As Autumn lowers herself down onto me, her full hips working over my thick ridge, I realize that one perfect climax beneath my tongue wasn’t anywhere close to quenching my thirst for this woman. I need much, much more.

I’ve never wanted any woman like this. Every graze of her skin against mine, every twist of those pouty little lips sends my pulse into overdrive. She’s perfect. Utterly, effortlessly, completely.

“Now it’s your turn to get naked,” Autumn taunts, shifting her hips so her fingers can reach my belt buckle. The leather slips from its clasp and falls away. Her eyes are wide and heavy as she slowly runs her hands over my lower abs. “I want to taste every inch of you, like you tasted me.”

Breathing becomes harder as she thumbs my button loose from its eye. My zipper’s next, and soon my jeans are down my legs, over my ankles, and dropping onto the floor. My erection jumps under my briefs as her fingers stroke the cotton.

“Autumn—” My voice is taut like the tendons straining in my neck. “I need you.”

“You’re going to have to beg first,” comes her cheeky reply. I curse myself for starting this war, but then moan as her hands dip below my waistband and tug. Autumn removes the last piece of clothing standing between us both and goes still.

“Wow,” she breathes. Her eyes roam over my skin, bare against hers for the first time. They pool on the thickness between my legs and widen. “You’re incredible, Bryce. More incredible than any other man I’ve ever known.”

She doesn’t give me time to return the compliment. The bed sheets tangle between my fingers as she takes my girth into her palm and begins to pump. Her hands are small against me, but by the groan that leaves my lips as she strokes my shaft from root to tip, I know she uses them well.

Leaning down, she presses her lips against my abs. “You’re so strong,” she murmurs, her breath hot against my exposed flesh. Her hand moves faster and faster, drawing the first droplets from me.

“So hard.” Her lips move up and press between my pectorals. I suck in my breath as her hand continues its relentless rhythm.

“And so big.” She strokes her other hand down my chest, her nails lightly scoring my skin before resting on my abs. Her mouth moves to my nipple and pauses. Her lips feather over it, then lower.

A nip of pain, followed by the slick slash of her hot tongue.

Autumn looks up at the sound of my sharp intake of breath. “Ready to play?”

I’m all for drawing out the pleasure in bed, but as Autumn rubs her slick center down the length of my throbbing shaft, I know I may have met my match.

I grip her arms and yank her down next to me, a throaty moan leaving her lips as if I was already inside of her.

“Goddammit,” I mutter, realizing the power Autumn has over me. The sultry, challenging look in her eye makes me lose what is left of my patience.

I launch off the bed and grab my pants, pulling out my wallet and flipping it open. I find the condom, tear it open, and slide it on. I had planned on taking her slowly. I told myself to be gentle with her. But as my nostrils fills with the heady scent of her and my tongue tastes her sweet juices on my lips, I’m pushed to the edge.

I kneel down on the bed and plant my hands on either side of her. She stares up at me, cheeks flushed, lips parted, begging me to give us both what we need. My knees push her legs open wide, and then wider still. She writhes beneath me, eyes drunk with desire, her lips red from where I ravaged them. Her breasts are so full and round that I can’t help but lean down and take one peak with my eager mouth. Her hands fly over her head and grasp the sheets as I scrape my teeth over her sensitive tip.

“So sweet.” I reach up a hand to restrain her wrists and use the other to position myself between her legs. And then I enter her in one hard stroke, so powerful that she cries out.

I still inside of her, worried that I’d gone to far, but before I can ease out, Autumn rocks her hips into mine, her soft curves working to take me deeper. Her hands open, then clench while she arches her back against the white sheets.

My eyes close as her inner muscles begin to pulse around me, the feeling so intense and pure that it overpowers me. My senses are captured by the soft swell of her breasts against my chest, the sweet fragrance of her dark brown waves, and the wet heat of her arousal against my shaft. All I can do is focus on the beauty writhing under me as I begin to match her movements, thrust for thrust.

She gasps as the need builds inside of her. A slow, blissful smile curls up her lips as she closes her eyes and begins to moan. Watching her give herself up to the bursts of pleasure swirling within her, setting fire to her body, pushes me past my limit.

No longer holding anything back, I thrust into her hard, over and over, until we’re both panting with uncontrollable need. Our sweat-soaked skin glints under the bright moonlight that streams in through the window.

“Now, Autumn.” Her eyelids flutter back at my command, pupils so dilated that her eyes are black instead of brown. “Now.”

She explodes under me, around me, her walls convulsing from the orgasm crashing over her. My head snaps back as I release inside of her and give myself over to a climax that rocks us both.

We lay together for a long time after, holding each other close as we catch our breath. I’ve never felt so tired and content and satisfied in my entire life. I thought tasting Autumn was the best thing I could ever feel. But when I’d experienced all of her, I knew I was wrong.

“You’ve ruined me for any other man,” Autumn pants.

I lift my head from the crook of her neck. “What makes you think you’re ever going to be with another man?”

She smiles up at me. “I guess I didn’t think about it.”

My eyebrows raise as her gaze dips between my thighs. “Consider yourself mine because I consider myself yours.”

I look up and am surprised to see I’m still holding her arms above her head. I had planned on being gentle, of staying in control, instead of taking her without any thought at all to what she’d been through tonight. I quickly let her go and lean back.

“Did I hurt you?”

She shakes her head. “No, but I wouldn’t have said no if you did.”

The look she gives me has me ready for round two.

I ease onto my side, sliding the condom off and dropping it into the waste bin next to the bed.

“Come here,” I say, wrapping my arms around her as she draws up close to my chest. Her fingertips begin to outline the tattoos on my chest as she settles into my shoulder.

