Still inside her, still throbbing with aftershocks, Jared raised his head and caught her gaze. She couldn’t believe the myriad emotions she saw in his expressive eyes. Mostly she saw the love.

“Lizzie… Marry me. Live here with me. Run The Chesterfield or do something else. Whatever you want. I’d give you anything, if only—”

Blinking back tears, she kissed him, lingering over the unmistakable taste of him. “Yes. Yes. Yes.” She kissed him again. “Any other questions?”

He shook his head, and made her laugh through her tears.

“In this case, head shaking is allowed,” she said.

“You’re really going to marry me?”

“I’m really going to marry you.”

“What about the money?”

“What about it?”

“I still have it. You still don’t want it.”

“If it means I get to have you, I’ll learn to live with it.”

“Will you let me pay off your student loans?”

“Absolutely not!”

“How about when you’re my wife? I won’t want your lousy debt weighing me down.”

Elisabeth smiled at the teasing glint in his eyes. “Too bad. You get me, you get my lousy debt, and I’ll pay it off myself. Eventually.”

“Are you always going to be this stubborn?”

“Yep.”

He released a deep, dramatic sigh. “I guess I’ll learn to live with it.”

His play on words made her smile.

“What about the shelter, babe? I wouldn’t want you to think I don’t realize how important your work is to you and the many people you help.”

“I love that job and the people and knowing what I do makes a real difference.”

“You don’t have to leave the job if you don’t want to, Lizzie. We can live in the city. I’m sure I’d find plenty to do there.”

Elisabeth caressed his face as she realized the sacrifices he was willing to make so she’d be happy. “There’s a young woman who started working there about six months ago.”

“Aimee?” He also paid attention, which she’d appreciated long before she drove him away with the shake of her head.

“Yes, that’s who I mean. She’s terrific. I think she’d do an amazing job as the director—maybe even a more amazing job than I can do after so many years. It takes a toll after a while, you know? No matter how many people you help, there’re always more. It’s a never-ending parade of people in desperate need.”

“You opened my eyes to things I never paid any attention to before I knew you. That’s why I’d like to start a foundation, so you can continue to make a difference, no matter where we end up.”

“I think,” she said tentatively, “I’d like to end up here, with you and your new friends and your new business and this beautiful house. And I’d like to be part of your new foundation.”

He stared down at her, seeming to drink her in with his eyes. “You’re going to wake me up any second and tell me I’ve dreamed all this, right?”

She started to shake her head but stopped herself, which made him laugh. “No. You’re not dreaming. I’m here, and I want what you want.”

“Hold that thought.” He got out of bed and walked across the room.

Elisabeth propped herself up on one hand to take full advantage of the view of his very fine ass flexing as he moved to the dresser. Then he turned around, and the view got even better. She licked her lips, filled with delight that she had the whole rest of her life to look at him any time she wanted to.

“What’re you looking at?” he asked with a playful grin as he got back in bed.

“My very sexy fiancé.”

His face went totally blank, leading her to wonder what he was thinking. “Hearing you call me that… I just… It’s amazing and humbling. We never got to the ring portion of the program last time.” He reached for her left hand and slid a square-cut diamond ring onto her finger and then kissed the back of her hand. “Most people would say I have everything any man could ever want—more money than I can spend in a lifetime, three beautiful homes, cars that make me happy when I get to drive them. I can go anywhere I want, do anything I want, and I never again have to worry about money. But know this, Elisabeth with an S… None of that means a goddamned thing to me if I don’t have you. You are everything. The rest is just stuff.”

Elisabeth’s heart pounded erratically as his words registered. “The ring is beautiful.” And it was… On either side of the stunning center stone were smaller diamonds in a platinum setting.

“I’m glad you like it. I showed restraint.”

“Which I appreciate,” she said with a smile. “The ring is gorgeous, but your words… They’re the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard, and they mean more to me than anything else you could give me.” She leaned over to kiss him, lingering when he responded with unexpected ardor. “And you’re everything to me, too. I realized that when I watched you walk away from me that night, knowing I’d hurt you when that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do. I hope you know that.”

“I do now.” He wrapped his arms around her and coaxed her into another kiss that made her head spin. “You know, it’s possible what happened on that rooftop will turn out to be the best thing that could’ve happened.”

“How’s that?”

“It gave us both the time and perspective to understand what we really want.”

“You already knew what you really wanted. I was the one who messed things up.”

“It wasn’t just you, Lizzie. I knew you were skittish about the money and the lifestyle, so dazzling you with the rooftop and the tuxedo and the Bentley and the out-of-the-blue proposal was the wrong approach. I can see that now. I should’ve seen it then. Less is always more with my girl.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Any woman would’ve been thrilled with such a romantic proposal.”

“Any woman except the one who matters most to me. She’s one of a kind, unlike any other.”

Smiling at him, Elisabeth propped herself up on her hands and leaned over to pepper his chest with kisses and little nibbles that she knew drove him wild. Pleased by his deep breaths and quiet moans, she continued down, giving his abdomen the same attention, running her tongue over the cuts that outlined muscles that quivered in response.

