I wanted her. No, I needed her. The weeks of resisting her had broken down my restraint. As easy as it would have been to take her right there on the beach, I knew I couldn’t. I practically towed her back toward the condo, and up the stairs. Once inside, I kicked the door closed, only pausing to lock the door before picking her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist. Her lips found mine, but I had to break the kiss to keep myself moving forward.

Thankfully the walk to my room wasn’t long. I set her down right in front of my bed and wasted no time pulling off the wet top that had been in my way. Several trails of water streamed down her chest. I licked them away, using the excuse to give my mouth the opportunity to explore her breasts more. Her nipples were so hard and responsive, I needed more. She moaned for me, and I could tell she was struggling to stay standing. I was about to make it even harder on her. Without moving my mouth, I untied her pants and let them fall to the floor. I pushed away the satin fabric of her panties and slipped one finger inside her. Her moan became more of a groan. As I expected she stumbled back, and I caught her, easing her down on my bed. I pulled her panties down and tossed them in the pile with the rest of her wet clothes. A moment later my boxers joined them.

I looked at her. I looked at every naked part of her body, determined to memorize every inch of her.

She looked up at me with the sexiest damn expression ever. “Are you going to join me?”

“Hell yes.” I ran my eyes over her again. She was so damn beautiful I couldn’t really believe she was giving herself to me. I’d been with plenty of girls, but Carly was different inside and out.

I lay down next to her, letting my hands trail down her body. Her eyes were locked on my obvious arousal.

Things were hot and heavy—they were perfect really, but something was missing. I wasn’t making her laugh. “Aren’t you going to thank me for taking my pants off?”

She pushed my chest. “No, I think you’re supposed to thank me first.”

“But I took your pants off for you.”

“Macon?”

“Yes, babe?” I trailed tiny kissed from her neck down.

“I already told you that I want you.”

“Yeah?” I let my fingers move between her legs again, watching as her eyes widened. “What was that you were saying?”

She moaned before closing her eyes and letting her hands settle at her sides. “Macon.” My name came out of her as half a moan, and I could barely hold myself together.

“I want you, Macon.”

“You’re going to get me.” I kissed her, loving that I was able to surprise her because her eyes were still clenched closed.

She reached out for me, gently stroking me. I groaned. Her touch was so careful. I’d have never imagined that was the touch that would set me completely on fire, but I could barely hold it together.

I reluctantly got up to grab a condom from the night stand. When I returned she was looking at me with those big sexy eyes again. “I’ve never wanted someone this bad before.”

“That makes two of us.” I moved above her, locking my eyes on her as I positioned myself between her legs. I hesitated for a moment, wanting to watch the excitement on her face before entering her for the first time. Damn, she felt incredible. Wet, hot, and ready for me. I moved in further, as her breathing sped up. I tried to go slow, wanting to make sure I didn’t rush things, didn’t hurt her, but when her nails dug into my back I realized that’s not what she wanted. I sped things up, driving into her harder and faster. She opened up to me more and wrapped her legs around me. I moved my lips to her breast, as I continued to move inside her.

“Macon.” She said my name again, and I lost myself in her.

---

Light flooding in through the window woke me up. Carly stirred beside me. I had her very naked body cocooned in my arms and legs, and I couldn’t think of a better way to sleep.

“Morning, babe.” I let my lips brush against her ear.

“Morning.” Her voice was still heavy with sleep. With sleep she’d been having while naked in my arms—in my bed. I was already hard, but now it was worse.

I shifted so I could look at her. “Exciting night, huh?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“I’m taking you down to the beach in the middle of the night more often.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t the exhilarating bartending lesson that got me in the mood?”

I laughed. “Well if that’s the case, we’ll have to do the next one tonight.”

She touched my shoulder and gave me one of her signature sexy looks again. “The problem is I want you again right now.”

Did she know what she was asking for?

Her hand wrapped around me. Yeah she knew.

“As much as I want you too, we should probably talk first.”

Her hand dropped. “What do we need to talk about?”

“What happened. Us.”

Her smile faded, and she turned away.

“Hey.” I rolled her back to look at me. “You don’t regret it, do you?” Wanting me again or not, she could have regrets.

“No. not at all.” Then a look of panic crossed her face. “Do you?”

“No of course not… but I’m not exactly sure what happens now.”

“Yeah… I was just thinking about that.” She played with a corner of the sheet.

“And what was your final conclusion?”

“That this wasn’t a normal hook-up.”

“Have you had a lot of experience with normal hook-ups, then?” I shifted, accidently pulling the sheet off her. I remedied the situation, letting my hands brush against her in the process.

“No, actually I don’t.” Her expression was open and honest.

“I have some experience, for better or worse. And you’re right, this isn’t. But we both knew that going in.”

The look of panic was still there. I needed to do something about it.

“Can I be completely honest and open with you, Carly?”

She nodded slightly.

“I want this to—”

“I understand.” Her words tumbled out.

“You understand? What was I going to say?”

She looked toward the wall. “That this can’t happen again.”

For a second I thought she wanted that until I realized she thought that’s what I wanted. I laughed, and she turned back toward me with a look that said she was ready to kill me.

“Whoa. Calm down there. That wasn’t what I was going to say. Think you’d let me finish?”

“Yes. Say whatever you have to.”

“Look at me.” I put a gentle hand under her chin. “What I was starting to say before I was rudely interrupted,” I paused to smile, “Was that I don’t want this to be a one-time thing. I don’t think it can be.”

“What?”

“Ok, this is coming out all jumbled. Give me a sec.” I’d never been so tongue tied in my life. Nothing was coming out right. “All right. Here’s the thing. I really like you. I already did before last night, but well, I did tell you there was no turning back.”

“I like you too. You obviously know that.”

“I’m not going to pretend that I’m offering you forever or anything weird like that, because honestly we don’t know each other that well yet, but I respect you way too much to just hook up with you randomly, and we both know this is going to happen again.” I touched the bed.

“It is?”

“Seriously? I pour my feelings out and you’re pretending you don’t want to have sex with me again?” I was only half serious. It wasn’t the sex I was worried about.

“Oh. I do. But it’s not like it has to. We’re adults with the ability to make our own decisions.”

I leaned over her. “Ok, I need an answer this second. Are you trying to get out of having an actual relationship with me, or are you just being your awkward self?”

“The second one.”

“Ok, good.” I lowered my lips to hers. “Then, we’re going to try this.”

“And what’s this?”

“Dating… although, do you think maybe we should hold off on telling Colin and Maddy until we fix things for them first?”

“I was thinking about that too.”

“But that doesn’t mean we’re holding off on anything else.”

“Do we tell Brody?”

“Yeah. Let’s be honest, I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off you.” I slipped my hands underneath the sheet, completely ready to show her just what I meant.

“Ok, so what now?” Her eyes widened in that sexy way again.

“We have sex again.”

“Oh yeah?”

I kissed her chest right between her breasts. “Yeah, we need to have sex as an actual couple, right?”

“Are you really making up an excuse to have sex with me?”

I grinned. “I don’t have to, do I?”

“No…” She grabbed me again. I was so hard and ready. “And I promise you I’m not going to make one up either.”

“In that case.” I moved my hand between her legs.

“Are we still allowed to play games?”

“Games? Like where we try to annoy each other?” My breathing was erratic. Her hands on me felt so good.

“Yeah.”

“Only if they don’t involve flirting or otherwise implying we’re interested in other people.”

“Wow. You really are surprising me this morning, Macon.”

“Don’t worry. The surprises aren’t going to stop here.” I planned to keep my word.