When Ivy slipped out of bed on Monday morning, they were on borrowed time. As soon as the snow plow cleared the driveway, Baxter had to leave. The magical weekend would be over and she could never speak of it to anyone.

Looking out of the large windows into a world of white, she watched the chunks of thick snow fall off the trees leaving divots in the snow below. Turning away from the window, she tackled the fancy coffee machine. Hopefully, she paid attention during her lesson. His scent and nearness had distracted her. Everything about him distracted her. She was in over her head and didn't want to be rescued.

Ivy turned when she heard his footsteps. He looked deliciously ruffled from sleep. "You left me and I had plans for us."

She smiled, not quite feeling his humor. "I'm sure the bed isn't made. There's always later."

It was his turn to frown. "I'll be working today. Danielle has left me three messages already. It's nine-thirty on the east coast. I never sleep in."

She didn't ask the burning question. When would the plow come? When would he leave?

His phone rang and his commanding voice made it hard not to listen as he answered it. "Baxter Kane." The business talk went over her head. "I need the contract reviewed. No. I'm not disturbing Tate." He hung up and looked at her. "What?" She shook her head. "I know how to make you talk."

She shook her head and laughed, but he had found all her ticklish spots on Sunday afternoon. They never made it through an entire movie. "Fine. If I was really a whore, you would have been stuck with me all this time. Instead, you're stuck with the girl on the six-year plan."

He looked at her but she would bet he wasn't listening. "When did you say you finish school?"

"Hopefully December, why?"

"Can you look at something for me?"

She bit her lip. His hazel eyes pleaded. She could see the boy in him. "Okay. I suppose."

"I never asked what kind of law you like."

She chuckled. "The kind that pays. As a kid I dreamed of courtrooms and murder cases, but I'm not so sure now. I guess it depends on what internship I land."

"Shouldn't you have one lined up?"

His phone rang, and he held up a finger stopping her answer. He talked to someone and had another call waiting. "Hold on." He lifted a folder. "Will you review this?" He didn't wait for an answer and went right back to the person on his call.

Ivy made a second cup of coffee before looking at his contract. On a whim, she made a cup for Baxter. The smile he gave her was thanks enough. She took her cup and the folder to the sofa. It gave her some insight into his business. The price of the property he intended to buy was insane. It explained why he was so serious. She smiled, except when he wasn't. Never had she met a person with so many sides to him.

She jotted down some notes in the margins. When she finished, he was still talking on the phone. Neither had showered nor dressed. He nodded when she put the contract down, but kept talking. Ivy went upstairs to shower. She felt a burning behind her eyes. The magic had slipped away. He had one foot back into reality. She knew there would be an end before she started it, but she hadn't expected to fall for him. Maybe it was just the sex and the memory would fade. At least that was what she told herself.

Baxter kept working, so she spent time on her job search. He was right, all the big firms had already hired their interns. Ivy didn't want to work eighty hours a week at a big firm hoping to be noticed. It didn't leave her with many options.

Ivy was curled up on the sofa watching a movie when she heard a thud outside. Startled, she jumped up and went to the front window. Her heart sank. The plow truck had arrived.

In the kitchen, Baxter was busy on his laptop. He looked up at her and smiled. She pressed her thighs together when she saw his glasses. How could dark frames look so sexy? Clearing her throat, she said, "Plow truck is here."

He nodded without showing emotion. "Your notes were helpful. Thank you."

Feeling like a child anxiously awaiting a dentist appointment, she blurted, "When will you leave?"

He looked up at her with a crooked grin. Confused between a smile and a frown, a bit like her churning inside. "Do you want to get rid of me?"

"Not really, but I know you need to go."

"I've made arrangements for tomorrow. Do you need a ride back?"

She shook her head, as a smile crept through. "The idea of joining the mile high club is enticing, but I'm here so I can avoid going home for a few days."

He chuckled. "It would be a new membership for two."

She studied his face. "Your glasses are distracting. I would have thought with your private plane you, you know."

"Why are my glasses distracting? They help my eyes from getting tired when I read all day."

"Why? Hasn't anyone told you they look hot on you?"

"Not that I can remember. Doyle calls me four-eyes. So you think I'm hot." He reached out and pulled her to him. At the same time he turned in his seat so she was between his legs. "For the record, I wish I could stay, but I have meetings in Phoenix tomorrow."

"I know. I remember what I agreed to."

He reached his hand up her shirt and began playing with her breasts. "I'm not sure I do." She attempted to step away, but he held her tight. "I don't suppose you would let me set you up in an apartment so I could come to you whenever I want."

"And lie around waiting for you. No, thank you. I won't be the one to thaw your dick because you married an iceberg."

"I never said I would marry anyone. Tate learned her lesson."

Ivy held back her thoughts. The Kanes would want the next generation and from the little Tate had shared about her family the two oldest siblings were the responsible ones. "I was the last person to leave her room. She was excited about getting married. It had to have been Duncan."

