Sasha was burrowed so far under the covers of his bed that Lincoln had to dig around in the tangled mess of sheets and comforter to find her small body. He was laughing by the time he found bare skin.

She moaned, swatting at him as he cupped her breast.

He chuckled again, sliding his front along her back and settling her against him with a hand around her waist. He kissed her temple as he pulled the comforter away and kicked it to the foot of the bed.

She was a heater. He would burn up if he let her continue to snuggle so deeply like that. She shivered. “Lincoln…” she pleaded. “I’m cold. And I’m tired. Let me sleep.”

He propped himself on his elbow to look down at her. Her bottom hand was pulled in tight to her chest, her fingers fisted. Her top hand lay between her tits doing the same.

His cock was hard. He needed her again. Now. And he felt confident he could get her easily on the same page even though he’d only let her sleep a few hours and it was still dark out.

He teased the skin of her arm until goosebumps rose. She groaned in protest, but he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her arm above her head to trap it between his chin and his shoulder.

Her eyes finally opened. “Lincoln…” She didn’t sound as disgruntled anymore. That was good.

“Go ahead and sleep, baby. I’m just going to explore.”

She tipped her head back to blink at him. “Seriously.”

He nodded. “Yep.” With her arm trapped, her breast was high, her nipple puckered. He tweaked it slowly until she shuddered and her eyes fluttered closed.

Oh yeah.

He wedged a knee between her legs, pushing the top one up to her chest. Opening her pussy. It had been less than a minute, but when he touched her, he found her soaking wet. “Sleeping?”

She whimpered.

He pushed two fingers into her. “Insatiable.”

She said nothing, but she rolled farther forward and pressed her face into the pillow.

He circled her clit and then pinched it.

She writhed, tugging on her arm and pushing her leg against his thigh.

He kissed her neck. “Need you, baby.”

“Okay.”

He chuckled. “Just okay?”

“Whatever.” Sass. Pure sass. Did she think he wouldn’t fuck that sass right out of her?

He thrust into her again, still so tight. She gripped him as his thumb landed on her clit. He fucked her warm pussy with those fingers so fast she caught her breath. “Lincoln…” This time his name on her lips was pleading. The sass and the sleep were gone.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Stop teasing.”

“Whatever.” As he repeated her word, he pulled out his hand, rolled her onto her back, and slid down between her legs. His cock was rock hard, but he needed his mouth on her first.

As he sucked her clit between his lips without warning, she gasped, her hands grasping at his shoulders. “Lincoln…” Her legs trembled, and her fingernails dug into his skin.

Oh yeah. Drowsy Sasha was delicious. He flicked his tongue over her clit and then suckled it again.

Her legs clamped around his head.

He released her clit and dipped a finger slowly into her tight pussy. “You saved this for me, didn’t you?” he whispered. Ever since he’d found out she hadn’t penetrated herself with anything in her life, he’d suspected as much, but he wanted to hear her say it.

“Yes…” The one word was barely audible. She didn’t meet his gaze.

“Sasha, baby, look at me.”

She swallowed as she dipped her chin to meet his gaze in the near darkness.

“Baby, you intentionally saved yourself for me. Not just your virginity, but you let me be the first to enter you at all.”

“Yes,” she repeated, shivering beneath him. “I wanted it to be you. Maybe that sounds ridiculous, but I wanted everything to be you.”

“I’ll never take that for granted again, baby. It humbles me. I hate the way I treated you the first time I took you. It won’t happen again. You deserved better.” It would take a lifetime for him to forgive himself. “I didn’t even use a condom. If—”

She stopped him with a tight grip to his shoulders. “It wasn’t the middle of the month or anything. Don’t worry.”

He sighed and kissed her clit reverently. He wanted to tell her how committed he was and that he would do right by her no matter what, but it seemed she understood without him saying more.

She reached with one hand to cup his cheek. “Stop punishing yourself for the way you took my virginity. It was amazing. In my wildest imagination I couldn’t have come up with a scenario that hot. Maybe in the future don’t walk away from me after you fuck me against the wall, but before that part, you stole my heart and made me the happiest woman on earth.”

He closed his eyes. He didn’t deserve this woman, and yet he had her anyway. Needing to taste her again, he lowered his face and sucked her sweet pussy lips, dipping his tongue inside her.

She writhed, bucking her hips as he held her down.

He thrust his tongue in and out of her until she cried out.

But he didn’t want her to come yet, so he released her, licking her sweet taste from his lips. “Legs open, baby,” he murmured. It was difficult to focus. He couldn’t wait any longer. He grabbed a condom from the bedside table, rolled it on, and climbed up her body to fuck her. On a bed. In the most basic of positions for the first time.

It was earth-shattering. He knew this was as true for her as it was for him because she screamed loud enough to shake the foundation.

* * *

Sasha awoke to the smell of coffee and bacon. She smiled and stretched out against the sheets. She sighed, determined to make sure the first thing she and Lincoln did today was talk.

