After Jenna left in her sporty crossover, zinging with excitement over her first birth on the peninsula, Sean set about to unpack the truck and get the camping gear cleaned and back into the garage.

It took him a solid two hours, but he did it, and at the end, he didn’t fall flat on his bed. Progress.

He cracked a beer to celebrate, another first, and he stretched out on the couch.

His brain was churning ideas for coaching. Ways to make it work as a feasible job. He could reach out to the team he’d run with. He’d never been one of their stars, but they knew he knew his stuff.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to fly anywhere. But maybe he could organize some trail running retreats. If he was careful with his disability payout from the Army, he could make it stretch out over a few years. Take his time and build a business that worked around his limits.

When he looked back on how angry he’d been when he first came home, he felt a healthy dose of shame. He hadn’t handled being injured well.

And the last two days had cast a bright spotlight on the damage that had done to his relationship with Jenna.

His wife.

Jesus, he’d been so stupid to think he could let her go.

His beer was nearly empty when a knock came at the door.

Sean left his cane next to the couch and carefully made his way to the foyer without it.

Progress.

He opened the door, and his good mood evaporated.

“Sir,” he said to his father. “What can I do for you?”

The Colonel gave him an unimpressed look. “Invite me in, for starters.”

Sean waved his hand—and his nearly empty beer bottle—toward the living room. “Be my guest.” He stepped back, letting his father pass. “Would you like a drink?”

That got a grunt which Sean took as a no. He made his way into the kitchen and got rid of his own beer.

When he returned to the living room, the Colonel was standing in the middle of the space, glaring at the doorway as Sean re-appeared. “You’re drunk.”

Sean frowned. “What the fuck?”

“Watch your language.”

“So glad you stopped by, Dad. But I’m not drunk and this is my own home, so I’ll use whatever fucking language I want.” He swore again, this time under his breath, just for good measure. This was already going swimmingly.

“You’re swaying.”

“I have fucking vertigo.” And he really didn’t need to be making the blood pound in his head like that. He could feel a vein pulsing in his neck as he took a deep breath. He gritted his teeth and gestured toward the couch. “I left my cane there when I answered the door. I spent all morning tidying in the garage and I was having a beer—a single fucking beer—to chill the fuck—”

His father raised his hand. “Point made, Captain Foster.”

Jesus. Sean rolled his eyes, even though that strained his brain, and he threw himself into the nearest chair. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. “What are you doing here?”

“I was invited.”

When the fuck—oh. Jenna had invited him. Right.

“Jenna was called out to a birth.” So run along, old man. Thanks for the headache. Don’t let the door smack you in the ass on the way out.

“I came to see you.”

“Really?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Because you never bothered before.”

“I wasn't sure I'd be welcome.”

He wouldn't have been, until Jenna had issued an invitation—one Sean never thought his father would take her up on. He should have seen this coming, but he'd been busy realizing how much he loved his wife.

Priorities.

“Well, you came, we bonded, now you can check that off your to-do list.”

“That’s enough attitude from you, boy.”

Boy? He’d gone to war and got the brain injury to prove it. Started two careers, lost them both. Found a wife. Nearly lost her. Working hard on finding yet another new path through life.

He was too damn busy for this bullshit right now.

“I’m not a boy. Haven’t been for a long time.”

“You’ll always be my boy.” There was an attempt at fondness in his father’s voice, but that just made Sean see red.

“You think you have that right?” He pushed himself out of the chair and carefully—no fucking swaying, not now, no matter how much the room spun around him—walked over to his cane. He grabbed it and paced back towards the archway to the hallway. They’d have this out, then he’d show the old man the door. “When was I ever, eh? Colonel Foster was never, has never been a caring, loving father to this man. So keep your platitudes for my brothers who don’t see you as the cold, pathetic shell that you are.”

So that’s what it felt like for twenty-plus years of antagonism and resentment to boil over.

Excellent. He was all warmed up now. He leaned against the doorframe and sneered. “What, nothing to say?”

His father crossed his arms and gave him a hard look. “This wasn’t how I expected this conversation to go.”

“What were you hoping would happen?”

“I…” His jaw worked and his eyes glinted dangerously. “I don’t know how to talk to you.”

“You never did.” Sean laughed, hard and sharp, completely without humour. “Because you never cared about me. You gotta care to pay attention. To listen to what a toddler needs. You want to call me boy? You should have been around when I actually was one.”

