Adam hadn’t felt this nervous since the first time he’d had sex. He had been sixteen at the time, though he had looked old enough that, when he told the pretty co-ed he was a junior, she had assumed he was talking about the university. He might have been young and inexperienced, but he hadn’t been stupid enough to correct her.

He knocked again with one hand and gripped the roses tightly with the other, inadvertently crushing the stems. A missed thorn dug into his flesh, but the minor pain was a welcome diversion.

“Holly, I know you’re in there. Please answer the door.”

His coffee with Liz had been enlightening, to say the least, though kind of scary, too. Unlike Holly, Liz had absolutely no problem saying exactly what was on her mind. She had asked Adam point-blank what his intentions were with Holly. When he had blurted out the truth, she had told Adam, in no uncertain terms, exactly what he had to do.

She had then smirked when his face had turned the color of a turnip and his jaw had hit the table, but hadn’t wavered for even a moment. Once he had gotten over his initial shock, he had to admire her absolute confidence.

And hope to hell she was right.

* * *

“IT’S LATE, ADAM,” HOLLY said wearily, opening the door a few inches. Obviously sitting in the dark and ignoring his repeated knocks was not conveying the message any more effectively than the unanswered texts and calls. “What do you want?”

Adam used his much larger body and pressed forward. She stepped back, tilting her face upward toward his.

His blue eyes were dark and intense, his movements deliberate. Pure male power radiated off him in waves, making her innermost parts clench against her will. But it was nothing compared to the next words out of his mouth.

“I want you, Holly.”

She gasped slightly. Disbelief, hope, and a big surge of lust rose up inside her, drowning out her rational mind’s increasingly weak protests that Adam was not interested in her that way.

“Apparently, I’ve done a piss-poor job of letting you know that my interest in you is anything but professional, and I’m here to set that record straight right now.” He tossed the flowers off to the side, red and pink blooms scattering to the floor.

He brought flowers?

She barely had time to process that thought before he was stepping forward again, right into her personal space. She countered by taking another step back, though the length of her stride was less than half his.

“If you have a problem with that, now is the time to say so, Holly. Say the word, and I’ll go.”

Did she have a problem with that? Her thundering heart and beading nipples didn’t think so.

He waited through several of those thundering heartbeats before she whispered, “No. Don’t go.”

He grinned wolfishly and took another step. So did she.

One more, and he was close enough to reach out, wrap his arm around her waist, and pull her against his hard body. She closed her eyes for just a moment, relishing the feel of all that hardness, the heat seeping through his clothes and hers, and the scent of clean, powerful male. Her nipples grew to diamond-hard tips against his ripped torso, easily distinguishable through the thin material of her ratty tee-shirt.

Without permission, a slight moan managed to escape. He took full and instant advantage, lowering his head to claim her mouth. At the same time, she felt his large hand skim along the curve of her waist and over her hips, pausing only when he cupped her ass and lifted her, drawing her tightly against something incredibly large and extremely rigid.

It felt so right to be fitted against all those hard ridges and bumps. Her much softer, feminine parts yielded instantly to his much harder planes, filling in every dip and curve.

She moved her hand between them, flattening her palm against his chest. Not in an attempt to push him away, but to curl her nails into his chest like tiny claws, fierce and possessive. He rewarded her by thrusting his tongue into her mouth.

She wanted more, so much more, of him thrusting parts of him into parts of her.

Suddenly, her feet were no longer on the ground. She was in Adam’s powerful arms, being drawn even closer until every possible inch of her sensitized flesh was pressed against his granite hardness. Total surrender was a given as he ravished her mouth mercilessly, taking as much as he gave, capturing her throaty moans for his own.

Then they were moving. Without easing his grip, Adam walked them forward until her back was against the wall, using his weight to pin her in place. It felt so good, all that pressure, all that unyielding strength against the thousands of nerve endings crying out for his touch.

She felt a rush of cool air as he reached down between them to grasp the hem of her shirt, felt his rough calluses skimming over her heated skin.

His palm paused briefly over her heart. Surely, he must have felt it thrusting itself against her ribs.

When he smiled against her mouth, she knew he had.

“Say no and I’ll stop.”

“I’m not saying no, Adam.”

