“This place had better have some good rum and whiskey, otherwise I don’t think I’ll be able to handle all this riff raff!”

I grin as I look over at Ivy Jo Price, who’s scowling in her seat as the hum of the plane engine drones in the background. Armed with her cane and wide brim hat, she looks like she’s ready to do battle.

“What riff raff, Grandma?” Mindy asks, who’s sitting beside her and cooing softly to her daughter to keep her quiet. “You’re surrounded by your grandchildren and great-grand babies. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Ivy Jo stares at her granddaughter as if she’s gone nuts. “I am, but then I keep having to listen to Mary Jo go on about that damn dog! I told her she couldn’t bring the thing and she’s not letting me forget it! Like it’s my fault that dog wasn’t allowed as a carry-on!” She shakes her head mournfully. “So disrespectful. Why, when I was younger . . .”

Caleb, who’s been getting his ear talked off between Mom and Ivy Jo, gives me a look of suffering. Okay, so it was a little unfair, but that was the way first-class was laid out, three and two. And he seems to put up with the eccentricities of older women like Ivy Jo better than the rest of us. “Tony?”

“Hey, it could be worse,” I reply, pointing behind me, where Roxy and Cassie have been going since takeoff. Thankfully for Jake, he was willing to sit between two baby carriers, so Justin, my new little nephew, and Mindy’s newborn baby girl, Rachel, had plenty of care and Jake could get some sleep.

“Hey, Studmuffin, you hush before you’re in my next song!” Roxy teases, reaching around and ruffling my hair. “Gotcha!”

“You’re a mother now. You’d think you’d grow up some!” I protest, trying not to laugh. Now that I’ve got Roxy not only as a sort of sister-in-law but also as my girlfriend’s bestie, I’ve gotten to know her a lot better, and she’s been a real trip. I can see why she and Hannah get along so well.

We land and get our rental vehicles, leaving Honolulu behind to head directly to Wesley’s property. There’ll be time for touristy stuff later.

When we arrive, there’s stunned silence as everyone takes in the beauty. They’ve all seen photos—Hannah’s gigabytes of memories have helped—but there’s nothing like the real thing. Wesley’s waiting as we pull up, Mo Mo on his shoulder. “Pleasant greetings, travelers and friends! Welcome to what’s soon not going to be my home!”

I laugh, getting out to shake his hand, only slightly surprised when he gives me a huge embrace before hugging Hannah as well. He goes around shaking hands with everyone else until he reaches Mindy and Roxy’s grandmother. “What in the Lord’s name is that on your head? Looks like you took my kitchen mop and decided to use it as a hat!”

Wesley chuckles. “Well, Alani has been asking me to get it shaved off, so I guess that makes it unanimous. Would you like to have one of the locks, like they do when they cut a retiring sumo champion’s hair?”

Ivy Jo makes a face and then looks at me. “Tony, if you let your hair grow into a rat’s nest like that, I’ma take a butane torch to your head!”

“Rat nest!” Mo Mo echoes. “Don’t need no water, let the motherfucker burn!”

“I like this bird,” Roxy says, chuckling. “Good taste in music.”

“Shake your rump!” Mo Mo says, starting a little boogie on Wesley’s shoulder, and we all laugh. I let Wesley take the lead, transferring us to quad runners for the post-natal women and Ivy Jo as he shows off his property. Everyone’s enchanted, and more than once, Oliver gives me a look that says he’s counting his lucky stars.

“And right up that trail is where the hiking challenge took place,” Wesley says. “I was planning on taking you all up there for sunset. The view is fantastic.”

“Just a moment,” I interrupt. “You know, I wanted to grab a midday photo from up there. Hannah, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure,” Hannah says, not seeing as I give Wesley a wink.

Hannah gets off her quad runner, letting Gavin take over while Cassie takes mine. It gives them time to go around the long way and still get there ahead of us. I take Hannah’s hand, and we start up the trail, relishing the clean, wonderful air. “I’m glad for the quiet.”

Hannah laughs. “You know, I can’t believe how everything worked out. I’m going to be dead broke for a while longer still, but that’s okay. In the end, the right thing happened.”

“What about Cassie and Myra?” I ask, and Hannah smiles.

“Cassie says that for a little while, at least, she’s gonna help out Roxy and Jake until she figures things out. Apparently, they need a fill-in bartender over at Club Jasmine, and she’s still got her server’s license from back in college,” Hannah says. “She’ll be fine. She says she’s happier this way. Myra’s moving on too, striking out on her own. I don’t know what all she’s got planned, but knowing her, she’ll come out just fine.”

We reach the top and head over to the blue rose bush. I wrap my arms around Hannah, kissing her neck. She moans lightly, humming with happiness. “You know, I’m all sweaty. That walk wasn’t any easier this time around.”

I chuckle, wrapping my arms around her tighter and licking the salty tang off her skin. “I happen to know a nice little pool and cave where we can go cool off.”

“Mmmm . . . I was thinking the same thing,” Hannah says, taking my hand and placing it on her left breast. “I was thinking some other things, too.”

“Like what?”

“Like the bathroom in the airplane was too damn small to do what I wanted,” Hannah says, tilting her head and giving me a warm kiss. “Come on.”

We walk hand in hand to the pool, where the birds are quiet but the water’s crystal clear. “This place is gonna be special to us,” I say as we draw closer. “Hey, what’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“That,” I say, pointing. “Something in the shallows behind you.”

Hannah turns, seeing the glinting light. “I’m not sure . . .”

Hannah kneels and reaches into the water, and I try to hold onto my serious expression, waiting for her reaction.

“It’s a ring . . . and it looks like it’s got one hell of a diamond in it,” she says. “I wonder who it belongs to?”