“I care about you. I always have.”

“You have a twisted way of showing it.”

“I admit we’ve never been close. I’m to blame for that. Your brothers got some time with an innocent dad, who thought he had the world in his hands. You got me. I’m a shitty father, and I know that. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re still my boys. All four of you. I…”

“You what?”

“I love you,” the Colonel said gruffly. “In my own way.”

Sean shook his head. “Why do you have to add that on the end? Like you want to be some kind of hero, but only a little bit.”

“I’m no hero, of any kind.” His father’s face twisted into an ugly mask Sean had seen many times before.

His own anger made him want to feed on that ugliness, to push him further, push him the hell out. Push, push, push.

But there was something else in his father’s expression. An edge which now took on a new meaning for Sean. He’d never understood it before.

He’d seen it plenty.

He’d just never read it as anguish before.

But that’s what that sharp glint in the Colonel’s eyes was, no doubt about it.

Sean had never thought of his father having a soul. He was a hard man, through and through. But right now, there was a bleak, destroyed pain in the other man’s expression.

Sean recognized it, because he knew it intimately.

He knew anguish, and he knew loss. He knew what it was to see your dreams evaporate. “You didn’t…” His throat felt thick and useless.

All the fight slipped out of Sean and he dropped his head. He couldn’t breathe as he tried to make this right, somehow. His father might not deserve much, but he deserved this. “I know I took her from you.”

The Colonel froze.

They never talked about her. There were pictures all over the rambling house on the other side of town, but they never spoke of Sean’s mother.

“What did you say?”

“I…” He dragged in a breath. “I get it now. Now that I have Jenna. When I was hurt, I told myself it would be better if she left me. I didn’t want to drag her down the way I’d—”

His father’s face went white. “Don’t you dare let her go.”

He shook his head. “I won’t.”

“You didn’t take your mother from me,” his father said quietly, his voice cracking.

“I was—”

“If she hadn’t had you, she’d have just dropped dead. You bought her another two years of life. I’m the one who failed her, son. Not you.”

“I tired her out.”

“You made her so happy. You brought her joy.”

“I don’t remember her.” Sean lifted his head, knowing he looked just as wretched as his father did.

“She was…” The Colonel walked toward him then stopped.

Well, fuck. Sean paced forward and let his father pull him into an awkward hug.

“She was beautiful,” his dad said, his voice muffled. “Endlessly patient with you boys. She found joy in the chaos in a way I never could.”

Sean didn’t know what to say to that, so he squeezed his father harder.

But the old man wasn’t done accidentally slaying him. “She made me promise to be gentle with you.” He grunted in what could only be an acknowledgement that the promise had not been lived up to. “I failed her, and I failed you.”

It was more words than they’d ever exchanged.

It overwhelmed Sean.

“I’m fine,” he finally said.

“You’re more than fine.” The Colonel’s jaw flexed as he stepped back. He clapped his hand on Sean’s shoulder and nodded. His eyes were bright, but clear.

And the emotional connection was over.

They were Fosters, after all. Hard as fuck.

Sean would collapse from the weight of this conversation later. When he was alone.

Or maybe when Jenna got home, and he could hold her.

Until then… “Are you sure I can’t offer you a beer?”

His father gave him a firm nod. “All right, then.”

“And maybe you could come back for dinner sometime when Jenna’s home.”

That got a smile. “You did right with that one. She’s smart as a whip, isn’t she?”

“She is.”

“Pretty sure she had my number at dinner.”

And yet his father came anyway, knowing Jenna could see through him. Sean returned the smile, even though his was still strained. “She’ll be glad you came by, and sorry she missed you.”

* * *

Jenna got home at ten that night. Sean had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for her, and he jolted awake when he heard the door creak open.

“Hey,” he whispered.

She gave him a tired smile as she dumped her bags in the entrance way. “Hey.”

“How did it go?”

“Big baby. Took mama forever to find the right position to push him out, but she got there in the end. They’re both well and tucked in for the night.”

“Amazing.” He stood and pulled her in for a tight hug. “What do you need now?”

“A shower, a snack, and bed.”

“I’ll make you something to eat.”

She dressed in her jammies and found him in the kitchen ten minutes later. Her hair was still damp and she’d twisted it into a bun on the top of her head.

