“Where’s your mom and dad?" Josie asks as she leads the way through my parents’ dark family room.

“Looks like they're not home.” I smile innocently.

She stops at the French doors leading out to the pool area. “You tricked me," she says.

“I never said they would be home. I only asked if you wanted to swim today. You simply assumed.”

She makes a tsking sound and narrows her eyes at me. “Yes, and I know better than to assume. Because as our seventh-grade teacher said, assuming makes an ass out of you and me. More you…but I guess I can’t hold you totally responsible for my trusting nature.”

I place my hand at the small of her back as we walk onto the patio. She’s right about me being an ass because I’ll be staring at hers all day.

“Well, well.” I draw out each word as if I’ve made the discovery of the century. “Not afraid to be alone with me, are you? I know it will be pretty tempting with both of us nearly naked, but I get the feeling you’ll manage.”

“I resisted you almost my entire life…except for a couple of weak moments. Don’t underestimate me.”

Stepping onto the bricked patio, I look around at the expanse of my parents’ back lawn—an oasis of greenery and happy memories. I had that ideal childhood here, complete with treehouse and jungle gym. Those things disappeared when my folks installed an in-ground pool.

Thinking about my own back yard, I make a mental note about what a kid needs—certainly not the barren thing I currently have at my house. I shake it off because today is a good day with me and Josie, alone and relaxed.

I casually rest my hand on Josie’s shoulder. “My folks are out of town. They drove over to Gatlinburg. You know how Mom loves it there. It would be a shame not to take advantage of the pool on a beautiful day like today. Plus you work too hard. You need a day of R & R.”

“Mmm,” she responds, noncommittally. But I can tell she’s happy to be here by the slight smile on her lips. “I guess I might.”

We pass the large outdoor kitchen area, complete with grill and a flat-screen television. Leaving the shade of a pergola, I lift my face to the sun and flip my sunglasses to perch on top of my head.

When I open my eyes, I catch Josie staring. “What?”

“Nothing,” she mutters. “Are we staying at the shallow end? If I lie in that chair, I’m going to fall asleep.”

“Sit here,” I say, pointing to a chaise lounge.

For once, she doesn’t argue. Dropping her beach bag on the ground, she grabs the bottom of the white lace tank dress and pulls it over her head. Josie wears a pink bikini underneath.

The sight of her curves sends electric zings of sexual awareness through me. Full breasts and ass, lush like she’s never had in the past, assault me. I’ve always been crazy about Josie’s body—that tight body a girl gets from swimming and running.

But now…her round five-months-pregnant belly, a perfect cocoon for a new life, is maybe the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what I expected today. But I didn’t expect the air to be punched from my lungs every time I look at her. Damn.

She fiddles with her bikini top as if suddenly realizing she spills out of it. She doesn’t have a clue how delicious it is or she wouldn’t be flaunting that shit. “This is the body of a pregnant woman,” she mutters. “Get over it.”

“God, you’re beautiful.” The words sound raw to my own ears.

Her head lifts slowly and our eyes lock. We stare at each other as if caught in some time warp where the world freezes, narrowing down to this moment.

Finally, she glances away with a flush on her cheeks, and I can’t blame her. All my idiot male feelings of want and possession must be evident. The woman came over to swim. Rein it in, cowboy.

“This lounge chair, then. Looks like a great place for a nap.” She sits and stretches tanned legs in front of her. “Harper working out as a manager?” she asks.

I know she’s trying to put the focus on anything but the two of us. “She’s great. Smart, level-headed, calm. Exactly the person I needed. And what about what’s-his-name?”

“Webb,” she corrects. “And you know his name, so quit doing that. He’s covering for me today and it’s a good thing. I know you are still mad that I went into a partnership with him, but he’s really made it so I don’t have to worry.”

“Good,” I say and dampen the jealousy I know bleeds out with the one word.

“Yes, it’s good.”

“Maybe that guy can make himself useful by taking over the store more often.”

Josie grabs a bottle of sunscreen from her bag and flips up the lid. “Sure. Webb –”

I cut her off. “What if we don’t talk about him today.” Seems every time we discussed Webb we get into an argument. In different circumstances, he might be all right. But I don’t trust him with my girl.

“Okay. Going to be a long day if you stop me every time I bring up the topic.”

“Scoot up and lean forward," I command. “Let me rub some sunscreen on you so you won’t burn.”

I swing a leg behind her so I can sit on the lounger. She throws a distrustful glance at me. "We're here alone, you're rubbing lotion on me, and you’re talking to me with your sexy voice.”

“I don’t own a sexy voice.” My lips curve up at her compliment. It’s about damn time I started getting through to her. If I thought a little massage and sexy talk would work today, I'd give it a shot. Just maybe, there’s something to her words…a secret desire. “Talk to me like you used to. Tell me about the book you’re reading.”

