“But you never noticed me, not until the wedding when I wore that dress and had the makeup artist make me up.”

His eyes were dark, his face as serious as she’d ever seen it. “Trust me, I noticed you before that. Way before that.”

* * *

“Are you up for one more destination?” Sophie asked a little while later, when they were leaving the restaurant.

Attraction had buzzed between them as they ate the rest of their meal, and all he could think of was taking her to bed. Come midnight, when the day was officially over and he’d made good on his promise, he could finally touch her again. And oh, the ways he was going to touch her...

But when she gave him one of those beautiful smiles that had always made his heart beat faster and said, “There’s something I want to show you. It’s not far from here,” how could he not agree to whatever she wanted?

Hand in hand, he let her lead them down the waterfront toward a large gray building. She reached into her bag and pulled out a key card, holding it in front of the electronic lock. It clicked open and she pulled on the door.

“You’re showing me a swimming pool?”

She grinned again, saying, “Among other things,” as she pulled him toward the next set of doors, which led to the locker rooms and then, finally, the pool.

She kicked off her shoes and dropped his hand to reach for the hem of her sweater.

“Sophie? What are you doing?” It was a stupid question. He knew exactly what she was doing. He just couldn’t believe it.

“Getting undressed.”

Hallelujah!

She pulled her sweater off over her head, then quickly took off the top she’d been wearing beneath it. Her skirt came off next, until she was standing in front of Jake in only her bra and panties.

“Do you need help taking off your clothes?”

Didn’t she know he could hardly put together a coherent thought when she was standing in front of him looking that good?

“We’re not supposed to be here after hours, are we?”

She cheerfully shook her head as she reached for his T-shirt and started to pull it up. “Nope.”

She deftly pulled his shirt off, but when she put her hands at the top of his jeans, he had to know, “Have you done this before? With anyone else?” If she had, he’d hunt the guy down and beat him to a pulp. Sophie was his, damn it. She’d always been his, even if he’d never let himself get close enough to claim her until she’d shown up at his doorstep in Napa and seduced him.

Just as she was seducing him now.

“I’ve always wanted to,” she said as she worked his zipper down and shoved his pants off. “But you’re my first.”

And your last, he thought as he tore off the rest of his clothes, shoes, and socks.

He’d promised her a full day with no sex and he’d made it this far. Skinny-dipping was going to kill him, but hell, even if he couldn’t touch her, he could still look.

“It’s not skinny-dipping if you’ve clothes on, princess. Turn around.” When she did as he asked, he brushed aside her long hair to unclasp her bra, then pushed it from her shoulders so that it fell to the ground. Moving to one knee, he hooked his thumbs into the sides of her panties next, sliding them all the way down her legs.

“Sophie,” he said in a raw voice, his mouth barely an inch from her luscious rear end, “you’d better jump in before I break my promise.”

“Not without you.” As she pulled him up to stand beside her, her eyes fixated on his erection. “I’m glad you like my skinny-dipping idea so much.”

Jesus, it was going to break him, getting in the water with a naked Sophie and not touching her. Not kissing her. Not making love to her.

But he’d do it, damn it, because he’d given her his word...and because he needed her to know how much he cared about her. Not just as a sexy woman, but also as the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

On three, they jumped in together and Sophie’s laughter was the best sound in the world as she splashed up from beneath the water. The next thing he knew, she had wrapped her arms and legs around him and he was holding her up in the water.

Oh man, was she soft. And wet.

He wanted to run his hands over every inch of her skin.

The way his erection was throbbing against her belly, it wouldn’t take more than the slightest shift of her in his arms to be inside all that heat. If this was her way of testing him, he would dig deep to prove to her that he was up to the challenge.

Even if it killed him.

“It’s been a perfect day so far,” she whispered into his ear just as her tongue licked out against his earlobe, “except for one thing.”

He could barely get out the words, “What would make it perfect?” when he wanted her so bad he was about to lose it with nothing but the feel of her naked curves bobbing slightly in the water against him.

“This.”

Sophie bit down on his earlobe just as she impaled herself on him.

“Now,” she said on a gasp, “it’s perfect.”

Finally, he was able to give in to the shocking pleasure of kissing the sweetest mouth he’d ever tasted. Lips so soft, so warm, as they parted and aroused, taking and giving in equal measure. He could feel her strength, her lithe muscles as she wrapped herself tighter around him and used the strength in her thighs to ride him in the water.

He’d thought she was too fragile, too easily breakable for him, for his needs, for his past. But she met every thrust in equal measure, met every stroke of his hand across her gorgeous skin with her hands on him.

For so long he’d wanted her, and every time they came together he only wanted her more. He’d never get enough of her passion, the way she all but vibrated with desire in his arms as she opened herself up to him.

He’d told himself he didn’t need anyone, and especially not her. But he’d been wrong. A liar of epic proportions.

Because there was nobody he needed more. No one who would ever fill his heart—and soul—the way this beautiful woman in his arms always had.

She lowered her head to his shoulder, her lips and tongue and teeth moving against his skin. He could feel how fast, how frantic her heart was beating against his. He had to grip her hips tighter, had to hold her closer as he drove deeper inside her warmth, coming closer and closer to heaven with every stroke of hard flesh against soft.

She gasped out his name and as their combined sounds of ecstasy rebounded off the swimming pool’s walls, unbelievable pleasure blurred with pure love and became one and the same.