I’d finally found a word I liked hearing on Ivy’s lips more than my name.

That please had just about destroyed me, only to bring me right back to life.

Bolts of electric need sizzled through my nerves, starting at the tips of my fingers which rested at her neck and the small of her back, and shooting straight to my cock. Even the cool temperature of the saltwater pool wasn’t keeping him down.

My tongue swirled around hers, savoring the hint of peppermint mocha I tasted. Her lips were soft and warm, her thighs even warmer as they cushioned my waist with her ankles locked at my back.

The kiss was openly carnal, a blatant mimicry of what I wanted to do to her.

“Connor,” she pled, ripping her lips from mine. “Please.”

If I wasn’t already as hard as the pool tiles, that would have done it.

“Please what?” I asked, then drew on her bottom lip lightly with my teeth.

“More,” she demanded, using her bare heels at my back to pull me in closer.

I hovered above her lips, relishing the moment, the feel of having the freedom to kiss her. To touch her. To know that she wanted me.

I would have called it a choice if there had been one, but there wasn’t. The moment she’d asked, I’d answered. I had the feeling I always would, no matter how long whatever this was—a moment of insanity or clarity—lasted.

“More what?” I teased.

She nipped at my lip, her teeth lightly raking the surface and sending another jolt of need down my spine.

“More of you. All of you.”

The look in her eyes told me she knew what she was asking for, and was more than capable of asserting her needs.

The hesitation was mine, which was definitely a first. Even with my blood boiling, my dick pressed into the tiles of the pool, my heart racing faster than it had been during my laps, and her pretty obvious request, I paused.

Because I knew the minute I sank into her, gave myself over completely, there was no return, no getting back the pieces of me that she already owned without ever knowing it.

“Do you want me?” she asked, her voice shaking at the end to match the fear that had appeared in her eyes.

“More than I want air,” I admitted. “There’s nothing I want more than to fall into you.”

“Then why…” she sighed. How was it that the boldest, most vocal woman I knew turned from a tiger to a kitten? Why did she feel the need to punish herself for things that weren’t her fault? “Why did you stop? Is it because I dated—”

I kissed her deeply, showing her with my lips and tongue how much I didn’t give a fuck about that asshole. Had to admit, selfish as it was, knowing she hadn’t given herself to him made me twice as possessive as I’d been before.

Because she was choosing me.

After I’d kissed her breathless, I lifted my head to look into her eyes. “How about we not talk about other guys when I’m kissing you? I’ve never really been down with the whole two-on-one scene or sharing. Definitely not fucking sharing, and that includes a single minute between us after this one. He doesn’t belong here. He never did.”

“And the other girls?” she asked, her voice still kitten-soft.

“The only other girl in my life is Hannah, and she doesn’t belong here either.” I gave her a lopsided grin.

She returned my smile, and some of that burden we’d both been carrying simply evaporated.

“I don’t share, either,” she said, stroking her fingers down my arms and then my sides, catching where my abs cut away into a v shape.

Every muscle tensed as she touched, my nerves firing even higher.

“You’ll never have to. I was yours from the moment I saw you at that party. No one else mattered.” In truth, every other woman I’d fucked had only been a physical exercise. Pleasure given and received, but nothing else.

Ivy would take my heart when I took her body, I knew it.

“So there are no ghosts in your bed, is that what you’re saying?” Her eyes lit with that teasing fire I loved, and I nearly sighed in relief.

Come hell or high water, I’d bring that confidence she wore better than any makeup into every part of her life. She needed to understand her worth under all that bravado.

“Since you’re the one who picked out my new bed, all that bedding, and those million-fucking-pillows, I can answer with a definite no. You’re the only woman who’s been there, who will ever be there if that’s what you choose. You’ve always had the power between us; I just don’t think you knew it.”

Her lips parted as the fullness of what I’d said registered with her, echoing the same wonder I felt every time she’d let me touch her.

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Yes, my bed has too many pillows. They all end up on the floor anyway.” I shrugged, trying to think past the screaming need in my dick to claim the woman who had already offered herself.

Offering and knowing what you’re giving are two different things.

She laughed, bright and open. “You can never have too many pillows.”

“I meant the rest, too. There’s no ghosts in my bed or my heart.”

Her smile faded. I knew she couldn’t say the same about her heart, and that was okay. Everyone came with a past. I wanted her future.

“But I’d let you haunt me,” I admitted.

