"My G.o.d, this is beautiful."

The sun was rising over the Sullivan Winery and the birds were just coming awake. Nicola laughed softly as a baby blue jay peeked its head up out of its nest to greet them. As they stood on his porch and looked out over the rolling grapevines, Marcus silently thanked his property for putting on its finest show for Nicola.

They'd both slept on the plane and even though it hadn't been a full night's rest, he felt more refreshed and alert than he had since Nicola had left San Francisco almost three weeks ago.

"This winery is where you came to heal, isn't it?"

No one had ever laid it out so clearly to him...or had hit it so directly on the head.

Pulling her closer, he told her, "The first time I ever saw this land was on a high school field trip. It was crazy, but I swore I saw a man who looked like my father working the vines. As soon as I got my driver's license, I drove up here to look for him again."

"You weren't alone, were you?"

"Nope." He smiled at the woman he loved. "Most of my brothers and sisters crammed into the car with me. I didn't tell them about what I thought I'd seen, but I knew right then that one day this land would be mine. And that I'd make him proud."

He watched her swallow, saw her eyes glitter at his story. Her voice was raw, husky, as she asked, "How can you even think of leaving this for days and weeks on end?"

He knew what she was asking, that she didn't understand why he would want to be with her on the road.

"It's been twenty-two years since my father died and until you, I never told anyone how hard it was on me to take his place in the family. I never wanted to admit it to myself. And no one dared push me up against the wall on it. I'm sure others saw it. They had to. But I managed to keep them all away."

She had turned to him and he didn't know if she realized it, but she'd taken his hands and was holding them both over her heart.

"But not you, Nicola. You were shoving your way in from that first moment in the club and no matter how hard I tried to push you away, you never let me keep you out."

"I'm annoying like that," she said in a soft voice. "Always pushing in where I don't belong."

"I love that you push, that you decide what you want and don't let anyone get in your way. No wonder your career is shooting through the stratosphere and they want you to come play shows in Timbuktu."

He was glad to see her smile at that, to see the dark shadow begin to slide from her pretty eyes.

"I didn't completely lose my youth, but there were big chunks of it that just disappeared." He shook his head, trying to put words to his feelings even as he finally registered what they were. "I don't regret spending so much time with my brothers and sisters to help my mother. They were worth it."

"So are you, Marcus."

He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then said, "Do you know what my mother said to me that Sunday at lunch?"

"What the h.e.l.l are you thinking, getting involved with a girl like her?" she guessed, but her mouth was quirking up on one side and he knew she was teasing.

"She told me she'd been waiting for me to find someone I could love more than I loved them."

"I told you before, in that old playground behind your mother's house, that I don't want to get in the way of your relationship with your family."

"Not in the way, kitten. You've shown me it's time to finally cut the strings, to let them live their lives. And that it's finally time for me to live mine. All this time, it was easier for me to focus on my brothers and sisters and helping my mother and running this winery than it was for me to focus on my own heart." He tugged her even closer. "You once told me people believe what's easiest to believe. Both you and I believed so strongly that we couldn't make this relationship work, that we were too different...didn't we?"

She nodded. "It's safer that way."

"I know it is, but I'm finally ready to believe in the thing that's hardest to believe, instead." He smiled down at her. "I knew words would never convince you that we could make this work, that I'd need to show you, to prove it to you by pushing just as hard as you always pushed me."

"My crew thought you were crazy. Jimmy was going to call the cops that first night, you know. The second, too."

He grinned. "I know. But you're worth the risk, sweetheart. Any risk. Every risk. I'm going to enjoy joining you for as many of your tour dates as I possibly can, and I have a pretty good feeling that you're going to enjoy the peace and quiet of being here with me as often as you possibly can. I have no doubt that this land, the beauty here, will feed your soul the same way it's always fed mine."

"How do you always see the things in me that no one else ever does?"

"I met Nicola long before I ever met Nico," he reminded her. "Forget the stupid things I said to you on the beach. You've never hidden yourself from me."

"I don't know how. Even when I tried, I couldn't hide what you were making me feel." She paused. "Especially when you were telling me what you wanted me to do in the bedroom."

