We are standing at the threshold of Tessa’s bedroom, and I’m tight with anticipation.

She puts her hand on the door and glances back at me over her shoulder, flashing me the sweetest of all smiles.

My heart melts a little more. I don’t know what she’s doing to me, or how she’s doing it, but right now I want her more than I’ve ever wanted another woman in my entire life.

I look at her mouth and when I speak my voice is a harsh rasp. “Open the door, Tessa.”

She twists and flings the door open and we step inside.

Full of lavenders and whites, and flowers, her room is exactly as I pictured it. Her bed is so innocent it makes me rage with the things I want to do to her on it. Things I’ve been dreaming about. Lusting after. Things that will finally be a reality.

With her leading the way, we walk to the edge of the bed. I put my hands on her hips, dipping my head low to lick my tongue along her neck. I whisper in her ear, “I want you so bad.”

I feel her swallow against my lips. “You do?”

“I do.” I want to say that this means something to me. That she means something to me, but I can’t. Because what she’s doing to me scares me. Destroys my false belief that I can walk away from her at anytime. The truth is, I no longer know if that’s possible.

I skim my hands over her waist. “More than you can ever know.”

“I want you too, Xavier.” She leans against my back. “Thank you so much for tonight. It’s perfect.”

It had been. Although I’d spent more time watching her than the sites and places I’d taken her. The wonder on her face, the sheer joy, it did something to me. She should get joy like that every day. Because it was what she deserved. “You’re perfect.”

She sighs, soft and content.

I move my hands up the curves of her body, rubbing over her nipples. “Look at me.”

She cranes her neck to do as I ask, and I sweep down and take her mouth.

We’d barely touched all night, and we’re hungry. I sink into her lushness. The heat of her.

Our tongues tangle as we become greedy.

I cup her breasts, loving the heavy weight of them in my palm. She arches into my hands. I yank the top of her dress down, taking her strapless bra right along with it as I expose her fullness. I stroke over the soft skin, in the rhythm of our kiss, before squeezing the hard buds.

She gasps, into me, sucking the air from my lungs.

The leash I’d kept on my lust breaks free.

I palm her roughly, abrading her peaked flesh, rubbing my knuckles over her until she’s panting.

I love her abandon. The way she gives herself to me, with no reservation.

She surrenders. Melts into me.

And I’m addicted to it.

I break the kiss and turn her to face me. When she blinks up at me with glassy eyes, I tell her the truth. “I want to go slow, but I don’t know if I can.”

She licks her lips, and I think she’s going to speak, but instead, her hands flutter to my chest, then lower, until she reaches the hem of my shirt. She pulls up, and I help her, shrugging out of my civility right along with my clothes.

She presses her chest to mine. When our bare skin rubs together, I curse. She rises to her tiptoes and I bend. Her nipples brush mine, and I feel like I’m going to lose my fucking mind.

Our lips meet. Hungry and greedy.

I want. Christ, how I want.

My hands skim down her back, and I’m pushing fabric out of the way, desperate for the feel of her naked against me. She purrs, arching along my chest like a cat. I squeeze her hips and we tumble to the bed in a heap.

I break the kiss.

Scrape my teeth along her jaw before settling my lips on her neck. I suck, playing my tongue along the rapid beat of her pulse, and she moans, arching into me.

I can’t explain it. The desperation I feel.

I cup her breasts and pull at her nipples until she’s twisting under me.

She gasps my name, and it’s so sweet on her tongue, I capture her mouth just to taste it.

Her nails rake down my back, sharp and keen. Feeding my desire into a fevered pitch.

“Naked, I want you naked,” I say between hot, biting kisses.

“You too,” she whispers back.

I rear up onto my haunches, and sweep her dress away, until she’s lying there in heels and a pair of black lacy panties. I gaze down at her, all full and lush.

She blinks up at me, smiles. Then reaches for my belt and unbuckles it with shaking fingers.

I shake my head. “So fucking pretty.”

She flushes, as her fingers play along my stomach.

I take a deep breath and lean down, brushing my lips along her nipples and stroking my tongue along the hardened peaks. Her breasts are so sensitive. I love it. And I get lost in her soft moans and needy sighs. Reveling in them until I move down her ribs, kiss her soft, rounded belly before licking her center through the fabric.

She bows and I take advantage by skimming her panties down her legs and tossing them to the floor. I cover her pussy with my mouth. Lick deep into her, before nuzzling her clit and sucking gently.

My tongue plays along her flesh, lapping up her wetness.

Her fingers tangle in my hair. “Xavier. God, Xavier.”

Her thighs tighten around my head, so I can hear nothing but the rush of blood in my ears, and I devour her with my mouth, the scent of her intoxicating.

She keens under me, crying out.

I lift my head and murmur, “Play with your nipples.”

She doesn’t hesitate. She never hesitates with me. And I move, positioning myself down low so I can watch and lick her at the same time.

