The car ride is mostly quiet, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I had originally intended to come down on her in the kitchen. The fact that she lied to me – to my family – still doesn’t sit well with me. When it came down to it and I was looking into those big, blue doe eyes of hers, I just couldn't bring the hammer down. Sasha looked so vulnerable – so lost – in that moment, all I wanted to do was comfort her.

I’ve honestly never had that kind of reaction before. I'm not even remotely the nurturing type. And yet, as I sat across from her in the kitchen and listened to her stories about her childhood – and all of the emotional baggage she carries because of it – I couldn't help but be kind and sensitive to her struggles.

I think she might be misreading the situation with her sister. Like I told her, Chris and I don't always agree on things, but I never doubt that he loves and respects me. And that counts for something.

Sure, there are some families that are so abusive and dysfunctional that some relationships can never be repaired. Based on what she told me though, I don't think Sasha's family is in that same category. I tend to think that Sasha's sister just doesn't understand her. She didn't have the same experiences growing up. It sounds like she was protected from the worst of it. I have a feeling that an honest conversation would clear things up and bring the two of them a lot closer together.

I know it’s not my place to force that, though. In fact, after I drop her off, it’s likely I’ll never see Sasha again. Which is a shame. She's had such a strong impact on me in such a short amount of time that I find myself wanting to know more about her. I want to spend time with her and explore the feelings she's evoked in me. This desire to understand her is unlike anything I've ever felt before. It has me feeling totally disconcerted – and curious.

“Do you have any idea what you're going to say to them?” she asks.

“I'll probably tell them you got a work call in the middle of the night and had to fly back to Boston on a red-eye flight or something,” I explain. “Seems feasible enough.”

“What about your brother? He'll obviously know –”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say. “I’ll take care of Chris. It'll all work out just fine.”

She slumps back into her seat, apparently out of questions to ask. I check the GPS and take the next right. Sasha’s family lives in a working-class suburb. The homes are small and simple, and most of them are well-maintained and tidy. There's the occasional house with an overgrown yard full of trash and rusted-out cars, but for the most part, it's a nice neighborhood.

I can tell by the way she's anxiously perched in the passenger's seat, staring straight ahead at the road in front of us, that she's embarrassed by her surroundings. Coming from Shadow Pines to this is really nothing to be ashamed of. I get the idea, however, that Sasha thinks I’m judging her. I’m not. I know how privileged my family is.

A soft chime goes off on the GPS and I pull to a stop at the curb in front of a simple, attractive, ranch-style house. I turn to her and give her a hesitant smile.

“I guess this is it,” I say.

She nods, with something like sadness reflected in her eyes. “Yeah. Guess so,” she says. “Listen, thank you –”

I hold up my hand to stop her. “Don't worry about it,” I say. “It's all good.”

We sit there in silence, just staring at one another. The air between us is saturated with expectation. I know it's for the best that we part ways now. We exist in two entirely different worlds. We've got opposite personalities and values. She's an artist. I'm a lawyer. She's a free spirit and I’m anything but.

As nice as it would be for us to overcome those basic, fundamental differences and be together, it's just not reality.

“Well, I should probably get inside,” Sasha says.

“Yeah, probably so.”

“Thanks for the lift,” she says. “And for letting me con you out of a couple of days’ vacation.”

I chuckle. “Anytime.”

She makes no move to get out, though. Without giving myself a chance to overthink it anymore, I suddenly lean forward and kiss her. Her entire body tenses for a moment and I panic, thinking I must have misread her signals. But then, her lips part and she slips her tongue into my mouth.

Our kiss is intense and passionate. My entire body is on fire as our tongues swirl and dance together. I shift in my seat as my cock starts to grow uncomfortably hard, straining almost painfully against my jeans.

I run my hands up her back and grab a thick handful of her dark hair. Giving it a gentle tug, I pull her head back. Sasha moans as I kiss her neck, giving her flesh a sharp nip. I plant a line of kisses along her neck and collarbone as I slide my hand up and cup her beautiful breast. I squeeze it, rubbing her hard nipple through her shirt with my thumb.

