Serena knew taking a chance and kissing Dylan was a huge leap of faith with the outcome being a potential rejection, but after listening to him confess the reason for being so aroused—because of her—she’d decided to throw caution to the wind and finally just go for it. And ohmigod, once Dylan had gotten past the initial shock of the hot, intimate kiss she’d planted on him, the risk she’d taken was so worth the reward.

At the teasing touch of her tongue along his bottom lip, he groaned and framed her face in his hands and took control. Tipping her head to the side, he slanted his mouth over hers in a hot, deep, lust-driven kiss that had her entire body responding to his greedy, possessive conquest. Her nipples tightened into hard points, heat curled in her belly, and slick need dampened her panties.

Clenching her fingers in his hair, she arched against him, wanting more, needing more. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so electrified so quickly with any other man, couldn’t recall a time when she wanted to just tear a guy’s clothes off because she was so impatient to feel him inside her. And judging by the thick length of Dylan’s cock searing her though their clothes, there was a lot to feel.

She moaned softly and moved restlessly against him, rubbing her aching breasts against his chest and rolling her hips slowly and seductively, causing a deep, impatient growl to rumble in his chest. With his mouth still fused to hers, he pulled her forward while he walked backward, and she was more than willing to follow wherever he led if it meant tasting more of his dirty, sexy kisses. She felt him fumble for something in his pocket and, a moment later, heard the soft click of his hotel room door unlocking. He shoved it open with his backside, let it slam after they were both inside, then promptly pushed her up against the nearest wall.

He wedged one thigh between hers, pressing high and pinning her lower body in place as he pulled his mouth from hers and stared down at her, his eyes blazing with a blistering heat she’d never seen him direct at her before. Both of them were breathing hard, and bracing one arm above her head, he splayed his other hand at the base of her throat and caressed his thumb along the rapid beat of her pulse fluttering there.

She swallowed hard, knowing this was a defining moment between them, especially when she saw the agonizing doubts and second thoughts chasing across his expression. He closed his eyes and lightly touched his forehead to hers, his warm breath feathering across her cheek.

“Serena . . .”

His voice was ragged and torn, and wavered with uncertainties. Serena reached up and touched her fingertips to his clenched jaw, her only thought to waylay any hesitations holding him back, because she had absolutely none about him and where this was heading. It felt as though she’d waited a lifetime for this opportunity, for him to finally see her as more than just his best girl friend, and after that hungry, demanding kiss that said more about his attraction to her than words ever could, she wasn’t going to let this perfect moment slip through her fingers.

“I want this,” she whispered, brushing her lips against his to reinforce her statement while slipping her hands into his suit jacket and pushing it off his shoulders because she was dying to touch his bare skin in a very intimate and sexual way. “I want you, so please don’t tell me no.”

With a helpless-sounding groan, he dipped his head again and crushed his lips to hers, supplying his answer with another steamy, toe-curling, tongue-tangling, panty-melting kiss that enflamed every part of her. Sheer desperation had her shoving his jacket down his arms and off, then she yanked his shirt from his pants and eagerly unfastened the buttons all the way down his torso until she had access to his chest, his stomach. His hands were equally frenzied and impatient as he pushed the thin straps of her dress off her shoulders and let them fall to the crook of her arm.

He tore his lips from hers as the bodice of her outfit lowered with the straps, exposing her bare breasts to the cool air, which was quickly, shockingly replaced with the startling swoop of his hot, wet mouth on her flesh, then the scrape of his teeth across her taut, straining nipple. A full-body shudder rippled through her, and with a growl rumbling from the depths of Dylan’s throat, he cupped the sides of her breasts in his hands and pushed them upward. His thumb and forefinger lightly pinched the sensitive peaks, sending a jolt of pure need straight to her clit, while his wicked tongue laved and flicked and curled around her nipple in a way that had her moaning shamelessly.

With his shirt undone and hanging open and his mouth busy sucking on her breasts, she slid a hand down his muscled abdomen and turned her attention to getting his belt unbuckled. She fumbled with his zipper until she managed to get it over the hard length of his erection, then slid her hand into his underwear and wrapped her fingers tight around his shaft. Brazen and bold, she squeezed and stroked him rhythmically, and he grunted in frustration and thrust along her palm while giving her nipple a firm, deliberate bite as he blatantly fucked the clasp of her hand.