She loved the way he responded to her, how he made her feel that anything and everything she did to him was exactly what he wanted. Because he was a guy, there was one thing he loved above all others, and it was the one thing Elisabeth had never done for anyone until she fell madly in love with him.

As she kissed her way down the front of him, she remembered the long-ago night when she’d asked him to show her how he liked it. The priceless expression on his face had been a memory she’d returned to over and over again during their weeks apart.

She wrapped her hand around the thick base of his cock and squeezed, drawing a gasp from him that became a moan when she took him into her mouth. He’d taught her how to take him into her throat, how to suck on the sensitive head and how to use her tongue to bring maximum pleasure. After weeks of wondering if she’d ever get to see him again, let alone touch him so intimately, she wanted to show him how much she loved him.

Judging by the moans of pleasure, the thrusts of his hips, the tight clench of his hands in her hair and the trembling in his legs, he loved what she was doing. The one thing she didn’t love, however, was letting him finish in her mouth, which was why his efforts to remove her became more frantic as she redoubled her efforts, intending to go all the way this time.

She took him deep and swallowed as she added vigorous strokes of her hand, drawing a loud groan from him.

“Lizzie, fuck… Christ.” His hands tightened in her hair. “Baby, stop… You don’t have to… Oh my God.”

She didn’t stop. Rather she kept going until he exploded into her throat, thrusting and crying out from the powerful release she’d drawn from him. His reaction left her feeling victorious and thrilled with the way he gasped for air as she kissed her way back to his lips.

“You totally wiped me out, baby,” he said between kisses.

“If I know you, you’ll recover in no time.”

He surprised her when he gripped her bottom, his fingers delving between her cheeks to find that pleasing him had also pleased her. His touch electrified her, and the discovery had him hardening between them as if he hadn’t come just five minutes ago.

This, Elisabeth thought, was how they were together—insatiable, endlessly creative, happy to spend long hours alone together with nothing to do but find new ways to pleasure each other.

With his hands under her arms, he moved her up to better align their bodies for what he had in mind.

“How can you be ready to go again so soon?”

“It’s you, baby. You turn me on just by breathing.”

Once upon a time, back when she first knew him, she might’ve thought that was a line coming from a seasoned playboy who knew how to tell a woman exactly what she wanted to hear. But after a year with him, she knew better. He meant every word of what he said to her, and she’d gotten to the point—over time—where she believed him when he told her no other woman had ever touched him the way she did.

Elisabeth sat up, straddled his hips and eased him into her, gasping at the pressure against already sensitive tissue. She was always sore after they made love, but sore in a good way—the best possible way. Wincing from the pinch, she lowered herself down slowly.

“Easy, baby. I know you’re sore.” His fingers circled her clit as he sat up and drew her nipple into his mouth, both of which helped to hasten his entry.

“Been awhile,” she said, wrapping her arms around him as she sank down farther.

“Feels so good.” His lips vibrated against her neck, setting off another ripple of sensation she felt everywhere. “Nothing feels better than being inside you.” He gripped her bottom and moved her slowly up and down, creating the best kind of friction.

If she could’ve spoken, she would’ve told him that nothing felt better than having him inside her. But he’d stolen the breath from her lungs and the words from her lips with the subtle movement of his hips, fingers and tongue. It had been this way between them from the very beginning, a connection that couldn’t be denied no matter how hard she’d initially tried to fight it. And she’d tried. And he’d pursued, winning her over with his relentless belief that people from different worlds could exist in harmony if they drowned out the noise around them and focused on the things that worked perfectly between them.

So she’d done that. She’d kept her focus on him, on them, on all the ways they worked so well together rather than the few ways they didn’t. But looming in the background, always, was the reality of how different their lives really were. Every so often, one of those glaring differences would make things difficult for them. They’d managed to get through it. Every time except for the night on the roof, when she could no longer deny their differences.

“Where’d you go, honey?” he asked, bringing her back to the present with his gruffly whispered words.

“I’m here. I’m right here.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “I like your longer hair.”

“I wondered if you would.”

“I do. I love it.”

“Then I’ll leave it long just for you.”

Pleased with that, Elisabeth rolled her hips and was rewarded again with the tight grip of his fingers on her bottom. “Not yet,” she said, smiling at him.

He bit his lip, which he did when he was fighting to hold off, and intensified his efforts to get her to where they both wanted to be. She was so primed from his earlier ministrations that it didn’t take much to send her gasping into yet another orgasm. She’d once thought she was good for only one a day. That was another of the many myths Jared James had helped dispel for her.

He was right there with her, holding her close throughout the wild ride, until they sagged together, clinging to each other in the aftermath.

“Don’t ever leave me again, Lizzie. I wouldn’t survive it.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

---

The phone call he’d been waiting for came at nine o’clock the next morning. They were still in bed, where they’d been since the afternoon before, emerging only to accept a takeout delivery that Jared had brought right back to bed. Because the call came to his personal cell phone, he reached for it on the bedside table.

“Jared James.”