He pushed his big, muscular thigh between hers, holding her in place as it pressed suggestively against yet another part of her shamelessly begging for his attention. She tried in vain to flex her hips to relieve some of the ache, but he only pressed harder, letting her know that he was the one in control, and she was all but powerless to stop him.

Why, for the life of her, would she even want to?

Something niggled at the back of her mind, some faint echo of warning, but it was lost in the flood of endorphins as he moved his hand upward, cupping one of her breasts through the thin bra cup.

He growled then, a purely masculine sound that she felt as much as heard. Though she wouldn’t have thought it possible, her breasts swelled even more, the hard beads of her nipples pressing forward.

It was both heaven and hell the way he teased her, rubbing his thumbs over them several times before giving a skillful flick of his fingers to release the front clasp of her bra. The soft support vanished, the cups peeled aside and were mercifully replaced with his hot, rough hands. She might have whimpered.

“So fucking beautiful,” he hissed, releasing her mouth and dropping his head to suckle her through the thin cotton of her tee-shirt. This time, there was no mistaking the sounds she made, crying out at the hard pull of his mouth, not in pain, but in pleasure.

When he nipped her tender skin, she understood instinctively that it was a mark of his approval. A few heartbeats later, he grasped the waistband of her lounge pants and pushed down hard.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he commanded, his voice husky and thick with need.

Holly obeyed without question, eagerly stepping out of her pants and snaking her arms around his neck.

She nearly cried out when she felt his fingers between her legs; his groan another sign of his approval at finding her slick and oh-so-wet.

For one interminably long moment, he pulled away from her. She was about to protest until she heard the glorious sound of a snap and a zipper, followed by the tear of foil. Then he was back, grinding his hips against hers, lubricating the proof of his desire with what she had provided. It wasn’t enough.

She dug her nails into his shoulders, needing more.

Thank God he seemed to understand. A slight tilt of his hips poised the blunt head right at her entrance.

He paused, breathing hard. “Holly ...”

Why had he stopped?

She looked into his eyes and saw the raw, stark need matching her own, as well as his unspoken question. She knew instinctively that it was the last time he would ask. Her answer would determine not just the next few minutes, but their future.

“Yes ...” she answered in a husky whisper, using her legs to pull him closer.

Adam pressed forward, penetrating the wet, silken need that had become the focal point of her entire body.

“Oh, fucking hell,” he murmured as he worked his way deeper.

This time it was Holly who rewarded him with another rush of silken heat and a tight squeeze made possible by years of Kegel exercises. Judging by the strangled moan that erupted from his throat, they were worth every second.

When his balls pressed against her swollen folds, he paused, a single brief moment only. For that moment, time and space ceased, hung in a suspended sense of nearly unbearable anticipation.

She looked into his eyes, now polished sapphires, and whispered the only word she was capable of. “Please.”

Adam grunted in affirmation. He withdrew and thrust again and again with long, thorough strokes that stretched her to her physical limits and filled her completely. It still wasn’t enough. He was holding back, and she needed him, all of him.

A minute later, she tightened her leg-lock around his hips and dug her heels into his tight ass in an unspoken request for more.

He gave it to her. Increasing his pace, his hips pistons of even greater force, thrusting into her harder and faster. Possessing her. Owning her.

“Yes!” she scream-moaned, grabbing the hair at the base of his skull and tugging hard. This was exactly what she had needed. Him. Pounding into her as if he would die if he didn’t. Assuming total control over his pleasure and hers.

“Come for me, Holly,” he commanded sharply, grinding his hips, pushing deeper, demanding more. “Come all over my cock, baby.”

His raw words undid her. Seconds later, her entire body clenched, a silent scream ripping from her throat.

Adam roared her name as her channel bore down hard around him in complete bliss. He was no longer pumping but pushing hard into and against her as if he couldn’t get deep enough.

Along with the intense climax ripping through her body, she felt the pulse of his release as he exploded inside her. Then they were moving again.

Adam’s arms were still around her, tight bands that kept her from floating away in thousands of tiny pieces. He dropped down onto the sofa, pulling her with him.

“Jesus, Holly,” he moaned, holding her tightly encased in his arms.

She moaned against his neck, her body still shuddering with aftershocks.

“Five minutes ...” she breathed before giving in to the darkness.