Cade heard a flurry of knocks at his door and knew it was Lily. He picked up the ice pack he’d held to his face all morning and pressed it to his jaw.

“Are your brothers around?” he asked when he opened the door.

Lily’s eyes grew wide.

“Oh my God,” she said. “It’s bad.”

“Thanks.”

Cade knew he looked pretty rough, but seeing Lily made him feel instantly better. It didn’t hurt that she was also in a skintight racerback tank, a thin scarf, and jeans that were so worn through they were about to fall apart.

“I, um, I came to see how you were doing.”

“Well, you can see,” he said, and held out one arm to showcase his battered body.

“Can I come in?”

He sighed. “Lily, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Especially after yesterday.”

“I brought Napoleons with Chantilly cream,” she said, and held up a box. “And Tylenol.”

Cade groaned. “Fine, but just for a minute.”

He saw the look of surprise on her face as she surveyed his apartment.

“Sorry for how the place looks,” he said. “The interior designer doesn’t come until tomorrow.”

“It’s fine,” she said quickly, and put the pastry box down on the unopened box of his summer clothes he hadn’t unpacked yet.

“Lily,” he said as peeked into the box of pastries. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be here.”

“Why? Do you think your couch is going to tattle on me? Oh, wait, you have exactly zero furniture.”

She leaned against the wall, cutely awkward as she tried to figure out what to do with her hands.

“I have a bed.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? Anyway, I came to tell you that I managed to calm Aiden down. He even promised not to tell Elijah. Of course, you’d know that if you hadn’t scampered away like some dog with its tail between its legs after he’d whaled on you.”

“Yeah, like you wouldn’t have booked it to your car if you just got your ass beat.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, and rolled her eyes.

“You’re right, thank you. But how?”

“Let’s just say that everything I had on him, for our whole lives to this point, has been called up. I blew all my secrets on this one. And you’re damn lucky that Elijah was in the office with Crane and didn’t hear Aiden bellowing for him.”

“Thank you,” Cade said quietly. “You didn’t have to do that. But I’m thankful you did.”

“I did it for both of us. Aiden did say one thing that resonated with me, though.”

“What’s that?”

“He asked me if you were worth it.”

Cade rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “Yeah?”

“And I said that you were.”

Cade looked at Lily and searched her eyes for the truth. “You did?”

“Well … yeah. There’s something that keeps bringing us together, like objects in a magnetic field or something.”

“Lily—”

She silenced him by taking a step closer. Lily was so close he could feel her sweet breath as it washed across his skin.

“Don’t you want to know why? Don’t you want to see if this works? We already know that we’re explosive together in bed … or maybe saying my car would be more correct,” she said with a smile. “Don’t tell me that was just me?”

Cade looked down at her.

God, what I’d give to have her. But if it goes bad, though…

“At least we’ll know,” Lily said, as if she could read his mind. “At least I won’t be asking what if, what if, what if… we’ll know if this is—”

Cade reached up and cupped her face in his hand. Neither of them flinched as he dropped the ice pack to the ground. As he lowered his mouth to hers, he watched her eyes flutter shut.

She welcomed his tongue into her mouth and let out a moan as he squeezed her waist.

Cade lifted her up with ease. He heard her shoes drop to the hardwood floors while she clenched her legs around him.

“Show me this bed,” she whispered to him between kisses.

He started to walk with her wrapped around his waist toward the bedroom. Her smell was pure addiction, the scent of berries that poured from her hair unlike anything he’d ever known.

“Hold up,” he said.

“Cade, seriously—”

“Here,” he said, and bent down as she still clung tightly to him. “Take the pastries.”

She grabbed the box he handed her with one hand and held tight to his neck with the other. “Why?”

“You said there was whipped cream, right?”

She threw her head back and laughed as he walked them to the bedroom, but she held tight to the box. Cade tossed her onto the thick mattress on the floor. The box spilled open while she landed and she bit her lip.

“This is a mattress, not a bed,” she admonished. He reached down, unbuttoned her jeans with ease, and whipped them off.

“Same thing.”

“It’s not,” she said and giggled.

He crouched down between her legs, grasped either ankle, and began to kiss his way up her calves. Sunlight streamed through the window, and for the first time he realized he could take his time with her.

Enjoy her.

Spend however long he wanted exploring every inch of her.

Lily propped herself up on her elbows and let her head hang back as his lips made their way to her inner thighs. Cade made his way to her center and could see the wetness through the baby blue silk panties.

He pressed his hands into her thighs and opened her legs wider. As he peppered a series of kisses across the underwear, she shuddered. He could smell her scent, sweet and wanting, through the fabric.

Cade kissed and nuzzled her clit insistently through the material until she started to press herself to his mouth.

