sweet, soft spots either.”
“Hard. There’s an awful lot of hard spots you might need to discover first,” Zach growled.
Stealing away as if someone was about to stop them, they slid into the room, hands reaching for each other. Touching, stroking.
Memorizing. This might be the last time, and it wasn’t about how well they had fit together or all the things that she’d learned about physical pleasure from him.
No. As he pressed his lips against her skin, teasing each intimate spot that he found, as she stroked her fingers down the muscular lines of his torso. As they kissed deeply, bodies meshing together—
It wasn’t just physical.
Moonlight and starshine poured over the bed, shining in the open doors facing the ocean. Zach rolled her under him, his hips pulsing slowly as he pushed his cock deep into her sex, the sound of the ocean filling the small room.
There was magic, Julia could’ve sworn there was. But just like the fairy tales where in the morning everything was back to normal, this too was fleeting.
It was perfect. It was broken.
Zach caught their fingers together, pinning their hands to the mattress. Julia stared into his face, at the pleasure there, the sweet caring and understanding.
Her body betrayed her, and for once in her life an orgasm rushed in far too quickly when she would’ve liked this to have gone on forever.
“Julia.” Zach stilled over her, hips pulsing as he came.
She cupped his cheek and kept her smile in place. Let the physical satisfaction be enough, even though inside, her heart was breaking.
An hour later, after they’d cleaned up and returned to the bed, Zach wrapped his arms around her and almost instantly fell asleep. She wasn’t so lucky.
She lay there, examining his features. Wishing desperately she’d been brave enough to tell him the truth. But as he breathed evenly, chest rising and falling, the faintest hint of a smile still curling his lips, it was all she could do to stay in one place and not shout it out to the heavens.
“I love you.” The words were a bare whisper off her lips, but they shouted so loud inside her that it felt as if her entire body vibrated with the echo. “I love you so much.”
It was the truth, rising from the core of her being.
Which was why she had to let him go.
22
Zach had been hoping for an early-morning birthday present, but when he rolled over, Julia wasn’t in the bed. The sliding doors were still open to the ocean, though, and contentment pooled in his limbs as he stretched then made his way to vertical.
She’d gotten into the habit of walking the beach every morning. He couldn’t blame her, and considering he hoped today would end up being extra special, he could give her the space to wander and enjoy her time off.
Last night had been spectacular, and he could only hope that today would be even better.
He went to grab some coffee from the kitchen. His mom rose from where she’d been settled at the table to come and give him a hug and a kiss. “Happy birthday, little man.”
“Mom,” he complained, squeezing her extra hard before stepping out of her embrace. “Please.”
She smiled smugly. “Sorry, darling. You’re always going to be my little man.”
“Be thankful your nickname wasn’t something dreadful like snookums.” Petra appeared to offer her own rib-rattling hug. “Happy birthday, big brother.”
“Hopefully,” he said with a wink.
That earned him a massive eye roll. “Is your better half sleeping in?”
“Think she hit the beach already,” Zach said as he filled a cup and headed toward the deck, debating if he should pour a second one for her and have it ready when she returned.
His father drifted into the room, papers in his hand that he was staring at with utter confusion. “Zach? Can I see you for a minute?”
Zach glanced at his mom to make sure she hadn’t noticed. He put an arm around his father and guided him from the room. “If Mom sees you working, there’ll be hell to pay,” he said.
Zachary Senior looked up and blinked. “I’m not working. These came through on the fax. They’re for you, but they make no sense.”
“For me?”
His father tugged the papers out of his reach. “Put your coffee down.”
Shit. Zach all but threw his cup at the nearest side table. “I don’t like the sounds of this,” he warned.
His father held the papers forward. “I don’t think you’re going to like how it reads, either.”
Zach glanced at the