It got quiet, and when he looked around to see what had happened, everyone was looking toward the door, where Elise stood, a horrified look on her face. She must have seen the last bit between him and Raven.

"Elise, wait!" he called out, but she turned, her movements jerky and uncoordinated as she tried to hurry away. That's when he knew for sure she loved him back. Seeing his normally ridiculously graceful Elise reduced to that sort of clumsiness shocked him even as he rejoiced.

Elise knew her face was red, knew her tears would smear her makeup, and yet she couldn't seem to care. She needed to be away, needed to wash away the shame and humiliation of coming to tell a man she loved him and walking in to see him tell another woman he wanted her in his life as he hugged her.

"Wait, d.a.m.n you, Elise!" He ran up behind her and she braced for his touch. But he didn't touch her. Instead he ran in front of her and dropped to his knees, bringing her to a surprised halt.

"d.a.m.n me me? You're joking right? Your hands are all over another woman and you dare to say that to me?" Tears thickened her voice; she knew she'd feel better if she kicked him extra hard. She stifled the desire though. For now.

"It wasn't at all what you think. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you, Elise I love you, Elise. I was telling Raven that. She was apologizing for how she'd been. I was telling her I loved you and that I was glad she could be part of my life because she accepted that."

"You love me?" she squeaked, and he grinned in response.

"How can you not have known that before now? I love you. I love you. I've loved you since before the block party earlier this year. I wanted all this legal stuff out of the way before I told you. I knew you needed to keep your focus on Rennie."

She blinked as her world turned on its ear.

"Marry me."

"Marry?" The squeak again. "Why not just dating? You can sleep over now."

He laughed. "That's so not the response I imagined. First, can we-?"

"I love you too. I've loved you since New Year's when you kissed me at midnight, and I've wanted to tell you so many times but I didn't want to spoil our deal. I knew you didn't want love and forever and all that. I came here today to tell you that and to ask you to do the tattoo, the big one, mark the occasion."

He stood and pulled her to him. Her feet left the ground and she wrapped her legs around him, holding on tight as he kissed her silly.

"Okay, now that we've established how stupid we've both been in not just telling each other our feelings earlier, let's get back to marriage. I can't just date you. I've been been dating you. I need to be married to the mother of my child. I know you and Rennie are a package deal. Marry me. I love that kid. I want to make a home with you and Rennie. I want forever and I want it with you." dating you. I need to be married to the mother of my child. I know you and Rennie are a package deal. Marry me. I love that kid. I want to make a home with you and Rennie. I want forever and I want it with you."

The tears came freely now, but they were good tears.

"Yes. Yes, I want to marry you. But you know Rennie has a part in this too. She's my first priority and I want to be sure this is okay with her." She loved that he loved Rennie too, but this was important; his understanding that Rennie needed to be an active partic.i.p.ant in this, this most important decision, was paramount.

"I made some reservations out at the coast for this weekend. I thought we could all go out there, play in the sand. It's a twobedroom suite. The weather is supposed to be nice. What do you say?"

"I say I'm lucky." She held on, held on until she knew he wasn't going anywhere.

"And, um, I'd really like to adopt Rennie. Make her mine officially. If that's okay with you."

The tears started again as she threw her arms around his neck, tightening her legs. Her tears had morphed into sobs, and he worried until she began kissing his face and lips. "Are you for real? You want to be her dad?"

He laughed. "Good thing you're so light, because I'm not letting you go anytime soon. Yes, baby, yes, I love you and I love Rennie. I already love her like she was my own. I want us to be a family, I want her to know I think of her as my daughter. We all belong to each other, and I just thought it would be the best way to go about it. If you're uncomfortable, we can wait."

"I'm not uncomfortable. When I think of the things I want the most in the world, you're it. All of it. A best friend and partner for me and a dad for Rennie. I can't believe you're real."

He kissed her again and nipped her bottom lip. "I'm real and we'll be a family. Just like you two deserve and I've wanted for a very long time."

"I love you like cupcakes," she said, laughing.

"Wow, that's a lot of love. And as a plus, you can lick me anytime. Now, what do you want and where do you want me to do it?"

"That sounds dirty." She didn't even complain when he carried her back into his shop and people cheered.

"That can be arranged. The dirty part. But just now I mean the tat."

He sat her on the table.

"I was thinking a swan, you know, from Swan Lake Swan Lake?" She drew up her shirt. "Right here on my belly and side."

"Hm. Yes, that would be nice. Can I make a suggestion?"

"Of course."

