When Kitty started to slow down, I knew it was time to leave. So, after clipping the leash onto her collar, I slipped my arm around Sara’s shoulders and walked home with a beautiful girl on either side.

Then I spent the next hour waiting impatiently in my apartment while Sara went back to her place to change her clothes. Evidently, there was a limit as to how many run-ins I was allowed to have with her mother. I didn’t push it—I’d rather spend some time with her mom and stepfather over dinner than not get to know them at all during the quick run-in-run-back-out Sara was doing today.

At least I got in a decent shower while she was gone.

Plus, turned out I was a big fan of how Sara said hello—that first kiss held all kinds of promises for what we’d be doing later. We spent the rest of the day playing with Kitty and then, once Kitty decided to take a nap, Sara and I got into bed and played with each other.

Pushing her hair out of my way as I went, I traced across her shoulder with my fingertips, then down her spine. “Women are so lucky. If men had bodies like this, we’d never make it out of the house. We’d spend all day fondling ourselves.”

“As if you don’t already.”

“Hey, that’s not fair—I take breaks. Otherwise I’d never have met you and gotten to fondle your beautiful body.”

“Poor Declan. He’s gorgeous, and his body is all hard and muscular. I can’t imagine what an awful cross to bear that is.”

I laughed. “You have no idea.” I grabbed her by the hip bone, curling my fingers around it and pulling her tighter to me. “You need to eat more.”

“No, I don’t.”

“You’re all bony.” When I squeezed her hip bone, she giggled and tried to squirm away. But I held on. “See? Proof you need to eat more.”

She turned her head to look at me. “Want me to tell you a secret?”

“Hell, yes. Especially if it involves a fantasy about licking chocolate and whipped cream off me.”

“That’s no secret.” She laughed and moved my hand from her bony hip to the softness of her belly.

“Much better,” I said, curling my hand around the feminine curve there.

“You’re weird.” She seemed to be in a playful mood, not a nervous or embarrassed one like she’d been during our conversation in the dive bar, but I couldn’t be sure.

I’d hoped she would eventually be willing to explain what she couldn’t then. So, was this it? “Are you going to tell me your secret or not?”

“Yes, but by telling you, I’m breaking an important girl rule, so if you repeat it, I’ll deny it.”

“I’m good at keeping secrets.”

“Good. Okay, here it is: While no woman will ever admit this, ninety-nine percent of us are afraid of letting a guy touch our stomachs when we’re lying on our sides.”

“I don’t get it. That makes no sense.”

“It totally does!” She rolled onto her back. “See how nice and flat my stomach looks when I’m on my back? That’s hot, right?”

“Extremely.”

“Sweet, but watch what happens.”

I had no idea where she was going with this but was happy to watch her do anything, especially when she was naked.

“Promise you won’t laugh.” She flipped onto her side again. Except this time, she faced me.

“I promise laughing is the last activity I hope happens next.”

“Look!” She grabbed her belly and shook her hand as if there were something there to jiggle.

“Still hot. Still not laughing. And still not understanding what the big secret is.”

“It’s my pudge! When we lie on our sides, gravity moves whatever is normally on our hips to our bellies and makes them look all poochy.”

“You’re insane.”

“No, I’m not. All women worry about this.”

“Okay, then all women are insane. Do you actually think that crosses a man’s mind when he sees a naked woman lying on her side? Or any other position?”

She shrugged with one shoulder. “Who knows what men think.”

“Then I’m going to let you in on a not-so secret about men.” I leaned closer and whispered, “We don’t think. At least not while we’re around women we’re attracted to.” I shook my head. “Actually, that’s not quite true. We think about what we can do to get them naked, what it’d be like to sleep with them, and even though it’s never happened to me, I’ve heard other men worry about how well they’d perform if they ever got the woman naked.”

“You’ve never worried about that?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Nope. You probably want to know why.”

“Absolutely.”

“Sorry, can’t tell you. It’s a secret. And like I said, I’m good at keeping secrets.”

