I yelped when he lifted me off the ground. Yet my legs seemed to know what to do before my brain caught up. They wrapped around his waist and locked behind his back as he carried me inside his apartment. His lips sealed over mine while one hand balled up a fistful of my hair, and he used it to tilt my head where he wanted it.

Completely lost in the kiss, I had no idea we’d even been moving until my back hit the soft mattress behind me. Somehow we managed to strip out of most of our clothes while never breaking contact. Bennett dragged my thong down my legs, and my breaths were wild and jagged.

He brushed the hair from my face. “One last chance… Whatever I’m in the mood for? You’re sure?”

I nodded, though now I was a little nervous.

His wicked grin returned as he reached over to his end table and grabbed something out of the drawer. He held up a bottle of lube. “Full. Brand new. Bought it on the way home tonight in case the opportunity arose. We must be on the same page, sweetheart.”

His head ducked to capture one of my nipples between his teeth. He tugged until my back arched off the bed, and then closed his lips over the swollen peak and sucked gently. By the time he lifted his head to align with mine again, I was panting like a wild animal.

He shifted from on top to next to me, taking his body warmth and letting a cool breath of air hit my body. Goosebumps broke out in places I didn’t even realize could bump. The sound of the cap popping open on the bottle of lube made me jump.

“I’m assuming you’re an anal virgin. Am I right?”

My eyes widened. I nodded because forming words would’ve been completely impossible.

He kissed me gently one more time, then wrapped one arm around my waist and flipped me over like I was a ragdoll. “Up on all fours, beautiful.” His arm lifted and guided me.

The sound of my ragged breaths filled the air around us. Bennett positioned himself on his knees behind my propped-up ass. I felt like I might explode from nerves and anticipation. He bent and trailed a string of kisses from the top of my ass, up over my spine, onto my neck, and then nibbled his way to my ear. His body wrapped around mine, and I felt his cock nudge at my rear.

“We’ll go slow. I won’t hurt you. Trust me.”

I’d unknowingly been tense, and the warmth and concern in his voice helped my body relax a little.

Bennett rose to his knees behind me, and I felt tiny beads of warm liquid begin to fall at the top of my ass. Each drop intensified my anticipation. Traveling painstakingly slowly, they followed the natural path between my ass cheeks. It was the single most euphoric feeling I’d ever experienced in my life. My toes started to tingle.

“Jesus Christ,” he groaned. “That’s fucking hot.”

When the lubricant reached my lips, Bennett rubbed it into me, massaging my clit and teasing at my opening. He hunched over my body and used his other hand to turn my head for a kiss at the exact moment his fingers pushed inside me. Heat spread through my body when he murmured, “I want to be inside every part of you at once.”

He shifted his hips and replaced his fingers with his cock. The lubricant and my arousal slipped him inside with ease. He rocked his hips a few times, sinking deep, before lifting back to his knees behind me.

When I felt the tip of one of his fingers circling over my anus, my body immediately clenched in reaction.

“Relax. I won’t push you. This is all I’ll try tonight. I promise. Trust me.”

I closed my eyes and tried to unfurl the coil of tension inside me with a few deep breaths. Bennett gave me a little space and slowly glided in and out of me a few times before trying again. The second time, it still felt foreign, but I accepted it and let it happen. He massaged and pushed the tip of his finger slowly inside, in unison with his hips. Eventually I relaxed and started to move with him, even pushing back and meeting his thrusts. I was shocked at how good it felt.

I became lost in the feeling of being full, and in giving something so special to this man. My arms and legs started to shake, my body quivering in anticipation of the tsunami that had started to roll through me.

“Bennett…”

He pumped harder and faster, at the same time withdrawing his finger and then sliding it all the way back in. When I relaxed enough, he added a second finger. That was enough to set me off. I came hard and loud—sounds coming from me that I didn’t even recognize. When I thought I might collapse, Bennett hooked one arm around my waist to keep me steady and pumped into me harder. With a voracious growl, he leaned over, buried his head in my hair, and spilled inside of me.

