A mouth orgasm. Mouth-gasm? I don’t know what to call it, but I know what it feels like. Heaven.

“Oh, my god.” I lick my spoon, completely giving myself over to the deliciousness on my tongue.

“Yeah?” He stares at my mouth, and I realize there is something insanely hot about him watching me enjoy this dessert.

“Yes.” I take another bite and practically moan through the tartness of the apples, the sweetness of the caramel, and the flaky, buttery crust.

Our eyes meet, and something in the air—or inside me—combusts. He’s out of his chair and yanking me out of mine in a moment. When our lips meet this time, there’s no room for doubt. I wrap my arms around his neck, and he pulls me close, pressing me against him as our breath tangles.

His hands rove me, finally settling on my ass as he lifts me and perches me on the counter. I can’t get enough of his kiss, and I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him closer. It’s temporary insanity, but I can’t seem to put a stop to it.

He ropes my ponytail around his fist and pulls my head back, then trails his lips down my throat. I sigh as he nibbles at my neck and brings one hand up to cup my breast. When he rakes my nipple with his thumb, I jolt at the shock of arousal that shoots through me.

He claims my mouth again and palms my breast. “Fuck, you’re perfect.” He pinches my nipple, and I arch my back. His erection presses against my thigh.

“Hank.” I clutch his sides. “We can’t…” My protest dissolves into a moan that he catches in his mouth.

He backs up an inch and grabs the hem of my t-shirt.

I lift my arms, and he strips me down to my sports bra, my nipples erect against the fabric.

He drops his head to my right breast and bites me through the cotton.

“Oh, god.” I grab onto his shoulders as he pulls down the other cup and sucks my nipple into his mouth. His tongue flicks the tip, and pleasurable tension ricochets through me.

“Off.” He stands and grabs the band of my bra before yanking it up and off my head. Staring at my chest, he blinks hard. “Even better than I imagined.” He dives down—sucking, licking, and biting as I run my hands through his hair and grip him.

My pussy throbs, no doubt pleased with these new developments given my dry spell. But this is too soon.

“We have to stop.” My protest comes out breathy and weak.

Hank grabs my hand and presses my palm against his erection. I bite my lip.

“Who are you trying to convince?” He rubs my palm back and forth against him, and I’m desperate for more.

He pushes me back until I’m lying on the counter. My skin presses against the cold marble, and my nipples tighten even more. He turns his back, and my sanity begins to return bit by bit.

“It’s just that we don’t really know each other, and it’s been a long time for me and—” My voice dies in my throat when he turns back around.

He holds a spatula covered in warm caramel. Hovering over me, he drizzles it on my nipple. I whimper at the heat and moan when he bends down and licks me clean. Jesus.

He does it again with my other nipple, then swipes his finger across the sticky sweetness and runs it along my lips.

“Open.”

I do, and he presses his finger into my mouth. Mmm. I close my eyes and run my tongue along it, lapping up the caramel and sucking every last bit from him.

He groans and pulls his finger out, then kisses me, sharing the sweet taste. My hands go to his shirt and start wrestling with the buttons. He whips it off, buttons pinging on the candy jars. His hard chest hits mine, and the thrill of skin-to-skin contact rushes through my veins.

Sliding down my body, he hooks his fingers into my pants and panties. With a yank, he pulls them down to my knees. My ass is still on the counter, my legs hanging off the end. He leans over and runs his tongue sideways along my pussy. I jerk and paw at his hair. He doesn’t stop, only moves around and pulls my pants and panties down farther so he can spread my thighs.

“Hank, please …” What was I going to request? All thoughts cease when he fastens his mouth to my clit and flicks it with his tongue.

“You’re sweeter than anything in this shop.” He flattens his palms against my thighs and pushes them apart, then buries his face in my pussy.

I buck, then settle against the counter as he licks and sucks, his mouth doing wicked things to me. All I can do is grip the sides of the counter as he tongues me and teases me. He groans into me, then stabs his tongue into my entrance.

“Tight.” He licks inside me again, and everything in my body goes taut. Easing back to my clit, he runs a finger to my entrance and presses inside. “Pinch your nipples. I want to watch.” He slicks the broad side of his tongue against my clit.

I snag my hard nipples and twist, sending small sparks of pleasure erupting from my breasts to the spot where Hank licks me fervently. He doesn’t stop, completely focused on his task as my back begins to arch and my pussy tightens around his finger. When he adds a second finger, I can’t breathe, the air caught in my lungs as he dances the tip of his tongue in the perfect spot.