"You're a phoenix. You've been down and have risen up, survived. You're beautiful and fierce and ethereal." He traced over the skin of her belly and side. "I have something I drew up." He reached over and pulled a sheet of paper from a drawer and opened it. It was amazing. Beautiful.

"Oh. Brody, this is . . . Wow. I'm blown away."

He smiled. "Good. I'm glad you like it. I'd put the head here." He touched her left side. "And trail the wings across and up your other side. It would be mostly red, with some black and gray. It'll take some time to get it all finished, but I think it'll be gorgeous."

So much better than a swan. "And it matches yours. I mean, the design is different, but . . ." She shrugged, blushing again.

"I hope you never stop blushing. It makes me so hot. And yeah, I thought the connection was nice. I got mine when I started raising Erin and Adrian."

"And mine will be about you too. And about Rennie and new steps. A new life you've been part of since nearly the first. I don't . . . I don't want me and Rennie to be yet another thing you have to take care of. I don't want to be a burden to you."

He kissed her in front of the whole shop and she didn't care one bit. "There's a difference between a burden and a responsibility. A family is a responsibility. You're my family. But you're not a burden. I love taking care of you, I love it. It makes me happy."

"Okay. Okay, I just wanted to be sure, because once we're married, you're not going anywhere."

"No kidding. Now, let's get moving." He looked at his watch. "It's nearly dinnertime and Rennie will be home. You go on back and I'll stop by Red Mill and grab everything."

"Why don't we just spread out a blanket on your back deck then? You know how much Rennie loves your tiki torches."

"Oh, Rennie Rennie loves them." One of his eyebrows rose and she hugged him. loves them." One of his eyebrows rose and she hugged him.

"Okay so I I love the tiki torches. Sue me. Or don't, I'm pretty done with courts." love the tiki torches. Sue me. Or don't, I'm pretty done with courts."

"How much time do we have before Rennie is back?"

She sighed happily. He was hers. For real. "Not enough time for s.e.x."

He cursed. "Okay, tonight then." He kissed her again and her toes curled. "Here." He handed her a key. "To my house. Let yourselves in if I'm not back. I'm going to stop and get champagne too. We have a lot to celebrate."

Brody heard her before he saw her. Heard Rennie's laugh, full of joy, totally unaware that anyone had tried to do her mother harm. And he closed his eyes a moment, sending out thanks for that.

He came into the backyard and saw his girls there, laughing, kicking a ball, all that pretty pale hair flying as they ran. His, and nothing had ever felt better.

"I hear some ladies might be hungry."

"Brody!" Rennie ran across the yard and up the steps of his deck. He had to drop the bags quickly to grab her instead, hugging her close.

"Hey, sunshine. I missed you today."

She held his cheeks and gave him a kiss. "Your mustache tickles. Mom said we're all going to the beach this weekend. Can we fly kites? There's a kid in my cla.s.s who flies kites. I think it sounds cool. Do you think it sounds cool? Do they have pink kites with sparkles on them? If not, I could probably be okay with a yellow kite. As long as it's not green. I don't really like green unless it's pickles. I like pickles."

Elise shrugged at him as if to say, Get used to it Get used to it. But he was, and all that droning chatter was just fine with him.

"We will find you a pink kite with sparkles. I think kite flying sounds like a wonderful idea."

He put her down and sat on the blanket as Elise began to set out all the food. How wonderfully f.u.c.king normal it was. He kissed Elise's cheek and stole an onion ring from her plate. She whacked his hand but laughed.

"Rennie," he said, looking to Elise, who nodded, understanding he planned to broach the subject of their getting married.

"Yep?" She had ketchup on her chin. Elise handed her a napkin and she mopped it up with a grin. Brody wondered if it was possible to love anyone as much as he loved Elise and Rennie just then.

"What would you say if I asked your mom, and you of course, to marry me? We'd live together and you two would be my family."

Her eyes widened and she jumped over the food into his lap. "For reals? Would you be my dad? I had one, but he wasn't very nice. He made Momma cry. Mom and I are good." She tipped her chin up proudly, and his eyes stung to hold back his own d.a.m.ned tears. "We're good, but we could make you happy in our family."

He hugged her, love making it hard to breathe. "Will you be my daughter? Officially? If it's okay with you, I'd like to make it official. We can file papers that make me your dad. Your last name would be Brown like mine."

She looked up at him. "Really?" She turned to her mother. "Did you hear that? He's gonna marry us both."

Elise laughed. "I heard it. It's pretty cool, huh?"

"Can I have a horse?"

Startled laughter broke from his belly.

"Get used to it. That's how she rolls."

