I stared at the closed door, bewildered. This is probably what Jake had felt the two times I’d done this to him, abruptly ending things before they could begin. It sucked. It really did. I felt deflated, like a hot air balloon that had just been sliced open. I was equal parts relieved and disappointed that this was how my night would end.

On the other hand, what else was he supposed to do, with the mixed signals I’d been sending him? I took a step toward the wall and leaned my back and head against it.

A moment later, the doorknob jiggled, and this time, the door swung open with a noticeable air of authority. He entered my room and looked at me, determined. I couldn’t speak, even if I’d wanted to. My resistance was gone, so I just waited, wanting him, wanting this, however it ended.

“Tell me you don’t want me, and I’ll leave,” Jake said, striding toward me. He slipped his arm behind me and rested his hand on the small of my back. “Be honest.”

My heart and my eyes fluttered in unison. I raised my hand to his face and ran it over the stubble of his beautiful jawline as we locked eyes. I raised myself up on my tiptoes and whispered in his ear.

“I want you so bad, Jake,” I muttered.

He ran a hand from the top of my head to the back of my neck and let it linger.

“Fuck, I love hearing you say that.”

Back on my tiptoes again, we kissed, his body smashing mine, wedged between him and the wall. Jake ran his hand from my neck down my back, and on down until he was cupping my ass through my shorts. He touched the underside of my thigh, lifting it up, and I slipped my leg around his body. I leaned my head back as he pressed his muscular weight into me, enjoying the feeling of him against me as he kissed me from shoulder to shoulder.

“As sexy as you look in this tank top, we’re going to need to get it off.”

I raised both of my arms up as I looked at him through hazy eyes. The yellow tank came off, and Jake’s eyes lingered on my breasts.

“Fuck. Fuck, you’re sexy.” He came at my lips with a renewed vigor, then worked kisses slowly down my neck to my chest, then flicked my nipples with his tongue, never losing eye contact with me. When he brought his face back to mine and pushed his hips against me, I felt what I thought for a moment might be a third leg.

I slipped a hand downward, outside his PJs, for curiosity’s sake. Good God.

Jake grinned. “You’ve got me so hard, baby.”

He brought the hand that was on my ass around to the front of me, slipping it between my legs, still on the outside of my shorts.

I let out a long, slow groan. His eyes widened when he touched me through the cloth.

“Andrea. You’re already soaked.”

I nodded. His light-brown eyes looked darker in the shadows of my sparsely lit room.

He nibbled on my ear and said the words in an accusatory whisper, “What were you doing in here by yourself?”

He knows.

Jake knows how bad I want him.

“Nothing,” I whispered back.

Jake smiled. “You really shouldn’t lie to me like that. Even those little white lies will get you in trouble. And you know what happens when you get in trouble?”

“I don’t, actually.” I gripped the back of his head with my hand as I arched toward him.

“You shouldn’t have said that.” Jake brought both of his hands around my hips and lifted me up by my butt so that I had to wrap both of my legs around him.

“Why? What are you going to do to me?” I baited, lips tugging upward in a soft smile.

“This.” Jake kissed me one more time, then carried me to the bed and set me down on top of my covers. He stood up while I leaned back against my pillow, watching him undress. The black PJs came off first, and then the black boxer briefs followed.

Staring at him naked, all I could think was, Wow.

Jake snaked down into bed with me, and we kissed again. I aided him in pulling off my shorts.

His body was lean and long against mine. He slid a strategic hand down from my shoulder to my breasts, my stomach, and landed it between my legs. His finger was light and delicate, yet strong and forceful at the same time. He grazed my wet clit lightly at first, teasing me. Against my thigh I felt his hard length press against me. God it felt amazing. Everything felt amazing.

After a few minutes of light teasing, Jake slipped a finger inside me, intensifying the pleasure.

“Damn, you’re tight,” he said. I gyrated my hips in rhythm with his finger, my hand latching onto Jake’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” I said, feeling a little judged.

Jake laughed then looked up at me with a serious face. “You are the most awkward girl I’ve ever met, you know?”

My heart lurched. Why was he making fun of me?

“And it’s incredibly fucking sexy,” he said, finishing off his thought. I felt relieved, and the relief sent an intense wave of pleasure over me. “You’re always you. That’s what I…like about you. But you should never say sorry for how you feel…with me. Just open yourself up. Let go.”

“Jake,” I moaned, elongating the syllables. I grabbed his mop of brown hair. “Shut up and concentrate.”

He stared at me for a moment, then kissed each of my cheeks, both sides of my neck, and worked his way all the way down to my legs, taking care to be perfectly symmetrical with his kisses, never taking his finger out of me.

He brought in another finger, and I tightened, pulsing around him. He added his tongue, flicking it on my clit. The pleasure built, and I dug my fingernails into the mattress behind me, gasping for air. I dug my feet down and lifted my pelvis an inch. Jake brought his free hand up and grabbed my shoulder. I wrapped my hands around his arm, and that did it.

The waves of pleasure kept coming, and Jake showed no signs of slowing down. The enthusiasm with which he lapped me up was bringing me close to the edge.

Suddenly, he removed his mouth from me for a moment, looked up, and met my eyes. “You have no idea how sexy it is when you moan like that.”

“You have no idea how sexy it is when you do…whatever it is you are doing right now.”

I had been so lost, I had no idea I was moaning. At this point, I might have gotten my own name wrong if Jake had asked me.

He settled back between my legs, and his fingers suddenly found a spot inside me that they hadn’t yet touched.

Sensations flooded my whole body so intensely that I thought I might pass out.

This was heaven.

This was release.

This was what Jake did to me.

I breathed hard, looking up at Jake through lazy, fluttering eyes.

“Thank you.” I reached up and grabbed his head. We touched our foreheads together.

“God, you are just fucking adorable, aren’t you? You can’t help it.”

“Not the adjective I usually get.”

Jake was on his knees, leaning toward me, his hard cock dragging on my stomach.

“Do you have a condom?” Jake whispered.

I scrunched my face together and looked down at him. “You don’t have a condom?”

“No. I had to throw them out at jail…” He paused. “Shit.”

I was on the pill, but this was not something Jake needed to know. His eyes asked the question without either of us even having to say a thing. “No. God no. We can’t have sex without one.”

He took a deep breath. “You’re right. Fuck! It’s like three a.m. We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

I still had post-orgasm pleasure feelings running through me. “I wasn’t expecting this tonight.”

“It’s okay,” Jake said with a frustrated groan as he dropped down next to me. “Don’t be surprised if you wake up and I’ve had a wet dream though.”

I spun my body around and pressed my naked body into him. I felt a little bad about giving him blue balls, but if he was lucky—if we were lucky—this wouldn’t be the last time this happened.

Hell, it had better not be.

I drifted off to sleep with Jake’s giant arm wrapped around me.