Worst night of my life. I couldn’t sleep; I just tossed and turned, knowing that I caused this mess.

Coming here was a huge mistake. I wanted to meet her family as me, not Tate Gunner. And now that’s all Charlotte sees: a selfish, lying asshole.

Today, I have to make myself heard. Whatever the cost.

I step out into the hall and walk toward her room. I knock, but no one answers. Great, so she’s ignoring me already. Well, I might as well get some breakfast. Coffee is the only thing that’s going to get me through the next twenty-four hours.

I turn the corner to find my girlfriend had the same idea. She’s by the coffee pot, pouring herself a large cup. She looks like hell, too. Bags under her eyes, slack cheeks, pale complexion.

“Good morning,” I say wearily. “Sleep well?”

She glances up and scowls. “No. How could I?”

“Charlotte—”

She holds up a hand. “Don’t. Just…don’t. I don’t want to fight anymore at my dad’s.”

I glance around. “Where is your dad, anyway?”

“He volunteers at the animal shelter on Sunday mornings.”

“Oh…I would have liked to go.”

“Why? So you can make it another press op?”

“No! Goddammit, I don’t care if you’re mad at me, but don’t assume I’m some media-crazed dick. I never wanted this, any of this!”

“You mean me, don’t you?”

“Yes—I mean no.” I clench my teeth. For an actor who’s swept plenty of leading ladies off their feet, I’m sounding pretty lame right about now.

“I knew it,” Charlotte says bitterly. “I knew I was only a prop.”

“No—”

“Just some pretty face to get you another movie contract.”

I glare at her. “That’s not how it is.”

“So all those things you said, all those things you made me feel, they were lies?”

“No! Listen to me—”

“Why? So you can feed me more bullshit?”

“Goddammit!” I stride over to her and grab her hand. She tries to tug it away, but I grip harder. “Charlotte, it may have started as an act, but it’s not anymore.”

“How can I believe that?” she demands, twisting her hand in mine.

“Everything I said, everything I’ve felt these past few weeks, has been real.”

“Yeah, right.”

“It’s the truth!”

She gives a dry laugh. “You’re an actor, Tate! A good one, too. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore.”

“This is real,” I growl, pulling her into my arms and bringing my lips crashing down on hers.

She yanks her head back and pushes against me with her fists. “Stop! You don’t mean it.”

“Don’t pretend to know how I feel.”

Charlotte gapes at me.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” I say. “You’re everywhere—my mind, my dreams, my bed, my shower. I can’t get you out of my head.”

“Tate…”

I glare at her. “I’ve never felt this way about someone before. Never. And I know you feel the same.”

“I don’t,” she whispers.

“Really? I see the way you stare at me when you don’t think I’m looking. The way your eyes linger on my chest and my lips. The way your face flushes and body trembles when I come too close.”

Charlotte shuts her eyes against my words. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Yes I do. Because it’s the same way I feel about you.”

Her eyes fly open. “What?”

“You’re mine, Charlotte. My girl.”

She cranes her neck back and meets my eyes. “I-I don’t understand.”

“The thought of you with another man…with Jay…” A tendon jumps in my neck. “I wanted to break his face when I caught him cornering you in that bar. And I will the next time I see him.”

“No, Tate. Don’t—”

“What he did to you? It makes me seethe. He’s weak and needs to be taught a lesson.”

She tugs her hand in my grasp. “I told you, it’s not his fault!”

I pin her arms to her sides. “I thought I told you never to say that again. You’re a goddess, Charlotte. Incredible. You were right to not give yourself to that boy. You deserve to be with a real man.”

“A real man? Like…you?” Her eyes soften as her face relaxes. She licks her lips, almost sending me over the edge. “What do I deserve, Tate?”

I stare at her, my breath coming in quick bursts. Is she—

“What do you want to do to me?” she whispers.

Holy shit.

I release her, allowing the distance between us to widen. I’m one step away from crossing the line I’ve been toeing for weeks. I gaze into her wide, innocent eyes and see my own desire mirrored in hers. But I have to hold back. She needs to take that final step toward me. I have to know she wants this as desperately as I do.

