“Together,” he promised, but he’d never tell her he was hoping and praying that she would get knocked up again. He knew he needed to take this slow, to show her that he meant business. But he wanted it all. He wanted her, marriage, a kid, and a dog. Everything. It could be very naïve of him, but he felt good about them. Knew they would succeed, because he wasn’t giving up.

On him.

Or her.

Or their future.

Kissing her again, he slowly backed her under the hot water, and as her arms wrapped around him, his eyes drifted shut. Both the feel of her and the hot stream of water were almost too much to handle. He finally had everything he wanted.

He had Kacey.

“It’s very overwhelming,” she whispered against his throat. “I’ve dreamed and prayed that this would happen. That you’d come back for me.”

“Did I live up to the dreams?”

“You surpassed them,” she said as she looked up at him. “I never thought you’d be this guy.”

He smiled, cupping her face. “I never thought I would be either, but there is no going back.”

She grinned back at him. “You got that right. Because this is it, Jordie, your one and only last chance.”

He already knew that, and while it did scare him since he was prone to fuck up, he knew he was ready. He had been thinking about this moment since he watched her walk away. It was time to stand up and be the man he wanted to be. It was time to take what he wanted in his grip and never let go. It was time to love Kacey King the way she deserved.

And he wasn’t going to fail.

Meeting Jordie’s eyes in the mirror, Kacey gave him a satisfied smile. He was naked, as was she, but it wasn’t his muscular body or his thick cock that had her attention. All she could see was the grin he was wearing. His eyes were bright and full of love as he held her gaze. They’d spent more time groping each other than actually cleaning off the sweat they had worked up, but Kacey wasn’t complaining. She loved showering with him. It felt right. It felt like them. They had a long history of sex in the shower, and out of it, but this time was different. They’d talked while he washed her hair. They’d laughed when he almost fell on his face trying to get the shampoo and it was just perfect.

So perfect that it almost felt unreal.

And that scared her.

Was it so perfect that it would end? It would be so easy for it to. He could start drinking again, decide he didn’t want what she did, and that would be it. But she prayed it wouldn’t, because they just worked. Though she kept thinking that maybe she should have waited a bit longer. Thought it through a little more than she had.

But when she’d opened that door and saw his brown eyes trained on her, all she wanted was him. She’d always wanted him. She’d be lying if she said it was easy to live and breathe without him. Because it wasn’t. Watching each other, sending little grins, it all just felt so right. Like they were meant to do this. But was she in over her head? Was it too early to look at him and just know that this was forever?

“Did we rush this?” she asked suddenly as he brushed out his beard.

He shrugged, the comb stopping as his eyes held hers. “Do you love me?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“Then, no, we didn’t. There is no reason for two people who love each other not to be together.”

“But I didn’t even make you work for it. I just jumped you like a cat in heat.”

His grin grew. “Thank God,” he said with a wink, and she smacked him playfully on the arm.

“I’m serious!”

He chuckled, the sound swirling the desire in her belly as he laid his comb down before turning to reach for her. He pulled her into his arms, his deliciously naked body hard against hers as he nipped at her bottom lip. “You didn’t have to make me work for it, Kace. Don’t you know that I’ve been working to be with you for a while? I’ve been working on me, and I’m far from done. I still have growing to do, but I want to grow with you.”

All her previous fears always dissolved away when he held her gaze. Her heart thudded in her chest as she laced her fingers at the back of his head, and she couldn’t help but think that this could be it. “I loved the old you, and I’ll love the new you. I think it’s just the you part that has my heart.”

He grinned, dropping his mouth toward hers. She held her breath as his lips grazed along hers. “I’m not giving it back either.”

“I didn’t think you would. You don’t share well.”

“Got that right,” he said roughly before taking her mouth with his. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she melted into him as their mouths danced. Maybe she didn’t make him wait, maybe she didn’t make him work or grovel like some other woman would have but, in a way, she couldn’t. She had waited and wanted this for far too long. To be with the man she loved. To have her fairy-tale ending.

Jordie was her frog turned prince, and she wasn’t letting him go.

Pulling away, he kissed her nose. “I promise I’m gonna do right by you this time around.”

She smiled, her nose pressing into his, unable to say anything. Meeting her gaze, he squeezed his arms around her, pressing his lips to her nose.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared,” she admitted, her eyes holding his. “Scared this is too good to be true.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.”