I swear I want to laugh. It’s like one of those crazy romantic comedies. She doesn’t answer, and I open the door and toss Simon outside, just like I promised. I dust my hands. “If I ever hear about you bothering her again or if you even look her way when she doesn’t want you to, we’ll be seeing each other. And next time, that legal team I told you about will be with me. It’ll be a blast.” I slam the door in his face, then flip the lock.

It doesn’t hit me until just then that she might not have wanted me to be so forceful with him. She said she wanted to be friends, right? Women are different about that kind of thing. Me? I’d tell him to fuck off and never speak to him again.

She’s still standing where I left her, against the wall, arms crossed. I can’t read her expression.

“Sorry, but that guy’s bad news,” I say with a shrug. “You can’t expect me to meet somebody like him and not want to kill him just for touching you. I took it easy on him. I could probably snap him like a dry twig.”

She opens her mouth like she wants to speak, but no words come out. Shit. Just when things were going well. It looks like she’s spoiling for a fight, which come to think of it is just fine. I like her kicking and clawing anyway and we’ll just end it the way the way I like to end all my fights with her.

Maybe I don’t know her as well as I used to anymore because she throws herself into my arms, and wraps her hands around my neck in a death grip. “Thank you!”

This is unexpected. “You’re happy about this?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve wanted to do that for years! I just don’t have the upper body strength.”

I laugh. “I thought you were about to bitch me out for being an overprotective, jealous meathead.”

Her eyes go wide, then narrow as she practically purrs. “What if I like overprotective, jealous meatheads?”

“Oh, yeah? Why didn’t you say so?” In a flash, I bend down and throw her over my shoulder. She squeals and giggles, half-heartedly fighting me off as I carry her up the stairs. By the time I drop her onto the bed, she’s not laughing anymore. Instead, she takes me by the arms and pulls me down until I’m on top of her and we’re kissing and touching, and it’s even better than before because I’m hyped up after our performance together and I know she is too.

My veins are full of fire.

I slide one hand under her sweater, and I know I’ll never get enough of touching her soft, smooth skin. Once I asked her how she gets it that smooth and she laughed and joked that she bathed in asses milk. She was always like a fantasy come true. From the first day I found her in the treehouse.

She writhes and sighs, arching her back, asking for more without saying a word. My hand closes over her breast and I squeeze gently, hardening when she moans into my mouth. I feel her nipple hardening against my palm. My fingertips dance over the lace trimming the cup of her bra and she strains upward until I pull the cup down to trace slow circles around that tight nipple with my thumb.

I break our kiss to run my mouth over her jaw and down her neck. Her pulse races under my tongue as I taste her. She’s so sweet. Her fingers run through my hair and she holds my head close. I take the hint and kiss her harder, letting her scent and taste and the sound of her sighs pull me under until I don’t know anymore where I end and she begins. She’s always been part of me. I know that now.

I take my time undressing her, exploring every inch of her body. I want to give her every bit of pleasure she can handle and more. I want her to scream my name and beg me to stop because she doesn’t think her body can take it, then push her farther than she’s ever gone. I want her to need me the way I need her.

“Cole … yes …” Her eyes are closed, her head rolling from side to side as I peel off her panties and settle between her thighs. Her heat calls to me, drawing me in, promising bliss. She runs her hands under the back of my shirt, pulling it up over my head, kissing my shoulders and chest and arms. I close my eyes and let the pressure from her lips erase the past, the empty years spent without her. It’s like half my heart was missing all this time.

Her legs tighten around my waist, and I’m just about ready to break the zipper on my jeans, I’m so hard and aching to be inside her again. She claws at my shoulders and back, breathing heavy, moaning and whispering and begging for more. “Please … take me …” she whispers, staring up into my eyes. “I need you inside me, Cole … please …”

I strip off my pants, my hands shaking with urgency. I can’t breathe, I can’t even think about anything but sinking deep into her. Her eyes practically glow in the dark, staring into my soul, mouth open as she gasps when I slide home and bury my length in her tight sheath.

This is what I need. This is all I’ve ever needed. The two of us, together as one, moving in sync as we push each other higher. Her legs wrap around my hips and pull me deeper, her hands moving up and down my back, gripping my ass, clawing my neck and shoulders the first time she comes. “So good …” she whispers in my ear between gasps for breath.

It is so good. She’s right about that.

I push up on my hands and look down at her moving under me, undulating like a wave in time with my thrusts. She stretches up to brush her lips against mine, whimpering, and I return her kiss. We move slowly, grinding against each other, working together the way we did onstage. We don’t have to talk things through.

We just know each other.

I want to savor this. I want it to go on forever, the perfection of our bodies wrapped up together, the sound of her moans and the way she cries out my name as she comes, pulsing around my length, begging me to follow her.

I can’t. Not yet.

I clench my jaw and close my eyes and hold on until she calms down, then start again.

“Oh, God!” she gasps, trembling, “Yes! Please, Cole … please …!” She jerks her hips in time with my thrusts and picks up speed. I follow her now, letting her drive me as crazy as I’ve been driving her. I slide my arms under her shoulders and roll onto my back, still inside her.

She rocks her hips back and forth, faster and faster. I can’t hold back anymore. I’m past the point of no return now. I take her by the waist and hold her still, as I slam into her with deep, hard thrusts. She throws her head back, her cries become louder and louder the closer she gets. I watch her breasts bouncing, her hair trailing over my fingers. Everything is her, all around me. I’m lost. She’s all that exists.

I feel her tightening around me again and I know she’s as close as I am. We move in a blur, faster and faster until we explode in each other’s arms and she collapses on top of me, shaking.

“Oh … oh, God … Cole …” Her voice shakes as hard as her body. A fierce joy fills my body to know I’m the reason she’s a wreck now. I did that.

Her hair is damp with sweat. I smooth it back from her forehead and press my lips against her overheated skin. “You okay?” I ask.

“I feel like my heart’s about to pound out of my chest, but otherwise? Yeah. I’m fine.” She smiles before kissing me. We stay in each other’s arms, the air heavy with the smell of sex. If only I could stop this moment from ending, then we would never end.

I touch the moisture on her cheek. She tells me it is sweat, though it looks a lot like tears. She turns her face away before I can ask again if she’s all right.