"A toast." Nate holds his gla.s.s aloft and I follow. "To you, Julianne. For making me feel alive and happy, no matter where we are."

I smile up at my man, still overcome by this amazingly romantic gesture. I've never been romanced like this. "Thank you," I whisper.

"My pleasure."

We clink gla.s.ses and sip the delicious pink champagne, then dig into our dinner.

"How did you do all this?" I ask with a bite of steak in my mouth.

"Minions," he responds with a shrug and I laugh.

"Seriously, when? This wasn't here when we went for our run this morning."

"I had it done this afternoon while you napped."

I take a bite of my Caprese crostini and watch him while I chew. His hair is loose, he's wearing a black t-shirt, showing off his beautiful tattoo, and his blue jeans fit him perfectly. Nate glances over at me, and his eyes soften. He brushes a crumb off the side of my mouth and runs his thumb over my bottom lip.

"What?" I ask.

"You look lovely with the firelight dancing on your skin, and your beautiful blue eyes look happy."

Oh. Yes, he's in uber romantic mode tonight.

"Thank you," I whisper, completely caught up in him.

I take another sip of the delicious champagne and finish the food on my plate. "That was delicious."

"Mmm..." he responds as he also takes his last bite. He takes my plate and napkin and sets them aside with his and turns back to me, opening his arms. I slide easily between his legs, leaning my head on his chest, to enjoy the view.

"It's really beautiful here, ace."

"I'm glad you like it." He kisses my hair and wraps his arms around my shoulders, hugging me against him.

"If we didn't have work, I'd never want to leave."

"Like I said earlier, we can come here whenever you want."

"We should try to come once a month. And bring Nat and Luke and the baby. They'd love it too."

"That sounds great to me." He kisses my hair again and I smile. He's so kind, and I love that he likes my friends.

The sun is slipping into the water now, sending orange reflections across the surface. The sky is dark purple, and in the distance I can see some dark clouds rolling in.

"We might get lucky and get a winter storm tonight." I rub his arms where they rest across my chest.

"You like thunderstorms?" he asks.

"At the beach I do. They're awesome."

"Would you like some dessert?"

"I always, always have room for dessert, babe."

Nate chuckles as he climbs around me to the table and returns with two small individual chocolate cheesecakes.

"Oh, my. Even here you manage to feed me chocolate cheesecake."

"Of course. It's your favorite."

"What's your favorite?" I ask and dig into the decedent dessert. "Oh sweet Jesus, that's good."

"You." He responds, his eyes on fire as he watches me lick chocolate off my lips.

"You are romantic tonight." I take another bite and moan.

"Does it really bother you?" he asks with a grin.

"No. It's nice. Don't tell Natalie." Nate laughs and offers me a bite of cheesecake from his own plate, which I happily accept and offer him some of mine.

We finish our desserts this way, feeding each other, and then settle back against the cushions, drinking another gla.s.s of champagne.

"I have something for you. I've been trying to give it to you all day, but you kept distracting me." He smiles ruefully at me and digs into his jeans pocket.

"You don't have to give me anything, Nate. This whole weekend is amazing."

"Well, this is special to me, and I want you to have it. It's why we stopped at my dad's this morning." He pulls his hand out of his pocket, but holds whatever it is in his fist.

"Okay," I murmur, encouraging him to keep talking.

"I already told you that my mom pa.s.sed when I was very young. I don't remember a lot about her, just mostly what my dad has told me, but I remember that she was really pretty, and she was very affectionate."

"I'm sure she was gorgeous, Nate. One look at you, and no one would doubt that."

He smiles at me and runs the backs of his fingers down my face.

"The year she pa.s.sed, I gave her this for her birthday, which was today." He opens his fist, and inside is a silver chain with a pretty silver heart-shaped pendant.

He looks up to me, still smiling. "I'd like to give it to you."

I feel my jaw drop and I watch as he takes the heart in his fingers with one hand, cups my hand in the other, and places the warm metal in my palm.

"Nate..."

"She would have loved you," he continues. "I wish she could have known you. I want you to have this."

My eyes are searching his, and I'm just so touched. He's giving me something of his mother's. If that doesn't scream commitment, I don't know what does.

"Turn it over," he whispers.

Engraved on the back is Love, Nate.

Tears spring to my eyes as I rub the sweet words with the pad of my finger. I am overcome with emotion.

"I know it's not diamonds, or wildly expensive..."

Before he can finish the words, I climb onto his lap and wrap my arms around his shoulders, bury my face in his neck, and hold on tight, letting the tears come.

"Hey, it's okay baby." His hands are moving up and down my back, soothing and caressing me.

"Thank you so much," I whisper into his neck, unable to look him in the eye and let him see my tears. "This is the most beautiful gift anyone has ever given me."

