He kissed and touched her everywhere but the one place crying out for him. Her thighs separated as he slid her panties off and a flood of moisture escaped. She’d never been this wet, this ready, this enraptured by Jason’s touch, his kisses. By the man himself.

With trembling hands, she reached for his clothes, pulling his shirt off over his head, glad there were no buttons, knowing she would have ripped through them, clumsy in her passion. He helped her with his pants, throwing them into a heap along with his boxers.

Gloriously naked before her, Emma reached out for him. All week she’d been intent on showing him her tricks, on making him admit the force of his desire for her. She’d tasted him, swirled his head with her tongue, taken him deep into her throat, all the while hoping, at least in those moments when she was giving him pleasure, that she was in control of something.

She didn’t want to be in control tonight. She didn’t need to be. She gently stroked his hot, hard, silky flesh with the very tips of her fingers, closing her eyes so that she could feel every inch of him.

He kneeled over her, perfectly still, and she could feel him shaking beneath the force of his need. They had all the time in the world, but still, it was time.

Moving her hands from his shaft, she pulled Jason down on top of her, opening her thighs to welcome him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He stared at her then and without ever pulling his eyes from her, he slid into her, and she’d moved to take him deeper, deeper, until she could no longer keep her eyes from closing, her head and neck from thrusting back in the pillows. His mouth found her br**sts again, his finger her clitoris, and together they drove together, riding each other in a flood of emotion and lust and deep, true love.

Her muscles clenched against him and he grew harder and bigger with each thrust until the moment when she felt that he would pull out, when he would think of safety over everything else, but this time there was no going back. Only the sure knowledge that she’d finally made it to heaven.

Twenty-Two

Emma woke with a smile on her lips. Jason wasn’t in the garden, he wasn’t in the kitchen making breakfast, he hadn’t left her a note saying he’d call her later. He was right here with her. At long last, everything was absolutely perfect.

“Good morning sunshine.”

She opened her eyes and giggled. “Hi.”

Gently, he kissed her and her body stirred with awareness, an immediate responsiveness to Jason that she knew would never fade.

“There’s something I want to ask you,” he said and butterflies fluttered in her belly. Deep in her heart she knew what his question would be. And her answer.

After last night, everything was crystal-clear. They were going to be together forever. She’d heard wedding bells before, but they’d never been a symphony playing just for her.

The loud clicking of high-heeled shoes sounded outside the bedroom door just then, badly interfering with the wedding march in Emma’s head. Could Kate have any worse timing?

“Emma? Are you in there?”

“Go away,” Jason said and Emma giggled again, feeling exactly the same way about her best friend’s near interruption.

She was just about to snuggle back into his chest, preparing herself for his oh-so-important question, when the unlocked doorknob turned.

Kate poked her head in. “Hey you guys. Sorry to disturb but I need to talk to you for just a second, Emma.”

Emma shot her friend a look that said,Not now! Jason and I are having a really, really important moment.

But Kate just wasn’t getting it.

Damn her.

“Can’t it wait?” she pleaded, wondering what could possibly be so important that Kate was dragging her out of Jason’s bed.

Kate shook her head. “Nope. It can’t. I desperately need to talk to you. I’ll wait for you out back.”

Kate walked through the bedroom, out the French doors, and into Jason’s backyard. Emma turned to him, unable to believe the stunt her friend was pulling.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry about Kate. She dropped by last night, but she never came back, so I figured she had a hotel room. I know this is terrible timing, but if something’s happened to her I need to find out what it is and help. I promise to try and make it quick, okay?”

Something flashed in Jason’s eyes that looked like dread. He picked up her hand and Emma worried at his sudden change in demeanor. Sure, Kate had barged in at a really inopportune moment, but that didn’t mean everything was ruined.

“Promise to remember one thing while you’re gone, okay?” His words held an oddly serious tone, almost somber.

“Of course,” she said, giving his hands a squeeze, smiling encouragingly.

“I love you.”

She gasped then, finally hearing those three words she’d so desperately longed for.

“I’ve always loved you, Emma. And no matter what, I always will.”

“I love you too,” she said, putting her hands on his face and kissing him to show him that he didn’t have to ever be afraid to say he loved her. Not wanting to leave, but knowing the sooner she dealt with Kate, the sooner her friend would leave them alone, she smiled and said, “I’ll be right back. And then we can continue where we left off.”

Jason nodded but didn’t meet her eyes and as she slid off the bed and wrapped his thick robe around her, she was struck by the oddest sense that everything had gone from absolutely perfect to not quite right in the blink of an eye.

Shit. Kate must have pulled the details of his payback plan out of Rocco. Jason wished he could blame his longtime friend for telling her, but the whole situation was his own damn fault, wasn’t it? First coming up with his ridiculous plan and then having the nerve to brag to Rocco about it. He was sure Rocco had put up a fight—a small one, at least, in the name of friendship—but Jason now understood that there was no point in lying to women. It would only come back to bite you in the ass. Rocco had done what he had to do.

From the moment Jason had run into Kate in downtown Palo Alto he’d sensed disaster. Only then, he’d merely been concerned about the failure of his payback plan.

Now his whole life was at stake.

Why hadn’t he told her himself? If only he’d been man enough to confess everything last night. She would have forgiven him. She would have understood that he’d only acted out of some stupid sense of wanting her to feel the way she’d made him feel back in college.

She would have loved him anyway, he was sure of it, if he’d only owned up to being a complete idiot.