The image settled in his mind so damned right his chest tightened.

She linked their fingers. "We're standing with the rest of the families. Ivy's holding a poster she drew for you, and I have a bottle of champagne ready to pour over your head the minute you reach the bottom step. Shelby's pretending to be mad because I made the kids all wear Welcome Home Dad shirts and she vows they're lame. But I know she's kept a picture of you on her dresser the whole time you were gone."

Zach squeezed her hand, knowing that image only stood a chance of ever coming true because of Julia.

"Then you're right there in the middle of us and we're all hugging and laughing and crying a little, too." She brought their clasped hands up to her face and skimmed away fresh dampness with the back of his wrist. "But that's okay because tears are a part of a hero's welcome home. You deserve them for what you've been through."

Those tears soaked into his skin clear to his soul, soothing a raw place he hadn't even known existed. He'd lived through those two weeks of captivity. Survived it. Dealt with it.

But afterward? He'd been too busy working to salvage his marriage to do anything but move forward. Discussing those two weeks with Pam was never an option.

"When we get home, there's a gourmet dinner waiting that I cooked just for you." She tapped his lips. "Shh. Remember it's my fantasy, okay?"

A laugh rumbled, rolling free and joining hers. Leave it to Julia to know he needed to laugh.

He opened his eyes. "Thanks, Jules."

"Not yet." Her hand skimmed over his eyes again. "This is my fantasy, and I'm not done with you."

Her voice shifted from soothing to sultry, upping the temperature by at least twenty degrees.

"Finally, we tuck our children in bed and we're alone." She canted closer, velvety-encased warmth molding to his side. "I'm more than ready to give you the rest of a hero's welcome home, the best part."

His heart rate kicked into mach speed. "The best part?"

"Very best." Her breath caressed his neck. "I kiss you, or maybe you kiss me. Who can tell? We're both so hungry for each other we're stumbling down the hall to our room. I've missed you so damned much. Waiting all through dinner has me ready to jump out of my skin and finally I have you to myself."

The past blended with the present in her words, in her touch.

"I've been scared and confused, but it's okay because you're here and we're going to put everything else aside. We need each other and somehow that's all that matters right now.

We deserve this moment. Just us."

She tugged his tie until it came free. He forced himself to listen when he really wanted to flip her onto her back and plunge into her.

Her fingers walked along his collar, dipping to stroke his neck. "You shut the door, and we can't even make it to the bed. You flatten me against the door, and you feel so good and warm and hard." She grasped his wrist and slid it inside the slit of her dress to rest on her knee. "You touch me and I want to touch you, but I'm not sure I can move because you have me so hot for you I'm shaking."

She urged his hand up her stocking-clad leg until he reached...ah, hell.

The snap of a garter hooked along the top of her stocking.

Julia inched his hand farther to the bare skin of her thigh. "I lean into you and whisper my little secret that I've carried with me all night long." Her mouth brushed his ear, her words breathy and full of promise. "I don't have on any underwear."

Inching back to stare into Zach's narrowed eyes, Julia I waited for his reaction to a declaration she still couldn't believe she'd made. She didn't have to wait long.

One broad hand palmed her back, the other lay still warm against her bare upper thigh as he flipped her onto her back.

The air wooshing from her lungs had nothing to do with the fluid change of position and everything to do with the mesmerizing man looming over her. Her night of fantasies promised to reach new heights that far outstripped the Harley ride or her dream seduction.

And speaking of outstripped... Julia reached for the silver chain holding his uniform jacket together.

Zach's hands closed over hers. "No, ma'am. It's my turn now."

His husky Texas drawl slid over her skin and along her every heightened nerve.

"Your turn to do what?" She invited him with a slow arch of the back, a gentle glide of her foot along his calf.

His hand snaked down to stop her progress, then tunneled inside her dress again and up the slit to stroke her leg. "You've had your way with me, and I intend to return the favor. I have some ideas of my own about how I want to play out this homecoming."

Bold, callused fingers snagged along her stockinged leg, higher, rasping along her bare hip. Julia shivered, waited, yearned. "Please, haven't we waited long enough?"

"Too long, and that's why we're not rushing."

His arrogant assumption of control might have irritated her if she hadn't been so very certain he would make the agonizing wait worth her while. "I'm all yours, then."

His eyes never once leaving her face, he continued, "All the way across the ocean, I thought of doing this."

Zach cradled the back of her neck and lifted slightly, baring her throat for his mouth.

"And all through dinner, I imagined doing this." His words warmed skin already on fire, his fingers finding the top of her zipper.

She bowed to accommodate him, her br**sts pressing against the solid wall of his chest.

He tugged the zipper down bit by excruciating bit until the sofa warmed her back.

Zach drew the black velvet from her shoulders, slipping it free from her arms, so methodical and slow. She spied the passion beneath all that control, glinting white-hot flecks in his darkened eyes. She felt his need pressing insistently against her just before he stood to unveil the rest of her body.

