Xander put his warm palms on her back, wrapping around her rib cage to open up the bodice and push the dress down. The fabric skimmed down her body and pooled at her feet as if she were standing in a fluffy golden nest. She stepped out of the dress and then turned to face Xander.

He had his hand at his collar, quickly unfastening the b.u.t.tons of his shirt. He tossed aside his shirt and whipped off his belt. Rose's fingers sought out his fly, undoing the b.u.t.ton and pulling the zipper down. Her hand slipped inside, slowly stroking the firm heat of him through his briefs.

"Rose," he groaned, and then his mouth slammed against hers. She met his intensity, stroking him with a sure, firm hand and pushing his slacks out of her way. She was about to slip beneath the waistband of his briefs when he pushed forward and she fell backward onto the bed.

Before she could recover, Xander had slipped from his briefs and was moving above her. The heat of his skin seared hers as he glided over her body. Rose's thighs parted, cradling him. He paused only as he met her eye to eye and hovered there.

He was such a beautiful man. Perfectly made for appearing on television. A face that could inspire trust and lead his fellow congressmen. The angles and curves of his face could change to make him look more serious, handsome, charming or boyishly playful when he smiled and those dimples came out. His sandy hair had fallen into his eyes, the flaming desire flickering there as tiny golden flecks amid the green and brown.

Was it possible that a man like this could ever love a woman like her? He said he wanted to be a family, but she was no one. Plain and hardworking at best, poor criminal trash at worst. She didn't deserve the love of a man like Xander, but she wanted it so badly her heart nearly burst at the thought of it.

Xander dipped his head to kiss her and she closed her eyes to lose herself in the sensation of being with him. She could feel the tears gathering in the corners as the emotions swelled inside her. She had been lying to herself about her feelings. As much as she argued that things were moving too fast, it wasn't for a lack of emotions on her part. It was the worry that her heart was barreling ahead, leaving Xander behind.

She loved him. Rose had tried to put years and excuses between her and her heart to reason away how she felt, but it didn't matter. She had never stopped loving her charming teenage love. Not many people met the love of their life in a soph.o.m.ore geometry cla.s.s, but she had. And now he was back in her life and in her bed. This felt like a dream, but it was a reality she'd fantasized about for so long.

His lips parted from hers, the air heavy and warm between them. Her lungs burned from breathing so hard, but it didn't matter. It hurt more to be without him.

He shifted against her, his spine arching and his hips moving forward. He entered her. Slowly. Leisurely. Rose arched her back to take all of him in. It felt like an eternity before he stopped moving and when he did, she could hardly tell where she ended and he began. Xander was in her blood, his scent in her lungs, his taste on her lips.

His light eyes searched her face for a moment as he hovered, buried deep and still inside her. "I've missed you, Rose," he said. "I don't ever want to miss you again."

It wasn't a declaration of love, but it was enough for Rose to let the last of her defenses down. He wanted her in his life, not because of Joey but because he wanted her. It was something she had never dared to hope to hear again in her life.

"You won't," she said. Her fears weren't gone, but in the moment, she felt bold enough to face them. "If you want us to move to D.C., we will."

"Really?" A broad smile crossed his face.

"Yes, really."

Xander kissed her and the moment that had hung suspended in time suddenly began to rush forward. Emboldened by her response, Xander eased back and thrust forward again. And then again.

Rose clung to him, riding the waves of pleasure as they surged through her body. She drew her knees up and locked her ankles together at the small of his back. She didn't want to let him go, not even for a moment. This moment wouldn't last forever, but she would savor it as long as she could.

He buried his face in her neck and drove into her. Every inch of their bodies was touching, their skin heated and slick with sweat. It wasn't long before she felt her release building up in her again. She bit her lip, trying hard to fight it off. It was too soon.

"I'm not ready for this moment to end," she admitted. It was easier to say when she didn't have to look him in the eye. "I want to keep this moment forever."

Xander propped himself up onto his elbows and planted kisses along her jawline to her lips. He kissed her thoroughly and smiled. "There will be more moments. Many more. Enjoy this one."

