Cassie doesn’t give me time to respond. She wraps her long legs around me, digging her heels into my ass as she grasps the bottom of my T-shirt and drags it up and over my head.

I expect her to plaster herself to my chest and kiss me as if her life depends on it, but she doesn’t. Instead she leans back a little and strokes my torso.

“When I was a kid, I went through this phase where I was obsessed with those ancient statues of naked Greek men. The ones that don’t have any arms or legs, that are nothing but a man’s upper body.” Cassie drags her hand down my chest and across my stomach. “I thought they were the most beautiful things in the world. I would look at pictures of them for hours and daydream about being rich enough to own one of my very own.”

“I’ll buy one for you if it means you’ll kiss me one more time,” I tell her.

“I don’t need one anymore.” Cassie’s hands glide back up my body. “I’ve got you. You’re even more beautiful than those old hunks of marble.”

Her hands slide downward again.

This time they don’t stop at my waistband, but keep traveling downward, moving over the top of my jeans. She wedges her fingers between our meshed bodies, wrapping them around my cock as best she can and giving it a little squeeze that nearly makes me come inside of my pants. Cassie’s grin is as wide and beautiful as the Texas sky.

“And you have some more interesting bits.”

“Cassie,” I groan. “If you’re not careful, I’m not going to be much good for you.”

Cassie trails a string of kisses down the side of my neck and over my shoulder. The tip of her tongue flicks over one of my nipples, sending a white-hot jolt ricocheting through me.

I wrap my fingers around the edge of the tailgate, holding on as if my life depends on it.

“You’re a good guy.” Cassie and her magic tongue move to my other nipple. “And good guys always wait for their ladies, don’t they?”

Unable to stop myself, I rotate my hips, grinding myself against her. Hot moisture seeps through her jeans, leaving damp smudges on my fly.

“Sometimes we can’t stop ourselves.”

Cassie laughs out loud. “Well then, we’ll just have to hurry things along, won’t we?”

Her fingers worry at the button just above my fly. The pressure my cock puts on the material makes it difficult for her to work the steel button through the buttonhole, but after a few seconds struggling with it, a process that leaves me cross-eyed with want, she accomplishes her task.

She shoves the jeans and my briefs down my legs. They bunch around my ankles, held there by my black leather cowboy boots.

Desperate to see her, I help her shed her own clothing, not caring when my efforts result in the tearing of cloth. “Send me a bill,” I mutter when a bra strap breaks as I undo the clasp. “I’ll replace your whole damn outfit. Hell, I’ll buy a whole mall’s worth of clothes for you.”

Cassie shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Don’t make promises you can’t possibly keep.”

She places both of her palms flat on the tailgate and presses down on them, lifting her ass off the truck just enough for me to slide her jeans out from under her.

I drop to my knees and slide her shoes off, so that the pants and soaking panties can fall to the ground, leaving her completely bare.

I tip my head back to study her. The moonlight streaming through the long, swaying strands of the weeping willow tree cause dappled shadows to shift over her skin, enhancing her stunning curves and natural beauty.

“You’re gorgeous.” I trail my fingers up the side of her left calf, loving how the slight touch causes her to gasp. “The most amazing woman I’ve ever encountered.”

Cassie wrinkles her nose and rolls her eyes. “You’re full of shit,” she tells me. “But I won’t hold it against you.”

Keeping my knees firmly on the ground, I rear up. The position puts my head level with the edge of the tailgate and Cassie’s lap.

Sensing my intentions, Cassie spreads her thighs, providing me with an eyeful of her glistening, swollen sex.

“Wow,” is the only thing I can think to say as I bury my face between her legs.

My hands curl around Cassie’s hips, holding her in place. My tongue slides along her folds, gently nudging them aside before flicking over her clit, pushing it first one way, then the other as she gasps and squirms.

“Ronan,” she groans. Not quite a scream, I note, remembering her challenge, but starting to get a little loud.

I smile and tighten my grip on her hips as I draw her clit into my mouth, teasing it with my tongue.

“Oh! My! God!” Cassie shrieks.

Despite my firm hold, her hips buck, pressing her clit deeper into my mouth.

“Want me to stop?” I manage to say without releasing her.

Cassie fingers dig into my hair, holding me firmly against her. “Don’t you dare,” she hisses.

I reward her by releasing my grip on one hip. I continue to work her clit between my teeth and thrust three fingers into her sopping hole. Her inner walls clamp down on them, warning that she’s close to coming.

As good as my fingers feel inside of her, I know it’s nothing to how her pussy will feel around my cock.

I give her clit one last good tongue-lashing before coming up for air.

I use my grip on her hip to slide her along the tailgate until her ass slides off the edge and she falls on top of me. We land in a crumpled sweaty heap on the grass, but neither of us cares. The only thing we’re worried about is each other.

I continue working my fingers in and out of her pussy, keeping her balanced on the brink of orgasm as I grope around in my pants. I dig out my wallet and flip it open. A second later, one of the condoms I keep tucked inside of it encases my cock.

I roll, bringing Cassie under me before sliding my fingers out of her and replacing them with my cock in one long smooth thrust that buries me all the way to the hilt. It feels even better than it did in Florence.

She spasms around me, taking me even deeper. Desperate for more, I catch her face between both of my hands and kiss her as if my life depends on it.

Cassie wraps her legs around me, her heels digging into my bare ass as I slowly work myself in and out of her sweet channel.

I feel her growing hotter around me with each thrust. Her entire body shakes against mine and even with the blood pounding in my ears, I hear the way her moans grow louder, steadily edging toward screams.

“You feel so good,” I mutter in her ear.

She’s close to coming. I can tell. My body responds to her telltale cues. Pressure builds in my balls, and I swear my dick grows even harder and larger.

My groans mix with Cassie’s.

Cassie clutches my upper arms, her fingernails ripping into my flesh, but I hardly notice.

One more thrust is all my body can take. I come with more force than I’ve ever experienced before. And Cassie is right there with me, her screams keeping time with the way her pussy convulses, the inner walls bearing down on my pulsating dick, milking every last drop of pleasure from it.

Both of our orgasms seem to go on and on.

Finally, I roll off Cassie and use the last bit of energy I have to pull her close. I peer up at the dark branches of the willow tree that spreads out above us like a protective canopy.

“Hey, Cassie.” I give her side a light poke.

“What?” she says, her voice thick with exhaustion.

“I don’t see any birds in the tree. Do you?”

She buries her face in my shoulder and laughs. “I think we scared them all the way out of the park.”