“You see what you do to me,” he asked, voice gruff.

Biting my lip, I nodded.

“Let your hair down, babe.”

I reached up, pulling out my clip and letting my hair fall around my shoulders. Lee’s eyes blazed, eating up every inch of me. A second later, he was climbing back onto the bed, positioning his face between my thighs. A quiet gasp escaped me when his head dipped forward and his tongue flicked experimentally over my clit. I moaned, and a low growl emanated from deep in his chest. I squirmed a little, but his hands went to my thighs, holding me down. His stubble scraped deliciously along my skin when he pressed his mouth over all of me.

“Lee,” I cried out, my hands fisting his blankets as my body bucked forward.

“Watch me,” he said, his voice low and commanding.

His tongue flicked out and licked a line all the way up to my clit. One finger entered me, and I felt myself spasm around him. He moved it slowly in and out, intense pleasure shattering through me. When his tongue began circling my clit with determination, my eyes fell closed, unable to handle the intensity.

One of Lee’s hands went to the hem of my T-shirt. “Take this off,” he grunted between licks.

When I pulled it up over my head and threw it to the floor, his eyes moved over my breasts as though mapping every inch of them. Aware that there were people downstairs, I tried not to make too much noise, but it was difficult. Lee clearly knew what he was doing and he took his time, dragging it out, trying to make me beg. It didn’t take long for me to give him what he wanted.

“Please,” I mewled.

His hands circled my waist, fingers digging wantonly into the flesh of my hips. He groaned when our eyes met, and I watched his tongue as it moved on me. The sight was unnervingly erotic, and within seconds I came with thundering shudders right on his mouth. He continued licking me, drawing out every ounce of my pleasure. I was still revelling in a post-orgasmic haze when his heat left me, and I was vaguely aware of him opening a drawer.

A moment later he was back, rolling a condom down his impressive length as he knelt at the end of the bed. His head was tilted to one side as he murmured, “Fucking beautiful.”

“I need you,” I whispered, breathless.

Now that I’d come down from the high he’d just given me, I was desperate to have him inside. His eyes traced my body, stopping momentarily on the scar on my stomach. It was old, barely visible, really, but in that moment I was hyperaware of the imperfection. Lee didn’t ask me where I’d gotten it, and instead continued to soak in the sight of my naked body like it was his favourite work of art.

Bracing his hands above my shoulders, he leant his head down to lick at my nipples. I moaned when he sucked one into his mouth and then the other, swirling his tongue around the needy flesh.

“You’re all soft and ready for me,” he said, his voice the sexiest thing I’d ever heard. “I can’t wait to feel you, Karla.”

My breathing began to quicken again when he lifted my thighs around his hips. He held me up, staring at me fiercely, and some sharp emotion cut through my chest. A second later he plunged into me hard, causing electricity to crackle all over my body. Our eyes stayed connected, and I felt like I could see right to the core of him in that moment. There was no wall up, no mask or pretence. All I saw was him, and it was beautiful.

He moved in me slowly, and I closed my eyes so I could savour the lazy drag against my nerve endings.

“Open your eyes,” he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to my lips.

I did as he said, struck speechless by the emotions washing through the clear blue depths of his irises. Right then, I knew that this thing between us was real to him, that he felt things for me far stronger than simple lust. It was jarring, but at the same time it gave me clarity on my own feelings, and how I felt more than fleeting attraction for him, too.

He never sped up his movements, but instead continued to rock back and forth in an even pace. He was learning me, feeling me, making love to me. The sound of our breathing and the quiet slap of our bodies as they connected filled the room. I moaned when he reached down and pressed a finger to the bundle of nerves between my legs.

His forehead shone with a thin layer of sweat, the muscles of his abdomen tensing with every thrust of this hips. I loved the definition in his arms as he held his body above mine.

His movements became a little more frenzied when he leaned down and pressed his forehead to mine. “Come on my dick,” he urged, his voice strained.

I clenched my thighs around him tight, feeling the sensation build in my core. He grunted when he began fucking me in hard, measured thrusts, and pleasure shattered though my body. Rubbing faster at my clit, he captured my lips in his and plunged his tongue against mine. I felt completely possessed, like he was everywhere all at once; his taste in my mouth, his noises in my ears, his cock doing wonderful things to my insides. Everything in me coiled tight, the onslaught that was Lee reaching his pinnacle, and I came for the second time that night. Only now it was so much more, because I felt him coming, too, filling me as his breathing grew choppy and his movements began to slow.

“Jesus,” he said, his forehead resting on mine again.

Our hearts seemed to beat in time, our breaths matching as he held me to him so tight I didn’t think he was ever going to let go.

“You make me feel so fucking alive,” Lee said fervently, his words muffled by my skin. “Made for me.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close, a strange fear clutching at my heart. A silence fell between us until Lee flipped us over, wrapping his arms around me and spooning me from behind.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” he whispered in my ear, and there was a touch of uncertainty in his words, like he was worried I was going to run on him.

I lifted his hand and intertwined our fingers. “I’m just frightened, Lee. The way I feel about you, it’s intense. It scares me.”

His arm tightened around me, pulling my body closer to his. “I feel it, too, the intensity. It shouldn’t scare you.”

For some reason, my eyes grew watery, and I couldn’t understand why I was being so emotional. Maybe it was the way he spoke. Here, alone with me in his bed, his voice was different. There was no cocky bravado or teasing. He was just open, real, and it made it difficult to keep a handle on my feelings.

A single tear rolled down my cheek, and I was glad I wasn’t facing him right then. He’d probably think I was a complete head case, crying after sex. It was just that being with him made everything else in my life a lie, and yet, the idea of being without him made everything seem empty and grey. So I was trapped in the lie. In fact, I’d walked right into it willingly with both eyes open.

I pressed my cheek into the pillow to dry away the tears and turned in his arms. Needing the comfort, I buried my face in his neck and felt a breath whoosh out of him.

“Karla?” said Lee, his tone questioning.

I spoke into his skin. “I just really, really like you. I like the things you do to me, and I don’t want to lose them.”

Feeling his jaw move, I thought he might be smiling. “If it’s any consolation, I really like the things I do to you, too. Actually, I fucking love them. And you won’t lose me, so long as you make the choice to be with me.”

I lifted my head to meet his eyes. “But it’s impossible. We can never have a normal relationship. Other than Alexis and Reya, there isn’t a single person in my life I could tell about you, no one who wouldn’t condemn me for it.”

“It’s simple, then — don’t tell them.”

“So what do we do, sneak around?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

My lips turned downward. “How would that even work?”