Kelsey could barely perceive the world around her as she slipped into a bright abyss of overwhelming sensation that shot through her like a million tiny rockets.

Except for one thing. Adrien above her, silver eyes sparkling in the low light of the room, his heated gaze practically devouring the sight of her as she futilely resisted her body’s response to his touch.

Sure, she’d expected maybe some hot making out to take place after she’d invited him in earlier. But a whirlwind of pleasure that picked her up and took her to completely unknown heights of desire? She hadn’t been expecting that.

And she couldn’t stop wanting more of it.

As her vision slowly cleared, her entire body was hyperaware of Adrien. His lips as he lowered himself onto her breast again. His fingers as they caressed her side, holding her. His hand directly over her center, poised to make electricity move through her once more, as it had only seconds ago.

He was still wearing the shirt he’d had on during their date, only now the cuffs had been undone and rolled up to his elbows, showing muscular forearms. She could see the thickness of his pecs at the opening where the top buttons had been undone. The low light of the room was just enough to cast his handsome, serious face in stark relief against the blue of the night outside, dark and light at the same time.

Kind of like Adrien.

His finger moved against her clit, and powerful shocks of energy moved down her legs and up her back. She arched against the bed, trying to escape the incredible sensation, but not wanting to be anywhere but right here with the most enigmatic, protective, sexy man she’d ever known.

Kelsey didn’t know where this all was going. A few days ago, she didn’t even know where her next meal was coming from. But Adrien had come into her life and turned everything completely on its head. And the world would never be the same.

Adrien’s finger teased at her belly button, stroking inside it with one finger, while his other hand continued to push her further and further past the boundaries of her own limits. It was as though every cell in her body responded to him in a language that only Adrien spoke with his touch, his kisses, even his gaze.

The pressure within came to a fever pitch, and Kelsey’s breath hitched as he stroked her with just the right speed, sending her onto the edge of the precipice.

Of all things, it was one small kiss on her cheek, soft and sweet and possessive, that kicked her over the threshold. Like the brush of a feather sending a boulder rolling down a cliffside.

And then the world became all light and pleasure and out-of-body, mind-blowing warmth that barreled through her like a flood. And through it, silver eyes watched her as if taking in every microsecond of her experience, wholly focused on her release and nothing else in the universe.

And as it slowly ebbed within her, Adrien’s lips curled to one side in a grin while he remained on top of her, completely surrounding her with his huge, muscular body.

“How am I doing?” he asked, his tone cool in contrast to the heat in his eyes.

“Do I even need to answer that?” Kelsey responded, almost incredulous at such a ludicrous query.

“No. I just wanted to hear your voice,” he said, back to his always-assured self. Yet Kelsey couldn’t deny he had every reason to be cocky, at least when it came to things like being protective and lovemaking.

Especially lovemaking.

As Kelsey just focused on the little things, like catching her breath, Adrien slowly pulled off her jeans, leaving her almost completely naked on the bed. But with him, somehow she didn’t feel embarrassed. Didn’t feel she had all the imperfections the world told her she had through ads and TV and magazines. Instead, she felt perfect, or at least that Adrien saw her as such. And it made heat tickle the tips of her toes and light her core from the inside out as his gaze raked over her hungrily.

And then Adrien pulled off her panties, tossing to them side, and lowered himself on her, and she almost gasped in fervent anticipation of what he was going to do next.

But the tension of anticipation was absolutely nothing compared to the feel of his tongue over her clit, hot and wet and firm as friction sent sparks going off everywhere like steel on flint.

Her fingers gripped the sheets tightly, digging into them as a storm of desire raged within her, building exponentially with each passing second.

It was so much more than just arousal. More than the motions he made with his tongue, little circles then tiny flicks followed by long, arduous strokes. It was the soul behind the man giving her this pleasure. The complete attention to her wants, so intense it was like the sun bearing down like a flashlight, shining its light for her and her alone.

Kelsey tried anything she could to stave off her body’s reaction to Adrien. And as he aroused her, touching and claiming her in the most intimate and erotic ways, he steadied her with his hands on her hips. She was so close, so close it felt like whizzing past a building at a hundred miles an hour and just barely missing it.

And then she felt his hand reach up, lightly pressing on one nipple as his tongue covered her completely, engulfing her as if she were entirely submerged, her entire body being touched by him at once, and her orgasm took over.

It was the strongest of her entire life, stronger than any release she’d ever had. Not thinking, unable to even, she grabbed his dark, tousled locks and held on. But Adrien seemed anything but perturbed, instead flicking his tongue against her once more and pushing her even deeper into release, so far she forgot her own name or even where she was for a split second.

She called out his name, the word Adrien on her lips over and over, to the darkened room. It wasn’t even a conscious action, but instead, her subconscious mind screaming forth, as if proof to the world of just who did this for her and made her feel this way.

Even as it abated inside her, tiny aftershocks would go off, reminders of how magnificently hard she’d just come at Adrien’s insistence. Until finally it was done, leaving her adrift on the gentle sea of afterglow.

She was aware deep within her of a specific need, a hot desire to join him, be one with him. But the thought was a little scary, even if it was incredibly exciting.