He pushed a plate of cheese and fruit toward her as she slumped into a chair at the table. They didn’t talk while she munched. He could tell her attention was fading to nothing, and she just wanted to shut down after a long day. A long weekend, really.

When she finished, he pushed her toward the bedroom. He washed her plate as he heard her brush her teeth, then he met her in the hallway and tugged her toward his bed.

Their bed.

“I’ve got a crazy bedtime story for you,” he murmured as he tucked her in.

She was yawning again by the time he got to the beer offer. He skimmed over the fight about his mother. That felt too raw for tonight.

“Did he take you up on it?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Yeah. We sat on the back deck for a while.”

“Wow. What a crazy afternoon for you. How do you feel?”

He looked at his sleepy wife, tucked into his bed. “Damn lucky.”

“I meant about your dad.” She gave him a soft look. “And that bit about your mom.”

She didn’t miss anything. He kissed her mouth, then the tip of her nose. “I told you. I’m lucky. I can’t change the past. But I can make sure you know how grateful I am for the present.”

She snuggled in close, and he tucked their entwined hands against his chest as she yawned one last time and fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

The week had started with a roar, and early, and it didn’t let up.

Each day she was up and out of the house first thing, and by the time she got home, she was exhausted and ready for bed.

On Friday, Jenna left at dawn so she could stop at the hospital and check on a patient due to be discharged after morning rounds.

Sean got up with her and, as she got dressed and brushed her teeth, he silently filled her travel mug with coffee and toasted a bagel for the road.

She took both with a grateful smile, ignoring the way her stomach did look-at-me handstands when he reached past her to open the front door and brushed a quick kiss across her temple.

They hadn’t had any quality time all week. She was looking forward to a couple of days off, that was for sure.

For the drive, she cranked up the radio and listened to soul-deep aching country music. When she arrived in Walkerton an hour and twenty minutes later, she was all full of complicated feelings. They were in a good place, but it was hard to quell the rising drumbeat of want inside her belly.

But work was a balm.

In addition to scheduled clinic appointments with existing clients, Jenna had her first intake with a new client. Brenda was thirty-four weeks pregnant and had recently moved to the area. Their appointment ran into Jenna’s lunch hour, but she didn’t care.

After lunch she sat down with Nadine to do a video peer review—how they managed to keep up with professional development between smaller communities—and they discussed her professional development obligations for the next year. Then she had two more client appointments, and by half past five, she was ready to head home.

She texted Sean and asked if he wanted anything from the store.

He replied immediately. I’ve got dinner under control, but we need oranges.

Okay, will get those.

On the drive home, she changed the radio station. She’d had enough soul-deep ache for a lifetime. It was time to be grateful for texts about oranges.

When she pulled up in front of their little house, she noticed the lawn was mown. The front door was open, with just the screen in place, to let a breeze carry through to the kitchen.

She followed that path herself, and found Sean at the sink. She set the grocery bag on the counter and pulled out his oranges. “Here you go.”

He flashed her a quick smile. “Thank you. How was your day?”

“Pretty good. Did an intake for a new client today who’s new to the area, so I should have a delivery of my own to manage soon enough. I’ve missed that.”

“Awesome.” He turned away from the sink and grabbed a tea towel to dry his hands.

She looked around the kitchen. “What are we having for dinner?”

It was spotless, but also empty of any cooking evidence.

He grinned. “Bring one of those oranges and come with me.”

He grabbed his cane and with his free hand, gently took hold of her. His fingers wrapped around hers, strong and warm, and he led her to the back door. She forced herself to ignore the electric currents streaking up her arm from where he touched her.

She had texts about oranges and a mowed front lawn. A clean kitchen and a happy smile.

It was a hell of a lot more than she’d had three months earlier.

Sean pushed the door open and stepped onto the back porch. When he moved out of the way, she gasped, because in the middle of the yard was a rug.

A Persian rug, covered in dishes.

“A picnic?” She asked, her heart thumping against her chest.

“Sort of,” he said. He carefully stepped down off the porch and pointed to the back of the house.

She followed him, twisting as she went.

Off the back of the house hung a white bed sheet.

Sean slung his arm over her shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. “We’re having a movie night.”

“Oh, wow.” She bit her lip as she fought not to cry. It was perfect. “I love this.”

“Good.” He turned his head and looked down at her, his expression heated.

She swallowed hard and tried to tell herself he wasn’t thinking about seducing her, but the way he dragged his gaze slowly over her face, lingering on her lips, that made it hard.