After a moment, he straightened, flattened his hands on the wall behind her, and dropped his head back as he pushed harder against her hand. “Jesus fuck,” he rasped gruffly, just as she felt a bead of pre-cum coat her fingers as she continued to tease and stroke every inch of his cock. And suddenly, she wanted to taste him, suck him, and blow his mind with pleasure.

Taking advantage of his moment of weakness, she dropped to her knees and had his pants and boxer briefs down to his thighs and her mouth enveloping his cock in the next few seconds. He sucked in a harsh, startled breath. His hand shot down to where she was kneeling and gathered her hair tight in his fingers, preventing her from taking him deeper.

Hands clenching his hard thighs, she cast her eyes up to his face. His features were tense, and she was certain he was going to pull her mouth away. But then he looked down at her through lust-filled eyes and groaned when she slid her soft tongue along the underside of his shaft, right against that pulsing vein leading up to the crown of his cock, deliberately teasing and tempting him. He tasted salty and male and so addicting she wanted more.

Apparently, he decided he wanted more, as well, because his dilated eyes went dark and hot as he held her head right where he needed her and languidly drove his hips forward, gradually giving her the last few inches of his cock until he finally hit the back of her throat and she had to force her jaw to relax. His breathing grew harsh, and with his unrelenting grip on her hair, he slowly withdrew, groaning like a dying man as she hollowed her cheeks and sucked all the way back to the swollen head. Then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he did it again, this time thrusting his hips a little faster, sliding into her mouth a little harder, reaching a little deeper.

The muscles in his lower abdomen rippled, he gritted his teeth, and she felt his thighs tense beneath her palms, all signaling how close he was to coming. She was more than ready and willing to finish him off like this, but he abruptly pulled out of her mouth and instead hauled her back up to her feet. She barely had time to get her bearings before he was kissing her with so much passion and hunger and need it was almost overwhelming.

“We need a bed so I can fuck you properly,” he said, his voice gravelly as he unexpectedly swept her up into his arms before she could respond to that statement. Not that she was about to argue with that delightful plan.

He carried her into one of the two bedrooms in the suite and kicked the door shut once they were inside. As soon as he put her down, their hands were everywhere on each other, removing the last of their clothing until everything was off but her heels. She reached down to unbuckle the straps around her ankles, but Dylan caught her wrist and stopped her.

“Leave them,” he ordered in the hottest, sexiest voice she’d ever heard come out of him. “I want to fuck you with them on.”

She straightened and raised a brow at his explicit request, which she hadn’t expected from her analytical, sometimes nerdy best friend who always seemed so oblivious to her as an alluring woman. “You have a kinky shoe fetish I don’t know about?”

“Maybe.” The corner of his mouth quirked, even as his gaze raked down the length of her naked body, leaving fire and so much need in its wake. “Or a few fantasies I want to fulfill tonight that include you wrapping your gorgeous legs around me in those fuck-me heels. I did buy them, after all, so shouldn’t I enjoy them?”

“Most definitely.”

While he reached into the pocket of his duffle bag to remove a few condoms and put them within reach, she moved up onto the mattress and settled against the pillows on her back, striking a seductive pose that left her breasts exposed to his captivating gaze, but bending a knee to keep her sex modestly covered so she didn’t seem too eager and impatient, though she was feeling both of those things with him right now.

Standing at the foot of the bed, he rolled one of the condoms down his jutting shaft while shaking his head at her coy position. “Spread your legs nice and wide, sweetheart. I want to see what I’m about to taste and then fuck.”

Those unrefined words sent a rush of excitement and anticipation through her, and she didn’t hesitate to obey. Her thighs parted, fell open, revealing the most intimate part of herself to him. He hissed in a harsh sound as he looked down at her, his stare unabashedly focused on her neatly trimmed but very wet pussy.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered beneath his breath as he moved up onto the bed. He made himself comfortable between her splayed thighs, his broad shoulders keeping them wide open while his hands gripped her hips to keep her still. “You’re so damn beautiful,” he added right before he put his hot mouth on her pussy and lavished her with immediate, thorough ecstasy.