"You can have a horse doll. And we can go horseback riding. But a horse won't fit in the backyard."

"Oh." She pursed her lips as she sat back at her place and began eating again. "A few dolls would be good, I suppose. And a pink sparkly kite."

28.

"Christ. If the day before I met you, someone had said I'd be head over teakettle in love with a ballerina and her eight-year-old, going on forty, daughter, I'd have told them they were crazy. I wasn't looking for you, Elise. That I found you anyway is sort of a miracle to me."

They stood on a balcony overlooking the ocean, newlyweds for less than twelve hours. The wedding had been in Adrian's backyard. It had snowed, and Elise had never seen anything as beautiful as Rennie in her little pink dress, dancing with Brody at the reception.

Her parents had taken Rennie back to their house, where she'd spend the next week with them while Elise and Brody had a honeymoon in the San Juan Islands, at a vacation house belonging to a family friend. The house sat on a cliff with the Strait of Juan de Fuca spread out under the clear sky, the waters cold and dark.

"I tried not to fall in love with you. I did. But you're irresistible. Each time I thought I had it in check, you'd do something else to make me love you more," Elise said and shrugged with a smirk.

He drew her back inside to the bed. He'd built a roaring fire so the s.p.a.ce was warm and a pretty glow flickered over the walls.

"It was my c.o.c.k, wasn't it?"

She tossed her robe and got on the bed. "It's one of your finest features."

"I love you, Mrs. Brown." He followed her, twining his fingers with hers as he kissed her neck.

"I love you too, Mr. Brown."

He traced his fingers and then his tongue over the beautiful phoenix on her belly and side. She loved looking at it. He'd done such beautiful work, it fit her body perfectly. She looked down her body at him, at the phoenix on his back, felt that connection, looked to his wrist where he'd added her and Rennie's initials to the scrollwork in the ivy curling from the base of his hand to his midforearm.

He did little things that softened her inside. Filled her up with kindnesses and care until she couldn't really remember a time when he wasn't at her side. He loved her freely and openly, included her and Rennie in his life as if they'd always been there. As Erin neared her due date, they'd all become closer, and Elise and Raven had even reached a sort of mild non-hatred.

Right then with his hands on her, with his mouth on her hip, on her thigh, and then as he lay back and pulled her up and on top of him, she was filled with nothing but love and happiness, with hope for their future.

"No, not yet," he said, stopping her when she fully planned to put him inside her. "Come up here. Brace yourself on the headboard and hold on. I want to eat you this way."

Her breath stuttered as she felt a blush work up her body from toes to scalp. "I can't brace myself on the headboard if I'm not facing it."

"No, not that way. Sit on my face."

Oh she loved it when he was blunt like that. "Oh."

His pirate's grin sent a shiver through her as she moved up, bracing her hands on the headboard and putting her knees on either side of his body.

She'd never done it this way, but wow, was it good. Her thighs trembled as she lowered herself over his mouth. His beard tickled her inner thighs and against her l.a.b.i.a. They really trembled when he licked through her p.u.s.s.y, finding her c.l.i.t, teasing it with the tip of his tongue.

She moaned, louder than she usually did, because they were alone and no one would hear. The fingers holding her thighs tightened and she smiled, tucking away that he liked it when she was loud.

The sounds he made as he licked made her crazy. The wetness of his mouth on her, the wetness of her body against his mouth. It felt so good, it sounded so raw and s.e.xual, she had to close her eyes to take it all in.

She rocked just a bit to get more, and he gave it to her. Urging her with his hands and mouth.

"Mmm, that feels so good. Oh G.o.d. Yes."

He stabbed his tongue up and into her entrance and pulled it out, swirling through her folds and up to her c.l.i.t again. Her muscles tensed and relaxed each time he did it, until she was focused on his mouth on her p.u.s.s.y and nothing else. Her hands gripped the headboard tight as she rode against his lips and tongue.

Climax hit her hard. Her head fell back as she gasped and then cried out. Her entire body tingled, went numb and tingled some more, until she scooted away from his mouth because she couldn't take it anymore.

He surged up, keeping her in his lap and kissed her, hard. His mouth on hers, his tongue demanding entrance she willingly granted. His fingers dug into her hips to keep her close as his taste, mingled with hers, flooded her system.

And then he was in her and it felt so good it set off a bone-deep climax she hadn't expected.

"Baby, Christ, Christ, that's so good. Hold on. Hold on," he whispered as he panted through the flex and clasp of her inner muscles.

After long moments, he leaned back against the headboard and smiled. "f.u.c.k me."