As Ponti drives us to the Four Seasons, I watch Charley from the back seat and can’t believe how fucking lucky I am. Some people never find the love of their lives. Some people find them and discover they can never be together. Some people are separated from the one they love by thousands of miles.

I found the love of my life, and not only does she love me back, but she’s right here with me, so close I can smell her sugared strawberry perfume every time the breeze catches in her hair. For the first time in a long time, I have . I’m the luckiest bastard alive.

Charley points at the highway sign as we pass the Cesar Chavez exit on 101. “That’s where I’ll be going when I attend the rehearsal dinner in a couple weeks, for one of the clients you helped me get,” she says, turning in her seat so she can look back at me from the front passenger seat. “I’m editing their photos and making a montage video to tell their ‘couple story.’ It’s only the second time I’ve done this for a client, but it’s the first time I’ve done it for a huge client. I’m kind of freaking out.”

“You’ll do great. You’re the baddest wedding photographer this side of the Mississippi.”

She cocks an eyebrow. “You know a better one on the other side of the Mississippi?”

I shrug. “Well, there’s gotta be some good ones out there somewhere. I’m trying to think ahead, to when you and I get married. We’re going to have to get the best wedding photographer ever so you feel like you can relax and enjoy your day like a true queen.”

She shakes her head. “When we get married? Pfft.”

I laugh. “You think I’m gonna let you work all these weddings, with all these bros prowling around for fresh meat, without a ring on your finger?”

“No one’s prowling for fresh meat,” she replies, rolling her eyes.

“How many times have you been hit on at work?”

She turns in her seat so she’s facing forward again, but she doesn’t answer the question.

I lean forward and position my fingers over her side. “Charley, don’t make me tickle torture you into giving me a straight answer. How many times have you been hit on while working a wedding?”

She lets out an exasperated sigh. “A few. Maybe six or seven times in the last couple years. Maybe more. I don’t know.”

I sit back again as my stomach balls up as tight as my fists. “Maybe more than six or seven times? I knew it would be a lot, but I didn’t know it was that bad. Shit… I gotta put a ring on it quick.”

She shakes her head. “I won’t hold my breath.”

Ponti valets the SUV at the Four Seasons on Market Street, then he heads up to his room while Charley and I head to the reception desk to check in.

“Ooh, fancy,” she remarks when I inform the girl at the front desk that I called yesterday to reserve the presidential suite. “Trying to impress me, are you?”

“Only the best for you, Yoda,” I reply, grinning when she rolls her eyes.

The presidential suite is 2,300 square feet of modern luxury, overlooking the gorgeous Yerba Buena Gardens. Charley immediately unzips the backpack she brought as an overnight bag and pulls out a camera to take photos of the living area and the view from the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I watch her for a while before I come up behind her and grab her hips. “I have a surprise for you in the bedroom.”

She chuckles. “Oh, I know what kind of surprise you have for me, but it’s going to have to wait. I want to get a few more pictures.”

I spin her around and gently pry the camera out of her hands, then set it down on the dining table behind me. “Remember when you told me that you wanted to one day be zen enough to walk over hot coals?”

Her eyes widen. “Do you ever forget anything?”

I shake my head. “No. Not when it comes to you. When it comes to you, I remember everything,” I reply, brushing her hair behind her ear. “Taking my dad to the Zen Hospice made me remember when you said you wanted to walk over hot coals.”

Her chest is heaving as I pull her body flush against mine. “You have a bed of hot coals in there, do you?”

I chuckle at her inability to stay cool when she’s this close to me. “Sort of. Wanna see?”

She gulps audibly as I lean in and brush my lips over her ear. “Okay.”

I lay a soft kiss on the sensitive spot behind her earlobe, then grab her hand to lead her toward the bedroom. “I hope you like this surprise. It took a bit of coordination with the hotel. I needed them to set it up before we got here.”

Letting go of her hand, I push open the bedroom door and a wide grin spreads across her face as she shakes her head. A long stretch of orange fabric has been laid out on the floor, and it’s been covered in a torturous layer of black Legos. A brass sign holder, which is probably normally used to mark the queue for the valet, displays a sign that reads: The Lego Fire Walk.

“You are insane. You know that?”

I shrug as I take a seat on an upholstered bench next to the walk-in closet and begin removing my sneakers. “Come on. Let’s see who can get the farthest. If you can beat me, I have another surprise for you.”

“Another surprise?” she says, stepping out of her turquoise flats. “What is it? A bed of nails?”

“Nah, first I’ll give you the surprise. Then, I’ll nail you to the bed.”

