When our lips meet again, it’s soft and unsure. I taste the faint vanilla of her lip balm and the sweetness of cinnamint toothpaste when her tongue sweeps out. I meet the gentle stroke, that warm, wet tangle tentatively at first. But that tender reconnection quickly unravels as the lightning bolt of lust hits us.

Lilah moans, the hum across my lips shooting straight through to the base of my spine to my cock. She hooks a leg around my hip, seeking to unite more than just our mouths.

Our chests meet, too many layers of fabric preventing the kind of contact both of us are looking for. Lilah tilts her head to the side, angling back, opening wider as I stroke inside her mouth, drowning in the taste of her, the feel of her body melding to mine. I run my hand up her thigh, fingertips grazing lacy fabric, sliding under to grip the swell of her ass and drag her forward so my erection can provide the friction we seek.

I know why she’s been holding back—because this is how we’ve always been together, this frantic desperation, need, and want that overpower, steamrolling logic and reality until it’s about being connected in the most primal, visceral way.

Lilah breaks the kiss long enough to pull my shirt over my head, and then her mouth is fused to mine again, nails raking down my chest, hips pushing hard into mine and dropping just as quickly so she can work my belt buckle free.

I groan into her mouth when she palms me through the fabric. I consider that it might be a good idea to relocate to a bed, but then she pops the button and drags the zipper down, slipping her hand inside.

I pull at the tie behind her neck, and the top of her dress falls to expose a strapless bra. Reaching behind her, I flick the clasp and free her breasts. I want to put my mouth everywhere, touch every part of her, savor her, but we’re both beyond desperate. Lilah shoves her panties over her hips and I sit back on my knees so I can help yank them off. And then I’m right where I want to be again, my erection sliding along soft, smooth skin, wet and hot and so achingly familiar.

“Condom?” I ask between kisses. I fumble for my wallet, stuck in the back pocket of my dress pants—which I’m still wearing.

“Pill.”

I lean back enough so I can focus on her face. “You want me to go without?”

“Can you?” Those two words hold a million questions.

I haven’t gone in bare since Lilah. I’ve always been safe. Always taken care of myself and my partners in the years between then and now. “Yes.”

“Then please.”

I slide low and enter her on a slow stroke. This feeling, being with her, surrounded by her, enveloped by her—it’s fucking bliss. I keep my eyes on hers, watch the way her mouth drops open, relish the soft moan that passes as warm breath across my lips.

After a few seconds of stillness, in which we both adjust to newness fusing with familiarity, Lilah pulls my mouth back to hers and circles her hips. I move with her, reclaiming her body, more aware than I’ve ever been that she was mine first before anyone else.

Lilah’s moans turn into guttural pleas not to stop, to please, please, please, Ethan as I pump into her. And then she’s coming, eyes locked on mine, soul swimming to the surface as she shudders and clamps tight around me.

And I know now why I never found anyone else who compared to her, why she never let me go, because she’s meant to be mine just as I’m meant to be hers. She’s still pulsing around me when I come viciously, violently, kissing her hard, pushing as deep as I can, getting as far inside as her body will allow.

When the white-hot heat in my spine dissipates, I push up on one arm, taking in Lilah’s flushed cheeks and kiss-swollen lips. “You okay?”

She blinks and glances around, so I do the same, taking stock of our surroundings. We’re sprawled out on the stairs like a couple of drunk teenagers who couldn’t be bothered to make it to a bedroom or a flat surface.

Lilah laughs and I echo the sound.

I give her a wry smile. “Well, that sure as hell lacked finesse.”

“I haven’t come like that in forever, so don’t worry about finesse.”

Her legs slide off my hips, one of her heels tumbling down the stairs. I can’t believe they managed to stay on this entire time.

“I owe you foreplay.” I grab the banister and sit back on my knees, taking in the vision of woman before me. Her pale dress is pooled around her waist, soft, round breasts still heaving with panted breaths, legs spread wide, my cock still inside her.

“I’ll take that in a bed. After dinner.”

I run my hands up her bare thighs. “Are you inviting me to spend the night?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I have to work in the morning, and I’m a little worried that if you stay, I won’t be allowed to sleep.”

“You think I’ll keep you up all night?”

She laughs and then groans when I graze the junction of her thighs with my thumbs. I slide them back and forth, along the slick skin, edging closer to her clit with each pass. I’m still keyed up. Going another round won’t be a problem. Relocating might be a good idea. But I’m too enthralled by the way she’s stretched around me, pretty clit all swollen.

I pull out until I can see the ridge at the head. I glance up to find her eyes trained on the same place. They flip to mine when I don’t move to either pull all the way out or push back in.

“Maybe you should show me your bedroom now, and we can do dinner later,” I suggest.