“I could tell you,” I murmur, “but I’d rather show you.”

Charlotte closes the gap between us and reaches for me. I watch in slow motion as she glides her fingertips down my chest, over my abs, to my groin. She stops and tightens her grip. She takes a deep, shuddering breath, and parts her lips.

“I give myself to you,” she whispers.

I grab her hips with my hands, digging my fingers into her soft flesh, and yank her to me in one swift movement. She throws her arms around my neck and rocks up onto her toes, meeting my eager lips with hers. I snake my arms around her slim waist and press her sweet curves into my unyielding chest.

I drink her in, meeting her hungry tongue with my own. She’s like pure cocaine to my senses, so potent, so powerful. At least this time I know I can get my fill.

I lift her off the ground and step toward the counter. Her legs wrap around my waist and pull my groin toward her sweet center. My dick pulses against the thin fabric of my sweatpants, digging into her soft inner thigh.

Charlotte tilts her head back and gasps. “Tate,” she moans, her eyes fluttering shut.

I leave a trail of kisses down her neck to her collarbone. I go lower, teasing and sucking her creamy skin as I find my prize. I tug her tank top down and reveal a lacy black bra.

I glance up and meet her eyes. “Black? I always pictured you in white.”

Charlotte grins at me. “I may be a virgin, but I’m not that innocent.”

“Charlotte,” I growl, taking her lips with mine into a crushing kiss. “Keep that up and I’m going to take you on this kitchen counter.”

Her eyes go wide. “I wouldn’t say no.”

“No.” I step back and pitch her over my shoulder, caveman style.

“Tate!”

“If I’m doing this, I’m doing this right.” I stride down the hall to my bedroom and lay her gently down onto the bed. I stand over her, enjoying my view of the beautiful, sexy woman that I’m about to have. “You deserve so much more than a quickie on a counter…”

I kneel on the bed and plant my hands on either side of her head. I drag my fingertips down her cheek to her neck, fingering her delicate collarbone. “You deserve the world, and I’m going to give it to you.”

I move my hand over to the strap of her tank top. “First, I’m going to strip you down,” I say, dragging the strap over her shoulder and down her arm. She shudders under my touch. I reach for the other strap and pull it down, moving slowly and with purpose.

After those pesky straps are free, I move to her chest, gliding my palm up her arm to the low-cut collar of her top. I grab a fistful of the tight fabric and yank, ripping it as I tug it down her stomach and over her hips. She whimpers and turns her head away.

I palm her cheek, waiting for her eyes to meet mine. “You’re safe, Char. I would never hurt you.”

She bites her lip.

“It won’t be easy for me,” I murmur, “but I’ll take it slow. You won’t forget this, I promise.”

I slide my palm down her flushed neck to her shoulder, thumbing the strap of her black bra. My dick strains against my pants, wanting its release, but I can’t give in yet. There’s still so much to do.

I move lower, tracing the curve of her breasts and outside of her ribs with my fingers as I head for her cotton pajamas. They’re pink with white flowers—delicate, innocent—like the woman who lies under me. I slide my hands under the hem and pull, gliding them down her thighs and over her ankles before dropping them to the floor.

“Charlotte…” I breathe, raking my eyes over the goddess under me. A matching pair of black panties meets my hungry eyes; so dark against her creamy skin. “You’re so beautiful.”

Charlotte flushes at the compliment. She parts her lips and darts her tongue over her bottom lip, wetting it for me to taste.

“I don’t think I can hold on much longer,” I mutter through clenched teeth.

She lifts herself on one elbow and reaches behind her back. “I don’t want you to, Tate.” She unclips her bra, letting the straps fall off her milky shoulders. Her perfect, full breasts tumble out as the lingerie drops to her side.

“I’m ready for you,” she whispers.

That’s all I need.

I throw myself off the bed and walk to the nightstand, snatching up my wallet and pulling out a condom. I toss it on the bed and tug my white t-shirt over my head. My pants soon join it on the floor.

