“What am I lying about?” he yelled. “She just came by to get her things.”

“Things? What ‘things’?”

He gestured. “Do we have to get into this out here? I’m freezing my ass off.”

Bark. Bark. Bark.

“Yes, we do. Remember when you said that if Darien wasn’t getting it from me, he was getting it from somewhere? Well, you were right. He was. This whole time! And it looks like the same holds true for you!”

Veins bulged in his neck. “I am not fucking her!”

Bark. Bark. Bark. Ruff. Ruff. Yip!

I poked him in the chest. “Then what was she doing upstairs, and why are you….” I raked my eyes from his bare feet to his head. “Naked!”

Trace scowled. “For the love of—she let herself in when I was taking a shower. I didn’t even know she was there ‘til—”

“Wonderful. She has a key.” I rolled my eyes. “Why did it take you so long to answer the door?”

“Are you hard of hearin’? I said, I—was—in—the—shower.”

Ruff. Ruff. Bark. Bark. Bark. Bark! Yip!

“So why didn’t she answer it?”

“‘Cause she didn’t want a scene.”

“Scene? What was she afraid of?”

Bark! Ruff! Ruff! Grrrrrr! Ruff! Yip! Yip!

“This! This right here!” He flung his arms out and his coat flew open. “You going batshit!” He dug a hand through his wet locks. “Damn it, she broke it off weeks ago!”

“So what am I, the booby prize?” I spun away, fists clenched, keys jingling, only to have him yank me back. I slammed into his chest. “Let go!”

Ruff! Bark! Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! Ruff! Yip! Yip! Yip

“Not until you hear me out.”

“There’s nothing more to say.” Tears dangled from my chin. “All these years…all these years I worked my ass off to distance myself from my mother—to be blameless. To be perfect! All the weeks I denied my feelings for you, knowing how hard I was falling…knowing it was inevitable! But I still fought to stay true to a man I wasn’t in love with—a man who didn’t deserve me! And as usual it wasn’t enough. Not for my family. Not for Darien and not for you. I wasn’t enough and I never will be!”

“What are you talking about? You’re more than enough for me. Can’t you see that?”

“Just leave me alone.” I twisted to break free. “I mean it. Let go!”

Trace wrestled me still. “Ask me why she ended it.”

Bark! Bark! Yip! Bark! Bark! Ruff! Grrrrrrrrrr! Yip!

“I don’t care!” I said, struggling.

“Damn it, ask me why!”

“Why!?”

He grasped my face. “‘Cause she knew my heart was yours even before I did!”

Over the maelstrom of anger, over the roar of blood in my ears, over all the madness and barking, relief hummed like a song in my heart, like a warm breeze in the dead of winter.

Trace’s eyes burned into me, displacing the cold. He kissed my nose and said, “Do you hear me, Shannon? You’re all the woman I’ll ever need.”

He crushed my mouth with his in a kiss so feral and possessive, it stole my breath. Our hearts slammed into each other as he leaned back, gripped my bottom, and lifted me as if I were penny-light. My feet hovered inches from the ground. I lay flush against his body, my arms tied around his neck, our mouths linked as intimately as our pelvises.

“Y’all need to take that shit inside!” someone yelled.

Trace set me down, squeezed me tight, and gazed up at the starlit sky. “Oh, baby,” he said. “I can’t breathe without you in my world. Don’t you get that yet?” He squeezed me once more. “You scared me to death. Please. Don’t ever run away from me again.”

Bark! Bark! Bark! Yip!

“I won’t.” I closed my eyes. “I swear it.”

He kissed my forehead. “Good, ‘cause we’ve wasted too much time apart. Twelve years is long enough.”

I buried my face in his chest and wrapped my arms within his jacket, around his naked waist. “My God. You’re so cold.”

“Naw, try frozen,” he said, teeth chattering.

“Then let’s get you home.”

Yip! Ruff! Bark!

He shivered. “Give me a minute, okay?”

“For what?”

Bark! Ruff! Ruff! Yip! Meow.

“I can’t feel my feet no more,” he said. Then he leaned down and whispered, “And my towel just fell off.”

SHANNON

____________________________

I pressed a hand to my nervous stomach as I stood in the doorway. Trace slipped a CD into the player and sat at the edge of his bed. He wore white OBVIOUSLY boxer briefs and nothing else. I’d never seen underwear like them. The crotch had an anatomical pouch that was quite…large, giving his sex room to…er…hang.

He looked up, dragging his smoldering gaze from my knees to my face in one sinuous slide. “It’s not Christmas yet, but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to unwrap you early.” His Adam’s apple climbed his neck, then shuddered down. “My robe never looked that good on me. C’mere.”

My heart kicked into overdrive. I padded to the bed and stood between his legs. He hugged me as I cocked my head to listen to the amazing song he’d put on. “Who is this? The melody sounds so familiar.”

“Richard Marx.”

“Didn’t he do this song in English?”

“Yeah, ‘Now and Forever.’ He wrote it for his wife.” Trace smiled. “But this is ‘Ahora y Siempre,’ his Spanish version.”

I closed my eyes and smiled. “It’s so beautiful.”

“No. You’re beautiful.” Trace stood and took me into his arms, leading me in a slow dance. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Like this. With me.”

I cupped his jaw. “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”

“I didn’t think you’d ever get out of the shower,” he said with a nervous laugh.

“I just needed to clear my head.”

He stared at me with concerned eyes. “You sure you want to do this?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

We stayed like that for a while, just swaying to the music. He squeezed me in intermittent doses and told me how I completed him. I combed my fingers through his hair and told him how I’d wanted him since forever.

Together, we acknowledged the import of what we were about to do…how it would change us. How it would take our relationship to another level.

When we separated, he untied the robe with reverence. I sucked in a breath, feeling his gentle hands tour my body. He told me that I was beautiful and not to be afraid. He said he’d take his time, that we were in no hurry.

Meanwhile, I berated myself for blushing, but when the belt fell to the floor, I knew that this night, this man was my destiny.

And that I was loved.

He parted the garment and his hungry gaze rested on my breasts. He’d kissed and sucked them, but that was in the heat of passion. We were both calm now, and would enter this loving clear-eyed. Since I barely filled a B-cup, I was insecure, especially when I thought about his busty brunette friend.

My silly insecurities vanished when I saw his arousal. What used to be a non-threatening bulge, now tented his boxers with such blatant violence I stifled a gasp.

His eyes were fixed on the dark blonde tangle of silk between my legs. Up and down his chest pumped. I could hear the air rush from his flared nostrils. He was happy to see me—very happy. But self-consciousness returned, and a blush flamed my body. It compelled me to pull the robe around myself.

Trace gave his head a slow shake. “Naw. Let me look my fill.”

He brought my arms down to my sides, pushed the robe off one shoulder and moved in to capture a nipple. The ache between my legs was swift and powerful while he drew it into his mouth and sucked.

He anchored one palm at the small of my back. The other hand, he pressed against my belly, and used two fingers to stroke the place he’d stared at. The pleasure was so exquisite I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

His lips made a smacking sound when he released my nipple. It glistened beneath the light. Easing me on the bed, he fit our bodies together, side by side, and crushed his mouth to mine. As our lips did battle, he positioned me astride him. My damp hair framed his cheeks like twin curtains, while my necklace rested against his Adam’s apple. He broke the kiss, swept my hair to one side and gazed into my eyes. A muscle along his jaw trembled.