Well. He didn’t want to overthink it. Just that he couldn’t get enough of her lips, her scent, her amazing curves. And her enthusiasm for kissing him back.

And he was filled with a desperate need to show her, not just tell her, how beautiful she was. So she would know beyond a doubt. He wanted to erase all memory of that loser who had hurt her and made her question herself. Permanently.

For the first time in his life, Leo was…lost. In her sweet scent. The softness of her skin. The kindness and generosity of her spirit.

Whatever this was, it was a whole lot different than anything he’d experienced before.

On impulse, he tugged her up from the glider.

“Where are we going?” she asked as she took his hand.

“Just trust me.”

He led her around the house to the front door, where he suddenly scooped her up. She let out a little squeak.

“Clean slate,” he said. “No faking this time.”

“No faking,” she whispered, her arms around his neck.

Then he carried his wife through the door and up the stairs to their bedroom, where they spent time showing each other the many ways that French and Italian culture can actually mingle together quite well.

…

A long time later, they lay awake in the dark bedroom, Tessa’s head tucked under Leo’s chin, her hair spilling over his chest. A light breeze drifted in through the windows, as well as an occasional whoo from a resident owl in the old oak tree.

She felt a little stunned. A little blank.

But something niggled at her brain. “Since this is just for fun,” she said, “I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a question.”

“Okay, sure,” Leo said as he reclined against the headboard. “Anything.”

She sat up on one elbow. “Sam told me I don’t have a passionate nature.”

“Sam needs to piss off.”

She burst out laughing. “I’m serious about needing to know what you thought…about me.”

He lifted a brow in surprise. “Are you serious? You want a critique?”

She nodded vehemently. “I need to know.” She didn’t want to guess like she did with Sam about their lovemaking. “When he cheated,” she explained, “I was taken by surprise. So I want to know how you felt about…everything.” She knew how she felt—that being with him was mind-effing-blowing. But she wasn’t about to tell him that.

He touched one of her curls. Tentatively, like he was thinking very carefully about what to say. It made Tessa nervous, like he was struggling to find the words, trying to be nice. She held her breath, waiting for him to speak. “Tessa, if making love with you was a wine, you’d be DOCG.”

Okaaay. “I have no idea what that is.”