As soon as I started to laugh, she smacked me on the chest, grumbling something about putting her clothes back on to punish me. And I wasn’t about to let her get away with that.

---

The next morning, I woke up to the best alarm clock in the world. Instead of the blaring screech of a machine, this one made low, mewing sounds, and was hot, and could take most of my cock in her mouth. I flipped the sheet off so I could watch her.

“Morning.” My voice was still scratchy from sleep, but obviously, the rest of me was definitely up.

She crawled up my body, still stroking the length of my cock. I wrapped my hand around the nape of her neck and pulled her down to me, our mouths opening as soon as our lips met.

I wanted to be inside her when we came, and I was already a hell of a lot closer than she was.

“Slow down.” I put my hand over hers and set a rhythm I could handle without exploding before I wanted to. Unfortunately, my hand on top of hers tightened her grip and increased the friction of every stroke. And it felt too good to tell her to stop.

With my other hand, I blindly reached over to the nightstand for a condom. As soon as I felt the rough edge of plastic, I thanked the heavens and ripped it open. Slipping the condom over my erection was a bittersweet moment—she had to let go of me before I could get it on, but the faster it was on, the sooner I’d be inside her.

She must have been thinking the same thing because before I’d rolled it down all the way, she’d thrown her leg over me and started to sink down my cock.

“Slowly,” I begged, knowing she would do whatever the hell she wanted to, and all I could do was pray I didn’t come too quickly.

Once she’d taken all of me in, she started moving, a small smile on her lips. I immediately focused my attention on getting her to the finish line as soon as possible, so I wouldn’t spend the rest of the day feeling inadequate. But she felt so fucking good.

I held her hips, angling her so that her clit brushed against me every time she rocked forward and backward. Moaning, she spread her hands out on my chest, her fingers digging into the muscle.

Her breathing sped as she slid up and down my cock, ignoring my request that she take pity on me and go slow. I slipped my hand between us and made tiny circles with my thumb to intensify her pleasure, trying different levels of pressure until I found the one that made her lose control.

Unfortunately, the louder her moaning, the harder it was to hold myself back. Once she started cursing and tightening her muscles around my cock, I gave up on the idea of going slow. I clutched her hips and thrust upwards, pushing inside her as deeply as I could.

Her eyes popped open, and she looked down at me, begging me to continue. The pace was punishing, and there was no way I’d be able to keep it up for much longer. But I could see, hear, and feel how close she was.

“Touch yourself,” I said breathlessly, wishing I had a third hand and could do it myself.

She nodded silently and brought her hand between us. Ten seconds later, she couldn’t even groan anymore. Instead, she found her full voice and used it. Each thrust pushed out a higher and louder moan.

“Oh fuck.” My pleasure receptors had taken over, and I no longer had any control over my body. I was right on the edge and couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it from happening.

Pressing my hips up even harder as I came, I heard Sara cry out. When her body clenched, the pressure around my cock was almost painful and moving was impossible. So, I pulled her closer and let her rock against me until she’d finished riding out her orgasm.

She unlocked her elbows and flopped down on top of me, mumbling, “Good morning,” into my neck.

“Hell yeah, it is.”

---

Twenty minutes later, she jumped out of bed, too quickly for me to drag her back in. “You’re going to get me fired, Declan!”

Huh. Why had it never occurred to me that she had a normal job with normal hours? I unhappily let go of her so she could put her clothes on.

Then I sat up and asked, “You work at a personal assistant company, right?”

“It’s a virtual assistant company, but close enough.” She squished up her face. “The thing is…I did something stupid, and it could’ve really hurt my friend’s business, so I’m in mea culpa mode right now. Gotta earn back her trust, which you are not helping with, by the way. She gives me a lot of latitude, and I set my own hours within reason, but I’ve been pushing it big time since you started annoying me.”

“Can I come annoy you at work?”

She stopped and looked directly at me. “Why would you want to do that?”

“You visited me at work. I figure it’s only fair.”

