My nerves rattled as I pulled up to the sprawling mansion. The ocean beyond sang a rhythmic lullaby against the beach, background music for the purple sunset. Golden lights twinkled across the whole front of the house, making it look like a magical palace. Replicas of David and Venus gazed lovingly at one another from their perches atop the twisted pillars which framed the gate, and the scent of a thousand flowers caressed my nose as I drove between them.

I checked the address four times against the card which I still held in my hand, and found it to be correct. High, arched blue windows stood three to a side, flanking the arched double door. I felt small, under-dressed, and out of place; but somehow, still at ease. As close to peace as I had been since college, anyway. The cobblestone drive rippled up into stairs, and I climbed them tentatively, brushing my hand against the pillars as I reached the landing.

Intricately carved knockers decorated the doors, and I suddenly felt like I was living the first act of a princess movie. I lifted the knocker and dropped it again, listening as it reverberated through the foyer. There was no answer. A doorbell sat to one side, blending in to the carved detail around the door. I pressed it, and heard nothing from within. Anxiety gripped my chest and I paced the wide landing, checking the address again.

“No, this is definitely the place,” I said to myself, rubbing the back of my neck. “I guess…I mean, the worst they could do is throw me out. I have the invitation right here; it’s an honest mistake, right? I mean, if it is a mistake. Or, maybe there’s nobody home at all and he’s just…I don’t know…”

I had no way to finish the sentence, so with a frustrated huff at my own apprehension, I pushed the door open. It wasn’t locked.

I tiptoed into the foyer, dazzled by the chandelier overhead and the mandala arranged in the glossy tiles beneath my feet.

“Hello?” I called.

My voice echoed loudly enough to make me gasp. Again, I found myself regretting all those horror movies.

“Don’t be silly,” I told myself quietly. Not quietly enough, apparently, because my own voice whispered back at me from the walls of the cavernous foyer. It must have been full of light during the day, as the ceiling was at least twenty feet above me, and the wall behind me was nothing but windows. I took a breath and stepped forward, determined to remove myself from the startling room.

Soft music greeted my ears from a room beyond, and to my relief, the ceilings were lower here; lower, but not low. I could have stood on my own shoulders and still had head room.

I followed the music down a wide hallway and through an arched opening, where I found a fire roaring in a fireplace and Miles standing beside a wet bar.

“Regretting your decision to quit Finnegan’s?” I teased.

He jumped, startled, and turned to me with a wide smile. “Shelley! I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I don’t think the doorbell works,” I said as my eyes wandered around the luxurious room. “What is this place?”

“I’ll get to that,” he told me with an impish twinkle in his eye. “But first, have a seat. Would you like a drink?”

“Yes, please. Um…wine?”

“Red or white?”

“Red, but not…too red.”

“You got it.”

He brought me a glass of something sweet and tart, and not too dry.

“This is perfect,” I said appreciatively. “Whose wine am I drinking?”

“Mine,” he said with a little smile. “I stocked up. I was hoping to have something to celebrate.”

I looked around at the luxurious room again, taking in the detailed carvings along the walls and around the fireplace. “What are you celebrating?”

“Well, nothing yet,” he said hesitantly. “Before I start, I want to apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I had a couple of things to take care of this week, and they ate up all of my time.”

Of course you did, I thought. But I only nodded and sipped my wine. The comfortable room and the wine were working together to put me at ease, but I resisted. Whatever he had brought me there to say, it would take more than words to make me relax around him.

“Are you interested in what I was doing?” he asked.

“Should I be?”

He wriggled uncomfortably and I rolled the stress off of my shoulders. He cleared his throat and drank his wine, and I sipped at mine as well. The heat from it swirled through me, coaxing me to breathe easily, so I put the glass down.

“Why am I here, Miles?”

He took a deep breath.

“I brought you here to tell you that I’m stepping down as CEO. That’s why I was so busy this last week. I’ve been grooming a replacement and getting everything in order to pass on to him. He’s already taken over some of the accounts, which has freed up my time a little bit.”

