Mav clenches his eyes shut tightly, exhales and falls to his back. “I am, yeah. We should sleep.” And it’s like he’s remembering what we did a moment ago, because his tongue comes out and sweeps over his bottom lip.

I turn toward him and the lure to touch him is more than I can fight anymore. I lay my hand over his stomach. The moment I do, he groans low in his throat and his abs tighten. His eyes are still closed as I glide my fingers over his abdomen. He moves his hand from his chest to grant me full access. I read the skin on his abs as if it were brail, and memorize every sound of pleasure he makes. Moving on to his chest, I tease him with my fingertips, circling his nipple, and then sliding them up his sternum, before tracing the words of his tattoo. After I’ve explored his upper body to my heart’s content, I tentatively touch his jaw and feel the hair there tickle my fingertips. The same hair that’s left a temporary burn between my thighs and along my neck.

Good Lord . . . my Luce is handsome. He has a face and a body no woman in her right mind could resist. Yet he’s so much more than that.

I never had a chance, did I?

No.

From the moment I saw him, he’s captivated me. Shoved his way into my heart.

When I reach his lips and brush the pads of my fingers over them, Mav’s mouth parts. I fell in love with these lips that first day. Though they were wrapped around a cigarette, they were still the sexiest lips I’ve ever seen. Lush and made for kissing.

Finally, his eyes blink open, and as they focus on my face, they burn with a heat that nearly singes the air between us.

He’s looking at me as if I’m his next meal, and he’s been stranded for so long without food.

We stare at one another and I wonder why he’s waiting. Why he’s not kissing me? Stroking me? Having sex with me? What happened to his declaration to fuck me?

“Mav?”

He gives me a lazy smile, “Yeah, baby?”

I palm his cheek and study his face. “What are you waiting for?”

He turns his head and places a kiss on my palm. When his eyes meet mine again he says, “You. I told you. You control this. I don’t want to push you more than you’re willin’ to give.”

But I want more. I want what you promised me.

The words hover on the end of my tongue.

Tentatively, I move toward him. I wrap my hand around his nape. Drawing closer, I keep my eyes locked with his. He doesn’t move an inch. He waits for me to come to him, for me to press my lips to his. He opens and my tongue slips inside and laves at his in languid strokes. He grips my neck and matches my movements, my intensity, and my momentum. But he’s holding himself back. A tide of hunger lies dormant under his skin. Beneath the soft kisses there’s a ferocity waiting to be unleashed.

I crave it and the biker who takes exactly what he wants.

I kiss him deeper, more aggressively. My hands roam and I touch him without censor. I suck his lip into my mouth and scrap my teeth across it before letting it go. My hand ventures down his stomach and covers his erection over his briefs.

Mav hisses, “Fuck!” and bucks against my hand. Then he stills my hand with his, and says, “You don’t have to.”

This time, I shush him. Using my mouth, I stop him from talking and kiss him without restraint. We’re all lips, tongues, and hands. We’re frenzied and so hot that the air between us is sweltering.

Breaking the kiss, I rasp, “I want the rest of what you promised me.”

He’s up on his elbow a second later and gripping my neck tightly. “Doll.” His thumb strokes my jaw. “I swear to God, babe, I need to be inside you more than I need to breathe. Actually, I’m losin’ my mind over here. But are you sure? I’ll be patient if that’s what you need me to be.”

“No, show me how good it can be with you.”

He rolls over on top of me and frames my face. “Dammit, baby. I want to be what you need, but my control is fuckin’ slippin’. I’m way past being able to be gentle.”

“No more holding back.”

“Jesus, I don’t think you know what you’re askin’ for.”

I bite his lip, nearly drawing blood. “But I do.”

“Fuck.”

Our mouths collide. And from the second our lips connect it’s raw and hard and bordering on violent. His hands grab my hips and our lower bodies move together. The dip and swirl of his hips quickly starts to make me greedy for more. Grinding himself into me, Mav growls low, the sound echoing out of his chest. Lifting up, his head dips to my breast. He licks my nipple and rolls it, before he bites it lightly.

I gasp and throw my head back. “God, that feels so good. Everything you do feels good.”

He leaves me for a minute, but only to remove his boxers. Then he’s parting my legs and kneeling between them. “So fuckin’ wet for me, Doll. And every single drop of this is mine.” He palms my sex and then using my own juices, he strokes his shaft. With his other hand, he thumbs my clit and he smiles when I squirm under his ministrations.

After propping himself up on one arm, he pulls my leg over his hip. Before I can take a steady breath, he guides his long and thick cock to my entrance.

“Tell me, Ember. Is this what you want?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t want nice and soft and sweet? You want me to fuck you like we both need me to?”

“Yes!”

I want this. I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I need him. I need him to relieve the pressure inside me, all the way inside me.

The tip of his cock pushes at my entrance. He’s big and at first, my body resists the intrusion. There’s a slight pinch of pain as I stretch to accommodate his size.

We both seem to be holding our breaths. Pulling back, he thrusts using more of his strength and oh, my God, it feels so damn good.

He hisses, “Fuck!” as he gradually works himself deeper. “Let yourself relax, baby, and let me feel you let go.” I try, but it’s only when he plays with my clit and distracts me, that my tension dissipates.

On his next drive forward, he sinks to the hilt and his head falls forward. He releases a guttural groan, whispers, “Christ,” and closes his eyes.

He’s filling me up, completely, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt.

“God, Ember. This is almost too fuckin’ much,” he says between ragged breaths. Then he cups my face. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod.

“You okay if I start movin’ now?”

I nod again.

“Say it, Doll.”

“Yes.”

His jaw flexes and his eyes turn molten like they do. He backs off a little and plunges forward. Going deeper still. I make an unintelligible sound and my back arches. He curses again and cups my breast. Our bodies collide and he pushes himself again until he’s seated all the way inside me, and his body becomes flush with my own.

Bending down, he trails his lips over my neck. Bites my ear. “The sounds you make, baby, are enough to make me come. But this. This is too much. How you feel. You grip me like we were made to be like this. Nothin’ . . . nothin’ ever gonna come close,” he says breathlessly.

Then he takes my mouth, passionately and aggressively.

I cling to him like a life preserver. He’s hitting a spot that has pleasure rocketing through me with each stroke. And it’s building as he draws back and slams back inside me. Our bodies work in tandem. He swirls his cock inside me in such a way that I’m gasping for breath and pleading for more.

But then he stills.

“Please . . . don’t stop,” I whisper as I dig my nails into his back. “It feels so good.”

“That’s it. Hold on to me, baby.”

It’s meant to be a warning. I realize that a couple of seconds later as his cock goes all the way to my womb and rapidly withdraws, only to drive into me again. He slams into me in rapid succession, and his biceps bulge with the force he uses to bring my world falling down all around me.