She’d meant to make him laugh, to lighten the heavy mood, but he turned toward her, eyes intense—oh so intense—and dark with desire. “The drive turned you on?”

No more than the low, rough timbre of his voice. “Maybe it was also a little bit the man driving.” She shrugged.

He slid his hands into her hair and tilted her face to his. “Again, I want to say that this wasn’t my plan for tonight.”

She wrapped her hands around his wrists. “Then thankfully you’re a man who knows when to deviate from your plan.”

At that, he finally smiled, his playful, sexy smile. And it was a doozy. “Yeah. I’m a real flexible guy.”

He lowered his head slowly, clearly giving her time to change her mind—which was not going to happen. Unlike him, she worked from the heart, on impulse. Yeah, it’d gotten her burned before, but she still couldn’t help herself. Not when it came to this man. “Walk?”

“Yeah?”

She stared at his mouth, still an inch from hers. “It’d be great if you could deviate faster.”

“Sorry, I’ve been waiting a long time for another shot at you.” Lifting her onto the still-warm hood, he leaned over her. “You’re not going to rush me.”

“I’m not?”

“No.”

And then he finally kissed her, slow and deep. When their tongues touched, she moaned. At the sound, he pulled her even closer and looked into her eyes before dropping his gaze to take in the rest of her. She’d wrapped herself around him like he was a tree and she was a monkey getting ready to go for a climb.

“Maze.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to kiss you again. Tell me that’s okay.”

She nodded eagerly. If it was any more okay, she’d already be naked.

“The words, Maze.”

“It’s okay. Please kiss me, Walk. Now.”

He obliged with a sexy thoroughness that stole her breath. She heard herself whimper and slid her hands under his shirt to rest on his chest, where she could feel the steady beat of his heart. As they kissed, that heartbeat kicked into gear. She affected him, and the knowledge gave her a surge of power.

She had no idea how long they made out, she lost all track of time and place. She was adrift in the sensations, his lips on hers, his hands on her body, teasing her, bringing her to life, the sound of the wind and the night around them, the feel of the car beneath her. When they came up for air, his mouth moved down her neck, sending shock waves straight to her good parts, and there were most definitely more good parts than she remembered. Her fingers shook when she unbuttoned his shirt and shoved it off his shoulders. She was going for the zipper on his pants when he caught her hands.

“Don’t even think about stopping now,” she warned him.

He searched her gaze, his own dark and heated and sexy as hell. “Here then?”

“Here.” She ran her hands up his chest, cupped his head, and pulled him back in for another kiss.

With a rough groan, he tightened his fingers in her hair. “Do you remember what I said I was going to do if we got here again?”

“That you’d stop talking?”

He gave a low laugh. “That I wasn’t going to stop until you were panting my name.”

“I’m not much for making a lot of noise.”

“That’s not how I remember it.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but he unzipped the back of her dress and pulled the top down past her shoulders. He kissed the curve of her throat, her collarbone, moving southbound to the swell of her breast above her barely there bra. Then that was nudged down too, baring her to him and his mouth, which he used liberally.

She already knew that Walker loved to touch, loved to kiss and taste . . . everything. He was a tactile guy, and he could say more things with his body than his mouth ever could. He lifted her higher onto the hood. Then, standing between her legs, he ran his hands up her thighs, bringing the hem of her dress along with him, until the material pooled on his forearms, his hands vanishing beneath. His fingers played with the edge of her panties, teasing her through the lace until she gasped out his name in both entreaty and demand, which made him laugh low in his throat.

“It’s a good thing you’re sexy as hell,” she muttered, her mouth busy on his throat. “Now stop teasing me and—” She broke off when he slid the lace aside and out of his way.

“And?” he murmured, not stopping anything he was doing. In fact, he lifted a knee onto the hood between her legs, adding a delicious pressure.

“And do me,” she demanded breathlessly.

He laughed huskily, and she might have killed him there and then, but their eyes met, and the need and desire she felt for him, everything was matched in his eyes.

“Be sure, Maze.”

“This is the one thing I am sure of.”

At that, he gave her the sweetest, most loving kiss. Then he took that mouth on a tour south, stopping when he got to the small tattoo of Harry Potter’s glasses and lightning bolt on her hip, along with the tiny script that said, HAPPINESS CAN BE FOUND EVEN IN THE DARKEST OF TIMES, IF ONE ONLY REMEMBERS TO TURN ON THE LIGHT.

He smiled and then licked it.

“Oh my God,” she moaned.

“I was hoping for ‘Yes, oh yes, please, more, ruler of my universe.”

She’d never laughed during sex before, but then he switched things up on her, adding his fingers into the mix, keeping her on the very edge until she tightened her fingers in his hair, holding him where she wanted him the most.

He laughed softly against her, but she didn’t have the bandwidth for anything other than what he was doing to her. Well, she did finally manage to get his pants open and her hands inside, which was a whole lot like opening a birthday gift that you already knew you were getting but wanted more than anything. “I’m going to cry if you don’t have a condom.”

“No crying necessary,” he said. “But if you want to scream out my name . . . I’m up for that.”

“You’re up for anything,” she said, the evidence in her hands.

He laughed and did something diabolical with his fingers and then she was flying, still gasping for breath as he protected them both and entered her.

They froze in shocked wonder at the incredible sensations.

Gathering her wits the best she could, she wrapped herself around him as the sensations took them both.

After, she had no idea how much time had passed before Walker lifted his head and looked at her with both tenderness and good humor. “I’m never going to go off-roading again without thinking about this.” He helped her right her clothing before reaching for his. And then they stood there on the cliff, beneath the moon, staring at each other.

Reaching out, Walker took one of her hands in his, using the other to push her damp hair from her forehead. “That was even better than all the fantasies I had about you.”

Yeah. Her too. But the anxiety he’d beat back with his magic body was slowly returning and she shook her head. “What are we doing?”

He held her gaze for a moment. “Whatever you want to be doing.”

“I don’t want to go back to the past.” The thought of losing him again, now, as adults, had panic swirling inside her. “I can’t—”