After he’d fucked her into the next month last night at the club, he’d driven her sleepy body to his house, put her in his bed, and then reached out to fuck her again at some ungodly hour. She sighed as she remembered his mouth on her pussy. So hot. She had yet to wrap her lips around his cock, and she intended to rectify that as soon as possible. Somewhere in between the talking they needed to do.

At least he’d let her sleep after sucking on her sex and then filling her pussy again, but there hadn’t been much time for conversation yet.

She winced as she eased from the bed, every muscle in her body sore. And then she glanced around to take in Lincoln’s bedroom for the first time. As she would have guessed, it was bland. Dark wood, black and gray accents, thick gray carpet. He seriously needed some color.

She padded to the attached bath and nearly giggled at finding the same décor. After making quick work of using the toilet and cleaning up from middle-of-the-night sex, she found a new toothbrush on the counter, brushed her teeth, and headed back to his bedroom.

She considered remaining naked, but then grabbed his black tee from last night and pulled it on. It gave her some level of protection. Not much. But some.

It wasn’t hard to find him. He was in the kitchen looking like a master chef instead of a Master Sadist. His body made her mouth water even more than the scent of food. No shirt. Bare feet. Low-hanging gray sleep pants. He must have sensed her because he turned as she approached, reaching out his arm and pulling her into his side. “Hungry?”

“Starving.” Would he let her feed herself? They had so many details to iron out. Here she was in his home on a Thursday morning. What was next?

He kissed her forehead. “Sit, baby. I’ll bring the plates over.”

She slowly made her way to the table. What did he mean when he commanded her to sit? She was afraid to guess wrong, so she stood near the table and waited for him.

He set two plates on the table, glancing at her quizzically. “Sore bottom?” he teased.

“No. I wasn’t sure where you wanted me to sit.”

He shrugged. “I don’t care. I don’t have some special chair I prefer. You pick.”

She nodded. “That wasn’t what I meant,” she stated as she chose a chair and lowered herself onto it.

He plopped down on the one diagonal from her and picked up his coffee, staring at her over the lip of the mug. Finally, his eyes widened and he set it down. “Right. Shit. Sorry. We have discussed nothing. You’re confused. And you have two thousand questions.”

“Yes.” She left her hands in her lap, worrying them together. His T-shirt barely covered her ass.

He reached across the table and cupped her face, holding her chin steady with his thumb as he often tended to do. “We aren’t playing right now, Sasha. In fact, I don’t think we should play today at all. I was hoping we could spend the day getting to know each other better. Run a few important errands. Swim. Talk. Eat. Watch TV. Normal stuff.”

She chuckled. “You can do that?”

He laughed. “Yes. I can do that.”

She reached for her fork. “So you want to spend the day with me? If you have errands, I could go home while you do them. I need to do some things around my apartment. It got rather neglected the last few days.” She wasn’t kidding. It was a disaster. Laundry. Dishes. Take-out boxes. Luckily she’d had the wherewithal to call Mrs. Lopez and let her know she was home for a few days. Even luckier, she’d gotten the woman’s voicemail and hadn’t had to field fifty questions.

He set his fork down, his throat working before he took a deep breath. “You want to go back to your apartment?” His expression looked like she’d suggested a two-week vacation to Hawaii without him.

“Well, I mean, I do have some cleaning to do. And I need to find a summer job of some sort. I don’t make enough money to support myself without it.”

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze on his plate, not seeing it.

They really did need to talk. Their entire relationship consisted of ignoring each other for five years, her submitting to him full-time for twenty-four hours, and fucking hard in his club last night. There were holes all over this picture. “Talk to me.”

He lifted his gaze, but he looked scared. “I thought it was pretty clear last night that I’m in love with you, baby.”

She stopped breathing, her head moving slowly from side to side. “I don’t think you specifically said that.” She had said it. The word had been tossed around. He had most definitely not said it.

He held her gaze, his voice gravelly when he spoke, not mincing words. “I’m in love with you, Sasha. You’re mine.”

She nodded, her heart rate picking up. “I’m in love with you too. I’m glad it’s mutual. But, you’re going to have to connect the dots for me. We still have to work and make money and pay rent and all the other adulting things.”

“I was hoping we could do them together.”

“You mean run errands? Okay, I guess we can. You need to hit the store? What sort of errands?”

He hesitated. “In my mind we would start with packing up your stuff and moving you into my house.”

She flinched. Shit. She didn’t even know how to respond to that. She was blindsided. “You want me to move in with you? Like today?”

“Yes. We wasted years acting like idiots—mostly me. I don’t want to waste more of them talking on the phone on Tuesdays and going to the movies on Sundays. I’m in love with you, Sasha. I want you in my house. My bed. I was hoping that started yesterday.”

“Oh.”

“That’s it? Oh?” He looked worried now.

“I’m processing. Give me a second to catch up. Nobody’s ever asked me to live with them. And they certainly haven’t ever assumed it without asking me.” She might have snapped a bit, but she tried not to.

He pushed his chair back and reached across to snag her around the waist.

