This probably wasn’t a good idea. But I was so freaking tempted to do it anyways.

Rob had picked up on one very important fact: I hadn’t had sex with Philip. I hadn’t had sex, period, since I’d ended things with Rob. I’d masturbated, of course. And as great as those orgasms had been, nothing quite compared to coming apart in a guy’s hands. Coming apart around a guy’s thick, delicious cock.

A cock like Rob’s.

He’d given me the best, most earth shattering orgasms of my life. And now that he was touching me again—now that I was with him, soaking up the city and the stars—I realized just how much I’d missed sex. Especially sex with Rob.

How intense it was. How it hurt in just the right way.

Rob was looking me squarely in the eye, daring me to ask. He wanted it just as much as I did. But the ball was in my court.

I understood why he didn’t press me. I actually respected him for that—the fact that he was holding back. He knew that he wasn’t the kind of guy I was looking for. He knew I wanted the real deal, and he was very much the opposite of that.

I didn’t know why Rob wasn’t into relationships beyond the usual reasons: that he was young. Hot. He liked to have his fun. But now that I was getting to know him, I felt there had to be another reason—a bigger, deeper one—why he was so allergic to commitment.

His blue eyes glowed in the darkness, reflecting the lights of the buildings we passed. He loomed over me, enormous, gentle. Hot. All it would take was one word. One word to turn his gentle caresses into something rougher. Hotter. Even now my knees shook at the memory of his fingers between my legs.

The attraction I felt for him was blinding. Delicious.

Right then, I knew—knew—Philip wasn’t the one. The sudden certainty hit me head on, knocking the breath from my lungs. I’d never felt an ounce of this intensity for him, sexual or otherwise. I’d felt this intensity from the beginning with Rob. And it had only seemed to grow the more I got to know him. But with Philip, my feelings had started at lukewarm and never moved from there. The needle was stuck at E—empty. I couldn’t move that needle through sheer force of will. Couldn’t force an attraction that wasn’t there. Lord knew I’d tried.

Rob was right. I was settling, and so was Philip. It wasn’t fair to either of us. He deserved better. We both deserved to truly cherish someone and be cherished in return.

We deserved to be desired, the way I desired Rob right now. With every fiber of my being.

I knew sex was the only thing on offer tonight. But that’s all I wanted. I wanted to touch and be touched and come so hard I screamed. It had only been, what, a month or two since Rob and I had last hooked up? It’d felt like an eternity.

One more time. We could do this one more time. It was meaningless before, and it would be meaningless now. And then tomorrow I’d go back to my life. I’d tell Philip how I really felt, and I’d start my search for the real deal all over again.

But tonight, I’d get lost in Rob. One more time.

“Is there a bathroom on board?” I murmured.

Rob’s eyes sparked. “No bathroom this time. Let’s go to my place.”

“Your place?” I blinked.

He leaned down, nudging my jaw with his nose. “Yes. I insist.”

His lips brushed against my neck as he spoke. I sucked in a breath, my eyes squeezing shut. That hurt. That felt so good it fucking hurt.

“Same rules,” I breathed.

“Whatever you want.” He straightened. “I’ll tell the captain we’re cutting our trip short.”

* * *

Neither of us said a word on the short ride to Primrose Palace.

My heart was pounding. My body throbbed. I wanted this. So freaking badly.

The air inside the car crackled with anticipation. Electricity. Rob slipped his hand around my thigh, gently pressing his fingertips into the ridge of muscle on the side of my leg. His grip was firm. Possessive.

A rush of sensation bolted through my core. I sucked in a breath. I was the kind of turned on that was almost uncomfortable. Hot and wet and tight.

I felt Rob’s eyes on me. His hand crept north on my leg. I knew if his knuckle so much as brushed my clit, I’d come. I caught him by the wrist, looking down at our hands.

“Robert,” I whispered.

I’d never called him that before. I don’t know where it came from.

“Say it again,” he said. His voice was growly but quiet.

“What?”

“My name.”

I glanced at the driver. He was wearing an earpiece. Maybe he didn’t hear us.

So what if he did?

“Robert.” I turned my head to look at him. My heart dipped at the look in his eyes. The intensity and the heat and the blaring, unapologetic lust.

We barreled through the gates of the palace. The driver brought us to a small cottage near the edge of the grounds. It looked like a converted garage or carriage house. It was adorable, homey. A gas lantern flickered over the front door.

Not at all what I pictured for Rob.

He held out his hand and helped me out of the car. Thanking the driver, he dug a set of keys out of his jacket pocket. I watched him open the door, transfixed by slopes and sinews of his neck. The tiny dark hairs that trailed down his nape. The perfect curved shell of his ear.

He was so beautiful. How had I never noticed that before? I’d devoured his hotness, of course. I’d been drunk on the size of his dick. But I’d never seen him like this before.

Rob held open the door for me. I stepped inside a dark foyer.

The first thing I noticed was the familiar smell. It smelled like Rob. That mix of sexy cologne and boy.

I bit my lip. I loved that smell.

I turned at the sound of the door closing behind me. Rob’s head was bent. He looked up, those dashing blue eyes of his finding mine in the darkness.

A beat of charged silence passed between us. Jesus, this guy. This gorgeous guy was mine for one more night.

We stepped into each other at the same time. My hands went to his jacket and his went to mine and then we were peeling each others’ coats off, our breaths ragged and our arms tangling as we dropped them to the floor. I curled a hand around his neck and pulled him to me, digging my teeth into the corner of his jaw.