His hand slid up her outer thigh to her knee. He hooked her leg over his shoulder, tilting her pelvis up and driving harder and deeper than ever before. The sensation was incredible, causing Rose to cry out.

"Oh, Z," she gasped, clawing at his back. There was no use in prolonging her release now. It was impossible. She could feel the tightening in her belly, the driving surge of the explosives getting ready to burst inside her. "Yes, yes!"

"Let go, Rose," he coaxed in a harsh whisper. "Just let go."

It was a hard command to follow. She spent most of her life fighting. But with Xander, she could let go. Let him do some of the fighting for her. She sucked a large lungful of air and her eyes closed. Like a tsunami, her o.r.g.a.s.m crashed through her. She clung to Xander for dear life as every nerve ending in her body lit up and her insides pulsated with pleasurable shocks.

"Xander!" she yelled at its peak.

"Rose, Rose..." he repeated in response, driving harder and faster than before until he stiffened and groaned. He gasped her name one last time as he surged into her body, leaving him exhausted and trembling.

He dropped over to her side, sucking ragged breaths into his lungs as his muscular chest rose and fell. They both lay together quietly for a few moments before Rose pushed herself up onto her elbow to look down at him. His hair was damp and plastered to his forehead. His brow was furrowed as he lay with his eyes closed and his hands just barely trembling.

It made her think of the very first time they'd made love. Ken had loaned Xander his truck to take her to dinner and a movie, but they'd opted for a picnic by the river with a blanket spread out in the truck bed. Under a blanket of stars, she'd given herself to him, heart and soul. Afterward she remembered looking at him as he lay just like this. A dozen years had pa.s.sed since that moment, but it seemed as though she'd never gotten either of them back.

He had her, still. Heart and soul.

Eleven.

We have a problem, the text from Brody read. Deborah Wilder just identified the remains of her brother.

Xander's stomach sank. Returning to Cornwall and reality after his fantastic time with Rose in D.C. was hard enough. He wasn't ready to face this yet.

He set his gla.s.s of tea on the kitchen counter of Rose's apartment and frowned at his phone. The moment of truth had arrived. And the timing couldn't be worse. There was never a good time for that sort of thing, but they were on the verge of telling Joey that Xander was his father. He needed to be here with Rose and his son for this big moment, not at the farm fighting off the press and police that would come when the news broke. But that was why he was here. Why he'd returned to Cornwall in the first place.

Xander looked up from his phone. Joey was playing a video game on the television, shooting at zombies or something. He was wearing a headset that allowed him to talk to players networked in other places around the world. A far cry from the Nintendo Game Boy he'd had at Joey's age. Fortunately, his son was immersed in slaying the undead and oblivious to everything going on around him.

Rose was in the shower. He could still hear the water running. They'd returned to Cornwall on a morning flight and then driven to camp to pick up Joey that afternoon. Rose wanted to shower and change before they shared the big news with Joey and, a.s.suming all was received well, went out for a celebratory family dinner.

His gaze drifted back to the words on his screen. How? he managed to type despite how badly his shaking fingers were stymying him.

His ring, Brody texted back.

Xander silently cursed and refrained from texting the same sentiment. Of course. He had burned all of Tommy's things that night, but they'd all been too freaked out by the body itself to remove anything from him. Tommy had always worn a large gold ring with a black onyx stone in the middle. It was large, like a cla.s.s ring, and left a distinctive welt on the skin if it came in contact with your face. Wade had found that out the hard way. Xander had luckily not gotten close enough to Tommy's hands to get a good look at it, but it was distinctive enough for someone, especially his own sister, to recognize. He'd always worn that ring and it had been buried along with Tommy.

After all these years, it was probably the only thing left behind and d.a.m.ned if it wasn't the one thing that someone would recognize.

She heard about the unidentified remains and called Sheriff Duke. He asked her to come down from Hartford and take a look. They're working to match dental records. Expect things to start happening anytime now, Brody added.

Before he could respond, his phone started to ring. It was Heath. Word was spreading fast. He got up from the barstool and carried his phone with him into the bedroom. The water was still running, so he had time to take the call.

