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“I thought about you every day, until I had convinced myself that you’d forgotten about me. Every girl I met was you, every woman I met could only ever hope to be you.”

“Stan, that’s crazy talk.”

Maybe. True, though.

He dropped to his knees, kneeling on the floor in front of her. “Vanessa, I’m not saying I know for certain that we’re going to be together forever. What I’m saying is I did love you once, I’ve never loved anybody else.” Wondering if she could hear the tremor in his voice, the uncertainty in his soul, he added, “And last night was the most amazing night in my life.”

She leaned closer, her body moving as if drawn by his warmth, until the tips of her breasts touched his chest and her sweet, womanly scent filled his brain. “For me, too.”

“Tell me it won’t be our last,” he urged.

“How? We live—”

“We’ll figure out how. I have a plane.”

“You also have a child,” she pointed out.

Stan stiffened, for the first time wondering if it was true, if they were too late. Because the one thing he would not unbend on was his relationship with his daughter.

“What if she doesn’t like me?” Vanessa asked, her voice small, unsure, lacking in confidence for the first time since he’d met her.

Stan broke into a smile, then into a laugh. He chuckled, long and hard, unable to help it. Because his daughter and his woman were so much alike, it was impossible to think they wouldn’t immediately become lifelong companions. Or mother and daughter.

She didn’t get mad at his laughter. Instead, she smiled back at him, as if reading his thoughts. “She’s like me, huh?”

He nodded. “Exactly like you.”

“You sure you can handle that? Two tough, feisty females like us?”

There was absolutely nothing he’d rather try. “I can handle anything you can give me, lady.”

Then, even though he knew it was corny as hell, he couldn’t resist reaching into the pockets of his sport coat, drawing out the two sexy red shoes, just like the one he’d offered her in the bar…only bigger. Big enough for his beautiful, powerful woman.

“I think these are yours,” he murmured.

Her bottom lip trembled. “You know, when I’m around you, Stan Jackson, I do feel a little like Cinderella.” She took the shoes from his hands, glanced at them for a second, then tossed them over her shoulders. “But these things hurt like hell. So I think I’m just gonna have to leave them off.”

Throwing his head back, Stan laughed heartily, finally agreeing, “Okay. But only if you take everything else off, too.”

She nodded in agreement, already unbuttoning her shirt. Her eyes alight with anticipation and happiness—so much happiness—she reached for him and twined her hands behind his neck.

“I always loved you, Stan My Man.”

He covered her mouth with his, kissing her, undressing her, telling her everything that needed to be said.

Then he gave her the actual words. “I always loved you, too, V.”

And somehow, Stan already knew that he and Vanessa would fall in love with each other again.

If, indeed, they’d ever stopped.

Epilogue

They nearly missed their flight.

After a long, full night of eroticism and tenderness, Izzie and Nick both overslept. By the time Izzie glanced at the clock through nearly lowered lashes, awakened by the slant of sunlight peeking through the slit in the heavy drapes, it was nearly ten. Their flight to Aruba left O’Hare at noon.

The two of them threw their things in their suitcases, washed and dressed frantically, and raced out of their room. The whole way down in the elevator, Izzie snuck glances at her watch, nibbling her lip in concern.

“There are other flights, if we miss it we’ll catch the next one,” Nick said, obviously noticing. Then he smiled slowly, that sexy, insatiable glimmer in his eyes. “We could always come back here. I sure wouldn’t mind spending another night like the last one.”

Oh, goodness, neither would she. Though she and Nick had been lovers for several months, nothing had prepared her for the intensity of being married lovers.