“It’s beautiful, but it must have hurt,” she says, slowly tracing the inked band around my ribs with the tip of one finger. It hurt like hell, but it was better than the pain I felt I every day without Autumn. Better than the pain of battle, of losing brothers in arms tour after tour. “What does it mean?”

I never shared the meaning of my tattoos with anyone before. But Autumn was different. I never could refuse her anything.

“The strength of a warrior.”

Her finger moves across my ribs, up my torso, to my left pectoral. “What about this star pattern just below your collarbone?”

“It’s called a Vegvisir, a Norse symbol that protects travelers through rough times. It’s there to—” I force myself to say it “—protect my heart.”

She presses her palm over the tattoo. I can see the sadness behind her eyes as she looks at me. “From me?”

“Autumn,” I begin, but stop as she moves onto her hands and knees. She leans forward and presses a kiss over my heart, right above the tattoo.

I can’t speak, I can’t move, I can’t do anything but pull her close so I can kiss her. I had spent most of my life on guard against disappointment, pain, and vulnerability. But when my heart throbs under Autumn’s palm, I realize it has a new owner: the very person I had guarded it against. Being with Autumn made me want to stop running, and it made me want to give in to a dream I swore never to let myself believe again.

“Thank you,” I say when I finally let her go. She presses one more soft kiss to my lips and then settles back onto my shoulder. I could stay like this forever, never wanting to let go.

I’m slipping into sleep when her hot breath flutters over my sweaty skin again. “You said you were mine earlier. Is that true?”

I open my eyes to find hers on me. The smile on her lips a few minutes ago is gone. “I always have been.”

“So this wasn’t a one-time thing?” she asks quietly.

Drawing my elbow up under me, I prop myself up and stare down at her. Her hair fans out around her like an angel. “Never. I’ve wanted you for as long as I can remember, and now that you’re in my arms, you’re never leaving them.”

The smile returns as she runs her fingertips lightly over my nipple, the one she teased with that sweet mouth of hers. “I’ve waited so long to hear you say that.”

“And you’ll keep hearing it because it’s the honest to God truth. You’re mine, and I’m yours.”

With a contented sigh, Autumn lies her head back down onto my shoulder and closes her eyes. When she pulls me closer, my entire body craves her softness, her warmth. I already know that I’ll never, in a million years, get enough of the woman falling asleep in my arms.

The thought is still on my mind as I lie back down onto the soft duvet, rest my palm over her beating heart, and close my eyes.

* * *

The sun hasn’t come up by the time we wake up. Sometime during the night, Autumn turned around to face me, and seeing her gorgeous eyes blinking back at me when I open mine is the most beautiful sight in the world.

“Hey, you,” Autumn says, her voice husky with sleep. “That was quite a night.”

I draw the pillow up around my head. “You mean when a drunk, hostile fan shoved you off the stage?”

She shoves her face into her pillow. “I still can’t believe that happened.”

I rub my palm over her bare back, enjoying the feel of her skin against mine. “Are you alright?”

She nods. Her face turns to me. “I just wish I had said something when he came up on stage. I did not invite that lunatic to sing with me.”

“I know.” My fingers drift across her shoulder blades. She shivers slightly under my touch. “I was moving to intercept the moment he stepped on stage.”

“How’d you know?”

“You.” I reach out and trace the curve of her chin before thumbing her bottom lip, still plump from my kisses. “I could tell something was wrong long before he took your arm.”

Closing her eyes, she leans into my fingers and sighs. “You know what I want to do today?”

“What?”

Her eyes open and find mine. “Spend the morning with you on the tour bus before my concert tonight.”

I lace my fingers through her hair, drawing strands between my fingers before letting them drift back down onto the pillow. “And what are we doing on the tour bus? It’s a three-hour drive to Philly.”

“Oh, I’ve got that all figured out.” With a yawn, she lifts her arms over her head and stretches out. My gaze follows the sheet as it slides across her smooth, tanned skin until it ultimately falls to the bed. “We’re lying in bed.”

“Your tour bus bed is minuscule,” I say, my eyes locked on the peaks and valleys exposed to my wakening eyes.

“We’ll make it work.”

I move a little closer. “And Dolly takes up most of it.”

“She’ll abdicate her throne for you.” Autumn sits up and turns to me, halting my advance. “So, what do you say? Feel like spending the morning with a friend?”

“Friend?” I lean forward and wrap an arm around her soft waist. “You’re not my friend, Autumn. You’re my girl.” She gasps as I begin to tease the sensitive skin just below her breasts. “And I can’t think of anything I’d rather do more than spend three hours in your arms.”

“And Dolly’s,” she adds, biting her lip as my hand moves up to cup her breast.

“I thought you said she’d give up her side.”

Her eyes flutter closed as my palm begins to knead her softness. “I never professed being a stern momma. Her daddy lays down the law.”

“Her daddy?”

Autumn’s eyes open slowly as my hand stops. “You. You’re part of our family.” A line pops up between her eyes as I stare at her, not saying a word. “Bryce?”

I answer with my mouth, bringing it to hers and holding her lips captive in a long, meandering kiss. My hand begins to move again, and when my thumb grazes her erect nipple, I’m rewarded by a moan of pleasure.

A few minutes later, Autumns rips her lips away from mine and glances at the clock next to the bed. “Wait, we have to take showers and get ready! The the bus leaves soon.”

“When does it leave?” I ask in a strained voice. This woman is going to kill me.

“Two hours.”

I grab her hips and pull her to me. “That’s plenty of time.”

“For what?”

Five seconds is all it takes for me to press her back against the mattress, climb on top of her, and knee apart her thighs. Her legs wrap around my waist as I press my lips, then tongue, against her delicate skin.

“For getting dirty before we get clean.”