“Did you like that?”

She took the phone off speaker and held it against her ear, as though that would bring Dylan closer. “I loved it.”

She could practically see him smile through the phone. “You keep blowing my mind, Grace.”

“I might even have blown mine tonight,” she teased, barely stifling a yawn halfway through.

“You’ve had a long day. I should let you go to bed.”

She wanted to stay on the phone with him for hours, but she knew both of them needed clear heads tomorrow. He had a week-long race to start in his friend’s boat, and she had a story to nail before she went to Mia’s surprise party.

“I love you, Grace. And if I can’t reach you again for a few days while I’m racing, I want you to promise me you won’t forget it.”

I love you, too, she thought. I love you so much. The words were on the tip of her tongue, playing over and over in her head so loudly that she half-thought he’d be able to hear them. But in the end, all she managed to say was, “I won’t forget, Dylan. I promise.”

“Sweet dreams, sweetheart.”

“Sweet dreams.”

* * *

Grace’s thoughts were jumbled as she put the phone down. If anything should have been “just sex,” it was what they’d just done. And yet, it had been so beautiful. So emotional.

From the first, she’d known Dylan Sullivan was special. He made her feel things no other man ever had. And yet, she’d still been determined to deny it, to hide from it. But Dylan had been equally determined not to let her keep doing either one. Slowly, patiently, he’d touched her heart just as gently, and as thoroughly, as he touched her body.

She’d taken that first scary step toward something real by letting his brother Adam know that they were no longer just interviewer/interviewee, but were dating. That had been frightening enough. Still, she’d told herself that just because they were officially dating didn’t mean they wouldn’t still be taking things slow.

But tonight she could no longer deny what she really felt—and had felt almost from the first moment that Dylan had taken her son in his arms to calm his crying. A love that had already grown big. Strong. And undeniable.

She’d been close, so close, to saying the three little words aloud on the phone tonight. But something had held her back at the last second. The fear that once she let herself believe, truly believe what they were building could last, it would all be ripped away from her.

To let herself love Dylan Sullivan with all her heart and then lose him?

Oh God, it hurt even to think of it.

She’d been a wreck after her ex had dumped her, but it hadn’t been because she was heartsick. It had been because she was disgusted with herself for being stupid enough to fall for his act. And after she’d vowed to protect both Mason’s and her own heart, she’d told herself the two of them didn’t need anyone else, that they were already a perfect little unit. That determined independence had gotten them across the country and settled into a new life in Seattle.

But now…what if she truly opened up the door she’d locked down so tightly a year and a half ago? What if she decided to stop being so wary? To trust that Dylan meant it when he said he saw the three of them together forever? And to finally let him in so that her tight little unit of two became three?

Of course, she already knew that opening a door for Dylan Sullivan actually meant pulling down an entire wall for his whole family. A big, wonderful family who had taken them in from the very first moment.

Grace had been raised by two wonderful parents who had always taught her to look for the good in people. Yes, she’d been burned. Badly burned by her ex and the other Bentleys. But they hadn’t destroyed her or Mason. Hadn’t even come close.

She’d trusted before, and with Dylan’s help—and his love—she was learning to trust again.

She nearly called him back, but she wanted to see his face when she finally said the three words she knew he’d been hoping to hear, wanted his arms around her when she risked everything by saying I love you.

* * *

Dylan’s body was loose after the hottest phone sex in history, but his mind was racing so he grabbed a beer and stepped out on the deck of the waterfront condo in which his friend was putting him up for the night before they got out on the racing yacht.

All day long, he’d been thinking about Grace. When would she accept her feelings? When would she trust him not to ever hurt her in any way? And when could he finally claim both Grace and Mason as his own?

He’d called her without video because he’d wanted the intimacy of fantasy, the thrill of pretend, to be what drove them both over the edge. But even more than he’d wanted to be there with her tonight watching her skin flush and her eyes darken with desire as he made love to her, he wanted to see his ring on her finger. He wanted Mason to officially be a Sullivan. And he wanted to know that both of them were forever protected from anyone in the past who might try to rise up to hurt them.

He’d texted his brothers to set up another meeting as soon as he returned from the race. This time, everyone would come with what they’d learned about the Bentleys to work out their game plan. Because in the same way that Dylan had had the sixth sense that his life was going to change right before Grace and Mason had shown up at his boathouse, his gut was now telling him that the wind was shifting again, quite possibly bringing a tornado this time.

Dylan looked out over the Sydney Harbor, one he’d sailed many times in the past few years. He was looking forward to getting out on the water and breaking another record this year. But he was looking forward to getting back to Grace and Mason—the woman and child who were already and would forever be his—a hell of a lot more.