He leaned in, and her breath caught in her throat.

“Sean…” She wanted to warn him not to play with her. Not to push her into wanting more than he could give.

“I know. It’s okay. Just kiss me.”

Just. There was no just kissing him. There were head-first dives into dark, unknown waters. There was swirling chaos that felt better than any drug imaginable.

There were memories so painful they felt like blades against her chest. She blamed the country music that morning, and a week of long drives where she had nothing to do but think about how much she wanted him.

None of that stopped her from lifting her face and closing the gap between them, because no matter the cost, she would always kiss him.

She’d lost this once. She’d never take it for granted again.

He licked along her lower lip before sliding his tongue inside a little, teasing her. She pushed up on her toes, chasing the kiss. He squeezed her shoulders, holding her in place—and that was different. In Spain, he’d never needed to control anything between them.

But it wasn’t helpful to compare anything to Spain.

That was in the past.

That was done.

And if he needed to be in control here, she could give him that. She stood as still as could be and let him kiss her. When he pulled back, his gaze was a little glassy—and she could feel a similar lusty haze falling over herself too.

“Wow,” she said.

“I should have kissed you that first night in Urfa,” he said roughly. “I wanted to, but we weren’t alone.”

They weren’t necessarily alone now, either. It made her unexpectedly happy that he didn’t care.

Because she was his wife, and if he wanted to kiss her in their backyard, he could.

Sultry backyard kisses could be added to the texts about oranges and mowed lawn.

“Can I interest you in another viewing of Jurassic Park?”

And movie traditions.

She was blessed. She needed to remember that. “Yes, please.”

He gestured for her to sit on the rug.

“This is really nice. Where did you get it?”

“I sent it home from the base. There were some vendors there, and I liked this particular pattern. It reminded me…” He ran his hand over the pale red, yellow, and cream pattern. “I thought you would like it.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “When did you buy it?”

He lifted his gaze to hers, and there was no disguising the tortured look in his eyes. “After I returned to the base. After saying goodbye to you.”

“Where has it been?”

“Wrapped up. I’d forgotten about it.” He grimaced. “Maybe suppressed is more like it. I found it earlier today when I was over at Dean’s.”

“Did he help you move stuff back here?”

Sean shook his head. “I drove myself.”

“What?”

“Don’t look so surprised,” he said gruffly.

“I’m…happy. I just thought you didn’t want to even try.”

He leaned in and kissed her lightly. “There are a lot of things I need to start trying again. No more fear.”

But fear was healthy. Fear kept ridiculous hopes and dreams in check.

Fear helped her put the brakes on. “So…a picnic, eh?”

“Popcorn, of course. And apples.”

She held up the orange. “I’m sensing a theme.”

“Have a seat.”

She settled in the empty space behind the food, facing the make-shift screen, and Sean opened a thermos.

“Turkish coffee?”

“Oh, fancy.”

“Not sure if I made it quite right…”

She tasted it. Strong and thick and sweet. “It’s good.”

It wasn’t quite the same, but it still brought her right back to that first night they’d met, and she sighed happily as she took a second long, slow sip. Her time in Turkey had been rocky, but she missed the new experiences. And the coffee.

“Do you miss it?”

Her eyes flew to his face. “I was just thinking that. How did you know?”

He grinned and leaned in, brushing his fingers over the corner of her mouth. “You make the sweetest sounds of appreciation when you get something you haven’t had in a long time. That apple, for example.” His gaze was tangled up around her lips, and she felt a deep, yearning tug inside her. “When we met over breakfast…”

“I remember,” she whispered. Of course, after all they’d been through, they knew each other. “What else do we have?”

He broke his attention away and showed her the rest of the food. Meatballs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese, neatly cubed for easy picnic-style eating.

“Shall we start the movie while we eat?” He leaned over and pressed play on a laptop hooked up to a projector.

“Where did you find that?”

“Put the call out.” He winked at her. “The projector belongs to the library. Chloe loaned it to us for the night.”

Her sneaky friends.

She watched Sean’s profile as he looked at the screen, adjusting the picture clarity. Her sneaky husband.

They ate slowly, picking at things here and there as they watched the movie.

All the memories from Urfa washed over her as the film progressed. The moment when she’d leaned into Sean, the way his body had felt. Warm and strong and welcoming.