“Why did you do that?” I asked neutrally, but my heart was beating fast with a flutter of hope.

He stood, paced the room for a moment, and then sat down on the coffee table beside my glass. He looked into my eyes, his face shining with that boyish earnestness which never failed to soften me.

“I want to be there for you and the kids. I am dedicated to becoming the father they deserve, and you were absolutely right. I can’t do that if I’m spending all of my time taking care of my company. I’m still the owner, and I will still oversee things from a distance to ensure that they aren’t corrupting my vision, and I’m still going to be designing new apps—I can’t help but do that; I create programs in my sleep—but most of my time is going to be reserved for you three.”

I swallowed hard and rubbed my throat. Anticipation was making my skin buzz, and I was desperate for him to say what I needed to hear. He rubbed his hands together and blew out a breath, seeming to be as nervous as I was. Almost impulsively, he stuck a hand in his pocket and withdrew a set of keys. He played with them as he spoke.

“I bought this house,” he said, gesturing to the walls around us. “It’s not a bribe. I swear it. I bought it so that I would be closer to you and the kids, so that I could work on co-parenting effectively. I can’t do that from San Bravado, not as well as I should. I want to be there for the day-to-day grind.”

He turned his eyes to me, so open and vulnerable that it nearly broke my heart.

“I won’t be upset if you decide to stay with your mother. I understand that I’ve broken your trust more than once, and that it’s going to take more than a couple of small gestures to fix that. But…if you want to….” He held the keys out, dangling them over my hands. “You and Vincent and Frida can call this place home.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You bought this place…for us?”

“Or for me,” he said quickly. “I was hoping that eventually, some day, you could forgive me, and that you and the twins would move in and make us a real family. It’s all I want, Shelley. It’s everything I want. But I don’t want to pressure you. It’s not about me; I’ve been selfish enough. This is about you. You’re the mom. You call the shots. Tell me what’s best for you and the kids and I’ll accept it.”

Tears welled up in my eyes and I stood, reaching for his hands to pull him up with me. As a whirl of emotion quickened my heart and my breath, I threw my arms around him and buried my face in his shoulder.

Pausing for a moment, he folded me into his embrace, resting his cheek on my hair. I could hear his heart beat faster, then slow down as he gently rocked me.

“Does that mean…?”

“I forgive you,” I laughed through my tears. “I can’t believe you did all this for us.”

“I would do anything for us,” he said fiercely. “You’re everything I ever wanted and more, Shelley. You’re the girl of my dreams. Whatever you want, whatever you need, it’s yours.”

“Just you,” I said. “All I want is you.”

“Then I’m yours,” he said, holding me close.

I looked up into his eyes as a playful smile danced around my lips.

“Nice place,” I said casually, wondering if he would remember.

“Thanks,” he said with a warm chuckle. “Let me give you the tour.”

He pressed his lips to mine fervently, feeding me passion washed down by hot desire, and led me out of the room. The marble staircase was more difficult to navigate than his little hallway had been, but we managed it. He spun me around when we reached the landing, and pulled me in through a pair of gilded double doors. A soft sitting room opened into an elegant bedroom the size of my mother’s garage. In the center, a four-poster bed stood, inviting us into its canopied interior.

Every second of suppressed emotion poured out into the air between us as we undressed one another. His hands slid over my soft skin, heightening my senses, making each ragged breath an erotic punctuation. As we stumbled toward the bed, he tapped an icon on his phone, bringing music in to fill the space around us. It wove through our tangled limbs, filled our gasping lungs, cradled us in its soft highs and sweet lows.

Lying together on the bed, he pulled away from me to gaze into my eyes. His fingertips trailed over my cheek, leaving ripples of heat in their wake. His thumb rubbed across my lower lip, and he breathed a shaky sigh.

“Is it too soon to tell you how I feel?” he asked, smothering my answer with a kiss, then pulling away again. “Will it make you run? Will it entice you to stay?” He kissed me again, swallowing my words.

