“Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me that you don’t care about me anymore, and I’ll walk away.”

I closed my eyes as a battle raged inside of me. I wanted him more than anything else in the world, but I was scared.

“I just don’t want to get hurt again,” I whispered.

“I will never let Ally or anyone hurt you ever again. I promise. Just tell me that you’ll stay.”

“I’ll stay for now. I can’t promise that I’ll be here forever though. If something happens, I’m gone. I can’t stand to be hurt anymore.”

He smiled. “Nothing will happen, so I have nothing to worry about. You’re mine, Emma. You always have been.”

“Jesse, I need to tell you something. I don’t want us to finally start to be happy, and then you find out about it later.”

He rolled off of me and sat up with a nervous expression on his face. “Okay?”

I sat up next to him and took his hand in mine. “Something happened after you left California.”

“What?”

“I slept with Andy. We never meant for it to happen, but it did. Nothing has happened since that one time,” I blurted out in a rush.

“I already know. Andy told me the truth last night,” Jesse said calmly.

“And you’re not mad?” I asked. I hadn’t expected him to be so calm about Andy.

“I was pissed when Andy told me, but I’m trying to accept it. I won’t pretend that it doesn’t suck because it does. But there’s nothing that we can do about it. What’s in the past is exactly where it should be—in the past.”

“I thought you’d hate me when you found out.”

“After everything I put you through with Ally, I have no right to hate you. We both screwed up.”

“We did.”

“I don’t want to screw up anymore,” he whispered.

“Neither do I.”

He leaned over and kissed me. I grabbed him and pulled him back on top of me. I needed to touch him. I needed to feel him against me. He kissed the corner of my mouth and then the tip of my nose. I closed my eyes as he kissed both of my eyelids and then my cheeks. I pulled his face down until he was kissing my lips again. I moaned as his tongue slipped inside my mouth once more. I didn’t want him to ever stop kissing me.

He pushed away and smiled down at me. “I’m not asking for anything more than kisses right now… unless you have something else on your mind, then I’ll ask.”

I grinned. “I have something else on my mind.”

“Thank God. I was hoping you would say that. Two years is a long fucking time to be without you.”

He started kissing me again. He wasn’t as gentle as before, but it was still sweet. I wrapped my arms and legs around him until he was pressed tightly against me. He rested his weight on both of his elbows so that he wouldn’t crush me.

“I love the way you smell,” he whispered before kissing behind my ear.

I shivered from the sensation. His lips were everywhere after that—below my ear, on my lips, on my neck. I moaned as I felt him pressing against me. He’d done nothing but kiss me, and I already felt heat at my core. I hadn’t felt this way in a very long time.

“It’s been too long,” I whispered.

“I know. All I want is to be inside you, but I’m going to take my time. I want to kiss every inch of you.”

He sat up and brought me up with him. He pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it aside. My bra went next. I suddenly felt shy. It had been so long since he’d seen me like this. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hide myself.

He smiled as he grabbed my arms and pushed them away. “Never hide from me. I want to see all of you.”

He ran his fingers just under my breasts so that he barely touched them, and I felt my nipples harden. I was torn between covering up and begging him to touch me.

“Jesse?”

“Hmm?” he asked as he grazed my breasts again.

“Please don’t tease me. I want you to…”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Touch me.”

He smiled as he slid his hand between my breasts. “I already am, but I think I know what you want.”

I fell back against my pillow as he ran a single finger across the swell of my breasts and then underneath again. He kept up his teasing, circling motion, getting closer to my nipples each time. When he finally reached them, he barely touched them, and I whimpered. I couldn’t handle his teasing anymore. I opened my mouth to beg when he finally ran his thumb over one of them. Lightning shot through my body and straight between my legs. My hips rose to grind against him. His breathing hitched as I pressed my body against his.

“Let’s get rid of your pants,” he said as he moved off of me.

He tugged my pants down, leaving me in only my underwear.

“Fuck. You never wore anything like this before.”

“Like, what?” I asked, confused.

“A thong.” He pulled me from the bed and turned me around.

“What are you doing?”

“I want the full image of you wearing this seared into my brain. It’s sexy as hell. Do you have more like this?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

He hooked his thumb in the fragile string wrapped around my hips. Before I realized what he was doing, I heard a rip, and then my underwear was gone.

Jesus, he just ripped them right off of me.

I should have been mad that he’d ruined them, but I wasn’t. It was quite possibly one of the sexiest things he’d ever done.

“There—that’s better.” He kissed my neck.

“You’re still wearing clothes,” I whined.

“You’re right, my bad.” He lifted his shirt over his head and then pulled his pants and boxers off.

When he was finished undressing, he grabbed my hips and pulled me tight against him. I moaned as my sensitive nipples rubbed against the bare skin of his chest. He gripped my ass and lifted me as I wrapped them around him. He fell back onto the bed, and I nearly came then and there as I felt his shaft rub against my clit.

No more teasing. I need this now. I need him now.

He rolled me onto my back and started kissing me again. He broke the kiss and lowered his lips to my breasts. I arched my back as his tongue circled my nipple. He rolled off of me, and his fingers skimmed down my stomach to where I needed them. My legs fell open to allow him access.

“You’re so wet,” he said as he ran his fingers along my core.

I moaned when he pushed one of them inside me. He thrust it in and out a few times before pulling back out. He flicked my clit with his fingers, and I nearly came up off the bed. Every nerve in my body was on fire.

“I want you so bad,” he said in a strained voice as he watched me raise my hips with each flick of his finger.

“Then, do something about it.”

“Roll onto your stomach.”

I did as he’d said. He stood and positioned me so that he was against my entrance.

“Fuck, Emma. I don’t have protection.”

“I’m on the pill, and I’m clean, I swear.”

“I trust you, and I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

He pushed in, so just his tip was inside me. He reached around and ran his fingers across my clit. I was going to explode if he didn’t stop torturing me.

“Jesse, stop teasing.”

“You’re tight. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re killing me right now.”

He pushed farther in, making me moan. He pulled almost all the way out, and then he thrust in again, going farther this time.

“Fuck, you feel good,” he moaned.

He continued his slow thrusts until he finally pushed all the way in. I moaned in pleasure. He pulled back out and thrust in again. He kept his leisurely pace for a minute before finally speeding up.

“You can go faster. You’re not going to hurt me.”

He said nothing as he started moving in and out faster. He grabbed my hips and pulled me back each time he thrust in so that he could go deeper. I buried my face in my pillow to muffle my moans.

“I want to hear you,” he said as he slammed into me.

I shook my head. Someone in one of the rooms around us might hear us.