He was right next to her tonight too and the offer was clear. She shifted her weight and slid her head onto his shoulder. He squeezed his arm around her.

“How long did I last the first time before falling asleep?”

“About half the movie,” he murmured. “You were pretty worn out. But beautiful. That’s what I remember the most. Thinking that I was the luckiest man in the world to have your head on my shoulder. Just like this.”

A lump lodged in her throat.

“I’m not going to fall asleep tonight. I don’t want to miss a second of the movie, or the company.” She turned her head and kissed his shoulder. “Now pass me the popcorn.”

They held the bowl between them, their fingers brushing when they reached into it at the same time. A few times, Jenna swore Sean did it on purpose, the same way his gaze kept travelling down her body to her bare legs beneath the light, floaty sundress she’d put on that morning. By the end of the movie, she was totally distracted with wondering where he was planning on this night ending up.

She shifted onto her knees and leaned in to kiss him. “That was magical.”

He caught her lips with his and deepened the kiss for a few seconds before breaking away to turn off the projector. It was all-the-way dark now, and she shivered. Not because it was cold, but because she didn’t know what came next.

It was hard not to want everything to come next.

But she would be over the moon thrilled about just a little more. To have something more, and even that felt like a dangerous thing to hope.

“I’ll, uh…take the fruit in.” They’d shared one of the apples. She picked up the remaining one, and her untouched orange, and balanced them in one hand while she grabbed the popcorn bowl with the other.

Behind her, she heard the clatter and ting of metal dishes being stacked neatly.

Sean caught up to her as she tried to open the door, and he leaned his cane against the back of the house, freeing his hand. “Let me.”

Her insides rioted at the warm, intimate words. Oh, she’d let him do whatever he wanted, and really he was just getting the door for her, and flicking on the dim lights that ran beneath the upper cabinets.

Of course she read that as mood lighting.

She was hopeless.

Her hands shook as she set the fruit in the bowl on the counter then dumped the remaining popcorn kernels into the rubbish bin. Sean set his bowls in the sink, and she did the same with the popcorn bowl.

“I’ll go back and get the—” She cut herself off as she turned around just in time to see Sean grip his t-shirt behind his neck and pull it off in one smooth motion.

Her mouth went dry.

His frame had filled out in the last two months, but it wasn’t the same body she’d memorized in Spain. This body had scars and dents, was leaner in some places and bulkier in others.

She loved this new body.

And she wanted this new body with a fierceness that took her by surprise.

“The rug can wait a few minutes,” Sean said quietly, his voice rough around the edges.

She knew the feeling. Her edges were a bit frayed, too.

He rolled his shoulders, making his muscles flex beneath his skin, but his gaze didn’t waver as he looked at her—like he was trying to really, really see her. “I’ve been thinking a lot this week,” he finally said. “About where we’re at. About what I told you last weekend, how you were in my heart, constantly, when I went back to Iraq. Jenna, you still are, even though I’ve made a hack of our relationship. And I know it’s going to take some time for you to fall back in love with me, but—”

“Fall back…” She stared at him, dumbly trying to catch up with what he was saying. “Sean, I never stopped loving you.”

“You said…” He searched her face. “You said you liked this new me. And I knew you…I know you love me, but maybe the in-love-with-me part has faded. I’m good with taking things slow, you know? But I want you to know I love you. I still love you. I never stopped, even when I was deep in the middle of…all of that…” He waved his hand, his mouth tightening.

“I don’t need time. And nothing has faded.” How had she managed to give him that impression? “Not for a second. I’m in love with you, with this new-and-grumpier Sean. I adore you. For who you used to be, and who you are right this very second.”

He exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for too long.

She took a tentative step toward him, and he moved, too, closing the gap. He cupped her cheek, his fingers sliding into her hair, and he kissed her.

Now she recognized the vibrating tension in him as he kissed her. He didn’t want to control her. He was trying to control himself. Hold himself back.

He didn’t need to do that anymore.

When he released her mouth, she hovered her hand just in front of his chest. “May I…?”

He nodded, his gaze suddenly almost shy, and she reached out, grazing the hard planes of his torso with just her fingertips.

The drumbeat inside her got louder.

“I thought I was fattening you up,” she murmured as she traced the cut lines of his abdomen.

“I’ve been doing my best to convert all that to muscle.”

“Your best is…exceptional.” She licked her lips as he caught her wrist, his fingers a loose manacle.

