Three weeks later

Mari fritzed and fussed with her hair, then pulled on the snug red dress. Tonight was finally the night. After three long weeks she was finally going out on another first date with Ethan.

Recovery had been slow and far more painful than she’d expected. Physical therapy was a special level of hell she wouldn’t wish on anyone—except maybe Chester. Ethan took whatever the therapist threw at him.

She’d learned more than she ever wanted about the type of injury Ethan barely avoided sustaining. Unbeknownst to her, a millimeter or two more to the side and he would’ve bled out.

She forced the thought aside.

All that mattered now was that he was alive and okay. He and Jen had switched houses. Jen was now on the second floor of the three-story house he and Milo owned, while he’d taken over the bungalow next door.

For now.

Ethan made his dislike for the arrangement quite clear. Then Mari had pointed out that it’d give them more privacy. Privacy they’d both enjoyed very, very much.

But they hadn’t had sex yet.

Ethan was adamant he wasn’t going to rush them, which Mari loved him for. But if they didn’t make love tonight? Well, a woman had needs and he was going to find out exactly what happened when they didn’t get met.

She smiled at the soft knock on the bedroom door. She’d moved into the bungalow’s second bedroom. At first, sharing a house with a man she loved but wasn’t sleeping with was a bit…awkward. But after a couple days they’d fallen into a comfortable routine. They spent their evenings together watching television while they mostly made out.

Her hand trembled as she turned the knob and opened the door. “Hi.”

Ethan’s eyes widened as his gaze drank in her new dress. She spun around so he’d get the full effect of the plunging not-there-at-all back. She’d bought it while in San Antonio, where she’d met with Zoey and a woman named Ellie. They’d had lunch and shopped their wallets dry.

It’d been worth every penny.

She memorized the hungry look in his eyes and licked her lips. “I know we’re supposed to go to dinner, but there’s only one thing I want tonight.”

A growl rumbled from him as he grasped her head and claimed her mouth. She moaned, sagged into him, and deepened the kiss. She chased, taunted, and toyed with his tongue as she slowly drew them backward toward the bed.

She wanted him off his leg, which still bothered him late at night. The therapist had told her it’d likely be months before the pain truly went away, especially since he’d sworn off any painkillers.

Pleasure ignited along her skin as they tumbled onto the bed. She inhaled his intoxicating scent and grasped the pale gray shirt he’d put on. Feeling only a moment’s guilt, she ripped it open. Buttons popped and spewed everywhere.

He chuckled against their connected mouths and grinned. Eyes opened, she peered into his. The slow touches he’d used earlier became demanding. Fast. Exactly what she needed.

She wanted to taste, memorize, and savor every inch of him.

“God, you’re killing me,” he groaned against her throat. “This dress.”

The straps slid down her arms. Deft fingers unzipped the back. She leaned backward enough for the material to slide down her front.

“You’re beautiful.” He breathed the words as he ran kisses down her throat and across her shoulders. He cupped her breasts, breasts she’d kept hidden from him so the bitemarks could heal. She didn’t want what they shared intimately tainted by the man who’d hurt her.

His thumbs raked along her nipples, flicking back and forth in a slow, sensuous glide until the achy nubs hardened. She thrust her chest forward, deepening the contact she’d imagined and fantasized about all day.

He drew one into his mouth. Pleasure arrowed downward and settled between her legs. She tasted, touched, massaged, and stroked him wherever she could.

Ethan severed contact long enough to strip out of his clothes. Magnificent. She memorized every ridge, every flex and bulge of muscle along his powerful body. Her gaze skittered past his injured leg. She didn’t want a reminder of how close she’d come to losing him. Not tonight.

Tonight was a celebration of life.

Love.

“You keep looking at me like that and this will be a much shorter union than I want it to be,” he mumbled with a grin.

“Nothing about you is short.” She skimmed the dress past her hips and tossed it to the side of the bed. “I’ve waited long enough, Ethan. I need you.”

“Not any more than I need you, sweetheart.”

She kissed him hungrily and ran her hand down his bare chest. She wrapped her fingers around his hard, long length.

“You’re a little minx,” he whispered as he dragged her legs up until she fell on her back. He pinned her hands over her head and grinned. “I get to play first.”