Her pale fingers play over her skin, rubbing and teasing, inciting me to triple my efforts. I breathe against her skin. “I love watching you. So hot.”

It spurs her on. She becomes more aggressive, rolling her reddened peaks between her thumb and forefingers. I dip deep, thrusting my tongue in and out before circling her clit.

She jolts up and yells, “I’m going to come.”

I pull away.

She wails and tries to stop me but I shake my head. “No, not yet. I’m just getting started.”

I veer back up and take her nipple in my mouth, laving the sensitive flesh, tangling our fingers and holding them above her head. She rocks into me. I can feel her heat through the cotton of my boxer briefs.

I need to feel her, skin to skin.

I shuck off my pants, taking my boxer briefs with them, and removing my shoes and socks with some Houdini-like movements, before pulling a condom out of my pocket and throwing it on the bed.

I cover her. Spread her wide and slide my cock between her splayed pussy. In an instant, she coats me. I grit my teeth as her wetness slicks over me, before I moan, “Fuck.”

Face flushed and beautiful, she arches into my erection. “Now, please now.”

I growl, pull back and rip the condom wrapper off before sheathing myself. “I’ve been wanting this so bad, Tessa.”

“Me too.” She grips my shaft and guides me close.

I sink into her wet warmth, pulling back when I meet resistance, before sliding back in.

More. More. More.

“So tight.” The words harsh, uttered like a curse.

She whimpers. “You feel so good.”

I work my way inside her tight sheath until, finally, at long last I’m fully seated. I push her hair off her cheek, meeting her gaze, and sudden emotion wells in my chest. I choke out the words, “Thank you for giving this to me.”

She cups my jaw, rubs a thumb over my lower lip. “It’s always been you.”

My heart gives a hard thump against my ribs. Somehow I’ve known this. It thrills and terrifies me at the same time. “Tessa.”

She shakes her head. “Please, just take me.”

This, I can give her. Can explain. I move, pulling out and thrusting back in, as she welcomes me into her body. I don’t look away, just stare deeply into her eyes as I thrust again.

And then again. And again.

It’s unbearably intimate. Sweet. Like fucking magic.

It shakes me, but I can’t stop. Don’t want to.

“More.” Her voice is a soft whisper. “More.”

“Yes, more,” I answer back, surging deep inside her.

She arches her neck, keening to meet me, wrapping her legs around my waist.

I never want it to end. I want to keep going on and on.

Her body quickens and mine responds, tingling along the base of my spine.

I slow my pace.

Make my movements languid and shallow.

Cause it can’t end yet. It’s too good.

Everything I’d imagined her to be.

Hot.

Slick.

Tight.

But it feels better than anything I could have ever anticipated.

I don’t know where the words come from, but they are tumbling from my lips before I can stop them. I confess. “Never been so good.”

“Yes.” Her hips roll, instinctive and ancient and primal.

“I don’t want it to end.” I lean down and bite her lip. “Want to stay here forever.”

Her hands tangle in my hair. “Yes, me too. Don’t stop.”

“I love the way you feel. You’re so soft.”

“You’re so hard.”

“I’ve…” She does something with her body that makes my vision blur and I lose my train of thought. “Yes, fuck, like that.”

She does it again and our breathing becomes nothing but hard pants.

“I can’t help it.” I push deep inside her. “I want you to come for me, Tessa. Need to feel it.”

I move harder. Thrust. But we never break eye contact.

“Yes.” She moans.

I circle my hips, pressing flush against her clit so she can feel me with every stroke I make.

Her nails dig into my shoulders. “I’m so close. So close.”

I move urgently now, the pressure of my own orgasm seeping over my skin. I take her nipple and play with it as I thrust inside her. She stiffens, her eyes close and her pussy tightens around my cock.

I pinch, hard, and she tumbles over the edge, locking tight against me as she rocks, and the climax takes hold of her. It’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen and throws me over the edge, tumbling right along with her.

The orgasm rocks over me, bone deep, with such sheer pleasure I want to lose my fucking mind. She calls out my name and I answer with hers. I pummel into her, mindless in the blissful sensation of her milking the best fucking climax of my life from me.

Aftershocks still shivering over my skin, I collapse in a panting heap on top of her, burying my head in her neck as I ride out the last waves.

The second it ends, the panic crashes in on me, and I want nothing more than to get away. The desire is so strong cold sweat breaks out along my heated skin.

I have to get out of here.

It’s too much. She’s too much.

She shifts under me.

I raise my head, ready to tell her it’s late and I should go.

But then I look into her flushed face, the blissed-out glaze of her eyes, and everything tilts. I can’t bear it. I go to speak, but instead of the words I intend, I say, “Let’s call into work tomorrow.”

Lashes fluttering, she blinks at me, before giving me the sweetest, softest smile I’ve ever seen. “Yes, let’s.”

The rush of panic melts away, replaced by satisfaction and peace.