Slick fire raged between them as their bodies joined. Each thrust lifted her higher until she was crying out for release, crying out for Mike, then shuddering as he took her over the top and beyond.
Tears streamed down her cheeks when it was over, tears of joy, but Mike stared at her with concern.
“Janie, what is it? Did I hurt you?”
He started to move away, but she held him tightly. “No, please. It’s just that we’ve never made love like this before. It’s never felt like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like the start of forever.” She searched his face. “That is what it meant, isn’t it?”
He brushed the damp tendrils of hair back from her cheeks. “Yes, that’s what it meant.”
She sighed then and fell asleep. For the first time in months, she slept peacefully.
* * *
Mike stared down at the woman in his arms and wondered how he could ever have convinced himself to leave her. This was where he belonged. It had taken some ingenuity on his part and a whole lot of understanding and cooperation on the part of his bosses, but he’d finally found a way to get back to her.
Jane sighed contentedly and opened her eyes. She reached for his face and touched her fingers to his cheek, then smiled.
“You are here. This is real.”
“It’s real.”
“You aren’t going back to San Francisco?”
“I’ll have to go occasionally, but this will be home.”
“You didn’t quit your job?”
“I threatened to.” He described the scene in which he’d told his bosses that he was going to have to make the most difficult—most impossible—choice of his life. “Then I offered them an alternative. I suggested we open an East Coast office. We’re getting more and more business on this coast anyway. It made perfect sense.”
A smile of pure joy spread across her face as she grasped the implications. “And it made perfect sense to put you in charge of it,” she guessed.
“That’s pretty much it. The office will be in northern Virginia, but the commute’s workable. Once in a while I may have to stay over up there if a meeting’s going to run very late, but they’ll be paying me enough that we could even get a small apartment if we wanted to.” He grinned at her. “Our own private little love nest.”
“Now that’s an interesting spin to put on a place you’ll need because you’re tied up in business meetings,” she teased.
“I figure that’s only one use we can put it to. Once we have a bunch of kids underfoot, we’re going to need a little privacy every once in a while. We can go to the Kennedy Center, have a late-night supper, then spend all night making love and come back to our kids like a couple of rejuvenated newlyweds. What do you think?”
She knelt on the bed beside him and peppered his face with kisses. “I think that you are the most inventive, smartest man on the face of the earth. You’ve done the impossible.”
He traced a line from the pulse at her throat down between her breasts and on beyond. “Just wait till you see what I can do with the possible,” he said.
The first sparkle he’d seen in ages lit her eyes. “Dare you to show me,” she said at once.
So he did.
* * * * *
“Sherryl Woods writes emotionally satisfying novels about family, friendship and home. Truly feel-great reads!”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber
Love can be found in the most unexpected of places...
And sometimes, it takes a family’s help to find it.
Join #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods and the Carlton family
in the Perfect Destinies saga, where true love, a little matchmaking, second chances and a sassy tale of revenge (with an unexpected twist) await:
Isn’t It Rich? (March 2016)
Priceless (April 2016)
Treasured (May 2016)
Destiny Unleashed (June 2016)
Looking for more great reads from Sherryl Woods?
Catch up with the O’Brien family in Chesapeake Shores, where stories of friendship, family and love are only just around the corner—you may never want to leave. Collect the complete series!
The Inn at Eagle Point
Flowers on Main
Harbor Lights
A Chesapeake Shores Christmas
Driftwood Cottage
Moonlight Cove
Beach Lane
An O’Brien Family Christmas
The Summer Garden
A Seaside Christmas
The Christmas Bouquet
Dogwood Hill
Willow Brook Road
“Woods’s amazing grasp of human nature and the emotions that lie deep within us make this story universal.”
—RT Book Reviews on Driftwood Cottage
Or take a trip to Serenity, South Carolina, where the Sweet Magnolias are always in season and sweet romance is only ever a stone’s throw away:
Stealing Home
A Slice of Heaven
Feels Like Family
Welcome to Serenity
Home in Carolina
Sweet Tea at Sunrise
Honeysuckle Summer
Midnight Promises
Catching Fireflies
Where Azaleas Bloom
Swan Point
“Woods employs her signature elements—the Southern small-town atmosphere,
the supportive network of friends and family, and the
heartwarming romance—to great effect.”
—Booklist
Order your copies today!
Connect with us on www.Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Other ways to keep in touch:
Harlequin.com/Newsletters
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
HarlequinBlog.com
Read on for a special first look at Sherry’s latest Chesapeake Shores novel, Willow Brook Road, now available from MIRA Books.
CHAPTER ONE
The original Mick O’Brien–designed cottage on Willow Brook Road had been built with weathered gray shingles, white trim and a tiny back porch barely big enough for two rockers side by side. They faced Willow Brook, which fed into the Chesapeake Bay. The backyard sloped gently to the brook, with the graceful branches of a trademark weeping willow touching the lawn at the water’s edge. The peaceful setting was just right for quiet conversation or relaxing with a good book.
In front the cottage featured a small yard with an actual white picket fence and a climbing yellow rosebush that tumbled over it with a profusion of fragrant blooms. Bright red and hot pink geraniums filled pots on the stoop in a vibrant display of clashing colors. The property oozed picturesque charm.
With three cozy bedrooms and a fireplace in the living room
