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Gabe’s breath caught.

“A family,” she added. “Someday. Not because we’re mates. Because I want one.” Her fingers curled more firmly through his. “With you.”

Gabe lifted her hand and pressed his mouth against her fingers. He thought of two paper bags on his counter with Toby’s and Nell’s names on them, and of every time he had said one day and wondered if it would ever come. And she had just offered it to him, in an orchard, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Mara watched him, then stepped closer and kissed him.

Her mouth was warm and certain against his, and Gabe’s arms went around her without thought. He drew her close, feeling the familiar fit of her body against his as the kiss deepened.

Last night desire had driven them, urgent and long delayed. Now Mara knew everything, and she was still reaching for him.

She drew back, breathing harder but keeping her arms around him.

“I fell for you before I knew any of this.”

Gabe touched her cheek. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“I know.” Her gaze stayed steady on his. “That’s why I want to.”

Her thumb moved slowly along his neck. “I love you, Gabe.”

For a second he could not speak. He had let himself hope, but hope was nothing like hearing the words from her.

“I love you too.”

Mara kissed him again, and Gabe pulled her closer.

The cool fall air had sharpened while they talked, but he barely noticed it now. She tasted faintly of coffee, and when he kissed the place below her ear, her breathing changed.

She shivered.

Gabe lifted his head. “Cold?”

“Not enough to stop.”

He smiled against her skin and kissed her neck again.

Mara pushed his jacket from his shoulders. Gabe let it fall, then pulled his shirt over his head when her hands moved beneath it. Her palms slid over his chest, her thumbs tracing the lines of muscle across his sternum before her fingers spread wide.

Gabe kissed her again and guided her backward until her back was against a tree, then he slowly sank to his knees in the grass.

Mara’s breath caught.

Fallen leaves shifted around his knees, and Mara stood above him with the old apple trees behind her.

He pushed her skirt up over her hips and hooked his fingers into her underwear, drawing it down her legs. The cool air touched her bare skin, and he heard her inhale sharply.

He pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee, then her inner thigh, feeling the fine tremor move through her leg as his mouth traveled upward.

When his mouth finally found her core, Mara’s fingers slipped into his hair.

“Gabe.”

He parted her with his tongue slowly, listening to every change in her breathing and every shift of her hips. She was warm and soft against his mouth, and when he circled her with the tip of his tongue she made a sound low in her throat and her grip tightened in his hair.

Mara leaned back against the tree, one hand braced against the rough bark while the other remained pressed against the back of his head, holding him where she wanted him.

He kept his tongue moving in slow, deliberate strokes, then sealed his mouth over her and sucked gently.