"Hey," Xander answered, his tone flat. He sat on the edge of the bed and muted the television that was playing.

"You hear from Brody?" Heath asked, skipping pleasantries.

"Yes."

"Are you at the farm?"

"No," Xander admitted. "I'm at Rose's apartment. We were...going to tell Joey tonight."

Heath whistled softly through his teeth. "I'm sorry. Not the best day to ID a body. What are you going to do?"

"Postpone, I guess. Hopefully, she'll understand."

"Xander," Heath began, and then paused. "It's probably all going to come out now. What happened that night. I've been thinking about this awhile and I've decided that I'm okay with it. I know it isn't all about me. You all have something at stake here, too. But I don't want you to do something you'll regret trying to protect me."

"Of course I will. You're-"

"No, Xander. Listen to me."

Heath's voice was firm, resolved and very much unlike him. Xander didn't like it. He much preferred his carefree, fun younger brother. Why fate had trapped a boy so young and innocent into such a terrible deed, he would never know. He'd wished a hundred times that he had been the one to find them. That he had been the one to stop Tommy.

"I'm tired of all of this. I think the game is up. You have your own family to protect now. That's more important than taking care of me. I'm a grown man, now, not a child. It's not ideal, but I will tell my story and deal with the consequences. I don't want this hanging over our heads any longer."

"What about Mom and Dad?"

There was an extended silence on the line. "I'll tell them. I think Dad will understand what I was doing and why we couldn't tell him before now. Hopefully, I can beat the cops to the punch."

"What about Julianne? Have you spoken with her?"

He heard Heath sigh. "No, but I'm certain we're on the same page. She's been under this dark cloud for as long as we have. All of us knew this moment would come eventually. She probably feels responsible for it."

"They'll make her come back and make a statement. You, too."

"I've been thinking about taking a few months off from the firm anyways. Things are going well. I think my partner can take the reins for a while. I need to spend some time in Cornwall and deal with all of this. I can't do it from Madison Avenue."

"So what do you want me to do, Heath? Just let it happen? I can't do that. Don't ask me to. I came to Cornwall to handle this and now you're asking me to forget why I'm even here."

"I'm not saying you should march into the police station and confess everything. But be prepared for it to unravel. I am."

Xander didn't know what to say. He'd spent more than half of his life protecting this secret. It was against his nature to just let the truth come out now.

The water in the bathroom turned off. Rose would come out any minute. "I've got to go," he said. "I need to talk to Rose."

"Good luck with everything," Heath said. "I can't wait to meet my nephew. And for Mom to find out. I really want to be there when she does. I want a front-row seat and popcorn."

As if he didn't already have enough to worry about. "Shut up, man."

He heard his brother laugh, and then the line went dead. Shaking his head, Xander slipped his phone into his pocket and tried to think of what he would say when Rose came out. Like any political speech, he thought through his words and practiced it several times in his head. It made him wish he had one of his staffers here to help him draft something. He never was the best speech writer.

She exited the bathroom a moment later. Her body was still slightly damp and wrapped in a fluffy cotton towel. Her hair was wet and combed out down her back in long straight strands. She smiled at him as she settled onto the bed and started rubbing lotion into her legs.

He was afraid to open his mouth. He, the politician, the master of spin. He, the one who always knew just what to say and when, couldn't find the words. Somehow he just knew that the second he started to speak, things would change. He would never be able to get back to this moment where she smiled at him, so loving and trusting.

Xander wanted this to work with Rose. He wanted them to move to D.C. and start a life with him there. But every bit of that fantasy was riding on her reaction to what he was about to say.

"Rose," he said, "I hate to do this, but I have to take a rain check on tonight."

Her dark eyes narrowed at him as she finished applying her lotion and stood up. "On tonight? I thought we decided it was The Night. That's a pretty big event to skip out on. What's going on that's suddenly more important?"

"I know it's a big deal. I've been looking forward to and dreading this moment since we decided to tell him. I'm so nervous that he won't like me or that he'll hate me for not being in his life."

Rose moved around the bed to sit shoulder by shoulder next to him. "He's not going to hate you. He adores you. Finding out that you're his father will only make it that much sweeter for him. It's like finding out Superman is your dad."