“Let me see,” I say. She hands me the ring, and I grin, getting down on a knee. “It’s yours, if you’ll have me. Hannah Fowler . . . will you marry me?”

Hannah’s shocked, barely breathing as she looks at the ring, and a quiet voice comes from nowhere. “I would accept. According to some of the villagers, you’re already married.”

Hannah looks over, a startled gasp coming from her as Alani leads everyone to the other side of the pool. “What?”

“That place we went to the night of the festival,” I tell her, grinning. “According to Alani, it’s an old native temple. Basically, by doing what we did, we told the gods that we were one. So . . . how about making it legal in the eyes of modern law too?”

She’s shocked, and tears trickle from her eyes. “Oh, my God, yes. But . . . when? We’re going to be so busy with—”

“And I’m booked to sing at your wedding tomorrow,” Roxy says. “Sorta my comeback performance. I haven’t sung a wedding in . . . well, ever. Hope I don’t screw it up.”

Hannah blinks, then looks at me, grinning. “You mean the tickets, flying everyone out . . . you knew this all along!”

I don’t have an answer. I just grin. It’s a surprise to Cassie, though, who laughs. “How did you know she would say yes?”

“Because she knows I’d do anything in the world for her. Because she’s the light in my heart, the breath in my lungs, the blood in my beating heart,” I reply, standing up and taking Hannah’s hands. “Because I love her more than life itself, and the only thing that would make me happier is when we have children together.”

Hannah knits her brows, scowling. “Oh, so you want me barefoot and pregnant, do you?”

“Barefoot is how a lot of the locals go around,” I point out, and Hannah lets go of her mock anger, laughing.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

We kiss, to the wild applause of everyone, until Grandma Ivy Jo comments how her old bones are ready for a trip to the spa that she heard about. “And I heard something about cabana boys? Is that true, Caleb?”

Caleb groans, looking at Cassie. “I’m so gonna toss you in the ocean before we leave.”

“Hey guys, think we can meet you back at the house in about an hour?” I ask. “We’ve got a few things to talk about.”

They leave, and I look at Hannah, who’s grinning. “Well?”

“Well, what?” she asks before pushing me in the pool. “Race you to the cave! Whoever gets there first is in charge!”

Hannah scampers over the rocks, laughing as I’m forced to swim. Even with her speed advantage, Hannah has to pick her path carefully, and I plunge through the water with abandon, loving the feeling of the competitiveness we had together before. I gave her the obstacle course. I sure as hell am not making that a habit. I pull hard through the water, feeling the waterfall pound onto my back as I emerge . . . and find Hannah just sitting down on the blanket.

“Guess who gets to be in charge?” she teases me, leaning back and letting her body stretch out in the dim magical lights from the crystals.

I open my mouth to protest but realize I don’t have to anymore. I move across the pool and hoist myself out, grinning. “You’re lucky I don’t have a water balloon handy.”

“Lie down on the blanket,” Hannah says, “and get those shorts off. Now . . . where did I put that butt plug Cassie gave me?”

I laugh lightly, pushing my shorts down and lying back. As Hannah takes off her bra, straddling my head and lowering her pussy toward my eager lips, I feel a surge through my body that has my cock standing at full attention. “Now, if you’re good . . .”

I don’t need any more encouragement, and I reach up, tracing Hannah’s lips with my tongue before sliding it deep inside her, tasting her and making her gasp. I feel her wrap her hand around my cock and pump lightly, moaning as I suck and tease her, dragging my tongue deep inside her before sucking on her clit. Hannah grinds her pussy over my mouth, stroking my cock and moaning. I can’t see anything except the glistening pink of her pussy, and I don’t care. I devote everything I have to her as I let her control everything.

With a gasp, Hannah pulls away just as I thought she was about to come. “Wait,” she says, her voice shaking as she repositions.

She straddles my hips while facing away from me, reaching down and lining my cock up with her pussy. She sinks down, my cock enveloped in the tight, clingy warmth of her body. Her ass is right in front of me, and I reach down, massaging it as she starts riding me, moaning happily. “You know just how to please me.”

Watching Hannah’s ass as she rides me is mesmerizing, each flex of her hips in perfect timing of my cock sliding in and out of her tight pussy. My cock throbs as she rolls her hips, gasping when I smack her right butt cheek lightly. “And I know this feels good,” I add.

She looks back, a gleam in her eyes and a smirk on her lips as she clenches her pussy around my cock. I start thrusting up to meet her, and Hannah groans, throwing her head back and I grab a fistful of her hair.

We fall into a perfect joining, my cock thrusting up to meet her exactly, both of us adding to the speed and electricity crackling through the air. Keeping one hand tangled in her hair, I use the other to squeeze and spank her ass as we go harder and faster, the glimmering lights from the crystals making everything look surreal and sensual.

“Fuck…oh Tony, give it to me,” Hannah begs, and I thrust up, our hips smacking together so hard they echo in the cave, and I feel my balls grow tighter, my cock swelling. We’re close, so close, and I thrust as deep as I can, Hannah groaning as I bottom out inside her. I can feel her pussy tighten before she cries out, and I unleash myself, coming deep inside Hannah as she milks me, her body quivering as we come together, riding it until our bodies collapse.

“We’re going to have to come up here often,” Hannah says when she can speak again. “This place is magical.”

I shake my head, sitting up and gathering her in my arms. “Magic is what we make together. This place, this land . . . it’s important, but nothing will ever replace the magic that I have with you.”

Hannah turns and kisses me tenderly, and I hold her tight. She’s right, this land is special, but what I have right here, the love in my arms . . . that’s the true magic.