I awoke to the first rays of sunlight streaming through the window. For a moment, I panicked. I was back in our brownstone, waking up alone to another day without the love of my life.

But there he was, beside me, the covers tangled around his waist, just as they always had since the first time we’d shared a night together. My sarong had loosened during the night, and I lay naked next to my husband.

Déjà vu.

A very welcome déjà vu.

Price’s breathing was steady and shallow, just as I remembered. His dark hair, tousled and sexy, was a gorgeous contrast against the stark whiteness of the pillow on which he rested his head. His full lips were parted slightly as he exhaled puffs of air.

How had I existed this past year without him? I couldn’t help a quiet but sarcastic chuckle. Existing. That’s what I’d been doing. Simply existing. While I’d enjoyed the trip to Spain and had smiled a few times, I still hadn’t been living.

If I chose to stay here, to give up everything else in my life—my home, my family, my friends, my work—I could stop merely existing. With Price, I would live.

Yet how could I leave everything behind? To never see my mother, father, brother, and sister again, never know my nieces and nephews. And what of them? Would they think me dead? Kidnapped? What would I be allowed to tell them?

What about children? God, children… My own children would never know their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, their cousins. Was that fair? Would we always be looking over our shoulders for the next potential threat? I’d dreamed of having Price’s children from the first moment I’d laid eyes on his dark beauty, but would that be possible now? I couldn’t bear the thought of putting a child in danger. Would I be giving up my dream to be a mother?

I’d be giving up everything.

Everything except Price.

Looking over at him, the sun illuminating his bronze chest, I thought for a moment I could do it, that it would be worth it. After all, Price was the love of my life. He was more important than everyone and everything else in my life combined.

That didn’t lessen the importance of those others, though, and the impact my disappearing would have on them.

But how I loved this man. My Price. It was the kind of love that filled my heart, my soul—the kind of love that almost hurt in its intensity. A good hurt, though. A fulfilling hurt.

A year had passed, and still I loved him. I hadn’t even begun to get over him, and here he was, alive, and opening up a second chance for the two of us.

I didn’t need to decide right now. At this moment, I would savor him. Just staring at his god-like exquisiteness filled me with immeasurable joy. That face, that body—I’d never imagined I would look upon them again. Touch them again.

I feathered my fingertips over his solid shoulder. He shuddered slightly but didn’t awaken. I smiled. His sheer masculine beauty would always rob me of breath. I trailed my hand over his chest to his waist, untangling the sheet and baring the rest of him to me. His well-formed legs, the black curls between them…and his gorgeous cock, now flaccid.

I could take care of that.

I lowered my head, inhaled his musky maleness, and then pressed tiny kisses onto him.

He responded instantly, hardening to my touch. I swirled my tongue around him, tracing the purple vein that marbled around his shaft, just as I remembered. Still so velvety smooth under my tongue, still warm with a pleasant zing of saltiness.

Déjà vu.

I looked up.

His eyes were open now…and full of fire. “God. Don’t stop, baby.”

I had no intention of stopping. I licked along the tip and then sucked the bulbous head into my mouth, pulling. He groaned. I slid my lips along the length of him until he nudged the back of my throat. I eased up and then took him in again.

And again he groaned.

I’d been a novice at giving head when Price and I had started dating, but he’d been a patient teacher. Now I loved it, loved the power it gave me to bring him to his knees. This was so personal to me, so intimate. After Price died, I’d wondered if I’d ever be able to put another man’s cock into my mouth.

Now I knew the truth. Never. I could only do this for Price.

I added my hand to the motion, twisting my fist as I slid my lips up and down his cock, adding suction and then releasing it, my pussy growing wet as I brought my husband to the edge.

“Kate, baby…” His voice was low. “Stop. I want to be inside you.”

I closed my eyes. I ached for that too—that glorious fullness that only Price could provide. But at this moment, I needed something else. This power. I’d been so helpless for the last year, so chained up by a string of events over which I had no control.

Right now I had control, and I wasn’t giving it up.

I dropped his cock from my mouth, still grasping it, and met his dark gaze. “Later. Right now I need you. I need you to come in my mouth.”

“But baby—”

I silenced him as I glided my lips to his base again.

“Ah, God,” he groaned, closing his eyes. “I’ve missed you so much, Kate. So fucking much. No one else could ever make me feel the way you do.”

I worked him with my hand as I licked his balls, kissed his inner thighs, all the while reveling in his deep groans, his words of praise.

When his balls and cock tightened, and I knew he was ready, I plunged my mouth onto his cock and took all of him. As his essence torched the back of my throat, I moaned my satisfaction.

I released him, raining tiny kisses over his cock and thighs and then climbing up and nestling myself in the crook of his arm. “I love you, Price.”

“God, Kate, I love you so much.”

I closed my eyes. I was turned on, ready to go. I knew I could get Price to give me an orgasm without much urging, but I didn’t move. I wasn’t yet ready to give up my power, to become slave to circumstances and situations beyond my control once more. Instead, I breathed in deeply, and for a timeless moment, I imagined we could stay like this forever, in this magical place, without any consequences.

I immersed myself in that dream until I drifted back to sleep.

---

“Mmm…”

Price was licking my nipples. I’d thought I was dreaming, but this was reality. He moved down my body and spread my legs.

I smiled and opened my eyes.

He was gazing at me. “Thought I’d return the favor.” He swiped his tongue over my wet folds.

“How long was I asleep?” I asked.

“Who knows?” He kissed my pussy. “Who cares?”

Who cared indeed? Why not continue my dream for a bit? Price and I together forever. No consequences…

“You taste so sweet, Kate.” He burrowed into me.

