I brewed coffee and stood at the back door, looking out over the deck, while I drank my first cup. When it was empty, I set it on the table next to me and leaned my forehead against the cool glass. I wished I could sit on the porch but the mornings were brisk and I didn’t want to risk waking King up by going back in the bedroom to get dressed.

I saw the ghostly shadow of King’s body behind me in the glass right before his arms closed around my waist.

My body melted into his, my back pressing against his bare chest. He pulled me tighter against him, his chin resting on my shoulder.

“You okay, darlin’?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

His arms squeezed. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

I placed my hands on his forearms. “I wanted you to get some sleep. I know you haven’t been getting enough.”

King turned me around to face him. “I don’t like the idea of you sitting up alone after a nightmare, Jena.”

My hands lifted to his neck. “I didn’t have a nightmare last night, King.”

“You didn’t? But you didn’t take a pill.”

“I know.”

He smiled, pressing his lips against mine for a quick, light kiss. “That’s good, darlin’.”

I nodded, a little disappointed. In the last two months, King made no effort to have sex with me. He would hold me and kiss me, but he never took it farther.

At first I didn’t notice because I was still shell-shocked. After three weeks though, I started to even out and realized that he was barely touching me unless he was holding me while I cried. King wasn’t the type of man who talked a lot, but he showed affection, putting his hands on me in some way every time we were close.

After that fateful day, he rarely laid a hand on me.

Now, it had been over two months since we’d last had sex and I was getting desperate. It sounded silly, but I really needed him to make the first move. I didn’t think I could handle a gentle rejection from King.

So far, he hadn’t made that move.

As usual, King read my thoughts on my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

He shook me a little. “Don’t lie to me, Jena. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

I couldn’t meet his eyes, so I focused on the base of his throat. “It’s just…” I trailed off because I didn’t think I could say it.

“Jena,” King growled in warning.

“We, uh, haven’t had sex in a really long time,” I mumbled. “And you hardly touch me anymore unless I’m upset or crying.”

For once I seemed to surprise King. Then the corner of his mouth kicked up. “Well, technically, I’m touching you now.”

I sighed, feeling my face heat. For some reason, talking about this was difficult for me. I wasn’t shy when we were in bed and didn’t hesitate to whisper dirty talk in his ear, but standing here in the bright morning light, I felt vulnerable.

I was exposed and fully focused on his reaction rather than preoccupied by the haze of lust.

“You know what I mean,” I whispered, staring at his collarbones.

King’s finger hooked beneath my chin, tilting my face up. “I was givin’ you time to heal, babe. You’ve been through a traumatic ordeal and I was worried you were going to break.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been getting better the past few weeks,” I responded.

“Well, why didn’t you say anything?” he asked.

Now I was getting annoyed. “I never had to ask before.”

His eyes glittered with amusement. “I was trying to be a gentleman, which means I was waiting for you to tell me you were ready.”

“What was I supposed to say, King? Throw me down on the floor and screw my brains out?” I snapped.

He started to laugh then, his shoulders shaking with it. Irritated beyond belief, I shoved at his chest.

“Asshole,” I muttered, trying to wiggle out of his hold.

Suddenly his hands were in my shirt and it was up and over my head before I could blink. My underwear hit the floor and he put his foot between mine to hold them down while he lifted me up with his hands on my ass.

I gasped when my naked back hit the cold glass of the sliding door. Then King was kissing me, deep and hard, our tongues dueling. My hands lifted to cup his skull, fisting in his hair. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I rolled my hips, trying to get closer.

He groaned down my throat and one of his hands went between us, working at the waistband of his shorts.

“Are you ready?” he asked roughly.

I’d been ready for weeks. “Yes!”

I felt King smile against my mouth right before he thrust inside. My head rolled back as he filled me and my entire body clenched.

King growled, his head dipping down to take one of my nipples in his mouth.

When I tried to roll my hips again, his hands grasped my hips to hold me still.

“King!”

He used his weight to hold me against the glass as he tormented my breasts until I was panting and close to begging.

I grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head up. “If you don’t move now, I’m going hurt you.”

King chuckled wickedly before his mouth crashed down on mine. Then he moved.

It had been so long and I was so worked up, that it started building immediately. With each slam of his hips, I got closer and closer to the precipice. Then it hit me.

I cried out, my body bucking wildly against the sliding door. “Oh my God!”

King groaned, his thrusts growing short and jerky until he finally lunged inside me one last time before he stopped moving.

My arms were draped over his shoulders and my legs loosely crossed behind his back. I felt limp and wrung out.

I gasped as King and I slid down to the floor, still connected. The wood was cold against my heated skin and hard beneath my hip, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything about it.

“I love you, Alaric Sloan,” I murmured against the damp skin of his chest.

He ran his hand down my spine and answered, “That’s the first time I haven’t hated hearing you say that name.”

I giggled. “So you really hate that name, huh?”

“Yep.”

“So, when I wanna piss you off I should call you Alaric?”

He smacked my ass lightly. “Let’s not do that now. I feel too damn good to ruin it.”

I laughed again and nodded. “We’ll save it for the next time you make me mad.”

“I also didn’t mention that, as much as it pisses me off, hearing you call me Alaric makes me wanna fuck you until you beg me to stop.”

“Well now I definitely have to do it,” I retorted.

He chuckled and shifted us, slowly pulling out of me and pulling his shorts back up. I snagged my panties and pulled them up my legs, then sat up and dropped the t-shirt over my head.

King helped me to my feet and guided me over to the couch. He sat down and pulled me over to straddle his lap. “We need to talk about something,” he stated.

At his serious words and expression I felt my heart pick up speed. “What’s going on?”

“I haven’t talked to you about this because you’ve been dealing with the fallout of Katie’s shit, but there’s two things we need to discuss.”

I nodded.

“First, we’re getting married. Not tomorrow, but I’m not waiting until next year either. I figure we can do a beach wedding in the Caribbean sometime in the next couple of months. We’ll keep it small. Us, your mom if you want, Tia, and Wick.”

“Uh, don’t you think you should ask me?” I honestly didn’t care if he asked or not, but I couldn’t seem to resist giving him a hard time, even about this.

King shook his head. “I’m not gonna ask when I already know the answer.”

Since this was true, I just shrugged. “Good point.”

He gave me a suspicious look. “That was easy.”

“I’m feeling mellow. I’ll give you more shit later.”

Shaking his head, King murmured, “That’s my girl.”

“What’s the second thing?” I asked.

King sighed. “This isn’t as good. We need to talk about Renaldo.”

The mellow feeling I mentioned a few moments ago vanished. “What about him?”