Ah, it was just the lead-in he'd been hoping for. "Three weeks ago, I played by the book. And you left." He pinned her with an unabashedly hungry gaze. "Today I'm not going to play fair. As far as I'm concerned, once you got on that plane with me, all rules were off."

Her pupils had dilated and her breathing was already speeding up, both beautiful signs that she was becoming aroused...and that she wanted this as much as he did.

Knowing she'd greatly enjoy the antic.i.p.ation, he told her, "I'm planning to use all the weapons in my a.r.s.enal to convince you that we belong together. I'm not afraid to play dirty this time, kitten."

She licked her lips. "I like dirty."

He grinned at her and it was a smile full of wicked promise. "I know you do. My sweet, s.e.xy, smart, dirty girl." He swept her up in his arms and kicked open the front door to carry her into his bedroom. "I want you in my bed."

"I want to be there, too." She cupped his face in her hands and pulled his mouth down to hers.

Needing to concentrate on kissing her, not climbing the stairs, he stopped halfway up, sitting down on the stairs so that she was straddling him.

There was no way they were going to actually make it all the way upstairs to his bedroom.

Not this time, anyway.

"Lift your arms for me, kitten."

Heat flared in her eyes at the sensual command he'd given her that first night, and then again and again. She slowly brought her hands up and let him slide her long-sleeved T-shirt up her torso and over her head.

Her bra was wicked black and red lace with a sweet white bow in the middle.

"Until I met you, I always thought I had to be one or the other, the s.e.xy pop princess or the sweet girl with the guitar. I want to be both, Marcus."

"I first started falling for the s.e.x G.o.ddess in the leather dress with the impossibly high heels...and I knew I was a total goner when you fell asleep on my lap like a contented little kitten." He moved his hands to the small of her back, then around to cup her a.s.s, and slid her closer. "I've always loved both sides of you." Without skipping a beat, he said, "I want you to stand up and take the rest of your clothes off."

Her eyes widened, but she quickly scooted off his lap and moved a step down to slip off her jeans and then her bra and panties.

He put his hands on her stomach, curving them up to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Gorgeous."

She took a shaky breath that did fantastic things to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his hands.

"I think it's time for that spanking I've been promising you," he said as he brushed the pads of his thumbs over her beautifully erect nipples. "A little punishment for taking so long to come around and see that we can make things work."

Her eyes glittered with arousal even as she made a soft protest. "What if I don't want to be spanked? What if I don't like it?"

Instead of answering her questions, he moved his hands from her chest and said, "Turn around, kitten, and hold on to the stair rail."

He could see her heart beat pulsing through the soft skin on her neck as she paused and thought it over. Finally, she did as he bid.

Sweet lord, her a.s.s was a miracle, gorgeously heart shaped as she flared it slightly for him before taunting him with a naughty look over her shoulder.

Moving his hand over her stomach, he held her torso in place as he ran his other hand over the swell of her hips.

"So pretty. So sweet." He pressed a kiss to the small of her back. "And all mine."

His hand came down a moment later, a swat on her behind that left a faint pink mark on her tanned flesh.

She didn't cry out, but he felt her nipples bead against his palm where he'd moved his left hand higher to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t.s again.

A moment later, he was marking her other cheek with the flat of his palm, and this time he couldn't miss her moan of pleasure, moans that only increased in volume as he made contact two more times.

But as erotic as the spanking-and her reaction to it-was, he'd have to continue their s.e.xy game another time. Marcus didn't know how he'd managed to skip going down on her in their previous lovemaking sessions, but he needed to rectify that right this second.

"Let go of the rail, sit back against the steps, and open your legs for me."

She was shaking with need as she did so and after she was spread before him, he gladly gave in to the urge to run his lips across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, to continue down her taut stomach, to dip his tongue into her belly b.u.t.ton.

The first swipe of his tongue over her slippery, aroused flesh had her bucking into his mouth while her hands held onto his hair. He thrust two fingers into her and slick heat surrounded them, throbbing and pulsing around him.

He blew softly against her mons, making her hips move on his fingers as she tried desperately to find completion.

