“Reese,” she breathed, threading her fingers through his thick hair. “I feel like I’m floating. Like this is just a dream.”

“It’s real,” he murmured, the deep timbre of his voice sending sweet tremors through her core. When he looked up at her, his expression was heartbreakingly sober. “You’re mine, Soph. No matter who you marry or where you go, you’ll remember this night. And you’ll know I loved you enough for a lifetime.”

One hand still firmly on her hip, he lowered his head again. She gave herself up to the night breeze drifting over her skin, the beauty of the garden, and the wondrous pressure of his mouth at the very center of her pleasure.

With the teasing strokes of his fingers and the wicked flicks of his tongue, he wove a spell, entrancing her. Desire coiled deep inside; her breath came in gasps. The rush of the waterfall began to crescendo in her head, the sound impossible to separate from the pounding of the blood in her veins.

And then she was hurtling toward release. She cried out as powerful currents swept her over the edge and sent her tumbling through the air, unfettered and free. For those interminable seconds, there was nothing to hold her back—no duties, no responsibilities—only the love she felt for Reese and all the joy and heartache that was wrapped up in it.

When the last tremors of pleasure subsided, her body went limp and soft. Reese sat on the bench beside her and pulled her against him, soothing her with warm, sure strokes down her spine.

Utterly sated, Sophie leaned her cheek against the hard muscles of his chest and let her hands roam—down the side of his neck, across his broad shoulders, and over his perfectly defined biceps. She skimmed her palms over the ridges of his abdomen and down his muscled thighs, then wrapped her fingers around his hard, thick length, loving the way he moaned when she began to stroke him.

“Soph, I need you,” he said, his breath coming in ragged gasps. “In every possible way. To brighten my days and calm my nights. But right now, I need to be inside you.”

She slid her tongue into his mouth and kissed him with her whole heart. “I need you too,” she whispered. “To hold me tight and free my soul. But right now, I just want you inside me.”

“That,” he said with a rakish grin, “can definitely be arranged.” He reached for her thigh and gently pulled her leg across his lap till she straddled him and his eyes were level with her breasts. “I knew this would be a good idea,” he said, just before he captured a one taut, rosy tip in his mouth, suckling her and making her whole body shimmer with warmth.