Must Love Fangs

Chapter Ten

Well, this was awkward.

I smiled tightly at Andre as he poured me another glass of red wine and I tried to ignore the scowling bodyguard standing right behind him.

Why did my date suddenly need protecting? Who was he afraid of? Was I in danger?

And most of all, out of the entire Russell Security team, why did it have to be Josh? He loomed over our date like a ghastly third wheel.

So very, very awkward.

I downed my wine quickly. Maybe if I got drunk, this wouldn’t be so bad.

“You’re very thirsty tonight,” Andre said, his tone holding affection and amusement. “Long day?”

I nodded and held my glass out for a refill. The truth was, every day was a long day lately. I hadn’t been handling the insomnia well this week. I’d also been stressed about how things were going with Josh, so I’d fretted and checked my phone for messages a hundred times an hour.

But he hadn’t texted.

Part of me had expected it. Still . . . I had thought we were friends. Feeling abandoned, I’d even cried a little. I’d trusted him and he’d run.

And now he was glaring at me? He could go jump off a cliff, for all I cared.

“You seem distracted,” Andre observed, extending his hand across the table.

I put my hand in his, which was unnervingly cool against mine. “I’m sorry.” I couldn’t even come up with an explanation that would put his mind to rest.

“Is this a bad time for you? Should we cancel our date tonight?” He gave me a concerned look, his other cool hand moving on top of mine. It was like being hugged by clay.

I squeezed his hand to reassure him. “I’m just a little . . . distracted by your bodyguard. I thought this date would be more private.”

“Is that all that’s bothering you?”

Joshua shifted on his feet, frowning fiercely at me, arms crossed over his chest.

“I just worry that you’re in danger.” I had Andre’s full attention, and he was smiling at me again, so I tilted my head, exposing my neck a bit. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“My dear, I am perfectly fine,” he said, his voice husky. “It’s simply a precaution. If he’s bothering you, I’ll see if the waiter can find him a nearby table so we can . . . talk privately.”

“That sounds lovely.” It was hard to be into Andre when the much hotter and far more alive Joshua was looming over him.

I needed to want the vampire, not the were-cougar.

Andre turned and flicked his fingers at Josh, indicating that he should scram.

Josh gave a curt nod, and he retreated to a nearby table and sat with a thump, his gaze still on us.

“Better?” Andre asked.

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“I want you to be comfortable around me,” he said, his voice low and soothing, almost caressing. “I know it’s hard for some of your kind to relax around a vampire, but I assure you that I’m a man, just like every other man.”

He’s a predator. He wants to chase his prey. I gave him a slow, sensual smile and tossed my hair. “Just like every other man?”

His gaze grew hot with desire. “Not quite. There are a few . . . subtle . . . differences.”

A hot blush crossed my cheeks. “You don’t say.”

“Am I your first?” he asked softly. When my eyes widened, he chuckled and lifted my hand to kiss it. “Your first vampire, I meant.”

I wasn’t sure that was what he’d meant, and I kept my tone flirtatious. “If I say no, will you hold it against me?”

Just then, my cell phone buzzed. Text message. I pulled my hands away and fished out my phone.

Do not go there, Josh had sent. Not with this guy.

I clicked my phone off, gritting my teeth. “Sorry. I thought it might have been important, but it’s not.” Since Josh had super shifter hearing, maybe he’d get the hint.

But Andre’s flirty chuckle returned and he laid his hand back down on the table once more. Guess I’d have to put mine in his. I did, forcing away the disquiet I felt when touching his skin. It was only because Josh was so close. If he hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have been nearly as bothered.

Even if I was, I’d learn to like it. I could hold a clammy hand or two in exchange for eternity.

“Another man?” Andre asked as his fingers curled over mine.

“I don’t know if I should tell you,” I said coyly, startled at how seductive I sounded. Go, me. “It’s not as if we’re exclusive, are we?”

He pressed another light kiss to my fingertips. “Perhaps we should be?”

Yes! Inside, I did a touchdown dance. Outwardly, I gave him a hint of a smile. “I’ll think about it.”

That’s right, predator. Come catch this prey.

Exclusive. With a vampire. That was one step away from having him turn me, right?

“So tell me, Minnie . . . do you like sports cars?”