With a bra built into the dress, she truly didn't have any underwear between all that velvet and her skin, just a garter belt and stockings. And for tonight, she didn't intend to allow anything from the past to slide between them either.

Imprinting the vision of Julia in his memory, Zach let her dress slither from his fingers to the floor. If he lived to be a hundred and ten, he would never forget the image of her draped across his office couch wearing nothing but a black lace garter belt, spike heels and a come-and-get-me smile.

Control snapped. Forget fantasies. The reality sprawled in front of him in a long-legged display beat any fantasy, hands down. "You're right. No more waiting. We'll do slow later."

"And later again." Julia swung her legs off the sofa gliding up to stand in front of him.

Zach whipped off his jacket and shoved down the suspenders. Her frantic hands double-timed opening the studs along his starched white shirt.

"Birth control." Zach eased away. "Just let me get my wallet." He reached for his jacket, but she stopped him hands gripping his hips.

"No need. I went on the pill the day you left on TDY." Rambling breathlessly, she struggled to loosen the top button of his pants. "Doc said I could take the progesterone kind until Patrick finishes weaning, just not the estrogen ones, and oh, Zach, what are you doing to me that I can hardly string together rational thoughts or—''

He silenced her with his mouth, or maybe it was his hand sliding up a silken thigh, between her legs and finding her so warm, wet and ready for him. Definitely no need to wait now. They weren't limited to once. They could have slow, fast and whatever else they wanted tonight.

With trembling fingers, she eased his zipper down, her hands sliding inside to wrap around him. A shudder ripped through him. Enough. He'd gone too long without, too long without her to hold on to control another minute.

His arm dipped low, under her bottom as he lifted her up and against the locked door, ready to play out every inch of her fantasy. Julia's long legs locked around his waist in a magnificent sweep that almost sent him over the edge. Slowly, he slid inside her, up, deeper until she encased him in velvet heat that taunted, enticing him far more than the sexy velvet dress of hers had.

Then he couldn't think beyond moving inside her, kissing her, holding her and holding back for as long as he could. Praying she would find release soon because he wasn't going there without her and the need to finish roared through him like engines at full throttle.

His mouth caressed along her shoulder, his free hand cradling the gentle curve of her br**sts just before his mouth found one perfect peak. A moan vibrated through her chest, against his mouth, building to a gasping cry of release until her head fell back on the door.

Finally, he allowed himself to plunge one last time, deeper and harder, his hoarse shout of completion muffled into the soft curve of her neck as he flew full-out into the clouds and Julia.

Sprawled over Zach on the sofa two hours later, Julia listened to the steady thud of his heart against her ear. No doubt hers raced at double the speed.

She wished she could attribute the pattering pace to his hands massaging along her back.

Or the scent of musky sweat and sex linking their bodies. Or the memory of their mind-tingling encounter against the door.

But she knew better.

Her heart hammered out of fear. So many emotions pulsed through her, confusing yearnings to cuddle with Zach through the night, to wait until he fell asleep and shed a few more tears over his battered, beautiful face.

She hadn't expected to feel so much. Wasn't sex just a physiological need? She hadn't been with anyone other than Lance for comparison. Their sex life may have been physically satisfying, but it was nothing like this.

Being with Zach had gone beyond fulfilling some basic urge, transporting her into a wild, unknown territory. Like flying over those bridges with him on his motorcycle, there was nothing below or above them, just the two of them holding onto each other as they hurtled into the night.

No safety net.

While she had reconciled her past with Lance, that didn't mean she planned to risk entrusting all her tomorrows to another man. She and Lance might have patched their marriage, but the price had been so very high to her heart.

She was scared. Already, Zach stirred more within her than Lance ever had.

Damn it, Zach was supposed to have been her friend and friend-sex should be warm and fun, not this tumultuous turning her mind and body inside out with feelings. She didn't want the desperate need to do it all over again while wondering if there would ever be enough. She could lose herself in this feeling, and she'd vowed to never lose herself in a man ever again.

She needed space and time to regroup. She couldn't think with his hands on her skin and his heart beneath her ear. What would happen to her emotions if they shared a bed, so much more intimate than what they'd done together against that door?

On the floor.

On the couch.

Oh damn, she was a mess. Julia listened to the steady thrum of his heart and couldn't make herself roll off him. She would just be honest with Zach. They'd always had that between them.

He dropped a kiss to her shoulder. "Well, Jules, we can't camp out here forever."

"Not unless we raid the snack bar," she answered absently.

"I have a desk drawer full of junk food, but I think you'd grow tired of Little Debbie cakes after a while." His gravelly voice rumbled against her, enticing her to avoid the world a while longer. "Are you about ready for us to find our clothes and go home?'

"I guess so." For five seconds she actually considered telling him she wanted to stay the whole night in his office, indulging in each other and that box of Little Debbie cakes.

Not a chance would he understand why she was too terrified to share a bed with him.

How could he when she didn't understand herself?

She only knew one thing for certain. Wild, escapism fantasy was easy. Facing the reality awaiting her at home scared her all the way down to her do-me-flyboy heels.