Gabe lowered the camera, his gaze on hers so hungry that Bex had to close her own eyes for a moment to steady herself. She had read, once, that a hummingbird’s heart can beat over twelve hundred times per minute, while a human’s only beats around eighty times. But her heart pounded in her chest so quickly right now that she was pretty sure she had a hummingbird heart of her own.

“Are you sure, Bex?”

Was she going to do this?

She was.

She wanted Gabe more than she had wanted anything—anyone—for a long, long time. And he stood there quietly, radiating with sensual promise and offering her everything she’d denied herself.

She had brought lingerie to change into for today’s shoot, but when she’d slipped off her dress a few moments ago, putting on fancy underwear hadn’t felt right. She hadn’t wanted artifice in these pictures. She’d just wanted nature. And there was nothing more natural than fucking Gabe, than letting him into her inch by glorious inch.

God, she was drenched just thinking about it.

Bex opened her eyes to find his heated gaze on hers. “I’m sure. I guess it’s a good thing I’m already naked for you.”

Gabe tucked his camera into his shoulder bag and lowered the case to the ground. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m already hard for you.” His voice scraped every nerve. And he was hard—she could see it from here—the outline of his cock straining the fabric of his shorts.

God, yes, please.

“Come here,” Gabe said, and she stood on trembling legs. Maybe there was something to what he’d said earlier about control. Maybe letting him take charge today would be what she needed. Because he knew so damn well how to make her body sing. She remembered. She missed the feeling.

She walked across the rocks to him, her hair floating out on the breeze. The air smelled like plants, like warming stone, like sunlight.

Gabe reached for her, slanting his mouth over hers and taking her. She yielded, her eyes fluttering closed and her pulse skyrocketing. She felt like a fragile thing in his arms—so naked while he was clothed—but so fucking powerful, too.

Gabe reached a hand between them and tested her swollen skin. His breath hissed out. “Wet for me, too?”

She moaned in response and threw back her head. He took the opportunity to trail a line of kisses over her collarbone, up her throat, and below her ear. Every sensation felt amplified by her exposure to the elements. She was so vulnerable, so totally in his control.

Gabe dipped a finger inside of her, and another moan ripped from her mouth. He breathed heavily as he spread her arousal onto her clit, circling tight so the whole world coiled down into this bundle of nerves. It didn’t matter that she was naked outside and anyone could see them. It mattered that he kept going, kept touching her, bringing her higher and higher. Fuck, she needed this. She needed him. How had she ever thought differently?

“Please Gabe,” she moaned, and he smiled.

“Please what?”

“Please fuck me.” Bex reached for his shorts, unbuttoning them and helping him loose from his boxer briefs.

“I’ve waited a long time to hear you say that to me.” He grinned. “Sober.”

“Well, I’m saying it now.”

Gabe pressed a kiss against her hair and stepped back to reach into his camera bag. A flash of sunlight reflected off the foil.

“Lucky condom,” he breathed.

“Lucky indeed.”

He stalked forward and lifted her, carrying her until her back pressed against the stone. She kept her hand wrapped around him as they walked, stroking him into his own oblivion.

“Oh, gorgeous,” he groaned. “What are you doing to me?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

They smiled at each other, here together. Gabe dropped Bex only long enough for her to roll on the condom before he lifted her again. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, and he pushed into her—fuck—an inhale, Gabe groaning in her ear.

“Holy shit, Bex.”

“I know,” she whispered. She took a quiet minute, breathing a shallow exhale as she adjusted to his size.

This was everything.

Gabe withdrew, and she felt bereft. She rocked her hips against him, asking, pleading with her body.

More. More. Please.

He drove into her again, and her ass hit the stone wall behind them. She was at his mercy as he held her, his arms protecting her from the stone. And it was only them, together in the desert—his body filling her, fucking her, loving her. Their mouths together, filled with heat and light, and the sounds of their ragged breath, their bodies coming together. Somewhere a bird called. Somewhere the earth spun.

But right here, her heart cracked open.

Gabe took a step back, supporting Bex’s body, and she whimpered. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“You’re getting scratched.”

Was she? She hadn’t felt it. All she could feel was him.

Oh god, she was going to beg him if he didn’t start fucking her again.

But Gabe set her on her feet and lay on the ground, pulling her down on top of him. She straddled him with a smile, knees on either side of his body, and sank onto him. His cock pushed at her from the inside, and he held his hands on her hips to guide her.

Bex leaned down to kiss him, and he framed her face with his hands like she was a portrait. “Let’s do a lot more of this, okay?” he asked, and she smiled against his mouth, nodding because they fit. Because somehow this—here, with him—felt like coming home.

Bex leaned back, and Gabe lifted her by the hips, bringing her up and down on his fantastic cock, guiding her until they found their rhythm.

In and out, up and down, her body so close to coming. The sun rose on her skin, and her heart pounded in her chest.

Gabe moved one hand to her breast and flicked her nipple, while he kept his other hand between her thighs. He stroked her clit as she rode him, and her muscles, her muscles wouldn’t hold, and she trembled, so close to pieces she was going to shatter apart.

“Gabe,” she moaned.

“I’m here with you, honey. It’s okay to let go.” He kept up his barrage, his fingers flying over her clit, effortless, his breath coming heavy, her breath coming heavy, until finally she shattered, coming and coming and coming.

“Fuck, Bex, I’m going to lose it,” Gabe whispered. She clenched her inner muscles, and his eyes screwed shut, his mouth opening in a soundless gasp as he filled her with heat, his cum pulsing into her, her body still riding on a high.

She collapsed onto Gabe’s chest. Her heart and his. This day. This everything.

“Oh god, Bex,” he whispered into her hair. It sounded like a prayer. Like a thank you.

They lay like that for a long minute, her cheek pressed against his solid chest. Bex didn’t want to ruin this quiet moment, but she couldn’t help the tear rolling down her cheek, the feeling of everything breaking at the same time that it came together in her mind.

She could taste the tears in her mouth—salty like the ocean she hadn’t visited in years.

“Oh, no, beautiful.” Gabe’s voice was like a heartbreak.

“I’m no good at this,” she whispered.

“At sex?” He groaned. “You just about blew my sorry mind.”

She gave a shaky laugh. “At relationships. And that’s what you want, isn’t it? Everyone in my life gets hurt.” It was easier to say the words when she wasn’t looking him in the eye.

Gabe’s body stilled underneath her cheek. “Look at me,” he commanded.

Bex lifted her head, and he caught her hands, kissing her fingertips before tracing them along the tiny silver scar at the base of his throat.

“You can’t hurt me, Bex. Life’s already done that for me. We’re both going to be okay.”

“Promise?” she asked, and he nodded like he wanted to give her the whole world.

“We’re going to be okay.”

“Okay,” she whispered back. She trusted him, she wanted him. And maybe that was enough. “Okay.”