They moved toward each other, him working against the crowd, dodging families, suitcases and even a dog on a leash to get to her. He picked her right up off her feet and crushed her to him, drawing a squeak of surprise and then laughter from her that was smothered when he kissed her, mindless of the people all around them or that her hat had flown off her head.

What did he care about any of that when he finally had her back in his arms where she belonged?

He could’ve stood there all day kissing her, but she pulled back from him, looking up with laughter dancing in her gorgeous eyes. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Bending to retrieve her hat, he said, “How was the flight?” He’d worried endlessly about her being afraid without him there to calm her.

“Half a Xanax and first-class service took the edge off.”

“Told ya.”

“How’re things here?”

He’d taken great pleasure in relaying the details of the prank gone wrong to her on the phone the night before. “Tensions were running high at breakfast. The guys are contrite, and the women are determined to make them suffer.”

“They have it coming.”

“I gotta say I agree with you in this one case. Normally, I’d side with my bros, but in this case, they got what was coming to them. I’m just glad you weren’t here yet, so I wasn’t tempted to participate.”

“You’d be sleeping alone for a long, long time if you did that to me.”

“Good to know.”

Slim took her suitcase handle in one hand and wrapped his free hand around hers to lead her out of the terminal to the resort shuttle. The heat of the late-day sun was in stark contrast to the air-conditioned building.

“Oh wow,” Erin said, taking in the blue sky, the palm trees, the heat. “Doesn’t that feel good?”

“Nothing beats the Caribbean when it’s snowing at home.”

The driver took her bag to put it in the back while they got into the vehicle.

Slim kept his arm around her, his lips sliding over the silk of her hair. “I thought today would never get here.”

“Me, too. I’ve been on pins and needles.”

“Because of the flight?”

“That was only a small part of it. The rest was you. I couldn’t wait to see you.”

Slim raised his hand to her face and turned her toward him so he could kiss her again. This, right here… This was love, as pure and as simple as anything had ever been. Over the last few years, as his friends had fallen like dominoes, he’d had cause to wonder what the hell was wrong with them. Why would they shackle themselves to one woman when they could have all the women?