"Too late." Long strides propelled him so close she could feel his heat. "Stick with your instincts and not with that stubborn mind."

She turned slightly to outmaneuver him. "I don't take orders from you, Colton Freeze."

He mimicked her motion and stepped into her space. "If you're not smart enough to take care of yourself, you damn well do take orders from me."

Anger and a well-earned note for self-preservation battled for dominance inside her. She took a step back. "Get out of my house."

He mirrored her step. "No." Crimson angled across his high cheekbones, enhancing the dangerous hollows beneath them. As a kid, he had been adorable. As a teenager, handsome. As a fully grown, tough, battle-scarred man, he was all predatory male. One she was smart enough to back away from, even as her nipples sprang to attention from his intense gaze. Oh, this couldn’t happen. Down nipples. Down. Several steps later, her butt hit the wall.

A second later, they stood toe-to-toe. His palms flattened against the cedar logs, caging her. "We're about to come to an understanding here, Melanie Murphy Alana Jacoby. Got it?"

Heated air filled her lungs with delicious tingles. She breathed out slowly, trying to control herself.

He'd been her best friend for decades. She knew how to appease him, how to make him laugh. The right words were there and would smooth everything over. For two seconds, she considered saying them. But she was past that. He'd come into her home, he'd ordered her around, and now he wanted things his way.

Not a chance.

So she said the one thing guaranteed to push him over the edge. "Fxxx you, Colt—"

His mouth was on hers before she finished saying his name. Heat and power slammed from the kiss, and her mind swam.

Fire lashed through her so quickly her knees weakened. Her nipples scraped his chest, and lava consumed her. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she fell into the storm created by a man much more dangerous than she'd known.

She kissed him back, her body alive, her mind shutting down.

There was nothing but the whirlwind of impossible need cascading around them, through her, into her, beyond her.

The kiss was hard, angry, and more passionate than she could've dreamed.

Many times, they'd come close to kissing, but one of them had always backed away. With a grin, or a joke, they'd escaped ever taking the chance. The one thing Melanie knew for sure was if Colton ever kissed her, if he ever showed her that side of him, there'd be no turning back. Ever.

As he released her mouth to pin her with a dark gaze, there was no question he knew it, too.

Determination filtered through his eyes, and his jaw firmed. Something new and intriguing fluttered alive in her abdomen. Satisfaction lifted his lips as her eyes widened.

Holy crap. Colton Freeze didn't want to turn back.