Ana’s eyes burn into my very soul. For years, I dreamed of this, the way Ana gave herself to me fully, the shock that crossed her face the first time our bodies joined. God, that image is burned into my brain as the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. But slowly, over the years, the dreams faded, almost as though it never happened. Now that I have her in my arms again, the memories of the past and the desire currently racing through me are building up to a firestorm. I’m not going to pass up this opportunity, even if there’s so much left to talk about.

Pulling her down, I crush her lips with mine, claiming her in a deep kiss that’s hard and rough, my need overtaking my control. Ana responds, her tongue meeting mine as she fights me with her lips and tongue, but her hands pull me tighter, her body grinding against mine.

“I think you’ve wanted this as much as me,” I growl into her ear, holding her hips against my cock as I thrust against her through our clothes.

Ana groans, her head thrown back and her hands clenching against my chest. “You might be right, but you’re hurt.”

“It’s fine. You said stay off my feet. I’m staying off my feet,” I tease as I reach for the hem of her T-shirt. It comes off easily with a single jerk, revealing a simple bra that strains against the swell of her breasts, her nipples already hard and poking through the thin cotton. “Mmm . . .”

“You—” Ana says, her words cut off as I pull her down to suck and nip at her neck. I let myself be guided by the way she moans and my own hunger, nibbling down her neck as I reach up, squeezing her right breast and sliding her bra down. Ana cries out softly, pushing her chest to meet my hungry mouth.

I find her nipple, just as perky and tightly brown as it was in the window, like a caramel sitting on top of her breast. I capture it, sucking hard as she moans, my hands sliding around her back to hold her to me as I feast on her. My cock is rock-hard and throbbing as I grind against her, her hips bucking against me as she seeks her climax.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” I growl, pulling back and grabbing the waistband of her pants. “You’re not coming until I let you.”

Ana whines in need as I tease her with the bulge in my jeans, keeping her trembling on the edge. “Goddammit, Aubrey—”

“Shut up and grab the headboard,” I command her, reaching up and unbuttoning her waistband. I pull, and she wiggles, helping both her soaked panties and pants slip down her legs and off, the pile of her clothes growing on the floor.

I pause, looking down at her sweet, glistening pussy hovering right over my hips. In my jeans, my cock jumps, trying to get closer to her. I growl, licking my lips. “Looks like you want to come.”

“Yes . . . fuck, please, Aubrey.” Her hips are bucking in the air above me, searching desperately for relief, tempting me to just plow into her and unleash every bit of my control.

But I hold the reins back for a little longer, wanting to tease both of us, needing this to last as long as possible because I know there’s going to be hell to pay. It’s up to me to make it worth it for her because I’d gladly pay whatever the price to own her body once again.

“Did you come in the shower too?” I ask softly, guiding her up my body to straddle my face. She settles above me, her hands on the headboard and her pussy hovering inches from my mouth. I inhale her sweetness, her scent so familiar but almost forgotten. “What did you think of when you touched yourself?”

“You . . . fucking me,” she admits, her blush deepening. “Fucking me relentlessly ‘till I came.”

“Good,” I rasp, my breath hot along her lips. “Now come for me.”

I lick her clit hard and fast, my hands keeping her thighs clamped tight to my face as I suck and nibble. Her juices are sweet and tangy, and I gulp her down thirstily, devouring every drop. I look up her body and see that her chest is quivering, and a split-second later, I can feel the first tremors of her climax sweep through her.

“Aubrey . . . fuck . . . yes!” she cries out, her honey coating my mouth as Ana comes. I suck harder, drawing it out and swallowing a mouthful of her wetness, loving the way she gives in and fucks my face wildly, searching for every bit of pleasure.

As the last shudders rack her body, I toss her off me, pinning her to the bed beneath me. A sharp pain shoots through my ankle at the sudden movement, but I’m far too gone in Ana’s eyes to care, and the pain subsides quickly as my lust takes over. I fumble with my jeans, shoving them down and pulling my cock out. I’m aching, and I’ve waited long enough. I thrust hard into her with one stroke, pausing halfway in as Ana gasps, her fingernails digging into my arms and her pussy clamping down at the intrusion. “Holy fuck!”

