Luke watched her breasts spring free of the top and had to remind himself to keep breathing. He’d imagined this scene so many times, but his fantasies hadn’t come close to the reality of having her with him again. Everything about her appealed to him—from the silky softness of her strawberry-blonde hair, to the freckles that danced across her tiny nose to the pretty pink nipples that pebbled, waiting for him to lavish them with attention.

He wanted her so badly he was almost afraid to touch her, almost afraid to let her see the full extent of his desire. Reminding himself this was a bigger deal for her, he pressed a much darker hand to the quivering white skin of her belly.

“You’re even more beautiful than I remembered,” he said as he bent his head to taste her nipple.

She gasped and squirmed beneath him, which only made it harder to hold on to the control he knew would be so essential to her this first time. Next time, he could lose control. Not this time, though. This time she needed tender and sweet.

Sucking her nipple into his mouth, he held her plump breast in one hand and let the other slide down over her belly to cup her through her bathing suit. The heat of her core radiated through the fabric, and his cock strained against the confines of his own suit.

He gave her other breast the same attention, reveling in the pants and moans that told him she was with him and not locked in the past. Kissing his way from her breasts to her belly, he nuzzled her center, breathing her in.

“Luke,” she said, her voice unsteady.

He tugged at the suit bottoms, getting her to raise her hips so he could remove them. When the garment cleared her feet, he tossed it over his shoulders and smoothed his hands over her smooth legs, inching them apart as his lips followed his hands. She was so sweet and soft and everything he’d remembered but so much more, too.

The thatch of curls at the juncture of her thighs identified her as a true redhead, reminding him of the awe he’d experienced the first time he made that discovery as a boy. The man was no less awestruck. Just above the hairline, he noticed a thin white scar. Curious, Luke traced a finger lightly over it. “You had surgery.”

“Two C-sections.”

Since he didn’t want her thinking of anything but him and them, now wasn’t the time to ask the questions that cycled through his mind. Instead, he dipped his head and ran his tongue over her core, teasing and tempting.

Her legs fell open, and her hips surged off the bed.