That worry in her eyes transformed to something infinitely hotter, and she traced the line of my abs with hands.

“Your body is insane.” Her eyes followed the path of her hands until she saw for herself exactly how badly I wanted her. She sucked in her breath and then followed her hands back up until they rested on my pecs. “Everything about you is perfect.”

“I can say the same about you.”

“You’ve never seen me shirtless,” she argued.

I pulled her forward and brought us flush again. “I’ve had you up against me enough to know exactly the kinds of curves you keep hidden under your clothes. Trust me. You’re perfect.”

This time she didn’t ask me to kiss her—she struck.

Her lips found mine, opening, sweeping, taking. I sucked her tongue into my mouth and revelled in her whimper as she arched closer.

“You’ll get wet,” I warned her.

“Already am,” she answered with a tilt of her lips.

“Smart ass.” I kissed her breathless, bringing my hands under the curves of her ass and lifting her from the edge of the pool.

God, her ass was incredible. Firm and round, and made to grab onto. Her thighs tightened as I supported her slight weight, gripping me like a vice.

I moved smoothly through the pool, keeping her just above the water line. As much as I was down for stripping her shorts and panties off and christening the pool, it wasn’t how I wanted her this first time.

No, I wanted to be above her, watching her fall apart as she came.

I had zero clue how we made it, but I reached the stairs and walked out of the pool with my tongue in her mouth, stroking and teasing, while she ran her fingers up and down my neck, pausing to grip my hair.

I laid her back on the oversized double chaise and slid over her, my knees cradled by the plush cushion as she parted her thighs.

Her knees rose on either side of my hips, and I decided that this was where I wanted to die.

I ripped my mouth from hers and kissed my way down her jaw to the tender skin of her neck. Her fingers tightened in my hair while I assaulted the sensitive spots with my tongue and lips.

When I reached the collar of her tee, I sent my hands roving under the hem, stroking the lines of her waist.

Her skin was smooth, soft, and so damn warm.

“Ivy?” I rose to look in her eyes. Never again would we have the kind of misunderstanding we’d had in the kitchen.

“Connor,” she answered, her skin flushing a gorgeous shade of pink.

“I want this off, but only if you do,” I told her, my voice coming out as scratchy as sandpaper.

She reached for the hem and arched her back, only breaking eye contact when the shirt passed over her face. It landed somewhere.

I was too busy staring at the lush curves of her breasts to give a damn.

The perfect globes were veiled by the pink lace bra she wore, enough of her pebbled nipple showing to make me desperate to see the rest.

But first...

I sucked on one nipple through the rough material, testing it with the edge of my teeth.

“Connor!” she cried out, arching against my mouth.

Without my asking, she unfastened her bra and slipped the straps free of her arms.

Holy shit, I was going to come just from looking at her. She was petite, I’d always known that, but her breasts were in perfect proportion to the generous curve of her hips, just a little more than my hands could hold.

So they did. I watched her eyes slide shut as I strummed and plucked at her nipples, then bent to take one into my mouth. I catalogued every response as I explored the curves, making note of what she liked and what made her writhe and beg.

Her legs shifted restlessly against mine, her hips rocking to stroke my erection.

“Fuck,” I hissed. “Ivy, you’re going to push me past my control.”

“Good,” she answered, “Because I feel the exact same way.”

My entire body tensed as she reached between us to take my cock in her hands. My head fell to her shoulder as she squeezed me, pleasure flooding every sensory input I had.

“You feel huge,” she whispered.

“You sure know how to compliment a guy.” I chuckled against her neck, impressed that I could form a coherent thought as she stroked me, exploring my length.

“I’m serious,” she continued. “This,” she stroked her thumb across the bare head of my cock where it had escaped from the waistband of my swim trunks, and it took everything I had not to thrust into her hand. “Seems to match the rest of you. Perfect, from what I can tell, but I might need a closer look.”

She locked eyes with me as I raised my head. Then she sent her hands beneath my waistband, until she held me in her palms, doing her best to wrap her fingers around me.

“Holy shit, Connor.” She squeezed and stroked my dick, working me with her soft hands. “How do you like this? Hard? Soft? What?”

Stars. I was seeing stars. I wanted her too badly, had fantasized about her too often, and she was going to make me come in my damn shorts if I didn’t get a grip on myself. I wasn’t sixteen for fuck’s sake—that wasn’t acceptable.