“Good morning. This is Doro Chase, the broker for the Chesterfield heirs.”

Lizzie’s hand moved from his chest to his belly, letting him know she was awake. If she ventured any lower, she’d find out how awake he was, too. “Yes, hello. I hope you’ve got good news for me.”

“Indeed I do. The heirs have accepted your offer.”

“Excellent. Since this will be a cash transaction, I’d like the closing to be scheduled within two weeks. I have urgent business that will require the estate be turned over to me two weeks from yesterday. I assume you can make that happen?”

Jared could almost hear her gulp. “I’ll do everything I can.”

“Very good. Let me know when the closing is scheduled.”

“We’ll need to travel to the mainland—”

“We’ll do it here. I’m spending fourteen million dollars, Ms. Chase. Surely they can come to me.”

“Of course. I’ll let them know.”

“If you could messenger a letter of agreement to me today, I’d appreciate it. I’ve got plans to make.”

After she assured him she’d send over the letter, Jared thanked her and ended the call, returning his phone to the bedside table. He put his arm around Lizzie and held her close.

“What plans do you have to make?” she asked in the sleepy, sexy morning voice that had been one of the things he’d most missed about her while they were apart. Who was he kidding? He’d missed everything about her and was thankful to wake this morning with the promise of forever with her.

“Our wedding.”

She propped herself up, pushing the mane of hair back from her face. “Our wedding? I thought you bought the place for Alex and Jenny to use.”

“I did, and it’s all theirs as soon as we say ‘I do.’”

“And when is my wedding taking place?”

“Two weeks from today.” He loved the way her eyes bugged out of her head.

“Are you out of your mind? You expect me to marry you in two weeks?”

“You’re lucky I’m giving you that long. If it were up to me, we’d be on a plane to Vegas today. I figured you’d probably want your folks there and maybe a few friends.”

“Two weeks.”

“Some friends of Jenny’s just had a two-day engagement and managed to pull off a beautiful wedding. I figure with two weeks, we’ve got all the time we need.”

“I have to go back to work on Monday!”

“You’re probably going to want to ask for some time off since you just found out you’re getting married in two weeks.”

“Jared, you’re acting crazy.”

“I’m crazy, insane, over-the-top, out of my mind in love with you, and now that I’ve got you back with me—where you belong, I might add—I want a second ring on that finger, and I want it two weeks from today.” He kissed her and then tipped his head and kissed her again. “Okay?”

Probably because she could see how badly he wanted it, she said, “Okay.”

“You can go back to work on Wednesday. I’ll take you. We both have things to sort out in the city. And you, my love, have a very sexy wedding dress to buy.”

“How sexy are we talking?” she asked with a coy smile that made his heart flutter.

“Sinfully sexy.”

“I’ll see what I can scare up.”

“Babe, I want to have this fight now so we can get it out of the way.”

Her lips pursed adorably. “What fight?”

“The one about how I’m paying for this whole thing.” When she began to object, he pressed a finger to her lips. “I’m paying for it, Lizzie.”

“You’re not paying for my dress.”

“I’m paying for all of it.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Lizzie…”

“Jared.” The look she gave him left no room for negotiation.

“Please? It would make me happy to buy you a sinfully sexy dress.”

“And I love you for that, but I’ll buy my own sinfully sexy dress, and I’ll knock your socks off with it.”

“I pay for the rest.” He went with a statement over a question because he really didn’t want to talk anymore. Not when he had the love of his life naked in his bed. There were so many better things they could do besides talk.

“You can pay for the rest. But the dress is mine.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Can we have sex now?” he asked.

Her tentative glance told him she had something on her mind.

“What?”

“Why don’t you say it the way you used to?”

“Say what?”

“What you just said. You never would’ve asked so politely before I messed things up between us.”

“You didn’t mess things up on your own, Lizzie, and I was always polite.”

Her brow lifted in a haughty expression that made him laugh out loud.

“Okay, maybe not always, but I was most of the time. Wasn’t I?”

“You were real with me, and I liked it. It took me awhile to get used to your brand of ‘realness,’ but once I did, I liked it.” Her hand lay flat against his chest until she dragged it down to his belly, setting off a chain reaction that had him hard and ready in under a second. “I liked it a lot.”

Realization dawned on him all at once, and he offered a wolfish smile. “So you wanna fuck?”

“There it is!” she said, laughing as she reached out to cup his cheek. “Don’t be different with me.”

“I didn’t mean to be.”

“Don’t be careful with me either.”

He turned his face into her palm and placed a kiss in the middle. “I’ll always be careful with you. You’ve given me the greatest honor of my life by agreeing to marry me.”

“That’s very sweet of you to say, but I hope you know what I mean. I want you to be you, Jared. The way you were before, not some cautious version of yourself. It’s not going to blow up in our faces again. We won’t let that happen.”

“I got ya, honey. So are we gonna fuck?”

Laughing, she said, “I don’t know if I can. I’m so sore from yesterday’s gymnastics.”

“Oh, baby,” he said, kissing his way down the front of her. “I can work around that.”