He clears his throat, bringing his hand to rest over my own where it’s still pressed to his chest. “It represents the date we shared our first kiss.” A wobbly smile tugs at his lips. “And the day I promised to come back for you.”

His admission momentarily steals my breath. Here I was thinking he’d moved on from whatever we shared back then, reconciling myself to a mediocre life with someone else—someone who couldn’t hold a candle to the forest fire Lyle’s always lit within me—when all this time he’s had a permanent reminder tattooed on his chest. “And beneath it?” I ask, still trying to make out the script.

He takes my left hand into his, and whispers, “To be continued…” while fingering the diamond he gave me just this morning to fulfill that prophecy.

Chapter Five

Every emotion conceivable flickers like lightning in her bottomless blue eyes as she delicately fingers the ink on my chest.

Her touch is a warm shot of brandy, heating my blood and muddling my thoughts.

I hate myself for waiting so long—for letting her reach a point where she ever doubted my devotion to her.

“You’re it for me, Li’l Bit.” My whispered words earn me the faintest hint of a smile. I brush a thumb over the dimple on her right cheek, as my throat heaves with the force of a hard swallow. “I gave you every piece of my heart under that dock all those years ago.”

“Sometimes,” she whispers, so low it’s almost inaudible, “I wondered if I imagined the whole thing.”

“It was real,” I say, as sure of my feelings for her as ever. “Still is.”

“Then make love to me.” Emotion pools in her too-trusting gaze. Her vulnerability hangs in the balance like a twig ready to snap at the slightest breeze. “I need more than words, Lyle. Something tangible.” Desperation clogs her throat. “I need to feel it…please.”

My heart hammers as indecision renders me mute. I’m torn between the primal urge to devour this siren inch by tantalizing inch and wanting to savor every first with the woman who will, from this day forward, be my only.

Today has been a whirlwind, to say the least. For myself, but more so for her.

There’s nothing I want more than to accept all that she’s offering, but my respect for her runs far too deep to act on impulse alone.