“Fuck,” he sighs, his breath hot on my shoulder as he peppers kisses there.

“Don’t worry,” I say breathlessly, pretending he’s talking about kitchen decor. “I’ll help you pick out some things.”

I turn around and stand on my tiptoes, making me just tall enough to reach his lips when he dips his head. I pull him close, pressing my bare chest to his, enjoying the little noises he makes as we kiss. The teasing part of my plan is quickly disintegrating, so I pull away from him, eliciting a groan.

“Show me more,” I say, leading him into the next room. I walk backwards through the door, making sure Nate gets a good view of my chest while I stay just out of his reach.

We walk into the living room-slash-dining room, which is just as nice as the kitchen with its impeccable paint and glossy hardwood floors. But again, there’s nothing Nate about the place. “This is nice,” I say kindly. “But you need a throw on your sofa to break up all of that color. And you need some pictures. Lots of pictures.”

Nate could not give a shit about what I’m telling him right now, but he plays along anyway. “Pictures of us,” he says, firmly gripping my hips and picking me up. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, then kiss every inch of skin I can get my lips on. Screw the teasing, just…screw it.

I’m only aware that Nate’s walking because I feel a breeze on my back as we move, but soon enough I’m pressed against a wall, and the look in Nate’s eyes is straight-up predatory. He slides his hands up the insides of my arms, pinning my wrists above my head. Then his mouth and tongue are on my breasts, and my head clunks back against the wall.

“Do you…” Kiss. “Like…” Lick. “The paint?”

My head lolls to the side, because what color is this paint again? Oh yeah, blue. Placing my hands just above his ears, I tilt his head up and capture his mouth with mine. “Yes,” I tell him between kisses. “It reminds me of your eyes.”

He leans back, looking kind of surprised.

“It does,” I say, tracing the line of his jaw with my fingertip. “I love your eyes.”

He smiles softly, and I can’t help but kiss those lips. Those beautiful, soft, perfect lips. It’s deeper than I expected, needier, and when I pull away, Nate pulls my bottom lip through his teeth. I slide down his body a little, bucking my hips into his when I feel the hardness there, making him grunt. Once my feet are on the floor, I walk over to the staircase.

“Is the bedroom up here?” I ask.

He nods, somehow managing to make that simple gesture look sexy as hell.

I take the first few steps alone, sliding my hand along the bannister. “You need some light in here,” I tell him, stopping to look at the beautiful paisley pattern that decorates the throw rug on the landing of the stairs. He closes the distance between us quickly—he must take two or three steps at a time—and the next thing I know he’s gripping my waist and turning my body, bringing me down so that I’m sitting on the step just before the landing. He pulls off one shoe and then the other, tossing them away. They make loud ‘thunks’ as they bounce down the steps.

He slowly tugs on the cuffs of my pants until they slide off my thighs and down my calves, slipping off of my ankles. He throws those down the steps, too. Then he kneels before me a few steps down, spreading my legs. He buries his head between my thighs, licking me like he’s been waiting his whole life to do it, like he just can’t get enough. And I love it when he does this, I really do. It’s difficult to tell him no and I’m crazy to do it, but I need more than this right now. I need him, no more teasing.

“Nate,” I say softly, and he knows something is different by the tone of my voice. I skim my fingers through his hair, bringing my hand to rest just above his ear. He looks at me, his hands still. “I want you. I want to be with you, can we just…”

“Yeah,” he replies, understanding. He moves so he’s kind of leaning over me, and he presses his lips against my shoulder. “Yeah.”

Afraid that I’ve taken us out of the moment, I wrap my arm around his neck and bring him down for a slow, tender kiss.

When we part, Nate sighs, breathing heavily. “Yeah, let’s definitely do more of that.” He picks me up and carries me up the steps, laving his tongue against every inch of skin he can reach. Once he lays me on his soft bed, he slides his shorts down his hips and I take a moment to appreciate him like this. Bare and vulnerable. Beautiful. Mine.

He kneels on the bed, lifting my legs until the bottoms of my feet come to rest against his chest. It reminds me a bit of the first night we were together, but everything is different now. Everything is better now, because this…this is the beginning of our lives together. His palms glide down my thighs, his fingertips are feather-light and ticklish; I can’t help but laugh.

“Do that again,” he says, smiling. It’s a dopey, love-struck kind of smile. I wish I could take a picture of it and put it in my wallet.

“What?”

“Laugh, it’s-”

“You want me to laugh?”

He looks bashful. “Yeah. It makes me…I don’t know, just do it again.”

I do laugh this time, and it’s a real one, mainly because I don’t know what he’s getting at.

He must sense my confusion, because he says, “I like your voice.” He shrugs, and it’s kind of sweet how innocent he looks, despite the fact that he’s stark naked.

“Nate,” I say, reaching out for him and tangling our fingers together. I pull him down, but he holds his weight above me. “I love you.” If he likes my voice, I can’t think of nicer, truer words for him to hear it say.

“I love you so much,” he replies, just breathing the words on my skin, like they’ll become a part of me that way.

I smile, cradling the back of his head, and he pushes into me slowly, just watching me for a few seconds like he always does. He begins to move when I buck my hips, and for a few seconds we just kind of drift away together. I’ve never felt anything like him before, and I don’t just mean this. I mean him. Everything about him. The weight of his gaze, the way his words sink right into my skin and take hold of my heart. Everything about him feels so perfect. So permanent.

I gently nudge Nate’s shoulder and he rolls onto his back. I swing my leg over until I’m straddling his hips, then I sink down onto him, grinding against him, watching the way his eyelids flutter shut and his breathing picks up because we feel so, so good together. Pure pleasure is building up inside of me, radiating from pretty much every part of my body, almost indistinguishable from the rush of love that I feel for this man. I’m just all blissed out, light and airy, all warmth and anticipation.

I clasp Nate’s hands in mine and lean forward, pressing my body against his.

“Hold onto me,” Nate says, his voice raspy as he sits up. He slides his hands down my back and along my thighs, positioning me so that I’m sitting on him, my legs wrapped around him, so tight. There’s not an inch of air between us, but he’s still too far away. I want to be close enough to be a part of him. I want my name to be written on every cell in his body. Our chests are pressed together and it almost hurts to breathe, but it’s still. Too. Far.

We rock against one another and Nate’s hands are splayed across my back, anchoring me to him. Tighter, I want to tell him. Hold me tighter. I want his fingertips branded into my skin. His cheek is pressed against mine and his stubble is rough, but I want more. More.

“I can’t get close enough,” he says, his voice muffled as he presses his mouth to my neck. “To you, I…”

“Shhh,” I whisper. “I’m here, I’m right here.” I kiss the salty sheen from his skin, holding on for dear life as everything inside of me coils up and springs open, over and over, leaving me boneless and breathless. Nate isn’t far behind me, letting out this strangled moan as his orgasm washes over him and my name falls from his lips. We hold each other as we come down, his hands tangled in my hair and mine drawing lazy patterns on his back. It’s nice just holding each other, just being.