She yelped as he pulled her onto his lap sideways, his hands threading into her hair at her temples. His eyes were inches from hers. “Move in with me.” He threaded his fingers into the back of her hair, gave a slight tug, and then tipped her head toward his.

She smiled. She didn’t want to smile. It just happened.

“We’ll figure out all the details together. But I want you in my bed. I want to be able to reach out and know you’re there, feel your heartbeat, hear your breathing, touch your skin, smell your shampoo.” He kept going, not taking a breath. “Then you won’t have to find a job. Financial problem solved. If you want something to do for the summer, you can work for me.”

He made it sound so simple. She was leery. “At the club?” It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea what else he did. The club was only open three nights a week. Surely he didn’t spend the rest of the week balancing the books or ordering more spanking benches.

He shook his head. “No. My other job.”

“What do you do?”

He furrowed his brow. “You have a point about us needing to talk. We don’t know much about each other. I flip houses.”

She pulled back a few inches, notably not dislodging him. “Like, you buy then and fix them up and sell them?”

“Yes. Well, not me personally. I’m not a carpenter. But I hire people to do it, and I manage it. So I have to visit the sites every few days and pay all the bills and that sort of thing.”

“Okay, then. You flip houses.”

“What else is keeping you from moving in? Name it. I’ll fix it.”

“I have a lease.”

“We’ll get out of it. Next.”

“I haven’t even met your mom.” She was reaching now. But it was kinda fun.

“I’ll call her after breakfast. We’ll do lunch. Next.”

Her heart was racing. She set her hands on his forearms and gripped them next to her face. “I have no idea what you expect of me.”

He frowned. “Expect of you? I expect you to be happy. To do whatever you want that makes you happy. I don’t have requirements.”

“Lincoln, you have so many requirements I can’t even list them all on one piece of paper.”

“D/s you mean?”

“Of course.”

“Our lives are not going to revolve around D/s, baby. We’ll negotiate how much we want to play and when and where and all that as we go along. I’m not worried.”

“I’m worried. I don’t even know that much about the lifestyle. You haven’t let me cook for you or clean up or even give you a blowjob.” That last part was maybe overkill. Her mind was running through all the things she’d expected to do under his control. None of which had happened.

He tipped his head back and laughed hard.

“I’m not being funny.”

He still held her face steady, and she dug her nails into his arms to get his attention.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t look sorry. He looked mischievous.

“Sasha, you’re not a domestic sub. Or if you are, I don’t care. I never looked at you like that. I don’t need you to cook for me or clean up after me or kneel between my legs sucking my cock—though that last one is totally on the table for discussion any time you want.” He winked.

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Just be you. Be Sasha. Be my little girl on occasion. Play nurse if you want. Maybe even teacher. No. Not that one. Stick to role-play that doesn’t make you the Domme. I can’t do that. All I’m saying is that I would be honored to dominate you as often as you want. Nothing makes me harder than watching your face and entire body come alive when I top you. It’s sexy as hell. You love it. It’s not our entire world.”

She chewed her bottom lip.

He leaned in and kissed her, biting down on that same lip.

When he pulled back, he set his forehead against hers. “Move in with me. We’ll fill in the blanks as we go along.”

“It might be a bit soon to meet your mom.”

He grinned. “Agreed. Next week.”

“Maybe in a few weeks.” She slid her hands down to his waist and snuggled closer. “I stole your shirt.” Why she felt the need to comment on that she had no idea. But it was easier than answering the looming question.

“It looks great on you. Better on the floor. But I can live with it if you want to wear it.” His eyes twinkled. “Move in with me.”

“Would you expect me to call you Master?”

“Nope. Unless you want to. But only when we’re playing.”

She leaned in closer. His chest was so warm and hard. She loved feeling it against her in the night. She could get used to sleeping with her head on his shoulder, her hand on his abs.

“Sasha.”

She met his gaze. Stalling was over.

“I love you. Maybe it feels sudden and too soon, but it’s not really. I’ve loved you for a long time. I’m not perfect. I’ll make mistakes. We’ll argue. You’ll set me straight. We’ll make up naked. I don’t want to waste another day without you in my life. Move in with me.”

“Okay.”

One second she was sitting on his lap, the next second she was in his arms in the air, and the next second her butt was on the kitchen island. Lincoln’s mouth was on hers, devouring her. He tugged her to the edge, his cock pressing against her bare pussy through his sleep pants.

His hands were everywhere.

She was so aroused so fast she couldn’t catch her breath.

The man could dominate her like she was putty. But, holy shit, he could also make her body hum without a single command.

Just Lincoln Walsh. The first man who’d ever awakened her sexuality. The only man who’d ever awakened her sexuality. The only man who ever would.

She couldn’t think of a good reason she shouldn’t move in with him, not while his hand was between her legs stroking her to a maddening height. Not while his shirt had disappeared so that his mouth was wrapped around her nipple, suckling it. Not while her hands were buried in his hair, feeling the softness of it like silk.

She cried out as she came. So fast. So easy.

He was totally going to take advantage of that knowledge.

She was totally going to love it.