“Don’t know a thing about them,” I confessed. “But I’d love to learn.”

“Would you like to see mine?” His eyes gleamed, and his wide, white smile suddenly looked a little . . . toothy?

Was this some sort of euphemism? Hey, baby, let me show you my Audi? Check out what’s under my hood?

But I was all-in when it came to this, right? And Andre was definitely interested, even though I was holding him at arm’s length. We hadn’t even kissed, and we’d had two awesome dates.

Sooner or later, he’d want to put those lips on me. I thought of his cool, almost clammy hands and shuddered at the thought of his lips feeling the same. What the hell was wrong with me? It was just body temperature.

I looked at Josh, two tables away, and glared at him. He was a big, good-looking distraction that I didn’t need.

“Why don’t you show me what you’ve got under the hood?” I found myself saying.

• • •

We drove around for about an hour, with the top down on his Audi TT sports car. Josh’s car tailed us from a discreet distance, just barely staying in sight. Andre drove out to a secluded spot, put the car in park, and put an arm over my shoulders.

I let him pull me close. I even let him kiss me. It was . . . strange. I was wildly aware of the tongue slowly thrusting into my mouth and how different the body temperature was. Andre’s fingers rested lightly on my cheek, brushing over my skin as he kissed me.

And then, something changed. Boy howdy. It was like every nerve ending jolted awake. Suddenly Andre’s kiss was the most erotic, intense thing I’d ever felt. My pulse began to pound, and I whimpered a little when he nipped at my lip.

If I didn’t climb on top of him in the next two minutes, I was going to die of desire. I had to have this man between my legs so badly that I ached.

Someone knocked on the car door, and we broke apart. I tilted my head back, drugged by Andre’s kiss, and saw Joshua’s scowling face.

“We’ve had another call, Mr. Jurov. I think you should wrap up the evening.”

Andre bit out a curse in another language, then looked at me with regret. “I am afraid we will have to do this some other night, Minnie.”

“Yes,” I said in a daze.

• • •

Andre dropped me back at the restaurant, and I barely wobbled back to work an hour before the shifts were scheduled to change. I still felt flushed, overheated. Oversexed. I was pretty sure that my panties were wet. From one kiss? That was so . . . weird. I hadn’t been into it, and then bam! Instant turn-on. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a little odd, so I checked my reflection in the compact in my purse. My pupils were enormously dilated.

So strange.

• • •

By the time I got home the fog had worn off, leaving me just perplexed. It was good that I liked Andre’s kisses, right? Still, I wished that Josh hadn’t been sitting in the parking lot, watching.

Was he mad when Andre held my hand? Jealous? Or was he understanding, now that he knew why I was pursuing vampires with such determination?

I changed out of my work clothes and into flannel pajamas, sliding my feet into my slippers. Then I sat down at my puzzle and picked up a piece, my brain still on my date.

Andre wanted to be exclusive, which was incredibly encouraging. We’d made out in his car and probably would have gone further if there hadn’t been an interruption. Ten bucks said that the interruption had all been Josh’s idea.

Why did he care? I’d poured my heart out to him, and he’d flat-out ignored me for two days.

I should have been excited as hell that things were moving with the vampire.

Instead I just felt . . . confused.

My doorbell rang.

It was eight thirty in the morning; who in the hell was at my door at this hour? This was theoretically bedtime for me. I padded to the door and peered in the keyhole.

Josh stood there, big hands propped against the door frame. His face was angled away, the baseball cap masking his expression.

Uh-oh. I paused on my side of the door, thinking.

“I can hear you there, Marie. And I can smell you. You smell good, by the way.”

I blushed.

“You can’t hide from a shifter. Might as well open up and let me in.”

Damn. I opened the door and looked at him, taking in his clean-shaven face, the sexy mouth pressed into a firm line. The tense shoulders. He didn’t seem happy. Well, that made two of us.

I tilted my head. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk,” he said, and he didn’t look very pleased at the thought.

“I thought you didn’t have anything to say to me.”

He adjusted his baseball cap, a sure sign he was annoyed. “Can you just invite me in, already?”

