Never before had I been so certain of my own instincts, and that knowledge has brought us to now.
After dinner, Dean spreads out a blanket on the stage and we lie back to look up at the stars sprinkled like sugar across the sky. Dean points out all the constellations and starts talking about medieval cosmology and philosophy. His deep voice flows over me, and I ease closer to him so our bodies touch.
“I wish it could be like this forever,” I whisper. “Just us and the stars.”
A faint apprehension ripples between us because we know it can’t be. Not with the threat to his career looming over us like smoke obscuring the sky.
But none of that can touch us here. It can’t obscure the beauty of our reunion.
Dean pushes to his feet, extending a hand to help me up. A little shudder runs through me at the heat in his eyes. We gather our things and return to the parking lot.
“Now.” Dean bends to nuzzle my neck right before opening the car door for me. “Come back with me. Be mine all over again.”
There is nothing in the universe I want more. Everything inside me lights with anticipation as we return to the Wildwood Inn.
When the cottage door closes behind us, my heartbeat intensifies. It’s been weeks of fraught, tense longing, our sexy phone calls no comparison to what we can create when we’re in the same room. Arousal blooms inside me, filling my veins with fire.
Dean leans against the door, his gold-flecked eyes sweeping over me in a slow, easy appraisal that makes my breath catch. I’m half-expecting him to stalk toward me with all that restrained lust uncoiling, to grab me in a wild fervor… but instead he gestures for me to come to him.
“Come here, beauty,” he says, his voice husky. “Give me what I’ve missed so much.”
My pulse pounds as I approach him. He lifts his hands and settles them against the back of my neck, his fingers sliding into my hair. The gentle way he holds my head, his gaze never leaving mine, wraps me in the knowledge of how precious I am to him. Everything inside me softens as I look at the lines of his cheekbones, his black eyebrows, the way his eyelashes frame his eyes, the shape of his mouth.
He lowers his head, his lips touching mine in a kiss of infinite warmth and tenderness, and then we’re both home again, back in the place of Liv and Dean, sparks lighting the air as we fall into the spiral of us.
Dean shifts his hands, angling my head so that he can settle his mouth securely against mine, parting my lips with his. My blood surges with a love that will never fade and a desire that has been denied too long. I slip my arms around his waist, feeling the heat of him through the material of his suit and my dress.
He murmurs something low in his throat, caressing the arch of my back and down to my hips. I nestle closer, light glowing inside me like a million fireflies as our kiss deepens. My heart pounds against his. It’s everything we’ve both craved all these weeks—the movement of our lips pressed together, the grip of his hands on my hips, my breasts rubbing against his chest.
Dean lifts one hand to my neck again, pushing my hair aside so he can unzip my dress. I let the material slither over my shoulders and fall in a puddle at my feet. I’m wearing a fitted satin slip over my lingerie, and Dean’s breath escapes in a rush as he slides his gaze over my body again.
“Beauty, you make me want to stop time so I can look at you forever,” he whispers as he pulls me closer.
He cups my breasts, his thumbs flicking over my hardening nipples, and my sex clenches with growing urgency. I lift my face to his again, desperate for more of his exhilarating kisses, and then he tucks his arm beneath my legs and lifts me against him. I twine my arms around his neck, bringing our mouths together again as he takes a few strides to the bed and lowers me onto the feather-soft quilt.
For all our pent-up longing and sexy talk, for all my expectations that we would fall on each other in a crash of frenzied heat… a lovely sense of restraint winds through us both. Dean eases on top of me, our lips still locked together.
The weight of my husband’s body, combined with the deliciousness of his kiss, envelops me in a warm, protective shelter. I run my hands over his back and part my legs so he can settle between them. His erection presses against my thigh, the sensation eliciting a new wave of lust.
Dean moves his lips across my cheek, his breath a hot trail to my ear. Tension rolls through his body as he tangles his fingers into the straps of my slip and pulls them off my shoulders. I shift to help him, thrilled by the way his gaze darkens as he stares at my breasts clad in the flowered purple bra.