He was good to his word, too. With careful fingers, he took her apart, two of them inside and pressing just exactly where she needed them, his thumb moving in tight circles against her clit. All the while, he kept his lips on her skin, kissing and sucking and biting, and when he teased her nipple with his teeth, she twisted hard. Trembling with the electricity shooting between her breasts and her sex and the heat that was rising to a boil, she shifted onto her side, reaching for him, wanting him closer before this feeling consumed her and turned her to ash, but he kept her still.

“You’re there, aren’t you?” He pulled his fingers free, and she threw her head back, gritting her teeth. “How does that feel? Does it leave you empty and needy and shaking?”

“Yes, God, yes.”

Before she knew it, he was on top of her, two hands planted on the pillow beside her head, and the soaring crest of oblivion she had been hovering on fell away, leaving her reeling. The tip of his erection dragged, hot against her hip. She reached down to grasp it, to get that silky flesh in her palm, but he tilted away. Put his face right into her vision, and, God. His eyes were so dark, the intensity of it overwhelming, and perfect, and maybe she wasn’t the only one in this.

Maybe it wasn’t just her, feeling like everything had changed.

He put his hand on her face. “Tell me,” he said, voice rough.

And the words almost slipped out. I love you. Don’t leave. Don’t let me go.

She came to her senses just in time. When he didn’t stop her, she curled her hand around his hip. Lifted the other to touch his face.

“I want you.” It felt like it took all of her breath, and it might as well have. The force of his kiss stole anything else she had left in her. He dropped down, rocking the hot, thick length of him through the valley of her thighs in an intimation of what he was going to do, so close but not quite there, torment for them both for an instant.

And then he was in motion. He rose up onto his knees and grabbed the condom, tearing it open and getting it rolled on before she could move to try to help. When he held himself over her again, she spread her legs and braced herself.

But all he did then was kiss her. Kiss her long and slow and wet, until she was dizzy with it, until all she knew was his mouth and his embrace and this gaping need inside of her, just waiting to be filled.

This desperate place in her heart, where he had already managed to fit himself, long before she’d invited him in.

When she slid her hand even lower to grasp the solid curve of his rear, he groaned and repositioned his hips. The blunt head of him nudged against her sex, but she didn’t tense. He’d promised he’d take care of her.

He looked into her eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he said.

The first breaching felt huge, but it didn’t hurt. Not even close. A long, gentle glide inside, and she closed her eyes at the fullness of it. The completeness when his hips met hers.

And then he did something no one else had ever done. He pressed his lips, soft and gentle and chaste to each cheek, even though he was inside her.

“You okay?”

She fluttered her eyes open to find him so close, mouth hovering just above hers. “Yeah.” Because she was. “More than.”

“Good.” His lips twitched as he rocked deeper into her, and he stifled a little groan. “Because you feel incredible.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, hell, yeah.” With that he covered her mouth with his, pulling backward with his hips while surging forward with his tongue, and it felt like a complete circuit. Like she was possessed by this man, and she never wanted to be anywhere else.

With gentle strokes, he pressed into her. She fell into his rhythm like she’d fallen into everything else with him. Each thrust ground him hard against her clit, building that warmth again in her abdomen. She held on tight, clutched him closer and tilted her hips, seeking that pleasure.

“That’s right, baby,” he murmured. It was less a kiss now and more simply breathing the same air. Being locked up tight inside this tiny bit of space where he was hers and she was his. “Take everything you need.”

She closed her eyes and dug her nails into his back, straining, focusing until—

It was just a warmth at first, a soft curl of a promise in the base of her abdomen, but she grabbed on to it. Held on to Rylan and pressed her face to his throat as she whined. Each roll of his hips made the feeling grow. She gripped him harder, moving him against herself, against that hot brightness and pleasure just above where he was filling her. Bucking her hips up into him until it was all searing heat—light and darkness and a rush of nothingness, taking her under and down, and she was afraid she’d shake apart.

But he was there. Holding her together and crushing her close, murmuring in her ear.

It was all she needed to let go.

Her climax crashed down on her in a crescendo of feeling and need. Her voice and her body all shattered as she breathed his name over and over again, and God. To do this with someone who meant so much, to feel the hot breadth of him as he buried himself inside of her.

Only once the fog began to fade did he rear back. She looked up at him, and he was staring right at her, eyes open and cheeks flushed. He took another half dozen long, hard strokes in and out of her, and then he was arching. His mouth dropped open, and the groan that fell from his lungs shook her. His whole body trembled, and her heart twisted.

He was so beautiful in his pleasure. Felt so right inside her body and in her arms.

How was she ever supposed to let him go?

Rylan collapsed over top of Kate, scarcely remembering to catch himself and not force her to take all of his weight. For a minute, all he could do was lie there, breathing into the pillow. Fuck. He was still inside her, still twitching, and he had to squeeze his eyes shut tighter.

Because he’d had sex before. He’d had a lot of sex before, but not like that.

And wasn’t that just Kate, though? She put him in these situations he thought he knew inside and out, and she made them different. More.

He shuddered and lifted himself up. He didn’t need to be thinking things like that. As he got his elbows underneath himself, she stroked a hand up and down his spine, pulling a shiver from someplace deep inside of him. Her face was flushed and glassy, and her legs were folded gently around his hips. A warm rush of tenderness lit the center of his chest. He leaned in closer, stroking his nose against hers and then kissing her mouth, nice and soft. The way a girl should be kissed after letting a guy get that close to her.

She tasted so sweet, and the curl of her thighs around his waist had another round of aftershocks racing through him. He could have stayed like that the whole night.

With a groan and a last little sucking nip at her bottom lip, he pulled himself away. “Back in a sec.”

He made his way to the bathroom, feeling less than steady and trying to keep that to himself. Dealing with the condom was the work of a moment, but he dawdled anyway, washing his hands a lot more thoroughly than he usually did, just for something to do while he got himself put together.

Turning off the tap, he dragged one damp hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. As he did, he caught a glance of himself in the mirror.

Instead of shaking his head and moving on the way he usually did, he straightened his spine and forced himself to really take it all in. Not the sex hair or any of that, but not the shit he usually noticed, either—the too-deep cleft of his chin or the slant to his nose, or the bits that reminded him a little too much of his dad. It wasn’t easy, staring at himself that way. No matter what he did, he couldn’t conjure up the things Kate had drawn and seen. Was it really any use?