CHAPTER Thirteen
When they arrived home it was late, and Dylan was asleep. After seeing Anne out, Connor locked the front door and Victoria headed for the stairs.
“Victoria …”
She froze on the first step as Connor’s deep voice cut into the night. He came up behind her, his breath warm on her bare shoulders. “I forgot to give you your birthday gift.”
Swinging around, she saw with a shock that he was very close. Standing on the step put her directly at eye level with him. She took the flat parcel that he offered.
“Thank you—you didn’t need to do it.” She gave him a bright smile. “But it’s very much appreciated.” Turning, she ran lightly up the stairs, through the sitting room that adjoined her room with the nursery, into her bedroom.
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
She hadn’t heard him come up behind her. Drawing a deep breath, she hoped that he wouldn’t hear the thunder in her heart as she turned around.
“Yes, yes, of course.”
Her fingers were trembling as she untied the ribbons. The gay wrapping paper fell away to reveal a picture frame. She turned it over and found herself looking into four smiling faces under the arch of a church door.
“You remember that photo, don’t you?” Connor was much too close. “You even told me to smile.”
“I remember.” A soft ache welled up as Victoria stared into Suzy’s beloved face … and then moved on to Michael’s grin. Flanking Michael, even Connor’s hard face wore a smile.
“We all look so happy.”
“That’s how Suzy and Michael would want us to remember them,” he said.
She swung around to face him. “Thank you for this. You couldn’t have given me a better present.” She flung her arms around his neck, the frame dangling over his shoulder, and kissed him.
After a moment he kissed her back.
“Tory!”
She pulled away and looked into the face that had become as familiar as her own. The hewn cheekbones, the bladed nose and those penetrating eyes.
Connor wasn’t her father.
There wasn’t a neglectful, irresponsible bone in his body. He’d done everything he could to give Dylan a future that would be secure. And he’d always been there for her.
She owed him an apology. “I’m sorry for believing that you were a jerk.”
“Oh, Tory.” His hands tightened on her bare arms. “And I’m sorry for believing you were dull and dreary.”
“What?”
His eyes laughed down into hers.
“I know. I don’t know how I came up with that.” This time the kiss was deep and very, very hot. By the time it was over they were both breathless.
He took the photo frame from her and set it down carefully on the dressing table.
Then he returned to her.
“We’re going to make love,” he told her. “No casual encounter. And this time you’re going to stay—no rushing off before I let you go.”
“Never again,” she vowed.
“Oh, God, Tory.”
She curved into him, her body so close that she could feel the outline of his chest muscles against her. “I’m staying right here.”
“Forever.”
“If you want.”
“I want.”
His fingers pulled down the zipper at the back of her dress. She shimmied out of it and it fell in a pool on the carpet.
He’d trodden out his shoes and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, and now he pulled the white shirt over his head. He stepped out of his pants a moment later. He wore only close-fitting boxers, and the sight of his hard, muscled body gave her a secret thrill.
Victoria kicked off her heels.
And trembled a little with anticipation as his arms came around her and he undid the hooks of the white lacy bra that she wore. He skimmed his hands over her hips, sweeping the brief bits of lace down her legs, leaving her naked to his ravenous gaze.
A moment later he was naked, too.
The hard ridge of his erection revealed how much he desired her. And he swept her into his arms and lowered her onto the queen bed.
“This is going to be over way too fast,” he murmured into her ear. “I want you so badly.”
He licked the shell-like shape of her ear and Victoria shivered with delight.
But despite his forecast he stretched the pleasure forever. He used his hands, and his lips, and his tongue to bring Victoria to heights that she’d never experienced.
When he finally parted her legs, she was on fire for him.
Connor positioned himself over her and drove deep.
She closed her eyes and let the passion take her. Her fingertips dug into his shoulders. He gasped and drove again.
Arching beneath him, Victoria found the rhythm. And then they were moving in unison, as one.
