Every cell in my body ignites at the word “please,” and I wrap myself around India, her damp hair spreading out over the comforter behind her head.

I run my hands down every inch of her creamy skin, testing the weight of her breasts, wrapping my hands around her hipbones. She arches up toward me, her hands on my broad shoulders, and I lean down one more time to put my lips against her collarbone and drag them across to the hollow underneath her neck.

India spreads her legs wide underneath me, begging me wordlessly to come on, come in, and for once in my damn life, I don’t let the gash she left in my heart make me hesitate for even a second. I line myself up with her wetness and plunge in.

My mind fractures with the intense pleasure of it, the way she’s still so tight, yet yielding. She takes all of me in with a growl of pleasure, lifting her hips so that she can get absolutely as close to me as fucking possible.

It’s like I’m in my body now and ten years ago at the same time, only now we’re not crammed in the back of my truck or hurriedly fucking up against a hidden corner of one of the abandoned factory buildings on the outskirts of town. There’s only the expanse of my bed to hold us. I’m so much fucking stronger now, somehow larger, but her lithe body can handle it. There’s no weakness in her trembling, only an electric strength that makes me want even more of her than this.

I can’t begin to think about what that means, though, because her muscles pulse around me and everything shuts down except what matters most right now: the fresh, soapy scent of her skin, the way her eyes flutter closed as I thrust into her, the smoothness of her chest interrupted by her hardened nipples. I could drink her in for the rest of my life and never need to touch another drop of water.

I don’t know how much time has passed when she opens her eyes, locking that vibrant green expanse on mine and grinning with a fierce wickedness so different from the nervous pleasure of the girl I used to know. She thrusts her weight upward so our positions are reversed and presses down on my chest with her hands. India is still for only a moment, and then she begins a slow, tortuous swirl with her hips that has me gripping the comforter with both fists.

“Fuck, India.”

She drops toward me, her lips just brushing against my ear. “You like this?”

I love this.

I want to say it but I can’t—something holds me back, even now. It’s like if I say it, I’ll admit that part of me is still dwelling on her, on what could have been.

She slides up and down on my cock and I reach for her hips, exaggerating her movements, and she throws her head back, her breasts thrust toward me.

It’s the most gorgeous sight I’ve seen in ten years and I’m not going to fucking ruin it by saying something that’s too damn emotional or not enough or whatever else gets between people who finally have another chance.

Another chance…

Electricity spikes from my shoulders to my fingertips, and I can’t help myself. Something unlocks the last barrier between me and animal instinct and I’m moving us, turning her so she’s on her hands and knees, and then plunging back into her with a powerful ferocity.

India’s hands scramble on the comforter, looking for something to fucking hold on to, and I fuck her with total abandon, rising up on my knees behind her, a low growl tearing from my throat.

“Yes,” she whispers, her voice shaken by my thrusts. “Yes.”

She clenches around me—whether it’s on purpose or involuntary, I just don’t fucking care—and I pick up speed. She braces herself however she can, ass up in the air, legs spread wide, taking it and loving it, her hips still moving side to side.

When she comes, it’s an incredible display of force, rocking her forward and back against me, so powerful that I have to take her hips in my hands and pull her back to keep her in place. Her rippling muscles, tight around my cock, pulse and squeeze and push me right over the screaming edge, joining her cries. It’s so fucking good that it hurts, it hurts like I never want it to stop, and I just want this moment to last until the end of time.

For a long few moments, we’re frozen in place, her body trembling with the aftershocks of her orgasm, until I wrap my arms around her waist and tumble us both onto the pillows.

India stretches her body against mine until we’re touching in every possible place, and then she sighs so deeply that I feel all of her relax.

I can’t see her face, but I imagine that her eyes are closed like mine are, sinking into sheer fucking bliss.

I don’t know what time it is, and I don’t bother turning my head to look at the clock. The lamplight burns, but not so brightly that it stops me from falling into a deep sleep.

For once, I don’t dream of her.

I don’t dream of anything.

It’s the first time in several years that my mind is completely satisfied, that my heart isn’t pulsing with an ache I can’t get rid of.