A few days later, Will lay with Merry on a woven straw beach mat. His hand rested on her left thigh, while her left foot rubbed against his. Their dip in the ocean had covered their skin with salt, which was now being baked in by the sun. He kept wiggling around trying to get the most comfortable position for his ass. But every time he shifted, he hit a stone or a seashell or God knew what. He stared up at the sky. Even though he wore sunglasses, it seemed too damn bright.

Beach vacations sucked.

But he refused to utter a word of complaint, because no doubt Merry was loving this. This was their first getaway together. Their first vacation. And the fact that Merry was at his side made up for all the discomfort.

He had no idea why people raved about this beach thing. But he'd lie here in this roasting oven, on this bed of sand, sticky and salty, as long as Merry wanted him to.

"Having fun?" he asked, turning his head toward her. She too wore sunglasses, along with a white head scarf to keep the sand out of her hair. The seaside sun added a rosy depth to the bronze of her skin. She looked glorious and insanely sexy in her tiny orange bikini.

So there was that.

"It's so pretty here," she said in response. "And we have the whole beach to ourselves."

He noticed that she hadn't exactly answered the question. "We can go in the water again."

"No, that's okay," she said quickly. "My hair's had enough salt for one day."

"More ice tea?"

"Sure."

He opened the cooler with one hand and fished out a cold bottle of lemony ice tea. He screwed off the top and handed it to her. "Beachside cabana boy, at your service. Tips accepted."

"In kiss form?"

"Won't argue."

She kissed his shoulder, then his biceps. Her soft lips pressed against his flesh, and just like that, he felt complete. "Any news about the arraignment?" she murmured.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about work out here."

"Right. But this isn't about work so much as about public safety. Those two jerks do work for a convicted drug lord, after all."

"Last I heard, they're singing like birds and things aren't looking good for old Buckaroo."

Merry rolled back onto her side of the mat. "Well isn't that a shame. Chase is writing about it on his Tumblr, too. He picked the wrong intern to kidnap."

"Oh yeah, real tough guy," said Will dryly.

"In his own way, he is. I have to give him credit. Oh, did I tell you my mother's headed back to the States next month? She's coming to Jupiter Point to meet you. She calls you the man who 'captured my heart'."

"I pursued it long enough. It was just a matter of time before I captured it." He brushed a kiss onto her lips, and they took a moment to revel in the bone-deep knowledge of how much they loved each other.

She pulled away to flick a sand flea off her stomach. "What's with all the bugs out here? Is that normal?"

"Probably. We're outdoors, and that's kind of their territory."

"I'm not complaining," she added hastily. "This is great. Vacation. Wow. No wonder people are always raving about vacations."

"Right." He peered at her, but couldn't read her expression behind her dark sunglasses. "Have you decided what to do about the offer from the Gazette?"

"I thought we weren't talking about work out here?" She nudged his leg with her toe.

"It's not really a question about work," he countered. "It's about your future. Your passion. Your dreams. Those things all matter to me. I want you to be happy."

"I am happy. I'm with you, and that makes me happy. But you're right, I do have my dreams, and running a new investigative unit at the Gazette would be awesome. First, I'd wrap up the Buckaroo story. That should never have been shelved. Next, I'd do your family's story the way it ought to be done. After that, there's this story about pesticides that—"

"So you're going to take it?" he asked, amused.

"Maybe I ought to take it. With a job like that, I can really make things happen. I can choose which stories we follow. I can shake things up. Put our newspaper on the map. A few great investigative pieces, and we could really get some attention. The downside is having to work with Douglas, but I can't let that stop me. The board ordered him to hire me back, so he probably won't mess with me again."

"Congratulations, I'm really proud of you. You're going to do great."

"Well, I haven't decided yet. I told Douglas he'd have to wait until the end of our vacation. Vacation comes first. We both deserve one. Work can wait."

"Uh-huh." He knew his Merry, and her decision had been made. Most likely, she'd made it as soon as Douglas had made the offer. A little crab crawled across his foot. He shook it off. "The local wildlife sure is happy to have us here."

"Yup." She pointed at a seagull flying past. "I swear that same bird has been cruising around up there, just waiting for a chance to peck us."