“Take it . . . all of me,” I growl in her ear before nibbling her earlobe. I’m not brutal, but I need to make her mine, own her body the way she’s always owned my heart. I pump in and out insistently, letting her adjust. She’s so tight, I’m amazed I even got half my thick cock into her with the first thrust, and as Ana whimpers, the soft sounds of pain turn to sounds of pleasure as I start to bottom out inside her. “That’s it, let me in, sweetheart. You’re so fucking tight . . . need you to cover me in your cream so I don’t hurt you.”

“Mmm. Fuck, this is better than I dreamed,” Ana says breathlessly. “Tell me I’m not dreaming.”

“You’re not dreaming, Sweet Ana,” I promise her as I pull back.

I keep my eyes locked on Ana’s face as I pound her, watching every expression that crosses through her features—the surprise, the desire, the pleasure. The steel frame of my bed creaks with every stroke, a musical accompaniment to our grunts and cries.

Ana squeezes me, her pussy clenching around me tighter than a fist. I reach up, grabbing the headboard, getting leverage over her body to give even more to the intense thrusts. She does the same, her hands flat against the headboard so that she can push away. The combination of her pushing and my pulling against the headboard lets our bodies meet in a punishing power, every slap of our hips vibrating through us in a forceful build toward climax.

We’re not tender. We haven’t earned that yet, and my control is far too shredded to be gentle right now. But still, Ana gives me all she has, her eyes wide as her body totally submits to my savage will.

“Aubrey . . . oh, fuck, I’m . . . oh, oh, oh!” Ana cries out, her pussy walls fluttering around me. Her moans and the “O” framed on her lips pushes me over the edge. I’m so overwhelmed that I don’t even think to pull out but instead drive my cock deeper, my back arching as I fill her all the way. The feeling of my hot seed filling her makes Ana gasp, and she comes again, bucking against me as her pussy milks my cock for every drop.

I stay deep inside her as my orgasm peaks and finally subsides before pulling out, a single final spurt coming out just as I emerge to ooze down her body. The visual of marking her, inside and out, releases a knot in my gut that I didn’t know was there. Seeing my cock glisten with her juices helps too, knowing that she’s marked me, on the outside just now, and on the inside, many years ago.

As my eyes trace back to Ana’s face, I’m not sure what I’ll find, which makes me nervous. Is she mad? Satisfied? Confused? Because I sure as fuck am. All those emotions, and a million more. We’ve been through so much, and so much time has passed, but that was epic. The best fuck I’ve ever had, by far. And I want more of it, more of her. I want all of her.

Ana looks to be in shock though, still shaken to the core as she tries to speak, “Holy shit, I feel like I just exploded and got put back together with a bam . . .” She mimics the words with her hands, letting them burst outward before slamming her palms back together. The smile on her face is beautiful and makes me feel like a god. I did that, helped put that happiness on her face.

That puffed-up feeling lasts but a split second as her face contorts. I feel the cum leaking out of her pussy, dripping down my balls where they rest against her. I grind against her, keeping it there, smearing it along her skin like an animal marking its territory, and she gasps slightly. In this moment, I’m probably more a wild beast than a man, but she didn’t seem to mind a minute ago when I was riding her, slapping against her in earthshattering waves.

“What are you doing?” she squeals, wiggling beneath me but only succeeding in rubbing against me even more.

I want to admit that I’m marking her, but it’s too soon and I know it’ll send her running for the hills. I have no doubt she still thinks this is a quick fuck, one and done to get it out of her system. She hasn’t realized that this was just the first of many times I’m going to take her and that before long, she’ll be begging for it. For now, I have to keep it dirty, just light enough that she doesn’t spook. “Just enjoying the feel of your pussy so full of my cum you can’t hold it all.”

