Over and over he touched her with his tongue and his lips. He drew her higher and higher, pushing her forward, then letting her fall back. He made her pant. He nearly made her scream.

She lost track of the world and everything in it. There was only this moment and this man and what he was doing to her.

Her muscles clenched tighter and tighter. She could feel herself swelling, pushing close. Her orgasm was tantalizingly out of reach. Close, so close, but not yet there.

Then he began to flick his tongue over her center in an age-old rhythm. At the same time he inserted first one finger, then two. He filled her, pushing up as if to caress her from the inside, as well.

One stroke, two…and then she was lost.

Her release claimed her with an unexpected force. She lost control and cried out. She came again and again, riding the magic of his tongue, his fingers, his whole body. Pleasure claimed her, marked her, then eased her back into reality.

When she finally surfaced, he sat next to her, smiling.

She sat up and sighed. “Go ahead. Gloat. You earned it.”

“I will in a second. Meet me in my bed, okay?” He stood.

“Where are you going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

He hurried down the stairs. She watched him go, still basking, then realized she was sitting na**d on his stairs and she had no idea if this was housekeeper day or not. Which got her moving.

She found her way to his large bedroom and had barely pulled back the covers when he walked into the room carrying two champagne flutes and a bottle of Dom Pérignon.

She laughed. “You did say you always had some on hand.”

“I did.”

While he opened the bottle, she climbed into bed. He poured them each a glass, took off the rest of his clothes and joined her.

“To unexpected surprises,” he said, touching his flute to hers. “You more than qualify.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, could barely breathe. It was as if she’d been flash-frozen.

And then she knew why. Looking at Todd, at his handsome and now familiar face, listening to his voice, sitting in his bed after he’d just taken her on an amazingly sensual journey, she suddenly realized what she’d been ignoring all along.

He was perfect.

Well, not perfect. The man had flaws. But he was everything she’d ever been looking for. Caring, warm, smart, into family, affectionate, challenging, determined and not the least bit intimidated by her big brain.

Perfect.

And somewhere along the way, she’d fallen in love with him.

Ten

A night of incredible lovemaking managed to distract Marina from her unexpected realization. The next morning she ducked out early, claiming a very legitimate meeting with Willow. She was terrified that she wouldn’t be able to keep acting normally around Todd. How could she when her brain was practically rotating from shock?

In love with Todd? How? When? She wasn’t supposed to fall in love with anyone, and should the unexpected happen, did it have to be with a man who would never, ever, under any circumstances, trust a woman?

She made her way home where she showered and changed. As promised, David had dropped off her car in the night and left the keys in a planter by her front door. She collected them on her way out and drove to the bridal salon where she and Willow would pick out a couple of bridesmaid dresses to e-mail Julie.

“Nothing yucky,” Willow said after Marina pulled in next to her in the salon parking lot and climbed out of her car. “Nothing too frilly, and nothing you have to be tall to look good in. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not tall.”

Marina pretended surprise. “Since when?”

“Very funny. You know what I mean. So many clothes look fabulous if you’re as tall as a giraffe but the rest of us mortals end up looking dumpy. I refuse to be dumpy at my sister’s wedding.”

Marina grinned. “No dumpy dresses, I promise.”

“You’d better. I don’t want to be outvoted by the two tall sisters.”

“Trust is an important part of our relationship.”

Willow narrowed her gaze. “I don’t trust anyone with legs as long as yours.” They walked into the salon. “I saw the wedding gown pictures. It looks great.”

“I’m sure Christie will bring out the dress Julie picked,” Marina said. “It’s strapless, so I was thinking we could go that way, or do spaghetti straps. Nothing long.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “Thank goodness. I have so many long dresses from other weddings. And the bride always said ‘you can take it up.’ Right. Because there are so many places I can wear a lime-green flocked short dress. Speaking of green, I know that’s one of the colors, but come on. We’re blond. We’re doing shades of rose, aren’t we?”

“Oh, yeah. Green reminds me too much of recent attack of food poisoning. I’m not wearing it.”

“See. This is how it should be,” Willow told her. “Sisterly solidarity.”

Christie walked toward them. “Morning ladies. You must be Willow. I’m Christie.”

They shook hands.

“Ready to try on bridesmaid dresses?” Christie asked. “I’ve been e-mailing Julie and she has a few suggestions.”

Marina looked at Willow who groaned.

“Good suggestions or bad suggestions?” Willow asked, her voice small.

Christie smiled. “Good ones. I think you’ll be pleased. Oh, Willow, did you want me to bring out Julie’s dress so you can see it?”

“If you don’t mind, that would be great.”

“I’m happy to.” Christie looked at Marina. “Maybe we can do the preliminary fitting, if you have time this morning.”

“I’m available.”

“Excellent. Now if you two will come with me, I have the dresses Julie liked picked out.”

They followed her to a room on the side that was filled with bridesmaid dress samples. Two dresses were displayed on the wall. One was strapless, fitted to the waist, then flared gently to the straight hem. There was an overlayer of some sheer fabric that was scalloped at the hem. The second dress was a slip style, with a little bit of lace at the bodice and tulip hem.

Willow fingered the material on the second dress and smiled. “I think both of these work. What do you think?”

Marina nodded. “Neither are scary. I give Julie points for that.”

“Good.” Christie pointed to a set of dressing rooms on the far wall. “There’s one for each of you inside. Why don’t you try them on. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Which means Julie e-mailed our sizes,” Willow murmured when they’d slipped into the dressing rooms. “Does her level of organization ever worry you?”