The pleasure rose in a bright, blinding arc. And as the light exploded behind her eyes, she heard Connor whisper, “I love you, Tory. How I love you.”
The words tilted her into a dizzying whirl of color and ecstasy that seemed to go on forever. And she found herself gasping, “I love you, too.”
Afterward they lay on their backs on the bed, their hunger for each other temporarily sated.
“Did you mean what you said?” she asked, turning her head to meet his warm eyes.
“That I love you?”
She nodded.
“Of course I did.”
She gave him a slow, dreamy smile. “I love you, too. I’ve been thinking, Connor. That billion-dollar baby bargain of yours? I got the best bargain of all—as well as Dylan, I got you.”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “I definitely did better out of it. I got you, when I might have ended up with Dana in the greatest mistake of my life. My guardian angel must’ve been looking out for me.”
“You believe in angels?”
He nodded solemnly. “Falling in love did that for me.”
“I like the idea of Suzy as an angel.” Victoria glanced at the photo on her dressing table. “I can see her wearing a halo on her curls, smiling that sweet smile of hers.”
“With Michael beside her, holding her hand.”
“Of course.”
“They’d be happy for us, you know.”
Victoria nodded. “I think so, too.”
“They tried to match-make us two years ago—I was furious about it.”
“I’m not surprised! You’d just been through a bad experience with Dana. It wasn’t the right time.”
“And you didn’t like me,” he said righteously. “You thought I was a jerk that no sane woman could live with. Yet look at you now.”
“I didn’t know you!” she corrected, laughing at him.
He bent forward and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “So you think you know me now?”
Victoria nodded. “To know you is to love you.”
“Oh, Tory.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I’ll never tire of hearing that, of kissing you, of making love to you.”
“I suppose that means that there will have to be a little brother or sister for Dylan one day.” Her eyes turned a wicked gold.
“That sounds like a great idea.” Connor laughed silently, happiness and joy filling him. “But we’ll need to practice.”
“So what are we waiting for?” his wife asked, pulling his head down to hers.
Epilogue
Frank and Juliet’s wedding took place at Victoria and Connor’s home.
And Victoria disgraced herself by crying buckets. But she didn’t care. Nor did the man who stood proudly beside her, holding her hand.
They were both happy.
And so were the bridal couple.
“Just know that it’s not that I don’t adore you. I do,” she sobbingly assured a radiant Juliet.
“It’s true,” Connor assured her.
Juliet laughed and patted her on the shoulder.
On the pretext of fetching a tissue, Victoria rushed upstairs and washed her face with cool water. She returned to the large deck onto which the reception rooms had been flung open, where a trio of musicians played festive songs. The evening was clear, and the first stars were starting to show. Lights flickered romantically in the trees while candles floated on the swimming pool.
Victoria couldn’t suppress a smile at the sight of Anne restraining Dylan as he leaned toward the flames on the water’s surface, gurgling with pleasure.
“Okay?” Connor asked her, coming up behind her and placing an arm around her shoulder.
She gave one last sniff. “I’m fine. I always cry at weddings.”
“I remember. You cried at Suzy and Michael’s wedding. But you didn’t cry at ours.” He placed a finger under her chin and gave her a searching glance. “Any reason for that?”
“Because I was terrified that once I started I wouldn’t be able to stop.”
He opened his arms and she stepped into them. “I’m still here.”
“Don’t,” she whispered, “you’ll set me off all over again.”
He shuffled his feet and she followed his lead. It looked to all the world as if they were dancing.
“I love your happy tears. Don’t store them up, you should release them.”
“I’d drown you.” She gave him a weak smile.
He smiled back. “Do your worst, I don’t scare easily.”
Oh, Connor.
This was when he turned her heart to mush. Wordlessly, she snuggled up to him and let the music take her to a quiet place where only she and Connor, with his arms around her and his body close to hers, existed.
When the song came to an end they made their way to the pool. Dylan saw them approaching and shrieked happily.
This was her family, her home. As the next melody started to play, Victoria knew that her life was complete, she had it all.