I’ve spent most of my life searching for something to give me direction. I once hoped the twins would provide me with a purpose. Now I’m right where I belong, doing what I was born to do.

As our lips meet, he wraps my body against his, and I can’t imagine a more perfect feeling. I rest my arms on his powerful shoulders, lean my body into his, and allow him to lead. Each kiss silences another of those nagging questions rattling around in my head for so long. Who am I? What is the point of my existence? I’m no one special. I accomplish nothing that can’t be accomplished by someone else. My parents mean something to the world. They overcame obstacles and built successful lives by following their passions. I have no passion, never built anything, and find no obstacles beyond my uselessness. I want to click with something—or someone—in the way my parents did with each other and their jobs.

In Cap’s arms, I exist in a way I never have before. His touch is flawless. Nothing about him bothers me. It’s all perfection. Cap’s lips suck at mine—possessive, hungry, and not the least bit careful because he knows I belong with him.

There’s no hesitation in his affection. No games to play. No score to keep. He isn’t kissing me because he’s a horny guy looking to get laid. He’s kissing me because I’m me, and he’s him, and there’s nowhere we belong except together.

Still kissing me, Cap makes gentle turns in the pool. I love the sensation of the water’s pull against the unbreakable wall of his body. I’m a part of him now. Rather than the fourth child of a powerful man or the third daughter of Ellsberg Elementary School’s favorite teacher or the sister of more interesting Johansson kids, I am the girl who makes Casper Hayes’s heart beat like a freight train in his chest. It’s the role I was born to fill.

“No,” I groan when he tries to pull away. “Never leave me.”

“You’re grinding against my dick like you’re trying to whittle a stake.”

Gripping his face, I stare into his nearly onyx eyes and declare, “I’ll fuck you right here if you stay.”

Cap smiles so sweetly for me. “Silly Pip. If we fucked in public, I’d have to pop out the eyes of anyone who might have seen you naked. We wouldn’t want dozens of eyeless people bumping into things in White Horse, now would we?”

“I’d do it to keep you,” I say, wrapping my legs tighter around his waist.

“You’d also resent the ever-loving fuck out of me for making you do it to keep me. I can tell you’re a diva who enjoys holding a grudge.”

“I do hold them for most people but never for you.”

“That’s the slick between your legs fogging up your brain,” he says, and I feel the mentioned flesh twitch approvingly. “Once you’d get your kicks, you’ll build up a huge fucking grudge against me for providing those kicks.”

“Why isn’t your brain foggy with horny? Am I not hot enough?”

“Considering I’m about to jizz up this pool something nasty, I’d say you’re hot enough.”

Fighting a smile at his wording, I ask, “Then how come your brain works if you’re so horny?”

“Because I’m a guy, and we’re always horny. Most days, I walk around at half-mast. Since you and I met, I’ve been at full-mast. If I couldn’t think straight, I would have crashed my Harley on the way to the sandwich shop.”

“So what’s the plan for tonight, if it doesn’t involve you inside me?”

“We make out a little more. Then we say goodnight, and you head upstairs to deal with your slickness problem while I go home to deal with my super-mast. Tomorrow, we’ll see each other again at the business meeting, and then we’ll have dinner with our fathers. Finally, I'll start planning out your entire future while your father tells me to slow the fuck down because you’re his princess and he can’t have you running off with a thug like me.”

Leaning forward to caress my lips across his brow, I whisper, “I heard nothing after you said we’ll make out more.”

Cap smirks in a way I ought to hate. He has me wrapped around his giant finger. My parents raised me to be an independent woman who puts people in their places.

I’m no one’s fucking bitch!

That was the plan before meeting Cap. Now I’m okay with how this massive son of a bitch smiles at how hooked I am. Because my feelings for him are real and raw. They can’t be controlled by me, Pop, or even Cap.