Goddamn, I was proud of her. If he tried to touch her, I was going to move in, but as long as she could hold her own, I thought it was best to let him see her stand tall without any help.

Dan flicked his beady douchebag eyes at me. “What’s he doing here, anyway?”

“He’s my friend. Now get out of the way so I can go into my house.”

“Not until you agree to talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to say right now, Dan.” Natalie threw a hand up. “Go be free! Enjoy your space! You were right. We need a little time apart, a little distance to reevaluate what we want out of life.”

Dan looked nervous. “You’re reevaluating your life?”

“Yeah. I am.” She sounded just as surprised as he did. “Just because you had a plan doesn’t mean you should follow through with it, right or wrong. There’s dedication, and then there’s blind stubbornness.”

“But…” He ran a hand over his hair. “But what if the break was the wrong plan?” He lowered his voice. “I couldn’t sleep last night at all.”

“Sorry to hear that. But you know what? I didn’t get much sleep either.”

I snorted. I couldn’t help it. But then I thought Natalie might kill me, so I tried to turn it into a cough. She gave me a nasty stink-eyed stare over her shoulder before shoving Dan out of the way. To my surprise, he gave up, standing there slump-shouldered and dejected while Natalie opened the door and gestured for me to go in. “Go on, Miles. I’ll be in in a minute.”

Reluctantly, I slipped past her into the front hall and eavesdropped on their conversation through the partly open door.

“You’re punishing me. I deserve it,” said sad sack Dan. “I know I do.” I rolled my eyes and gave him the finger through the door.

“You cheated on me, Dan. That hurts.” Her voice was like steel.

“I’m sorry.”

“Was it more than once?”

I didn’t hear anything so he must have nodded or something, because she laughed coldly. “I should have known. God, was I just stupid?”

“No! Look, it happened but we can put it behind us now, Natalie. I don’t want anyone else.”

“Until the next time.”

“There won’t be a next time. I promise.”

“I’m not interested in your promises anymore, Dan. What are you even fighting for? It’s time we admit things between us haven’t been good for a while now—they’ve been forced, and that’s partly my fault, because I didn’t want to face it. Now we have to.”

“I don’t think it was forced,” he said, his tone defensive. “I think it just got comfortable, and I took you for granted.”

“Whatever it was, Dan, there has to be something better. I’ve decided I’m too young to settle for comfortable.”

God, I wanted to tackle hug her for that so hard.

“But I love you, Natalie. I still want what we had planned. I just didn’t want it so fast.”

“I get it. And I’m glad you were finally honest with me. It’s giving me a chance to take a closer look at what I want now. To figure out what’s really going to make me happy.”

“I hope it’s still me.”

It’s not you! I felt like shouting. You don’t even know about her G spot, you fuckwad! Unexpected rage curled my hands into fists and flared my nostrils when I thought about him having sex with her. About his mouth on her, his hands on her, his stupid lazy dick. And if she went back to him, he’d get that spectacular body to himself. He’d get to eat that sweet little muffin. He’d get to glaze her buns.

That was fucking unacceptable.

I wanted to glaze her buns.

Molten fury rose in my chest, and I clenched my fists at my sides.

“I don’t think it’s you anymore, Dan. I’m sorry. We’ll talk next week, OK? Goodnight.” She came in the house and shut the door, leaning back against it, breathing hard.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe I just did that.” She put her hands over her stomach. “I broke up with Dan. For good.”

It was dim in her front hall, and I didn’t have my glasses on, so I couldn’t read her expression too well. “Are you OK?”

She nodded, her eyes wide. “Yes. But I’m in shock. I think I just drastically changed my life.”

I smiled. “Fuck yeah, you did. How does it feel?”

“Good. Liberating. I’m filled with all this…” She waved her hands around frantically. “Insane energy right now.”

I leaned toward her, boxing her in against the door with both arms. “Want some help burning that off?”

“Yeah,” she breathed, running her hands up my chest. “I think I do.”

Don’t think, I told myself as his lips slanted over mine, his tongue stroking inside them. Don’t panic, don’t worry, don’t analyze. Forget about everything but the way this feels.

I gave myself over to Miles, to the smell of his skin, the feel of body against mine, the way his breathing changed when he got close to me. I slipped my hands beneath his t-shirt and ran them over his warm abs and chest, brushing my thumbs over his nipples, making them hard. He moaned lightly and reached under my skirt, rubbing me over my cotton panties. His mouth moved down my neck, his tongue warm and wet against my skin.

“Want to know what I’ve been thinking about all day?” he said in my ear, working his fingers in circles over my clit. “Getting my mouth right here. Tasting your sweet little pussy. Making you come again with my tongue.”

“Really?” I put one hand on his crotch and rubbed the bulge in his jeans. How did he get hard so fast? Had he been like this already?

“Really. And I don’t think I can wait any longer.” He dropped down in front of me and pushed my skirt up, putting his mouth on me without even taking my panties off.

“Oh God, that feels good.” Breathing hard, I threaded my fingers through his hair, watching him soak my underwear with his mouth—or maybe it was me soaking them. He flung one of my legs over his shoulder, kissing and licking and biting my inner thigh before moving my panties aside to get his mouth on my bare skin. God, I loved the way he didn’t rush, loved the languid strokes of his tongue up the slick, hot seam at my center, the decadent swirls over my aching clit, the sweet, slow way he devoured me…I felt like he loved making me come as much I loved doing it, like he’d be happy to do this all night, like he didn’t care how long it would take me.

Not that it would take long.

“Fuck,” I whispered, the tension coiling tight at my center. “How do you do it? You make me come so fast.”

“Good.” He switched to hard, quick flicks with the tip of his tongue, then sucked the hot little bud into his mouth. When he slid two fingers inside me, my leg trembled and I dropped my head back against the door.

“Yes, yes, yes, like that,” I whimpered, my fingers clutching his hair. I clenched the leg he’d thrown over his shoulder, pulling him into me. “Right there, oh my God…”

He plunged his fingers deeper and sucked harder, and when I looked down at his head between my thighs, I cried out as I watched him take me over the edge, my clit throbbing inside his mouth, my core muscles contracting around his fingers.

“Fuck yes,” he said, his breath warm against my wet skin. He bit my inner thigh once more. “I love the way I can feel you come. I love it so much, I want it again.” He pulled my drenched panties down and I stepped out of them. When he stood up, I grabbed the hem of his shirt.

“Take this off. I love your arms and your chest,” I said. “I want to see them.” He reached behind his neck and pulled it over his head, tossing it aside before caging me against the door with his arms. “Yes,” I whispered, biting my lip as I ran my hands over his upper body. I kissed his collar bone, the ink on his bicep and forearm. Reaching between his legs, I rubbed my hand over the erection straining hard against the denim, and circled his nipple with my tongue. It was hard already, and I stroked it, kissed it, flicked it. When I bit it gently, Miles exhaled sharply and grabbed my ass.