I leaned my elbows on the counter and watched while Ella finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher. I’d offered to do most of the cleanup, but she’d swatted me away. I took a pull on my beer, savoring the sight of her as she bent over to put the last plate in the bottom rack. I’d conveniently forgotten what a sweet ass she had. Well, it wasn’t that I’d forgotten, it was that she’d filled out more, so it was even sweeter than I remembered.

It was a good thing my memories hadn’t been that sharp. If they had, the blade of missing her would’ve sliced deeper. It had cut deep enough as it was.

When she straightened and turned around, her hair fell loose from the knot atop her head. The rich brown locks tumbled in a graceful swing, cascading down her back. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips pink, and her green eyes bright in the dim light. I was trying to be a gentleman and not just fuck her senseless the moment I saw her. Yet, my restraint was taking its toll.

My cock had been straining against my jeans for most of the evening. The simple fact of her existence, of finally having her back here, had only served to refresh my memories of how much she meant to me. There had never been a woman who called to me the way Ella did. The attraction between us was raw, a power of its own—she was a magnet whose force I could not resist. Mingling in with that was a sense of protectiveness to the point that I felt half insane. Lance, who was just a number on her phone, had sent another series of texts earlier today while I’d been out responding to a local fire.

It was a damn good thing I made a habit of leaving my phone at the station when I was on duty. Our crew had been called out to a minor fire in the kitchen at a hunting cabin. Nothing major, it was all in a days work for us, but I’d have lost my focus if I’d seen those messages while I was out.

After I’d returned to the station and seen the messages after my shower, I’d wanted to pummel the fucking guy, and he was nowhere near here. So all I’d done was as Rex requested and simply forwarded them to him with a quick text asking for him to give me a call soon. I hoped like hell he had some updates on the situation.

The fury I felt at seeing those texts and knowing she’d been seeing them for too damn long amplified everything I felt. So with her standing there by the counter, her cheeks flushed and her hair in a tousle around her shoulders, my restraint was at the end of its tether, about to snap.

I wasn’t much for trying to take this slow, so I didn’t even bother. Setting my beer down and rounding the island between us, I reached out, catching Ella’s hand in mine and reeling her to me. I savored her soft gasp as her body bumped against mine. I didn’t care that my arousal was obvious, I didn’t care about anything but this moment and getting as close as physically possible to her.

Her gaze darkened as she looked up at me, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips. I meant to say something, but I didn’t. I was done for the moment her tongue swiped across her bottom lip.

Releasing her hand, I brushed a loose lock of hair out of her eyes and fit my mouth over hers. On her gasp, I swept my tongue into the sweet welcome of her mouth. Inside of a hot second, I was lost, devouring her mouth with deep sweeps of my tongue, nips on her bottom lip, and rocking my hips into the cradle of hers. Sliding my palm free of her hair, I swept it down her back to cup her lush bottom, palming it and rocking my arousal into her.

It might’ve been a distant memory before the other night, but it was sharp and vivid now — the way she came alive and let go once the heat of our desire engulfed us. In high school, I’d had a thing for her for a bit before we were together. I’d loved the contrast of how serious and quiet she could be, always a straight-A student, always on the honor roll and always more focused on her studies than anything else. I still remembered the first time I kissed her. Just like now there’d been a moment of hesitation and then it swept away in the fire that flashed hot and high between us.

With her tongue tangling with mine and her hands reaching around to grab my ass, our kiss went wild. I couldn’t get enough of her fast enough. I wasn’t thinking, everything was pure raw sensation. Tugging at her clothes, I was relieved she was wearing a blouse even though she swore at me when I tore a button loose.

“Take it easy,” she murmured.

Dragging my tongue down her neck and savoring the sweet tangy taste, I reluctantly lifted my head. “Easy for you to say,” I muttered, canting my eyes to the side and back to her.

My T-shirt had gotten caught on a knife handle in the dish rack when she yanked it over my head and tossed it aside. It was still dangling there. Ella giggled, her cheeks flushing a deeper shade of pink. A sly grin curled the corners of her lips.

Unbuttoning her jeans, I shoved them swiftly down over her hips. She was quite the multi-tasker, busy trying to tug at mine at the same time. She wobbled with another giggle when she kicked her feet free from her jeans.

