"I thought it was only for the pleasure?" she asked him then, knowing, just as he did, it had always been more.
"For the love, Kia," he whispered. "I love you with everything I am. Marry me."
"You just asked," she pointed out.
He stared back at her, and she saw all that love, felt all that love.
"I want nothing more than to marry you," she said softly.
He touched her cheek. His thumb whispered over her lips.
"I love you," he whispered. "More than I ever thought I could love."
"And I love you, more than any woman should be able to love."
Their lips met, their hearts, and for the first time in memory, Chase knew something, someone, was totally his. But even more, for the first time in his life, he belonged to that someone just as well.
Cameron came awake slowly, disoriented, then his expression eased and a smile lifted his lips.
He was sleeping in the new bed Jaci had bought months before. A monster king-size, heavy, four-poster of dark wood and masculine lines. So he would always be comfortable in it, he knew.
She was curled against him, her rear tucked into the curve of his body, his arms around her as she slept.
It wasn't Jaci who had awakened him, but Chase. Once, as twins, they had been aware of each other's nightmares. There were no more nightmares, and it seemed that now they could sense each other's joy as well.
He could sense that in his twin.
He smiled and let his eyes close again. Once, long ago, they had planned for just this. A life where they held love in the palms of their hands, where their families would always be close, always secure. And those dreams, so fragile at the time, were coming true.
But even more important, his twin was happy. He was complete.
Chase, unlike Cameron, hadn't lost the need for the darker passions, but Chase's reasons for them had always been different, too. For him, it was the pleasure; for Cameron, it was for the distance.
And Jaci allowed no distance.
He tucked her closer and let sleep take him once again. It had taken a while, but life was finally just right.