I lifted my hips, giving him better access, letting his tongue reach my innermost places. I chilled all over, my pussy throbbing, while he tormented me as only he could. In less than a minute I was close to the peak.

“There you go, sweetness. There you go.” He slid two fingers into me.

I unraveled, my whole body flashing with shards of electricity. He knew exactly what to do, exactly what buttons to push to bring me to ecstasy.

“You’re so beautiful when you come, Kate. Your body flushes a rosy pink, and those noises you make… God.” He continued to finger me, brushing up against my G-spot. “I swear I could be happy just making you come. Just tasting this heaven between your legs.” He touched his tongue to my clit once more.

I soared again, this time higher, screaming his name as stars burst through my body. He was my world, this man. He was my reason for living. I closed my eyes and then squealed as he filled me with his hard cock. His lips met mine, our tongues dancing.

This was the true power. The two of us together. There was power in this kind of love.

He broke the kiss. “Kate, baby…” He breathed rapidly and increased the speed of his thrusts. “Can’t”—thrust—“live”—thrust—“without you.” Thrust. “God, yes.”

He released into me, clamping his lips onto mine and kissing me deeply. We stayed joined for several minutes, kissing, and then just holding each other.

Again I imagined staying here forever. No consequences.

But morning had come, and with it, consequences.

When Price rolled off of me onto his side, I turned to face him.

“Price.”

“Hmm?” His eyes were closed.

“What about your parents? My parents? My brother and sister? I have nieces and nephews, Price. I have—”

He opened his eyes and touched his fingers to my lips. “Baby.”

I shook my head. “What about children? We always wanted children. Would they be safe?”

He sighed. “I…don’t know, Kate.”

“Then how can you—”

He placed his fingers on my lips again. “We’ll talk about all of that. We’ll talk about everything. We’ll figure it all out. I promise. But can we just have today? I want to show you my boat. I want to show you the rest of this amazing island. I want to hold your hand, walk with you, smile, laugh, just be.”

“I’d love that. Really. But we can’t escape reality, Price. You know that as well as I do. What you’re asking me to do has repercussions.”

He sighed again and sat up. “Breakfast?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

He smiled, leaned down, and brushed his lips across mine. “Damn right.”

I couldn’t help returning his smile. “We have to consider these things at some point. And even more importantly, you need to tell me the whole truth.”

He cupped my cheek, his dark eyes heavy-lidded. “Kate, please. Just today. Give me today. Let me show you what kind of life I can give you here.”

He didn’t look sad, exactly. I could usually read Price well, but right now his feelings eluded me. His hand still rested on my face, and I placed mine over it.

“I would do anything for you. I can give you today.”

“Thank you.” He rose from the bed and put on the pair of shorts he’d worn yesterday. “Let’s get a cup of coffee, okay? I need to let Chelle know what we’ll be up to. Then we can shower and get moving.”

I nodded, got up, and wrapped my sarong around me. We headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Michelle was sitting at the table, a half-eaten plate of fruit in front of her. “I was beginning to give up on you two.” She winked.

I’d long since gotten over being embarrassed around Michelle. She knew I thought her brother was the sexiest man on the planet. I opened my mouth to speak, but she stopped me with a gesture.

“Please, spare me the gory details. I know you’re head over heels in love with the man of your dreams, but he’s still my big brother.”

I smiled, poured two cups of coffee, and handed one to Price.

“Fruit in the fridge,” Michelle said. “There’s also bacon, eggs, some wholegrain bread, and yogurt.”

“Fruit’s fine for me.” I opened the refrigerator and grabbed containers of cut-up pineapple and mango. Price would never go for fruit, though.

“Which one of you women wants to make me a hearty omelet?” Price turned the corners of his lips up into a devilish smile.

Michelle rolled her eyes. “I don’t do breakfast food. Besides, I made dinner last night.”

Price loved eggs. I’d made him many omelets in the past simply because he loved them. My first attempts had been scrambled eggs speckled with peppers, onions, and colored orange from cheddar cheese, but I’d gotten better over the years. I didn’t like eggs much myself, and I wasn’t a great cook, but I loved making omelets for Price.

“I’ll do it, babe,” I said.

He kissed my cheek. “I’ve had to make my own omelets for the past year. They don’t hold a candle to yours, Kate.”

My omelets were hardly legendary, but I understood what he wasn’t saying. He loved my omelets because I made them, just as I loved making them because I was making them for him.

My eyes filled, and suddenly the dam broke and sobs began to rack my body.

Price came to me swiftly and wrapped me in his strong arms. “What is it, baby?”

I hiccupped. “It’s nothing. It’s just…the omelet.”

“You don’t have to make an omelet. It’s okay.”

“No.” I rubbed my nose on his bare shoulder. “That’s not it. I want to make it. I just… I never thought I’d make you an omelet again.”

“Shh,” he said. “I promise. You can make as many omelets as you want.”

I choked out a laugh at the absurdity of crying like a fool over eggs I’d never liked making in the first place and then turned around toward the table. “Michelle?”

“I think she discreetly disappeared when the waterworks started.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey”—Price stroked my cheek, brushing away tears—“you don’t ever have to be sorry about anything. You hear me? This is all on me. All me.”

I buried my face in his hard chest, my nose still running. Price thought he was speaking the truth when he said this was all on him, but he wasn’t. I was involved now. Any decision I made had consequences for both of us and for myriad others.

This was on us now.

But I’d promised him today—today free of concerns and worry over fallout. I’d never yet broken a promise to my husband, and I wouldn’t start now. I gulped down my last sob and pulled away, grabbing a tissue from the counter. After wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, I managed a smile.

“Today, Price. Today is for you. Today is for us. Show me your island.”