“You don’t owe me anything.” His tone was harsh.
She looked up at him, smiled, and said, “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just so damn grateful that we’ve been given this new opportunity at life.”
The lines on his face eased. “Now that I understand,” he said.
She walked over, slid her arms up around his neck, and whispered, “So, what do you think? Are your grandparents right about us?”
He pulled her tight against him, so they were snug from hip to chest. “Well, I know they believe they are,” he said with a gentle smile, as he gently rubbed his nose against hers.
“Isn’t that supposed to be how Eskimos kiss?” she murmured. “Or is that just a myth from my childhood?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his lips quirking up in grin. “I’ve never kissed one.”
She giggled at that.
“On a brighter note,” he said, “will I have to sleep on the couch tonight?”
She looked at the spare room, which was Danny’s room, and then at her master bedroom. “You know something? I’m pretty sure my bed is big enough for both of us.”
He smiled and said, “How about we go find out?”
Laughing, she raced ahead. He caught her at the doorway, swung her around, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. It was a kiss that knocked the socks off her feet and raised the hair on her neck. When he lifted his head, she just stared at him in shock. “Wow, what was that?”
“That was a taste of what’s to come.”
“Oh, boy,” she said. “It’ll be a long night, won’t it?”
“Not necessarily,” he said with a crooked grin. “We do have to worry about Danny waking up and interrupting us. So I cannot guarantee you a whole evening of romance and lovemaking, but I can guarantee you that it’ll be a very special night for us. One of many to come.”
And it seemed like he did everything he could to make it as special as possible. He took off every piece of her clothing—slowly, carefully, kissing every inch of skin as it was exposed—until she stood, trembling, barely able to stand on her own, with just her panties on. And somehow, he was still fully dressed.
She took one look and said, “Oh no, you don’t. You’re not allowed to wear more than I am.”
He gave a shout of laughter and quickly stripped off, right to the skin, including his prosthetic. She noted the oddity, but it didn’t matter to her. Except that he’d been hurt. And bad enough to need something like that. Her heart swelled at what he’d been through as she took in all the scars on his body too.
And still, he was the finest man she knew.
Her gaze landed on his erection that stood so proudly in front of her, and she stepped closer, both hands reaching out for him. He immediately backed up and said, “Careful. I don’t want it over before we’ve begun.”
She looked at him, smiled, and said, “We could always start all over again.”
“I intend to,” he said. Then he walked to the bed, pulled back the blankets, and she dove in, chuckling. He slid in beside her and took her in his arms. His hands were moving already as he murmured, “We’ll have to set up some date nights with my grandparents, so they can watch Danny, and so we can have a full night to ourselves.”
She nodded, but immediately the tremors racked through her again as his hands and lips explored every inch, as if getting to know her on the most intimate of levels. When she struggled to hold back, he crawled up her body, leaving a trail of moist wet kisses to plant one on her lips. Meanwhile, their hips were aligned as he positioned himself between her thighs. He whispered, “This is for us,” he said, “for right now.”
She placed a finger against his lips and said, “I like the sound of that. But I also like the sound of not just right now but for all the tomorrows to come.”
“Me too.” As he slid inside, she arched her back and cried out softly. He kissed her so gently. “Are you okay?”
“Never better,” she whispered. “Never.”
As he started to move, she looped her arms around his neck and hung on for the ride. It had been so long, but, at the same time, that made it all even more special. And, when she came apart in his arms, she could hear him crying out with his own release. And he sank down, pulling her into his arms, and just held her close.
When he looked down, she knew he could see the tears slowly trickling from her eyes. He reared back slightly. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she said, “but you were right. It was special. So very special.”
He gave her a tender smile, then reached down and kissed her. “This is just the beginning.”
Epilogue
Rowan walked into the offices of Titanium Corp. “Hey, somebody called me in?”
“Hey, Rowan,” Geir said. “Do you have any experience with dogs?”
“Outside of owning some?” he asked.
“K9 units, military dog training, that sort of thing.”
“Some,” he said. “I was a handler for a year, and that was the year before the accident,” he said. “That was one of my biggest regrets. The fact that I didn’t have enough time with the dog.”
“Understood,” he said. “What dog was it?”
“Hershey,” he said. “But he had some big fancy formal name, Herod Guildford III, or some such thing,” he said with a smile. “I just called him Hershey. The problem in my case was trying to separate that owner bond,” he said. “Handlers obviously get attached, but getting too attached is frowned upon.”
“Right, because the dogs can move from handler to handler, depending
