“Thief,” she said.

“You love me in spite of my thievery.” I nuzzled my nose at the back of her ear.

“I do, it’s true. The very first thing you thieved was my heart,” she said, turning to meet my lips for a sweet kiss, “and I don’t ever want it back.”

“Good thing, because it’s all mine,” I muttered before plundering between her lips with my tongue.

“And you say the nicest things to me.”

“But they’re all true,” I said, gathering her to face me, my hands loosely clasped low at her back. “You are beautiful.” Another deep kiss. “Wickedly smart.” I dragged my lips down her jaw and to her neck. “So sexy you make me burn.” I moved my mouth lower to cle**age that was growing by the day. “And a most accomplished kitchen-witch.” I ground my hips forward into hers, giving her a good feel of exactly how much I appreciated all of her talents.

“ONE year ago today we passed each other in an aquarium shop, having no idea we would come to this place in our lives together.” I ran my fingers over Ethan’s arm as we lay sprawled on the sofa on our sides, watching the lights on the tree framed by the city lights of London. “Did you remember?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve remembered very well ever since the day we figured it out. Every time I look at Simba in his tank, I remember.” He rubbed my belly in a circle, his hands touching me anywhere he could comfortably reach in our position. “And especially with my birthday present, which is perfect by the way. I’m sure even Simba agrees.”

“I’m glad you like her, baby. You’re a hard fellow to buy for. Dory is the perfect girlfriend for Simba though, and he definitely needed a good woman to keep him in line.”

He chuckled. “Just like me.”

“That’s right, but you still went way overboard for my birthday. You buy me a luxury car and I get you a new fish.”

“I love my new fish,” he said indignantly, “a blue tang for my birthday was my greatest desire.”

I laughed at his silliness, loving that my serious guy could joke and tease with me so easily. Despite his life experiences, Ethan was blessed with a wonderful sense of humor that I cherished in him. He could make me laugh as easily as he could make me burn hot. A uniquely talented man.

“So, really, today is sort of an anniversary for us when you think about it,” I said.

“One year.” He inhaled heavily at my neck. “I didn’t even get a good look at you, but I do remember your purple hat and scarf, and of course, how taken you were by the Christmas Eve snowstorm.”

Considering it was winter and we were naked on the living room sofa, I was surprised at how warm I felt, with absolutely no uncomfortable chill in the room. Hot thumping sex and a radiating furnace plastered against my backside, in the form of my husband, worked wonders, apparently. “Well, the snow was magically beautiful, and you’ve got to understand—a Christmas snowfall for a Cali girl is probably a once in a lifetime occurrence.”

“You never know, now that you live here, it might snow again some Christmas.” His lips brushed the back of my neck.

“True.” I shivered under his lips making trails on my naked skin. “I also remember being jealous of the woman who got to smell you all the time, and it’s funny, but I didn’t look at you, either. If I had, I would’ve known you the night of Benny’s show.”

He kissed along the top of my shoulder. “Ben’s show—best night of my life.”

“Not for me,” I said, snuggling more deeply against him. “I’m pretty sure right now is the best night of my life.”

“Mmmm…you don’t mind we aren’t out at some party tonight being festive for the season?”

“Um, no, not at all. Besides, we’ll have a full day of it tomorrow at your dad’s house.”

“I rather wish we’d spent Christmas at Stonewell instead of here,” he said softly, one hand sliding up my torso to fondle a breast, lifting the weight and circling the nipple. “But we couldn’t have done this…so, maybe not.”

I laughed at his logic. “Yeah, buckets of paint and power tools pose a problem for finding comfortable places to maneuver a shag.” We’d actually considered spending the holidays in the country, but the major renovations underway at Stonewell helped us make the decision to stay in London instead. Here, things were mostly organized, with the exception of the conversion of a spare bedroom into a nursery.

“I imagine I would’ve found a way to ravish you amid all that bulky equipment,” he said low at my ear, as he thrust against my ass with a hot length of maleness wanting more of what we’d done already.

Once was never enough for Ethan, and I was perfectly fine with that. I hoped his need for me never went away. I don’t think I would thrive without it.

“I want this,” he rasped, two of his fingers plying my back entrance with determined pressure, sending jolts of arousal firing to all of my erogenous zones.

“Yes…okay.” Two words and I was finished with talking. The most conversation I could manage in my heightened state of stimulation. The anticipation of what he would do to my body sent me off into a sexual haze of need and desire, rendering me unable to vocalize much at all. I never worried about what he’d do to me during sex. No matter whatever it was, he would make it good. Ethan made sure.

“You take my breath away,” he purred from behind, where he was working to prepare me to take him in. I knew he was staring, getting turned on by the sight of me on my knees and bowed forward. I felt the slick drops of lube he pumped from the bottle to help ease the way. He was thick and wide, and perfect, but I still appreciated the lubrication.

His hands gripped my ass cheeks and spread them.

I realized what was coming at me the instant before I felt it. His glorious tongue.

Ethan used that on me first, the gentle teasing of my tight hole bringing me to a kind of helpless state where I trembled, hovering between this world and somewhere else.

He stopped with his tongue and moved into position. “You do, baby. You take my breath away.” The head of his c**k came against my flesh. “Every.” He pushed forward, penetrating with just the tip of his penis. “Fuckin’.” I felt the enormity of his flesh trying to merge with mine, the intensity of his need to sink into me, the craving I had for him to do it. “TIME,” he shouted on a heavy groan, as his c**k slid into place, filling me all the way to the root, his balls slapping against my sex with a jolt.