She shakes her head. “Jesus Christ.”

“No, he was nailed to a cross,” I reply, laying my socks down on the bench and standing up in my bare feet. “You ready to do this?”

She stares at the trail of Legos for a moment. “You know what’s worse than stepping on a Lego?”

“Stepping on a land mine,” I reply.

“Of course you know that joke.”

I smack her ass. “Enough stalling, kitten. Show me how zen you are.”

She closes her eyes and takes a deep, cleansing breath. “Okay, here I go,” she says, opening her eyes. “One… Two…”

On three, she races across the bed of Legos like she’s running from a wild bear, screaming the whole way.

When she reaches the end, she jumps onto the bed and clutches her feet. “I hate you!” she shouts.

I fall to my knees in hysterics. “I can’t believe you did that,” I choke out through wheezing laughter. “I didn’t think you would do it.”

“You’re evil!” she declares, though she can hardly contain her giggles. “That was so painful!”

I pick myself up off the floor and climb on the bed. “I’m sorry. Let me see your feet.”

She laughs as she tries to push me away. “No, thank you, Hitler! You’ll probably shove an icepick between my toes, or something.”

“Now I’m literally Hitler?”

“Literally! My mother’s ancestors are rolling in their graves,” she says, scooting away until her back is against the headboard. “You’re diabolical.”

I grab one of her feet and wait a moment before I gently lift it up to look at the bottom. “Looks as perfect as ever. But I think I know how to make it better.” I lay a soft kiss on the arch of her foot and I can see her entire body tense. “Since you made it all the way across the Lego Fire Walk, I can now give you your next surprise,” I say, reaching into my pocket for a set of two keys. “These are for you.”

She screws up her eyebrows in confusion. “What are those?”

I scoot up so I’m sitting next to her, then I place the keys in her hand. “I asked my assistant to rent a furnished apartment for you in San Francisco, so you can be nearby while you’re visiting my dad and working on that flurry of weddings. Ponti picked up the keys for the apartment last night. He said it looks even better than it did in the pictures. I’ll drop you off at your house in the morning so you can pack up your equipment and anything else you’ll need for the next few weeks.”

She stares at the brass keys in the palm of her hand. “You rented me an apartment?”

I shrug. “Well, I didn’t think you’d want to bring all your equipment to the Four Seasons. I figured you’d probably want your own space. I’m just trying to keep you from having to drive forty minutes here and forty minutes back every day for the next few weeks. If you don’t want it, I’m sure Ponti would be happy to stay there. He hates the food at the Four Seasons.”

She closes her fist around the keys when I reach for them. “I’ll keep these,” she says. “You know, just until I’ve made up my mind.”

I smile as I gently pry open her hand. “I’ll put them in the top drawer of the nightstand so you don’t lose them.” Sliding open the drawer, I drop the keys in and shake my head in dismay. “Ah, what the hell. There’s no Bible.”

“Were you planning on reading some scripture before you fuck me?”

“Not before. During,” I reply, wiggling my eyebrows as I slide off the bed. “Actually, the last person who stayed in this room probably hid the Bible. Help me find it, then I’ll fuck you.”

“You are into some weird shit now, but I’ll play along.”

“You’ve never played Hide the Bible in a hotel room?” I ask, squatting down next to the bed to look underneath the nightstand. “It’s a way to give the next person who stays in the room something to do, to make them feel connected to a stranger.”

She smiles and shakes her head. “This is what you do when you’re feeling lonesome on the road?”

I shrug. “Yeah, but I like to leave a little surprise inside for the next person.”

“Like a...sticky surprise? Ew!”

“What? It’s packed with protein!”

She rolls her eyes. “Seriously. What kind of surprise are you talking about?”

“There’s only one thing that actually matters to anyone these days,” I say, pulling my wallet from my back pocket and taking out a few hundred-dollar bills. “But I like to imagine that the kind of person who opens up a Bible in a hotel room is either someone who’s going through a hard time and looking for some guidance, or they’re just a creepy serial killer. So I like to leave some cash tucked inside the pages. The person going through a hard time might see it as a sign that there is still kindness in this fucked-up world. And the serial killer will probably just take it to a strip bar and the money will help some down-on-her-luck stripper.”

She crawls across the bed and sits on the edge of the mattress in front of me, so her knees are right by my face. “What if the serial killer uses the money to buy some rope or a gun?”