She paused for a second, her head tilted to the side, her eyes sizing me up.

“Unless I’d embarrass you, of course.”

“You’re totally embarrassing, but I’m already used to that. Now, I’m just trying to picture how you’d look in a suit.”

“And…?”

A smile slowly appeared on her face. “Not too shabby, Mr. Hollis.”

“Fuck, that’s hot. If I hire you as my assistant, will you call me Mr. Hollis from now on?”

“Sure, but we’d have to stop sleeping together, and we’d only be able to communicate via email, chat, or phone.”

“World’s biggest deal-breaker right there. It’s fine, though—I don’t need an assistant.”

“What do you need?”

Even before I’d answered, her expression told me she was afraid of what I might say. I could’ve made a joke and let the moment pass as if it had never happened. But I didn’t want this moment to pass. I wanted to use every single second we had together to remind her how right this was. Until there was no way she could pretend otherwise. I just had to find a way to do it without coming off like an obsessed psycho and scaring her away.

So what did I need?

Well, I could’ve gone with the cliché—“you”—or the predictable—“someone incredible”—or maybe the honest—“a hot-as-hell woman who terrifies me a little”—or even the respectable—“a partner.” All of them were true, but none of them were quite right.

Fuck it. “I need someone who really sees me for who I am and who cares about me anyway. Who keeps me on my toes, and who isn’t afraid to call me on my bullshit.”

She was silent, her mouth open a little, her eyes blinking a lot.

“Do you know anybody like that, Sara?” I asked quietly, giving her time.

“You mean someone who wants the exact same things?”

“Uh…” No, that’s not what I’d meant. But I could tell that’s what she meant, what she was admitting she needed. In a way she could expose her vulnerable side without letting her walls come down even an inch.

Whoever messed her up had done a hell of an efficient job with it. If I ever found out who, I’d have to set up a solid alibi and come up with a lie Trevor could remember.

“I’m going to ask you a question right now, but I don’t want to scare you off. Ready?”

She grimaced. “Not with an intro like that, I’m not.”

“You can answer it, or we can pretend I never said anything. It’s totally up to you.”

“Okay.” She extended the word and swallowed.

“Are you showing me who you really are, Sara? Or are you still afraid?”

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said, laughing lightly.

“Not physically, no. But that’s just because you know you could take me if you wanted to.”

Her laugh grew. “How could I take you?”

“By getting that hungry look in your eyes. Or brushing just one fingertip across my skin. Do that, and four seconds later, I’m flat on my back, exposing all my important bits, incapable of defending myself from you.” I showed her what I meant by lying back down, the sheet barely covering anything.

She proved it to both of us by jumping onto the bed and straddling me, then holding my hands and forcing them over my head.

“See what I mean?” Letting her hold most of me still, I lifted my head to try to reach her lips.

She shied away. “Oh man! I can’t believe you’re such a wuss! I’m not sure I like this submissive side of you.”

“No? Well, then…” I slipped my hands out of hers, grabbed her by the waist, and spun us both until I was on top of her. “This better?”

“Much,” she said, fighting my grip. Her breath was coming fast—not from exertion but excitement. So, my girl liked to play. This just kept getting better and better.

“You going to answer my question, or are we going to pretend I didn’t ask?”

She stopped squirming. “Yes. I’m showing you who I really am.” Her eyes softened. “And yes, I’m still afraid. Not that you’re going to hurt me, but…”

I waited, relaxing my grip more so she didn’t feel trapped—literally or figuratively.

“I’m afraid that once you find out who I really am, you’ll be disappointed.”

“Hmm…” I rolled off her so I could think with my head instead of my cock. “You shouldn’t worry too much about that. Every second we spend together you somehow get better. So, I guess that makes me a little nervous, too, because it’s that much harder to believe you’re real.”

“You mean that?”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that question because it was stupid. Of course, I meant it.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of bed. “But right now, we need to get going. I’d feel awful if I got you fired, especially since we’ve already determined that Mr. Hollis doesn’t want to hire you.”