Hot Number (Hot Zone 2)

With a low growl, he stepped back long enough to unbutton and pull off his jeans himself, while she, too,undressed. He made love to her standing up, no condom. The sensation of Damian, every hard, smooth velvety ridge of him was like nothing she'd experienced before.

So real, so honest, so very very emotional, Micki thought, as her imminent climax built higher and higher, his pace ever more frenzied until he came inside her. He thrust upward one last time, taking her along with him, calling her name on a low groan that vibrated through her entire body.

"I love you," he said, his arms still wrapped tightly around her.

She smiled. "I love you, too."

He looked into her eyes and she knew she, saw his soul there. "Marry me," Damian said, his body still touching hers, their skin still damp from making love.

Micki could only nod and then she laid her head against his chest, listening to his heart beat, knowing how lucky she was.

How lucky they both were.

EPILOGUE

DAMIAN'S NORMALLY QUIET island home was filled with guests. His parents, his sisters, their husbands and all their children, Sophie, Annabelle and Vaughn, Yank and Lola, and all Annabelle's and Yank's animals gathered in his house for a long weekend. And a wedding.

Lola and Yank had eloped the week before. Yank had refused to be a spectacle, walking down the aisle with his poor excuse for a Seeing Eye dog leading the way, stopping to sniff every flower and person. Lola hadn't wanted a wedding, she only wanted Yank, and so they'd sprung the news on the girls at the first formal staff meeting of the still-unnamed merged firms of Atkins Associates and the Hot Zone. As usual, the men couldn't agree on whose name or initial should go first on the letterhead.

With business and her uncle's personal life settled, Micki and Damian had set their own date, one they'd decided to push up after discovering that their locker room rendezvous had actually resulted in Micki getting pregnant.

"Are you ready?" Sophie entered the room wher

e Micki had just finished changing into her ivory dress.

She smoothed the long train behind her and nodded. "Nervous but ready."

Sophie, the picture of perfection in her soft pink gown and French braid, walked over and kissed Micki's cheek. "You can't be nervous about marrying Damian."

"Of course not!" Micki had never been more certain of anything in her life. "But I am nervous about facing Uncle Yank for the first time since he discovered I'm pregnant and unwed."

Sophie laughed. "Oh, Lola will keep him calm."

"Want to bet?" Annabelle asked, joining them.

Like Sophie, she was also dressed in light pink, except hers was maternity wear and she was very pregnant. "He's downstairs threatening to nail Damian to the backstop by his… Well you get the drift."

Micki cringed. "Let's get this wedding over with before he neuters the groom."

"Good idea, especially if you two are really looking to load the field with your own baseball team."

Micki felt herself pale. "No way am I doing this nine times. I'm too nauseous even to contemplate a repeat performance."

"They say you forget the bad parts of pregnancy as well as the pain of childbirth," Sophie said helpfully" figure it must be true or nobody would have more than one kid."

Micki shot Annabelle a knowing grin. "This from the only one in the room who's still single."

"The bleachers are filled with athletes for her to choose from right now," Annabelle said.

Micki and Damian had decided to marry on his beloved field of dreams. The guests filled the bleachers. Completely apropos as far as Micki was concerned.

"You both know I prefer not to date athletes. They use their bodies more than their brains. Present company's husbands and soon-to-be husbands excepted of course." Sophie grinned.

Micki walked over to her middle sister. “Trust me when I tell you, love finds you when you least expect it."

"And don't know what to do with it," Annabelle added.

Sophie planted her hands on her hips. "Spoken like two women head over heels. Thank God I'm the sister with the most common sense."