I turn toward her, spreading her knees apart so I can plant a kiss on her thigh. “What if this building gets hit by a meteor and we both die? I prefer to think positively. But Hide the Bible is going to have to wait,” I say, lifting the hem of her skirt to confirm that she’s not wearing any panties, “because I think my dick is about to explode. Somebody call a doctor, because this erection is gonna last more than four hours.”

She laughs as she shoves the flowy fabric of her skirt down between her legs to hide herself. “Do you have a condom?”

“Why do I need a condom to lick you?” I say, lifting her skirt again.

Once again, she covers herself up. “Do you really not have a condom?”

I cock an eyebrow as I look up at her. “I thought you were on the pill.”

Her eyes widen with shock. “I haven’t been on the pill for almost two years!”

I scrunch up my nose in confusion. “You haven’t had sex in two years?”

Her face screws up in an expression of utter embarrassment before she flings herself backward and rolls away. “You’re the only guy I’ve ever been with, okay? Are you happy now?”

I climb onto the bed and prop myself up on one elbow as I lie down beside her. “I’ve never doubted my love for you, but I’ve never been more certain of your love for me than I am in this moment,” I say, placing my hand on her hip. “So, no, I’m not happy now. I’m fucking ecstatic…and honored.”

She sniffs loudly as she wipes away a tear from the bridge of her nose. “I hate loving you so much. I bet you probably fucked dozens of girls after we broke up.”

“The key word there being fucked,” I reply, sliding my hand down until it covers her abdomen. “You’re still the only girl I’ve ever made love to.”

“Made love?” she says with a dismissive chuckle.

“Yes, I said make love,” I reply, pulling her toward me to turn her onto her back so I can see her face and look her in the eye. “It’s always fucking, but with you, and only you, it’s fucking with feelings. You know damn well what I mean.”

She pouts as she wipes moisture from her temple. “Humor me. Pretend I don’t know what you mean. Tell me… What does it mean to make love?”

I smile as I slide my hand under the hem of her silky tank top to feel her soft, warm skin. “When you make love to someone, it always starts with words,” I say, moving my hand up, relishing the feeling of goose bumps sprouting beneath my fingertips. “It could be words spoken or words sung in a song, but it always starts with words.” I lean down and nuzzle my nose into her hairline until my lips are next to her ear. “Words like, ‘I love us,’ or, ‘Your body does crazy things to me,’ or, ‘I’m gonna fuck you so hard, you’re gonna split in half.’”

She chuckles. “Are those song lyrics?”

“No, but they will be as soon as I’ve made you come at least three times,” I whisper as I brush my thumb over her hardened nipple through the fabric of her bra.

She sucks in a sharp breath. “You might want to leave that ‘split you in half’ line out. Don’t want to scare the mothers of all those thirteen-year-old fans.”

I laugh and shake my head as I move my hand between her legs and hike up her skirt. “Yes, kitten,” I say as I slip a finger inside her, not at all surprised to find she’s drenched in her arousal. “Holy fuck. You weren’t kidding when you said you haven’t had sex. Your pussy is tight as fuck right now.”

She moans as I fuck her with just my middle finger, and the sound makes my cock as hard as steel. “Go easy on me,” she breathes, wrapping her arms around my neck.

I lean down and kiss the tip of her nose, but I don’t kiss her yet. I want to watch her face as I slide my finger out of her pussy and begin massaging her clit. Her entire body jerks and her eyes roll back as I rub her swollen bud.

“Oh, God!” she cries, as her thighs begin to tremble.

I quickly remove my hand from between her legs. “I want to make you come with my mouth,” I say, positioning myself between her legs, smiling as she spreads her legs for me, revealing a gloriously pink and glistening shaved pussy. “You’re so goddam beautiful.”

I don’t go for her clit right away. I wrap my arms around her legs and lay a trail of soft, lingering kisses down the inside of her thigh until I reach her center. Her body trembles with anticipation as I kiss her everywhere except her most sensitive spot. Sliding my tongue inside her, I growl with pleasure as I lap up her essence. Drinking her nectar like a bird to a flower.

Her hand lands on the top of my head, her fingers twisting through my hair as she whimpers. “Oh, Ben. Oh, God.”

I lick my way up her slit until I reach her clit. I kiss it as if I’m kissing her beautiful mouth and within seconds the trembling in her legs turns into violent spasms. She screams as the orgasm shudders through her, so loudly I find myself hoping we don’t get a knock on the door to check on us. Not that I’d answer it.

I plan on making love to Charley for the rest of the day and night. For the rest of my life, actually. As her body relaxes under me, my heart squeezes in my chest at the thought of asking my kitten to marry me.

Once she’s caught her breath, she looks down at me and smiles. “I forgot how good you are at that. Much better than my vibrator.”