I moved to the side, my face a careful mask. Inside, I churned with a mixture of irritation and hurt and . . . if I was being honest with myself, pleasure at seeing Josh again. “So what brings you over? Just get off work? I’m surprised the boss didn’t keep you late. You know, just in case more of those ill-timed calls came in.”

He tugged his cap off, then raked a hand through his hair, trying to judge my expression. “You mad?”

Caught red-handed. “I’m just trying to figure out your game here. It seems remarkably coincidental that you’re bodyguarding the guy that I’m seeing.”

“Not coincidental at all,” Josh said, coming closer, “considering that a friend of mine made up the threat as a favor to me. Andre called in an extra guard for the night, just in case.”

I stepped back, glaring at him. “You faked a threat just so you could shadow him on his date with me?”

“No. We just told him there was a threat. We let vampire paranoia do the rest.” He looked rather smug.

“I don’t believe you,” I said with disgust. “Is that going to happen on my next date, too? Because I don’t know if you’ve thought about this, Josh, but if he’s going to turn me, he’s going to want to do more than hold my hand.”

That familiar scowl darkened Josh’s handsome face. Was that possessiveness I saw in his eyes? I stalked across the room to put some distance between us and sat on the small love seat that was at a right angle to my couch. If he was going to talk to me he’d have to sit on the couch, because the love seat couldn’t sit more than one comfortably.

No sooner had I thought it than he was sliding next to me, his hips pushing against mine, his thigh pressed to my own. He turned his big body toward me and leaned in.

“Are you going to let him kiss you again?” There was that gleam of possessive cougar in his eyes again.

“Josh,” I said softly, “I need him to turn me. You know that.”

“Let me talk to Beau,” he said, his voice dropping. “We can tell him that I want to turn you.”

I eyed him, wary. “And then what? You go into exile with me? Because I’m pretty sure neither of us will like Greenland.”

“That won’t happen,” he said confidently.

“Don’t lie to me, Josh.”

“Fine,” he bit out, looming over me, all delicious and sexy. “Here’s the truth. I don’t like it when he kisses you. I don’t like it when he touches your hand and you smile at him. It makes me so fucking crazy that I want to drag him away from you. I want to pull you into my arms and kiss you the way you should be kissed. By a man, not by some undead guy.”

That was a lot of honesty. My breathing was faster, more shallow. He was so close that I could smell the warmth of his skin, and it was doing crazy things to me inside.

“So yes, I hate it when he touches you. I couldn’t stop myself from interrupting. And I’m not sorry. The only reason he’s still in one piece at the moment is because this is what you need, and I am trying”—he ground his teeth, then gritted out—“to be understanding.”

That was . . . sweet.

“I didn’t enjoy kissing him,” I told him.

Josh scowled. “Oh, come on, Marie. Every girl enjoys vampire kisses. Their saliva is an aphrodisiac.”

“It’s . . . what?” That explained how I’d been completely uninterested, and then it was like a switch flipped and bam, insta-lust. “Aphrodisiac?”

That sounded . . . appalling. He’d deliberately drugged me with his kiss?

Josh looked surprised. “You didn’t know?”

“Well, that explains a lot. I guess there are some rather large gaps in my supernatural education.”

I felt violated. Andre had taken me to a quiet, secluded spot knowing how I’d react to his kiss. And if Josh hadn’t stopped it, I was pretty sure there would’ve been full-on sex. I shuddered.

“Now you see why it bothers me to see you with him?” His fingers stroked a curl of my hair, brushed it behind my ear in a tender caress.

A very tender caress for a man who had ignored me for the past two days. I shoved at his chest. “You don’t get to be jealous. I poured my heart out to you and told you my secret, and you ignored me for two days.”

I couldn’t help the note of hurt that had crept into my voice. I only hoped he hadn’t noticed it. Mr. Playboy didn’t get to hurt my feelings. I was ice. That was how things were safest.

But he just kept stroking my hair, then lightly grazed the shell of my ear with his fingers. “Give a guy a break, Marie,” he said softly. “You just told me that the girl I’m crazy about is dying. And the only way to stop her from dying is to let her sleep with another man and have him turn her into a vampire. And there’s nothing I can do about it, because I understand it. But that doesn’t make me feel any less helpless.”