Sasha gasps and writhes beneath my touch, her kisses, like her breath, growing increasingly more frantic by the second. Grabbing her hand, I pull it, guiding her to grab my cock through my jeans. I slide my hands up her shirt as she rubs me, relishing how her soft skin and tight body feels beneath my fingertips.

I push her shirt up around her neck and lean down, running the tip of my tongue just above her breasts, then giving her nipples a nip through the fabric of her bra, making her moan even louder.

I slide my hand down and run it up her thigh, reveling in the feel or her warmth through her skintight yoga pants. It’s still not enough, though, so I grab the waistband of her pants.

“Lift,” I command.

She obeys quickly, raising her hips, allowing me to pull her pants and panties down around her knees. Lust is burning high and bright inside of me as I slowly push two fingers into the warm, wet center of her. Sasha gasps and pushes her head back against the headrest, squeezing her eyes shut as I start to finger her, my fingers sliding in and out of her sweet pussy with ease.

Kissing her deeply, I increase my tempo, drawing a muffled sound from her as my fingers explore her fully. I feel her body tensing as she digs her nails into my forearm, making me inhale sharply.

“Fuck,” she mutters. “Yes, Miles.”

I carefully slide my fingers out of her pussy and into my mouth, tasting them one by one.

“Delicious,” I whisper. “So sweet.”

She suddenly moves forward, pressing her mouth to mine. She forces her tongue into my mouth, our animalistic kiss turning me on even more. Sasha grabs at my belt, doing her best to get it undone. I reach down and help her out before unzipping my jeans. Sasha quickly pulls out my hard length and slowly takes it into her mouth.

I look at the landscape beyond the windshield. I can’t believe this is happening. The world outside is cast in the moon’s silvery monochromatic light. As I look around, I notice a light on inside the house – one that wasn’t been on when we first arrived – and I wonder if someone – her sister, maybe –is waiting up for her. I'm surprised to see a shadow move across the window this late at night. But then the light goes off again, and the house falls dark once more. I'm not worried about anybody peeking out and seeing us – the windows of the SUV are tinted dark enough that no one can see what we're doing in here. Honestly, just the idea of being caught gives it an added thrill.

Sasha moans around my cock, the vibration of her voice making me shiver. Her lips tighten around me and she firmly grips my cock, her hand and mouth moving in perfect sync.

“Christ,” I mutter. “This feels fucking amazing.”

This is insane. Going from being conned by this woman to fooling around in my brother’s tricked-out SUV is throwing me for a loop. What's making my head spin even harder are the feelings Sasha is evoking in me. I’m not a “love at first sight” kind of guy. While I wouldn't call what I feel for Sasha love, it's definitely something on the romantic spectrum. I like her a lot. She intrigues me. Liar or not, deep down, I'm still really fucking glad she's not Christopher's girlfriend.

I grip her hair and pull her away as the pressure inside of me starts to build. As amazing as this feels, I'm not ready for this to end. Not until I've been inside of her. If this is our only time together, so be it. But I'm not going to let it end without knowing how it feels to have my cock buried deep inside of her.

“Take your pants the rest of the way off,” I say, my voice thick with desire. “Now.”

She gives me a salacious smile and obeys my command without hesitation, sliding her pants off and kicking them onto the floorboard. I lean over her and open up the glove compartment. This is Neal's car, but I know my brother – he's a player and he's always prepared. And sure enough, there's a box of condoms inside.

I pull one out and tear open the package, dropping it on the floor, and rolling it over my hard length. The light of desire in Sasha's eyes is burning bright as she bites her bottom lip, looking almost desperate to have me inside of her. When the condom is fully on, I jump over into the passenger seat before pulling her down on top of me.

Sasha climbs in my lap as she stares into my eyes for a long moment. She leans forward and kisses me hard as she lifts herself up and slips my dick between the soft, velvety folds of her lips. She lowers herself onto me, taking my cock into her as slowly and deliberately as possible.

Locking her hands around the back of my neck, Sasha takes me the rest of the way inside of her. We remain like that, our gazes locked, our bodies completely motionless as she adjusts to my thick cock.

“Mm, yes,” she moans, wincing slightly. “This feels fucking amazing.”

“Fuck me, Sasha,” I instruct, my voice gruff. “Fuck me now.”

