The last dizzying surges slowly gave way to warm, wet waves. The first morning light was just beginning to break, and the birds outside the window just starting to sing. My heartbeat was still too fast, but my breathing was finally coming slower. I reached down to feel his thick, dark hair and ran my fingers through it. He lifted his head and smiled at me, his lips wet from my climax. He rested his head warmly against the inside of my thigh, and I smiled back, satisfied… at least for now…

“You’ll spoil me rotten if you wake me up like this every morning,” I said, caressing his shoulders and pulling a deep, steadying breath. His bed was soft, luxuriously warm from the heat of our bodies. He moved up alongside me until he could rest his head on my breast, letting his fingers continue to swirl slow circles down below. His mouth had only made me even needier and he knew it. He traced a finger lazily through my damp curls and teased the very tip… in and out of my swollen pussy.

“I can’t think of anything I’d enjoy more,” he answered. “Ben has the business on track for now. And I’m only a phone call away if he needs me. I haven’t taken time off since Envisager began…” He pushed his fingers a little deeper, making me lift my hips and push too. “Stay with me, here at the cabin… I can hire someone to fill in for you at the bakery, even provide someone to stay with your grandmother, if you like.” He looked into my eyes with his dark, soulful ones. “I want you all for myself…”

I pushed his hair back and smiled into the calm, grey sea of his beautiful eyes. The love between us met in that gaze, like something real, tangible… something that could be held and protected. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes and slid, salty, down the back of my throat. In the back of my mind, I remembered his words… How the salt makes the sweet almost more than we can bear…

“Gran’s fine,” I said, with difficulty. “She’s going to be spending a lot more time with May these days. And Henry too, her new gentleman friend.” I thought back to the glow on her sweet, wrinkled face, blinking at the depth and mystery of the human heart. “She told me things about herself I never knew… never understood before. How she lost the love of her life once, a long time ago. She told me she didn’t want me to ever have to live with that kind of regret.

I love you, Chase. And there’s nothing I’d regret more than to wake up without you. I’ll stay for as long as you want me.” He shifted, his big hands spanning my hips. “You’ve brought me love and excitement, but more than that. You have the kindest heart I’ve ever known. And you’ve helped me to find myself… to explore and learn about who I am and what I want in my life. In a way, you’ve set me free.”

“And you’re the only challenge I’ll ever need… ever want,” he said, lifting me up to settle me on top of him. I straddled his hips and caught his heavy cock in my hands, rubbing myself sensuously against him. He’d taken me hard and fast, slow and gentle throughout the long night. But it only seemed to make all our desires grow even more powerful. I could see the aching need in his face as he looked up at me. His eyes lingered greedily over my bare breasts, my hardening nipples… my belly… And my core clenched, making impatient demands of its own.

I lifted up on my knees and let myself slide slowly down onto his shaft, spasming along its towering length. We held our breath together until my clit finally touched his base. I was stretched tight… deliciously tight and wavered, impaled, my heart pounding in my pussy. I could see in his eyes that he felt every beat against his cock. We held still, holding back only until the need in us both stripped the last of our control. There was only that single heartbeat and fast shallow breath until…

“You’ve caught me,” I whispered with the last air in my lungs.

“Then you’re mine forever,” he whispered back. I felt his shaft pulse and surge inside me… like it was writhing all on its own, impatient to have its way. “Today, tomorrow… every day after… ever last night… Promise me…”

“I do,” I answered, choking back the flood of love that swept my body and moved me of its own accord. “I promise…”

I felt his powerful arms encircle my body. He held me, supporting me, strengthening me… allowing my emotion and desire to move me. He leaned up, holding me as his heart met my heart, and hard muscle met tender, swollen breasts. His shaft formed the core of my whole being, filling me with the power of his love and the strength of our unity. Our legs wrapped in a perfect circle, and he took my mouth with his as my hips drove us on. I rode as he bucked, thrusting inside me, and filling my body. I rocked, stroking and squeezing, the need inside me growing into a sweet, sweet ache. I bit into his lip, clawing at his muscled back… crying out as he exploded inside me and I felt my climax swallowing up his thick, hot seed. I threw my head back as I surrendered, swaying on his pulsing, pounding cock. His coming was my coming, and I heard my name on his lips as I collapsed against him. There was only Chase and only me… the race had reached its end and I spilled over the length of his body, replete at last… and joined still. I rested my head against the damp heat of his chest, and listened to the steady, blissful beating of his heart. I fell asleep to its rhythm, setting my own pulse to its pace and knowing I would always keep my promise, just as he would keep his.

And as I slept in his arms that morning, I dreamed. They were long, sweet, languid dreams that came and went, like waves of mist, like whispers of truth… quickly forgotten, only later remembered…

I dreamed of a baby I didn’t yet know I carried. And I dreamed of a wedding only a few short months away. I knew that Gran would live to see our firstborn son, and that he would have his father’s dark hair… and his great-grandmother’s sharp, bright eyes. I dreamed of Chase and me, wrinkled and grey… in a far-off future welcoming grandchildren of our own.

And I dreamed of a life without regrets, knowing inside, that Gran would be proud…

It was many years ago.

And every day since, has taught me that dreams do come true. For I have the love of my life and he has me. Our Justin was born, followed a year later by a daughter. I write this now, having just found out our third is on his way. We are truly a family, we live from the heart… and with our whole hearts. We share a life where every challenge is met with the strength of our love and our commitment to one another. Every day he tells me he loves me. But in every moment, he shows me it’s true.

Our hearts beat in time with each other, and I know that after a long and wonderful life together, many, many years from now, they will one day slow and finally cease together too.

For I cannot imagine life without him, nor can he without me. And that, above all things has been

the sweetest gift of all.