“I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure I will.”

Ella wished she could be so sure herself.

“So thirty-six hours with no Ella. That’s cruel and unusual punishment after you’ve gone and gotten me addicted to you.”

“Addicted? That sounds serious.”

“It’s super serious. Life-threatening even.”

Ella ran her fingertips over the stubble on his face. “I love you like this.”

“Like what?”

“Happy, playful, funny.”

“I’d forgotten I had those things in me until you showed me they’re still there.” He turned them so he was on top looking down at her. Then he began kissing her neck, making her want him yet again. It never ceased to amaze her that she wanted him all the time.

“Do you think it’ll always be like this?” she asked.

“Like what?”

“Crazy.”

He glanced up at her, grinning. “It is kinda crazy, isn’t it?”

“I’ve never been like this with anyone.”

“Like what?”

“Insatiable.”

“That’s such a good word, and by the way, I don’t want to think about you doing this with anyone else.”

“I never did this with anyone else. Everything is different with you.”

Cupping her breasts, he ran his tongue over one sensitive tip and then the other. “Are you sore from last night?”

“Tender more than sore.”

“Mmm,” he said, his lips vibrating against her nipple. “I need to be more careful with you.”

“No, you don’t. I like you just the way you are.”

“Unrestrained and unrefined?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Let me give you gentle and tender before I have to let you go for thirty-six endless hours.” His lips were soft and persuasive as he set her on fire with desire for more of him, all of him. By the time he entered her, slowly and carefully, Ella was clinging to what remained of her sanity.

“God, you’re so perfect,” he whispered. “I could live inside you and never want for anything.”

Ella clung to him, her fingertips digging into the dense muscles of his back as he moved above her, destroying her one deep stroke at a time. Her body seized in a contraction of endless pleasure that went on for what felt like forever. She had never felt anything quite like it.

“Ella,” he whispered. “I love you so much. Love you.”

She couldn’t speak over the huge lump in her throat, so she held on tight to him as he lost himself in her.

The slide of his lips over the dampness on her face was the only indication she had that tears were rolling down her cheeks.

“Sweet Ella. How did I survive before you made me fall in love with you?”

Ella burrowed her nose into the nook between his neck and shoulder, breathing him in. She needed to get up, to get moving, to get to the office for a couple of hours before she headed to Burlington to hopefully meet her new niece or nephew. But she couldn’t bring herself to move.

“Are you okay?” he asked, gazing down at her with sweet concern in his eyes.

“I’m way better than okay.”

“Why the tears?”

“I can’t help them when you say the things you do while you make love to me like that.”

“I’ve never said those things to anyone before you.”

“I still feel like I have to be dreaming that you’re saying them to me.”

“You’re not dreaming.” He kissed her lips, her cheeks, the tip of her nose and then her lips again.

“I have to go.”

“I know.”

“You have to let me go.”

“I know.” He said the words but made no move to withdraw from her.

“Gavin . . .”

“I don’t want to let you go. I don’t want to have to live without you for two days.”

“I’ll be back before you have time to miss me.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Will you be okay tomorrow? I know how hard the holidays have to be for you and your parents.”

“We’ll get through it. We always do.”

“I wish I could be there with you. I’ll come home early to have dinner with you guys.”

“You should have dinner with your family. I’ll be waiting when you get here.”

“I’ll leave as soon as I can. I promise.”

“Call me tonight?”

“Yes, yes, I’ll call you.” She would have to borrow a cell phone from Lucy or Cameron. “It might be a New York number, so make sure you take the call.”

“I’ll take the call because it might be you. I feel like a lovesick fool because I don’t want to let you go for even a couple of days.”

“I’m okay with that.”

He smiled, kissed her and finally withdrew, leaving her feeling bereft without the heavy feel of him inside her. “How about a shower?”

“A platonic shower?”

“Completely,” he said with a wicked grin that let her know there’d be nothing platonic about it.

What did it say about her that even after having him three times overnight and with a thousand other things she needed to be doing, she followed him willingly into the shower?

She had it bad, and bad had never felt so good.

CHAPTER 20

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn

hope that if you just show up and try to

do the right thing, the dawn will come.

—Anne Lamott

Though she was sleep-deprived and eager to get to Burlington, Ella put in a couple of hours at the store, making sure everything was in place for the official day-after-Thanksgiving start to the holiday shopping season. She hadn’t missed a Black Friday in the store since she graduated from college. Only for Gavin would she consider missing this one.

Charley popped her head in Ella’s office just after nine thirty. “Heard anything more from Burlington?”

“Not yet. You?”

“Nothing. What time are you heading over there?”

“I’m shooting for noon.”

“Could I hitch a ride with you? My car needs oil, and I haven’t gotten around to getting it into Nolan’s.”

“Sure. Then we can go over all these notes I’ve made for you so you can cover for me next week.”

“You are going to owe me so big for that it’s not even funny.”

“So you’ve said, at least a dozen times now.”

“Just making sure you heard me,” Charley said with a grin. “When are you telling him about the trip?”

“Tomorrow night.”

“That doesn’t give him much time to get his shit together.”

“It also doesn’t give him much time to come up with a thousand reasons why he shouldn’t go.” She’d given careful thought to the timing and decided the less time he had to think about it, the better off he’d be. Or so she hoped.

“You really think he’ll do that?”

“I’m not sure what to expect, to be honest. He’s got some sort of issue where the Sultans are concerned. I’m not sure if it’s a big issue or a small one. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow night.”

“What’ll you do—and I’m just playing devil’s advocate here, so don’t shoot me—if he says he won’t go?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying not to think about that possibility.”

“For the record, I think he’d be crazy not to go after you went to so much trouble to arrange the trip and everything.”

“Thanks. I’m hoping for the best.”

“Me, too, Ella. It’s a really nice thing for you to do. I hope he sees that.”

“I hope so, too.”

“I’ll be ready to go at noon,” Charley said. “Maybe we can grab lunch at the diner before we leave?”

“I’d be up for that.”

“Okay, see you then.”

Alone in her office, Ella printed out a brochure for the resort, their plane tickets and some pictures of the romantic settings in Turks and Caicos. She couldn’t wait to see those sites with Gavin by her side, and the thought of it not happening . . . Well, she couldn’t entertain that possibility. She just couldn’t.