Oh my god.

Oh. My. God!

“But—” I couldn’t finish my thought because he placed his lips on mine. Not hard. Not rough. Just the barest touch of skin to skin.

“Tell me to come inside,” he whispered against my mouth. He wasn’t asking. He was telling. And damn, it was hot.

His eyes were full of turmoil and chaos. I was going to drown in them.

“Is that a good idea?” I asked him. He ran his thumbs along the curve of my cheeks, our noses touching, breathing in each other. Only each other.

We had been here once before. Only then I had been the one begging to be let in. One night was all it took to destroy the beautiful friendship that we had. I was scared to lose whatever tenuous footing we had gained in our relationship. I was terrified to ruin us all over again.

But I was a different woman now than I had been a year ago. I had learned a lot about my own strength. I had developed some self-worth. And the Gracie that finally acknowledged that she loved him wasn’t going to run away when the going got tough.

I reached up and ran my hand through his damp hair and he shuddered beneath my fingers.

“With you, I feel like I’m always falling,” he sighed.

Mitch bent down and ran his nose along my neck and it was my turn to tremble, my legs barely keeping me upright.

“Me too,” I whispered.

“Don’t close the door on me, Gracie. Don’t turn me away. I need you.” He looked down at me, his eyes burning bright. “I need you.”

I wanted to open my door. I wanted to let him into my home. Into my life. But I was still bothered about Sophie. They had just broken up.

Was I the rebound?

Mitch picked up on my hesitation. He knew me well enough to read my thoughts.

“Maybe you should think about this first. We don’t have rush into it. You just broke up with Soph—”

“Stop,” he said. It came out sharply. “I’m not with here because of her. This has nothing to do with Sophie.”

“I don’t see how you can say that,” I argued. Why was I arguing?

Because if this was going to happen, it was going to be done right. And not with the residuals of another relationship hanging over our heads.

Mitch closed his eyes and let out a frustrated breath. I remained unmoving in front of my door. He wasn’t coming in. Not yet.

When he opened his eyes he was composed. Resolute. He cupped his hands on either side of my neck and looked deeply into my eyes.

“The night Sophie and I hooked up was two weeks after you and I were together,” he began and I blanched. I really didn’t want to know the details.

“Mitch, seriously, I don’t want to know—”

“Just listen, Gracie. Please.”

I closed my mouth and let him continue.

“I was drunk. And I spent most of the night crying on her shoulder about you. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t see straight. I just wanted it to stop. I wanted the image of you gone. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. My heart was in a hundred pieces.”

I hated to think of him like that. It hurt. A lot.

“When I was with Sophie, it dulled the pain a little. For a while anyway. That’s not to say that I didn’t really care about her, because I did. Sophie is a nice girl. She’s just not the girl I wanted. So I let myself continue in a relationship that I didn’t feel because I was bitter and angry and resentful. Because I was so pissed and hurt over you rejecting me that anything was better than being alone and wanting you.”

Mitch’s mouth twisted and his fingers dug into my skin. “I hurt a perfectly sweet woman because I’m an idiot who tried to lie to his own heart. I should never have been with her. I shouldn’t have done that to her. Or me. Or you. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. I should have been here, at your door, begging you to be with me.”

My heart thumped wildly as his words hit me.

“I should have waited until you were ready. I shouldn’t have let my pride and ego dictate my decisions. Because, Gracie,” he paused, looked into my eyes. “Every single minute of every single day that I wasn’t with you was wasted time.”

I felt the tears before I realized I was crying. They trailed down my cheeks and he kissed the salty wetness away. “You are my beginning.” Kiss. “You are my middle.” Kiss. Kiss. “You are my ever after.”

“So I’m sorry about Sophie. I’m sorry that she got caught up in my bullshit need to erase you. But I’m not sorry about how I feel about you. I’m not sorry for standing here at one in the goddamn morning and hoping that you’ll let me in. I can’t ever regret doing what needed to be done so that I ended up here.”

Well, damn.

“But I’m not leaving, Gracie. Never again,” he swore, then his mouth captured mine and all doubts were gone.

The force of the kiss took us both by surprise. Mitch pulled away, panting. “I’m not going to be gentle,” he warned.

“Okay,” I gasped.

And he was kissing me again, his tongue plunged inside. Taking. Owning. He had me completely.

He pushed me up against the wall, his hands holding me still as he kissed me punishingly. He bit down on my bottom lip, drawing blood, and I moaned so loudly that I was pretty sure my neighbors would hear. We were still out in the freezing cold hallway and we were giving zero fucks about that.

He cupped my ass and pulled me up against him. I felt his erection straining behind his zipper. He was touching me everywhere. Pressing. Rubbing. Sliding. Fingers on flesh. Pulling. Grasping. Never, ever enough.

His hands became tangled in my hair and I found myself rubbing myself against him frantically. I would have crawled up inside of him if I could. I wanted to be closer. As close as I could get while still being two separate people.

“I’m desperate for you, Gracie. I always have been,” he said against my mouth. “Let me in. Let me love you.”

I felt the doubts stirring below the surface. They wanted me to acknowledge them. There were still so many variables to consider. My issues. Our damaged past. How we had hurt each other. Whether we could trust one another.

But right then, none of it mattered.

Because Mitch needed me.

As much as I needed him.

I reached behind me and pushed the door open wider. Still kissing, we stumbled into my apartment and Mitch slammed the door shut with his foot. We broke apart, our lips puffy and swollen.

“Should we go to the bed—?”

Mitch started kissing me again and I stopped trying to speak. We sank down onto the couch as we devoured each other. We kissed like we never wanted to stop.

Mitch unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it off my shoulders. There was nothing delicate in his actions. He wasn’t tender. This was a man who was going to get what he wanted.

He pushed me back onto the sofa and leaned over me. I stared up into his beloved face and I wanted to tell him that I loved him.

I wanted to kiss his lips and give him everything that I had. But there was something wild in his eyes. Something out of control and a little scary. I was so turned on that I couldn’t help but writhe beneath him. I wanted his touch so badly that I thought I’d lose my mind.

“What do you want me to do?” he growled, tracing a line from my collarbone down between my breasts, stopping just below my navel. He toyed with the button of my jeans, slipping his finger below the material.

I tried to rub myself against his thigh, needing the friction. I was throbbing. I was so excited it had become a physical pain.

His finger rubbed back and forth along the tender skin just below the waistline of my pants. He stared down at me, licking his lips.

“Gracie, what do you want me to do?” he repeated, smirking at me with a smile that was downright devious.

“I want you to touch me,” I huffed. Wasn’t that freaking obvious?

Mitch dipped his head and lightly ran his lips along the curve of my belly. Not kissing. Not licking. Just a teasing, tantalizing touch.