The party was beginning to wind down when Charlie put his arms around Sarah from behind and nuzzled her neck. “Can we go?”

“I can’t leave,” she said as she shivered from the brush of his whiskers against her skin. “What’ll my kids say?”

“They’ll say, ‘Look at our awesome mom going off to spend time with the guy who loves her. How lucky is she?’”

Sarah laughed at his shamelessness.

“I can’t stop thinking about holding you and kissing you and touching you. I want you so badly, I’m on fire for you.”

Sarah trembled from the rush of desire that accompanied his gruffly spoken words. They’d come very close to making love the other night, but she’d held back at the last minute, a decision she regretted almost as soon as she made it. All she’d thought about since then was when they might get another chance.

“Come home with me, Sarah. Please come home with me.”

She took a quick look around the deck. Owen and Laura had walked down to the water to take some photos in the sunset. Holden was with Frank and Betsy. Katie, Julia and Cindy were talking to Riley, Finn and Shane. Jeff and Josh were sitting at a table with their grandparents, and her son John had called to speak to his brother earlier. He’d been heartbroken to miss the wedding and promised to come to the island for a visit soon.

Everyone she loved, present and accounted for. And the man she loved standing behind her, asking her to run away with him.

Sarah covered the hand he’d placed on her stomach and squeezed. “Let’s go.” She stopped only to ask Daisy to make her excuses.

Almost as if he was afraid she might change her mind, Charlie took her hand and led her through the kitchen to the parking lot in back where he’d left his truck. They drove to his house in silence, but the awareness of what they were about to do beat through her like an electric current.

Silently, he reached for her hand and linked their fingers. “I love you, Sarah.”

He didn’t say much, but what he said was always worth hearing. Now was no different. He’d said exactly what she needed to hear.

“I love you, too. I love how patient you’ve been with me, how sweet and how tender. Before you even knew why I needed it, you knew what I needed.”

“You’ve done the same for me, you know. You make me feel hopeful again.”

“That’s a lovely thing to say.”

They arrived at his house, and he released her hand after kissing the back of it. “Wait for me to come around.”