Avi had started hanging around the house more. At first, it didn’t register, but then I realized he’d made me coffee four mornings in a row before I left for work, when normally he’d still be asleep. He always worked later than I did, but instead of going out with Yo or over to his aunt’s house—or whatever else he’d been doing on his late nights out—he came home.

And then when he was home, he’d work on a project around the house for a while instead of retreating to the basement. He gave me space, but he was there. It took nearly a week of this for me to say anything.

After I’d changed out of my suit into my pajamas, I found Avi on the stairs, caulking the trim. I walked down to where he was working and sat on the stair above him.

“Nice caulk,” I said, because I just couldn’t resist.

He glanced up at me, an amused glint in his eye. “I knew you would make that joke.”

“I’ve been seeing you a lot this week. Has work been slow?”

“No, I just wanted to be home more. I told you I like being with you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Sometimes his bluntness was hard to take, but on days like today, it started a blossoming of warmth in my chest that radiated out to all my extremities and face. I knew I had to be blushing up my ears, but I wanted him to see it.

I poked his arm with my bare toe. “You haven’t been hanging out with me, though. You’ve been too busy working on my house.”

He grabbed my foot and nibbled my big toe playfully. “I asked you on a date, but you never said yes. I thought if I could impress you with my hands, you’d agree to dinner.”

I tried to jerk my foot back, but he held it firm in his big hands. “I’d love to have dinner with you, Avi.”

He smiled like he’d won a prize. “Tomorrow?”

“Sure...oh, wait. Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day.”

“Is that a problem?”

“For one thing, we’d never get a table anywhere. And for another, I’m not sure our first date needs that kind of added pressure.”

“I will cook for you.”

I let out a short laugh. “You’ll cook for me? Really?”

He nodded once. “Of course. I know how to cook. Not like you, but I will make you something special.”

“But, it’s Valentine’s Day.”

He frowned. “You keep saying that.”

“So, there’s pressure to be all romantic, you know, flowers and candlelight. It’s too much.”

Avi turned around completely, kneeling on the step below mine. He tangled a hand into my hair, tipping my face toward him. “I want to be romantic with you. Will you let me?”

I couldn’t breathe. I’d never had a date on Valentine’s Day. My college boyfriend gave me a card, then hung out with his frat buddies all night, smoking weed and ignoring me. Post-college, I’d actively avoided that day. But Avi tempted me in every way.

“You don’t strike me as the romantic type,” I said.

He rubbed his thumb back and forth over my cheek. “That’s a problem then. I’m going to have to try harder.”

His face hovered close to mine, and I felt like I could fall into the depths of his midnight eyes. They held my gaze steady, locked in the moment. And I realized I’d been talking out of my ass. Avi was incredibly romantic, I just hadn’t let myself notice. He’d been slowly wooing me for weeks now, and now, I was fully wooed.

“I think I could be convinced,” I said.

“Tell me how.”

I grabbed the front of his shirt. “I haven’t kissed you in days. Maybe that would help.”

His lips barely grazed mine. “Well, if you think it would help…” His lips pressed against mine, and I breathed him in. His winter scent was mixed with a little sweat, and I wanted to roll around in it, it was so delicious. His tongue swept into my mouth, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, needing to hold him close so he’d never stop kissing me like this.

But I wanted more. So much more. My hands explored every part of him I could get to, traveling from his shoulders, to his chest, then under his T-shirt, skating over his stomach. He moaned into my mouth when I brushed my thumb over his tightened nipple. I captured his moan and returned it with one of my own.

The kiss started slow, but it turned frenzied quickly. Soon, we were surrounded by puddles of our clothes and Avi’s erection was pressed against my folds.

“I’m going to fuck you on these stairs, Laurel. I’m making it my goal to fuck you in every part of this house.”

Before I could object or ask if stair sex was even possible, he gripped my hips and flipped me over so my face was pressed against the carpeted stairs. His hands moved over my back, outlining the shape and curves, then paused at my hips, kneading into the flesh.

“Tell me you have a condom,” I said desperately.

“I have a condom, lovely.”

I waited for him to slam into me, eager for it. Instead, I felt his warm lips kissing a trail down my spine, and then licking his way back up. I tried to rock against him, but he held me firmly.

“Avi...I want you.”

He clamped down on my shoulder, then buried his face against my neck, sucking that magic spot. I reared back, gasping as he drove me crazy with his mouth.

He smiled into my neck, and I wished I could’ve seen it. To me, his smiles were a precious commodity. I didn’t want to waste a single one of them.

“I love your skin. Do you have any idea of how good you taste?”

I turned my head, trying to find his lips or his chin or his jaw—any part of him to devote my mouth to. Instead, he pulled away, shifting his position behind me. Then his fingers were on me, sliding through my folds and inside me. I went weak, my head hanging limply, my body completely his. How did he know exactly how to touch me? To own me with his hands?

“Spread your legs for me. I need to be inside your sweet pussy.”

I complied immediately, his words sending electric sparks straight to my core. He pulled his fingers out of me, swirling my arousal around my entrance and up over my ass. Then he gripped my hips, making me arch my back and jut my ass out, which is exactly how he wanted me based on the groan that vibrated from his chest.

He thrust into me, hard and fast. I dug my fingernails in the fibers of the carpet, using my arms to push back against him, to take him deeper. I wanted his cock to push my doubts and guilt and fear out of my body. Nothing had ever felt more right than being this close with Avi.

“You’re so pretty, Laurel. So beautiful.”

He slowed down, rotating his hips in sensual circles. His hands slid under me, over my belly and up to my breasts, pulling at my nipples, until my inner muscles clenched and tears filled my eyes. Oh, but it wasn’t painful—at least not the kind that hurt. I cried because he’d overwhelmed every one of my senses and tears were my visceral, base reaction.

