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“Aren’t you going to open it?”
She hadn’t heard him come up behind her. Drawing a deep breath, she hoped that he wouldn’t hear the thunder in her heart as she turned around.
“Yes, yes, of course.”
Her fingers were trembling as she untied the ribbons. The gay wrapping paper fell away to reveal a picture frame. She turned it over and found herself looking into four smiling faces under the arch of a church door.
“You remember that photo, don’t you?” Connor was much too close. “You even told me to smile.”
“I remember.” A soft ache welled up as Victoria stared into Suzy’s beloved face…and then moved on to Michael’s grin. Flanking Michael, even Connor’s hard face wore a smile.
“We all look so happy.”
“That’s how Suzy and Michael would want us to remember them,” he said.
She swung around to face him. “Thank you for this. You couldn’t have given me a better present.” She flung her arms around his neck, the frame dangling over his shoulder, and kissed him.
After a moment he kissed her back.
“Tory!”
She pulled away and looked into the face that had become as familiar as her own. The hewn cheekbones, the bladed nose and those penetrating eyes.
Connor wasn’t her father.
There wasn’t a neglectful, irresponsible bone in his body. He’d done everything he could to give Dylan a future that would be secure. And he’d always been there for her.
She owed him an apology. “I’m sorry for believing that you were a jerk.”
“Oh, Tory.” His hands tightened on her bare arms. “And I’m sorry for believing you were dull and dreary.”
“What?”
His eyes laughed down into hers.
“I know. I don’t know how I came up with that.” This time the kiss was deep and very, very hot. By the time it was over they were both breathless.
He took the photo frame from her and set it down carefully on the dressing table.
Then he returned to her.
“We’re going to make love,” he told her. “No casual encounter. And this time you’re going to stay—no rushing off before I let you go.”
“Never again,” she vowed.
“Oh, God, Tory.”
She curved into him, her body so close that she could feel the outline of his chest muscles against her. “I’m staying right here.”
“Forever.”
“If you want.”
“I want.”
His fingers pulled down the zipper at the back of her dress. She shimmied out of it and it fell in a pool on the carpet.
He’d trodden out his shoes and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, and now he pulled the white shirt over his head. He stepped out of his pants a moment later. He wore only close-fitting boxers, and the sight of his hard, muscled body gave her a secret thrill.
Victoria kicked off her heels.
And trembled a little with anticipation as his arms came around her and he undid the hooks of the white lacy bra that she wore. He skimmed his hands over her hips, sweeping the brief bits of lace down her legs, leaving her naked to his ravenous gaze.
A moment later he was naked, too.
The hard ridge of his erection revealed how much he desired her. And he swept her into his arms and lowered her onto the queen bed.
“This is going to be over way too fast,” he murmured into her ear. “I want you so badly.”
He licked the shell-like shape of her ear and Victoria shivered with delight.
But despite his forecast he stretched the pleasure forever. He used his hands, and his lips, and his tongue to bring Victoria to heights that she’d never experienced.
When he finally parted her legs, she was on fire for him.
Connor positioned himself over her and drove deep.
She closed her eyes and let the passion take her. Her fingertips dug into his shoulders. He gasped and drove again.
Arching beneath him, Victoria found the rhythm. And then they were moving in unison, as one.
The pleasure rose in a bright, blinding arc. And as the light exploded behind her eyes, she heard Connor whisper, “I love you, Tory. How I love you.”
The words tilted her into a dizzying whirl of color and ecstasy that seemed to go on forever. And she found herself gasping, “I love you, too.”
Afterward they lay on their backs on the bed, their hunger for each other temporarily sated.
“Did you mean what you said?” she asked, turning her head to meet his warm eyes.
“That I love you?”
She nodded.
“Of course I did.”
She gave him a slow, dreamy smile. “I love you, too. I’ve been thinking, Connor. That billion-dollar baby bargain of yours? I got the best bargain of all—as well as Dylan, I got you.”
