“Penny for your thoughts?” Pax asked, plucking a small bunch of grapes from the plate on the checkered blanket. He held them out to Evelyn, letting his fingers linger a little as she took them from his hand.

She leaned back on the stack of pillows, her eyes reflecting the green of the leaves in the tree above them. “I’m not sure they’re worth even that much. I’m not really thinking anything. More like daydreaming.”

“If your fantasies are anything like the dreams we shared while you were in the hospital, then don’t spare the details.” With a chuckle, he pulled a single grape from her hand and put it between his teeth, bringing it to her lips.

Evie bit her half and chewed, kissing its sugary sweetness on his lips. “Mmmm, delicious.”

Running the pad of his thumb under her bottom lip, he caught a drop of juice and brought it to his mouth. “The grapes or my kisses?”

“Both,” she replied, rolling onto her belly. “It’s so peaceful here. Just like when we were kids. It surprises me.”

A pair of doves circled and then swung into the higher branches, cooing as if in agreement. They were alone in the tall grass with nothing but the sound of the water lapping against the bank. The campgrounds and rentals were deserted. School was starting, so most had packed up, taking their memories with them until next year.

“What surprises you? That the lake is still as untouched and serene, or that after oceans of time and everything we went through, we still feel the same way about each other?” he asked.

Evelyn rested her chin on one hand, giving him a playful grin. “Aren’t you full of questions this afternoon?”

With a shrug, Paxton repositioned to sit on his heels. “I can’t help it. It’s my nature.”

“And here I thought curiosity killed the cat, not the wolf.”

His eyes traveled the naked beauty of her gorgeous, tanned curves in the dappled light. From the top of her dark head, to the small silver puncture scars on her shoulder. Heat skittered across his skin at the memory.

After Evelyn had regained enough strength to leave the hospital, he left as well, renting a small bungalow for them on the lake where it all began. There they took that sensual dream moment and made it a reality. They lived it, tasted the claiming fully under the moonlight in this spot not long ago. Evelyn was his mate.

“Evie, I quit my job.”

She sat up immediately. “What? Why? I thought it was just a leave of absence.”

“At first, that’s what I thought, as well.” Looking at her, Pax shook his head. “But the closer it got to my having to go back, the more I couldn’t face it. Not without you.”

Evelyn looked at her hands on her pale thighs. “I can’t go back, Pax. There’s nothing for me in that city but nightmares.”

He nodded. “That’s why I brought you here. I wanted to be here while you recovered. I wanted to make sure there were no ill side effects from the transfusion we did with your father’s tainted blood.”

Her eyes searched his. “You love being a doctor, Pax. I would never ask you to give that up.”

“You didn’t. It was my decision.” He reached out, covering her lips with his finger before she could argue. “Besides, can you see us like this in Central Park? Lying around buck naked in the grass beside the duck pond?”

She laughed, moving around to her knees as well. “Not unless we were bucking for a night of adventure in a city holding cell.”

With a mischievous smirk, Evie dropped forward onto her hands, her hair falling over her bare breasts. “Then again—” she continued, crawling toward him, “this is the south, and public nudity will get the book thrown at you faster than you could say Jiminy Cricket, that and a few other crimes against nature.”

Paxton’s cock hardened at the predatory look on her face. “Crimes against nature? And what might that mean?”

She straightened with a smirk. “I’ll just have to show you.”

Raking her nails along the hard planes of his chest, Evelyn licked and stroked his torso past the sexy V-shaped muscles leading toward his cock. He sucked in a breath as she dipped her face to his lap, her tongue flicking his swollen head.

“Oh, baby! I want your tongue and your lips wrapped around my dick. Take me deep.”

Gripping his hips, she lowered her mouth to his full length, drawing his hard member between her lips. She ran the flat of her tongue over his hard, ridged underside, her throat milking his wide girth as she took him deep.