“Take your time,” she gasped, rocking a little from side to side. “You’re a lot more than what I’m used to.”

He had a fleeting moment of hating anyone who’d ever been there before, touched this woman, heard her make this same gasp. But then she leaned up, her soft lips brushing his, and nothing more mattered because for once he existed fully in the present. No past. No future. He wasn’t even a fucking hermit. He was here buried inside this gorgeous woman and while it was a little awkward and his balance needed some adjustment, his arms were strong and he could keep his weight off her to concentrate on the in-and-out slide. She clenched those long legs around his waist and it was like a little slice of heaven was served with a fucking cherry on the top.

Her fingers raked down his back and he jerked, plunging deeper, spreading those long legs wider. Shit. The world was dissolving to this single point of contact, the hard rhythmic breaths. Their gazes locked and he was lost, hypnotized. He dragged his tongue over her neck, the pulse echoing in his cock. It had never been this way, rough yet soft. Tender even. Shit, he was going to get there too fast. He ground against her mons and she bowed too. Thank God. He wouldn’t go alone. He did it again, increasing the friction. “Like that?”

She didn’t answer but the way her jaw tightened, that low shallow whimper, told him she did.

“Say yes.”

“Yes.” She moaned the word.

His balls squeezed with hot, tight pleasure, edging him closer. “Say my name.”

“Yes, Wilder. I love it.”

The pleasure sharpened, took on a dark edge, and she began to contract around him, pulsing, milking, and everything was too good. Fuck it, incredible. His abs flexed, ass clenched, and with a primal groan and one last mad kiss, he joined her on the other side.

Afterward, he rolled onto his side, clasping her close, not wanting to sever the lust-drunk connection, not when everything felt exactly right. “Jesus, I didn’t even have enough time to bust out any big moves.”

“Wait. You’ve got bigger moves than that?” She cocked a brow, pushing a damp lock of hair off her forehead. “I guess the rest of you is big but whoa. Go on, pray, share your big move.”

“What I really want is to go down on you, savor every goddamn glorious inch.” Even as he said it his mouth watered. She’d taste amazing, strong, bright, and tangibly addictive as the rest of her.

She traced a bead of sweat trickling down his chest.

He cupped her cheek. “You aren’t impressed?”

“Don’t get me wrong.” She rolled, nestling closer with a grin. “I’m sure I’d like it, correction—love it. One teensy problem though, I’m not sure if I’m in a great position to get into a relationship with anyone.”

Despite her words, she still threaded her fingers through his hair and drew him in for another kiss, one that started to harden his exhausted cock. Her tongue was sweet but tasted of falsehoods.

“That’s good,” he muttered before deepening the kiss. “Because I don’t do relationships myself.”

At last she broke away, breathing faster than she had a few minutes ago. She pressed her cheek against his and gave a tentative grin. “This is a big mistake, isn’t it?”

“Huge.” One that felt like it could change his whole world, and just maybe for the better.

Chapter Ten

TWO THOUGHTS COLLIDED in Quinn’s head the moment she woke up: (1) It felt damn good to be wrapped in Wilder’s big strong arms and (2) the fact they had used up her one emergency condom was a national tragedy because she wanted more, more, more, like Susan Sarandon in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. How could she ever get enough of this man?

She stretched her legs, smiling at the delicious soreness radiating between her legs before a third thought wandered in, late to the party.

Today is test day.

Great. Thanks, third thought. Way to ruin the moment.

Stupid brain.

She had to get to the hospital lab by nine-thirty for a blood draw, the one that would reveal if she too would develop Alzheimer’s at a young age, just like Dad. Fifty-fifty odds meant she didn’t know where to place the bet. All red? All black?

It wasn’t mandatory. She didn’t have to find out. But the Virgo in her wanted to plan, needed to know because even if this was a worst case scenario, maybe she could live her life to the fullest without being plagued by nagging uncertainty. The exhausting what-ifs that slithered in when she was almost asleep or relaxing under a hot stream of water in the shower or brewing a pot of morning coffee.

Wilder responded to her stirring by nuzzling the side of her neck, his stubble prickling her flesh in a pleasant way. God, he felt good, but her instincts last night were right. This was a mistake. She was set to sail off into an uncharted ocean and no one else deserved to go along on that voyage.

“Morning,” she said, lifting his arm and wiggling away to freedom.

“Morning.”

Her feet hit the cold floor as her stomach sank at his stiff tone. There was a wall between them again. As much as she hated that it was there, this screw-and-scram behavior no doubt gave him ample cause to ramp up his defenses. Her throat tightened but no matter how fabulous last night was, leaving was for the best. Chalk this encounter up to a little one-time fling that helped provide much needed distraction.

“So I have to get going,” she said, tugging on yesterday’s clothes. Yeah, it was dodgy as heck to avoid his eyes, but if she didn’t, he’d see in her gaze that leaving was the last thing she wanted. Last night she rambled about making a Wilson condom and he still wanted to have monkey sex. If she let him in, they might spend the morning doing sock puppet shows interspersed with fellatio. Then he might go ahead and bust out that big move he kept alluding to and she’d never want to do anything but live life with her legs wrapped around his shoulders.

Better to stick to black and white though. Grey wasn’t really her color.

“I realized it’s not far to walk back into town.” She reached for her purse.

“Less than a mile.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Sullenness dulled his gaze. “My keys are—”

“Truth circle? I want to get some exercise and clear my head a little. The last couple days have been out of the ordinary. And then all this.” She waved her hand at the empty space between them, plus the disordered bed sheets and tangled comforter. “I wasn’t looking for anything like this.”

He was a master of the humorless smirk. “So you keep saying.”

“Look, I know you weren’t either. We’re like two people walking fast with our heads down who ended up smacking into each other.”

“What we did felt a hell of a lot better than that.” He yanked on his own shirt and all those beautiful muscles were covered back up, but somehow that didn’t make it easier to bear because now she knew they were there. She knew what they felt like. God help her, what they tasted like.

“I have an appointment that I can’t miss in a few hours.” She buttoned and zipped her jeans, having to try twice because of her dang trembling fingers.

He gave her a closer look. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Sorry, honey.” The lines bracketing his mouth deepened. “I’m calling bullshit.”

She tied her hair into a quick ponytail. If she was going to leave with post-sex bedhead, she owed him the truth. “Fine. Actually, no. I’m not okay. I’m not even orbiting in okay’s solar system. But I also don’t want to talk about it right now.”

He paused, eyes darkening, before giving a single nod. “Fine.”

“See you around then.” She turned to leave.

“Wait.” His tone was ragged.

She closed her eyes and grimaced. Why was it so hard to go? “Mm-hmm?”

“I’d like to see you again.” How did he make that voice, all rough and snarling, have such a tender bite?