“Yes?” My loins were already stirring at the mere mention.

“Things got hot and heavy pretty fast,” she said. “We didn’t really go over any of the basics.”

“Basics?”

“Yeah. Like, the fact that you can start out a little slower than we did.” The black centres of her eyes bloomed. “With a kiss.”

Kiss.

I’d wanted to kiss her again ever since the wedding. But she had never invited me to.

Unless…

“Should I do it now?” I asked the question, but my mouth was already descending towards hers. Her answer was the softest of gasps, and then the press of her lips to mine.

She arched against me, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her lips parted, and astounding arousal slammed me when the slick tip of her tongue touched me.

“You can use your tongue, too,” she breathed against my damp mouth.

That was all the encouragement my tongue needed. It was desperate to be inside her – any part of her. With the same thrusting vigour I’d used last night, I plunged my tongue into her mouth.

“Mmmph!” Jaya broke the kiss, panting. “Slower,” she whispered. But it did not seem to be an admonishment. Merely kind, patient guidance.

She was too blasted good.

“Like this.” Her fingers twined in my hair as she brought her mouth back to mine, delicately swiping her tongue along parts of my lips that I’d never before known were this sensitive. My cock was like a rod of heated metal. I mimicked her actions, greedily delighting in the sound of pleasure she made when our tongues touched. My hands roamed her body, sliding beneath the slippery fabric of her top, my fingers splaying over the subtle flare of her slender hips.

“Can I take this off?” I asked, pulling away from the kiss.

“Yes. Fuck yes,” Jaya answered instantly. Her lips looked swollen and wet. Her eyes hazy. Her hair falling in messy pieces around her face.

A feral growl of pleasure – a sound I wasn’t sure I’d ever made before – made Jaya’s eyes widen. But despite the fact I’d just asked her if I could take the garment off, I paused for a moment to admire it on her. To see the way the flimsy finery clung to her body.

“I love this colour on you,” I said, plucking at the red strap on her shoulder.

“Thanks,” she replied quietly, looking pleased. “Red is one of my favourite colours.” Her fingertips moved along my head, sifting through my strands, making my scalp tingle and my cock ache. “Do you have a favourite colour?”

I leaned over her. My eyes went from her hair, to her brows, to her eyes, to her lips, to her skin.

Affection for her clubbed me, left me reeling.

“Brown,” I whispered.

Jaya’s brows contracted. Her breath seemed to rush out of her.

She yanked off her top, tossed it away, and then crashed her mouth to mine. My hands hefted the slight weight of the swells on her chest, revelling in the lurid contrast of the soft flesh coupled with the rapidly stiffening buds at the tips.

Jaya talked about going slower this morning than we had last night, but things seemed to happen quickly after that. Moments later, Jaya’s shorts were gone, though I could not say if I had removed them or she had. A primal sort of satisfaction made me growl again when my cock brushed against her cunt, and felt slick wetness there. I knew from the book that this wetness was a good sign.

It meant that Jaya felt what I felt, at least physically.

It meant that, in some small way, she wanted me.

I hovered on the edge of explosive oblivion, my cock instinctively pressing its sensitive head to her slick heat. Every muscle, every organ, every tendon and bone and nerve shuddered with the need to shove my shaft in deep. To feel that wet heat all around me. To lose myself inside her body. Empty myself into her. Give her my seed the same way that I’d already quietly, without her ever knowing, given her my heart.

“I need you inside me.”

I nearly ejaculated. Her panted words tore at me.