"I love you."

He backed up his words with the slow move of his fingers out, then back into her p.u.s.s.y, which clenched and pulled against him so beautifully he was halfway to insane at the thought of having his c.o.c.k in the same place soon.

Marcus pushed his fingers back inside at the same moment that he lowered his mouth between her thighs and covered her aroused flesh with his lips. He curled his fingers inside of her until she was gasping, arching, begging, crying out for more.

He loved the way she held on to him as she came apart against his tongue and fingers.

"Oh my G.o.d, your tongue." She inhaled a shaky breath and looked at him with that wonder, with the trust he knew he'd never grow tired of seeing. "And what was that spot you found with your fingers?"

He grinned at her reaction. "I'll show you again soon."

She licked her lips and said, "Yes, please," and a few seconds later he was carrying her the rest of the way up the stairs to lay her down in the center of his big bed. She moved to reach for him, but he shook his head.

"No. Just let me look at you. I can't believe I have the prettiest girl in the world in my bed."

She blushed, but this time she didn't try to hide any part of herself from him. Not her beautiful body...or the beauty that was inside all that luscious, creamy skin and mind-blowing curves.

He stripped off his clothes and put on a condom before moving over her. And then her arms were around his shoulders and her legs were wrapped tightly to his hips and he knew the rest of the naughty things he wanted to do to her would have to wait.

Because right now all he wanted to do was make love to the woman he'd waited a lifetime to find.

"Love me, Marcus," she whispered as their bodies came together.

And, oh, how he loved her.

Not just with his entire body, not only with every beat of his heart...but from the very depths of his soul.

The midday sun was coming in through Marcus's bedroom window as they sat naked on top of his covers eating the picnic lunch he'd pulled together from the spa.r.s.e contents of his fridge.

Nicola had never felt so exhausted-or so happy-and with her stomach full of food and her body full of pleasure, she yawned and lay down in one of her favorite positions, her head on his lap and one of her hands in his. She never wanted to stop lying there looking up at his beautiful face.

But her long tour hours-and the three rounds of incredibly acrobatic s.e.x they'd just had-had her yawning.

He smiled down at her. "You sure tire out quick for a young thing. My sleepy little kitten."

"Funny," she said on another huge yawn, "I was just about to say you have surprising stamina for an old man." She hummed a few bars of the Joni Mitch.e.l.l hit My Old Man, ending at the line about "keeping away my lonesome blues."

She loved hearing him laugh and hum along in a really off-tune voice.

Looking up into his eyes, she knew it was time to admit everything to him.

"I didn't push you away just because I was trying to save you from my circus life." When his hand didn't still on her hair and his leg muscles didn't tense up under her, she knew it was safe to say, "That was a big part of it, but I was also scared of trusting. Scared of falling. So hugely scared that I'd be hurt again. Only this time I knew it would be so much worse, because I loved you. That's why I ran that day after lunch at your mother's house, because I thought it would hurt less that way. But running only made everything hurt more."

"I missed you just as much," he told her. "Although, I can't help thinking that if you hadn't run, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to chase after you."

Just that quickly-as he made her burn up at the wicked thought of being chased through the vines and then caught in the most delicious way-Marcus erased any chance of recriminations, of making her feel guilty or selfish for what she'd done.

And as he shifted them so that his naked body was pressed against hers and his mouth was moving over hers, she forgot all about fear and gave in to the most natural emotion in the world.

Pure, sweet love.

Sitting in the back of a limo with Marcus that night, Nicola wore a fantastic dress that managed to be cla.s.sic and yet fun and flirty at the same time. All day she'd loved being with the man she loved, but as the driver pulled up in front of the Napa Valley mansion where the event was being held, panic gripped her.

"This is the big moment. Are you sure you're ready for this? For not being my secret boyfriend anymore?"

Instead of answering her with words, he put her hands over his heart, then leaned in to kiss her.

"As long as you're by my side, I'm ready for absolutely anything."

And as the door was opened for them and flashbulbs started going off, his kiss erased what remained of her worries...leaving sweet safety and boundless pleasure in its place.

Epilogue.