When she looked back up at him, he was studying her with those deep brown eyes. Dropping his hand, she leaned forward, putting her palms against his face.

"Will you marry me, Damon? Will you be my husband and my lover for the rest of our lives?"

His eyes widened. First shock and then joy flooded them so warm and vibrant that tears clogged her throat, burning and squeezing. If she'd had any reservations, any concerns, they vanished as she saw his relief. Had he been so worried she wouldn't marry him?

"Yes," he said solemnly. "I'll marry you, Serena mine. Anytime, anywhere. I don't care as long as you'll be mine."

She brought her lips to his, kissing him hungrily. Then she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him fiercely, content to just hold on and feel his strength, and his love.

"I don't want to wait," she whispered against his neck.

"Then we won't wait," he said simply.

"I want to be yours."

"You're already mine, Serena. No ceremony or lack thereof will ever change that. You'll always, always be mine."

She smiled and squeezed him a little tighter. "We need to call your mom. And mine. She and Dad will want to fuss." She pulled away and sat up to look him in the face. "I don't want a fuss but I don't want to disappoint my mom either. Maybe we could compromise and keep it small, just friends and immediate family."

He cupped her cheek in his palm and smiled lovingly at her. "Do you know how happy you've just made me? Are you sure, Serena? You seemed to have doubts before. I want you to be sure this is what you want. I won't push you for more. You know that."

"I do know. Oh, Damon, I love you so much."

"It figures you would catch me so unprepared," he said ruefully. "The ring I've carried everywhere with me over the last weeks is sitting upstairs in the drawer of my dresser."

"We can get it later. All that matters right now is you and me." She squirmed with excitement on his lap. "I'm getting married. Holy hell, that's scary!"

He administered a light smack to her hip. "Marrying me should not be in the least bit scary. You should be swooning with joy."

She grinned. "Okay, I'll stand up and swoon but if you don't catch me, I'm going to kick your ass."

"I'd rather carry you upstairs, tie you to my bed and make love to you all afternoon long. Then maybe I'll let you up so we can call our families."

"And they say romance is dead," she murmured as she closed her mouth over his.

Somewhere between the melancholy and the ass kicking, Julie's self-disgust overpowered everything else. Which was good, because there was only so much wallowing she could take.

Yeah, Damon and Serena hit her hard, but they were Damon and Serena. Julie was . . . well, she was Julie. Looking at someone else's relationship for the answers was like reading about a romance novel hero and expecting to find a carbon copy in real life.

Smart women didn't do either. And above all, she was a smart woman.

After boiling in a bathtub for the better part of the afternoon, she applied fourteen different types of girly garb, painted her toenails, did all the waxing she could reach and went digging through her freezer for some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.

She needed a plan. She wasn't going to, in the words of Serena, allow the kicked puppy to take over. No, that wasn't her style. What would the real Julie do when confronted with Nathan's one-upsmanship?

She smiled around a spoonful of ice cream. The real Julie wouldn't get mad. She'd get even. And that posed all sorts of delectable possibilities.

Luring him in for another massage would never work. He'd see that one coming a mile away. Besides, she was nothing if not original. No, she wanted something bold. Something he'd never see coming in a million years. Something that gave her the upper hand.

Easier said than accomplished, however.

She sighed a little mournfully as she licked the sweetness from the spoon. The only thing that irked her about the entire experience—now that she knew who her mystery men were—was that she hadn't been able to look at Nathan and Micah, especially Nathan, while they were fucking her mindless.

A woman should never be blindfolded when making love to men who looked that good. That was her own stupidity, but then again, if she hadn't made that stipulation, Nathan wouldn't have seized his opportunity.

But still. She groaned as her body went all fiery again just thinking about Nathan's naked body lying over hers, his hips flexing, muscles bulging while he thrust. Even ice cream wasn't going to help this burn.

Micah was probably nice to look at too in the buff, but with Nathan in the room, she doubted she would have even seen Micah. Which was too bad, really. When a woman stopped noticing a good-looking man, she was either in love or struck blind. She was going with the latter, since lust didn't equal love in her world.