My gaze went to his mouth, so firm and strong. His gaze was direct, and I resisted the urge to reach out and brush my fingers over those impossibly long lashes. So unfair for a man to have lashes like that. They made his eyes soft. Sultry. Delicious. His gaze sent shivers through my body. “You’re crazy about me?”

“Must be my hero complex,” he said softly. “I wish I could leave you alone and make this vampire thing easier for you. But it’s driving me nuts. All of it. You in his arms. The thought of you dying. The thought of walking away and just leaving all this to play out. I’m stuck no matter which way I turn, Marie.” His fingers trailed across my cheek, and his thumb slid to my mouth, brushing over the curve of my lower lip. “So I’d rather be stuck here with you.”

His touch felt incredible. He was here, with me. And I realized that this was his way of supporting me.

I bit at the tip of his finger when he brushed it over my lip, then released it. “So what are you going to do?” I whispered.

“Well,” he said, and his weight pressed over me on the love seat, his mouth moving ever closer to mine. He plucked my glasses off, then tossed them onto the nearby couch. His hand moved back to me, cupping my cheek and tilting my face toward his. I felt hot and flushed, in a clearer, purer way than when the vampire had touched me. This time, I felt the heat pulsing through my body, felt that delicious excitement at his touch. “Right now, I’m fighting the urge to throw you down on this love seat and fuck the hell out of you.”

That sounded way too tempting. “Why are you fighting it?”

He groaned and leaned in, pressing his mouth to my neck. “Marie, I can’t be with you without . . . putting some sort of claim on you. If you and I do this, I’m not going to be able to walk away like you want me to.”

“I don’t want you to walk away,” I said, and bit his lower lip, unable to help myself. “I never said that.”

“I don’t know what the solution is, but we’ll figure something out,” he said and nipped at my neck. The bite was flutteringly light, just a tease.

“Let’s just take it one day at a time,” I told him. “And today, I want my hands all over you.”

“Good, because mine are about to be all over you.”

“Then do it,” I dared him. “Or are you chicken?”

“Fighting words,” he said. His mouth was hot on my skin and incredibly distracting, and I loved it. He buried his head against my neck, and I felt his tongue swipe over my collarbone.

I gasped at the sensation that jolted through me.

He pulled up, eyeing me. “Everything okay?”

“I hope you’re not going to ask that every time I make a noise,” I told him, smoothing my hands down his chest in appreciation of the muscles there.

He undid the first button of my ugly flannel pajamas and exposed a bit more of my skin, then pressed his mouth there. “For someone so cranky, you sure do taste good.”

I smacked his chest, and his chuckle at the hollow of my throat sent a shiver through my body. I immediately lost track of all teasing thoughts, especially when he nipped lightly at my skin. Small, soft little bites, just the barest scrape of teeth against flesh. It gave me goose bumps, and I moaned when he gave my neck a long swipe with his tongue in response.

“Sorry,” he said, and his voice sounded rough with need. “Couldn’t resist.”

“Do it all you like,” I said dreamily. It felt amazing.

“You shouldn’t tell me that,” he growled, then licked my collarbone again.

“Then maybe I shouldn’t tell you how wet it makes me,” I whispered.

He bit me. I gasped in shock as I felt his teeth dig into my skin, the sting traveling up my neck. “Josh?”

He licked the spot carefully. “Sorry. Just had to do it. You were just begging for it.”

“I was not begging for anything,” I told him, running my hands along his back. I loved touching him after weeks of imagining how he’d feel.

“Really? Because all I’m hearing is ‘Josh, I need you to lick my breasts,’ ” he told me in a husky voice, kissing lightly along my jaw.

I sucked in a breath, my nipples going hard.

“Liked that, did you?” he said with a chuckle. Then he leaned down and undid the next button of my pajamas with his teeth. I watched, dazed, as his mouth moved to the curve of my breast and began to gently kiss it. “Can I undo the rest of them?”

“You’re asking permission?” I said, unable to stop looking at his mouth on the valley between my breasts.

“I need to know that you want this, too, Marie.” He looked up, and I saw his dark eyes reflecting with the were-cougar side of him. “You’ve got to encourage a man a bit, Marie.”

“What happened to all that talk about foreplay?” I was finding it hard to breathe. It was like all the air had left my lungs at the sight of his dark head over my chest.