“I don’t really like running,” I murmured when he finally released my mouth. “I’ve always preferred to swim.”

“Oh! There’s a pool,” he said brightly, breaking the moment.

I laughed and kissed him, and he rolled me into his arms. His tongue wrapped around mine as he pressed his hard body to my soft contours, and I trailed my nails down his spine.

He nipped at my lower lip, breathing in little growls as he stiffened against me. The soft bed accommodated my every whim, and I wrapped my legs around him, surrounding his whole body in my embrace.

“I want you to be mine,” I breathed in his ear.

“All yours,” he murmured. “No one else’s.”

With a blissful sigh, I slid over him, pulling him into me. He whispered my name as he rolled me under him, savoring every inch. His kiss was filled with a desperate need, a passion unleashed. Small moans and gasps punctuated the musical rhythm of our bodies grinding and sliding together, pushing every thought from my head with wave after wave of unearthly pleasure. My legs began to shake as I buried my nails in his shoulder, and he slowly pulled away.

“Don’t go!” I whimpered as he slid down and away.

“Hush, baby,” he growled. “Trust me.”

His teeth nipped my earlobe as his hand roughly handled my breasts, filling my body with painful pleasure. I moved to grab him and he pinned down my wrist, moving his mouth to tantalize the tender flesh there. Moving up my arm and down to my breast, he devoured me slowly, tasting my skin and igniting my nerves.

Releasing my wrist, he slid his hands over my sides as his mouth followed the line down my stomach to the softness beneath my navel.

“You feel like heaven,” he murmured against me.

My heart swelled as every insecurity I had developed since having the twins disappeared into nothingness, popping like bubbles in the wind. He slid lower, kissing my hips, my thighs, touching my knees as he trailed his tongue up the sensitive skin to my aching center. I cried out as he kissed me, plunging his tongue deep inside, moving his lips over me, hot licks of pleasure flicking over my body from my core.

His fingers played me like a harp, each note of ecstasy building up a promise of an earth-shaking crescendo. Filled with his hot breath and twisting tongue, I let myself fall over the edge of eternity, crying out as reality shattered, writhing against him as wave after wave of passion ripped through my soul. I lay liquid and buzzing as he launched himself over me, taking my mouth with the same fierce need that he had taken my sex.

Miles entered me with possessive force, holding my body close to his with his powerful arms. His masculine scent filled my head, and his demanding touch dissolved my body until we were a single entity, entwined beyond the physical.

Inhaling his breath, I danced beneath him, slick skin sliding in seamless rhythm. His need was palpable, swirling through my body, dripping over my tongue.

With a primal growl he flipped me to my belly, and I gripped the sturdy carved headboard as he ran his hands down my torso to cup my round ass. His fingers dove deep inside, then slid over me, searching for the hard, aching nub. A gasp tore from my throat as he found it. Overwhelmed with lust and need, my hips bucked back toward him as he drove me ever closer to another riptide of ecstasy.

“Oh, God, don’t stop,” I begged him.

Groaning, he slid his hand around, still playing me as he entered me with an animal thrust, so deep and wild that I thought I might burst.

Waves raced over me, crashing into him as he drove into me again and again. The bubble of molten lust beneath his fingers grew, my whole body quivering with the power of it. He tangled a fist in my hair as he began to pulse inside of me, the slight pain letting the twisting tide of pleasure take over.

A crack of lightning through my core electrified the waves of pleasure that had built within me, unleashing a typhoon. My body bucked against his wildly as the storm raged, washing nirvana through each cell and molecule of my being. With a primal growl he emptied into me, filling me with his hot passion. In sucking gasps and little groans, the ecstasy slowly subsided.

He held me close afterward, cradling my spent and glowing body against him as he covered my head and face with little kisses. I sighed into him, floating on the aftermath of our shared euphoria. As my heartbeat slowed and I regained the higher functions of my mind, I glanced across the room at the clock.

“The twins go to bed in an hour. Miles, would you like to meet your children?”