The orgasm hits with a steady thump inside me as the air whooshes out of my lungs. His name and god’s mingle as I talk nonsense, the wave of pleasure carrying me far out to sea as he keeps licking and sucking at my tender places. My legs shake, and I moan as the last of my release leaves my body. I relax against the counter, my skin covered in a light sheen of sweat.

He drops a kiss on my pussy, then stands and scoops me into his arms. I’m boneless, sated, and not entirely sure that I didn’t have an out-of-body experience.

“Let’s go to my place.” He kisses my forehead, then carries me through the back of the store, up a set of wide wooden steps, and into his loft above the store. Everything has been renovated, but still maintains an industrial flare. We pass an open kitchen with stainless steel appliances, a living room with a flat-screen TV, and then into a bedroom. He places me on the bed covered with a simple white comforter, then kneels and strips off my shoes and pants.

My mind begins to come back, and I suddenly feel my nakedness. I drape an arm across my breasts and press my thighs together.

He glances up, his eyes gleaming even in the low light. “You don’t have to hide from me. Every inch of you is beautiful.” He places sweet kisses along my knees and up both thighs, then skips up to my stomach. I try to tighten up, but he shakes his head against me.

“Relax.”

He lingers there and makes my body tremble with his soft lips against the stomach that I’ve worked for years to get rid of. “Gorgeous.”

He kisses northward, following the valley between my breasts to my throat and then to my lips.

“I should go,” I murmur against him. I want to stay, to see what else he has in store for me, but what we’ve done has already complicated things too much. We aren’t friends. Hell, I barely know him. This is a bad idea to top all other bad ideas, like bitter sprinkles on top of a regret sundae. Maybe I’m the same girl I was in high school—my love of sweets is still my downfall.

He kisses me gently and smooths my hair back from my face. “Why?”

“Because this is too much. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. I’m not the sort of girl who just jumps into bed with someone.”

He gives me a puzzled look. “I know you. You’ve known me for years.”

“Not like this.” I pull the corner of his comforter up to cover myself. “I should get home.”

“Wait.” He stands and backs away. “Just hear me out, okay?”

“Hear you out?” I stare at the hard length pressing against the front of his jeans. “You bake me a pie and then I just—I just—” I press my palm against my forehead. “I fall into your bed? What is wrong with me?”

“Nothing is wrong with you.” He walks over and sits next to me. “How many ways can I tell you that you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met? Inside and out.”

“But you don’t know that!” I huff out a breath as my reason wars with the happy emotions his words create inside me. “We’re strangers.”

“I know how you taste. Pretty sure that means we aren’t strangers.”

I glare at him, and he continues, “We went to school together. I thought you were hot and smart then. Turns out I was right. You went to college and became a business owner. More than that, you volunteer in the community, and everyone here loves you. Even my parents have told me how great you are. I may have been gone the past few years, but I kept up with you. How could I not? You are everything that I missed about home, all tied up in one beautiful package.”

The sincerity in his tone knocks a few more bricks off the wall I’ve tried to build between us. “You thought I was hot?”

“In school? Hell yes.” He gives me an incredulous stare. “Why do you think Pace Beverly went around bragging to everyone that he’d boned you?”

I cover my face with my hands. “I didn’t even know about that, and I find it really hard to believe.”

“It’s true. I swear. I still want to kick his ass for it. I didn’t even know what true jealousy felt like until the day he told me. I’d wanted you for so long.” He pulls my hands away from my face. “I swear it’s the truth.”

Either he was the best liar I’d ever encountered or he was being honest. “So, if all that’s true, why didn’t you ask me out?”

“Pace. We were friends. I didn’t want to cause problems. Shit.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I should have thrown all that aside and just asked. You were worth the fallout.”

I change tactics to try and avoid the warm feelings spinning through me. “What about you? You could be a serial killer, or worse, a dog person.”

He laughs. “Me? I did the usual college thing, then traveled like I said. I loved the freedom of it, but the entire time I was gone, I knew I’d come home eventually. To stay for good.”

“And you just had to open a candy shop?”

“Look.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me closer to him. “I know you think the shop is, I don’t know, like the nemesis of your studio, right?”

“Something like that.” I nod.

“It isn’t. People enjoy sweets. No matter how much they sweat it out in your studio, they’re still going to want to reward themselves or maybe just do something nice for someone they love. Candy is one of the most heartfelt ways to do that. Even if your students come to my shop sometimes, your studio will still be standing. And, hey, think about it like this. My shop will ensure that you always have clients. Right?” He waggles his eyebrows.

