“No. Just let me look at you. I can’t believe I have the prettiest girl in the world in my bed.”

She blushed, but this time she didn’t try to hide any part of herself from him. Not her beautiful body...or the beauty that was inside all the luscious, creamy skin and mind-blowing curves.

He stripped off his clothes and put on a condom before moving over her. And then her arms were around his shoulders and her legs were wrapped tightly to his hips and he knew the rest of the naughty things he wanted to do to her would have to wait.

Because right now all he wanted to do was make love to the woman he’d waited a lifetime to find.

“Love me, Marcus,” she whispered as their bodies came together.

And, oh, how he loved her.

Not just with his entire body, not only with every beat of his heart...but from the very depths of his soul.

* * *

The midday sun was coming in through Marcus’s bedroom window as they sat naked on top of his covers eating the picnic lunch he’d pulled together from the sparse contents of his fridge.

Nicola had never felt so exhausted—or so happy—and with her stomach full of food and her body full of pleasure, she yawned and lay down in one of her favorite positions, her head on his lap and one of her hands in his. She never wanted to stop lying there looking up at his beautiful face.

But her long tour hours—and the three rounds of incredibly acrobatic sex they’d just had—had her yawning.

He smiled down at her. “You sure tire out quick for a young thing. My sleepy little kitten.”

“Funny,” she said on another huge yawn, “I was just about to say you have surprising stamina for an old man.” She hummed a few bars of the Joni Mitchell hit My Old Man, ending at the line about “keeping away my lonesome blues."

She loved hearing him laugh and hum along in a really off-tune voice.

Looking up into his eyes, she knew it was time to admit everything to him.

“I didn’t push you away just because I was trying to save you from my circus life.” When his hand didn’t still on her hair and his leg muscles didn’t tense up under her, she knew it was safe to say, “That was a big part of it, but I was also scared of trusting. Scared of falling. So hugely scared that I’d be hurt again. Only this time I knew it would be so much worse, because I loved you. That’s why I ran that day after lunch at your mother’s house, because I thought it would hurt less that way. But running only made everything hurt more.”

“I missed you just as much,” he told her. “Although, I can’t help thinking that if you hadn’t run, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to chase after you.”

Just that quickly—as he made her burn up at the wicked thought of being chased through the vines and then caught in the most delicious way—Marcus erased any chance of recriminations, of making her feel guilty or selfish for what she’d done.

And as he shifted them so that his naked body was pressed against hers and his mouth was moving over hers, she forgot all about fear and gave in to the most natural emotion in the world.

Pure, sweet love.

* * *

Sitting in the back of a limo with Marcus that night, Nicola wore a fantastic dress that managed to be classic and yet fun and flirty at the same time. All day she’d loved being with the man she loved, but as the driver pulled up in front of the Napa Valley mansion where the event was being held, panic gripped her.

“This is the big moment. Are you sure you’re ready for this? For not being my secret boyfriend anymore?"

Instead of answering her with words, he put her hands over his heart, then leaned in to kiss her.

“As long as you’re by my side, I’m ready for absolutely anything.”

And as the door was opened for them and flashbulbs started going off, his kiss erased what remained of her worries...leaving sweet safety and boundless pleasure in its place.

Epilogue

Over the next two months, the weather cooled and the leaves turned color, falling from the trees throughout Northern California. Marcus racked up the miles on buses and planes as Nicola played dozens of dates on the first leg of her U.S. concert tour and he commuted back and forth between Napa Valley and whatever part of the country the woman he loved was in. For the first time since he’d purchased the winery ten years earlier, he left the bulk of the details of the crush to his staff. Ellen received an enormous promotion along with the matching salary to go along with her new duties.

It was early December when Nicola and Marcus walked into the fire station. The entire fire crew was there, along with their families, to meet her.

Gabe shook his brother’s hand, then hugged Nicola extra long and hard, knowing how much it would bother his possessive older brother. Gabe didn’t bother to hold back his grin as he said, “Thanks so much for agreeing to play this concert, Nicola.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she said before turning to his brother. Going up on her toes, she pressed a kiss on Marcus’s cheek. “You’re scaring the kids with that scowl.”

Marcus put his hand on her chin and turned her face to his for a real kiss that said Mine loud and clear to any man in the room who might have been confused as to which Sullivan brother she was with.

Gabe made sure his grin stayed in place, even though something inside his chest was pinching tight. Over the past months, he’d gotten used to seeing Chase, and now Marcus, as part of a couple. Their mother was beside herself with joy over her sons’ relationships.