He grinned. “Just talk, baby.”

I snorted at that.

He gave me a wounded look. “You’re killing my ego here, Marie.”

“It might need a nice, healthy deflating,” I told him, and then to take the sting out of my words, I ran a finger along his chest. “But I wouldn’t mind if you were shirtless.”

“I’ll go skins if you go skins,” he said with a grin. Josh crawled off me and stood up, then offered me his hand.

I placed mine in it slowly, feeling a little out of my element as he pulled me to my feet. Okay, a lot out of my element. All my expertise in flirting and being sexy was ten years rusty. And here I was in ratty pajamas, with dark circles under my eyes.

Then he tugged his shirt over his head, and my mouth went dry.

Josh was . . . gorgeous. In the future, I needed to see him naked at least once a day. Maybe more. I couldn’t resist reaching out to touch him. Taut, strong shoulders that framed a lean, tapering torso and a flat stomach. He had a sprinkle of hair on his pectorals and a line of it down his belly. Elegant. Delicious. His biceps were hard and strong, and I couldn’t help squeezing them as I ran my hands over him.

He remained perfectly still as I explored him, touching him the way I’d wanted to so many times before. I brushed my fingers over those pectorals, so well defined and hard, and jumped as a low rumble started in his chest under my fingers.

“Sorry,” he said, putting his hand over mine and trapping it against his chest again. “Should have warned you. We purr.”

Sure enough, a deep rumble just like a cat’s purring came from his chest as his hand held mine over his heart. “I didn’t realize your cat was so . . . close to the surface.”

“Don’t worry, I’m house trained.”

“Very cute.” I stared at that delicious skin, entranced, and ran my fingernails down it, raking them over the lean muscle.

He groaned, pulling me against him for another hot, quick kiss. “Your turn.”

I pulled out of his arms and felt my cheeks heating with shyness. Would my inexperience show? I hoped not. I finished unbuttoning the pajama top, keeping the fabric together until the last minute. Then I shrugged my shoulders and let it drop to the floor. I closed my eyes, waiting for his response.

“Beautiful,” he said, his warm hands moving back around my waist and pulling me against him for another hot, openmouthed kiss. We were naked chest to naked chest, and dear God, the sensation was sinful. Especially when his tongue was stroking into my mouth so sensually, like I was something delicious to be enjoyed for hours. One of his big hands stroked down my spine and I whimpered, pressing my breasts closer against his chest. I loved his warmth, his big body. I wanted to feel him all over me.

His hand slid to my ass and tugged me closer as the kiss deepened, became more possessive. My pulse heated, pounding through my body in excitement. His mouth slowly pulled away from mine, and he stared down at me with hot eyes. “You want the bed or right here? Because we should probably go there now.”

“Bed,” I said softly, my fingers twined in the silky hair at his nape.

He picked me up, kissing me as he carried me to my bedroom, then laid me on the bed and crawled on top of me. I wrapped my pajama-clad legs around his waist as he leaned in for another kiss, his chest hair tickling against my nipples.

And then he thrust against the juncture of my thighs, and I moaned. Oh, wow. Even through his jeans, that felt really, really good.

He swallowed my moan with another hot kiss, thrusting again, rocking against my core. My mind went blank with pleasure as he slid his hands to my waist and kissed my neck again, then down my collarbones.

When he leaned over and took the tip of one breast into his mouth, I dug my fingernails into his skin. “Joshua!”

He was purring again, nuzzling against my nipple, and he licked and sucked the sensitive tip, rolling it against his tongue. I felt the purr vibrating through his body, and it was doing crazy things to the way he felt against me. My sex felt hot and slick with need, my thighs clenching around him involuntarily. “Please . . . ”

“Please make love to my other breast?” He blew across my sensitive skin, and my entire body prickled in response. “If you insist.” And his mouth latched onto my other breast. His thumb went to the nipple he’d just abandoned, teasing the peak as he licked and nibbled on the other.

I writhed under him, my back arching. I didn’t want the sweet, intense torture to ever stop. I wanted more, desperately. My fingernails dug into his skin and my hips began to rise instinctively. “Please,” I breathed again, because I loved the consequences and wanted to see what he’d do next.