“A historical romance. I’ve learned more about the French Revolution than I ever wanted to know.”

I massage sunscreen into her shoulders and press lightly down her back, allowing myself to feel the dip between her shoulders before pausing at the clip of her bikini top.

“We’ll be alone all day, Butterfly. You don’t have to wear your top.”

“Nice try,” she murmurs. “Don't forget to put some lotion below my straps.”

“I’ll make sure to get every inch –”

“Oh,” she gasps. “The baby’s really kicking today.”

"Now?" I ask. “Where? Can I feel?”

“Of course. Give me your hand.”

I skate my slick fingers around to the front of her belly. Anticipation, the kind of wonder as a kid when you held a wriggling puppy for the first time, sends adrenaline soaring through me.

“There. You feel that?”

My heart races as a ripple of movement tickles my palm. “What is that? His foot?”

She shrugs and glances back at me. “I have no idea.”

But I just know my little kicker is in there saying hello to me. I take a deep breath before my next words so my words will come out steady. “Does he move every day?”

She nods. “Yeah. Most every day.”

“This,” I say with emphasis. “This is why I want to spend more time with you. Do you realize how much I miss out on? You take it for granted that you experience all these little miracles, but I don’t. Every time you show me something new, I’m regretting all the times I’m not around.”

“You’ve been with me every Sunday.” The guilt in her voice is clear.

“I want to be with you every day.”

“And how is that possible?” She guides my hand to the other side of her belly were another flutter hits my palm again.

“You let me be a real part of your life. Not once a week, or random events. Every day. A schedule where you let me in and believe we can be a couple. We skipped from platonic buddies straight to lovers and now back to buddies. I’m going to change the way you look at us. I want to share our lives on a daily basis, every part of it.”

I massage her shoulders and earn a satisfying groan.

“You’re so sneaky,” she murmurs. “It’s manipulative to use your hands to get what you want. Oh yeah. Right there.”

Since I’m seated at her back, I can't see her face. But I hear the smile in her words. Her voice is slow. Lazy. Happy.

“Baby, I’m not done with you yet,” I say, aware that my voice has gone all husky on her. So much for keeping my libido under wraps. I jerk my T-shirt over my head. “Sit up so I can do the front.”

I squeeze sunscreen into my palm and smooth it across her chest. My movements are slow and deliberate. Not carnal, yet. I have no shame because my obvious hard-on must be poking her in the back.

Coconut and sexy Josie. I’d have better luck stopping a speeding bullet than my arousal. I'm not sure why I'm torturing myself. “You won't do it for yourself, do it for the baby. You told me the baby knows about his surroundings. Everything that goes on and your emotions. I want him inside there listening to my voice and knowing I’m around. Please, Butterfly.”

“You’re a master at Guilt 101. Stop massaging for a minute so I can think.” She grabs my hands to make her point, so I lift them from her sun-warm skin.

“So, you like, huh? I could do this every night. Like a bedtime story.” I smile and grab the sunscreen bottle with one hand. Squeezing a generous dollop into my other hand, I hold it out in front of her so she’ll know I’m not finished with her. “You know we can be good together. Give us a chance.”

“I'm really glad you want to be there for me, for the baby," she says in a low husky voice. There's a catch in her voice that worries me.

“My dad,” she says, “He was a good dad. But he was never at home. And before you say anything about his job, I know he had to be gone a lot. Airline pilots don’t have a choice. But my mom was lonely. And Leo and I missed him so much. Every time he would come in for a weekend, it was like Christmas for us. He’d bring gifts from his travels, and he would lavish attention on all three of us. It was so temporary, though. And sad because he always left again.”

Funny how you look at a family as an outsider and never see the moments inside their daily lives. I'd spent as much time with the Jensens as anyone could. Some days I practically felt like one of their kids. But she's right. Josie’s dad wasn't around a lot.

She drops her hands onto my knees. Her hands feel so good on my bare skin. “As much as I loved my dad, I need a guy who gives me one hundred percent of himself.”

“I can be there for you. The guy who is there 24/7. ” I murmur against the back of her neck. Her head drops forward.

“Dane, I know you want to take care of things. It’s the kind of guy you are.”

“You think I’m with you today because I feel responsible for you? There’s a lot more going on between us than a need to be a daddy for this unborn child.” I slide slick hands around her body in a pretense of putting more lotion on her. The pretense I should give up. My hands skate over the tops of her breasts.

The privacy fence around my parents’ pool area is tall, and there are no neighbors to speak of. At this point, I’m not sure that would really matter to me.

Take a chance, man. She’s worth any amount of risk. Taking one hand, I pull the string tied around her neck. The flimsy material falls away.

