It took seconds before she had my two fingers squeezed tight inside of her as she rode out her orgasm on my face. I slowed my pace, allowing her to come down so that I could lick her clean before trailing wet kisses up her stomach to her lips.

Her hands wasted no time working my belt loose in order to remove my pants. I helped by kicking off my shoes so that she could finish disrobing me. I heard each shoe thud on the floor. She pushed down my boxers along with my slacks. Arms and legs were tangled and panting breaths were mixed as we desperately fought our way toward the same goal.

She grabbed me roughly, stroking my shaft with frenzied hands as I poured everything I had into my kiss. I wanted to confess everything…tell her how much I loved her. Tell her how much I’ve always loved her and how I’d never stop. But I was too afraid that she’d clam up and put an end to our time together. She’d been so distant since finding each other again, and if this was how I had to get through to her—keeping my thoughts to myself—then I’d keep my lips on hers and my feelings locked tight inside. I could never bear to lose her again.

Her hips lifted and she lined herself up with me. The moment I felt her heat surround me, she let up on her grip and I pushed inside, in dire need to be consumed by her warmth. But something was off…she went from desperate to panicked in a split second.

I stilled inside of her, feeling her heated tightness grip my shaft like a vise. “Bree…baby, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” I asked into her ear, unable to see her eyes since she had her face buried in my shoulder. “Please look at me, Bree. I need to see your face right now.”

She pulled away slightly, enough so that I could see the glistening tears in her eyes. Her fingernails dug into the skin on my back, and her thighs clenched hard around my hips. “I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay.” I ran my fingers into her hair, holding her head to keep her from looking away. “You’re about to cry. Talk to me.”

She shook her head as best as she could and then brought her lips to mine, giving me a gentle kiss. “I swear, I’m fine. It’s just been a really long time. I wasn’t expecting it…to be like that. Don’t stop. I promise, I’m okay.”

Her body slowly relaxed beneath me and her fingers relented in their fight against the flesh on my back. I leaned down to kiss her once more, keeping my eyes open and on her face the entire time.

“How long, Bree?” I moved my hips in an unhurried rhythm, pulling almost all the way out before slowly slipping back deep inside her so that she could get used to me, underestimating what it would do to me. I was so turned on the movements were almost painful.

“Since getting pregnant with Ayla.”

Her whispered words pummeled into my chest, seizing my body and causing me to come to an abrupt halt. “Fuck, Bree. I don’t have a condom.” I nearly pulled all the way out before she wrapped her legs around my hips, holding me in place.

“It’s okay. I’m on the pill.”

“I don’t know. We’ve both been with other people.”

Her hands moved from my back to my face. “I used a condom…did you?”

My mind was torn between answering her question and asking one of my own, so I compromised by nodding and then asking, “You used a condom? But then…”

“It was defective. But I swear, he wore one.” The intensity of her stare proved that she wasn’t lying. But it did little to comfort me. “Axel, I don’t have any condoms here. Unless you have one, we either keep going like this and trust my birth control, or we stop.”

With the intense sensation of being inside her, my mind fogged over as I relaxed my arms. I fell against her, thrusting fully into her warmth. Her gasp hit my bare shoulder, and her searing breath spread along my skin. I couldn’t stop, not after finally getting to this point, and I didn’t have any protection with me. So that left only one option, and that was to push forward.

The pressure built up quickly in my lower abdomen, threatening to explode and burn me with it. I wanted Bree to come one more time before I finished, but with as fast as the start of my orgasm crept up, I didn’t know how possible that would be. But then she arched her back, pressing her slick chest against mine, and clenched her walls around my shaft. Her breathing stopped, she pushed her head into the pillow, and stretched her neck for me before letting out a low moan.

I closed my lips over the area of her carotid artery, feeling her hammering pulse against my tongue. I sucked on her satiny flesh as I got lost in her. My thrusts turned ragged, and I spilled myself deep within her, giving her all of me.

“Bree…” I whispered against her neck, collapsing on top of her.

“Don’t say it.” She gasped for air and it made her sound as if she were pleading with me. Then she said something else, and it left no doubt in my mind how she felt. “Please, Axel. I know what you want to say. Just don’t.”

I pushed off her, propping my torso up by my elbows so I could see her clearly. “What was I going to say?” If she had the nerve to tell me to keep my feelings to myself, then I would make her say it.

Her head fell to the side and she stared at the wall on the other side of the room.

“No, Aubrey. What is it you think I was going to say?”

“I don’t know. But if you were going to tell me that you love me, just save it. I don’t need to hear it.” A single tear slipped from her eye and trailed across the bridge of her nose.

“Then what the hell was this?” I knew my voice was harsh, probably too harsh for the moment we’d just shared together, but I didn’t care.

Her head snapped back, her unrelenting stare meeting mine. “Hormones. Something we’ve both spent years dreaming about, and now we’ve taken the opportunity to fulfill those fantasies. I don’t know, Axel. But this isn’t the start of us. This isn’t our reunion.”

“I’m still fucking inside of you,” I growled through clenched teeth. “You could’ve at least waited until I removed my dick from your cunt before closing the curtains on our moment.” I pulled out of her and heard her slight whimper, then I climbed off the bed and searched the floor for my clothes.

“Axel—”

“Save it.” I spun to meet her gaze, making sure she looked into my eyes as I spoke my next words. “Deny it all you want. Force me away, cut me out of your life. Hell, run the other way when you see me, cross the damn street if you have to. I don’t care. But nothing changes the fact that I love you. Nothing. Not how things between us ended, not the last six years, and not your pathetic excuses. Nothing. I think you’re being a coward, because you’re scared of what we have. You’re scared of how good we are together. And now that you’re finally standing on your own two feet, it scares the shit out of you that you just might be dependent on someone for something.”

She curled into herself, frantically attempting to cover her naked body. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I have my reasons.” Tears leaked from her eyes, but I couldn’t tell if they were angry or sad tears. “You knew me for about five minutes out of my whole life. Don’t pretend you know anything about me. Don’t pretend like you have any idea of who I am now.”

Yeah, they were pissed-off tears.

I dressed in jerky motions, not bothering to button and zip everything. “Keep telling yourself that, Aubrey. Whatever gets you through the day.” Without looking back, I grabbed my shoes, flung open her bedroom door, and got out as quickly as possible.

She certainly had one thing right…I had no idea who she was anymore.

I managed to get through Tuesday and Wednesday despite the heavy fog that seemed to follow me around. I was fine during school hours, even with Ayla in my class, but once I no longer had the kids to occupy my mind, it drifted to darker places. I couldn’t get Bree out of my head.