“Please,” he whispered huskily. “Put my mouth on you?”

I inhaled sharply, and nodded.

His fingers tugged the waistband of my pajamas and slid them down my legs. “I’ve been thinking about how you’d look for weeks. It’s been driving me crazy. I can’t wait to see all of you.”

I held my breath as his gaze moved over my body. His hand followed his gaze, skimming up my leg, then my thigh, the dark curls at the junction of my sex.

“Lovely,” he whispered, and leaned in to press a kiss to my belly.

That simple movement set my body aflame. I reached for him, dragging him back on top of me and kissing. He slid between my thighs and I parted them, letting him rock his weight against me again. His jeans rubbed against my sex in a raw way that sent shivers through my body. His kisses were deep and drugging, and I utterly loved the taste of him. I could kiss him for hours on end.

He slowly pulled away. “I need to take my pants off before they geld me.”

I giggled, and he grinned. “Do you want me to use a condom?” he asked.

“Shouldn’t you automatically do that?”

He shook his head. “Shifters don’t get diseases, and I can only make someone pregnant if she’s in heat.”

I propped up on my elbows, thinking. “What about me? Can you make me pregnant?”

He shook his head. “Not unless you’ve got shifter blood in you. It won’t take.”

I grabbed the front of his jeans, tugging him toward me on the bed. “Then we’re good.”

He grinned and dropped his hands to my hair, smoothing it away from my face. “You gonna do the honors?”

Finish undressing him? The thought was . . . titillating. I looked up at him, feeling a bit anxious, but the hot look in his eyes reassured me. He was into this as much as I was. I carefully undid the button and lowered the zipper, shoving the jeans down his legs and revealing red briefs that left almost nothing to my imagination. “Oh . . . ”

“Pretty impressive, huh?” he said with a teasing grin.

“Actually, it’s smaller than I thought,” I teased back.

“Oh, really?” he said with a challenging tone in his voice. “Then quit staring.”

“I can’t,” I admitted and brushed my fingers over him through the fabric he was tenting.

He groaned, his fingers tangling in my curly hair. “God, Marie. I want your hands on me so badly.”

“I can do that,” I said softly, tugging at the waist of his briefs and pulling them down. He quickly wriggled out of them and then was naked in front of me.

Naked, and gorgeous. And hugely erect. His cock was long and thick, the crown tipped with a bead of moisture. I brushed a finger over that bead and was rewarded with his deep groan in response. My fingers moved hesitantly over the length of him, just testing. Fluttering. That was . . . exciting. I wrapped my hands around his length and bent to take the head into my mouth.

His breath exploded. “Oh, God, Marie. That’s so good.”

Encouraged, I swirled my tongue around the crown, then sucked it again. I wanted to please him, to make him as crazy for me as I was for him. My grip tightened on his cock and I sucked harder.

He thrust into my mouth, then pulled away. “You can put your mouth on me next time,” he whispered, giving me another hot kiss. “Right now I want you pinned under me, screaming my name.”

That visual stole the breath from my lungs.

He raised up over me, staring down at me with incredible tenderness, his hands spreading my hair around my head in a halo. “I always wanted to see you like this. Beautiful and soft.”

“And naked in your arms?” I guessed.

“Naked in my arms,” he agreed, then leaned in and kissed my shoulder. “With your breasts in my face, your nipples calling to my mouth,” he continued, and followed that statement with his lips grazing over the tips of my breasts.

I gave a low, shuddering cry.

“Naked in my arms, with your thighs over my shoulders,” he said softly, moving down my body and lightly running his mouth down my belly. His thumbs moved to my sex, and he ran one down the wet seam.

“Josh,” I moaned, unable to do anything but breathe his name. “Please. I want you inside me.”

He ignored my pleas, parting the lips of my sex and licking me in a long, slow motion that set me to shuddering and whimpering.

“You taste so sweet, Marie,” he whispered, and I felt that wild purr start up again. “Slick and wet and so good. I could spend hours here.”

I moaned at the thought. I wouldn’t be able to survive hours. I’d expire, happy and content and boneless. When he licked again I squirmed under him, feeling that ache deep in my core rising and helpless to do anything about it. My hips rose in response to his next lick, and I cried his name out again.