She let the spoon rest on her tongue as she stared dreamily into the distance. Nathan Tucker in her bed. Powerless. Hers to do with whatever the hell she wanted. Nathan Tucker tied to her bed. Oh hell yeah. Her girly parts were singing at the idea.

What she could do to a man who could do nothing but lie there and take it. Oh, she'd treat him very, very well. He'd enjoy his captivity before she turned him back into the wild. Mreowl Her chill bumps had chill bumps as she imagined all she could get away with if she had him completely at her mercy.

It would be the perfect payback. A man like him would chafe at being subdued by a little ole woman like her. He'd huff and snarl but in the end she'd bring him gently to heel. He'd be purring like a well-trained kitten by the time she finished pleasuring him.

She frowned as she dug back into the ice cream. As fantasies went, this one was stellar. But the execution. Now there was the deal breaker. How the hell was she going to get Nathan Tucker in her bed, naked and bound?

She could ask Faith for handcuffs—the good police-issue ones, because she didn't want the kind he could break out of in two seconds flat. Faith was a kinky bitch, and Gray was an ex-cop. They had to have a few lying around, didn't they? It still didn't answer the problem of how to get Nathan into them, however.

Well, just because she didn't have an immediate answer didn't mean she was going to give up. Some things were just too good to let go of. Nathan naked and at her mercy was one of them.

She polished off the rest of her ice cream and sat back with a satisfied yawn. After last night she had that yummy kind of lethargy that spoke of great sex and multiple orgasms. Going back to bed wasn't a bad idea. She had a full day of client appointments to start off her week. She'd worry about how to take down Nathan tomorrow. Today she was going to stare at the back of her eyelids and dream of all she'd do when she did run him to ground.

Chapter 23

“Where the hell is Micah?" Nathan asked.

Pop looked up from the scattered paperwork on Faith's desk while Connor stood to the side staring over Pop's shoulder as they looked for an invoice.

"I forgot this was his time off," Pop muttered.

"You gave him time off when we're short Faith and Gray?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

"Well, it wouldn't be my first choice, but the only time he ever asks for is every year on precisely the same days. He has a standing request in. Never changes them. Never calls in any other time, so I have a hard time telling him no."

Nathan frowned. Come to think of it, Micah did take off every single year on the same days. Even stranger, he disappeared and no one knew where he went or heard from him until he came back to work.

"Faith and Gray will be home tomorrow," Connor offered. "At least we'll have decent coffee again."

Pop grunted, his lips curled into a surly line. None of them was worth a damn without their supply of coffee. Problem was, no one knew what kind Faith used. It was her highly guarded secret. She used it as a weapon in case they ever got any crazy ideas about firing her. As if.

"So how'd your date with Julie go, anyway?" Connor asked. "Haven't had a chance to ask you since you two went out."

Nathan blinked. They didn't normally talk about their damn personal lives. But he saw the gleam in Connor's eyes and scowled.

"It went fine."

"Yeah? She stick around long enough for you to call it an actual date?"

"You're asking for it, Malone."

"Leave the boy alone," Pop said with a wave of his hand. "We've got enough to do without you two bickering like a bunch of children."

Connor sent him a sideways look and grinned slyly. "I was thinking, if you two aren't going out regularly, I might ask her out. I've only met her a couple of times but she's seriously hot."

Nathan rocketed to his feet. "Over my dead body!"

Pop gave him a disgusted look. "Sit down, son. You're way too damn easy."

Connor chuckled. "Who says I wasn't serious?"

"That girl would eat you alive," Pop said, not looking up from his search. "Look at what she's done to Nathan. You like your conquests to be easy, and I'd say Julie's anything but easy."

Nathan snickered. "You like 'em easy, eh, Connor? There's a word for that, you know."

"Fuck you. I just like girls who don't rank up there with crazy ex-girlfriend status."

"You've had your share of crazy exes," Pop muttered.

"Oh?" Nathan hooted. "Do share, Pop."

"Don't we have work to do?" Connor asked.