Instead, she needed me to protect her forever, and it almost cost her life and my soul. It did cost her leg and my sanity while she was missing.

My balls rose up, full and ready, and I tried to distract myself by thinking of a barbell hitting the mat. She felt too good, and I wasn’t ready to blow my load.

Doc Wells was helping me accept that Aly’s kidnapping wasn’t my fault. Sometimes Aly and I went together to see her; other times, I went by myself. I was slow when it came to these things, but Aly took all of me, including all my past transgressions, just like she’d promised at our wedding.

“Fuck!” I blurted. Her hand was soft and supple from the day before. We’d waded in the ocean, Aly in my arms, the salt lapping all around us, and the sun kissing our skin.

“Maybe I’ll do this every morning when we get back, keep you home from the gym,” Aly teased, slowing her pace up and down my cock, running her finger over the tip and then squeezing me hard.

I didn’t answer, just let out a loud rumble as I came all over the thousand-dollar-a-night bed.

Fucking show her what she did to me.

Shifting my hips up and knocking Aly off-balance, I flipped us around. I wiped my sticky hand on the blanket, gripped the sheet, and cleaned myself off, promising myself I’d leave a tip for housekeeping later.

I ran my hand over her shiny red hair and down her smooth back. “If I miss the gym, babe, the body goes to hell. Don’t think you’d like that.”

She rolled her eyes, and I smirked.

“Probably not,” she admitted, and leaned in for a kiss. Before I could take her tongue, she pulled away and added, “But I’d love you no matter what, Jake. Want you any way I can have you. Tight body or not.” And then she let me have her tongue.

She meant it.

I’d witnessed the way she’d handled Shirley. We couldn’t ignore the fact that the woman had saved Aly; that would be both rude and cruel. So we’d thanked her profusely, and Bess had even sent flowers from me. I would have never thought of that, let alone actually done it, yet that was all I could give her. But Shirley wanted more; she wanted all of us—Lane, Bess, Maddy, Aly, and me.

Aly had left it up to me, watching for clues I had changed my mind before she stepped in and put her foot down. Her intervention had started when Shirley called Bess, wanting to come to the wedding and see the ceremony. That was when my girl took charge. She’d picked up the phone to call Shirley and told her no. It was a simple no, and that was all she said. No explanations or long guilt-ridden conversations that would have been awkward for both of them.

She told me she’d ended the call with, “Shirl, we know you’re there. We know where you are, and we know you’re trying to care, but for right now, it’s always going to be no. If we change our minds about having you be a part of our life, we will come to you.”

Aly interrupted my foggy memory by saying, “Babe, I love you no matter what. You know that? Any way you come.”

I nodded. I knew it.

“Best thing I know. The only thing I know,” I told her, kissing her neck. I traveled my left hand down her rib cage, tickling her hip and caressing her thigh until it ended.

“Jake, let it. We’re having a moment, and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Nothing’s ruined. It’s better. You’re here.” A shudder rippled down my spine at the thought of her not being here.

“With half a leg,” she said.

“One and a half is better than none,” I protested. “Look at me.” I grabbed her chin and forced her to face me. “To me, you’re always going to be all legs, and now the one you have is looking pretty fine from PT.”

I winked at her and she gave me half a smile. When I tickled her rib cage, she gave me a full smile.

It hurt, and I knew it. Her leg ached, her heart was pained, but it didn’t make a difference to me. She was my tough Aly-cat, learning to walk with a prosthetic and training to do a 10-K with a hand cycle. Her arms never looked so amazing, but with Aly it didn’t matter, because her beauty came from within and shone through all that shit.

“Babe, can I continue seducing you?” she asked, and my body rose to the occasion.

“Yeah, I’ll be quiet now.”

Her hand came around the nape of my neck and pulled me close. She licked the seam of my lips and I let her inside, her tongue sweeping my mouth and brushing against mine.

The silk of her nightgown rode up and bunched under my hard abs, bringing to life the tiny hairs scattered over my body. I wanted her bad. I was desperate to take control, but I’d let her have her way for a while. Her nails scratched my back up and down, down and up, small circles, then big ones. She brought her right leg around my back and dug her heel into my ass to press her cunt against my cock, which was ready again.

My tip rubbed her clit and she let out a long purr, which was my undoing. Grabbing her arms, I pinned her hands above her head and snatched the leather ties from the nightstand. After I secured her hands in place and tied them to the wrought-iron headboard, I began my descent to her pussy.

“Jake, I was in charge,” she grumbled as my tongue lapped up her creamy skin.

“Not anymore,” I replied, and bit down on one of her nipples.

I blew my hot breath on the sensitive point, allowing my tongue to love it gently. Then I bit the other one, repeating the same tenderness I had a moment before. Her nipples stood at attention on her chest, pink and reaching for my mouth.

“Gorgeous. Fucking stunning.”

“More.”

“Who’s in charge? Not you, Aly.”

“I want more,” she said.

Of course I gave in, bringing my mouth down again on her tit. I sucked it until she was squirming and screaming. Finally, I was on the move again, dusting her flat stomach with kisses and making my way to where she wanted me to be. When my tongue grazed her clit, she arched right up into my mouth.

The ocean air swept in from the window, coating our skin with salt. We were in Grand Cayman, but we might as well have been in some basement in the middle of Kansas, because I had no intention of leaving the room. At least we were enjoying the breeze.

“Jake, don’t . . .” Aly whimpered when I quickly moved my tongue from her clit. “I want it back,” she begged.

I didn’t answer. My mouth wandered to the crease where her thigh met her groin, and did a little exploring in the small cavern of sensitive skin. I sucked hard when I made it up to her hip bone, leaving one hickey and then another.

“Please.”

That was all she had to say from her sweet mouth, and I was sucking the hell out of her clit, my finger dug deep inside her. I was done teasing, over being gentle, my control snapped. Her hips smacked my face as she tilted off the mattress. Fuck, her glutes were strong as hell when she wanted me to dine on her pussy. She kept her right heel digging into my own glutes, and I was pretty sure my cock was going to snap from the pressure.

I slid a second finger inside her, using the two in synchronicity to find her spot—the spot—and put pressure while I dragged my tongue hard over her clit.

“Oh God, Jake,” she wailed as she came hard and fast all over my face, her juices tickling the stubble along my jaw.

I sat up and swiped my hair out of my face. It was long again. I hadn’t buzzed it since the night Aly made me take charge again. There were fireworks that Fourth of July, and not just in the sky. I shaved it back then so I didn’t have to bother with it, but my girl liked her guy’s locks to be long enough to pull on. It was nothing but a quick trim these days when I went for a haircut.

“You want your hands back or you want to keep them tied up like a good kitty?” I asked as I propped myself over Aly’s sweet and sweaty body.

“Leave ’em,” she said.

I didn’t need any further talk. I just dove inside her body, my cock hitting the back wall of her pussy fast and furious. After a few pumps, I slowed the pace, dragging my length back and then leisurely sliding inside my most favorite place. We did this dance for a while, fast and slow, slow and fast, before Aly said, “Need my hands.”