She ignored that comment, the tease. “We’ll snorkel with the dolphins, right? I guess I’ll wear my bikini with a sarong.”

To hell with the dolphins. And the bikini. And the sarong. He wanted to drag her into bed and spend all day between those smooth tanned thighs. He loved how they tightened on his hips when she was about to come.

She made her selection from the closet and turned toward the bed, her belly ring glittering in the sunlight from the window. “You’d better get ready yourself,” she chided, shaking a finger at him.

The sound that left his throat could only be called a growl. Her full lips curled as she stepped into her bikini bottoms and pulled them up, all too quickly hiding that sweetness he only wanted to taste again. But she was so sexy like that, with the little pink scrap of fabric around her hips and her br**sts bare and lovely.

“Come here,” he murmured.

“Evan!”

“Come here.”

She obeyed as he sat on the mattress, and he pulled her between his knees. The scent of honeysuckle filled his nostrils; he knew now that it was her body lotion, which induced rubdown fantasies that could keep him awake at night. He saw her swallow, saw her chest still as her breath caught. Good. Her ni**les were almost on the same level as his eyes. He leaned forward and licked one, feeling it pucker against his tongue before moving to the other and eliciting the same response. She moaned, her hands sinking into his hair, her knees going weak—he knew because she had to rest them against the bed to remain standing. He trailed kisses down over her stomach, shifting his position so he could venture lower, nudging beneath the edge of her bottoms. His thumbs gently tugged them down and he traced her clit with his tongue while she sagged over him and sobbed.

Then he stopped, and pulled her bottoms back up. “There. I just had to say good-bye before you covered it all up for the day.”

She gasped and burst into laughter. “You—!”

He gave her a teasing smile much like the ones she’d been throwing at him all morning, and tugged her down for a kiss. “Consider it a promise for later,” he whispered against her lips.

Evan must have nearly filled up the memory card on his camera with all the pictures he took, but Kelsey snuggling with the dolphins was just the cutest damn sight. She squealed with delight when the first one approached her and let her touch him, and she ran her hand tentatively over his long snout before leaning over to kiss the tip. He chattered happily and bobbed his head and actually looked like he was smiling.

Evan could understand. He didn’t think he’d wiped the goofy grin off his face all day.

“He feels like a hardboiled egg,” she observed, laughing. “Evan! You’ve taken enough pics. Come in the water.”

“It’s just so much fun watching you,” he told her.

“Come on, there aren’t any sharks,” she teased, sending him a wink.

“Ooh, you’re gonna get it for airing out my phobias.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Grinning, he grabbed his mask and snorkel and hopped off the boat into what felt like bathwater. But Kelsey was drawing a crowd around her with her new friend, so she moved aside when several kids crowded around to touch the dolphin. One little boy was reluctant, but Kelsey helped his mom coax him into putting his chubby hand on the dolphin’s nose.

Smart, pretty, caring, good with kids. He’d always known that. Dynamite in bed. He hadn’t expected that part. In all his imaginings of what sex with her might be like, he’d figured it would be good, safe, warm, sweet. Like her. But it had been nuclear, scalding, incinerating him and every illusion he’d ever held about her.

She was swimming over now to meet him, and only then did he realize he’d stopped making his way toward her. He was only staring at her.

“You okay?” she asked once she’d reached him.

“Yeah.”

“That was really cool.”

He cleared his throat, trying to get a grasp on the emotions twisting their way through his chest before he said something sappy. “I should bring you in the winter so we can whale watch. You’d love it. We saw a humpback last time I was here.”

With her hair slicked straight back, her strong cheekbones and delicate forehead were beautifully accentuated. Stunning. The vibrant blue of the water brought out deep shades of twilight in her gray eyes. She was radiant this morning, glowing. Apparently he had a good effect on her. “So you think you’d want to do that, huh?” she asked, giving his arm a little pinch.

“Absolutely,” he said, and meant it.

“Well, I’d like that.”

It was by no means any kind of commitment…but it perhaps hinted at one. He took a breath. The world around him was postcard perfect. He’d seen it all before, but he had never appreciated it nearly as much as he did now, with her. The realization was exhilarating and it scared the hell out of him. She’d always meant so much to him that taking this leap seemed an insane risk. He wanted to tell himself they had time, not to rush it, but he didn’t think he could stop himself. With her, at the point they’d arrived at last night, it was all or nothing. They couldn’t go back to the way they were before.

He only hoped he knew what the hell he was getting himself into.

After snorkeling and admiring the coral reefs and the sea turtles that came over to investigate their presence, they loaded back on the boat with the other tourists. Kelsey snuggled into Evan’s side and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She loved the weight of it there. She loved the beauty all around her. The sun warming her skin, the wind tossing her curls dry. Life was definitely worth living at times like this. If she had one care back in the real world, she couldn’t think of it right now.

They were just resting that way, admiring the emerald greens, sapphire blues and sprinklings of pink slipping past them, when her cell phone rang in the bag by her sandaled feet. She leaned over to retrieve it and chuckled when she read the display. “It’s Lisa. She better not have given birth without me.”

“You know, I terrorized that girl when she was Jack’s paralegal.”

“I’ve heard. Over and over again.” Kelsey laughed as she flipped her phone open. “Lisa! Don’t tell me.”

Lisa sounded tired, but content. “Sorry, girl. It’s not my fault. She wouldn’t wait for you.”

She grabbed Evan’s hand in excitement. “Oh my God, congratulations! When?”

“Last night. C-section this time. Can you believe it? By the third, you’d think they could fall out like paratroopers. But noooo. I told Daniel my uterus is officially retired. I don’t think he was too heartbroken about it.”

Kelsey had been laughing since the “paratrooper” remark. “But everything went okay?”

“Aside from being gutted like a fish? Sure. And she’s adorable, of course. We named her Meagan Rose like we’d planned. Seven-and-a-half pounds, lots of dark hair, big blue eyes…when she opens them. Lungs like mine.”

“God help you.”

“Tell me about it. So my trauma is done. How are things with you?”

“Great, it’s gorgeous here. Beautiful weather. We’re having a blast.”

Lisa’s voice took on a conspirator’s tone. “And how are the waves?”