"It's a seagull, and of course it's not the same seagull," he scoffed. "There are tons of them out here."

"Whatever. I don't trust any of them." She lifted her sunglasses to stare balefully up at the soaring bird.

He laughed, finding her delightful as always. He loved her in all her moods, including bird-phobic. As long as none of her moods involved kicking him to the curb again, he could handle them. And since she'd accepted an engagement ring and his second wedding proposal—made on this very beach just an hour ago—he had high hopes that wouldn't happen.

"Speaking of circling vultures…" she said.

He laughed again. He couldn't help it, she just amused him without even trying.

"Have you guys figured out what to do about Aiden?"

Just yesterday, they'd gotten a group email from Aiden. In it, he'd announced that he intended to leave college at the end of the semester. He'd made a vague reference to not going back to Evergreen, but maybe attending classes at the Jupiter Point Community College to finish his degree.

However, he also said that he'd have to fit classes in between pursuing the love of his life, a woman who had burst into his life like a golden Goddess riding a sun chariot.

His exact words.

Oh, and he also wanted access to his share of the life insurance money they kept in trust for him. To say that the other Knight brothers were alarmed would be the understatement of all time.

"Tobias is going to handle it. He's going to head out to Evergreen and find out what's going on. I have too much happening, between finding Cindy and finding Mom and Cassie, and maybe solving my dad's murder, not to mention lavishing love and attention on my woman." He rested a hand on her stomach, so warm from the sun.

"Your fiancée."

"Yes, that's the one. My StarLady."

"Oh no. Not going with StarLady. Not happening." She sighed and arched under his caress. "No matter how much I love your hands."

"AnonyMissus?" he asked hopefully.

She laughed, that wholehearted, wonderful laugh that always made his heart burst with joy. "We might have a problem here. Merry Knight's a little awkward too. I don't know, Will. This getting-married thing is going to be complicated."

"No, it isn't," he said firmly. "I love you and you love me and we're together and that's that."

"Yes, officer."

She slid her hand across his swimming briefs to where his erection bulged, already aroused by the mere thought of them together. He closed his eyes, awaiting her touch.

Instead, she shrieked. "What is that?"

He sat up to see what she was talking about. A bit of seaweed had gotten tucked into the waistband of his shorts. "It's nothing. Just seaweed."

"It slimed me."

He couldn't help it; he laughed. "Are you sure you're enjoying this whole beach experience?"

"Hell no! Sorry. I mean, I love being with you. But I'd enjoy it a lot more at home. In bed. With my laptop nearby. And no ban on talking about work. But that's okay, I'm fine staying out here. I can ignore the bugs and slime and all that. I want you to have fun. You need this vacation."

"All I need is you. I can skip the crab bites and sunburn. I'm calling it, let's go home."

With an expression of tremendous relief, she clambered to her feet and brushed sand off her sexy legs. "How long will it take Ben to come get us?"

"About ten minutes. He's all fueled up and ready. I just have to radio him." He got to his feet and hunted for the handheld radio Ben had left with them when he dropped them off in the chopper.

"I'm glad I got to see one of these islands out here." Merry tossed their snacks and sunscreen into the tote they'd brought. "Good material for an article. And the best thing about it?"

"It's five miles from Jupiter Point?" he asked dryly, already knowing the answer.

"Yup. But you know what, we had our vacation, we got engaged, I made my decision, we swam and sunbathed and cheated death by seagull. I think I'm good." Then she paused, cocking her head at him. "Except for one thing."

He stopped rolling up the beach mat as he caught her expression, with that special glint in her eye. The one that fired up his lust for her every single time. "What's that brilliant mind of yours thinking now?"

"That I've always wanted to have sex on a deserted island. I had a very explicit dream about it once. In fact, you were part of that dream. So I'm thinking, let’s hold off on that radio call just a little while longer." She dropped the tote bag and stepped onto the beach mat, where she pressed her bikini-clad body against him.

Instant, glorious heat roared to life between them. It was always there. All it took was one or the other of them blowing on the flames. With words, a look, a touch, a text message, an email, a call, it didn't matter.

"I do love the way you think," he told her as his arms went around her, and hers around him. And that was right where they belonged.