As the moment faded and passed, my senses suddenly felt over-exposed. The ringing of the ice machine was so damn annoying, the florescent lights were burning my eyes, the room smelled like bleach, and my skin felt like it was crawling. I think this new awareness boiled down to fear. We’d just experienced something great. But the last time I experienced something great with her everything turned to shit so fast I barely had time to keep up. How would she react this time?

I couldn’t speak. As our eyes connected and I let go of her body, I felt a flush hit my skin. I was nervous. I was nauseous. I was terrified.

“That was so embarrassing,” she said, breaking the silence first.

I cleared my throat. “What was?” I didn’t know if she meant the whole thing or one part in particular. I glanced down and noticed that in my hastiness to pull out of her, I’d come on her. Fuck me. Now that was fucking embarrassing. I yanked off my shirt, and used it to quickly wipe the evidence of it away.

“I’m on birth control now,” she whispered as I did this. “You didn’t have to…um…you could have…you know…”

“Gone inside you?” I finished.

“Yeah.” Crimson hit her cheeks. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“You wouldn’t have minded?” I repeated slowly, just to be sure I’d heard her correctly.

“Yeah. I mean, as long as it was safe for you to go inside me then you could have. Assuming…assuming you don’t have anything.” She bit her lip, groaned, and looked away from me. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. That was rude.”

I hooked a finger under her chin to guide her eyes back to mine. “You can ask me whatever. I’ll always answer honestly. But no. I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

“Oh,” she uttered, staring up at me.

“What part was embarrassing?” I questioned, needing to know exactly what she meant earlier. “When I came on you?”

“No,” she said quickly. “When I came while you were kissing me.”

The biggest smile hit my lips. She was so damn adorable. This wasn’t an easy conversation to have, but I loved that we were having it. “But that was the best part,” I answered, instantly losing my nerves and fear from a minute ago. “You’re the sexiest woman in the world, Sydney. That was so fucking hot. You have no idea. I’m still thinking about.”

“Yeah,” she whispered, something of a smile crossed her face now.

“Yeah,” I repeated.

“Then,” she said, instantly turning coy on me and tracing her fingers in the most tantalizing way across my naked chest. “Can we do that again? Please? I wasn’t ready for it to be over.”

Oh hell yes. We could do that again. We could do that as many times as she could handle. “Come here, sweetheart,” I said, drawing her close. “We can do whatever you want.”

CHAPTER 13:

SYDNEY

Rhett entered me from behind. I’d awoken something fierce and controlling, but also protective and kind in him. And I absolutely loved it. This time he’d removed my shorts and underwear, something he did very slowly with lots of kisses in lots of new places, and he’d instructed me to stand as I was—my legs in a wide stance and my hands gripping on an exposed pipe in the corner of this random room we were in. “You’ll need it for support,” he’d told me, squeezing both of my ass cheeks playfully.

And I might have been completely freaked out of my mind by what was about to happen, but he was talking me through every moment of it, and for some strange reason the trust I had in him kept growing. “It’ll feel deeper this way,” he told me, leaning over my back, trailing his finger across my stomach and then up to my breasts. He squeezed and tugged gently at my nipples.

“Deeper sounds good,” I panted.

“And I’m going to come inside you.” He nibbled lightly at my ear.

“Okay,” I breathed.

He was already inside of me, but he wasn’t moving. I couldn’t believe the way things had suddenly changed today with Rhett. When I started the day, never in a million years would I have guessed I’d be ending it this way. But I was. I’d jumped straight into the deep end with him and there was no going back now.

“Spread your legs a little wider,” he instructed next.

Swallowing hard, I did as he asked. I could feel every inch of him inside me, and I only felt him more as I moved. My breathing was so loud and my clit was thumping so wildly, I was scared I was going to come again before he had the chance to really do anything. He moved his hands from under my shirt, downward. I wanted him to touch one spot in particular, the one spot that was screaming for him, but he didn’t touch me there. Instead he placed one of his hands on the wall by the pipe and the other he kept wrapped around my stomach.

He was bracing himself.

“Rhett,” I begged. “You have to move.”

“I’m the only one who has ever been inside you. Right, Sydney?” he asked, his voice hoarse and strained. “The only one who has ever made you come?”

“Yes,” I said. Where was this going? “You’re the only one.”

“Good. That’s how I always want it to be,” he told me and he finally moved.

He was right—it felt so much deeper from behind. I expected him to be rough and forceful, especially given the way he’d been ordering me around a moment ago, but he moved carefully and slowly. And the feel of him sliding in and out, filling me, stretching me, was so…complete. It was more than my body’s physical reaction to him, though. The emotional connection I felt with him was the most intense, most euphoric thing ever. I loved how much closer it brought us. I tried to twist around because I needed to see him. Which was a dangerous maneuver because I ended up on the floor instead.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, reaching to help me up.

But I wasn’t. Laughing at us, I yanked his hand and pulled him to the ground with me. And that was where we finished. Moments later, with Rhett buried deep inside me, I was coming for him all over again. A girl could get used to this sort of attention from a man. As the waves rocked through me, his fingers touched and traced and teased—first my clit and then my breasts. He was an expert in every way at this sort of thing. A wonderful tingling feeling lingered for several long moments after that initial high. And then Rhett followed me over the edge.

For the first time ever, I finally got to see the look on his face as it happened, as he let go and he came inside me. It was an amazing sight to behold, especially knowing I’d been the one to bring him to this point. It made me feel desired and sexy and so very wanton. I think I was falling for this man. But this moment also brought out something else in me—jealousy. I couldn’t help but wonder how many other girls had felt this very same way with him. The thought nearly ruined the moment. Nearly, but not fully.

* * *

An hour or two had passed. Rhett and I were sitting on the cold tile floor, all our clothes back on, talking about the most random things, while eating ice cubes from the ice machine. This was the least stressed I’d felt in months. “Tell me more about your mom,” I probed. He’d mentioned a minute ago that he grew up with only her, but he hadn’t gone any deeper than that.

“Well,” Rhett said, grabbing another piece of ice from the Styrofoam cup I had in my hand and popping it into his mouth. “She’s a lot like me, I guess. Outgoing. Fun. Where do you think my good looks and all this charm come from?” He winked at me.

“Don’t make me dump this cup of ice on your head,” I threatened, playing around, pretending to raise the cup. He was so full of himself sometimes. It was ridiculous.

“Give me the ice,” he demanded, laughing. “You would dump that on my head, wouldn’t you? I know you would. In a heartbeat too, if I gave you the chance.”