She welcomed him with open arms and an open heart. He kissed her gently, and she kissed him back leisurely, reveling in this new intimacy between them. He kissed her from head to foot, and then she did the same with him.

Even though they’d done this before, today felt different. It was as if she learned him all over again. Where she’d seen lust and strength and raw sex appeal before, now she saw the man beneath the soldier. The heart beneath the man. And the feelings closely held within the scarred and battered heart.

Their lovemaking was slow, careful even. As if each of them wanted to protect these new and fragile pieces of themselves they’d shared with each other.

When Griffin finally entered her, they found an easy rhythm, their bodies moving in sweet harmony, caressing each other, encompassing each other. Giving and receiving.

And there was joy.

Oh sure, she’d enjoyed sex before. But this was different. Pure happiness infused every slide of flesh on flesh. Every surge and thrust was an expression of acceptance. Every moan a sound of welcome. It made her feel…whole.

And she sensed that it was the same for Griffin.

They spoke with their bodies, saying to each other what they could not say with words, sharing the deepest needs of their hearts, taking each other’s hurts and pains into themselves, healing them, and giving them back as something wonderful. Love, even.

For surely this unbearable lightness, this utterly ecstatic belonging, this completeness of finding home, could be nothing less than love.

As they strained toward each other, she stared into his eyes, reveling in the myriad feelings flowing through his gaze, happily letting everything she was feeling show as well. He smiled down at her, and she smiled in return. And together, they found heaven.

They fell asleep to the lazy rocking of the ocean and the cries of seagulls. She woke up as the first light of the moon streamed in the porthole. She reached out, but the pillow beside her was unoccupied.

She pulled on Griffin’s borrowed T-shirt and padded upstairs in search of him. She found him on the foredeck, leaning back in a deck chair, feet propped on the rail, sipping a beer and watching the stars.

She moved to stand beside him, and he looped an arm around her waist, drawing her to his side.

“It sure is peaceful out here,” she declared.

“Enjoy it. Your life on the teams will be anything but.”

“So I hear.”

“The day will come when you crave all the normalcy you’re trying so hard to leave behind,” he observed.

She found that hard to believe. But she also trusted him to know what he was talking about. She only hoped when that day came he would still be around to enjoy normal with her.