I awoke to the sound of birds outside the window and sunlight stabbing me in the eye.

Oh, and the sprawling form of a Greek God beside me.

A satisfied smile found my lips as I stretched, muscles protesting that I hadn’t even realized I had, recalling with delicious clarity everything Dex and I had done.

For once the chatter in my head was still.

Exhausted, perhaps.

I rolled to my side, bunching the sheet around my breasts like they do in the movies so I could watch him sleep.

Stalker much?

Was it weird to just watch him breathe?

Was it even weirder that I wanted to bury my nose in his chest?

I worried my bottom lip but I couldn’t stop the silly smile that kept finding me.

As if sensing I was awake, his eyelids opened with awareness but unlike most people who awoke from a dead sleep, there was zero grogginess in his stare.

A consequence of always having to be on your toes, I supposed.

“Morning,” I murmured, adjusting the sheet better for more coverage. It was a little after the fact but I was struck with a sudden case of modesty. Dex’s amused chuckle agreed I was being ridiculous. “What happens now?” I asked. “I don’t have much experience with the morning after.”

Dex rested his head on his arms as he considered my question. “Under normal circumstances, I’d probably order you a cab, give you a false name and number with the offer to call, and then I’d never see you again.”

I frowned. “That’s not very gentlemanlike of you.”

“I never said I was a gentleman,” he reminded me.

That was true.

“But these aren’t normal circumstances,” I said, playing Captain Obvious. “So, now what?”

“Good question. I guess, breakfast?”

I perked up. “Are you offering to make me breakfast?” Until I remembered the scores of prepackaged government food waiting for us in the pantry. “Ugh. Never mind. A two-ton brick of meatballs and mashed potatoes is not my idea of a great breakfast.”

He rolled to his side to regard me with those killer eyes. “You said you weren’t going to complain about the food anymore.”

“I lied. Sue me, I’m a bad girl.”

“Bad girls get punished.” The low rumble in his chest made me shiver as he pressed me into the bed with his weight. The jab of his erection caused butterflies to erupt in my stomach. He kissed me, drugging me into instant compliance.

If this was his idea of punishment, I’d commit to a life of crime.

Dex gently tugged at my lip with his teeth before letting go.

My nipples pebbled against the solid wall of his chest.

“Are you sore?” he asked.

“A little,” I lied as I blushed.

His answering crooked grin was pretty hot. Only Dex could make a smug expression look sexy as hell.

I held his stare, my arms looped around his neck, the feeling of him on top of me, the most amazing sensation ever.

“What are you thinking?” I asked, curious as to what thoughts raced through his mind and wondering if they were anything like mine.

His gaze darkened as he shifted, leaving no doubt that he was ready and able to skewer me at will.

I gasped as the blunt head nudged between my thighs.

“What if I want you for breakfast?” he murmured, his hips flexing rocking gently against my pelvis, grinding ever so slightly against my clitoris.

My breath caught and all I could do was nod feverishly. Yes, please.

Within a blink, Dex rose up and ripped the blankets free. I didn’t hide this time.

I could happily drown in the look Dex was giving me.

No one had ever gazed at me like Dex did.

As if I were perfect.

As if I were his own personal sex fantasy come to life.

As if he were amazed at his own good fortune for finding me.

That was some heady stuff, to be honest.

I didn’t understand this thing between us but I wasn’t ready to examine it with a magnifying glass for fear of what I might find.

Instead, I sank into the sweet torture that Dex offered, free-falling into the most wondrous pleasure that I was quickly becoming addicted to.

Dex twisted me inside and out with his tongue, leaving me climbing the bed, screaming my release until I was hoarse.

My heart thundered in my chest as I struggled to catch my breath but Dex was insatiable. My legs were over his shoulders and he was inside me within seconds.

I could feel him attempting to restrain himself, to slow his strokes for my sake but his eyes quickly glazed and his thrusts erratic as he pounded into me, desperately clawing at his own release.

The ferocity turned me on. I clenched with each penetration, squeezing until he groaned. He shuddered and lost himself, his eyes rolling into his head as his mouth fell slack.

I followed a second later, stiffening as another orgasm washed over me.

Good God.

What had I been missing all this time?

Breathing harsh, Dex rolled off me, his chest heaving as if he were going to expire on the spot.

He covered his eyes with his arm, muttering, “Fuck.”

But it wasn’t an expletive that sounded positive.

No, actually, it sounded like...he was pissed.

Okay, good feelings evaporating. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

Dex didn’t answer right away, just climbed slowly from the bed before turning to face me.

Then, I realized what was wrong.

“Ohhh, dear.”

We’d forgotten a condom this round.

Every dire message from sex ed class came rushing back to jeer at me.

It only takes one time!

There are millions of sperm in one teaspoon of ejaculate! (Lord only knew that Dex was like a firehose when he came. Plenty of teaspoons worth spraying from that nozzle.)

Don’t have sex until you’re married! (I attended Catholic school. The nuns would be so devastated at my recent decision to embrace my inner slut.)

A woman’s body wants to be pregnant!

Sudden images of millions of tiny sperm wearing Dex’s face, wiggling furiously down my baby-making highway toward the glowing orb of an egg jumped to mind and I leapt from the bed.

Maybe if I peed that would flush out those over-eager buggers!

“What do I do?” I cried in a panic. “I’m not ready to be a mom!”

“Okay, calm down, it’s highly unlikely that I just got you pregnant.”

But even as he said the words we both just stared at each other with open doubt.

“It only takes one time,” I echoed the nun’s in my head. “There are millions of sperm trying to attack my egg as we speak. And knowing your sperm, they are probably like Special Ops Marine sperm that have tiny machine guns to batter open my poor egg!”

Even though it wasn’t funny, Dex thought it was.

“Jesus, Bree, as flattered as I am that you think I have super sperm, the odds are really small that anything happened. Where are you in your cycle?”

Eww. Affronted, I said, “I don’t want to talk about my period with you.”

“I just fucked the shit out of you six ways from Sunday. I think we’re past that,” he said.

“Not for me,” I retorted, scooping up my clothes and quickly dressing. “Besides, I don’t know where I am in my cycle. I have kooky periods, if you must know.”

“Even better,” he said, surprising me. “If you’re not regular, maybe that means getting pregnant might even be difficult for you.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I said, suddenly feeling defective. “I’m sure I can get pregnant just fine but I’d rather not test that theory so...no more sexy times unless you’re gloved up. Got it?”

He chuckled and nodded in total agreement as he tucked his semi-soft member behind his fly. I blushed at the immediate dirty thoughts I had about cleaning his cock with my mouth.

“Let’s feed you,” he said, herding me from the room.

I resigned myself to eating government issue packets of faux food until he opened the fridge and showed me all the food he’d purchased.

Real food.

Fruits, veggies.

Milk.

Juice.

I squealed and without thinking, jumped into his arms, kissing him all over. “OMG! I am so hungry and you are amazing.”

What started as a joyful, honest reaction turned into sensual kisses almost immediately. Within seconds, we were both in danger of making another poor decision in the heat of the moment.

“Bree, you have no idea what you do to me,” he said on a groan as he set me down, whispering against the shell of my ear, “I want to bend you over this counter and fuck you all day. On the floor, against the wall...any place I can stick my cock into you...I want to.”

But just as the tension stretched between us, the heat building, he released me with a dissatisfied growl, saying, “We need to eat and talk.”

Dex grabbed a protein bar and disappeared into the living room, leaving me to wonder how I was going to safeguard my heart from a man who was hot one minute and cold the next.

Dex was the kind of man who would break me into a million pieces when he was done.

And I had no way to prevent it.

Because I was already crazy about him.