For some reason, this strikes me as funny. That a man as sexy and dangerous as Daniel would have a condom in his wallet for so long that it’s close to expiring. I stifle my giggles, but he hears them anyhow.

“Not what a guy wants to hear when he’s rolling on a sock, sweetheart,” Daniel tells me, ripping open the package.

“Sorry,” I say, trying to smother my laughter, but I can’t seem to help it. Daniel’s the last person in the world who would have a deflated ego.

He smooths the condom down his length and returns to the bed, careful to approach me in slow, steady motions. He eases his body down onto the bed next to me again, leans over, and cups the back of my neck as he begins to kiss me once more.

I respond to his kiss with a hungry one of my own, and soon we’re making out all over again and I’ve nearly forgotten about sex—except for the feel of his cock pressing against my hip and the aching need deep inside me.

A moment later, Daniel moves back on top of me and I part my legs, welcoming him between them. His weight settles there and he kisses me for a moment longer, then hitches one thigh up around his hips, moving me into position. Still, he kisses me, and still, it’s all right.

“You can back out, fighter baby,” he murmurs against my lips.

“It’s okay, I promise.” I want this.

He gives me a light kiss, and then his cock presses at the opening of my sex. Daniel pushes in, and I suck in a breath as a crowd of memories—and unpleasant faces—surges to the forefront. Oh shit. Oh shit.

But then he leans down and kisses me again, his hands smoothing my hair. He whispers soft, dirty things in my ear, and I remember it’s Daniel. My tense body relaxes under him, and I begin to return his kiss, slowly, hesitantly.

I can feel his body trembling with exerted control, his muscles tense as he hovers over me, not moving a muscle except to kiss my mouth. He’s not going to do anything until it’s clear I’m fine with this, and I stroke my fingers over his cheek, his shoulder, his arm, trying to let him know that it’s okay. That I’m okay.

“It’s fine, Daniel,” I whisper when he still doesn’t move.

But he only moves to my neck and begins to kiss and suck on my earlobe again, his tongue doing delicious things to that sensitive little area, and I begin to moan and wriggle underneath him again. His skin is slick with sweat, and my nostrils are filled with his warm, delicious scent. It’s Daniel. All Daniel.

He gives my earlobe a gentle bite and I moan, feeling a pulse of desire deep in my core again. He shifts a little and his cock moves inside me, a bit, and it feels good, too. I raise my hips against him, indicating that I want more.

He gives me more, then. His hips move in a slow, steady rocking motion that feels good, and I wrap my arms around his neck and hold on to him as he continues to lick and suck at my earlobe. Before long, I’m moaning under the onslaught, and my clinging to Daniel has a desperate clench to it. My pulse is throbbing all through my body, and my breasts ache with need, but Daniel’s thrusts are like clockwork—slow, steady, even. I know if he sped up, I’d move that much closer to an orgasm.

But he doesn’t—even when I beg—and I begin to thrash under him, becoming wilder as the need grows within me. And still he continues that slow, steady motion, pushing deep inside me, dragging out ever so slowly, and then pushing deep again. All the while, he’s tonguing my earlobe and pressing kisses to it and murmuring all the filthy things he wants to do to me.

“You ever have an orgasm with a guy inside you, Regan? Make you come so hard that you’re practically sucking his dick inside you because you’ve clamped down on him?” He whispers in my ear and outlines my earlobe with the tip of his tongue.

I’m shivering with need, and my response to him is only a low moan of his name.

“I think that’s a no,” he murmurs. “And I think that’s a real fucking shame. Because I want you to squeeze down on me so hard that you’re seeing goddamn stars, fighter baby.”

Is he ready to come? Is this a hint for me to hurry up and have an orgasm? I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting Mike, but Daniel is an unknown to me. Still, I dutifully hitch my breath and squeeze my internal muscles around him, beginning my fake-out so he can finish up.

“Uh-uh,” he says to me. “I want the real thing.”

My pleasure is suddenly ebbing away. “Daniel, I don’t know—”

“I do,” he says, and he shifts his hips, reaching between us. His fingers find my clit and he puts his thumb over it, even as he pulls back and thrusts deep inside me again.

My entire body clenches hard, and I’m startled at the pleasure that rolls through me. I gasp, my eyes going wide. The sensations he’s sending through me now are so intense, they’re almost frightening. “Daniel—”

“Shhh, I’ve got you, fighter baby,” he murmurs, and he begins that slow, steady hammering again, his thumb bouncing against my clit with each movement. And I’m not able to sit back and enjoy the ride anymore. I’m going crazy underneath him, my hips moving to buck against his every thrust, pushing that thumb harder against my clit, our bodies slapping with the force of each thrust.

I’m frantic, soft little whimpering sounds escaping my throat as I move higher and higher toward fulfillment. It feels like too much, but I don’t want it to stop, and I cling to Daniel, gasping his name, my nails digging in to his shoulders.

“That’s right, Regan, sweetheart. Sweet fucking fighter baby doll. Come for me.” His voice is a growl of need, and his thrusts are growing rougher despite his slow, measured hammering.

I try to push his hand away from my clit because it’s getting to be too much, but he won’t let me. He knows I’m almost there and when I come, it’s going to be brutal. And I’m a little scared of it. My whimpers take on a frightened edge.

“Shhh, Regan, I’ve got you,” he tells me even as he sinks deep. “I’m here, and I’ve got you.”

With a sob, I’m there. I orgasm so hard that I do, in fact, see stars. My body seems like every muscle has squeezed itself into a taut line, and I feel as if I’m folding up and exploding into nothing all at once. My breath escapes in a little scream, and I can feel my pussy clenching around Daniel in hard little squeezes, echoing the contractions of my muscles as I come and come and come. Daniel’s saying something in my ear, and his movements are rough, and I realize he’s coming too.

He’s coming, and he’s still got me.

When I can breathe again, Daniel collapses on top of me, and then jerks away as if burned. A second later, he rolls me on top of him, dragging my limp body over his as he begins to stroke my back once more. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

“I’m . . . I’m okay,” I say, and I’m horrified to see that I’m crying. But I am. I don’t know if it’s the intensity of my release or being with Daniel or what it is, but I’m crying and it feels good. “Really. I don’t know why I’m crying.”

He pats my shoulder. “Because it was that bad? You can give it to me straight. I know I’m rusty.”

For some reason, that makes me giggle through my tears. “No, it was g-good,” I say through my tears. “Thank you. I think I’m . . . letting everything out.” And I shudder a breath into my lungs.

I know why I’m crying.

I’m crying because I’m in love with Daniel and I absolutely, positively should not be.

Daniel

REGAN CRYING AFTER SEX FEELS about as good as a stick up the ass. I pat her awkwardly with one hand as I pull off the condom with the other. With a twist, I knot it and toss it into the trash. Meanwhile I rifle through the video memory I’d captured, trying to see if there was a point at which I’d forced her to continue. It seemed like she loved it. Her pussy was squeezing me so tight I thought my dick would snap off—but I’d be a happy dickless man. For the sake of my own sanity, I accept that her tears are as she said—letting it all out. I rub her back, enjoying the feel of her soft body spread out all over mine. Lust still licked around the base of my spine. One time really wasn’t enough. I needed her to ride me until there wasn’t any emotion, fluid, or feeling left in our bodies. Until we’d fucked each other so hard and so long that all we could do was melt into the bed, two formless beings drained by sex. The outside world could go to hell so long as I could lie here inside of her.