“Hey what?” she asked, though she obviously knew what I was after. Her eyes were wide, and her fingers had crept onto my chest.

“How about giving me a kiss? I think that’s a standard greeting.”

“Not for just anyone,” she whispered, but she went on her tiptoes and kissed me, her eyes drifting shut.

She kissed the way I liked, with soft lips and little sound, just the quick increase in breathing as her grip tightened on my chest. The kiss dissolved into a sigh, and she pulled back, her mouth still close to mine. “Is that a good hello?”

“Very good. Now show me how you say that you’re glad to see me.” I nuzzled into her neck, kissing her tender flesh there, my thumbs slipping under her waistband.

Her body shifted closer to mine, and I felt the press of her breasts on my chest, her tight nipples scraping across my T-shirt. Goddamn it, I wanted her so bad. When she kissed me again, pulling my mouth to hers for a deep kiss with a hot tangle of our tongues, I buried my hands in her hair to hold her against me. To keep her with me.

But when I started to grip her ass to rhythmically bump our hips together, she turned her head with a groan. “Phoenix. We should go to my room.”

I took it as a green light, and my dick got harder in anticipation. Before work I had stopped at the drugstore and bought condoms with my under-the-table pay from the day before, and they were in my back pocket. Hopefully she was on the Pill for a double dose of birth control, but I still wanted to use a condom to show her that I cared about her and wanted to keep her safe. I didn’t think I had anything skeezy, but it wasn’t like I really knew that for a fact.

“Sure.” I kissed her softly and took her hand. “Unless you want to watch a movie or something.”

But she said, “No. I’m ready for bed.”

There was a double meaning there, I was sure of it. She was telling me she was ready, if going braless hadn’t already been a clue.

Or maybe I was reading it all wrong.

I was debating that as we went up the stairs, me leading her by the hand and into her tiny room. The answer was obvious when I went to turn the light on and she shook her head.

“Can you leave it off?” she whispered.

“Sure, baby, sure.” Something shifted inside me and I didn’t even want to think about what it was. So instead, I peeled off my shirt and kissed her in the dark, feeling my way across her body for the first time. Exploring her breasts and her ass and the hot V between her legs with my thumb, listening to her soft sighs and sounds of encouragement.

When my finger slipped inside her shorts and panties, into her wet heat, she gave a sharp cry of excitement and it almost undid me. After stroking her for a few minutes, learning the angle she liked best, finding her clit and brushing over it, I stepped back and lifted her tank top off over her head. She had breasts the perfect size, just enough for me to cup while I sucked at her nipple until her nails clawed at my bare back and her breath came in short gasps. Not wanting her to come just yet, I moved up and kissed her deeply, the taste of her flesh still in my mouth, as I took her hand and slid it across my cock over my jeans.

“Are we going too fast?” I asked her when her fingers jerked reflexively. “I can slow down.” Unless it was good for her, it wasn’t going to be good for me.

“No,” she whispered, and I could feel her warm breath on my neck. “It’s just that I don’t have a ton of experience, and almost none of it was sober. It’s stupid, but I’m nervous.”

That she was trusting me to be the one here with her, totally sober, made me want to do anything to protect her, to make her happy, to please her. Love wasn’t something I knew, or had felt much of before, but I was starting to wonder if it was possible for it to happen this fast, because what I felt for Robin was . . . more.

“Babe, it’s fine.” I kissed the corner of her mouth. “I’m glad you told me, and it’s not stupid. What you feel is never stupid. We’ll just do whatever you’re comfortable with, okay?”

She nodded, and I felt the movement more than I saw it. Her hands were clutching the waistband of my jeans and I felt a complete wave of tenderness come over me. God, I was actually grateful for the dark myself because if the lights came on she was probably going to see me staring at her like a total jackass.

“Can I feel it first?” she whispered, her fingers teasing across the snap of my jeans.

Oh, hell, yeah, she could feel it. “You can do whatever you want.”

I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw, getting control as she undid the snap and pulled my zipper down with trembling fingers. When her hand went into my pants and she brushed down the length of my dick, I was pretty sure it was right up there with the top ten best moments of my life. She stroked me softly, and I resisted the urge to close my wrist over hers and have her squeeze harder, stroke faster. I let her do what she wanted, and her exploration was slow and thorough.

At one point I did reach back and pull the condoms out, then shoved the jeans down so they fell toward my knees, but other than that I just kissed her, my hands stroking in her hair while she stroked me, my dick, my chest, my ass. I’m not going to lie, I liked that she said she didn’t have a lot of experience. I liked the idea that as I maneuvered downward, over her breasts and across her stomach and pressed my finger inside her, that somehow my stamp on her would be greater than any other guy’s. She responded by gripping me tighter, and I felt a hot rush of urgency.

“Come to the bed,” I said, encouraging her forward and pushing her down on her back.

In a second I had her shorts and panties off. Before I climbed up alongside her, I got rid of the rest of my clothes, too, and fumbled for the condom. “Are you sure?” I asked her as I moved over her, teasing at her hot opening.

“Yes.”

Good. I rubbed the pad of my thumb over her clitoris, then I pushed inside her. Her breath caught, and her nails dug into my arms. I stopped short, an agony of pleasure crashing over me. Holy fuck, she was tight and hot, and I was in desperate need of control. Holding on, I stilled my whole body except for the throb inside her and counted to five slowly. Then I started to move enjoying the way she let her hips fall apart further and the way her fingers relaxed with each push, until she was holding me with a whispery touch, her sighs and moans of pleasure relaxed and beautiful. I wished I could see her expression, but it was too dark to see much more than the outline of her body, her face.

When I started getting too close, I pulled out and went down on her, feeling her body jerk at the first touch of my tongue.

“Phoenix,” she said, and I had never heard my name like that. For the first time ever, I didn’t despise it, the way she said it when she gripped my hair and had an orgasm, her thighs shuddering on either side of me, her sweet taste on my tongue.

When I moved back up and inside her, she was even more relaxed, her body wide open to mine, and I didn’t last long, exploding inside her with a hot shudder.

Collapsing beside her, I pulled Robin onto my chest and tried to breathe. With my right hand I peeled down the condom, left hand firmly wrapped around her. “Babe, you’re amazing.”

She didn’t say anything, but I didn’t mind. Too much pointless talking made me uncomfortable. But it seemed like everything Robin said was important. Her fingers spread over my chest, and the soft touch matched the pace of my breathing as it evened out.

I kissed the top of her head.

And long after she fell asleep, I lay there wide awake, naked.

Wondering if I had finally experienced the one high I couldn’t resist.

Falling in love.

When I woke up, there was no pounding head, no dry mouth, no whisper of regret. Instead there was a warm, delicious satisfaction as I slowly became aware of being completely naked in bed with Phoenix. He was lightly snoring, his hair in his eye, arm still wrapped around me. Feeling a little giddy, I studied his face, his strong jaw, his long eyelashes.