“I like it stopped,” I growled against her lips. “Because if you keep going like that it’s going to be over for me, and I have a strict Ivy-first and second policy.”

Her eyes widened. “You what?”

I gathered her delicate wrists in one hand and raised them above her head, pinning her to the chaise cushion. “I need your hands off my dick, or you’re not going to get anything you more than deserve. You’re driving me fucking crazy.”

“But I’m supposed to—”

“You’re supposed to let me worship you.”

A slow smile spread across her face, and I kissed her deep and hard until both of our hands started questing, exploring, learning. I sent mine up her shorts until I cupped her bare ass. Thongs. She wore thongs.

I wasn’t going to survive this.

“God, Connor, if you don’t touch me soon, I’m going to scream,” She moaned, her hips moving rhythmically, seeking relief.

“Touch you where?” I asked, leaving her delectable ass to stroke from the silky skin of her thighs to her tucked-in waist and then skimmed her ribs.

“Here,” she said, gripping my hand and placing it between her thighs. “I need you here. Everywhere.”

I pressed with the heel of my hand, knowing the seam of her shorts would hit her clit, and she cried out.

“Is this what you want?” I asked, pressing again and grinding.

“Yes!”

“I’m at your service, Ivy,” I told her. “Anything you want, you just tell me and I’ll do it.” I almost swallowed my tongue when I undid the button of her shorts. How long had I dreamed about this?

What the hell had I done right in my life to be here with her?

“But what do you want?” she asked, a tone of frustration seeping through the lust.

“I want you to come. As hard and as often as you want. Stop worrying about me. I’m already on the edge of insanity. Just let me take care of you. That’s all want. Just having you under me is enough to get me off.” I slid her shorts and panties down in one motion, leaving her totally, deliciously bare to my gaze.

“Holy shit. Ivy.” I sat back on my heels and ran my hands from her ankles over her calves and knees, to her thighs and the waxed pussy that waited for my tongue, with only a small triangle of blonde curls to point my way. “I’m never going to get enough of you. You know that right?” My thumbs grazed the top of her thighs, dipping to run along the folds that shielded her.

My only answer was a whimper and a twist of her hips.

“Connor,” she begged.

Holy shit, I was going to save that sound as my ringtone. I’d never tire of hearing it.

“I’ve got you,” I told her. Then I parted her and groaned. “Fuck, you’re soaked for me.” She was so wet that my fingers slid with no resistance up her slippery cleft until I reached her clit.

She gasped as I began to circle the little nub, not giving her the contact she was demanding because I knew I could bring her higher. I’d make her come so hard she’d never look at me without remembering exactly how I could play her body.

Her hips moved with me, seeking friction, and once that beautiful blush spread down her chest, I decided to give it to her.

I slid down the chaise until my knees were at the edge, and before she could ask me what I was doing, I set my mouth on her.

“Con—oh!” She screamed when I licked up her pussy, finally reaching her clit. Then her words ceased as I feasted on her.

She was so fucking sweet, delicious and decadent like raw honey. I used my tongue to flick and stroke her clit until her entire body tensed. Her cries keened higher, her hands gripped the cushion, and I finally sucked on the little bundle of nerves.

She came, screaming my name, her body thrashing underneath me. I belted my forearm over her hips and kept at her, licking and sucking and stroking her through the orgasm. Then I thrust inside her wet heat with two fingers as she fluttered around me, her muscles contracting wildly. I found that spot I knew she needed stroked and rubbed it, never ceasing my pressure on her clit until I kicked her back into a second, even more powerful orgasm.

“God!” She cried, the sound echoing through the atrium. “I can’t take anymore!”

I took mercy on her, and with a final kiss on her clit, raised my head to see her eyes on me, sated and wild at the same time.

“I go by that name, too.”

“I can see why,” she gasped as I slid my fingers free of her tight sheath.

I slid over her, pausing to kiss her breasts to ease her back down. If she’d been in a relationship for months and hadn’t—

She took my cock in her hands.

“Fuck. Ivy. What. You. I. Stop. God, you have to stop,” I finally got out. “I’m trying so hard, and all I want is to thrust deep inside of you.”

“Yes, please,” she answered like I was offering her a scoop of ice cream.

“What?” I rose to meet her eyes.

“I said, yes, please. To you thrusting inside me, at least I think that was the offer.” She squeezed me, making her point.

“You don’t have to. That wasn’t what this was about.” Fuck, I was going to lose it.

