Zach unlocks the door and holds it open for me.

I step in, slightly unsteady on my feet. We went out with his friends and had more to drink than usual, seeing as Sam is at his grandparents’ this weekend.

After removing my coat and kicking off my shoes, I head up the stairs, but I don’t get far. Zach grabs me by the waist from behind and spins me around. His mouth descends on mine, hungry and a little rough. But I don’t mind. He tastes of wine. I guess I do, too. Pushing his tongue in deep, he swirls it and caresses mine.

Heat begins to pool between my legs as he molds my breasts with one hand and my ass with the other.

I move against him, panting, rubbing myself against his bulge. As his kiss and his hands grow more demanding, my core pulls and pulses with need.

Shocking as it may sound, I hope he’ll take me right here, right now, without any preliminaries. I’m too aroused for foreplay.

Then I remember we don’t have protection. It’s in the bedroom.

“I want you now, right here,” Zach whispers against my mouth. “No barriers, skin to skin.”

I nod. “I can go on the pill starting tomorrow.”

He draws back, his eyes searing into mine. “Don’t.”

I frown, studying his face to make sure I understand his meaning.

His expression softens. “Of course, if you’re not ready or if you don’t want kids—”

“Another one like Sam?” I say. “Are you kidding me? Yes, please!”

His eyes light up with joy.

Pressing his lips to mine, he unzips my jeans and drags them down together with my panties. I sigh in relief. Clearly, I’m not the only impatient one tonight.

As I step out of my bottoms, Zach frees himself and presses his tip against my pulsing entrance.

Murmuring my name, he lifts me up and enters me, right where we stand. We both groan our pleasure.

So good.

I can feel him throbbing as he pushes deeper, inch by delicious inch, until he is fully sheathed. Leaning me against the wall, he starts to move in and out, slowly at first and then faster. He hammers into me for barely a minute before I tense and spasm around him as I come.

Without pulling out, Zach tightens his grip on me and turns. He sits down and leans back against the steps. I touch my toes to the wood, pressing my breasts to his chest and nuzzling his throat.

Both of us are still wearing our shirts.

For a split second, I consider unbuttoning his shirt and pulling my sweater over my head. But he grabs my hips and pulls me up along his length all the way to the crown. Our eyes lock, and he thrusts into me to the hilt.

My lids flutter shut. I grip his shoulders and let him pound into me as pleasure rises once again. My second climax is just as swift, but it’s deeper, sweeter than the first. It makes my legs quiver and my entire body shudder uncontrollably.

Zach thrusts once more and groans his release.

“I love you so much,” I say into his ear. “I’ll never stop loving you.”

He cups my face. “Je t’aime, chaton.”

Somehow, we get to the bedroom where I climb under the blankets, and he lies down beside me. I curl up, exhausted and a little tipsy. Having made love without protection, the insides of my thighs are sticky with Zach’s seed. I should go clean up. Only I don’t want to. Partly because I’m too tired, but mostly because I don’t mind being sticky with Zach’s seed.

To be honest, I like it.

As I begin to drift off to sleep, he wraps his arm and leg around me and kisses my neck.

I remember what Priyanka said about why I fell in love with him.

She wasn’t entirely wrong. In the beginning, there was more lust than anything else in what we felt for each other. It wasn’t supposed to lead to love.

The perfect way, at least in my culture, is letting your parents choose a deserving man from a reputable family and a matching caste. There’s a lengthy engagement during which time you get to know him and discover his qualities. You grow to respect and appreciate him. You realize you have the same values. This respect is the cement of a solid relationship and—in a perfect world—comes before the emotional and physical aspects.

As time passes, your heart gets involved. After that, desire awakens, and you start to crave his nearness, his touch, his kisses.

That’s not how it happened for me.

Zach and I did it backward. Our bodies craved each other—claimed each other—before our hearts caught up, and long before our minds realized how right we are for each other.

That’s definitely not the prescribed way.

But I’ll wager the gods approve.