Author: Jill Shalvis

God, she really needed him inside her. She needed the big bang, the relief, and only he could give it to her. “Condom,” she gasped against his mouth.

“Back pants pocket.” They broke apart to undress in a frenzy, and then she was sliding onto him.

“Oh, fuck,” he said reverently as he filled her.

It gave her such a rush, reducing this smart, sharp man to nothing more than single syllables. And she knew exactly how he felt because she could hardly think; he felt so good inside her. She moved on him, slowly at first. When she was ready for more, she tried to pick up their pace but he wrapped a hand in her hair, his other hand going to her hip to hold her still.

“No.” His voice was serrated, thick, his grip preventing her from racing them both to the finish line. “Don’t move. Not a single muscle—Oh, Christ,” he grated out when she clenched on him. “Christ, you feel good.” His fingers tightened, and she knew she’d have bruises.

She didn’t care. His tongue was back in her mouth, moving in tune to the way his body moved within hers, and it was more than she could take. She broke loose and undulated her hips as she climbed higher, then higher still when he reached a hand between them to stroke his thumb over the current center of her entire universe.

Crying out, she clutched at him, out of control and unable to care. When she came, it was hard and fast. She heard Matt swear reverently as he rocked her through it, and then he was flying with her.

Finally, they stilled against each other. Sated, she laid her head against his shoulder as he pulled her in tight. When her breathing calmed, she sighed. “You make me lose myself.”

“Good.”

She met his gaze. “Yeah?”

“Everyone should lose themselves just like that, as often as possible.” And then he flashed her a smile before dumping her off his lap. He smacked her lightly on the ass, rose to his feet, and then strode naked into the kitchen. “Starving,” he said over his shoulder.

She gaped after him. “You going to eat like that?”

“Yeah. And so are you.”

She hated being told what to do. Always. It made her run away.

But she didn’t run. Instead, she followed him like a lovelorn puppy into the kitchen, where they consumed grilled cheese sandwiches while leaning against the counter. Naked.

He told her about his day, making her laugh at how he’d been followed around by a group of camping biologists who’d wanted him to discuss the bodily functions of the otters in the cold water streams that fed into the water supply. He spoke fondly about his family, about his warm but nosy mom, his take-no-shit dad, his brother who had three little girls of his own now—karma’s idea of a joke since his brother had been crazy wild. He told her how he and Ty had beaten the shit out of each other just that morning in the gym, with Josh standing over them on the sidelines like a worried den mother…

And all she could do the whole time was soak up every word and marvel that he trusted her, that he enjoyed her company, and that he wanted to be with her. It softened her in a way she hadn’t expected, and she found herself just staring at him.

“What?” he asked, with a small smile.

She shook her head, unable to explain how she felt when she was with him. Like she was on a tightrope without a net. An overdose of adrenaline, terror-filled, excited, and overwhelmed all at once.

“Tell me,” he said.

It was that voice of his, the low, calm, utterly commanding voice that made her do just that. “This has been a really great first first date.”

“First first date? As in your first date ever?”

She grimaced. “Yeah, sort of.”

He looked at her for a long moment. “Explain.”

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. She shrugged, embarrassed, and spent a moment getting a glass of water. It was hard to believe talking about herself made her feel more naked than actually being naked, but there it was.

“Were you a nun until recently?” he asked.

She laughed. “No.”

“Sheltered?”

She laughed again, this time a little bitterly. “No. It’s no big thing. I’ve obviously been with men. I’ve just never done this, the dressing up and going out thing.”

“Which we never got to,” he said with deep regret.

“It’s okay. It was still really great.”

He took the drink from her hand and drew her out of the kitchen. They dressed, and he drove them to Seattle after all, to a small intimate bar downtown that had a really great band. They danced, talked, and laughed, and then danced some more.

Amy had never once had a guy set an entire evening around her and her needs. It made her feel things, and for once she didn’t mind. She felt special. Cherished. And hours later, when they pulled back up to his cabin, she turned to him and smiled. “Heck of a first date, Ranger Hot Buns.” Leaning in, she kissed him softly. “Thank you,” she whispered against his mouth, which curved gently.