“Don’t tease me,” she finally said, and he pulled the material to the side.

She was pink, wet, and fully engorged. He flicked his tongue against her clit. Lily gasped out his name and lifted herself closer to his mouth.

His tongue dipped into her folds, lapped up the juices that flowed steadily from her middle. When he tasted her opening, he couldn’t get enough.

He buried his tongue inside her while she raked her fingers through his hair and held him close.

“I want you,” she whispered. It was all she had to say.

Cade pulled her underwear off, stood on his knees and removed his own shirt. As he crouched over her, he rolled up her ribbed tank top to expose bare breasts and hard nipples.

“You knew this was coming, didn’t you?” he asked with a smile. “No bra …”

“I just hoped,” she said with a blush, but his mouth was already on those firm nipples.

He sucked as they grew harder in his mouth and he felt his own hardness rage as she mewled and called his name. He tested her opening with his finger, shocked at how wet she was.

How wet she always was for him.

As he made his way to her neck, he pulled gently at the scarf.

“What’s up with this?” he asked.

“I, um…” she said, and shyly removed the scarf. He was shocked to see the array of hickeys that lined her neck. It looked like she’d been choked.

“Jesus. Is that from me? From the car—”

“Of course it’s from you!” she said.

“Damn, I’m sorry.”

“So then make it up to me.”

He smiled and kissed her neck gently. Cade slid a finger into her and felt her muscles grasp it tight.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he said quietly as he kissed her mouth and flicked his tongue against hers. “You may have brought the dessert… but how about I serve it to you?”

She smiled up at him as he rose to his knees and pulled her up with him. Lily reached for his jeans, eager to release him, and drew in her breath as she saw him. Cade glanced down and saw precum generously coated his tip.

“I want to taste you,” she said. “Like this.”

She leaned over and took one of the pastries. Lily wiped off the cream and trailed it along Cade’s length. On all fours, she leaned down and took his cream-coated tip between her lips.

The heat of her mouth and the stickiness of the sugar gave him a jolt of pleasure like he’d never known.

“Fuck, Lily,” he said, and grasped her tiny waist between his hands.

As she worked her way along his length, as her tongue shot waves of pleasure through him, he willed himself not to come. With her short pixie cut, he had an unprecedented view.

He could see how much pleasure she took in it, heard the moans as it vibrated along his cock, and couldn’t wait any longer.

“I need to be inside you,” he said.

She released his length slowly. Cade grabbed her, leaned back on his heels, and positioned her to straddle him. Her breasts were at his mouth, and as he lowered her onto him, she shuddered while he pulled softly at one nipple.

Lily rode him hard and delighted each time her clit rubbed against him when he filled her up entirely. Cade grasped her ass and pulled her cheeks apart to bury himself even deeper inside her. As she bounced, he slapped her ass to hear the little yelps of pleasure she let out.

“I want you to come for me,” he commanded. A stream of her wetness licked its way down his leg.

“I’m close,” she said. “God, I’m close.”

In a swift movement, he flipped her onto her back and lowered himself on top of her. Instantly, her nails were in the small of his back.

Just like in her car.

She held him close to her while he started to fuck her to his own rhythm.

“Cade,” she called out into his ear. “Make me come. Please, make me come …”

Her words got him close. He felt the release build up inside him. Not yet.

“I want to come with you,” she whispered into his ear. “Make me come when you let go inside me. Fill me up—”

He nipped at her neck and she let out a gasp. She was so wet he heard the slap of their skin against each other. The hardness of her nipples pressed into his chest.

“You make me so goddamned hard,” he said between kisses on her neck.

He’d never felt this way before, been so hard. It took everything in him not to explode inside her.

“Cade,” she purred. “Let go. You want to come inside your friend’s little sister, don’t you? I’ve wanted it for so long—”

He heard a groan erupt from deep inside and the release as he exploded inside her.

“Fuck … Lily,” he cried quietly.

She cried out with her own orgasm. He felt her inner walls as they clenched and massaged his length, squeezed every last drop from him. And the warmth, the heat. It was so intense he never wanted to leave.

As his breathing slowed, he kissed her gently. He could taste the cream on her lips and felt the stickiness on her cheeks. Lily’s face was flushed, her short locks wet with their combined perspiration.

“I love feeling you inside me,” she said. He pulled out of her and felt their come spill out of her.

Cade rolled over onto his back and let out a cry as he crushed the half dozen cold, creamed desserts. Lily laughed and buried her head in the single pillow.

“You’re crazy,” he said.

For a moment, he thought about getting up and cleaning himself off. But why?

He wanted this, to remember this. He wanted to remember how Lily looked, naked and happy in his bed.