His lips curved into a smile, and he nibbled on her finger. “We can’t have that, now can we?”

Erin shook her head and withdrew her finger, her eyes closing as he kissed her so softly, so tenderly that her body trembled anew. That he gave her both wild passion and abiding tenderness within the scope of ten minutes was almost too much to process. Laying her hand flat against his cheek, she pulled back from the kiss. “Give me one minute.”

“Take all the time you need.”

Her legs were wobbly when she walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her and leaning against it to catch her breath. Images from the mudroom played through her mind like an erotic movie. She already knew that no matter what happened next, she’d never forget it.

Erin cleaned up and changed into one of the sexy nightgowns he’d bought her at Tiffany’s. She brushed her hair and teeth, examining her reflection in the mirror, noting the razor burn on her neck and jaw that were stark reminders of what they’d done. Erin’s shiver had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with him.

Emerging from the bathroom, she found him wearing only his boxers, sitting on the edge of the bed, checking his phone. He looked up at her, his gaze heating at the sight of her in the nightgown. Standing, he tossed the phone on the bed and came to her, his hands warm upon her shoulders, his expression hungry despite the intense sex they’d already had.

“I’ll be quick,” he said, stepping around her to go into the bathroom.

Erin released a deep breath and got into bed, turning to look at the picture of her brother on the bedside table and trying to remember the last time she’d felt as elated as she did now.

A memory came to her, sharp and vivid, as if it had happened yesterday rather than almost fifteen years ago. She recalled a warm summer weekend at the beach in East Hampton about a month before Toby died. She and Mitch and Toby and Jenny had pooled their resources to rent a small two-bedroom house for a weekend that had been full of love and laughter and promises of a happily ever after that hadn’t materialized for either couple.

They’d been so excited for Jenny and Toby’s wedding in two short months, and even though it had ended with a disagreement between her and her brother, that weekend was the last time she remembered feeling the way she did right now—happy and hopeful, with every possibility still open to her. Everything had changed a few weeks later, and her life had never been the same. She’d been spinning, as if caught up in a riptide that she’d been fighting ever since. Only recently had the spinning stopped, and Slim was the reason.