“You can’t just show up and bully me into—”

“Shut up, Rowan.” Then he kisses me. It’s hot and hungry. It’s not sweet. I bite at his bottom lip and he releases my neck to grab my hair, yanking on it a little to get my attention. “I haven’t been able to get the taste of you out of my mouth, my head…my body all day.”

“You hate that, don’t you?” I challenge.

“Hate that I can’t have you when I want—fuck yes. Hate that I love the taste of you. Never.”

He lets go of my hand and cups my breast, squeezing it lightly. I moan, unable to help myself. His head dips, tongue flicking out to tease my hard nipple through my tank top. The pressure on my hair eases up a bit, and I look down in time to see him wrap his lips around the hard point and suck. My knees buckle, and without missing a beat, Seth lets go of my hair and wraps his arm around my back, supporting me.

His fingers trace a path straight to the top of my panties, teasing the edge. “If you don’t want this, say the word and I’ll stop,” he commands.

I clamp my lips together and shake my head. I want this. God, I want this. I want him.

He smiles against my shirt even as his hand slides down my stomach and straight to where I’m hot, wet, and aching. My toes curl and I grab hold of his wide shoulders.

“That’s right, baby. Hang on to me while I give you a ride.” He presses his lips to my neglected nipple, still teasing me through my tank. As thin as it is, I might as well not be wearing one. I can feel every sweep of his tongue, every rough bite of his teeth, and every suck of his mouth.

A large finger eases inside of me, and I moan his name. He starts pumping it in and out of me, adding a second finger.

“Look down, baby,” he commands. “Watch my fingers disappear.”

I obey him, almost coming right then when I see that he’s tugged my panties down far enough for me to watch him. His thumb presses against my clit, fingers curling. I choke out a cry, and grab his wrist.

“Not going deep enough for you, sweetheart?” he asks. “Show me what you want.”

I shift my stand, spreading my legs wider and sending his fingers deeper. “Like that,” I whisper. “Do it like that.”

His arm tightens around my back, the muscles bunching. I can hear how wet I am right now, and it turns me on even more.

“Let me hear you come, Rowan,” he says and gently bites down on my nipple.

I scream as I give in, as my orgasm hits me. I’m dying and flying…my heart is racing in my chest, my blood is pounding in my ears, and he still keeps rocking his fingers inside of me, keeps rubbing my clit and scraping his teeth against my nipple. Finally, he stops, sliding his fingers out and looking at me while he licks one.

“Better than I remember.” He gently lays me down on the bed, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “You’re gorgeous when you let down your walls.”

I’m too wrung out to be a smartass. “The next time you give me an orgasm, I want your cock inside of me.”

His eyes flare hot. He tears off his clothes, getting between my thighs and grabbing a condom before ripping it open and rolling it on his hard cock.

“Fucking missed you,” he says as his mouth swoops down to mine.

He shoves his tongue into my mouth, just the way I love, and I grab his hair. Desperate to get close to him, I don’t want anything between us. I spread my thighs. He rubs his erection over my sensitized clit and I cry out his name.

“Put me inside you,” he commands.

I grasp him and guide him to where I’m hot and wet and ready for him. I barely have the head of his cock inside before he thrusts deep. I jolt at his invasion.

“Perfect fit,” he says through gritted teeth. “Every damn time.”

He begins to thrust inside of me, filling me up and making my breasts bounce. I grab on to his wide shoulders, sink my fingernails into his skin, and listen to him growl in response. He bites my neck and my hips shoot off the bed.

“Ah, Seth.”

“Come for me, baby. I need to feel you come all over me.” He places a large hand under my ass and pulls me against him. The head of his cock hits me in a spot it never has before.

I choke out a scream.

“Knew you’d like that,” he says before letting his head drop to my shoulder. “I’ll keep pumping that sweet pussy while you concentrate on coming. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes,” I cry out as he hits that spot again and again. My body bows, feeling like it’s going to break in half.

Without warning, his thrusts slow. “No. I was—”

“Trust me, Rowan. I’ll make this good.” I don’t want him to make it good. Seth’s version of good is sex with loving emotions. What I need is sex that has an ultimate goal of orgasms. That’s it.

His hands relax their tight grip on my body and begin to caress my skin. “Trust me. I promised to come back twice and I have. Both times. Because I love you.” Fingertips trace the lines of my hip, steal across my stomach, and then make their way up to my breasts. One of his fingers follows the curve of my breasts.

“Stop talking,” I demand. I can’t concentrate on anything when he says he loves me. When he reminds me that he has, in fact, kept his word.

“So beautiful,” he murmurs, looking down at me. He seeks out my lips, my mouth, and tongue. Over and over he touches me, using his body to torture me in the most erotic of ways, leaving me hanging on the edge of a precipice.

When he abruptly pulls out, I cry out at the loss of him, but he silences my protest with a hot kiss. He makes a trail of hot kisses all the way down my body, until his broad shoulders are between my legs and his hair is brushing against my inner thighs.

The first stroke of his tongue makes me fist the sheets while the second has me crying out his name. I feel my inner muscles tightening around him. “Oh, God,” I moan. “I’m close. So close.”

Just as my orgasm starts, he stops and flips me over. “Why are you stopping?”

Grabbing my breasts he leans over me and kisses my shoulder, then slides inside of me. “Thought we could try it this way. Never did before.”

I rock back into him, closing my eyes to the pleasure. “There are a lot of things we never did.”

I feel his smile against my back. “Good thing we have all weekend.”

“Like you can last that long,” I say.

He bites my shoulder. “Challenge accepted.”

Seth

THREE WEEKS LATER

We have a routine now…I guess. Rowan and I barely talk over the phone—sometimes I’ll send a text that she’ll eventually answer—but then we screw like bunnies on the weekends.

For any other man, this would be heaven. For me, it’s fucking hell.

It’s like Rowan has pigeonholed me into a specific part of her life and the rest can’t be touched. Only her body is allowed to be touched—not her heart, and certainly not her mind.

I jog along the main artery of Camp Lejeune, my breath coming out in white puffs of smoke. Vehicles, both civilian and federal, fill up the road. A lower-ranking Marine salutes as he walks past me, and I remember to salute him back almost too late.

Fresh recruits stumble off buses while drill sergeants bark orders. One of them—a freckle-faced kid fresh off the farm—looks like he’s about to piss himself. That wasn’t me when I got here. Oh, hell no.

I was pissed and bigger than the other guys. I had months of prison time under my belt and a reputation to match. Not that it did me much good. A lot of guys gave me a wide berth, but others looked at me like I was a piece of dog shit on the bottom of their shoe. All of them wanted to be there, but I was forced to be there by a fucking crackpot judge with a ton of political influence. Only O’Dwyer spoke to me.