Quick and dirty, he licked firmly along her sensitive flesh and, without hesitation, delved into the opening that seeped for his attention, making her whimper as he pushed shockingly deep. His tongue flicked across her distended clit with sinful, unapologetic precision before he grazed that taut nub with his teeth, then ruthlessly sucked it between his lips as if he owned her body and her pleasure.

Barely able to keep up with the assault on her senses, Serena’s thighs trembled and her mind spun as he continued to devour her. This wasn’t courtesy foreplay like she was used to with other men. No, this was a purposeful and determined seduction of her body, a blatant attempt to make her come hard and fast and without an ounce of reserve holding her back.

Oh, God, she was almost there . . .

He pushed two long fingers inside her, sliding them in and out, deliberately rubbing some reactive spot inside her sex that she’d never had the delight of discovering before, but the intensity of it wreaked havoc with her ability to do anything but grab handfuls of the comforter beside her and let the stunning, breath-stealing climax unravel her from the inside out. She jolted from the force of her release, cried out from the sheer bliss of all that heat and sensation spilling through her veins, and tingled from head to toe as she gradually came down from the best orgasmic high she’d ever had the satisfaction of experiencing.

Before the tremors in her body completely dissipated, Dylan reared up and quickly moved over her, all firm, toned muscle against her softer curves as he pinned her beneath him. She felt the tip of his shaft slide through her swollen, still pulsing sex as he lined himself up at her core. All ten of his fingers thrust into her hair to tip her head back, and all she was able to catch was the dark, feverish look in his eyes and the wild need etching his features as his lips landed on hers, unyielding and demanding. There was an undeniable desperation to his kiss, and she willingly opened to him, met the possessive thrust of tongue just as her body accepted the deeper, thicker invasion of his cock as he drove to the hilt inside her.

He swallowed her startled groan but didn’t slow down. His tongue curled erotically around hers as his hips pumped erratically, almost frantically, as if he’d been pushed to the brink of control and there was no stopping the staggering surge of need overwhelming him. She understood the feeling, because she’d just experienced it herself . . . and it was about to consume her again.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she bent her knees and secured her legs around his waist, making sure that he felt the scrape of her heels against his back to remind him she still had them on. His response was a feral growl and a quickening pace of his thrusts that had her arching beneath him, willing him deeper still.

He lifted his mouth from hers with a guttural gasp and stared down at her with passion and lust and so much more hazing his eyes. “Jesus, I’m going to fucking come. Hard.”

And then he did, tossing his head back and grinding against her with just the right pressure and friction to send her right over the edge with him.

When Dylan’s body stopped convulsing and he seemed completely spent, he dropped on top of her, and she welcomed his weight as equally as she welcomed the happiness and contentment settling inside her. The kind that she’d been waiting years to feel with the one and only man she’d ever really wanted.

Tonight, the physical pleasure of being with Dylan had been more than she’d ever imagined or fantasized about. But it was the emotional connection that had hope blossoming in her heart and a soft smile on her face. She’d felt the shift between them, had seen not only the way he looked at her but the emotional reaction to his body inside hers while giving her the greatest pleasure imaginable, and it was more than enough to know that tonight changed everything between them in the best way possible.

She had no idea what it meant for them as a couple going forward, but they had plenty of time to figure it all out in the morning.

Oh, shit, what have I done?

That was the immediate thought that entered Dylan’s mind when he slowly blinked his eyes open the following morning and found Serena lying in his hotel room bed next to him, already awake as they lay facing one another. The misty look in her beautiful eyes and the soft, hopeful smile on her lips sent an initial surge of panic through him that was followed very closely by a strangling fear. One that made him realize that he might have, quite possibly, fucked up big-time, all because he hadn’t been able to keep his dick in his pants when it came to his best friend.