Sasha starts to slowly ride me as the pain either fades or gives way to pleasure, because she starts to move faster, bouncing up and down on my cock.

“Mm, yes” she moans. “God, yes.”

Sasha thrusts herself up and down, impaling herself on my cock again and again, her moaning growing louder and more insistent. I can tell she's hurtling toward the precipice and is going to come soon – and I'm not all that far behind her.

Reaching out, I grab hold of the smooth, taut skin of her ass and squeeze it, a low growl escaping my throat.

“Yeah, baby,” she moans. “Just like that.”

She bites her bottom lip and starts to fuck me harder, taking me even deeper than before.

I grip her ass again, harder this time, and she cries out. Her entire body shudders and she leans her forehead against mine, trembling hard as her orgasm comes crashing down over her. Sasha's breathing is ragged, and her pussy pulses around my shaft, squeezing me tight.

Slowly she raises her head, a look of pure ecstasy upon her face. She grips my shoulders, her nails digging in, and starts to fuck me again. She grinds down on me, her eyes locked on mine, a wicked smile upon her lips.

“Come for me, Miles,” Sasha gasps.

The combination of her movements and her command does me in. My fingertips press into the flesh of her ass as my cock starts to throb and pulse. A moment later, I erupt, filling the condom inside her.

Sasha falls forward, collapsing against me, and together, we ride out the waves of pleasure, clinging to one another. Eventually, our breathing returns to normal and our desperate heartrates slow. My deflated cock slips out of her and Sasha takes the opportunity to slide off my lap.

Reaching down, I pull my pants back up and jump over to the driver's seat to give her some room. Her face is turned away and she doesn't seem to want to look at me as she quickly pulls her pants back on.

“You okay?” I ask.

She nods but doesn't say anything else. Finally, after a few minutes, she looks up at me and her eyes are shimmering with unshed tears – tears she seems to be refusing to let fall. I reach out to stroke her cheek, but she recoils. A needle of hurt lances my heart as I look at her.

“Sasha, what's wrong?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “Nothing,” she says. “I need to go.”

I quickly pull my wallet out of my pocket and fish out a card as she gathers her things. I press it into her hand and look her in the eye.

“This is my cell phone number,” I say. “Call me, Sasha. I want to see you again.”

“Sure,” she replies coldly.

Her tone completely betrays her words. I know she has no intention of calling me. For the first time in my life, I find myself not wanting to walk away from someone, but actively chase her. Something about this woman just fits with me. I don't want to let Sasha walk away. I don't want this to just be a one-time thing.

She grabs the door handle and I reach out to take her arm. She rounds on me, a look of defiance and anger crossing her features. She quickly composes herself though and her expression softens – somewhat. I remove my hand and lean back.

“Sasha, what in the hell is wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing,” she answers. “I just – I need to go.”

“Will you call me?”

“I told you I would,” she says.

“Yeah, I know you did,” I reply. “But it wasn’t convincing. I know when I'm getting ghosted.”

“I doubt that,” she says, “I'm almost positive you've never been ghosted in your life.”

“That's not fair.”

“Life isn't fair, Miles,” she says, casting a wary eye at her house.

The light inside comes on again. Sasha's body tenses up and her mood seems to sour even further.

“Great,” she says. “I guess Sarah's waiting up for me.”

“How did she know you were coming?”

Sasha looks at me like I'm the dumbest man alive. “Because I texted her and told her I'd be in tonight.”

“Right,” I say, feeling stupid as hell.

She opens the door and climbs out. I open my mouth to say something that will hopefully convince her to actually call me, but she cuts me off.

“Thanks for the last couple of days and for – well – tonight,” she says. “It was great. It really was.”

With that, she closes the door before I can reply and sprints up to the front door of her house. And all I can do is sit here and watch her leave. I feel like an idiot. I saw the longing in her eyes before she closed the door. I know she doesn't want this to be the last time we see each other just as much as I do.

I know she feels the connection between us just as much as I do. I felt it in her kiss and the way she moved her body with mine.

I don't think I'm wrong about what I saw in her face – in her eyes. Sasha knows there’s something going on between us just as much as I do.

What in the hell am I going to do about it now?