The sun was still high in the sky when I let myself up to Lex’s apartment with her spare set of keys.

It was smaller than the house I shared with three guys in San Diego just off the college campus. I didn’t know how much Jordan had to do with the tidy coat closet or the purses hanging by the door instead of on the floor like they’d been in my house growing up, but I suspected the new pictures in the hall—a series of photographs with bicycles in different colors—were her influence.

What the two-bedroom lacked in space it made up for elsewhere. The floor-to-ceiling living room windows showed Central Park, nestled in a circle of skyscrapers that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Would we live here next year?

The thought hadn’t occurred to me, but the reality was, we’d have to live somewhere. And the options were completely different than anything I was used to.

Sometimes, though, you have to make a change to move forward.

I’d made a change when I got a scholarship to Penn, letting my parents off the hook for tuition fees they couldn’t afford after sending my sister to school for fashion design.

I’d made a change when I decided to forgive my dad for punishing me for hanging out with the wrong crowd in high school and then needing me to cover for his own problems.

But the biggest change of all had come two years ago, when I’d transferred back from Penn to San Diego—and traded in my single status for the girl I’d always wanted.

I’d almost reconciled myself to the idea that the girl of my dreams would never do more than a cameo in my real life.

Until we made out at her twenty-first birthday party, courtesy of her ex boyfriend, rum, and former President Andrew Jackson.

(I’ve been grateful to each of them every day since.)

My roommates had thought I was crazy to get into a serious relationship as a soph. They didn’t get that it was impossible to be around Lex and not get serious. Not because she wanted it, or expected it.

Because I never wanted to stop feeling as alive as I did when I was with her.

It was almost six-thirty when Lex walked in the door, keys in one hand, takeout containers in the other, and a folder under her arm.

I crossed to her, grinning, and took the Styrofoam out of her hand. “Honey, you cooked.”

“Sorry I’m late; it was a crazy day. This boutique accidentally doubled their order and we had to recall it. Then we ended up with a whole line of tops cut in this weird polka dot fabric. It was three pompom buttons short of a slutty clown costume. How was yours?”

Lex stepped out of high heels that made her long legs even longer, and I took the chance to look at her. Despite the heat, she was wearing some kind of red blazer over a top the same color. The skirt that hit partway down her thighs was professional, but the way my mind was fast-tracking toward dark things, it might as well have been non-existent.

Part of what I loved about the whole boss woman thing she had going on?

It made me want to mess her up.

I took the few steps to the kitchen and set the containers on the island. “Nate was a big help. I’ve got a couple of meetings lined up for tomorrow.”

“Meetings?” Her gaze found mine as she crossed to me, but there was a hint of distraction in it.

She’d changed since moving here. I’d thought that getting what she’d wanted for years, this company, would make her unwind a little. If anything, she was even more tightly strung now that they’d launched.

“Yeah,” I prodded. “Interviews.”

“Right.” She rolled her eyes and flashed the smile I loved more than anything.

The light coming in the kitchen window played over the freckles the summer always exposed. Even Manhattan couldn’t change that.

I didn’t want to talk about interviews. Chalk it up to some hot librarian fantasy, but I wanted to suck on Lex’s neck just below that bun while my fingers did gymnastics under that skirt until all she could think about was me. Until the only thing she could vocalize was “yes” and “more” and, my personal favorite, this breathy “ohmygodDylan” that always went straight to my dick.

“I brought something too.” Ignoring the way my body tightened, I forced myself to reach into the fridge. After meeting Nate, I’d tried to prepare for my interviews. I wasn’t nervous. I knew what I was doing, was in the top five percent of my class, and had co-op experience. In a way, this felt like a celebration.

Lex pulled the bottle out of the bag I handed her and read the label. “Pad thai and pinot. We’re so civilized.”

I reached for her hips. Her hands clutched the wine and she couldn’t stop me from pulling her closer. Her gaze flicked over mine, her lips parting as she swallowed. “I guess we need glasses.”

I didn’t stop her as she put the wine down and turned to reach up to the shelf. When she set two glasses carefully on the counter, I pinned her against the cabinets with my hips.

“Wine is overrated.” My finger found the hem of her skirt, traced a line up the back of her thigh.

I’m a patient guy, but today, taking my time cost me. Especially when I heard her breath hitch.

I wanted to draw it out, make her beg. Almost as much as I wanted to feel her clench around me.

I buried my face in her hair, soaking in the smell of her that had my body aching. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Dylan.” Lex’s voice trembled as my finger reached the curve of her ass. Over her shoulder I could see her profile, her closed eyes as she absorbed the feeling of my touch. My cock pressed impatiently against her.

Lex twisted in my arms, and her heart-shaped face peered up at mine, eyes heavy with need. “Jordan usually gets home around now, but we’re safe. She’s staying at her dad’s. She didn’t think she’d get any sleep here tonight.”

“You won’t get any sleep here tonight,” I promised, my hands gripping her thighs as I lifted her onto the counter. Gold flecks sparkled deep in Lex’s eyes, and her lips parted in anticipation as she gripped my arms. That skirt I was starting to love to hate rode up her legs as I pressed myself between them.

Every time I saw this girl, we were making up for lost time. Sure, we hadn’t had a chance to catch up since I’d gotten here, but that could come later. This need inside me refused to wait.

It wasn’t all about sex with us. But I’d be lying if I said that since the first time we hooked up in my bedroom at school, I didn’t think about it every damn day.

The need to have her, to take her, to show her the dozen new ideas I’d had in the weeks since I’d seen her. The frustration of lying awake at night and aching for her touch, knowing nothing I could do would come close. Being hard on the damn plane that felt like it was crawling, not hurtling, toward New York. All of it compounded to drive me into a state of near desperation.

I reached up to jerk Lex’s hair out of its bun, and a wave of copper fell down her back. Her fingers dug into my biceps.

“What's wrong,” I muttered. “Did you want to talk first?”

“Maybe.”

I wrapped a fistful of hair around my hand and pulled, lightly. Her lips parted. “Fine. You start.”

Lex watched through cloudy eyes as I skimmed my fingers under her skirt, inching up her thighs. She swallowed. “Well. Travesty’s going better than we could’ve imagined since we opened the store. Just last week—”

I brushed between her legs and froze. “Stop. No panties?”

“I thought I’d surprise you.” Her half smile was a dangerous tease.

“I’m surprised. I just don’t like the idea of you surprising anyone else.” I pictured her deciding to show up bare like this, imagined the lace already wet before she stripped it down her legs, thinking of me.

“You’re jealous.”

“Hell, yes. I’m jealous of Jordan, getting to see your bedhead and make coffee with you every morning. I’m jealous of my sister, getting to work with you every day.” My finger brushed idly over her damp skin, finding a steady rhythm as I murmured against her mouth. “I’m jealous of every guy who sees you on the street and thinks he might have a chance with you.”

Her eyes dropped to half-mast, her little sounds of pleasure coming in time with my fingers.

I’m not a possessive guy, but with Lex I can’t help it. I want everyone to know she’s off the market, permanently.

“I like that you’re jealous,” she murmured, her voice full of need. “But I’m yours. Only yours.”

Fuck talking.

I shoved Lex’s skirt up to her waist and buried my face between her legs. My greedy mouth found her skin, and the first brush of my tongue over her tight clit had her moaning.

Lex was mine. Her body. Her heart. Her sweet honey taste. I knew it, and so did she.

That didn’t stop me from needing to prove it.

* * *