We were both soaked with sweat when we collapsed on the bed. Bennett, aware of his weight, quickly rolled off my back, and the two of us struggled to catch our heaving breaths.

My hair was plastered to the side of my face. Pushing it off, I rolled over to my back. “Wow.”

Bennett pushed up on an elbow and stared down at me. He leaned over for a gentle kiss, then rubbed my bottom lip with his thumb. “Thank fuck that ex of yours is a dumbass and had no idea what you liked.”

I smiled a goofy smile. “I don’t think I knew either.”

He kissed me again. “It’s my absolute pleasure to help you figure that out.”

“I just did my first booty call.” I wiggled my eyebrows.

Bennett laughed. “Pretty damn appropriate name right about now, don’t you think?”

Chapter 37

* * *

Bennett

Content.

For the last half hour, I’d been lying here trying to figure out the last time I’d felt this feeling. If someone had asked me a few months ago, I would have said I felt it every time I had sex—that post-orgasmic relaxation that takes over your body. But I would’ve been wrong.

That was sated. I hadn’t realized until now that there was even a difference between feeling sated and content. But there is—a damn big one. Sated is that satisfied feeling you get after a good meal when you were starving. Or when you’re horny as shit and you get a release that drains the life out of you. Sure, I was drained right now; don’t get me wrong. And I also felt satisfied. But I wasn’t sated. Sated satisfies a hunger that always comes back. Content makes you feel like you don’t need anything more. Not ever.

And that’s fucked up.

Yet at the moment, I didn’t give a crap how screwed up it was that I felt this way. In fact, for the last half hour, I’d had to take a piss. But I didn’t, because I was afraid when my feet hit the floor, this feeling might be gone again.

Annalise’s head rested on my chest, as I stroked her hair. Her fingers traced a small circle around my abdomen.

“Can I ask you something?” Her voice was low.

“Yeah. I can go again. Just move your hand down a little farther south for a minute.”

She giggled and play-smacked my stomach. “That’s not what I was going to ask.” She paused, and her voice turned serious. “But could you really do it again? We did it twice already since I got here.”

I took her hand and pushed it down to my cock. I was still semi-erect after the last go-round.

“Ummm… I think you might have a problem. It’s supposed to deflate once in a while, you know.”

“Well, now that we’re talking about my dick, he knows it, and he’s even more awake, so if you had a real question, you better get to asking it pretty quick. Your mouth is gonna be too full to speak in a minute.”

Annalise propped her head up on her fist, which rested on my chest. “What do you think would happen if we didn’t have an expiration date?”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

“What if we just worked together and one of us wasn’t relocating soon? Do you think we’d be doing this a year from now?”

I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I needed to be honest. Words normally came from my brain, but it felt like this one ripped and tore its way up from my heart.

“No.”

She closed her eyes and nodded. “Okay.”

Fuck.

She turned her head and rested it back on my chest. A few minutes later, I felt wetness on my skin.

Fuck. Fuck.

She was crying. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then I rolled us until she was on her back and I could speak to her face to face. I wiped a tear with my thumb. She looked over my shoulder instead of at me.

“Hey. Look at me.”

I hated that her eyes were filled with pain when they met mine. Pain I’d caused.

“The answer has everything to do with me, and nothing to do with you. You’re…”

I was rarely at a loss for words. But I didn’t have any to accurately describe what I thought of her. Yet I knew it was important that my message get through. She’d just come out of a shitty, long-term relationship, and she needed to know what she was.

“You’re everything, Annalise. I’ve met two types of women in my life: every woman out there. And you.”

“Then I don’t understand…”

“You asked me if things were different, if we would be doing this a year from now. I’m being honest. We wouldn’t be. But I don’t want you to think it’s because I wouldn’t be the luckiest son of a bitch if I got to keep you in my bed for that long. Because I would. But some people just aren’t cut out for long term.”