This time, I was at Larissa’s door first thing in the morning.

She hadn’t spent the night. I’d wanted her to, more than anything, but I hadn’t asked. The days she gave me were fucking magical. I knew we’d have our nights eventually.

She opened the door with a smile. It was hard to believe when I first met her that I’d thought her smiles would be reluctant or reserved. That was the complete opposite of the truth. She’d been slow to warm—and I couldn’t really blame her since I’d almost killed her at our first meeting. But once she’d warmed up, neither of us had stopped smiling.

“You’re up bright and early,” she said.

“It’s the last day of vacay. Didn’t want to waste it.”

Her smile fell slightly and she groaned. “Don’t remind me! This week has gone way too fast.” She opened the door wider. “Come in here.”

Stepping into her place, I kicked the door closed and pulled her against me. I buried my nose in her wild hair, still tangled and messy from sleep.

“What’s your plan for today?” I asked.

She slid her hands under my T-shirt, resting them on my chest. “I really just want to hang out with you. We can do nothing. Or something. It doesn’t matter.”

My heart sped up. I wondered if she felt it under her fingertips. I covered her mouth with mine, capturing her lips and tongue, licking and sucking, and just memorizing her taste. Her hands moved around my waist, gripping me tight.

I was lost in Larissa. Her sweetness along with her sharp edges. It was all her and she was all that I wanted. That might seem crazy. But then the men in my family loved big and we loved hard. My dad proposed to my mom within a month of meeting her. My cousin Avi married Laurel within six months. I wasn’t thinking marriage, but damn if I didn’t think I was falling in love.

“What was that for?” she asked breathlessly.

I ran a finger over the freckles on her nose. “That was a hello. It’s been eight and a half hours since I last kissed you, and I didn’t think that was right.”

She stepped back and pulled the tie on her robe, letting it fall open and slide off her shoulders. “It’s been nine and a half hours since you were inside of me and I know that’s definitely not right.”

She held out her hand and I went.

I lay on Larissa’s bed, relaxed, with my arms under my head, watching her get dressed. She’d just showered, her hair wrapped in a towel on top of her head, and the only clothing she had on was underwear. If we hadn’t just had sex twice, she wouldn’t have that on either.

But right now, I was content to watch her. Actually, I was more than content. I was captivated by the movement of her ass and sway of her hips with each step she took. There was nothing delicate about her except the softness of her skin, and I liked that. When I held her, she filled my arms and when she was pressed against me, there was no space between us. Larissa fully owned the shape of her body and if she wasn’t confident about any part of it, I couldn’t tell. She didn’t hide or cover. I’d made it clear from the beginning how fucking gorgeous and sexy I found her and she’d let me see her and have her in any way I wanted.

And I wanted her in every way. In every way.

“Are you sad the snow’s melting?” I asked.

She pulled a sweater over her head and sighed. “Sort of. But I’m hopeful we’ll have a snowy winter. I didn’t even get to build a snowman yesterday.”

I grinned at her and my heart went pitter fucking patter. “You are simultaneously the most adorable, sexy, and delightful woman I’ve ever met. And I am going to take you to my favorite library.”

She leaned over me and kissed me with a smile on her lips. I pulled her down and rolled over, wedging myself between her still-bare legs. “Didn’t we just do this?” she asked.

I growled into her neck, sending her bucking and laughing.

“We are going to the library. Right after I eat your neck.” I held her hands above her head and rubbed my face wildly all over her chest and shoulder, making her laugh and scream.

I rolled onto the bed, watching her laugh. “You’re crazy,” she said.

“Crazy for you.”

She sat up, flipping her hair out of her face, and then she cupped my cheek. “Same.”

I sat up too and wrapped my arms around her. “Put your pants on before I keep you in this bed all day.”

She smirked. “Is that seriously a threat? Because…”

Grinning, I pushed her toward her closet. “Pants!”

The city had been pretty efficient in clearing the roads and sidewalks, and there were now tall piles of grey snow on every corner. Not quite the winter wonderland of yesterday.

“Have you been to the Central Library yet?” I asked.

“I haven’t. But can I tell you how excited I am that you’re taking me there? Libraries are my happy place, though the ones I frequent are mostly academic.”

When we arrived at the 1930’s building, Larissa’s eyes widened with awe. And when we stepped inside, her head swiveled left and right, taking it all in. This library wasn’t the closest to home, but I came here a lot. It wasn’t cozy like the little library near my house, but when I stepped inside, I felt like I was part of something. Part of the thrumming history of the city.

“This place is gorgeous,” she said.

“Tell me how this makes you feel: there are one million books here.”

She gasped and held her chest. “That’s...positively erotic.” She grabbed my hand. “Can we go look?”

