“Good morning, sweetheart.” Luke smiled up at her.

“Yes, it is.” She smiled at each of the boys. “Are you guys having fun?”

“Luke is the best!” Jack proclaimed.

“He’s silly,” Nick added.

She brushed her fingers over the side of Luke’s face. “You’re both. And crazy, you know that?”

“Definitely crazy about you.” He brushed his nose against hers, then turned to the boys. “Go get your mom’s surprise set up.”

The boys scrambled over the couch again and ran for the kitchen.

Luke held her close, his head not even on the sofa, and kissed her good morning like he’d kissed her more than a dozen times last night. Her body heated with the memories of making love with him. “How do you feel?”

“Good. Rested.”

“I hope so after all the hours you slept.” Luke shifted, trying to hold his head up and take her weight on top of him.

She rolled over onto her back, much like him, pulled her legs down and around, and sat up on the sofa.

Luke made the same awkward move. “That used to be easier when I was younger.”

She laughed. “You guys were having a good time.”

“I know they need discipline, too. It’s just . . . They’re a lot of fun.”

“They’ve never had anyone but me to play with, and I’m not that great at the wrestling and roughhousing. And there’s something about boys. They just love to be tough.”

“So we can impress girls.” Luke’s grin made her belly flutter.

“Mission accomplished. If we were alone, I’d show my appreciation for the way you look playing with my boys. The sheer joy in you and them.” She surveyed him up and down. “All those muscles rippling when you pick them up and toss them.”

“Oh yeah.” Luke leaned in, bracing his hands on both sides of her as she fell back onto the sofa arm. He stared down at her. “When I saw you coming down the stairs from our room and I thought about how this could be every morning, how you could be here, in our bed, every night . . .” He kissed her again, this time letting loose all the passion he’d restrained when he and the boys attacked her with kisses.

His forehead touched hers and he looked deep into her eyes and said, “I love you.”

Her heart felt so full she thought it might burst with joy, hearing those words from him. Tears filled her eyes.

He sat up and pulled her up with him. “Hey, what’s with the tears? Talk to me.”

“I’m happy.”

Relief lit his eyes. “That’s good.”

“I haven’t been this happy, well, ever. Except when the kids were born, of course. I just don’t want this moment to ever end. I don’t want the rest of the world to intrude on you and me right here, right now, just like this.”

Sarah thought about what he’d said about them being together all the time. She imagined waking up every day to his gray eyes, filled with so much warmth and love for her that she ached with the need to hold him to her and never let him go.