her breasts. He made quick work of unsnapping the peach-colored demi-bra, allowing it to drop to the blanket.
Covering her breasts with his hands, he whispered, “You’re beautiful, Savannah.”
Never had she felt more beautiful or desirable. Everything within her wanted to speed Zach up, but he seemed to want to savor every inch of her breasts before he moved on. Heat zoomed through her as he paid homage to each nipple with his fingers, hands, and then his mouth.
Savannah held his head, weaving her hands in his hair. She wanted this; she wanted more. She wanted all he had to give. “Zach, love me.”
Pushing her gently down onto the blanket, Zach hooked his fingers into her panties and pulled them down her legs. Savannah lay before him completely nude, feeling vulnerable and exposed. His eyes glittered down at her, and for the first time, she felt nervous.
“Aren’t you going to take your clothes off, too?”
The smile he gave her was unlike any she’d ever seen on his face—wicked and sexy. “Give me two seconds.” He went to his feet and barely had those words left his mouth before he was stripped bare, too.
Savannah lost her breath. Having seen his chest and bare legs when they’d gone swimming, she had known he was magnificent. All of him together, including the long, thick part of him she’d only felt beneath his clothes, was more than she had anticipated. Tentatively she touched his penis, marveling in wonder at the heat, length, and the hard silk of him.
He groaned and grabbed her wrist. Then, lowering himself over her, Zach took both of her hands and held them over her head. “It’ll be best if you don’t touch me for a few minutes. Okay?”
Willing to do anything he wanted, she nodded. At her acceptance, Savannah heard him whisper what sounded like a curse and a prayer and then, with all the gentleness she had come to expect from this man, he began to caress her as if she were the finest, most precious thing in the world.
Savannah forgot everything—past, present, and future no longer existed. Her only awareness was of Zach’s hands, his mouth, and his soft whispered words of praise. And then, finally, when she was gasping and panting for more, she felt the long, hard length of him at her entrance. With one, slow gliding surge, he slid inside. Arms wrapped tightly around him, Savannah gave herself to her hero, the man of her dreams. No matter what they faced in the future, she knew that she was Zach’s. And he was hers. This was forever. Nothing could tear them apart.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
TEN YEARS LATER
PRESENT DAY
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
“Has the jury reached a verdict?” Judge Henry Houseman asked the group of twelve men and women to his left.
The jury foreman, her expression carefully blank to give no indication of the result, answered solemnly, “We have, your honor.”
As the court clerk took the jury’s decision from the foreman’s hand and handed it to the judge, Assistant District Attorney Savannah Wilde stood behind the prosecutor’s table, still and stiff. Though she had been through this process dozens of times, that moment of not knowing always twisted every muscle in her body into intricate knots of tension. She always found herself asking the same questions. Had she proven the case? Had she done everything she could to bring justice to the victim? Was this scumbag going to be set free like too many others had been?
His craggy face characteristically expressionless, Judge Houseman silently read the verdict. The anxiety throughout the room was like a living, palpable entity as the tension increased to a fever pitch. The entire audience held a collective breath, waiting.
The judge nodded at the foreman, who then read, “We the jury find the defendant Donny Lee Grimes guilty of murder in the first degree.”
Breaths were expelled, some with anger, most with relief. Savannah fought the urge to shout, “Hallelujah!” Exhausted she might be, but the long days and nights she had worked this case had paid off. The murdering son of a bitch was going away, hopefully for a lifetime.
As the judge finished his instructions and set the date for sentencing, she glanced over at her boss, District Attorney Reid Garrison. Though his expression remained impassive, triumph gleamed in his eyes and the tension lines around his mouth had eased. They had needed this win. Not only because Donny Lee Grimes was a murdering creep who’d taken the life of a young father and husband, but because their