“Stay with me. One more night,” I repeat, and the unsaid words in case this is goodbye electrify the air between us.

I trace my hand down her body, and the tension seeps out of her with a soft moan that gets me hard every time. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken her virginity. Maybe she’ll regret that after she leaves, but I know I never will. Being inside her, watching the pleasure wash over her face as her body adjusted to mine and I finally sank deep… It was the most beautiful gift I’ve ever been given, second only to a woman like her loving me.

She grabs the tequila we left on the bedside table last night and says, “Cheers,” before taking a swig.

Taking the bottle, I grin and splash some between her br**sts. “Cheers,” I murmur before I lick away the liquid, following it as it trails down her belly and sides. By the time I’m done, she’s squirming under me.

Gently, I cup her between her legs, where she’s wet from our lovemaking. “Are you sore?”

She shrugs. “A little, but it’s not a bad feeling. More like muscles after a long workout. The good kind of hurt.”

The good kind of hurt. Yeah, I’m feeling that too, even if my pain is more of the existential variety.

“Hmm.” I roll on top of her and pin her hands to the bed as I murmur against her skin and kiss my way down her body. “Let me kiss it and make it better.” Releasing her hands only so I can part her thighs, I sink to my stomach on the bed and position my head between her legs. “Right here?” I trace her opening, and she gasps and parts her legs farther.

When I replace my fingers with my mouth, she fists her hands in my hair, and f**k, do I love that. I stroke her with my fingers and tongue until she’s moaning and so close to coming that she’s f**king my face with jerking, desperate movements. Only then do I pull away and slide back up the bed next to her body.

“Better?”

She pries her eyes open and frowns at me. “You’re…you’re done?”

I have to laugh. “You’re so f**king cute when you’re trying to pretend you don’t care about getting off.”

“I don’t want to be…greedy. I mean, I know we just had sex, so maybe you’re not interested.”

I grunt and lead her hand to my aching erection. “I’m interested, angel. With you, I’m always interested.”

She licks her lips as she wraps her fingers around me and strokes. “Then why did you stop again?”

My hips thrust, moving in her hand. “Because I want to be inside you when you come but I don’t want to make you too sore. I’m trying to be a gentleman.”

“A gentleman? Oh.” She releases me, and I nearly grunt in disappointment. “In that case, I’m going to be a lady. And this lady needs a shower.”

I stay in bed as she saunters into the bathroom. Not because I’m going to lose the opportunity to shower with Hanna—fuck no—but because I like watching her ass jiggle as she walks. There are very few perfect sights in this world of imperfections, and as such, I will never take Hanna’s ass for granted.

By the time I pull myself out of bed and meet her in the bathroom, she’s already in the shower, water sluicing over her curves. I’m jealous of the damn water because it’s touching her everywhere I want to. I’m going to have to lap it all up with my tongue.

I step in behind her and press my mouth to her neck, sucking at the sensitive spot before knotting my hand in her wet hair and turning her to face me. “I love you,” I say against her mouth.

“I love you too.”

The tenderness that swamps me is terrifying. I don’t want to let her go, and the fear that I might have to consumes me. I slant my mouth over hers, pouring everything I have into the kiss—all my love and fear, my vulnerability and desperation. I can’t handle the power of what I’m feeling, so I put it into my kiss.

Soon, her back is against the glass, her leg is hitched around my waist, and my dick is nestled right against her hot, slick pu**y.

“Mine,” I growl against her lips.

Then I slide into her and it feels so f**king good I almost come right then and there. I lift her other leg—greedy for more, desperate to bury myself as deep in her as possible—and I f**k her against the glass. Her mouth is on my neck, her hands in my hair, her ankles locked behind my back.

“Mine,” I repeat.

Her moan echoes in the shower, but I need more. I wrap my hand under her thigh and stroke her where our bodies are joined. Her pu**y squeezes around me violently, and she bites the side of my neck as she rides out her orgasm. And I’m so wild with lust and jealousy and this soul-shredding love I feel for her that I’ve come inside her before I realize I’m not wearing a condom.

I pull out of her and slowly help her feet to the ground. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

She cocks her head. “Why? That was…amazing.” She winces a little. “Okay, so I’m sore, but it’s really okay.”

I drag a hand through my hair. The shower is still running, and I turn it off before I answer. “I’m sorry because I wasn’t wearing a condom.”

Her lips part as she registers my words.

“There’s probably nothing to worry about,” I say, but I’m thinking of the one other time in my life when I forgot to wear a condom. I was nineteen, and nine months later, Collin was born. Best mistake I’ve ever made, but still. “We’ll be more careful. Are you… You’re on something, right?”