He grabbed me by the hips and pulled me gently against him. Lust speared me right between the legs. I rolled my pelvis into him, fisting his shirt in my hand. Could I come just from this? From dry humping him like a teenager?

I could. I probably fucking could.

“Bedroom,” Rob growled. He grabbed my legs and lifted me, curling my legs around his hips. He held me easily, breathing even. Like I weighed nothing.

I didn’t protest, but my heart did skip a beat. I’d assumed we’d fuck against a door, on the kitchen counter like our first time. Maybe on the floor.

Never on the bed. His bed. In his house. It was a bit of a departure from a public restroom.

More than a bit.

His teeth were on my ear now, biting down on the lobe. Then my neck. My chin. He’d been stubbly last time we hooked up. Tonight his face was smooth. Just the tiniest hint of a five o’clock shadow. I reached up and curled my hand around his jaw. I liked the feel of it. His skin. His heat.

I was so turned on I wanted to die.

The second we hit the bedroom, he set me down. His hands raked up my thighs and gathered the hem of my dress in their grip. He began working it over my hips.

“Wait,” I managed, motioning to my back. “There’s a zipper.”

His hands moved up to my neck. Found the zipper. He pulled it open slowly, carefully, holding me against him as his fingers trailed a line of fire in their wake down my bare spine.

I shrugged out of the dress, letting it fall to my feet. Toed out of my boots and socks.

Rob’s eyes widened—went fiery—when they took in my matching fuchsia lace bra and underwear. I’d splurged on some real lingerie earlier today, figuring that if I was going to wear something as special and pretty as an Emilia Wickstead dress, I needed some fabulous underthings to go with it.

“For him?” he asked. That muscle in his jaw was ticking. But this time, he didn’t smirk.

“Does it matter?” I took a breath. “Maybe it’s for me, too.”

“But you wore it to go on a date with him.” He said him like it was a dirty word.

I stepped out of the puddle of my dress and put my palm over Rob’s mouth. “You’re breaking the rules.”

I was trying to be playful, but he didn’t smile. Didn’t crack a dirty joke like he normally would. He just looked at me, his gaze searing. Was he mad? Hurt? I couldn’t tell.

He moved away. Pulling off his sweater, he began to work at the buttons of his Oxford shirt as he flicked on the light. Turned back to me.

His gaze moved hungrily over my body. I reached for him, brushing his fingers aside so I could finish the buttons.

He put his hand on my side, his thumb working a small, slow arc across the skin beside my belly button. The way he was touching me, taking his time—it felt almost reverent.

“I’ve never seen you like this,” he said.

My fingers went still. “You’ve seen me naked.”

“I haven’t, Aly. Not this way.”

I knew what he meant. We’d always been so pressed for time, so hungry for a quick, dirty fuck, we’d never taken the time to undress. To get to really know each other’s bodies.

But tonight we were.

All of the sudden we were taking our time. And I didn’t know what to make of it.

I liked it.

Was I even allowed to like it? Was I allowed to be terrified by it, too?

I forced my fingers to start moving again. Two more buttons. Then his fly, his boots, and he’d be naked, and we could do this thing already. We could stop talking and do what we came here to do.

When I was done, Rob rolled back his shoulders, removing the shirt. I watched the muscles bunch and strain against his skin, transfixed by the thick, rounded balls of his shoulders. The vein that snaked down his bicep to disappear into the inside of his elbow. The hardened lines of his chest and stomach.

My longing felt five sizes too big for my body.

He reached for me, and I let him. I let him pull me to him, the press of his warm skin against mine electrifying as he curled me into his arms. He was so solid. And big. The throb between my legs got louder. Hotter.

This felt so…right.

If only Rob was the right guy.

He pressed his mouth to my neck, right where it sloped down into my shoulder. My breath hitched; my head fell to the side. His hands were on my sides, moving up to my breasts. He thumbed my nipples over the lacy material. I arched into his touch, sensation ripping through me, moving in waves from the hardened points of my nipples straight to my core. I dug a hand into the hair at the nape of his neck and gave it a tug.

With patient fingers, Rob slipped the straps of my bra off my shoulders. The caress was erotic in its gentleness. Its intent. I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt vulnerable. I curled my body toward him. Curled my shoulders into him.

He reached around and unclasped my bra. He worked it off me, letting it fall to the floor. And then my breasts were in his hands, and I was watching him trail tongue and teeth down my collarbone, my chest. He took my nipple in his mouth, stroking me with his tongue. I bit my lip, pulling harder on his hair, rolling my hips. One of his hands snaked around to my backside. He dug his fingers into the waist of my panties but went no further. The need between my legs got so heavy and so tight I cried out.

Why’d he have to be so damn good at this?

“Now,” I breathed. “Please. Let’s just—I need it, Rob.”

“Patience, Aly. We’ll get there.”

Patience? Who the hell was this guy?

Giving my nipple one last bite, he straightened. Met my gaze as he hovered over me. Surrounded me. I had to bend my neck to keep the eye contact. His eyes were full and dark. Dangerous. They moved to my mouth. His tongue pressed into his lip, the bottom one, and he hesitated.

I was transfixed by the fullness of that lip. The softness.

For half a second, I worried he’d actually do it. I was worried he’d break the rule.

I worried he’d bend down and tilt that handsome head of his and kiss me.

My heart responded to his unspoken question. One hard, decisive beat.

Yes.