Regan turned and lathered her hands with the bar of soap. Slowly, she worked her hands over every inch of Zach’s body, paying special attention to the parts of him begging to be touched. They washed each other, sliding their hands over one another’s bodies, and making love again in the shower.

Zach tied the robe around Regan’s waist. He shook his head and bit down on his bottom lip. “I’ve never done this in my parents’ house.”

Though a surge of hope lit in her, she could hardly believe a man as wealthy and handsome as Zach Benson had never taken advantage of what was at his fingertips to seduce a woman. “Liar.”

“Really. Mom was always home, and we had a staff back then.” The sincerity of his confession and the hours of lovemaking made her warm inside and out. There was a sense of pride in knowing she’d been the first to love Zach in a place that was so special to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I wasn’t allowed any privacy.”

“She knew you were trouble.” She could hear her cell phone beeping. Sighing, she went to find it. Zach’s cell phone beeped too, and he walked to the desk in the corner of the room and opened it. Just as he dialed his voice mail, the house phone rang.

He dove across the bed and picked up the phone, laughing. “I told you. I told you. She knows when someone is messing around on that rock! You know, if I knocked you up, she’d know before I did.”

Regan turned away. She didn’t want him to see that when he talked like that it, tore her apart and reminded her there were so many things she hadn’t been honest with him about.

She heard him answer the phone and turned to watch him. Though he was winded and knew his mother was on the other end of the phone, it didn’t seem to matter to him what she’d think about it.

“Mother, how are you? How is New York?” He tugged at the robe wrapped around Regan and pulled her to the bed. He kissed her lip while covering the phone with his hand. She pushed him back and shook her head. Convincing him to make love on the boulder had turned him into a rebel. He grabbed for the tie on her robe. “I’m sorry I missed your call.”

And then he stopped, sat up, and turned his attention to the conversation with his mother.

“Mother, what’s wrong?” He was on his feet now, and Regan pulled the robe around her and watched his face. The intimacy slid away, as well as his color. “Oh my God.”

He sat back down on the bed and pressed his fingers to his forehead. “Mom, I don’t know what to say.” Regan moved to his side. He shook his head as he listened to his mother. “I’ll make arrangements and be out there in a few hours.”

When Zach finally shifted his eyes to Regan’s, she could see the tears welling up. She reached for his hand. “Mom, I can call Arianna to sit with you.” He gave Regan’s fingers a squeeze, and she began to sob, not even knowing what was being said on the other side of the conversation. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He hung up the phone and sat quietly. Regan didn’t want to ask about the conversation. She’d wait until he could speak.

When he was ready, he looked her in the eye. “My father died.”

His father was gone. The more he said it in his head, the worse it got. Regan pulled him to her, and then he let out his sob. Suddenly he was shaking and tears were streaming. He was a child again, he needed his mother, and his father, and neither were in his grasp.

He pulled away and went for his clothes. “I have to go to New York.”

Regan stood, her shoulders shot back, and her professionalism pushed the sentimental lover aside. “I’ll get arrangements made for you.”

“For us.” He looked at her, pleading. “God, Regan, you have to go with me.”

“Zach…”

“You said on that rock you wanted to be with me always. Well, always is now.” He slipped on his pants and went to her, taking her hands. “Please, my mother and I both need your cool head and way of thinking. You’re part of our family. I want you with me.”

She nodded. “Should I call Arianna?”

“She was with them when he died.”

Regan’s eyes widened and her eyebrows rose. He thought about the conversation with his mother and rubbed away the pain forming behind his forehead. “They’d met for brunch. They were laughing over mimosas and eggs Benedict. She and mom had hit it off. They were going to go shopping later. And then…” The words lodged in his chest. “He had a heart attack at the restaurant.”

She raised her hand to her mouth. Tears streamed as freely from her eyes as they did from his own. He said took her face in his hands and wiped the wet trails away with his thumbs. “Regan, I need you. We are a family. My family and yours are already intertwined.”

“Zach, what are you talking about?”

“You’re always here when I need you most. Arianna was there for my mother. Carlos works for me and takes care of you. My mother and Curtis work together with the hospital bettering life for others. Our lives are knotted together.” He took a step back and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m not proposing. That would be so uncalled for at this moment.” He took a deep breath to try and separate the jumbled thoughts that clouded his mind. “But I feel closer to you than I ever have, and closer to you at this moment than I have been to anyone. I want us to make a life and a home together. I want you to think about it.” He pulled his shirt on. “I need you,” he said once more before he walked out of the room, praying she needed him too.

Regan arranged their flight from Tyler’s office. She booked a direct flight into New York City and arranged for a car to pick them up. She’d phoned the hospital, and Zach received the status on his father’s body and was able to make arrangements to claim him and fly him back with them.

Zach knew where his father kept the important papers, and he opened the safe in the wall and handed them to Regan. Her breath caught as he entrusted her with the information and walked out of the office.

In her hands, she held Tyler’s personal plans for being laid to rest. He’d thought of everything, but having had previous brushes with death, she assumed, you’d think of those things. Her cheek throbbed, reminding her that she too had had a few too many brushes with death. It wasn’t something she even wanted to think about, but as she heard Zach move about the house packing for a trip he’d never wanted to take, she knew she’d better think about such things for herself. After all, she had a man who wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.