Her body melts like hot candle wax, molding against me. I close my eyes as I rub the other palm over her hard nipples. God, she feels good.

“This get you hot?” I knead gently on the back of her neck. My dick strains against my swim trunks.

“Of course it feels good. If I weren’t so horny, I might able to resist you. But it’s like you know exactly what gets to me.”

At her words, I freeze and all the blood leaves my brain to migrate south.

My hands trace her down-down-down her body. I stop them at the brink of her inner thighs. “You say the word, and I’ll get out of this chair and dunk myself in that cold, pool water. It’s all up to you.”

She hesitates, then moans. “No, don’t stop.”

Three words have never been sweeter. “Let’s make sure I cover all the important parts of you. Do you like this?” I ask, allowing my hands to travel between her thighs and over the tops in some mad pretense of smoothing sunscreen.

"You know I do,” she says with a degree of animosity.

I nuzzle her ear, tracing the shell of her ear with the tip of my tongue. Giving her a tiny nibble.

Summer sun beats down on us. My fingers return to the insides of her thighs and linger at the juncture between them. “Tell me what you want.”

Her shallow breathing is an aphrodisiac to my ears. “That. Feels. So. Good.”

“You want more than this?”

“More,” she purrs.

I suck lightly on the back of her neck and rub my hand along the smooth, smooth skin of her inner thighs. She’s velvet and heat and ecstasy. “Does this feel as good to you as it does to me?"

A tiny whimper escaped her throat. “It's better. Everything is always more with you.”

Her words shoot me straight in the heart. This girl, not shy about telling me how she feels, puts me to shame that I’ve waited so long to be honest. Waited so very long to enjoy the woman she is.

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted you? Always. Always.” I trace one finger the few inches it takes to push aside her bikini bottom and slip inside. She’s wet for me. I stroke one finger between her lips and skate across her sensitive nub. She jerks and moans.

My other hand moves up to cup one breast and she squirms to push against my hand. With my other hand, I press her into my chest, against my straining cock, and whisper against her neck. “I dream about this. I dream about every part of your body.”

“That feels so good.” Josie presses her pussy against my hand. Fuck.

I slide my fingers up and down, hitting her nub on the upstroke. “You know what makes me hard?”

“No,” she answers. “No, I don’t.”

She wants to know. She wants to hear me say it.

“Your sleepy, sex voice on the telephone late at night. That makes me hard. The way you walk with a little sway in your hips when you have on high heels. That makes me hard. The way you get excited over a book…hard.” A lick along the back of her neck, summoning a whimper from her lips. Then I circle that sweet spot between her legs, so ready for her to beg for more. I add another finger. She moans, that sounds so deep and wanton that I’ll be jacking off to that for weeks.

I’m so glad I asked her doc about sex when she was having that blood work done. This woman is mine and I’m going to make her want me more than she’s wanted anyone in her life. One teasing stroke at a time.

“Lie back baby,” I say. “Spread your legs. Relax. I’m going to make you come.” The rhythm of my fingers drumming against her clit elicits erotic whimpers from her. I slip a finger inside and earn a groan.

“Oh Dane,” she manages in a hoarse whisper.

“If I had my way, I’d wake you every morning just like this.” I slide two fingers quickly in and out of her. “I'd make you come so hard that it would be on your mind all day.”

I focus on the way she grinds against me, the places where my fingers elicit the most response, the building pressure she gives away with her unsteady breathing.

“You deserve this, Butterfly. You deserve to be fucked by my hand, my tongue, my cock. Don’t you? Be a good girl and come for me.”

She grabs my forearms and her fingernails dig into my flesh.

A second of insanity takes me and I consider stripping her naked and plopping her on my cock—the part of me that begs to be in charge. Let her slide up and down until we both release. And then I remember I’m doing it for her, not for me.

“I want you to have everything you deserve. You want my tongue between your legs?”

On the last question, she reaches back and threads fingers through my hair. “I can’t wait.”

Her hips jerked wildly and she grounds out something low and guttural. I pump into her with two fingers and rub my palm against that perfect juncture of her body where heaven meets earth. The tide of her orgasm crashes wave after wave through her, until she stills.

The sun is damn hot now—or maybe it’s the fire we’ve created between the two of us. Our bodies are slick and sticky from the combination of body heat and sunscreen lotion. My cock is weeping, but my heart is happy.

She’s silent for minutes and I don’t rush her to move. A plane streaks across the sky and I’m reminded of what she said about her dad. “We were meant to be together. Give me a chance to prove it. Tell me you want what I have to offer.”

“We can try,” she says.

I pull her onto my lap and smooth away the wet tendrils of hair across her eyes. “You won’t be sorry. I can give you everything.”

“Less talking, now…please.”

I chuckle before crashing my lips onto hers.