Oh God.

She writhed beneath him as he caressed down her sides, along her breasts, and up her legs. His mouth followed the same trajectory, tasting, licking, and nibbling until his hot breath trailed up her inner thighs.

Mari had spent many lonely nights the past few weeks imagining his mouth on her. She’d never come close. Deft fingers spread her folds apart as he licked and teased her sensitive flesh. His tongue flicked along her clit, back and forth until her entire body quaked with the need to come.

As if sensing her hesitation, he sped up the pace, then switched to a gentle sucking that spiraled her over the edge. Her entire body shook with her release. Fingers in his short hair, she hung on and rode the waves of pleasure.

“Ethan.” She whispered his name as she cried out.

His mouth claimed hers. The carnal taste of herself on his lips made her groan. She reached between them and grasped his hard cock.

“Next time I play with you,” she growled against his mouth. “I need you in me, Ethan. Please.”

“Mari, I love you so much,” he whispered. He looked down at the pile of clothes. “I need to get a condom, sweetheart.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m protected. I take a shot. I have for years. I haven’t been with anyone since I left him.”

“Jesus, sweetheart. You kill me with how much you trust me to take care of you. I was tested recently and haven’t been with anyone in months. I’ve never been with anyone without a condom.”

Mari bristled and looked away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

“Look at me, Mari,” he ordered, his voice gentle. Fingers beneath her chin, he waited for her to turn her gaze back to him. “I love you more than anything. Of course I want to make love to you without anything between us, but I want you to know you are safe with me. Always. I would never, ever do anything to violate the trust you’ve given me. Okay?”

“I love you, Ethan. Please. Make love to me.”

She kissed him. Eyes open, she watched his expression as he slid into her. A moan escaped her as he filled her fuller than she’d ever experienced. He groaned and rose to position his hands on either side of her head.

She grasped his shoulders, wrapped her legs around him and matched his powerful thrusts into her. Each one cast a brushfire of awareness through her entire body. He kissed her mouth, nibbled down her throat and along her earlobe. Teased her breasts.

She sank her fingernails into his back as she fought the need to orgasm again. She wanted to hold out, wait until he was ready.

“Fuck, I love how beautiful you look when you come. Give it to me, sweetheart.”

She cried out and held onto him as a whirlwind of desire pulsated through her. She drifted within his embrace as he cried out with his own release.

Then collapsed on the bed, sated and sweaty.

Spectacular.

The word formed in her brain, followed by a thousand more to describe her feelings for Ethan and what they’d just done, but none formed on her tongue.

He kissed her cheek and drew her into his arms. “That was the best dinner I’ve ever had.”

She smiled as she remembered his mouth on her, tasting her. She’d get a taste of him soon enough. Head on his chest, she sighed her contentment.

“Hate to say this, but we’d best get up and get some food in you. We’ve got to be at the airport early in the morning,” he commented.

Excitement bubbled within her. Tex had tried hard to get Joseph home weeks ago, but his team had been deep within a mission. They were finally home and taking a well-deserved leave.

Joseph was coming home.

She wasn’t sure how long of a leave he was getting, or how much of it he’d spend in Austin, but she’d enjoy every single second of the time she got to spend with him. Her mom and dad had just left a couple days ago.

June Bug hopped up on the bed and curled onto the bed above her head and next to Ethan’s. Mari couldn’t help but chuckle as the cat’s tail flicked back and forth on Ethan’s face.

“I think someone’s jealous of me,” he commented.

“Likely so,” she replied. “June Bug doesn’t share easily.”

“She’ll deal.”

Chompers jumped up on the best, did several spins and collapsed with a huff. Muzzle on paws, he looked at Mari like he’d eat her if given half a chance. “She’s not the only jealous one.”

“He’ll deal,” Ethan commented. “I love you, Mari Davenport.”

Her insides clenched. She darted her gaze up at him.

“Marry me,” he whispered. “While your brother is here. I don’t want to waste another second of our life together, Marisol. I’ll fly your parents back immediately. Whatever you want for a wedding, I’ll make it happen. Say yes.”

“All I want is you,” she replied. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”