I laugh despite myself. “I haven’t thought of it that way.”

He kisses my jaw, his lips moving down to the spot right below my ear. “I’ve thought about it a lot. Ever since I got back to town and saw you doing downward dog across the way.”

I elbow him, but he keeps kissing me, tracing a path down to my shoulder. I breathe deeply as goosebumps race across my skin.

“You and candy have been the only things on my mind for the past few months.” He slides his hand under the blanket and grips my waist.

“You’ve been on my mind, too, but mostly in various stages of injury.”

“That so?” He bites my shoulder and pushes me onto my back.

I let him. “Yes.”

His hand roves higher and cups my breast. I press my thighs together as my core grows wet.

I run my hands through his hair and pull as he kisses down to my nipple. “Why does it have to be you? Of all the people, why did you have to come back and open that shop?”

“Destiny, maybe?” He sucks my stiff peak into his mouth, and I squeeze his hair harder.

“More like the devil.” I moan when he slides his hand between my legs and massages my clit.

He smiles against my breast and moves to the other one, sucking and licking me into a frenzy. When he sinks two fingers inside me, I bite my lip and work my hips against his hand.

“This is a bad idea.” I pull his head up to mine.

He kisses me and runs his knee between my thighs. “Right,” he murmurs against my lips.

“Bad.” I spread my legs wider and he puts both knees between them, then rises up and unbuckles his belt and undoes his jeans. When he flips his boxers down, his cock pops out, the shaft smooth and the head a light purple. He’s big, but not too big. I fear I may be in the Goldilocks situation—he looks just right.

“Jesus, I can feel your eyes on it.” He shucks his jeans and shorts and climbs on top of me. His mouth is insistent, and he kisses me harder while pinning my hands next to my head. I’ve never felt so owned by anyone.

His cock slides against my clit, and I make a keening sound into his mouth. His tongue swirls around mine as he rubs his cock back and forth against my slick folds. Thank god I’m on the pill, because he doesn’t seem inclined to stop, and I’m eager to feel him moving inside me. But then doubt creeps in.

“Wait.” I press my forehead against his. “I haven’t, um. I haven’t done this in a while, so I don’t know if I’m … I don’t know how good—”

He bites my bottom lip. “How many times do I have to tell you you’re perfect?” His nibble turns into a sweet kiss. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you as many times as you’ll let me.”

I smile against his lips. “Okay.”

“Good, now if I don’t get inside you, I might lose my mind.” He slides his tip lower, and I dig my heels into the backs of his thighs.

He pushes forward slightly. I feel a pinch and then that delicious friction.

“You’re so wet for me.” He slides farther in and stops so I can adjust. His arms shake as he kisses me.

I press my palms flat against his back, urging him forward. He sinks fully inside me, and I moan at the sensation of stretching to accommodate him.

“God, Hank.” My voice shakes on an exhale, and my body hums against his.

He slides out and then back in. “So fucking sexy.”

“Don’t stop.” I run my nails down his back as he starts a steady, slow rhythm.

My breasts rub against his hard chest, making the tips even harder. I entwine my hands around his neck and hold on as he increases his tempo.

“I feel like I’ve gone back to when we were seventeen.” He lifts his head, and I lick along the line of his Adam’s apple. He groans. “Because, Jesus, you’re tight, and I don’t know how long I’ll last.”

I spread my legs wider, my heels toward the ceiling as he pistons into me, both of us breathing hard as he works me over. Each stroke increases the tension in my clit, and I curl my toes.

He lifts up on one elbow and licks the thumb of his free hand before snaking it between us. When he presses on my clit, I jolt and dig my nails into his shoulders. His touches make my legs shake. I can feel myself clenching tighter and tighter as he strokes me inside and out.

“I’m close.” I stare up into his eyes.

He’s drawn tight, each thrust eliciting a masculine grunt, and his thumb keeps pace with his hips.

“Come, because I’m there.” He embeds himself deeply and strokes my clit.

My hips seize and I come on a deep moan. Each wave rolls through me until I’m completely awash in pleasure. Only when I’m coming back down does he pull out.

“Fuck.” He strokes himself, and I lean up and watch as he coats my pussy. It’s the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen.

When he’s finished, I collapse back onto the bed.

He leans over and presses a kiss to my lips. “That was hotter than my cayenne chocolates.”

“You and your sweets.” I try to sound disapproving, but my smile overcomes it.

He drops another kiss on me. “You’re the sweetest of all.”