“Need you,” he breathed. “Next time, I’ll spend hours there.”

“Whatever,” I said, twisting under him, desperate with need. “Please. I need you, Joshua.”

He surged back over me, pushed my quivering legs wide, and settled on top of me, propping his body up on his elbows. Then he leaned in to kiss me again. The man loved kissing more than I’d thought possible.

He lifted one of my legs, anchoring it around his waist. His hand slid between us as he positioned himself, and I felt the head of his cock nudging at my entrance. I tensed a little, anticipating his slow slide into my body.

It had been so long that I wasn’t prepared for his thrust as he sank in to the hilt, and I yelped.

He stiffened, the hot, glazed look in his eyes turning to horror. “Marie . . . baby? You okay?”

I squirmed, digging my fingernails into his flesh. He was so big. “I’m good. Just give me a minute. It’s been a while.”

He stared at me. “How long has it been?”

“A few . . . years. Maybe . . . a decade.”

He swore, trying to pull off me. “Fuck, Marie. I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I would have—”

I silenced him with a kiss, wrapping my legs around him. The last thing I wanted was to be treated like some delicate flower. “Shhh. Can we just go on with this?”

He kissed me back, almost grudgingly. “Tell me when you stop hurting.”

I took his lower lip in my mouth and sucked on it, eliciting a groan from him. His hips jerked against mine, resulting in a little dig of his cock buried deep inside me. And it felt . . . good. A little twingey, but I was adjusting. I rocked my hips a little against him. “Oh, yeah. It’s definitely stopped hurting. Give me more, Josh.”

Strain creased his forehead. “I’ll go slow, but you have to tell me if you hurt.” And he very slowly rocked his hips against my own in a smooth, circling motion. I followed his lead, once, twice, and then he began to pump into me slowly, his gaze intent on my face, watching my reactions.

“I’m not a virgin, so you don’t have to be so—” My mouth parted as he stroked into me. “Oh . . . ”

“Good oh or bad oh?” His voice sounded strained, his movements stilling.

My fingers clenched his ass. “Good oh. Keep doing that, Josh.”

He began to pump into me, harder, faster. The twinges of discomfort were soon buried in an onslaught of sensation. I’d never felt anything like this before. Every nerve ending was alive and on fire, and my hips rose to meet his with every thrust, my movements clumsy in comparison to his, but I didn’t care. I needed him, needed this.

Josh whispered against my neck as he rocked deep into me, each thrust jolting my body, his movements becoming rougher, jerkier. My body was tensing but I wasn’t quite there yet, and my fingers dug into him harder as his hips pistoned against my own. “Josh . . . I need . . . ”

“I know,” he gasped, punctuating his words with another thrust. “I’m going to give it to you.”

Watching my face, he slid his hand between us, searching. His fingers parted the lips of my sex and found my clit, and then he thrust again, rubbing against it.

If I thought I was on fire before, I was an inferno now. My entire body jolted like a live wire, and the pleasure I’d been chasing came closer. “Right there!”

He continued to thrust, his fingers teasing the bud with quick, rapid movements. Thrust, stroke, thrust, stroke, and my body kept tensing harder until I thought I would snap in two, my muscles locking so tight.

And then I went over the edge, my entire body clenching around him in a hard, rocking orgasm. I screamed his name as he thrust hard and wild into me. His teeth locked down on my collarbone, biting me as he came in his own quick, violent release.

He rocked over me a moment longer, kissing my mouth one last, slow time, and then rolled over to lie next to me. He exhaled a deep, gusty breath.

I echoed it, my body still quivering. “Damn,” I said softly.

“A decade, huh?”

“Hush up, Josh.”

He kissed my palm. “In all seriousness . . . are you okay?”

“I think I pulled a few muscles—but I’ve never been better.”

• • •

Even exhausted and deliciously sated from lovemaking, I couldn’t sleep. Next to me, his hand curled in my hair, leg thrown over mine, Josh slept, his chest rumbling in a purr. I closed my eyes and tried to will my body to sleep, but after an hour of tossing and turning, I gave up.

I carefully detangled myself without waking him and tiptoed down the hall for a quick shower. Then, after I toweled off, I headed for my puzzle.