“You okay, big guy?” Shay came up behind him.

“All good,” he lied. He was dying inside, sinking into purgatory.

He seated himself at the bar, refrained from reaching for a bottle of Grey Goose and zoned out while Shay polished glasses and checked the beer taps to see if they were in working order. Time moved without him, the world not caring he was falling apart with each second that ticked by.

Patrons arrived in perfectly choreographed intervals. As the night dragged on, people came, literally, and went. He didn’t know who or when. He scoped the rooms once or twice, shuffling his feet as he made sure all participation was above board and consensual. But nobody infiltrated his consciousness. Nothing invaded his thoughts. Nothing except Cassie.

“I love you,” someone said behind him.

He winced, pushing through the heartache as he remembered the first time his wife uttered those words. He’d fallen for her long before that. Weeks, maybe even months prior to her declaration. He’d kept his adoration to himself, not willing to project his feelings onto her when he wasn’t entirely sure she felt the same way.

She had though.

In the sweetest possible way, she’d whispered those words to him. “I love you, Tate. We were made for each other.”

“And always will be,” he mouthed the words he’d spoken, seeing her image in his mind.

She’d smiled, her cheeks lifting, tiny dimples showing. The sun rose and set in those features. If only he could go back. Change the path. Tweak their outcome.

“Make love to me. Show me you love me too.”

Her words had filled him with determination. He’d do anything for her, including making the world around them vanish as he devoted his mind, body and soul to her. “I don’t know how I lived without you.”

Sappy dialogue had never been his calling card. Yes, he prided himself on being a gentleman, but it wasn’t until Cassie that he’d truly understood the power words yielded. Over time, the memory of his touch would fade. He could only hope she’d never lose the recollection of the softly uttered endearments he gifted to her.

“You didn’t,” she’d murmured. “You existed. Life didn’t start until there was you and me.”

T.J. brushed his lips over hers, sliding his hands under her shirt. The softness of her body undid him. He liked curves, and Cassie had them in abundance. He lifted her, cradling her in his arms as he strode to their bedroom.

He placed her on her feet and undid the buttons of his shirt. “There’s a present for you in my top drawer.”

Her gaze narrowed, her angelic eyes reading him as her lips curved in awareness. He’d done this before—placed items in his bedside table for her. Always of a sexual nature. Vibrators, dildos, nipple stimulators, anything and everything to improve her enjoyment.

She turned, slid out his top drawer and frowned. “What is it?”

“Take it out and have a look.” Her innocence did funny things to him. He always got a kick out of introducing her to new pleasures, testing her boundaries, awakening her to something different. It was the reason their sexuality had gone too far, too fast. He couldn’t help himself.

“What am I meant to do with it?” She picked up the C-shaped toy between her thumb and forefinger and examined it with a frown.

“The smaller end goes inside you, against your G-spot. The thicker part curls around your pubic bone to rest on your clit.”

She shot him a look, her lips curved in a smirk. “Sounds like a lot of fun for me. Where do you come into all this?”

“I’ll come. Don’t worry about that.” He stepped forward, lifting the flimsy material of her shirt over her head, revealing her sensuous breasts contained in a white lace bra. She lowered her skirt to the ground, gifting him with the exposure of matching panties while her heated gaze ate him up.

“Take off your underwear.”

She inclined her head, lowering her focus in submission. Elegant fingers gripped her waistband, baring more tempting flesh—the trimmed strip of hair at her mound, the glimpse of pussy lips, her thighs, her generous ass.

“The bra too.”

She raised her brows. “I’m getting there.” Her hands wove around her back, working the clasp before the material fell free and drifted to the floor. “Is that better?”

“You should never wear clothes,” he uttered the truth. Cassie was made for a nudist colony. For the admiring glances from men and women alike.

She hugged her stomach, succumbing to doubt.

“Don’t ever cover yourself.” With a gentle finger, he tapped her wrists in a silent command. “I want this inside you.” He motioned to the toy in her hand and gripped the narrow, thinner end. Slowly, he guided the rounded tip down her body, over her abdomen, straight to the apex of her thighs. “I want to watch you take it from here.”

The tops of her cheeks darkened to the most precious shade of pink. “How do I turn it on?”

“You don’t, my love.” He was confident calling her that now. And always would be. She was his love. His one and only. “Just put it inside that gorgeous pussy of yours and I’ll do the rest.”

She nodded, the slight, almost nervous movement making the protective part of him explode in the need to bring confidence to her actions. She was style. She was grace. She was everything and anything a man like him could wish for. Her inability to see her value or strut around showing it off astounded him.

With her hand still clutching the toy, she crawled onto the bed and rested on her back. He couldn’t tear his gaze away—didn’t want to, never would—as she closed her eyes briefly and slipped the black object into her pussy.

“Perfect.” The word was a whisper through his drying mouth.

“I do try my best.”

There it was, the brief spark, the tiny glimmer of sexual confidence that drove him to madness. She was at home in his bed.

He pulled his phone from the back pocket of his pants and scrolled to the most recently downloaded app. The software that had come with the product allowed him to control the device remotely. From her side, to another state, or even another country, he could initiate her pleasure with the touch of a button. All he had to do was decide whether he wanted to stimulate her G-spot, her clit, or both at once, and at what ferocity.

“Let’s take our time, shall we.” He wasn’t one to rush. He enjoyed building her arousal, stoking her into a craze before allowing her to succumb to bliss. With a quick double-tap, the external stimulator hummed to life, wrenching a gasp from her throat.

“Jesus.” Her eyes widened.

He chuckled as he shucked his pants, leaving them in a heap at his feet. “You like?”

“As always.” The shock left her features, replaced with a sultry, dreamy gleam in her eye. “I still don’t get how you’re going to benefit from this.”

“Your pleasure is my pleasure.” He’d play the selfless card a little longer, until he couldn’t take it anymore. Then he’d inform her the toy and his cock could both easily be accommodated inside her body. He’d make sure of it.

He tapped his phone screen again, twice more on the external stimulation and once for the vibrations to start against her G-spot.

“Oh, holy hell, T.J.” She grasped at the quilt, arching her back, closing her eyes.

One day, he wanted to lay all his gifts out on the bed—the cuffs, the massage oils, the fetish restrains, the anal plug and vibrators. One by one, he’d use them all, sating her to the point of exhaustion before finally taking his own pleasure inside her breathtaking body.

“T.J.?” Cassie began to writhe, her tone foreign. Distorted with lust.

“Hmm?” He smiled down at her, sensing her apprehension, feeling it spur to life underneath his ribcage, because just like her pleasure, her worry was his to own as well.

“T.J.?”

Her voice became distant, her image darkening. Fading. He squinted, blinked and tried to focus back on the heaven before him as it continued to drift away.