“You still look at me the same way you did when you were a baby,” he murmurs.

“How’s that?”

“Like I’m just the only thing you ever want to look at.”

Not breaking eye contact, I smile at the truth in his words.

“Maybe you are.”

His eyes close and he takes a deep breath as if he’s inhaling my words and needs them to take his next breath. When he opens his eyes he reaches out to rest his hand on the side of my neck, his thumb slowly brushing back and forth over my cheek. My heart jumps at his touch, and I freeze, not moving, not wanting to do anything to interrupt the moment.

“And when you were little you used to come running to me when I walked into the room, and you’d hug me like I was your favorite person in the world. You have no idea how that felt,” he swallows hard. “To feel so unconditionally adored.”

I remember that feeling of giddy excitement every time my Uncle Tor came in the room and although my excitement of seeing him hasn’t diminished, it’s totally different nowadays.

“You made me feel the same way,” I admit. “And I still feel that way, Tor. But now, I think I want to do a lot more than just hug you.”

His hand grips my neck tighter, and I lick my lips nervously. “And I think I want you to do a lot more than just pick me up and swing me around and make me laugh.”

I nearly forget how to breathe when he presses his thumb to my lips. “Don’t say things like that, Kenzi,” he whispers, his eyes flashing even darker. “You don’t know who you’re playing with.”

Without even thinking, my tongue peeks out to run across his finger, and his eyes widen, riveted to my lips as I taste him. “I’m not playing. And I know exactly who you are.” I don’t want to hide my feelings anymore so I embrace this moment of new bravery.

“Oh, yeah?” his voice is low and sexy, and it does indescribable things to my insides. “Who am I?”

“Did you forget?” I ask playfully, leaning a little closer to him, his hand on my neck pulling me forward, gently coaxing me even closer. “You’re the man I’m going to marry someday.”

“Fuck,” he exhales the word and pulls my lips down to his, and our second collision is just as amazing as the first—slow, tantalizing and consuming. His mouth covers mine, his tongue delving deep as his free hand grips my waist, pulling me off the coffee table and onto the couch with him. His hand slides from my hip to the back of my thigh, pulling me until my chest is flush against his, my legs straddling him. An unexpected whimper escapes me as my body settles perfectly against him and his massive hard-on presses between my thighs, causing my entire body to quiver with electric pulses. Wow. Groaning, he grips the back of my neck tighter, his fingers in my hair, and kisses me deeper, his lips smoldering on mine. My body instinctively seeks his out, my thighs spreading wider over him, wanting to feel more of him. Needing to feel more. Ripples of longing I’ve never felt before tremor through my body as I slowly move against him, unsure of what I’m doing but loving the feeling of him growing even harder beneath his sweat pants. His hand moves from the back of my thigh to the small of my back, holding me firm against him, and I like how possessive it feels. A little voice inside me tries to tell me my first experience grinding against a man’s body should be with any one of the millions of single men on the planet and not with Tor, but I ignore the warning. She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about. I may be seventeen, but I can feel without a shadow of a doubt our bodies and hearts were made to be together, like scattered puzzle pieces needing to be put back together.

Suddenly he pulls away and exhales with a hiss. “Shit. Fuck!” he swears, causing the dog to jump up. Pushing me off him, I fall back onto the end of the couch as he sits up, swinging his legs off the couch and planting his bare feet on the floor.

“Kenzi, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking high on pills right now,” he says, running his hands through his hair. “You need to leave. Now.”

“Wh – what? Why?” I’m still lost in the euphoria of his kiss, of feeling him so hard against me, my mind cloudy and humming, still wanting more of whatever just happened. I want a total head-on collision.

“Please. Go.” He points to the door like I’m some kind of squatter who wandered into his house.