“Not too much.” Marina pulled off her T-shirt and unfastened her jeans. “They have shoes here that we can try on. Just to see how the dresses look in heels.”

The door to her dressing room opened. Willow stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

“Okay,” she said flatly. “What’s wrong?”

Marina stared at her. “Nothing. Why? I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. You’re…” She frowned. “I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it, but fine isn’t applying. Are you upset? Did something bad happen? Do you need Kane to kill someone?”

“While I appreciate the offer, and I’m sure he does, too, I’m good. Really.”

Willow folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not leaving until you confess everything.”

“There’s nothing to…” Marina sighed. “I’d been so determined to act normal, too.”

“You didn’t quite make the goal.” Willow’s mouth twisted. “What happened? Is it Todd? Did he hurt you?”

“No. Of course not. He didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just…”

Willow moved closer and touched her arm. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Marina managed a smile. “Oh, sure. Say that now. I just…We…” She swallowed. “I’m in love with him.”

Willow continued to stare at her. “And?”

“And nothing. Isn’t that enough? I’m in love with Todd Aston the Third. How crazy is that?”

Willow grinned, then hugged her. “Not crazy at all. It’s great. You’re in love. You’re single, he’s single. You’re amazing, he might be someone the rest of the family can tolerate. What’s the problem?”

Marina sank onto the bench in the room and covered her face with her hands. “I’m terrified. What if I’m just like Mom? What if I get lost? What if I let him treat me horribly and I pretend it’s enough because it’s better than being without him?”

Willow sank down next to her. “What if you don’t?” she asked as she put her arm around Marina. “What if you’re strong and grown-up and you just let yourself be happy?”

While she appreciated the support, happy didn’t seem like much of an option. “He has issues.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “Of course he does. All men do.”

“His are complicated. He doesn’t trust women. At all. Ever. No female trusting by the rich guy.”

“Sounds simple to me,” Willow said. “Fine. He doesn’t trust. I’m sure other women have taught him that. But what have you ever done to make him not trust you? Nothing. So it may take some time and a little work, but you’ll bring him around.”

Marina wished it was that easy, but something in her gut told her that Todd wasn’t going to be convinced by a lack of action on her part.

“Have you always been this optimistic?” she asked.

“I think so,” Willow told her. “I’m the middle child. It’s my job to see both sides of things. Although in this case, I’m only seeing yours. Have a little faith. I doubt your feelings are one-sided. You’re pretty amazing. He’s lucky to have you in his life.”

“I don’t think I’m the problem. He is and I don’t know how to fix that.”

“You don’t have to. That’s his job.”

Marina looked at her sister. “I’m not like Mom, am I? Falling for a guy who can’t commit?”

“You’re nothing like Mom. You are your own person. Have a little faith in yourself.”

Faith sounded easy enough, but Marina wasn’t sure how to put it into play.

“You okay?” Willow asked.

Marina nodded. “We have dresses to try on.”

A few minutes later they met by the large three-way mirror.

“This is not flattering,” Willow grumbled as she tugged on the spaghetti straps of her dress. “The tulip hem thingy makes me look short.”

“You are short,” Marina teased. “But the dress isn’t the right one. We both looked better in the strapless one. I hope Julie doesn’t mind that the waist is so fitted.”

Willow grinned. “You mean she’ll be bitter because her tummy is growing? Hmmm. I hadn’t thought of that. But it’s okay. She can be bitter for a while. She’s getting a baby.” She smoothed the front of her dress. “After Kane and I get married, we’re going to try for children right away. I’m really excited. I feel like I had my first taste of pregnancy the first couple of weeks I was on the pill.”

“Bloated?” Marina asked sympathetically. “That’s why I’m not on it. Plus, I felt yucky.”

“Me, too. But the yucky part passed. Good things, too, because of the whole condom problem.”

Marina stared at her. “What condom problem?”

“You know. That they’re not a hundred percent. If used perfectly, in controlled studies, they’re like ninety-seven percent effective. But in real world use, it’s a lot lower than that.”

Willow kept on talking, but Marina wasn’t listening.

Less effective? As in more chance of getting pregnant?

All she and Todd had used were condoms. She wasn’t on anything else and he’d never asked. Not that there was a whole lot more he could have done, but still.

She touched her stomach and tried to relax. So they weren’t a hundred percent. She and Todd had only made love a few times. Nothing could have happened. Not really. Could it?

Two and a half long hours later, Marina finally escaped the bridal shop. She’d had to suffer through the wedding gown fitting, which Willow had stayed for. In the end she, Marina, had gotten away only to drive to a drugstore and buy two different pregnancy tests. She was positive she was fine, but a little scientific evidence never hurt.

Now she counted out days on her calendar and had to admit that maybe she was a little late. Just by a couple of days, but still.

Her chest tightened until she found it hard to breathe. Pregnant? She couldn’t be. Not that she didn’t want kids, but not now. Not like this.

She remembered all the horror stories Todd had shared. If she were pregnant, he would think she was just like the other women in his life. He would never trust her.

Scared, shaking and terrified of the outcome, she opened both boxes and took the test. When the needed time has passed, she stared down at two plastic sticks and groaned.

One said she was pregnant, the other one didn’t.

“Just so how my day is going,” she said, fighting tears of frustration. “I have to know.”

She grabbed the first of the boxes and dialed the 800 number for customer service.

“Hi,” she said, when a woman answered. “I took one of your pregnancy tests a few minutes ago. I also took another brand. Your test says I’m not pregnant and theirs says I am. Who should I believe?”