“But you love me, right?”

“Yeah, baby, I love you so much that I let you drag me out of bed when all I want to do is drag you into bed.” He kissed her neck and nearly had her forgetting why she wanted him up so early.

“No way, buster,” she said, wise to him as she pushed him back. “No nookie until we take a lookie.”

He walked into the bathroom laughing, giving her a great view of his most excellent ass as he went. A few minutes later, he reemerged wearing shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops. His hair had been combed into submission, and he looked nothing at all like the ex-Wall Street billionaire that he was. She loved him this way—casual, relaxed, removed from the rat race that had once been his life.

Jared grabbed his wallet and keys from the dresser. “You’re so cute when you’re excited about something, Lizzie.”

“I must be really cute right now, then.”

He kissed the tip of her nose and then her lips. “You’re positively adorable. Let’s go see what’s got you all wound up.”

They drove to the north end of the island in Jared’s Porsche. Lizzie opened the window and took deep breaths of the cool, crisp September air. “This might be my favorite month here.”

“You say that every month.”

“I haven’t seen a month yet that I haven’t liked.”

“Wait until December.”

“When I’m marooned with you and a cozy fireplace while it snows outside? I’m not seeing the downside.”

He took hold of her hand and used their joined hands to shift the car. “I’m so glad you’re happy here.”

“I love everything about it, especially the part where I get to be married to you.”

“Sometimes, when I think about how close we came to missing out on what we have now…”

“Don’t think about that.”

“Hard not to when it was such a close call.”

“We got lucky, and the planets aligned in our favor.”

“I’ll never, ever take this for granted, Lizzie, even on days when you blast me out of bed way too early to tend to one of your big ideas.”

“That’s good to know,” she said, smiling over at him. “I worry about the day when I push you one step too far and you tell me, ‘That’s it, Elisabeth with an S. No more big ideas for you.’”

“I’m not seeing that day ever coming, as you well know, which is why you play me like a well-used fiddle to get what you want.”

“You are kind of easy,” she said with a giggle.

“Easy,” he said with an indignant huff. “I’ll show you easy when I get you back home.”

“Oh boy. I can’t wait.”