All at once Nick understood what had her so worried. “It doesn’t matter, Sam. Not to me. If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t.”

“But you want a family. You deserve a family after growing up without one.”

“We’ll have one. We can adopt. There’re millions of kids out there in need of homes. It doesn’t matter to me how we get them.”

“But—”

He leaned over and kissed her. Hard. “No buts. You’re the key to everything. I knew that years ago when I first met you, and I know it even more now after living without you for so long. You’re what I need most. We’ll figure out the rest.” Caressing her cheek, he added, “You’ve already given me so much that I’ve never had before. I don’t want you to spend another second worrying about the one thing you can’t give me.”

“I told you I’m on the pill, but I’m not. I don’t need to be, but I couldn’t very well blurt this whole thing out when we were about to make love the other day. I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“That doesn’t even count as a lie, babe. When the time is right, and we’re ready to have a family, we’ll work something out.”

“You should think about it. You should take some time to make sure—”

He stopped her with a finger to her lips. “I don’t need to think about it.”

The tension seemed to leave her body in one long exhale, and when he reached for her, she came willingly back into his arms.

“Do you feel better?”

She nodded. “I felt like I was deceiving you by getting so involved with you and not telling you this.”

“You weren’t deceiving me. It’s part of you, Sam. It’s part of what’s made you who you are, and I love everything about you.”

She ran her finger over the stubble on his jaw. “I used to dream about you when I was married. I wondered where you were, what you were doing, if you were happy. We only had that one night together, but I thought about you all the time.”

The reminder of what they’d been denied made him ache with regret. “I thought about you, too. I read the paper obsessively, looking for the slightest mention of you.”

“I did, too! I knew you were working for O’Connor. I even watched hours of congressional coverage, hoping for a glimpse of you, but you kept a low profile. I hardly ever saw you.”

“My profile is probably going to get even lower.”

“What do you mean?”

“I checked my voicemail at the office today. Got a few job offers.”

“Like what?”