Gods, did itmatter?

I hiked my right leg over his hip, and he caught it easily, backing me into the bed that rumbled against the wall. Our movements halted instantly. My ears prickled with the silence of the house, waiting for a sign that someone had stirred or heard the noise. But when nothing came to my awareness, I proceeded cautiously, trying to unbutton his shirt and failing when my fingers wouldn’t stop shaking.

Why wouldn’t they stop quivering like that? It wasn’t like I was with Dirk.

My eyes bulged when Slater laid me out and crawled over my body. Everything inside me clenched up, each muscle tightening while Slater continued, my brain feeling like it was left behind on the porch instead of catching up with me on the bed.

I grabbed Slater’s shoulders. “Wait.”

He stopped immediately and hovered over me, hair falling into his eyes and casting small shadows over his face. I pushed his hair out of the way, waiting for my heart to chill the hell out. History had a way of repeating itself—but I hoped hard that it would only be the sweetness of history, not the horror that had unfolded in Atlanta.

I should tell him everything, I thought again. And again, like before, I clamped down on the urge, worrying about ruining everything.

“Ginny?” His thumb skirted my chin. “Hey, are you alright?”

I nodded as I inhaled, forcing myself to breathe slowly.Just breathe how Dr. Windsor taught you…Another breath led to another. And then I was grasping the back of his neck and yanking him down to my mouth.

Our lips smashed together with a furious reunion, stars exploding over my vision as I wrapped my legs around his waist. Nothing could stop me from taking what I wanted, what I so desperately needed. Even memories couldn’t block me from pleasure. It had been too long—and I didn’t want to wait anymore.

Slater thrust between my legs. I felt his cock come to life, his hardness pressing to my slit and making me gush as I rolled my hips feverishly. Just humping him like this was enough to get me flustered, to give me the rush I eagerly sought. Tiny coos rose from me, the remnants of the moans I desperately tried to control.

My body warmed with every motion. Muscle memory took hold as he massaged my clothes from my body, taking his time with every layer, kissing each new patch of skin revealed. He didn’t let me touch him. Instead, he insisted I touch myself—rub my breasts, stroke my slit, trace my curves. He sat back and watched, undoing the layers that separated me from him, revealing the chiseled muscle that only got better with age.

Lust took hold when he pulled out his cock. I watched as he stroked himself with quick, hard pumps, a bead of fluid forming at the tip of his cock that signaled his arousal. I was just dying to have him in my mouth. But when I glanced skyward to ask, his determined features forced me to close my mouth.

I bowed my head obediently, waiting for him to take me. Because that was what he wanted, right? His body needed to be pleased, and I was made perfectly for such a situation. Nobody else was afforded such a luxury, so it had to be him. And it would always be him.

I could see that now.

“Slater, I—”

He brushed his thumb over my lips, prompting my silence. I collapsed back on the bed and widened my legs, eyes rolling with the familiar way his cock slipped between my wet folds. Gods, this was the most alarming and pleasurable feeling. I’d forgotten what it was like to have someone touch me this way. Yet at the same time, it was a sensation that renewed itself like it had been stored in my muscles for ages.

Likehehad been stored in my muscles for ages.

Red-hot wind coasted my skin. He breathed fire over my flesh as he bowed toward me, pressing his forehead to mine, commanding me to meet his gaze. No fear resided here. How could it when I knew him so well? In all the years I’d spent watching him from a distance, not once did I consider the consequences of something like this.

Well, I knew intimately certain kinds of consequences that could happen. But that was for another night. This night, gods, I was ready to surrender everything. I was ready to take him without a care in the world.

I caught his hips. No, I had to use my damn brain this time. I couldn’t risk another pair of consequences coming into my life. More lies would only complicate things. And who knew how long he would stick around this time?

“The top drawer of the nightstand,” I whispered. “The black ones.”

He smirked. “You remember my size.”

“I remember a lot of things.”

A few seconds later, he had the black foil in his fingers. He carefully peeled it open, applied the condom, and resumed his position, passion hardly lost from the wait. If anything, the anticipation had doubled my desire for him, tripled even.

I shivered as he roamed through my folds again. Much like the first time, my center ached for him to take me, thousands of tiny electric bolts stinging my skin wherever his hands skimmed my flesh. He was taking his time. He was teasing me.

My chest heaved with a breath when he sank into my entrance. Bated breath carried me away, my vision disappearing as he fully submerged his cock into me. As I arched my back to pitch my hips toward him, he devoured my right breast, coating me with affection and kisses, devoting his energy to engulfing the nipple and teasing me senseless.

Paired with his thrusts, pleasure overwhelmed me, breaking through my control and erupting whatever sanity I had left. My whole body convulsed as he pumped, slowing time while speeding up my heart. Fleeting feelings burst through me. And then I was shivering again, totally lost to the friction we created with our movements. His thrusts slowed but never stopped as he surfaced from my breasts to steal my lips.

I moaned eagerly into the kiss. His resonating chuckle irked me while encouraging me to keep going. The way he made love was utterly sublime, shooting me out of my body while grounding me at the same time. Another orgasm would come. I could feel it skirting around the edge of my awareness, causing my nipples to tingle as I hugged him tight to my chest.

As a groan rumbled his chest, he buried his lips into my throat and nipped the flesh, teasing me with his canines. There were only so many times a girl could lose her vision before it became permanent. But somehow, he managed to steal my sight and my mind, my body’s control and my heart’s rhythm. All of me belonged to him at that moment, and I wanted nothing more than for it to stay that way.