“Love me, Adam.”

Kerry was his dream woman come to life beneath him, her hands warm as she held on to his shoulders, her legs strong as she wound them around his hips and he began to move into her. And then they were rolling over so that she was every one of his fantasies come to life as she straddled and rocked, making the most beautiful sounds of pleasure while moonlight streamed over her.

She brought him right to the edge, then stilled just long enough for him to catch his breath before starting all over again.

Perfect.

Nothing, no one, had ever been so perfect as this incredible woman who’d just turned the tables on him. He’d always been in control in bed, always taken the lead, but tonight she led him every step of the way, straight toward heaven.

Again and again, she teased him with her curves, her heat, her kisses, until everything blurred in his head. Until his brain stopped functioning altogether, and he was operating on sensation alone.

The next thing he knew, she was on her knees, and he was, too. And, somehow, it was right where they both needed to be, with him right there behind her, taking and giving in equal measure. Her words all ran together in his head. TakeNowPleaseNeedMore. But he understood them all, because they were falling from his lips, too.

Sex had never been so wild.

Making love had never been so sweet.

And nothing had ever felt as right as flying out over the edge with Kerry, and then falling back onto the bed with her lithe curves still cradled against the front of his body.

But a few minutes later, as her breathing steadied and she fell asleep with him still spooned against her, he knew he was wrong.

This felt even more right.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Adam, I have the most amazing news!”

Kerry stood on the sidewalk with her phone to her ear on Wednesday morning, nearly a week after she’d last seen him at the construction site and their latest hotel suite. She’d been slammed with three back-to-back weddings the previous weekend—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—and playing endless hours of catch-up in the office the first half of this week made for a really long break since she’d last seen him. Too long.

Especially considering how sweet he’d been about her sister last Friday night. When he’d learned that Kerry had a Friday night wedding, he’d offered to do any Friday night bar pickups if she needed them. Fortunately, Colleen had to fill in at work that night, so neither of them had needed to worry about her getting into trouble at a seedy bar.

Kerry and Adam didn’t have plans to meet again until the following night, but she couldn’t resist calling him with the good news. Could barely even wait to get out of the realty office to dial his number from just outside the building, standing on the sidewalk in sunshine that felt just as warm and happy as she did inside.

“The house is mine! I just finished signing all the papers.”

“That’s great news. I’m so happy for you.” But just from the way he’d said her name, she would have known he felt that way without him needing to say anything more. “Let me steal you away for lunch today.”

“I have a meeting in a few minutes, and another couple this afternoon, but I’m pretty sure I could meet you for an hour at noon.”

“Meet me at the house.”

“The house? The one I just bought?”

He was laughing as he said, “That’s the one. See you at noon.”

* * *

As Kerry got out of her car, she was surprised to find Adam sitting with his back against the old oak tree on a big blanket, a picnic basket beside him.

When he caught sight of her, he quickly stood and pulled her into his arms. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” She kissed him then, and it was so natural. So sweet, in fact, that she didn’t stop kissing him for a quite a while.

“If I’m going to get a kiss like that every time you buy a house,” he said when they finally stopped kissing, “I’m going to ask my Realtor sister to show you a few more.”

She laughed, but didn’t move out of his arms. “I’m good with this one, thanks. Although the truth is that you’re probably the only person on the planet who would congratulate me for buying this house.” Not to mention the only one she wanted to celebrate with beneath the big oak tree.

He pulled a champagne bottle from the basket and popped the cork, which went flying off into the mess of the yard that, thankfully, was now all hers to deal with. It wasn’t until he began to pour it that she realized it wasn’t champagne. It was sparkling apple juice.

“I almost brought champagne,” he told her when he caught her surprised expression, “but I thought it would be more fun for our picnic to be more like the ones you had when you were a kid.”

“Oh, Adam.” Her heart felt so full, almost overwhelmingly so. “Apple juice is perfect.”

He held out his glass. “To your new home—and to the two of us bringing it back to its former glory together.”

“I can’t wait,” she said as she clinked her glass against his.

They both sat on the blanket, and even though she hadn’t been to a picnic since she was a little girl, it felt perfectly natural to sit beside Adam and look up into the beautiful branches of the tree that was even more majestic now than it had been twenty years ago.

She should have known that Adam wasn’t done with his surprises as he began to pull out grilled cheese and PBJ and apple slices, all things she guessed he’d probably had on picnics as a kid. But they didn’t look like something a deli would have put together.