Baxter's face hardened. "I know it was him. Maybe he realized he wasn't getting a windfall."

"Isn't his family wealthy?"

Baxter smiled. "'Wealthy' has plenty of definitions. Theirs isn't the same as the Kane's."

"Only God is richer than the Kane's."

"I doubt there are banks in heaven."

She slapped him. "Stop teasing."

"I like to tease these." His hand was still in her shirt. He had been cupping her, but ran a thumb across her hard nub for effect.

"Are you done working for the day?"

He looked at his laptop. "I'm never done." His actions contradict his words as he pulled her onto his lap and ravaged her mouth with his soft determined lips and tongue.

Ivy's hand reached between them and ran it along the length of him. Every rock hard inch. He had spoiled her for a regular man. How could she go from having more than her fill to a mortal? Baxter Kane had ruined her.

"Damn." He cursed against her lips and pulled back. "Danielle... I plan to look at it." A bluetooth mini headset had interrupted their moment. He frowned. "Fine. I'll look at it now with you... No, I wasn't busy at all." His tone was sarcastic.

Baxter Kane was a man who was always busy. The time he allowed for her was unusual. He attempted to turn to his laptop with her still on his lap, but it wasn't possible. She slipped out of his grasp and went to the refrigerator. He had done all the cooking, preparing their meal was the one gift she could give him.

The following morning, Ivy lay naked, curled up on the bed. She waited until she heard the door close and the distant thud of the car door before she allowed the tears to fall. Sleeping with him had been stupid, but playing house while snowbound had been idiotic. How could she not fall for him when he revealed himself to her? The man she had cuddled with on the sofa sharing a bowl of popcorn was not the brother Tate described. Selfish was not a word she would use to describe him in bed. Even when he demanded, it was for her pleasure.

Ivy kept remembering the comment by the woman in Tate's room. She called him boring in bed. Baxter Kane was the opposite of boring. With him, it was like the books and the movies combined.

Their last time was unlike any other. It was like a slow-motion movie, and both were recording the memory to hold on to. After they came simultaneously, Baxter held her with his face against her neck. It was an intimate gesture she had grown used to.

His voice was muffled. "I'll always remember this weekend. Thank you for treating me like the mortal I am."

She didn't argue. "If you ever feel the need to pay for companionship. I'll volunteer."

He looked at her. "You could never be my whore. I have had hired dates, but they didn't provide services."

She wanted to offer to be his date for free, but remembered what she agreed to. He left her in bed when he went to shower. He emerged from the steamy bathroom clean shaven and dressed in an impeccable suit. Had he planned to wear it to the wedding? She had a fantasy of him noticing her at the wedding and asking her to dance.

In her heart, she knew if their paths crossed he would treat her like a stranger. She dried her tears, but the stretch of peaceful days were lonely. She held on to a tiny sliver of hope that he would stop in Aspen after Arizona. As a last hope, she imagined him on the plane waiting for her on Sunday afternoon.

The pilot greeted her. "Good afternoon, Miss. It should be a smooth flight to Boston for you and Mr. Kane."

Her heart leapt as she entered the beautiful jet. It was even nicer than Sinclair's. The eyes watching her enter were not Baxter's. They belonged to a younger man with lighter hair. She masked her disappointment as she compared the man in front of her to his older brother. Baxter rarely looked as comfortable sitting as the younger man had. Her cheeks warmed as she imagined he must have with his arms around her.

He flashed his straight white teeth. "Tate's friend from law school. I imagined you with less, um, less a lot of things."

She smirked. "Tate's younger brother. I imagined you less cocky."

He laughed. "I like you. Which show did you like me in best?"

She looked at him like he asked a physics question. "I don't watch TV." It was a lie, she had watched his shows because she knew his sister. It was the lore of the limited degrees of separation.

He raised his glass. "You don't know what you missed out on. Drink?"

She cleared her throat. "No thanks. I'm planning to study."

Maybe it was a good thing Baxter wasn't on the plane. She hadn't done nearly enough school work. After he left, it was hard to concentrate; she saw him in every room. When the plane landed, she would be back in the real world with the memories firmly tucked away.

"Your loss. We have soft drinks too."

She looked around. "The Sinclair plane has a flight attendant."

"Jimmy Sinclair can barely pour his own scotch. Us Kane children were taught to help ourselves to what we want."

His remark was lace with innuendo and irony. She suspected with a flip of her hair, Kasper Kane would initiate her into the mile high club and wouldn't apologize for it. When she looked at him, he had more muscles than his brother. With his tanned face and laid-back smile, he was probably used to getting any woman he wanted. She suspected he was more interested in her bra size if she had a prominent family. She did not.

Distracting him, she said, "I keep wondering what happened with the wedding."

He scoffed. "That's easy. Duncan Dawson. He's a jerk. When Tate dries up her tears, she'll be glad."

Ivy nodded and hoped he was right. She sat in a seat not facing him and popped in her earbuds. All she wanted was to get home.

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