"There's no superpowers to be inherited," Xander said drily. "Just my chaotic political life."

"Are you wanting to wait because you're nervous about it?" She patted his knee rea.s.suringly. "It's going to be fine, really."

He ran his fingers though his hair. "No. I'd much rather do it and get it done so I can stop being so anxious, but I don't want to do it and rush out. Can we postpone a day or two?"

"Why not," she said with an undertone of sarcasm. "We've already waited ten years. Really, what is more important than this, Xander? Tell me."

"Rose, please." Xander said. "I've got to get back to the farm. There's an emergency I need to take care of."

Her irritation was quickly replaced by concern. "What happened? Are Ken and Molly okay?"

"Yes, they're fine. There's just something going on there that I have to be home for. It's the reason I came to town in the first place."

"Something going on?" she repeated. "Get a little more vague, Xander." Rose turned away from him and looked up at the television silently playing in front of them. The local station had cut into the syndicated television show to broadcast breaking news.

Xander couldn't hear the newscaster, but the image over the woman's shoulder said Body Identified. As usual, Brody's information had been correct and timely. The truth was out.

Rose picked up the remote and turned the sound of the television back on.

"...remains discovered on the former Garden of Eden property have been identified as that of seventeen-year-old Tommy Wilder. Tommy was a foster child taken in by Ken and Molly Eden, the owners of the Garden of Eden Christmas Tree Farm, several weeks before his disappearance. His sister, Deborah Wilder Curtis of Hartford, identified the body yesterday and dental records have confirmed the match."

"Rose..." Xander said, but she ignored him and turned the sound up another notch on the television.

"Tommy Wilder was reported missing by his foster parents more than fifteen years ago. All of the boy's belongings were missing from his room and a note was found by one of the other foster children indicating that he ran away. Police will be questioning Ken and Molly Eden to try to piece together what happened the night of Tommy's disappearance."

Rose swallowed hard and tried to process the information. She remembered Tommy Wilder. He was a senior when he came to live with Xander's family. The few times Rose came to the farm while he was staying with them, she'd been thoroughly creeped out. She'd been a girl who spent most of her time being ignored, and Tommy's heavy appraisal of her had been unnerving and unwelcome. She'd been admittedly relieved when he ran away. It had gotten to the point where she didn't want to come to the farm or she wouldn't let Xander out of her sight if she did.

After Tommy's disappearance, she and Xander had hit one of the low points in their relationship. They hadn't been dating long, but things changed quickly. He'd suddenly become distant. He had canceled a few of their dates and made excuses not to see her. For a while she'd been certain that he was going to break up with her. Even the other Eden boys had avoided talking to her or anyone else.

Then, after a few weeks, her old Xander came back to her. He had told her that they were all concerned about Tommy running away and all the police attention around the farm. As foster children, they could be placed in a new home at any time if the parents were deemed unfit. The Edens were the fittest parents in the world, but she could understand that it might look bad with Tommy running away.

Things had returned to normal and after that point, she'd forgotten all about Tommy Wilder. Apparently, the story had not ended as neatly as it seemed. Xander had been excited to talk to Joey today. They had a great afternoon planned as a family. Now he was agitated and wanted to bail on the whole thing to go home. This had to be why.

"You call that something, Xander?"

He sighed and stood up, shaking his head. "What do you want me to say, Rose? I have to go home and protect my family from scandal and criminal charges?"

Rose lifted the remote to turn off the television and slowly got up from the bed. When she looked at Xander, she saw an expression there that she'd never expected to see. Guilt. His hazel eyes couldn't quite meet hers, the corners of his mouth slightly downturned as if he was trying to think of what to say. His hands were thrust in his pockets and his shoulders were hunched over.

Her father had looked the same way when she visited him the first time in jail after the robbery. They couldn't afford bail, so he was locked up for the months leading to his trial. Long before he was convicted, there'd been guilt in his eyes and his broken stance that he couldn't hide from her.

"Protect your family or protect yourself?" she asked.

"I want to protect everyone," he clarified. "Including you and Joey."