“Enough,” he said in a rough whisper. “I need to kiss you.”

She smiled up at him. “I want to touch you.”

“I know the feeling. But…” He turned them around and gripped her by the hips.

She gasped as he hoisted her onto the counter. “Sean, don’t—”

“I’m fine.” He grinned, his teeth flashing white in the dark kitchen. “Just a little boost.” He grazed his hands down the outside of her body. “I like your dress, by the way. It’s been distracting me all night.”

“Oh?” She wiggled against him, her thighs falling open as he moved closer. She’d worn the dress for him, too. It had a row of buttons down the front that begged to be peeled open.

She wasn’t above begging. She might explode if he didn’t touch her.

And hopefully if he did touch her, there would be explosions of a different sort.

Her desires were a runaway train tonight. There was no putting on the brakes, not the way he was touching her and looking at her and…oh, his lips on her throat, his breath on her skin…

Her head dropped back as he tasted her, too. He sucked on her neck, then licked his way over her collarbone.

She shoved her hands behind her, skittering the fruit bowl across the counter. “Oh!”

Sean didn’t stop, not for a second. His lips ghosted down the bare plane of her upper chest until he got to the neckline of her dress.

Her hand slipped again, and this time the fruit bowl toppled into the sink with a loud clatter.

Sean just laughed as he flicked the first button free.

Thank God for talented fingers. His mouth followed, tasting each newly exposed bit of skin until he found her bra, and then he tasted her through that, too.

Hot, wet heat tugged at her nipples through the lace. It lit the live fuse which led directly to her core, and she made an inhuman, wild keening sound.

He groaned in response and redoubled his efforts.

Oh, it had been way too long.

His hands pushed her skirt up as he sucked, and she managed to lift her hips for him, one at a time, so he could strip away her underwear.

Yes, yes, yes. Bring on the explosions.

He breathed her name against her neck as he dragged his mouth up to meet hers again. His kiss made her legs shake, and he dropped one hand to her thigh.

“Sean…”

“I’ve got you.” His voice had never been stronger or more sure.

And as his fingers slid up her bare skin again, she felt herself tumbling. He had her, and she was a goner.

The first touch of his fingertips between her thighs made her jump. The second had her hips rocking forward, ready for more. And the third could only be called a cruel tease of the best kind.

He moved through her wetness, straight to her entrance, but he only circled there with the lightest fingertip before dragging her slick arousal up to her clit.

Oh, that was good. So very, very good. But she wanted more.

She wanted him inside her. “Please, Sean.”

He nipped at her lower lip. “Tell me what you want.”

She chased the kiss, and they got lost in that for a beat, maybe three. When she broke it off, her head was swimming with delicious heat, and want had loosened her tongue.

“Your fingers.”

“You’ve got them.”

“Inside me.”

He groaned and obliged, smoothly twisting his hand so he could enter her and still give her his heel to grind her clit against. “I want you to come like this,” he said hoarsely. “I want to feel you grip me, tight and hot. God, I’ve missed you.”

That made her shudder, and he pressed deeper, stretching her with another finger.

Heat flooded her body as he leaned over her to whisper in her ear. “Is that good?”

Oh God, his voice was an aphrodisiac.

“So good.” She was panting now, writhing on his hand, and the way he was breathing, too, she knew she wasn’t alone, but she couldn’t think about what he needed right now.

Too close.

Too twisted up.

It was right there, that desperate, clawing hunger. His fingers sped up, thrusting into her with just enough of a curve that he was both stretching her open and rocking against her G-spot at the same time.

“Come on, Jenna. Show me how pretty you are when you let go,” he crooned.

She cried out as he pressed into her again, and as his heel rocked over her clit, she shattered for him.

He held her as she shuddered in his arms, and kissed her, over and over again, and told her that he loved her, until her breathing returned to normal.

When her brain finally worked again, she reached for him. He caught her wrists and lifted her hands so he could kiss her knuckles.

He shook his head, and a little bit of her joy slipped away. Just a little. She frowned. “What about you?”

“That was for me.” His eyes glittered a warning not to press him again, so she nodded as he leaned in and kissed her again. “This is just the start,” he whispered against her mouth. “We’ll find our way back.”

She didn’t need to go back to what they’d had. If this was the start of something new, that was a-okay by her. She cupped his face with her hands and softly kissed him. “We’re exactly where we need to be.”