“Yeah, about that. I’m really sorry about this morning. I was an ass to you when you went to all that trouble to see me dance.”

He shrugged and took a long pull of his beer. “No big deal. I freaked you out. I should have let you know in advance that I was going to be coming to the theater.”

She leaned against him. “Then I would have been more freaked out knowing you were watching me. It was a nice surprise. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.”

She climbed onto his lap, sliding her fingers into his hair. “No, really. Thank you.”

He’d had the idea she’d orchestrated this move to be alone with him tonight so the two of them could talk. And he’d been fine with that, because there were things he wanted to say to her—important things he figured they needed to get clear with each other.

But right now it seemed she wanted to touch and be touched, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to argue about that. Not when she was moving against his body in a way that made his dick sit up and take notice, her long graceful legs wrapping around his hips and her sex making contact with his quickly hardening cock.

“Got something on your mind?”

“Maybe. Definitely.” She pressed in and rubbed her lips against his.

Her mouth was hot, her tongue darting in to flick at his, inflaming his senses, taking his cock to full mast. He lifted against her, needing to be inside her right goddamn now.

He stood, taking her with him, then turned around and deposited her on the sofa, reaching down to undo her jeans. Those tight barriers to what he wanted had to go first. She wriggled out of them as he pulled them over her hips and legs. He tossed them on the nearby chair, and then kneeled on the rug in front of the sofa and slipped his hand over the silk of her underwear. She was already damp. Ready.

So was he, but he pulled the silk aside and flicked her with his tongue.

“Trick.”

The way she said his name heightened his arousal, made his cock press against the zipper of his jeans, demanding to be freed.

Ignoring those demands, he spread her legs and speared her with his tongue, flicking the soft bud until her hips rose.

“I could come right now,” she said, more to herself than to him, he knew. She was lost and ready, and he intended to take her there.

He rose over her, spread her further, and laid his tongue flat over her clit, knowing that would get her off fast. He wanted fast. He wanted her to lose control, to give it all over to him.

And when she did, crying out his name with her climax, it was the sweetest reward. He licked her everywhere as she shuddered against his mouth with her release. He stayed with her until her trembles subsided.

Then he climbed up her body and took her mouth in a deep kiss meant to convey passion and need and everything he’d bottled up inside during the game today. While he’d shoved his feelings for Stella into the deep, dark recesses of his mind during the game, now they were fully present, and he intended to let her know exactly what he felt. Everything he felt whenever he was with her.

He wasn’t going to hold anything back. He never had with her, and that had been the telling difference between her and every other woman he’d ever been with. He fished a condom out of his pocket and pulled away only long enough to undress, then helped Stella with her top and bra.

When she wrapped her fingers oh so delicately around his cock, he stood and watched her stroke him, steeling his resolve to climb on top of her and sink inside her until he was lost, until he couldn’t think anymore. Because watching her small hand around his length, the way she looked at him when she held him in her hands, was a connection he never intended to lose.

And when she let go only long enough to slide off the sofa and get on her knees, giving him a wicked grin over her shoulder, he knew this was the woman for him. She always seemed to know what he wanted, and right now he needed deep, plunging passion, a hard connection with Stella, the kind that would cement her to him.

Maybe they hadn’t shared the words yet, but he was in love with her, and he intended to tell her as soon as possible.

Now he’d show her.

He put on the condom and positioned himself behind her, sliding into her slow and easy, feeling every incredible inch until he was embedded deep. Her body surrounded him, squeezing him tight until there was nothing between them.

Then he began to move, easing out slowly, then thrusting deep again.

He didn’t say anything, and neither did Stella. He focused on the way her breath caught whenever he plunged deep, and cupped her breasts so he could play with her nipples, feeling them harden under his fingertips. It was just the two of them in tune with each other’s bodies, and the emotion swirling through him at the thought of this woman being part of his life.