"But you can't." I caught Moki up as she barked in excitement. "You can't just let her take what's yours." We'd gone back and forth the entire way home.

"I already have what's mine," he said, taking us both in his arms. "And Elaine got what she wanted. I'd have to say, I got the best end of that deal." Jack laughed as the puppy squirmed away and he pulled me in closer.

"But it's my fault she had the power to threaten blackmail in the first place…," I muttered. "I can't tell you how wonderful it felt, to have the support of your whole family, but…"

"Our family…"

"Okay, our family," I sighed, smiling back reluctantly. "But they gave up, you all did, just to protect me… To protect us," I added, when he shot me that look again.

"Libby… We gave her nothing." I fingered the paper Spencer had handed me before he'd slipped from the room and smiled.

"She bought up enough stock to have control, it's as simple as that. It's how business is done. We still hold enough to fight her tooth and nail at every step. I know her, sweetheart. She likes an easy life, and she just bought herself a whole fucking world of complicated." He leaned down and kissed me until I was wet and he was throbbing against me. "Besides, life often has a mind of its own."

"You're distracting me on purpose," I said weakly.

"I certainly hope so," he answered back. "Or I'm doing it wrong…"

"But you wanted the merger so much… you wanted… Mason… you wanted it… to be so strong…" I barely got the words out.

"And then I found something I wanted even more… right here."

He took my hand and led me out into the darkness. The sky was finally clear, the lake as smooth as glass. He stood behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist, his hands resting warmly on my belly. He tucked his face into my shoulder, close to my ear. "I want you, sweetheart. Just you… and this beautiful, peaceful place." He nuzzled closer and I could feel his delicious length pressing up against me.

"I lived to work… for too goddamned many years. I'm not making that same mistake this time." He sighed, leaning his head against mine. "Elaine and I never worked together, on any level, but it didn't help that I was gone so much. I think, in so many ways, things have turned out for the best." He turned me to face him. "I spent so much of my life wanting what I didn't have. Now I realize, it's all right here…

I love you, Libby. And I want us to always be a family." He ran one big thumb gently over my lips. "Even more than ever, now that you want it as much as I do…" He smiled sadly. "But I wanted children for years… and it never happened. There's always the chance… that it never will."

I stopped him with a kiss, tangling my hands in his hair. "I love you, forever, Jack. Babies… no babies. You've already given me more family than I ever dreamed of." I pulled his long, hard body against my softness, just listening to his heartbeat. I smiled to myself… as a surge of happiness rolled through me. These last two months… I blinked. Had it been that long?

"I know what you mean… About it all turning out for the best." I looked up. "I opened the envelope today… about my mother." I sighed. "There wasn't much… just that she's gone. Only a few months after she gave me up. I doubt I'll ever find out more. Who she really was, or why she gave me up…"

"Sweetheart," he put his warm lips against my forehead. "I'm so sorry… I'd hoped it would give you the answers."

I rested my head on his strong, broad chest. "In a funny way, I think it has…," I said. "My whole life I always thought she just didn't want me. That a baby… that I… was just a problem, and that she solved it by throwing me away…" I took a deep breath of the cool night air. "But it's almost like she never even had a life of her own at all. She rented a little apartment for a few years, but then there was no record at all after she left." Jack's hands stroked my back in long, soothing motions as he listened. "She died… when she was still so young…

All those years I blamed her, for not loving me… for not wanting me. But who was there for her? She wasn't married, and her parents were dead. She had nothing… no one…" I turned my face up to Jack's loving gaze. "Maybe I'll never fully understand. But I have something I never had before, in my whole life…"

"What, sweetheart?"

"Freedom," I said softly, as tears filled my eyes. "Because I feel like I can finally forgive her… even if I never do find out what really happened. It all had so much power over me, since I was just a little girl. Now, somehow it just doesn't anymore..."

I sniffed as he wiped my cheeks tenderly. "Her choices don't have to be mine. And I'm not alone anymore…"

He wrapped me in the strength of his arms and held me tight. "And you never will be, Libby. As long as there's breath in my body, I swear to you. I will love you my whole life. And you will never, ever be alone again."

* * *

He undressed me with aching slowness, kissing every tender spot as he went. I was frantic with need by the time his mouth touched the hollow of my throat. My shirt… my bra… he dropped them, forgotten on the floor, in his search for my skin.

His lips trailed between my breasts and the stubble on his jaw raked against my swollen nipples. He kissed a path along my belly as he slipped jeans and panties down… Only for a moment did he take his warm hands away. I watched, holding my breath as he stripped, the silver moonlight coming through the windows, reflecting off his sculpted body… I stood, spellbound by his perfection… Then I was in his arms, and he was flesh and blood again. Hard and hot with a need I shared. He lifted me onto our bed and covered me with his body.

"I want you…," he rasped out the words in my ear, his heavy cock drawing a line of moisture up the inside of my thigh.

"You have me," I gasped back. "I'm all yours…"

‘Delicious… sweet… sweetheart…" He ran his lips down my body, taking the time to taste me with his tongue, explore the curves of my breasts… the hollow of my navel. By the time he reached my mound, he had my legs spread wide and his eyes were sparkling with lust and delight. "All mine," he growled. "To take as I please… to taste as I please…"

He took me with his mouth, the first touch of his tongue arching my body He lapped and teased, drinking me in. I was soaked in wetness, and yet it only fed the flames. He eased two long fingers into me and my need turned into a wildfire…

"God… Jack… oh, please…" I was begging now. "I need you to…"

"What, sweetheart?" he asked, his breath hot against my swollen lips. "Tell me what it is you need…"

"You know," I gasped back. I could feel his mouth poised just over me and tried to push myself closer…

"Tell me," he teased. "I want to hear you tell me." He flicked the tip of his tongue against me and the shock hit me like lightening.

"I want you inside me," I begged. "I want your cock so deep inside me…"

I heard his breath catch in his chest and in the next second he was on top of me, inside me, buried in one deep thrust. He pushed my thighs apart, holding my knees as my heels gripped his ass. He'd never been deeper and my body held him there. I was tight around his thick, hard shaft. Our bodies tense, on the verge of climax, he looked into my eyes. "You are mine," he said, pushing the head of his cock further, stretching me to the limit.

"I'm yours," I gasped, my breath coming in quick, tiny puffs. He pushed a little more and I clutched at his chest. "Take me… oh god, take me… fuck me…"

The single word unleashed us both. He drove inside me with long, powerful strokes, building to a climax that hit us both at once. We shattered into a thousand pieces, the waves of combined orgasm pounding our bodies until we flew apart… and then came back together again into one greater whole. I was Jack, and Jack was me. There was no more separation.

There was only us.