“I love that fucking sound.”

He moves then, scooting his body down mine until his mouth is level with my breasts. I want to scream at him to come back, until he begins to circle my nipple with his tongue.

Then, all I can do is moan.

“I will never get tired of doing this. Of tasting your skin. Of making your body all wet and ready for me.”

He sucks my other nipple deep, pressing it up against the roof of his mouth, and I’m almost crying, it feels so good. I arch up, offering myself to him, but he’s decided to move on—to move lower. He places kisses along my ribs, then he slides further, kissing just below my navel.

“Oh, please.”

I’m aware that I’m basically begging him to go down on me again and I kind of don’t care, because if he doesn’t do it, right this second, I might actually die.

“Mmm.” He paces a soft kiss right above my clit. “Yeah. One more taste, and then I’ll fuck you just like how you need it. What do you say to that, Miss Hendricks?”

Fuck. Why does that sound so hot and so wrong all at the same time?

But before I can decide on which emotion wins out, his mouth is on me again.

“Yes. God, yes.”

He chuckles against my wetness, then moves to lick and suckle my clit as he slips a finger inside me.

The moan that comes next is almost embarrassing—it’s less like a human sound and more like an animal one.

“You like that?” he murmurs, curling his tongue around my clit and then pressing it flat and licking the entire length of me. I buck up off the bed, unable to control any of my actions anymore. The moaning and whimpering have turned to a keening wail as he adds a second finger and grips my hip to hold me still.

“You gonna come again, baby?”

I nod, attempting not to thrash around as the wave of an orgasm begins to crest and froth over all my senses.

“Let go, Hyacinth,” he murmurs. “Come for me.”

Then he crooks his fingers inside me and I explode. Waves of color, of light, of all five senses and maybe even a sixth, wash over me as I grip his hair and cry out his name.

Nothing has ever felt better.

Nothing has ever been more necessary.

As I manage to reground myself in reality, he’s grinning sort of smugly as he rises up from between my thighs.

“You still with me?”

I nod, reeling a bit from my climax, but more than ready to feel what I’ve been wanting all night. Well, let’s be honest. A lot longer than all night.

Smith climbs down off the bed and finds his pants on the floor, reaching in to the pocket and pulling out a condom. He comes back over me, propped up by both arms anchored next to my head, and he’s watching me closely.

“I’m not going to ask you if you’re sure,” he says quietly, “but I want you to know that all you need to do is say stop and I’ll stop.”

I shake my head. “No. Go. Go go go.”

He grins at me, then ducks down to kiss me before ripping open the wrapper and rolling the condom on. He settles himself between my legs again and I feel him, still hot and hard against me.

For a second, it’s like I’m a virgin again. Sex with my ex had never been this keyed up. I’d never been this desperate for it, this turned on. Now you couldn’t stop me if the room were on fire.

“Hyacinth.”

Smith whispers my name and lets his forehead drop against mine as his cock slides along my folds. When he finally begins to breach me, we’re both holding our breath and I’m biting my lip so hard, I could be drawing blood. Frankly, I could really care less.

“God—you’re so fucking tight. Shit.”

He groans and pulls back, then surges forward a bit harder, making me arch up and moan. He manages to slide an arm beneath my back and press a hand just above my ass, then slips almost completely out, only to slide into me again all the way to the hilt.

“Fuck.” I close my eyes and try to catch my breath as he presses kisses along my face and jaw.

“Are you okay?”

I look up at him. “I’ll be better when you start moving.”

He chuckles at that. Then, ever so slowly, he begins to pull back and push forward. I whimper against his mouth as he increases his pace.

“Good, baby?”

“Mmm.” I thrash a bit. “Harder. Please.”

He groans and it seems like my request is his undoing. He retreats until I’m practically aching for him to return, then plunges into me, pinning my hips against the bed. I cry out and grasp at his skin, slick with sweat, as he surges forward again and again.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted this,” he half murmurs, half groans into my ear. “When you were teaching? All I could think about was bending you over your desk and pulling up your skirt. When I served detention? I wanted you up against the wall with your panties at your ankles and your legs wrapped around my waist. I’ve thought about fucking you in every way you can possibly fuck someone and it never came close to this reality. Being inside you is heaven, Cyn. You make me never want to leave.”

As I listen to him, picturing every scenario he’s presenting, my mind starts to grow hazy and there are tingles spreading over my body with every thrust.

“Oh, God—I’m close,” I whimper.

Smith speeds up a fraction, creating an incredibly delicious friction.

“God, you’re getting tighter by the second,” he murmurs.

He grazes my earlobe with his tongue before biting down lightly. I dig my nails into his shoulder as my second orgasm crests, then crashes over me, this one even stronger than the first. I don’t remember much, other than the fact that I’m crying out and begging and he’s hammering into me with a kind of ferocity that, up until this moment, I had no idea was so hot. When he finally lets out a stilted roar, releasing everything he has to give deep within me, I feel like he’s performed an exorcism—I just don’t know if it’s on him or on me.

For a long moment, we stay connected. I run my hands over his back and his shoulders as he toys with my hair. Both of us breathe deeply and I wonder if we could actually fall asleep in this position.

“Still good?” he asks, pulling back to gaze down at me. I nod, feeling a little shy.

“Still great, actually.”

Smith grins broadly, then pushes himself up to standing and saunters out my door to the hall bathroom. I marvel at his naked ass because, hell, it’s a fucking marvel, then I bury my face in my pillow and sigh with contentment.

“Are you hiding?” he asks when he comes back in and sees me. I lift up and shake my head.

“Nope. Just sharing my unstoppable smile with this pillow here.”

He crawls over the bed and pulls down the comforter, then wraps it around us.

“Does that mean you’re spending the night?” I ask as he tucks one end of the blanket under my shoulders. He quirks a brow at me.

“Well, yeah. Is that okay?”

I nod and let my head drop against the pillow, then watch him as he adjusts, getting his body comfortable in my bed next to me. The mere notion of that—of him being here, in my bed—makes me both giddy and terrified. Maybe a little more giddy than terrified.

I close my eyes and try to slow my breathing. Moments later, I feel Smith’s arm curl around my hip and he pulls me closer to him. When I open my eyes, our faces are only a few inches apart. His eyes are even bluer at night than they are in the daytime.

“Hey,” he says softly. I smile at him almost shyly and I lift an arm up around his neck.

“Hey back.”

He smiles and, a few seconds later, his eyes close sort of slowly, like he’s actually fighting the desire to sleep. For a few long moments, I watch the almost imperceptible twitches of his eyelids. I reach up and lay a hand on his jaw. His skin feels like a miracle.

He feels like a miracle.

And, more than that, he feels like he belongs here. Right here, next to me.

For once, I don’t want to overthink everything. I don’t want to dissect the rights and wrongs of this evening. I just want to rest—every part of me, relaxing next to the body of this man that I’ve tried so hard to stay away from.