But I don’t care anymore. I need it.

Besides, it’s just physical…right?

“God, I fucking love seeing you in my clothes,” he practically growls.

I knew last week he was enjoying the view, which is why I intentionally didn’t pack pajamas for my overnight stay.

“Do you have any idea how sexy you are, Den? How hard I had to fight every day of the last five years to not touch you? To not pull you into the nearest empty closet and have my way with you? And tonight, seeing you in that dress…god, it was killing me.”

He covers my nipple, sucking the hard peak through the t-shirt, and I nearly fall off the counter at the touch.

“Oh hell,” I mutter. “Stop talking.”

“No. You need to know this. You need to know how you’ve affected me.”

I push him away, bringing his face up to mine. “No, Shep, I really don’t need to know. I don’twantto know, because if I know, it’s going to make me all too aware of how bad an idea this is. I shouldn’t be doing this—weshouldn’t be doing this. I should have my guard up around you because you hurt me beyond belief. Yet, here I am, sitting on top of your counter wanting this more than my next breath. So, no, Idon’twant to hear this. I just want tofeelgood.”

He looks like he wants to argue, to try to convince me I’m wrong, but that’s the problem…we both know I’m not.

This is a horrible idea.

And we’re going to do it anyway.

Like he flips a switch inside himself, he gives me his signature grin and says, “I can help with that.”

His mouth closes around my nipple and he bites down—hard. I arch into it, wanting more, needingmore. He complies with my demands, sucking on me until I can’t take it anymore.

“Shep.”

That’s all it takes and he’s pulling at my bottoms. The shorts of his I’m wearing slide off me with ease, leaving me sitting on his kitchen counter in nothing but my t-shirt and panties.

His large hands splayed across my thighs send my mind reeling, and I squirm at the thought of him burying his head between them.

His eyes meet mine,starved, wanting this as much as I do.

He doesn’t voice his question out loud, but I see it anyway and spread my thighs in answer.

With a grunt of approval, he hauls me to the edge and I fall backward, my back resting against the cool countertop.

My legs shake as he pushes them apart even farther and I feel his eyes on me, on my light pink lacy boy-shorts.

“This is what you were wearing under that dress all night long?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Fuck, Den.”

“You should see the ass.”

With ease, he flips me around until I’m facedown on the counter, arching me until my ass is in the air.

“Hashtag no filter, huh?”

He lifts the edge of my underwear, just enough to see the bite mark he left there earlier, and he kisses it. The gesture sends my heart into overdrive as he flips me around again, jerking me back to the edge of the counter.

Maybe it’s the anticipation driving me nuts as he stares down at me, fingers on the edge of my panties. Slowly, he pulls the fabric aside, exposing me to him for the first time.

“Give me your hand,” he instructs, never taking his eyes off me.