“Sure. We’ll start upstairs and work our way down.” She carried her phone with her because she didn’t want to miss any of the reminders she’d set as part of her dinner planning. She was determined that the food was going to be perfect and she, Joanna, would have cooked it.

She pushed open doors, gestured to glass, soaring ceilings, bookshelves, cozy reading nooks.

“I can tell you had a hand in design.” He wandered into the guest suite that Ashley was using. “Is there a room in the house without a dedicated reading corner?”

“No.”

She hadn’t bothered with shoes, and the floor was cool against her bare feet.

It was only when she entered her bedroom at the far end of the house that she remembered she hadn’t made the bed. The sheets were rumpled, evidence of a restless night punctuated by vivid dreams. Nate had played a leading role in those dreams.

She felt her cheeks warm.

The tour of her house had somehow become personal. Revealing.

“We should go downstairs. Open that champagne.” She turned to leave and slammed up against him because he’d been standing right behind her.

There was a moment of exquisite tension and then they were kissing, her mouth on his, his on hers. She felt his fingers in her hair, tracing her jaw, holding her head, as if he didn’t know which part of her to touch first, and then his arms came around her and he pulled her in. His body was hard against hers, familiar and yet unfamiliar.

She clutched his shoulders, then wrapped her arms around his neck needing to get closer, closer. The thud of her heart against her ribs was almost painful. There was an ache low in her pelvis. She felt his hands slide her sundress from her shoulders and she tore at his shirt, as impatient as he was. Had she ever felt this way before? Been this desperate? If she had, she couldn’t remember. With him, maybe, but years and experience had sharpened the excitement or maybe it was just that now she knew. She could have waited. Taken her time. Protected herself and her heart. The old version of herself would have done that, but right now, right here in her bedroom with the sound of the surf in her ears and the sea breeze cooling her skin, she was the new version. Different. Or maybe it was just that her emotions had been locked away and controlled for so long that they’d been waiting for a moment like this to make their escape. She didn’t know about the future, and she didn’t need to know. All that mattered was now, and right now he was all she wanted. He was everything.