I place a parting kiss on her clit, then slide off the bed. “It’s easy to be good at something you love,” I say, as I pull off my shirt and begin undoing my jeans.

She follows my lead, yanking off her tank top and slipping out of her skirt.

“I’ll do that,” I say as she reaches behind her back to undo her bra.

She grins as she turns her back to me. “Be my guest.”

I sit behind her on the bed and lean forward, placing a tender kiss on her smooth shoulder. “I love you, Char,” I whisper, brushing her hair aside so I can kiss the back of her neck. “I don’t want to hurt you. You’ll tell me if I’m hurting you, won’t you?”

She smiles. “You won’t hurt me.”

I have to stop myself from saying, I hope you’re right.

“I don’t have a condom,” I say as I toss her bra onto the floor. “But, even if I did, I don’t know if I’d use it. I want to feel every inch of you, inside and out.”

She lies back on the bed and reaches up to touch my cheek. “It’s okay. I trust you. But after today, I’ll get on the pill.”

I lay my hand on her bare abdomen. “And if you get pregnant today?”

She swallows hard as my hand slides between her legs again. “That’s what the morning-after pill is for.”

I smile as she spreads her legs when I climb on top of her. Propping myself up on one elbow, I lace my fingers through hers and lean down to kiss her lips. She whimpers as she coils her long legs around my hips and I slide my tongue inside her mouth.

We kiss like this for a long time, my hand exploring her, pleasuring her, until I’m certain I’ll die unless I’m inside her. I slide the head of my cock through the drenched folds of her pussy, savoring the look of ecstasy on her face when it skids over her clit.

“Brace yourself, kitten,” I whisper, as I carefully slide my dick inside her.

Her mouth drops open in shock.

I freeze when I’m just a couple inches inside. “Are you okay?” I ask, and she nods enthusiastically, but she doesn’t say a word. “Are you sure?”

She continues nodding, but this time a smile spreads across her face.

I chuckle. “Okay, just tell me if it hurts.”

I sink into her slowly, a little at a time, giving her a while to adjust to my girth. I rock my hips back and forth slowly, like waves gently lapping at the shore. Finally, I nod to let her know I’m going to take it all the way in, and she nods in agreement.

As I sink into her, my muscles seize up. “Holy shit. You feel so fucking good.”

She gasps when I hit her cervix and my gaze is locked on hers as I stop thrusting. “I’m okay,” she urges me on. “I’m okay. I swear. Don’t stop.”

I nod as I lean down to kiss her as I push into her again. When I pull my head up to look at her, she’s crying.

“It doesn’t hurt. I swear. It only hurts here,” she says, pointing at her heart.

I plant a kiss on her nose and smile as I sink in and out of her. “When we were apart, every time I saw something beautiful, I thought of you.” I brush a tear from her temple. “What lens you might use, what angle, what time of day. How would you photograph this so other people could see its true beauty… A picture is worth a thousand words, but yours are worth so much more. You’re so talented, Char. You should be out there with me, seeing the world. Come with me…” I slide my hand between us so I can rub her clit. “Come with me, kitten.”

She closes her eyes as she leans her head back. “Oh, God… Yes.”

The muscles in my back and arms tighten as a rush of pleasure courses through my veins. She practically tears the skin off my back as her pussy clenches around my cock and she orgasms for the third time. I groan as I let go, collapsing on top as my dick twitches inside her.

I take a moment to catch my breath before I roll off her. “You can sleep on the wet spot.”

She smacks my arm. “How rude? Aren’t there two bedrooms in this suite?”

I laugh. “Yeah, you get this one and I get the clean one.”

She rolls her eyes and turns away from me.

I take the opportunity to pull her ass flush against my dick. “Are you serious? You’re really gonna come on the road with me?”

She lays her hand over mine as I place my hand on her stomach. “Do you promise not to hurt me?”

All I can think about in this moment is the meeting I have scheduled with Katie for tomorrow. I originally thought I could talk to Katie over Skype or FaceTime, but I realized, after I had to reschedule due to the wedding I went to with Charley, I really need to talk to Katie in person. She needs to feel my anguish, to see it in person. And I need to see hers, too. But this meeting with Katie could blow up in my face, and Charley could end up hurt.

It would be stupid of me to make a promise I can’t keep. But there’s no fucking denying that I’m a complete fool for Charley. I’ll do anything to keep her. And if I get to take her with me on the road, then I’ll truly have everything I’ve ever wanted.

I lay a soft kiss on her shoulder. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”