No more red wine and no more vodka. Ever. I was learning the hard way that self-medicating took a much harsher toll on my body at twenty-four than it did back in college. The good news, if a hangover can have good news, is that I’d thrown up so much yesterday that there was no nausea when I opened my eyes.

The other piece of dubious good news was that Nathan was asleep next to me in bed. I vaguely remembered his visit from the night before, and us fighting and sort-of making up. I remembered asking him to lie down with me.

He was an extremely cute sleeper. He looked peaceful and happy in whatever dream he was having. The little stress lines around his forehead had relaxed, and he was curled up around me. I let myself briefly revel in his warm, solid body, appreciating every inch of contact and comfort.

It was nine a.m., however, so I needed to get up and prepare for what was guaranteed to be a delightful photo shoot at Angelica Hunt’s country club. Leaving Nathan asleep in my bed, I carefully made my way to the bathroom. My long, super-hot shower helped ease the throbbing in my skull and finally got rid of the awful makeup mess I’d been wearing around. It felt fantastic to be clean.

When I emerged from my shower, Nathan was awake. He was sitting up in bed and poking at his phone. His smile when he caught sight of me made my heart do a little flip-flop into my throat.

“Good morning,” he said cheerfully.

“Good morning Nathan,” I replied, cautiously smiling back at him, “I’m mildly encouraged to see that you aren’t going through my mail or something.”

He grimaced.

“I promise I didn’t snoop around last night,” he said earnestly, “I know you probably don’t trust me yet, but I swear. I know you had nothing to do with the hacking.”

I shrugged.

“You can go through my mail all you want, Nathan,” I told him playfully, rooting around in my little chest of drawers for some clothes, “all you’re going to find are threatening letters from my student loan company and lots of junk mail.”

For whatever reason, maybe because I was innocent, I wasn’t really concerned about the hacking thing anymore. Locating the clothes that I wanted to wear, I turned to face him. Feeling bold, I dropped my towel to the ground to shimmy into my underwear like I didn’t care if he saw me naked.

“Hey!” I squealed, when he shot out an arm and yanked me back into bed like lightning.

His first kiss on my mouth shut me up. His mouth was hot, urgent, and talented, and I yielded easily to his strong hands on my still-wet skin. I needed to feel wanted again.

He rolled over on top of me, pinning me in place and setting my heart pounding. Beneath his weight, I could feel his arousal pressing hard into me. I smiled into our kisses, enjoying the way he flicked his hot tongue against mine like my mouth was his for the taking.

Nathan’s mouth dropped to my neck and clavicle, before moving over to find my pulse point and breathing his warm breath into that sensitive area.

“You’re so gorgeous, Zoey,” he whispered, both hands cupping my breasts from below and squeezing gently, “tell me you don’t have somewhere to be soon?”

“Not until eleven,” I whimpered as he brushed and squeezed my nipples before rolling them under his fingers until they were sharp, near-painful points.

“Good,” he said, licking one nipple before the other, lavishing attention on me until my back was arched and I was making little urgent noises.

My body was alight beneath him. Completely unlike the first time we’d been together, this was slow and gentle. It was loving. This was making love.

Nathan seemed determined to go slow, taking his time on each part of my body. When he was finished with my nipples, he went lower, kissing down my abdomen passionately before spreading my legs and gently touching the wet, warm, flesh between. I arched as I hoped he wanted what I wanted.

“Do you like this?” he asked me, nuzzling the hollow of my thigh and looking up at me.

I nodded eagerly, spreading my legs wide and burying my fists in his short hair.

His first kiss was sweet, exquisite torture. His fingers spread my soft flesh and his tongue did the rest, pushing and pulsing against my most sensitive area. I gasped and moaned underneath him, letting my mind go blank and my vision go blurry as he worshipped me.

Nathan’s mouth learned my body quickly. He watched my reactions and pushed me higher and higher, stroking and penetrating gently with his fingers while continuing the assault with his tongue. No other man had ever come close to making me climax like this, but I was being driven half out of my mind by Nathan.

He banished all my inhibitions and I sought pleasure from his mouth shamelessly, describing exactly what I needed for him to make me climax. He eagerly complied, pushing his thumb hard to my clit while he penetrated me with an index finger exactly how I described. I ground down against his mouth and hand until Nathan pulled me off the edge, until I came into his mouth and onto his fingers, moaning desperately in a torrent of pleasure and clenching muscles.

When the heat finally cooled, and he rose up next to me, however, I was ready for more. With him on his left side, and me on my right, I looped a leg up over his hip and sent my fingers between his legs. He was hard and ready for my touch, and when I kissed his lips I could taste myself. It only made me want to give him some piece of the pleasure he’d just given me.

“Condom?” I asked, and he shook his head ruefully.

“I used the last one I had yesterday,” he replied. That answer actually satisfied me more than it probably should have. It meant he didn’t carry them around as a general rule.

“I’m on the patch,” I told him, guiding a hand to where he could feel the little outline of the sticker on my hip, while continuing to stroke him eagerly with one hand, “do you want my mouth or this?” I asked, guiding him to my entrance and rubbing his tip against the wetness of my opening.

He moaned deep in his throat.

“I want what you want,” he replied breathily, “I want everything.” His breath caught as I bore down on him and took him inside me. His aquamarine eyes widened as we moved together, and I could see his pupils dilating as he stared into mine.

“Harder?” I asked him, shifting to try and push more directly down on him as our rhythm intensified, and his response was to flip onto his back and pull me atop him.

I rode him like that for a while, grinding deeply as he penetrated me to the hilt. His hands were on my hips to guide me forward, and his eyes were locked on my bouncing breasts. Soon I wasn’t grinding but riding, using my core muscles to thrust more forcefully. I could feel my climax approaching like an avalanche in the distance.

I chased toward that pleasure, moving eagerly on Nathan and letting him guide my movement and squeeze my ass. Even though I knew my second climax was closing in, the power of it arriving to clench deeply from within caused me to tip my head backward and arch hard atop Nathan.

I was spent a moment later, unable to continue this sort of penetration. But Nathan was still unsated. He watched me come appreciatively and asked for nothing when I collapsed down next to him, but I wouldn’t leave him without his own pleasure.

Crawling downward and giggling at his surprised expression, I licked him eagerly. Sheathing my teeth, I sucked his length like a thing possessed. Conscious thought was relegated back somewhere in my brainstem and I took him deeper than I thought my gag reflex would allow, subsuming that need for comfort with a desire to please him.

His hands found the back of my head and he pulled me forward, and it wasn’t long before he was panting with the desperation I’d exhibited earlier, moaning gently as I took him. His climax came quick after, a long burst of heat at wetness at the back of my throat and his soft exclamation of my name. I swallowed hard and met his satisfied eyes as I laid next to him, feeling infinitely better.

My hangover was cured.