“You’ve never had a girlfriend?”

“I’ve hidden myself, my heart.” He kept undressing her. “Hidden from anyone who might expose me for what I am. Not a badass but just another guy who doesn’t have all the answers. It’s easier to be feared.”

She was in her bra and panties when he helped her to the edge, hooked his thumb in her silk and lace, and eased it down. “But that’s all I feel like we do to each other, expose everything.”

“Yeah. Crazy as it sounds there’s something inside of me that didn’t exist before I met you.” He offered her a hand, eased her into the water until it pooled around her thighs in a sultry caress. “Or if it did, I ignored it.”

“Which is?”

“Now is the time to do what we want. Now is the time to live. Now is our time.”

His next kiss wasn’t gentle. With every plunge and stroke of his hot tongue he showed her what he meant by being in the present.

“Come here,” she said.

“Why do you want me?”

“Maybe because you’re broken on the outside and it matches my insides? Or maybe because I’ve discovered that I like my men dark and broody with a little bit of scowl that hides how inside they are nothing but a marshmallow.”

“Marshmallow? The hell you say.”

She sank into the water, wanting to applaud when his shirt came off. She could stare at him all night. His beautiful build. That mouth, the full lower lip in particular. She wanted to bite it, suck it into her mouth while digging her fingers into his skin. Pull him close until he pushed his way in, greedy and relentless, taking from her but also taking her to a place where she didn’t feel alone. That’s what he did. Stomped in and all that niggling fear and uncertainty and regret flew away, burned off by his passion, his consuming self.

He bent to deal with his leg and the moon’s glow shined over his strong shoulders, the narrow taper of his waist, the hard bulge of his biceps.

He squatted, balancing on his hands, easing himself into the water. “You were staring.”

“Yes, sir, I certainly was.”

“You say the leg doesn’t bother you but . . .”

She slid toward him. “Because it’s hard to notice when everything else about you is so overwhelming. The crazy part is that you aren’t even my type.”

“Really.”

“Big, tough with a touch of mean. Yeah, no. I should stay away.”

“But you keep coming closer.” He made a deep, rumbling sound in the back of his throat when she took him in hand, tugged his length from root to tip, the mineral content of the water working to ease the friction.

“You’re a mistake.” Her other hand skimmed his thigh to cup his balls, thick and heavy in her hand. “The worst kind or the best, I can’t make up my mind.”

He lifted her up, set her on his right thigh, pushing her a little to indicate that she needed to start moving.

She ground against him, increasing her strokes, her clit rubbed in tight strokes, drawing back her hood, reaching the bud of hot nerves.

He settled his lips against her forehead. “You like it hard.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. So much.” Her body grew increasingly feral, as if outside here beneath the late-autumn moon she finally felt in her body. Not gangly. Not the girl next door. But someone who was going crazy, hot and stripped bare of everything but need.

“Can that sweet mouth play dirty?” He lightly bit her shoulder, his teeth softly scraping her sensitive skin, mouth hot in contrast to the cold night air. He braced himself, shifting her weight to get more comfortable. “Come on, Trouble, let’s see what you’ve got.”

“Okay. Okay. You asked for it.” She braced his face between her hands, tangling her fingers in his hair, loving the rough graze of his stubble over her palms. “I want to suck you down to the back of my throat, until you’re giving me everything and I take it. I take it all.”

He moaned. “Jesus.”

Her hair fell in her face and she realized dimly it was starting to snow. Little flakes were hitting the hot water and melting. She was the snow. He was the heat. She wanted to melt all over him. But she wouldn’t take him in her mouth—not yet—she had other plans for him tonight. She shifted and he was there. Right there.

“What are you doing?”

“What I need. What you need.”

“But we’re in the water, we don’t have . . .”

“Wilder.” God, even saying his name did things to her. Some men had a name that was meant to be screamed. He wasn’t a Philip. Or a Reggie. Or a Jimmy. No, you moan Wilder. You groan it with every last bit of sanity left to you.

“Wilder. I want to do this. I want you inside me. Do I have permission to come aboard, sir?”

“Aye, aye,” he ground out, tugging her down. She slid until there was no more room. Until she was full and he was deep.

“You feel that?”

“So much that I almost can’t stand it.”

“Why is it so good, so hard to bear?”

“Don’t know, Trouble.” He stroked the side of her neck, tracing her clavicle, his voice gruffly tender. “But let’s see how much we can take.”

She braced her knees on either side of his hips, his ass firmly set against the hot spring’s sand. Wind trembled the trees’ overhanging branches while just beyond the pool, the water raced, not paying them any attention, and they stayed in their own little eddy, lost and churning against each other.

“You’re so fucking sexy,” he ground out.

She rode him harder, the water splashing against him. He stared and she was glad. Her heart seemed like it was expanding, filling her chest, rattling her rib cage. His gaze couldn’t tear away from her, and she wasn’t sure if he’d blinked. Good, let him see what he did. Let him never think he wasn’t man enough.

Once she’d ridden on the swings at an amusement park and after the ride was over didn’t want to get off. The ride operator was too busy texting to notice so she stayed on for another go and then another. Until the world got a little lopsided, surreal as if somehow everything kept spinning in a mad orbit and she stood apart from that, observed, watched.

That’s how she was now, dizzy, seeing herself from a slight distance, watching her body filled with Wilder. Never had it been this way, these constant contractions.

“Be here.” He slammed into her. “Be here now, with me.” The ragged rhythm of his breath was punctuated by a rough huff. His hold on her tightened and he threw his back into it, pumping harder.

Every thrust broke against her barriers, the ones that said, “Don’t let him in. Don’t let him in.” Too late. Maybe it was a mistake but he was here. A cry of pleasure burst from her throat as his hold increased. A hot jolt shot through her body. God, she was close, right there and yet as much as she loved the anticipation, she wanted more, longer.

“Don’t let me come yet.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t want this to stop.”

His teeth grazed her earlobe. “Doesn’t have to.”

“What do you—oh. Oh God.”

He gripped her ass, keeping her grinding pressure right there, right at the edge.

“Trouble, you come for me now like a good girl and I’ll let you come again.”

“Again?”

“Fuck, honey. You know you can do this all night, right? You aren’t a guy.”

“I’ve heard that, but my body doesn’t work that way.”

“Wanna bet?” Two more thrusts and he had her right where he wanted, plunged into the fire, every nerve tingling. He fanned the flames of her desire, burning off her need to reveal the core, the looming power that rose up. Her thighs trembled as she clamped down, milking his shaft in powerful currents.

“That’s it. That’s it exactly.”

She shut her eyes and fell forward, wanting to rub her cheeks on his pectorals’ hard swell of muscle.

“Oh, we’re just getting started.” He shed all vestiges of gentleness, set a rhythm that was fast, almost brutal, but exactly what she wanted. “You like that, don’t you?” He smirked at her whimper because she did, she loved it.