Resisting Serena last night had been impossible, and he couldn’t even say he’d been drunk or blame his behavior on an alcohol-induced haze. The unvarnished truth was, he’d wanted her badly, and the kiss she’d instigated out in the hallway had fueled that spark of desire he’d tried for years to ignore, and once he’d gotten a taste of how sweet and hot and sensual she was, he’d been like an addict who craved the entire feast. And Jesus Christ, he’d been absolutely gluttonous, because once he’d fucked her the first time, it hadn’t been enough and he’d taken her twice more before they’d finally fallen asleep. He’d been selfish and stupid and so fucking greedy with her.

He’d always known mixing friendship and sex with someone like Serena— who didn’t sleep around casually and was looking for her forever guy—was the worst possible idea. She wanted and needed certain things in her life, in a relationship, to be exact, and he didn’t do romance or commitment or emotional attachments with women for a reason. It just wasn’t a part of his DNA, and he was practical and realistic enough to accept that truth about himself.

The last thing he ever wanted to do was give Serena the wrong impression about them as a couple, or any false hopes. He was well aware of her deeper feelings for him, and losing her as a best friend over sex would fucking slay him, which meant last night had to be a one-time, never-to-be-repeated deal. He also had to find a way, and quickly, to right what he’d made very wrong.

She bit her bottom lip as her gaze met and held his, suddenly looking nervous as she spoke. “Dylan . . . about last night . . .”

“It was a mistake,” he blurted out before she finished, because he was desperate to keep their friendship intact, though judging by the hurt that flashed in her eyes, his choice of words had been shitty ones, which seemed par for the course for him this weekend.

“I’m sorry,” he said, more gently this time as he got out of bed and put his pants on in an attempt to put things back to normal, if that was even possible. “Last night shouldn’t have happened. I never would have slept with you if I’d been in my right mind.”

He inwardly cringed as soon as the insulting sentence was out and he saw her crushed expression. Oh, yeah, like that statement was any better, asshole.

Christ, he sucked at eloquent words and articulating himself when it came to this sentimental crap, which only reinforced one of the reasons he found relationships so difficult. It was so much easier for him to translate code and to decipher HTML tags than it was for him to relate emotionally to a woman. Apparently, that included his best friend.

He exhaled a deep breath, knowing anything else he said would probably just make things worse, so he kept his next question as simple as possible. “We’re good, right?”

Averting her gaze, she sat up on the bed, holding the covers to her chest like a shield, as if she was trying to protect her body and her heart from any more damage he might inflict. “Yeah. Sure,” she replied, a forced sound to her voice. “We’re good.”

“Okay,” he said, but as he headed into the adjoining bathroom, he had a sinking feeling that their friendship would never be the same.

An amazing night with Dylan, followed by his morning-after rejection, devastated Serena. He’d shattered her heart into a thousand pieces, and it hurt to breathe. Not to mention the embarrassment and humiliation she’d felt after baring herself, physically and emotionally, to the one person she’d trusted the most.

The most awful, painful part of it all? She’d honestly had no idea what heartbreak really felt like until that moment, because her feelings for Dylan were by far the strongest she’d ever felt for any man.

As she heard the shower in the bathroom turn on, Serena ran her fingers through her disheveled hair and forced herself to get out of the bed and start moving, so she’d be gone before he came back out, because there was nothing left for them to say and it would undoubtedly be awkward for both of them. But as she slipped into the dress she’d worn last night, there was only one thought that kept replaying through her mind . . . How could she have been so wrong about his feelings for her?

Clearly, she’d misinterpreted the entire night and she felt foolish and stupid for believing he’d ever see her as anything more than a best friend, or that a night of sex with her would change the way he saw her. His words, it was a mistake, had made her stomach roll, but had also been the wake-up call she apparently needed to realize that she’d been deluding herself, holding on to hope she hadn’t even realized she’d had, that someday he’d admit his true feelings for her.

So, she was forced to swallow her hurt and her pride and finally accept that Dylan was never going to fall in love with her and it was useless to wait or hope. There was truly only one thing left she could do, and that was to lock up her hopes, dreams, and unrequited feelings for Dylan in the furthest reaches of her heart and keep searching for the one guy who would love and appreciate her and give her all the things that Dylan never would.