"Hey." He pushes back on my shoulders so I have to look at him and he grins at me as he wipes the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs. "Can I put it on you?"

"Yes, please." I offer him a wet smile, pull my hair up off my neck, and wait patiently as he clasps it. It falls a few inches below my collarbones, and shines in the soft firelight.

"It's beautiful, Nate, thank you."

"You're welcome."

There's suddenly thunder in the distance, and we both look out to the water as lightning strikes through the dark clouds moving closer to us.

"Looks like we're going to get that storm," I murmur.

"Well, as much as I wanted to make love to you here, looks like it's going to be plan B." Nate stands and holds his hand out to me, helping me up. He pa.s.ses me our champagne gla.s.ses and the champagne bottle, then lifts me in his arms and climbs the stairs.

"Seriously, Nate, I can walk."

"You don't have any shoes."

He's not even breathing hard with the effort.

Holy f.u.c.k.

"What about the food and the fire?" I ask.

"The catering company is coming back in a few hours to clean up."

"Oh."

He sets me down at the top of the stairs and kisses my cheek, takes his gla.s.s and the bottle out of my hands and leads me inside and up the stairs to the master suite. We walk into the bathroom, and Nate turns on the water to fill the tub, and lights some candles throughout the s.p.a.cious room, then turns off the lights so the s.p.a.ce is bathed in soft candles.

He pulls a remote out of his back pocket a I didn't know he had that! a and turns on the sound system, and Jason Mraz's song I Won't Give Up is again coming through the speakers.

"Did you do that on purpose?" I ask.

"No, it's just a coincidence," he murmurs.

He lowers our gla.s.ses and the champagne to the floor next to the tub, and when everything is ready, he turns back to me, slowly walks toward me, in time with the song. Nate starts to sing along, softly, "I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough, I've given you all my love, I'm still looking up..."

He pulls me against him, one arm wrapped around the small of my back, and takes my hand in his, and begins to sway with the music, dancing me across the s.p.a.cious, beautiful bathroom in the candlelight, while the sky explodes in lightning outside. He lowers his face next to mine, and just barely touches me with his cheek, turns his face, and brushes my cheek with his nose, sending shivers down my spine and out my arms and legs.

"I won't give up on us," he whispers in my ear and I feel tears p.r.i.c.k my eyes again. Where did I find this beautiful man? And how did I resist him for so long?

When the song is finished, Sade begins to croon about this not being an ordinary love, and Nate pulls back, his eyes alive with love, and he gently brushes my hair off my face. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, Nate."

The water is warm and smells like lavender. Nate is sitting against the end of the tub with me between his legs, resting on his chest.

The sky outside is dancing in light and changing black clouds, reflecting on the choppy water below. I love that the tub sits in a gla.s.s alcove so we can watch the show.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" I ask. Nate squirts my shower gel in his hands and rubs them together until he's happy with the lather.

"Sit forward a bit." I lean forward and he starts to rub my back and shoulders, ma.s.saging my muscles, and I melt into him.

"Holy Moses, ace, you're good with your hands."

He chuckles behind me and continues the delicious ma.s.sage.

"I've never had a dancing lesson. I guess martial arts taught me rhythm." His hands slip below the water line and he rubs my lower back in slow, relaxing circles.

"Mmm... I love the way you move," I murmur.

"You do?" I hear the smile in his voice.

"Mmm hmm... I could watch you move all day." He kisses my neck and pulls me back against him again, his hands circling up to my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"I love your b.r.e.a.s.t.s," he whispers.

"I thought about enhancing them when I was young and posing for the magazine, but now I'm glad I didn't."

"You don't need to enhance them, baby. They're perfect as they are." He brushes his thumbs across my nipples, making them pucker, and I brace my hands on his thighs and arch my back, pushing my b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his hands.

His left hand slips down my torso, between my legs, and he sweeps his finger lightly over my c.l.i.t.

"G.o.d, babe."

"Shh, I've got you," he whispers against my ear and tugs the lobe between his teeth. I can feel his erection against my back, his hands are wreaking havoc on my sensitive skin, and the water is warm and fragrant. Trees sway in the wind outside, and rain is beating on the windows now, reflecting the lightning that's shooting across the stormy sky.

I turn in Nate's arms and straddle his hips. I kiss him, gently at first, my hands in his hair, and then deepen the sweet kiss, tangling our tongues. His hands lift my a.s.s and he pulls back, his eyes on mine, his mouth open as he pants.

"I need to be inside you, baby."

I reach between us and wrap my hand around his c.o.c.k, pull up and down once, then guide the tip to my folds and lower myself onto him.

"f.u.c.k, you're so small," he growls.