“Do you want to get a cup of coffee first? There’s a place over there.”

“Books first, coffee later.” The gold flecks in her eyes glinted with excitement and she grabbed my hand, pulling me through the great hall into the depths of the library.

We spent an hour wandering. Larissa touched every book she passed, pulling some out to read the jackets or look at the covers. If she picked up a book I’d read, we shared a quiet, whispered conversation about my thoughts.

Once we’d wandered every corner, I took her to sign up for her own library card. As she told the librarian her information, she kept her hand in mine below the desk.

I’d never done anything like this with a woman before. Hell, I couldn’t remember the last time I went to the library with someone else, period. Probably when my mom took me as a kid. But this thing with Larissa was different than anything I’d had before. Maybe it was because of the holiday bringing us together, bonding us on a deeper level than just amazing sex and fun times. Whatever it was, I had this strong desire for her to know me deeply, down to the core, to the meaty, gristly center of me, and I wanted to know her in the same way.

When she turned around, proudly holding her fresh new card, I took out my phone to capture the moment. Her smile stretched wide across her face and she let out a little celebratory giggle. I studied the picture and realized I was looking at the moment I went from falling to landed. All it took was eight days for me to love this woman.

Hooking my arm around her waist, I kissed her temple. “Ready for coffee now?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I have this card burning a hole in my pocket. I want to go check out a book!”

So we wandered around again, splitting off for a few minutes and then meeting back up at the desk. Larissa held a stack of magazines in the crook of her arm and I’d found a Haruki Murakami book that I had yet to read. We both checked out, then wandered out to the little cafe area.

When we settled at a small, round table with two cups of coffee, I lifted my chin to her magazines. “No books today?”

“Nope. I’ll come back another time for books. Today I want to mindlessly read about the best eyebrows for my face shape and the hot looks for winter.”

I held up my book. “I’ve got Norwegian Wood to keep me busy while you read your lady mags.”

She grabbed the book from me and tried to hit me with it. “Please never say that again!”

I chuckled. “You have something against Norwegian Wood?”

She swung the book at me again. “I have everything against men who say ‘lady mags’.” She smiled though as she opened a magazine, slowly flipping through the pages.

I settled in too, reading and sipping coffee. This was something I did as much as I could, but having Larissa here—even though we weren’t talking—made it that much better.

I got a chapter in when I felt her looking at me. “Read your lady mag,” I said, not lifting my eyes from the page.

She kicked me under the table. “Will you read to me?”

I met her eyes and she smiled softly, a hint of pink on her cheeks. “Really?”

“Yeah, just a little. I haven’t read Murakami since I was in undergrad. Your soothing voice combined with his elegant words…” She rubbed her arms. “Please?”

I couldn’t say no. Not that I wanted to. So I read to her. And when my mouth got dry, she took the book and read to me. It wasn’t a happy book, but it was a journey, and when we read it to each other, it felt like we were on it together.

Finally, Larissa used a napkin as a bookmark and closed the book. “You can’t read that without me.”

I slid the book to my side of the table. “I’ll try to wait for you. I’m in the middle of another book, so this can be my Larissa book.”

She leaned her cheek on her hand. “Why won’t you ever call me Riss?”

Leaning back in my chair, I exhaled heavily, studying her. “Not sure. That feels like something I’d call my buddy, and I don’t see you that way.”

Her lips quirked. “That must be why my past relationships didn’t work out. Note to self: don’t let future men call me Riss.”

That stung, I had to admit. I knew she was joking, but here I was realizing that I’d fallen in love with her, and she was talking about other men.

She must have seen it on my face, because she reached across the table and covered my hand with hers. “I’m sorry, that was a crappy thing to say.”

I turned my hand over to hold hers. “Yeah, it kinda was. But it’s cool. We’ve only known each other for a week, so I get it.”

“Eight days.”

“Right, eight days.”

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “But it feels like longer. I mean, I feel like I really know you. I don’t know why I made that comment about other men. There’s no one else.”

“Do you...date a lot?”

Her eyebrows raised. “Like boyfriend, date? No. Casual, no-strings stuff? Sure. To be honest, that’s been my thing for the last few years. I haven’t really wanted more than that. From what Avi said, it sounds like you’re on the same page.”

“Nah, not anymore. I sowed all the oats that needed sowing. I’m here for the real.”

She nodded. “I like that. The real. I don’t know how it fits in my life, but suddenly I really like the idea of it.”

“Suddenly?”

She looked down at our linked hands. “Yes. Suddenly.”

“Let’s go home. I’m going to make you some latkes for dinner. The Friedman family recipe.”

She squeezed my hand. “Let’s go home.”