“You’re welcome.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “But it’s not over yet.”

“No?”

He led her inside and to his kitchen, where they shared a three a.m. plate of cookies and mugs of milk, dressed this time. She sat on his counter, and he stood at her side, smiling at her.

“What?” she asked.

“You have a crumb…” He licked the corner of her mouth, then used the excuse to kiss the daylights out of her.

“That was a ploy,” she said when they broke apart for air.

“Uh huh.” He started removing her clothes, until she sat bare assed on his counter, trying not to squeal at the feel of the cold tile beneath her cheeks. “Okay, this can’t be sanitary.”

He smiled and stripped, making her heart stutter in her chest because he was so beautiful. “Nice,” she said.

He pushed her legs open and stepped between them, and she forgot all about being cold or sanitary.

Wrapping his hand in her hair, he gently tugged her head to the side and kissed her neck.

“Again?” she breathed, melting when he opened his mouth and sucked a little patch of skin.

“Oh, yeah, again,” he said. “And then again.”

“We won’t be able to walk.”

He nipped her collarbone and headed south toward her breast. “I’m going to be so good to you, you won’t care.”

Chapter 15

Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two but can’t remember what they are.

That next morning, Matt’s alarm went off. He was alone. Nothing unusual about that, he told himself, and rose.

Half an hour later, he and Josh were hanging off a cliff together. It was barely dawn, and Josh was tense and bitchy because he’d only gotten three hours of sleep thanks to a long ER shift.

Matt hadn’t gotten even three hours of sleep but he wasn’t tense and bitchy. Maybe a little freaked out. He had no idea what he was doing with Amy. At least not other than making her cry out his name whenever she was naked. That, he’d discovered, he was very good at.

“Shut up,” Josh said.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to. Your just-got-laid smile is saying it all for you. Loudly. Have some sympathy on those of us not getting any.”

Matt slid his longtime friend a look. “You could be getting some. What happened to what’s-her-name? That hot red-headed nurse you were talking about?”

“She told me how she’d been dreaming about marrying a doctor since she was eight.”

Matt winced. “That’ll do it. What about that cute brunette you met when you operated on her brother’s mysterious head injury?”

“Turns out she’s the one who gave him that injury.”

“Ah. Okay, how about that new chick… Grace? The one who’s friends with Amy and Mallory?”

“Hell, no.”

“Why not? She’s pretty.”

“Yeah, but she’s Mallory’s and Amy’s friend,” Josh said.

“So?”

“So,” Josh said in the tone that suggested Matt was a complete moron. “Ty fell for Mallory. It might be contagious.”

Matt laughed. “You’re a doctor. Whatever you catch, just give yourself a shot and get over it.”

“Is that what you’re going to do? After you finish falling for Amy, you’re just going to get over it?”

This shut Matt up because he had no clue.

Josh shook his head. “I’ve given up dating for now. It’s just too damn hard anyway, with Toby and Anna.”

“Your son and sister wouldn’t want you to give up your life for them.”

Josh lifted a shoulder. “I’m working seventy-five hours a week. I don’t have time to date.”

“Man, that’s just sad.”

“Says the guy who works the same crazy hours I do. How are you fitting your relationship with Amy into that schedule? You prepared for the pissy girlfriend act when she finds out how you’re always on the job?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

Josh snorted. “You haven’t seen Facebook yet today, I take it.”

“You don’t have time for women, but you have time for Facebook?”

“My office manager has it as my homepage,” Josh said. “Thinks she’s amusing. But it was very amusing today. You went out with Amy, a date that ended with you being a fucking action hero.”

Matt stared at him. “How the hell did that get out?”

“Lucille was at the station when Sawyer brought the guys in. She’d just bailed out Mrs. Burland for running over her neighbor’s foot—twice.” Josh raised a brow. “Nice start to a date, playing Superman. How did that work out for you?”

Pretty good. He could still remember every breathy pant, every soft moan, every hungry “oh, please, Matt” that Amy had whispered in his ear. Not wanting to go there with Josh, Matt ignored the question and kept moving.