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“I can’t claih I think the poe, and all the er under my chin and tilts my head up so that there is no way I can hide my tear-filled eyes “Three clues Six days I think you’ll make it”

My heart has swollen sooff et”

The softness I see in his eyes just about slays et my own name than our first Valentine’s Day”

“I love you” The words seeh me

“And I you But, Nikki,” he adds, and now his voice takes on a harder edge, belied only by the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth “You doubted me I think that deserves a punishment”

I cock h and take off toward the house at a run

But not too fast After all, I’ that Damien will catch me

Chapter 2

Since Da hard to get away—he catches s me to a stop, then scoops me into his arms I kick and squir that I a captive

I keep my arms hooked around his neck as he carriesoff onto the newly constructed tennis court

There is a plush lounge chair on the sidelines, which I have recently realized he put there so that I would have a place to sit and watch hih, especially as it is as wide as a twin bed and at least as comfortable

“Damien,” I protest as he pulls ht” I don’t add that there is still a chill in the air The teht at this moment my skin is so heated that I could be naked in Antarctica and not even notice

“So it is” He doesn’t even slon, however Instead he reaches for the button on s the capris down over my hips, then moves lower until he reaches my feet, still bare froer over the arch ofme in only a bra and my very tiny panties

Daover o soft and wet, and when his focus turns to my crotch, I moan softly in anticipation of his touch

Slowly, he peels e chair and burning under Daaze

“Beautiful,” he murmurs, and I feel the warm current of a blush as it creeps up ers overthe soft skin of h He moves with casual ease over the scars that once embarrassed me, but that I rarely think about noith Da up, overthe tip of his finger to stroke and tease before lightly pinching h me that is so sweetly profound it makes me arch up, but whether that is because the sensation is too intense to endure or because I aer, I do not know