Smack!

His hand came down on my ass, and my back arched. “You like that?”

I moaned in response. I liked anything he did to my body.

Smack!

He hit the other side, and I pushed back, seeking. He chuckled under his breath and spanked me again. Tears rolled down my cheeks, leaving wet spots on the carpet beneath me. I’d never been taken this way, and I didn’t think I could ever go back.

“I like you pink. This is your color. But now I need to fuck you.”

He gripped my hips with both hands, and then he was pounding me, hips smacking, grunting, sweating. I tried to hang onto the stairs, clawing at the carpet with my fingernails, but I couldn’t find purchase. So I let him have me, to do with me what he wanted.

And he seemed to want to devour me, to consume my body with his. He was over me, surrounding me, inside me, touching every part of me. And I would’ve fed myself to him, morsel by morsel, if only I could have kept feeling like this.

“Touch yourself. I want to feel you squeezing me,” he said.

My hand moved of its own volition, circling my clit as he pumped into me. I was in such a frenzy of pleasure, I didn’t know which way was up and which way was down. He’d done this to me. He’d spun me in circles and made me dizzy with him. And it seemed imperative to come, as if maybe that would right me again, straighten my head so I could think again.

It only took moments of touching myself to send me spiraling into space. I reached back for him, needing an anchor, needing to feel his skin to make sure I was still real. He grabbed my hand and held it, freeing me to really let loose. I writhed and mewled beneath him, my back bowing and head shaking.

“Give me everything, Laurel. Don’t hold back on me.”

I gave him my sounds, the ones I’d had to keep quiet for far too long. I said his name and how he made me feel, how much I liked his cock inside me. I told him I loved his body on mine, the weight of it holding me down. I said things that didn’t make any sense, but he groaned in agreement.

My orgasm was never-ending. Or maybe it was multiple orgasms, one after another. The pleasure was unsurpassed. My elbows and knees were raw from the carpet, but the pain only heightened how good the rest of me felt.

“Fuck, baby. Fuck!” he grunted. Avi’s pace picked up, his strokes becoming shorter and shallower. He lost his rhythm, thrusting into me erratically. “You feel like velvet squeezing me. Do you have any idea how amazing your pussy feels? I want to stay in here forever.” He grunted again.

His words had my walls clenching, and then he stilled, roaring my name. I came right behind him with a whimper, my throat scratchy and rough from the screaming I’d already done.

The stairs weren’t a place for cuddling and sweet nothings, but Avi managed to slip out of me and pull me onto his lap, quietly cradling me as we both fought to catch our breath.

His hands roamed over the front of my torso, softly stroking my belly and ribs. I wiggled in his lap, still on edge, and even those gentle, innocent touches were turning me on all over again.

He laid gentle kisses behind my ear, his breath hot and sweet on my skin.

“Avi...your hands…”

Without saying anything, he pulled my legs apart and let his hands roam between my legs, slowly circling my clit.

“I want you to come again while I hold you. Can you do that for me, lovely?”

I nodded against his chest.

“I’m going to be soft with you now. You’re so beautiful, sometimes I can’t control myself. But you deserve soft too.”

He cupped my chin, turning my head so he could kiss me. He moved in slow motion, his fingers and tongue circling at the same speed. He had me squirming and moaning in minutes. I gripped his forearm as I came again, my belly tight, my limbs loose and liquefied.

We sat there on the stairs for a while...minutes or hours, it was hard to say. When my legs regained solid form, I stood, and instantly regretted leaving his warmth.

He leaned back on his elbows and smiled up at me. I couldn’t look at his smile and not kiss him, so I bent down and pressed my lips on his. I took his smile into my heart, knowing I’d be carrying it with me for a long time.

Then I stood again, searching for my clothes. I could feel him watching me as I tried to pull on my pajamas without falling down the stairs.

“When people have sex on the stairs in movies, they never show the aftermath. They never show the fumbling to get dressed or the rug burns. And then you have to decide if you’re going to go up or down—” He cut off my rambling by sliding his hands over my ass.

“Laurel, it’s okay.”

“What is?”

“We don’t have to make jokes, or even speak. What we just did was enough.”

I exhaled slowly. “You don’t want me to speak?”

He shook his head, smiling again. “No, I always want you to speak. I love your voice and your words. But what we just did, we don’t have to analyze it or make jokes about it. We were both there. I know what I felt, and I think you felt the same thing. There’s something here, between us. Right?”

I bit my lip. “Right.”

There was no denying there was something between us that went far beyond lust. Yeah, lust was a huge part of it, but there were real feelings developing—feelings I’d tried so hard to avoid—feelings I didn’t know if I deserved. But they were there, and they were growing rapidly. I couldn’t stop what was coming even if I tried.

He pulled on his pants and grabbed his shirt, and then he held my hand and led me downstairs to the living room. Sitting on the couch, he tugged me onto his lap and ran his nose along the side of my neck, nuzzling into my hair.

“Will you let me be romantic with you, my lovely?” he repeated.

“I’m not very good at romance.” I suddenly felt vulnerable.

“All you have to do is accept what I give you. Don’t fight me.”

“I can’t fight you. You lower all my defenses.”

He left a kiss on my jaw. “You don’t need defenses with me. I have none with you.”

That gutted me. He should have them with me. But I’d guard whatever piece of his heart he gave me with care. I promised myself I’d never trample him or hurt him or push him away. Even if this didn’t go anywhere, if we were only friends who sometimes had wall sex or stair sex, I’d still be careful with him. Because that’s what he deserved.

“Avi?”

“Mmm…”

“Will you be my valentine?”

He smiled, and it joined the collection I’d just started in my heart. “I thought you’d never ask.”