"It really is possible, you know."

She smiled at his comment, letting her fingers trail down onto his cheek, then feather across his exquisite mouth. "What's possible?"

Joe looked past her in thought, giving her an opportunity to study him-so fine, so funny, so giving. He turned his dark eyes on her again, quite serious now. "It's possible to have both with one man-a companion and a sexual soul mate. I treasure you, Charlotte, as much as I desire you, and it will always be that way. You don't have to settle for one or the other any longer. And if I have to, I'll spend the rest of my life convincing you of that."

Her chest clenched and her lips trembled. She didn't want to ruin this moment with tears, but his words had just cut through the last layer of doubt. Joe apparently saw everything-and wanted everything he saw.

She felt the metal ease down onto her left ring finger and she stared in wonder at how beautiful it was. Then she saw that Joe was choked up, too.

"It's exquisite, Joe."

He nodded, biting his lip. "It's technically an anniversary ring. The jeweler said the three diamonds represent past, present, and future and tried to talk me put of it-but I thought it summed up things pretty good for us."

"Oh, Joe-"

"Marry me." He traced a fingertip over the three stones, then raised his eyes to hers. "Be my wife and my lover and give me a place to call home."

Charlotte felt her heart jump into her mouth. "I-"

"Wait. Before you answer, there's one more thing… '

Charlotte watched as Joe looked away for a brief moment and swallowed hard. When his gaze met hers again, he seemed very sad.

Cold dread seeped into the pit of her stomach. So this was the big secret he'd been building up to.

"Tell me."

"First, let me say I do think I'm safe here, Charlotte. The Administration has done a thorough risk assessment and they believe I'm out of harm's way."

"But?"

"Those bad guys I mentioned? They want to kill me."

She licked her lips, feeling her pulse spike. "Okay."

"There's a million dollars waiting for whoever can bring back my head."

Her mouth fell open. "What do you mean, your head?"

"My head. As in not attached to the rest of me."

Charlotte looked down at the glittering ring on her finger and tried to stuff down the panic but failed. Her hands began to shake and her overwhelmed brain vibrated inside her skull.

"I know it's a lot to ask, land if you want some time to think about it, that's fine. Just please don't say no to me."

"Joe-".

"Please."

"I'm sorry." She started to cry, reeling from how fast the joy had turned to anguish. How horrible it was to think he was in so much danger. How crushing it was to realize it was over with him before it could begin.

Because she could never marry a man being hunted down by killers. She could never put her children at risk like that.

"This is way more than I can handle." She began to pull the ring off her finger, but Joe's hand clamped down hard over hers.

"Don't give it back to me. I love you and it's yours."

"I can't!-"

Joe was suddenly around her, against her, his arms gripping her tight to his hard chest, his mouth kissing her hair.

"Charlotte, I understand. But please keep the ring. It's yours forever. I'm yours forever. It doesn't mean you've said yes to anything. It only means that if things are ever different, you would consider it."

Charlotte buried her face in his shirt, breathing in the complicated essence of Joe Mills. She corrected herself. His name was Bellacera. And not a single thing about this man had ever been ordinary or simple, starting with the way they met.

All she wanted was Joe. Just Joe. That's all she'd ever wanted.

"Stay with me tonight. Let me love you. Wear the ring and stay with me. Just for tonight."

She threw her arms around his neck with enough desperation to send him sprawling on the patio beneath her.

It wasn't Joe's intent to give Charlotte every one of her sexual fantasies that evening, but he found it difficult to deny her anything. Especially now that he feared it was the last night he'd ever have her to himself.

So he'd tied her up, just the way she'd always wanted, and the two of them couldn't stop giggling. He'd roped honeysuckle vines around her wrists and throat and waist and ankles, but they were bonds that shackled her to nothing but his love for her.

"Honeysuckle Mama," he muttered, leaving wet lasses all over the front of her body, on her collarbone, the swell of her breasts, down the slope of heir soft belly. "That nickname has so many of my favorite words in it."

"It does?"

He loved how husky Charlotte's whisper had become after hours of lovemaking on the family room couch, in the swimming pool, and now on the patio furniture cushions spread on the pool deck. He loved how she instinctively arched into the press of his lips.

"Oh, yeah." He let his tongue slide along the ridge of her left hipbone, down into the valley between her legs, and he used his hands to gently spread her open. She was so swollen and well used that he worried she might be too sensitive even for the gentle attention of his mouth. There was only one way to find out.

"The first word I like is honey…" he said, just before he flattened his tongue into the hot folds of her body and lapped her up. He loved how deep her moan was.

"And then there's the word suckle…" He brought his lips to her clitoris and nursed on her, noting what she loved and what was too intense and what made her nuts, and smiled when she shook and went rigid yet again. Joe held her, smiling to himself, wondering just how many times this woman could come in one night.

After a few moments he asked, "Think you could hop up for a second, soccer mom?"

"Do I have to?"

He took her by the hands and eased her to a sitting position, once more admiring how good her little female body looked wrapped up in their binding of choice. She appeared a bit dazed.

"I want to watch you walk."

"Walk? Now? I don't know if I can."

He laughed. "Just over to the table and back. Can you do that for me?"

He loved the teasing smirk she offered him, her hair falling across her face as she stood to do his bidding. Charlotte's playful streak was proving to be a hell of a lot of fun…

He stretched out along the edge of the pool and made a half-circular motion with his finger. "Turn around and walk."

She did so but glanced over her shouldfer at him. "And what are you going to do while I'm walking?"

Joe smiled. "Something I should have done thirteen years ago, baby-I'm gonna memorize your license plates."

Her laugh was the background music to her swaying walk, and as she moved, he watched. Her ass was a thing of majesty, small and round and sporting two big handprints visible in the dim light. She stopped when she reached the table and looked over her shoulder again.

"Well?"

"Hmm. Bend down and look under the tablecloth. Bring me what you find."

She did as she was told, which in itself was sexy as hell, and revealed that perfect peach between her thighs.

She turned and walked back toward him, holding the can of spray cheese. She looked down on him and crooked one eyebrow. "Let me guess what's on the menu. A number five with cheese?"

Joe nearly choked laughing…

"Cock con queso?"

He laughed so hard he had to lie down and hold his sides.

Charlotte knelt next to him. The sensation of aerosol cheese clinging to his shaft was close to otherworldly. She topped him off with a festive swirl, and he groaned with pleasure. He decided to hoist himself up on his elbows to watch.

Joe nearly lost it when she straddled his shins and bent toward him. She seemed to enjoy his predicament, licking at him through a devilish smile, her eyes sparkling with the pool lights, her sweet breasts dangling so that her nipples just brushed the surface of his thighs.