“That’s enough for now,” Adrien said, gently commanding, as he got up, giving her one more kiss on the lips before moving off the bed.

“But…” Kelsey replied, wanting to give something, anything, back to the man that had already given her so much. Not out of obligation, but because she was just that wildly attracted to him.

“One thing at a time,” he said. The silver in his eyes seemed to almost glitter like stars at this distance. “Let me continue to court you, and we’ll see about doing more. In the meantime, do you want me to sleep with you tonight? Or perhaps on the couch in the next room?”

Kelsey hadn’t even gotten that far. Normally, having a man sleep in her space was the last thing she’d want. But Adrien changed everything, made her reconsider the world as she knew it.

“Sure. I’d like that very much.”

Her response earned another smile from him, and she was beginning to realize that making him happy was something she genuinely wanted.

Looking into his silver eyes as he stared down at her, she wondered if it was truly possible to fall in love in such a short span of time.

Being with Adrien made her feel it might be.

* * *

“I do not feel like going to work today,” Adrien said, pouting and sitting on a stool at her counter and resting his elbow on it, his cheek on his hand.

“Oh?” she asked. “Why’s that?”

“I would rather stay home with you,” he said.

“Well, we have to work,” Kelsey said, sitting on a stool next to him. “What are we doing for breakfast again?” She had to stay focused on concrete things, or her body just kept remembering what they’d done last night and longing for more of it.

“Should be delivered soon,” Adrien said. “We don’t really leave the club that much, especially Citrine, so we have figured out how to do meal delivery fairly well.”

“That explains all the delicious food you always have around here,” she said.

He nodded.

There was a knock on the door, and Sever was standing there, hair back in a braid as always, holding a box in one hand and a bag in the other. “Here’s the breakfast you ordered. I was in the club room when they buzzed the door.” He handed it over. “And here’s the other thing you had me pick up.” He handed over the box.

Kelsey looked away because she didn’t think it was any of her business. She sipped some orange juice she’d had in her fridge while Adrien said good-bye to Sever and came over with the bags.

He set down the food and told her to go ahead and get whatever she wanted out of it while he messed with the box Sever had brought him.

“What’s that?” she asked, unable to refuse her curiosity since he was messing with it in her apartment.

“You’ll see,” he said. The box popped open, and he dug inside, pulling plastic out. Finally, he pulled something out with a triumphant sigh. “Here you go. This is for you.”

She put a hand out, and a brushed metal object that was cool to the touch slid into her hand. “A phone?”

He nodded. “After what happened at the mall, I want to make sure you can contact me.”

“I have a phone,” she said, though the old flip phone she had to pay for with little prepaid cards barely counted to most people. For her, it had been enough, and while she’d envied the large, fancy phones that were mini computers, she’d never had enough for the monthly bill, let alone the price of the actual device. “I can’t accept this,” she said, flushing.

“You can,” Adrien said. “Think of it as a business benefit now that you work here. It should already be programmed with a sim card and be set up for calls. I also just sent out your number to the rest of the employees. I didn’t really want to, but you should be able to contact any of them if you need to.”

“Why didn’t you want to?” she asked nervously.

He slid his hands into the pockets of the pajama pants he’d worn last night as they cuddled together. She could still remember how warm and soft they’d been as he’d pressed up against her, their bodies entwined. “I would think it’d be obvious. I’m already very possessive of you. I don’t date women casually. When I decide to date one, I’m already serious.”

“You said that before,” she said, pulling a breakfast scone out onto her plate and nibbling it. “But what does that mean? You never really clarified.”

“Well, maybe it makes me old-fashioned, but I guess you could say I date with an eye for marriage,” he said, joining her and taking a scone for himself.

“I see,” she said. “That is old-fashioned.”

“Honestly, I used to be worse. I used to believe that no sexual intercourse was proper before a mating, er, marriage, and it’s only recently that I’ve realized women aren’t okay with that in the modern world.”

“You’re so weird sometimes,” she said, smiling. When he looked up, eyes narrowed, she laughed. “And I mean that in the best way, because no one has ever treated me as well as you do. I guess I’m just… I’m afraid it’s too good to be true.”

“Couldn’t it just be very good and very true? And don’t we feel right together?” he asked. “We definitely did last night.”

She flushed and turned back to her scone. No matter what he said about how good last night was, it would be an understatement. Nothing could express just how good it had been. Like he knew her completely. It had heightened their already unbelievably good chemistry to almost cosmic levels.

She wanted to experience it again. Go even further this time.

But they’d only known each other for days. Already she was living next to him, working with him. Was she being stupid?

“I see that look in your eyes,” he said. “Don’t second-guess things. I’m not going to rush you. I’m just letting you know where I stand.”

And that was a very refreshing difference from how things had been before.

“Okay,” she said. “Now I know where you stand.”

“And you?” he asked. “Where do you stand?”

She reached in and took another pastry out of the box, nerves tingling as she considered her answer under his watchful gaze. “Where I stand is that I’m still figuring things out, but I’m really having a lot of fun with you. I like you a lot.”

“I like you a lot, too,” he said with a smile, one that actually reached his cool, silver eyes.

She’d lied. Just as she’d thought last night, she was more than liking him. She was falling for him.

This man she barely knew anything about.