomenal . . .

Would she understand? Probably not. She was a female with daddy issues.

“Everything okay?” Hadley asked.

“Yeah,” I said, fumbling with the grill. “It was just a business call.” I turned around and faced her.

She crossed her arms, rubbing her hands against her bare arms. With the sun gone, it was pretty cold. “I came out here to tell you I found the perfect boots. They’ll be here in a couple of weeks. I don’t know if I can take the anticipation.”