I wanted to shift, pull his hand farther down, but I didn’t dare. I was bold that night, but not that bold. Not yet, anyway.

Grinning slightly, I looked up.

His eyes were there, as if he was waiting for me, and just as soon as I realized that, his lips were on mine. Or maybe mine were on his. Either way, it was exactly what I needed. He picked me up, lifting me to straddle him, and we made out the entire ride home. Shay didn’t touch me anywhere inappropriate. No clothing left our bodies, though I ran my hands up under his shirt, making him shudder. I broke off the kiss to catch my breath, but dear God, his chest was amazing. Then he tugged me back, and we were kissing again.

I sensed him pausing a few times. I wasn’t sure why, until at one point I looked and saw he was watching the driver. He’d go back to kissing me a second later until we pulled up outside Shay’s house. He paid for the cab, taking my hand and pulling me around to the back of the house.

“Some of the guys didn’t go out.” He pointed to the living room windows where I could see a lit-up television screen. The rest of the house seemed quiet and dark. We crossed the back patio, but instead of heading for the door that we’d used the last time I was there, Shay went to a far left door.

He used his key to unlock it, and I was surprised to see another stairway going up. It was sectioned off from the rest of the house as if it were its own unit. A door led off to our right, which I assumed would’ve taken us to the kitchen and the main house.

Shay flipped on some lights so I could see and then stepped back to let me go first. He took his shoes off by the door, locked it, and then his hands went back to my hips.

On our way up the stairs, I stopped, just once, and leaned back against him. His lips skimmed up my neck, lingering on my chin before I turned my head halfway to him and our lips caught and held again. I groaned softly. I could stay just like that. In fact, I turned toward him.

I felt him grinning against my lips. “What are you doing?”

I wound my arms around him and lifted myself up, hooking my legs behind his back. “I have no idea.” Then I was kissing him again, and it was true. I really didn’t. My mind didn’t like Shay, but my body did, and right now, I was only listening to my body. I was doing whatever it wanted, and holding on to him, crawling up him, kissing him, raking my hands through his hair—that was what I was going to do.

“Fuck it,” he half-growled and hoisted me farther up him, his hands clamping under my ass. He carried me the rest of the way, going into a back bedroom and then tumbling down onto a bed.

He pulled away once to close the door and lock it. Then he was back, and I lay on that bed, staring up at him. The moonlight lit up his face, and I gulped.

He was the most masterful thing I’d seen.

“Come here,” I said, my voice hoarse again.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded. I was so beyond being sure.

He fell onto the bed, catching himself so he was braced above me on his hands. Long minutes passed as he took his time to look me up and down. That only made me hotter. I began writhing, just wanting him, needing him to fulfill a throb between my legs.

He paused, his eyes finding mine, and he shifted on his weight so he was resting on his side. He propped himself up, his hand tracing down the side of my face tenderly. His thumb rested on my lips, and he asked so softly. “Are you for sure about this? Really?”

“Yeah.” I turned my head so I was facing him directly. Our lips were inches apart. “Why?”

“You hate me.”

I shook my head. “I don’t right now.”

“You will tomorrow.”

I touched the side of his face and shook my head. “I might hate you if you don’t touch me.”

He groaned, his eyes smoldering. “Then God help us.” And his lips were on mine again, where I’d been aching for them since they left.

He was demanding. He was commanding. He was consuming. I answered every call of his. I was panting as he skimmed his hand down my front, smoothed over my stomach, and pushed up under my shirt. I was breathing heavy as it was lifted up, and I wound my arms back around his neck, feeling him fall back down slowly until his weight was on top of me.

Goddamn. That felt right, so right.

We were kissing, our lips fused together, and his tongue moved inside. I answered it with mine, and there was a whole other battle ensuing there as he unclasped my bra and then caught one breast in his hand. He encircled it, his thumb rubbing over my nipple, making me shiver. I ran a hand down his back, down his side, and delighted as he trembled under my touch. Returning the favor, I pulled his shirt up, forcing him to break the kiss long enough to free him of the fabric.

Then he was back on me, skin to skin, lips to lips, and I could’ve lain like that for hours. We did the other night, but this had a different feel to it. There was more. I needed more. He wanted more. We were giving more.

“Fucking hell,” he moaned, pulling away but only to start kissing down my throat, my chest, then he found one of my nipples.

I gasped, grabbing on to him as if he were my anchor.

He chuckled, his breath another sensual caress, and his tongue laved over my nipple. Then he moved to the other one, and he began the same. He tasted it. He ran his tongue over it, and he enjoyed how I was gasping at each swirl, each lick, each nip, and every time he touched me. He was worshipping my body, moving down my stomach, lingering there as his hands paused over my jeans. He found the button, and he glanced up. He was waiting. Biting my lip, I nodded my assent, and his fingers popped the button before slowly sliding the zipper down.

His hand slid inside my underwear, finding my center, and then he slid a finger in.

I arched my back, wanting him to go deeper. I wasn’t even joking. I croaked out, “Move that finger, or I’m going to go crazy.”

He laughed, dipping his head down to press a kiss on my stomach, and then he started moving in and out. His hand kept going. I began moving with him, only answering whatever his hand wanted of me, and after a bit, he slipped a second finger, then a third. He kept going deeper with each thrust until I swore I could feel him in my stomach. He’d pull them out and start all over again.

The pleasure was almost blinding.

I kept gasping and moving with him, but he didn’t pick up the pace. He went at his own, content to watch me go nuts. At one point, he looked up, a tenderness in his eyes that I’d never seen before, and he grinned. The smile was slow, and it broke me.

I went over the edge, and I was gasping as my climax slammed into me.

I didn’t understand that look. It was something deep, and it moved something in me, something that I’d never felt touched before. I wasn’t talking about my body or physical caresses. I didn’t understand it, but when he pulled his hand out and moved farther up my body, I reached and guided his lips to mine.

This kiss was different.

It was slow. It was tender. It was special.

It made my toes curl, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world for him to reach for a condom. He grabbed one and then helped me tug the rest of my clothes off. His found the floor next to mine, and Shay rose above me. He waited at my center. I’d just had his fingers there. I was more than ready for the rest of him, and with another kiss, he dipped his mouth down to my shoulder and edged inside.

He felt right.

He stretched my insides and waited for me to acclimate to him before he began thrusting. In and out. He was moving in me, and I was moving with him. It was what I’d been wanting, and it felt so right.

I grasped his shoulders, my nails curving into his skin, and as he thrust inside me, I raked those nails down him.

I felt a scream building, and I muffled it in my throat, but I wanted to yell out.

My mouth was open as he kept moving, in and out, deeper and deeper. The rhythm was steady, the waves were riding over me, and he began going faster.

“Shay,” I whimpered, needing something I couldn’t articulate.

His lips found mine, and he paused, grinding into me. Good God, that felt good. He raised himself, pulling out, only to slide back in once more. He went as deep as he had gone with his fingers, and I could feel him coming close. My body was beginning to twitch. The pressure was building, but he pulled out and turned me over. He bent over my back, sliding back inside, and I moved my head. Our lips caught and held.