Tonight will do.

For now.

I pull her to me and bracket her face between my hands.

“Are you going to kiss me?” she asks, laughing. “With that face?”

“Do you mind awfully?”

“As long as we don’t rub noses…” She grins. “Wouldn’t want you to yelp in pain in the middle of a kiss.”

“No nose rubbing,” I promise before my mouth descends on hers.

I kiss her, drinking her in, slipping my hands under her tee and stroking her tummy, her hips, and sides. She yanks her top off, revealing a lacy bra and creamy, smooth skin. My heart picks up as I cup her breasts and fondle them.

When I unclasp and remove her bra, I draw back and spend a few long moments just staring at her stiff nipples. They beg for my touch. I pinch them gently while trailing my tongue up and down the elegant curve of her throat, tasting her skin. Then I lick her lovely collarbones. When my mouth closes over one of her scrumptious buds, a deep, low growl escapes my lips.

Noemi whimpers.

“Mine,” I say again, my voice hoarse.

Unzipping her pants, I shove my hand between her legs. She’s wet. Eager. Aching for me to fill her.

I’d wanted to give her long, tender preliminaries, but that would have to wait until the morning. Right now, my need is too raw, too urgent to allow anything that would delay my cock from plunging into her tight, hungry heat.

As if to eliminate my last doubts, Noemi opens my bathrobe and stares at me. Her tongue darts out to lick her lips. Jesus. I take her hand and guide it to touch me. She does more than touch. She wraps her fingers around my erection and strokes it with a firm, possessive grip. When she trails her thumb from the base to the center of the crown, my head tips back with the pleasure of her touch.

It must be now.

“Give me a sec.” I dash to my duffel bag and return with a condom in my hand.

She snatches it from me and works it onto my cock. I shrug out of my bathrobe, pull the rest of her clothing off, and a moment later, I’m inside her.

The bliss.

This is where I’d like to spend the rest of my life.

Propping myself up on my forearms, I push my tongue into her mouth in time with my thrusts. Deeper, harder. She moans, gripping my neck, digging her fingernails into my back, squeezing me with her inner muscles. To tease her, I withdraw completely and hover over her, the tip of my erection barely touching her folds.

“Please,” she begs.

“Please what?”

“Get back in there.”

I position myself at her entrance and slam in. She gasps, clinging to me. I pound into her, my thrusts sharp enough to give her what she craves, but measured, so I can keep my own pleasure in check.

Her whimpering picks up in intensity, and she spurs me with her heels against my ass.

Breaking the kiss, I grab her ankles and push her legs even higher, so that I can penetrate her deeper, touch her more fully, take more from her, and give her more.

Noemi lifts her head and kisses my chest, my throat, my chin. “Baby, I’m so close.”

Me too, sweetie, me too.

I release her left ankle and grab her ass, pinning her to me, just as I pump into her with all I have. Again, and again, and again. She bucks, her eyes rolling in her head and her mouth gaping in ecstasy as she comes. I thrust again. Her inner muscles contract. Her entire body trembles. And then she arches her back and cries out her release.

That’s my girl.

A few more jerky thrusts and I erupt, shuddering and spurting hot fluid. When my tremors calm down, I slump on top of her. She runs her hands over my back, strokes everywhere she can reach—my neck, shoulders, spine, ass—and whispers tender words against my disfigured face. Carefully avoiding my nose, she rains soft kisses on my cheeks, mouth, and chin. When her lips touch mine, I open and delve my tongue into the welcoming sweetness of her mouth.

We stay like that for a while, stroking and kissing each other. When I pull out and roll to my side, she looks bereft. She won’t be able to see it on my messy face right now, but bereft is exactly how I feel, too, moving away from her.

While she’s in the bathroom, I dispose of the condom and apply the cool pack again.

After she returns to my side, we fall asleep, our fingers interlaced and our limbs entwined.

In the morning when I wake up next to her, I know I’ll never have this kind of sex—this kind of connection—with another woman.

Noemi jumps out of the bed and fetches my cool pack. “You look better than last night, so I guess this thing works.”

Dutifully, I sit up and hold it to my nose.

She settles next to me and strokes my shoulder. “Did it hurt when you had the tattoo removed?”

She’s never asked me about the tattoo before. We’ve never even mentioned it. It’s as if it hadn’t existed.

I nod.

“Laser?”

I nod again. “Several endless sessions. Felt like having my back roasted on a defective grill.”

She squirms. “That unpleasant?”

“Still, it had nothing on having the tat inked in.”

“I’m so sorry,” she says. “Jeez, I was so stupid back then!”

“Isn’t everyone at that age?”

She squeezes her eyes shut. “When I asked you to go under the needle—and not just for a small tat, but a huge tacky thing across your back—it didn’t occur to me how painful and… permanent it would be. I’m really sorry, Julien.”

“You were very young.” I shrug. “And so was I.”

She gives me a weak smile.

I glance at my watch. “I need to be downstairs in fifteen, or else Lucas will kill me.”

“Of course!” She points to the bathroom. “Hit the shower. I’ll see myself out once your teammates join you for breakfast.”

I touch her cheek. “I want you to know I’m not giving up on us.”

She sighs. “How can we ever trust each other after the things we’ve done? A relationship without trust is doomed.”

“I trust you,” I say. “I would trust you with my life.”

She keeps silent.

I guess that means she doesn’t trust me.

Can’t blame her. What I did to her only a month ago was too harsh. Way too harsh.

“There’s been too much…”—she hesitates as if looking for the right word—“nastiness, too much bad blood between us. We’ll be deluding ourselves to think we can just turn the page and start over.”

I shake my head in silent disagreement.

She draws away. “Go. Your coach is waiting.”