Lifting her, I slid her hips on the counter, taking a moment to absorb the sight of her. Her lips were swollen from our kisses, her eyes dark, reflecting that same wild, intense, almost frantic need I knew was held in my gaze. Her hair was a tangled mess, falling down over her shoulders and partially masking her breasts.

Leaning forward, I laved my tongue over the black silk, scoring her nipple lightly with my teeth and dampening the silk. I did the same to the other, savoring her cries as she arched into me. With a flick of my thumb on the clasp between her breasts, her breasts tumbled loose. I savored the weight of them in my palms as I glanced up to meet her wild gaze.

“Not fair,” she muttered as she reached between us and tore at the buttons on my fly. When her palm curled over the length of my cock through the thin cotton of my briefs, I couldn’t hold back a groan.

I needed more hands than I had. I didn’t want to let go of the feel of her breasts in my palms, her nipples taut as I teased them with my thumbs. But, just as much, I needed to feel the core of her. Reluctantly, I released her breasts, trailing my fingers down over the soft curve of her belly and dragging them across the wet silk between her thighs. She was drenched.

“Fuck Ella. You make me crazy. You’re so fucking wet.”

I didn’t think it was physically possible, but my cock swelled even more. Just at the knowledge of how wet she was for me.

Thought fled again, what little grasp I had on it for a few seconds there. I needed her bare, completely bare. Hooking my thumb on the thin strip of silk on her hip, I lifted her hips with my other hand, yanking her panties down her legs. She kicked them free, the silk falling softly to the floor. Meanwhile, she was tearing my fly open and pushing my briefs out of the way. My cock sprang free, and I groaned when she curled her palm around it.

Much as I wanted to sink inside of her right away, more than that I needed to taste her. Yanking her hips to the edge of the counter, I leaned over, teasing a nipple with my tongue, dusting kisses over her belly and sinking my fingers into the warm silky wet clench of her core.

Her hands tunneled into my hair, gripping it as I dragged my tongue across her seam. She tasted so good—salty with a hint of sweetness and all Ella. Fucking her slowly with my fingers, I explored every inch of her folds, teasing over her clit again and again while she gripped my hair and chanted my name in between gasps and cries. I could feel her getting closer and closer to the edge. I buried my fingers inside of her, knuckle deep, and caught her clit with my teeth. Her channel gripped my fingers when she cried out, flying apart. I waited until her hips stopped rocking before drawing back. Straightening, I soaked her in—her eyes hazy with passion and her shoulders curling towards me as she caught her breath.

Her lips were parted, her breath coming in little gasps. Lifting a hand, I brushed her hair back from her face, dragging my thumb across her bottom lip. Her tongue darted out, and she caught it in her teeth, sucking it lightly.

Fuck me. Ella owned me—body, heart and soul. Just that tiny motion, and my cock swelled so hard it ached. I needed to be inside of her. Shifting, I shoved my briefs down over my hips, too hurried to even bother getting out of my jeans. Glancing up at her, I curled my fist around my cock. Only then did reality hit me.

“Fuck. Condom,” I muttered as I pushed back. I was going to have to walk all the way upstairs to deal with this issue.

Ella caught my hips with her legs, pulling me back close to her. “I’m on the pill,” she murmured. “And I’m clean. I know you must be too.”

I stared at her for a long moment, my mind spinning back years. Back in high school, we’d never had sex without a condom. My father had put the fear of God in me about that. But I was older now and so was she, and I didn’t doubt she was on the pill.

This was her call though, not mine. “Are you sure?”

She nodded emphatically. On the heels of a deep breath, I stepped back to her again, gripping her hips and sliding her all the way to the edge of the counter. Adjusting the angle of my hips, I sank inside of her creamy clench in one swift surge.

She cried out, her hips rocking into me instantly. I wanted to drag this out, to make it slow, to savor every second of it. But the intensity was too much, my need too great, and the years of missing her carrying so much weight that all I could do was lose myself inside of her. I rocked into her again and again, murmuring her name over and over as heat and pleasure twisted at my spine. I felt her channel throbbing around me. Reaching between us, I swirled my thumb over her clit, opening my eyes to witness her cry out, her body arching back and going taut, clamping down around my cock.

Only then did I let go, the heat twisting at the base of my spine and slamming through me, my release pouring into her with one last surge.