“Oh my God…” Charlotte drags her eyes over my chiseled pecs and abs, her gaze pooling on my bulging package. I keep my eyes on hers as I grab the waistband of my briefs and tug them down. My cock springs free as they drift to the floor.

Charlotte’s breath comes in pants as she races her eyes over my thickness, erect and impatient for what’s coming. I move to the bed and take her in my arms, enjoying her soft breasts and smooth skin against my chest. “I’ll go slow,” I whisper into her ear. I take a deep breath of her heady scent and moan.

I press her thighs apart, pushing them against the cool sheets, and then glide my fingers down her stomach to her panties, slipping under them and dragging them down her legs. Her breath hitches as I tug them over her feet, laying her bare beneath me. Every beautiful, delicate detail is exposed to my greedy eyes.

“You’ve never let a man touch you?” I ask, my gaze lingering on the soft golden hair nestled between her thighs.

“Not this far,” she says softly.

“Damn,” I mutter, shutting my eyes.

Go slow, Tate. Go slow.

But when I open them and meet her lust-drenched orbs, all willpower leaves me.

I reach over and grab the condom, ripping it open and pulling it out in one quick motion. I slide it on my cock and position myself between her legs. I gaze down at her as I ease into her, wanting to see her react to my fullness. Wanting to watch her as she takes her first dick.

I push inside her, gliding into her tightness with slow thrusts.

“Tate!” she gasps, closing her eyes and biting her lip. Her walls quiver and clench around me as I go deeper. I only stop once I’ve filled her with every inch of me.

“Are you okay?”

Her eyes flutter open as she nods. “Kiss me…”

I take her lips with mine, sucking and pulling her soft mouth with my own. I start moving inside her, pulsing in rhythm with my kisses, as she adjusts to my girth. Soon her hips are moving with mine, rocking up to meet me with hard, needy thrusts.

“Yes,” she moans, pulling her lips from mine. She arches her back against the bed, angling herself so I can go deeper. I’m more than happy to give her what she wants.

I push harder as I lean down and take her breast in my mouth, teasing and flicking her nipple with my warm tongue until it’s hard.

She bucks under me, wrapping her legs around my hips and pulling me closer, matching each of my drives with one of her own. She threads her fingers through my hair and tugs, sending delicious tingles of pain throughout my body. It just makes me want her more.

I thrust faster, sliding in and out of her sheath with deep, quick thrusts. The euphoric rush of my orgasm comes within reach, and I suck harder on her soft breast until she’s begging for more. I’m moments away from coming, but I hold back, wanting to witness Charlotte’s first orgasm at my hand. I feel her walls shudder around me and I know she’s close.

“Oh God…” She closes her eyes as the orgasm overtakes her, tightening her legs around my waist and digging her heels into my back. I watch as the pleasure washes over her, intoxicating her and drenching her senses in ecstasy.

“Tate—” She arches deeper into me, grabbing another fistful of my hair. The sound of my name on her lips sends me over the edge. I hold her tightly as I come, my warmth leaving me in quick, euphoric bursts of intense pleasure. I thrust again before falling against the bed in blissful exhaustion.

We stay like that for what feels like a lifetime but must only be minutes; I enjoying her softness under me, the heady scene of her sweat against my nostrils, and her clinging to my torso, pressing her smooth cheek against my stubbly chin.

“Char?” I murmur into her neck. “Was it everything you hoped it would be?”

Charlotte pulls back and gazes up at me. “Everything and more, famous guy.”

I grin at her, kissing her nose lightly with my lips. “Good. Wouldn’t want to disappoint…darlin’.”

* * *

Sometime later, after I’ve pulled her under the covers and into my arms, Charlotte turns to look at me. “What is it?” I ask.

“Nothing,” she says, a secretive smile on her lips.

“Ah…” I nuzzle my cheek against the top of her head “Can’t drag your eyes away, again?”

“Something like that,” she says, giving me a playful scowl. She lies her head down in the crook of my shoulder and sighs. Soon her eyelids start to droop and her lips soften into a faint smile.

“I can’t take my eyes off of you either, babe,” I whisper once her breathing deepens and evens out. And then I lie back, close my eyes, and succumb to a satisfied slumber of my own.