Her cinnamon scent and the soft, plush pillows of her lips played havoc with his control.
"What do I want?" Ruth murmured the words against his mouth. "I want you, Nick. I want you to hold me tight and show me just how much you want this, too. And then later..."
"Later?" There was more than a hint of humor and curiosity in his tone.
"Yes," she reached out with her words, trying to be brave. "Later I want you to make love to me, but now... I just want you to show me how much you want me."
"Hold on tight," he lifted his chin and gave her an approving nod, "it's about to get... rough."
"Good." Ruth laughed and enjoyed the freedom of the sound. "Show me."
EPILOGUE
KATIE
They were so careful not to pressure Ruth to fold into their family.
In the end, it took a few months until Ruth was spending nearly every night at their house.
And it became 'their' house.
Her dad had turned out to be a master of romantic gestures which surprised everyone, especially himself.
It was a day in July when they packed everyone up to go to the cabin.
They got a late start because her dad had been finalizing all of the details and it was a production no less daunting than putting on performance for the dance company.
Their cabin by the lake was set back into the woods where it couldn't easily be seen from the lake and the driveway up from the road to the front porch was a sweeping curve giving them privacy when they were relaxing there.
Katie had never expected a large industrial truck to approach the house so quietly.
It was amazing, really.
As the sun set over the lake, Katie felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and she went to wake Ruth up.
To clear her schedule for the vacation at the lake Ruth had been working overtime in the kitchen.
She'd fallen asleep almost the moment that they'd walked into the cabin and that had given her dad time for the finishing touches to his plan.
Knocking on the door to the master bedroom, Katie heard an answer from the other side of the door.
"Katie?"
"Yep! It's me. My dad wants to know if you want to see the sunset."
"One second!"
Ruth was at the door in moments, wearing a relaxed T-shirt that almost fell off of one shoulder and a pair of shorts that had cartoon images of cupcakes on it.
"Where's your dad?"
Katie tilted her head. "He's on the back porch." She held out her hand. "Ready?"
Ruth took her hand, smiling ear to ear. "Ready."
NICK
Nick was fairly sure he would be able to make it through the next few minutes without having something akin to a panic attack.