“I know I don’t have to, that you won’t pressure me no matter what I said when we started. That’s why I want to. No, I need to. Please, Connor. I need you inside me, deep and hard. I want to feel you tomorrow.”

She released me only to slip her thumbs inside my shorts and slide them down my thighs as far as she could reach.

“Condoms are in my room,” I said, clinging to any shred of logic that I could as I helped her get my trunks off the rest of the way. Holy shit, I was naked with Ivy Harris, and she was asking me to fuck her.

Yeah, I was right before, this was where I wanted to die.

“I don’t want to wait,” She gasped as my dick stroked along her folds, still slick with her orgasms and my mouth.

Take her. Now. Do it. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to sink inside her, fuck any consequences. I’d never taken a woman without one, never wanted to risk an accidental pregnancy, especially after I’d signed to the NHL.

“I’m clean,” she promised me. “And I have an IUD. Birth control covered. I promise.”

The strangest, primal need surged in my veins. Even if she wasn’t protected, I could think of way worse things than Ivy pregnant with my child.

Damn, now that I considered it, I only wanted to fuck her more.

“I’m clean and tested every month,” I told her.

“I trust you,” she said with a nod, her fingers stroking my shoulders.

I’d never heard sexier words.

“Please, Connor. God, I need you.” She swirled her hips, and I was a fucking goner.

“Yes,” I hissed as I lined my head up to her tight opening.

Then I looked into her eyes, needing to know she was with me in this moment and thrust home in one strong surge of my hips.

She cried out, her back arching as I bottomed out inside her.

She was tight. Wet. Hot. Perfect. Mine.

So. Fucking. Mine.

I kept still while her body adjusted to my size, the effort bringing beads of sweat to my skin.

Then she kissed me and moved her hips.

I took over from there. My tongue moved in time with my hips, pistoning in and out of her with precise, measured thrusts that earned me a gasp every time I returned. I filled her in every way, and when I’d fucked her up the chaise, she put her hands up against the frame and gave it right back to me.

“Ivy,” I moaned, breaking our kiss.

“I’ve got you,” she repeated my own words with a hazy grin, and damn, did she.

Her hips rocked back against me, moving with my thrusts, fucking me as I was taking her. We moved together like a symphony.

Like art.

Really fucking erotic art.

This woman was my match in every way.

“Harder!” she demanded, locking her ankles above my ass.

I grasped every last ounce of stamina and willpower in my body, cradled her beneath me, cupping her shoulders to hold her still and then I did as my woman asked, giving it to her harder, faster, making sure I angled and pressed just right with every thrust to hit her clit every time.

Soon, she was writhing under me, her nails raking down my back. The kitten was gone, and my tiger was back, making her mark.

Her muscles tensed, first her thighs, then the rest got on board.

“Feel that?” I asked, never ceasing my thrusts. “That’s what we are together, Ivy. Madness. Pure fucking, perfect madness.”

She whimpered in reply, beyond words.

Pressure built at the base of my spine as my orgasm built, threatening to take me over before I got her there again.

“God, baby. You’re so fucking tight. You grip me just right. I love fucking you. I’ll never get enough, Ivy. Ever.”

She turned to steel in my arms, and I kissed her as I thrust harder, rubbing against her until she shattered, melting into bliss with my name on her lips and my heart in her hands.

Her orgasm brought mine, her walls squeezing me like a velvet vise as I emptied into her, mind-blowing pleasure exploding through me until my vision blacked for an exquisite second.

Then I collapsed, quickly rolling to my side so I didn’t crush her—she was so small compared to me, and brought her along so she was resting on my chest.

It was more than a few minutes before either of us could talk or breathe at a normal rate. I’d known sex with Ivy would be great, but never in my life had I imagined it would blow every other sexual experience I’d ever had out of the water.

“Three orgasms?” she asked, resting her chin on her hands to look up at me.

“Are you complaining?” I ran my hand down the damp length of her spine.

“No, just thinking you tackle sex like everything else in your life.”

I pried an eye open to see her sleepy, sated grin. “And how is that?”

“You’re an overachiever,” she answered with a shrug.

How could the woman make me want to laugh when she’d nearly killed me a few minutes ago? Scratch that, how could I already be hardening inside her again?

“Yeah, well, give me ten minutes and I’ll overachieve you in bed upstairs.”

“It’s okay if it takes you fifteen,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Make it five.”