“Hunter,” I moaned.

I squirmed beneath him, pushing my chest up into his mouth as he flicked the tip of his tongue over my nipple. His fingertips trailed soft caresses down my neck and across my chest, sending tiny shivers of pleasure across my body. I pulled one of his fingers into my mouth and began sucking on it, pulling a sexy groan from his lips that vibrated through my chest. His lips tightened around the tip of my breast and he sucked the point as I sucked his finger. Filled with need, my hips bucked impatiently into his. He responded by growling and clamping my nipple with his teeth.

“Ohhh.” I exhaled a shaky breath.

The sharp sensation pierced through the fog clouding my mind, erasing lingering feelings of despair and numbness. It was an exquisite mix of pleasure tinged with an edge of pain, and it was even better when he soothed the spot with tender, placating licks afterward. Deep down I knew he could do this; he could strike away the pain that haunted me even if it was for only a brief moment. I knew it because of the charge I got every time I was near him. Only he could make me feel this way. Only Hunter could make me feel truly normal—no, not normal—better than that. Alive.

I could feel him growing hot and hard through the towel around his waist. He began slowly, softly grinding himself against my thigh even as he gently caressed me with his hands and kissed my br**sts.

“Hunter,” I whispered. “Your towel.”

“I know,” he groaned softly. “I’m sorry. I’m getting a boner around you again. I can’t help myself . . .”

I cupped his cheek and gently tilted his gaze up to meet mine. “I don’t want you to help yourself.”

I slipped my fingers into the waist of the towel and slowly pulled it away. His c**k fell heavily against my thigh with a dull slap, the heat of the engorged flesh searing my skin.

His hand tightened around my waist. “Are you sure?”

I stared deeply into those dark irises. I didn’t know what troubles laid behind them that caused him so much pain but I didn’t need to. I knew I wanted to make him forget about them. I knew I wanted him to do the same for me. My hands fumbled for the burning rod against my thigh and I stroked the head gently with the pads of my fingers. Butterfly touches stuttered his breath.

“Jesus, that feels so good.” He winced, pained by the pleasure of gentle touches. I continued massaging him delicately—without lubrication—and a tear fell from his eye onto my cheek. “The way you touch me, Lorrie . . . I’ve never felt anything like this before. I can’t explain it.”

“I care about you, Hunter. Can you feel it?” I took his palm and placed it against my heart. “I’m so sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for avoiding you, pushing you away.” A tear of my own rolled down the side of my face onto the pillow. “I’m sorry for being so selfish. I’m sorry for being such a f**ked up person and complicating your life.”

“Shhh shhh.” He hushed me softly. “You don’t need to apologize.” He wiped the tears from my eyes with his thumb then wiped his own. “It’s behind us now. The past doesn’t matter when we have tonight and the future.”

I took his thumb and kissed it dearly, tasting the salty pain of both of us on my lips. It was all coming out. The tears. The pain. The emotions. Everything we’d held back. Everything we hid away to appear strong on the outside. I’d never seen this wave of emotions from Hunter before and the force of it was enough to shatter everything I thought I knew about him, about me, and about us. We were bare physically and emotionally. Without needing words, for the first time we were being completely honest with one another.

I tenderly wiped his eyes and then mine. With my palm damp with tears, I wrapped my hand around his c**k and began stroking the length of it. He had said we could do this together, that we could be strong together. I wanted him to know I understood that the pain we endured—the tears we shed—could be used to heal one another.

He groaned from the sensation. “Your hand . . . “ he stuttered. “It’s too much, Lorrie. It feels too good.”

I stroked him slowly but insistently, feeling him growing hotter, witnessing the need in his eyes becoming stronger. He gently but urgently thrust his hips into my firm grasp, softly grunting with each drive. I watched his pleasure-tortured expression with fascination, feeling a swelling ache developing between my thighs.

Hunter slid himself smoothly from my hand as he ducked below my waist. He dug his fingers into the band of my panties and looked up at me. “I want these off.”

I nodded silently and wiggled my hips to help him, my belly fluttering with heated anticipation. Slipping the small fabric from my feet, he cast them to the floor where my other clothes lay haphazardly. Then he lifted my legs onto his broad shoulders and planted his lips against the inner flesh of one thigh.

He kissed along my leg, his mouth edging dangerously close to my sex. I clenched against the urge to hide from him even as he firmly held my legs apart. “I’m not going anywhere, Lorrie. You can’t avoid me or push me away this time. I’m gonna be right here, giving you what you need.”

Growling, he dove down and began flicking his tongue against my clit. I balled the velvety sheets in my fists trying to hold on as a flood of sensations and emotions overwhelmed me. I hadn’t had sex in almost two years but the long absence of partner stimulation couldn’t fully explain the waves of pleasure coursing through my body. Hunter’s expert tongue was just that good.

“Hunter, it feels too good . . . Don’t stop.”

The pace of his fluttering tongue quickened. My legs shook as I struggled against his restraining hands to squeeze my thighs against his head. He groaned into my depths, vibrating my folds with his yearning. Then he began sucking on the sensitive flesh of my clitoris. My head arched back against the pillow and my lips parted to release fervent moans. As he alternated between firm suction and feather-light licks, I could feel a fire growing in my sex. His confident movements had just the right amount of pressure and friction to drive me wild. I’d never experienced o**l s*x this good before let alone half this good. It wasn’t long before I shattered. I came harder than I ever had—either by myself or with someone else. I closed my eyes and pressed the back of my head into the pillow as a string of obscenities sputtered softly from my lips.

I faintly heard Hunter’s voice through the roaring in my ears. “God, you’re so adorable when you come. I could watch you come all night.”

He kissed my thighs tenderly as I hovered in post-climax bliss. Moments later, he inserted the tip of one finger into me and gently thrust it in back and forth.

“Want more?” he asked, teasing me with shallow penetration.

“I need more,” I breathed. “Much more.”

His thrusts came deeper and faster, firing sensitive nerves in their wake. The rhythm was quick and steady, further fueling my desire instead of satisfying it. I’d been barely able to resist Hunter before we’d even kissed, and now that he was pleasuring me, I could scarcely contain myself. My hips bucked into his finger in tune with his thrusts, eager for more.

“I feel it again . . . I’m coming, Hunter.”

I looked down to see him watching me intensely. “Don’t fight it, Lorrie. Let go. Let me see you come.”