His thumbs followed the edge of her rib cage. “Do I need to take you to a doctor?”

“Time is the only fix. You’ve had this injury before.” Her gaze dropped to his crotch. Kyle was fully erect. “Morning wood?”

“No, you do that to me,” he said gruffly. “I woke up with you in my arms and it took every bit of self-control not to…” He made a frustrated sound. “You’re too f**kin’ sore for what I had in mind.”

“So you went down on me instead?” Ooh, listen to you, Celia Lawson, talking so raunchy.

“I needed to touch you.”

She focused on his erect c**k and then his eyes. “Left you in a hard spot?”

He shrugged. “I’m used to takin’ care of this myself.”

“You don’t lack for women angling to warm your bed, Kyle. Women happy to take care of that for you.”

“We discussed this last night. That’s in the past. You’re my wife.” He started to get up, but Celia hooked her leg around his knee.

“Where you goin’?”

A tiny bit of resentment flared in his eyes. “Why?”

“You’re goin’ to the bathroom to whack off.”

Mr. Dirty Talk blushed.

Be bold. Let him know you’re on board for whatever he has in mind. “Show me how you touch yourself so I know what you like.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. And definitely don’t be a gentleman about it.”

Eyes burning with liquid heat, he curled his right hand around his shaft and started to stroke. “I like it slippery, which is why I do this in the shower.”

Fascinated by the rougher way he handled himself, her gaze flicked between his face and his hand.

“You oughta see your eyes, kitten.” He groaned and pumped faster.

She felt the effect his self-pleasure was having on her. Her skin tightened. Her pu**y heated. Her ni**les drew into hard points. She wanted this man so much.

“This…I…won’t last long.” His broad chest rose and fell rapidly. “Christ. You just licked your lips. Do you have any idea what that does to me?”

“Show me.”

Another drawn-out moan.

Although he wasn’t squeezing hard, the stroking motion made the veins stand out on his forearm. The muscles bulged and flexed from his wrist to his shoulder. The cords in his neck were rigid, as was his jaw. Her breath caught. Goddamn, he was so sexy. He was such a prime example of masculine perfection and he was all hers.

At least for a little while.

“Fuck. Celia.” He threw his head back and came all over his hand.

Holy freakin’ hell, that was hot.

She stood and looked into his pleasure-hazed green eyes. “Thanks for the demo.”

“Maybe you can return the favor sometime.”

“Maybe.” She kissed him, finding her taste still lingered on his lips and tongue. “But I’d rather use my mouth.”

They skipped breakfast, dressed for the elements, and started on chores.

Kyle was a quick study in tractor operation. They spread out a roll of hay for the cattle and did a head count. The stock tank needed to be refilled, which required tracking down the water access. While Kyle loaded the woodstove, Celia ventured into the bigger metal building.

It contained miscellaneous farm equipment, all perfectly aligned, all in excellent shape. At least Kyle wasn’t faced with immediately replacing outdated, busted equipment. The place was damn near spotless too. Anything resembling junk was stacked in one corner. As she prowled the perimeter, she noticed a switch like the one on the stock tank. This place could be heated with the woodstove also.

She found two older-model ATVs. Trying not to jar her ribs, she climbed on the first one and it started right up. Same for the second one. She had an image of her and Kyle laughing, racing each other across the white landscape.

Romantic nonsense, Celia.

“Celia?” Kyle shouted.

“Back here.”

Kyle sauntered into view. He wore stained coveralls, a thick jacket, and an orange knit hunter cap. She’d never considered that look particularly cute on a man, but it worked on him.

“I found two things to show you.” Kyle snagged her hand and led her around the back of the building. “I saw the dwindling stack of wood and wondered where the hell I’d get enough to last the rest of the winter. As I’m looking at the treeline, I noticed a section that juts out of this building.” They rounded the corner, stopping in front of a long metal building that was practically invisible from anywhere on the property except here.

“What is it?”

“A wood-drying shack. It’s full of wood that’s already dried, enough for this winter. Looks like I know how I’ll be spending part of my summer.”

“I wonder if Marshall did this all himself or if he hired out.”

“Josh would probably know. But come look what else I found.” Kyle towed her through the knee-high snowdrifts to the back of the house.

She squinted. “Is that what I think it is?”

“A hot tub. And it’s pretty new.”

“Does it have water in it?”

“Not super-nasty water, so I’m guessing Marshall recently changed it. Must be on the same emergency circuit as the heater inside since it didn’t freeze. You can get out here from the garage. Cool, huh?”

“More like brrr. How can you be excited about sitting in a hot tub when it’s four degrees outside?”