She tsks but subtly shifts against me so I know she liked that answer even if she won’t admit it. “Not that you asked, but I’m on birth control and I’m clean.”

I growl, knowing that I honestly didn’t even think about whether she was protected. I would’ve come in her even if she hadn’t been. I just wanted her and couldn’t stop. Although her needing to be on birth control for whatever fuckers she sees back home does make my gut tighten in jealousy. “I’m clean too.”

As the adrenaline of the moment passes, the pains start to set in, my ribs and ankle complaining at their overuse. I flop ungracefully to the bed beside Ana, reaching my arm up behind my head to stretch out the muscles in my torso and adjusting my jeans back in place but leaving them unbuttoned. Just in case she’s interested in round two.

Ana hisses, sitting up to loom over me. For such a tiny thing, she’s surprisingly intimidating when she gets that Mean Nurse look on her face. “Damn it, I’m supposed to be treating your injuries, which you made worse in some juvenile attempt to lure me over here.” Her eyes flick down to my ankle, still laced into my boot, to my bare chest as she checks out my ribs. Her eyes repeatedly jump down to my crotch, though, and my cock responds, hardening more every time she glances its way.

“I gave you what you wanted, what I wanted too,” I murmur, the admission easy for me. “Admit it, Ana.”

I know I’m right. And in that moment, neither of us cared about anything else, the past, the future all giving way to the present moment. But she’s in denial, the fog of desire clearing from her mind and leaving her in doubt about what we just did. I can feel the retreat as she moves away to sit up on the edge of the bed, her back to me.

“We shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have,” she says, shaking her head.

I can’t see her face, but I can hear the tinge of regret and it cuts me to the core. I don’t want to be her regret, a mistake. I regret enough for the both of us, and it’s an ugly emotion that eats away the core of your spirit. I don’t want that for Ana . . . especially not about me. She needs the light casualness still, even though there’s so much more going on. I’ll continue to give her the out for now. “Let me fuck the shit outta you?” I rumble. She doesn’t respond, so I continue, adding a hint of something deeper to test the waters. “You know there’s always been something combustible between us. That hasn’t changed, Ana. I don’t think it ever will.”

She looks back at me over her shoulder, her eyes tracing my body, and I fight to stay still, to not sit up and pull her to me, for another go or just to hold her, I’m not sure. But with a sigh, she stands and moves away from the bed, and the spell we’ve been under is broken, snapping as she gains distance from me.

She bends to grab her T-shirt and then yelps as she jumps. “Ahh.” Her wide eyes look around her feet and then she laughs. “Holy shit, Rex! You scared me!”

Rex barks back, answering to his name, and then plops his head up on the edge of the bed for a loving pat. “Good boy, Rex.”

“Did he just watch us have sex?” Ana asks, horror blushing across her face as she holds her shirt to her chest. Like Rex gives a shit about her bare breasts.

“I think he came in while you were busy riding my face and coming in my mouth,” I tease. Her mouth drops open in a pretty ‘O’ that I’d love to fill with my cock. I never saw Rex come in and wouldn’t have given it a second thought even if I had. But I can’t pass up the opportunity to tease her a bit.

She snaps her mouth closed as I grin at her, swiping my thumb along my lip as if there’s still some of her cream there. There isn’t. I’ve long since licked every drop of it from my lips.

Rex heads back into his favorite corner, the one where the sunbeam hits just right for him to sunbathe. His eyes are closed before he even settles on the floor.

Ana watches him, then turns back to me. “I need you to know this doesn’t change anything. Just a momentary lapse of judgement, giving in to all that . . .” She gestures her hands, apparently meaning all of me.

I’m on the verge of protesting, of pushing the matter and forcing her to admit that there’s more between us and always has been. But I’ll use whatever temptation I have at my disposal to keep her close. If it’s my body she wants, I’m not opposed to that . . . at least, for now. I stand from the bed, suppressing the wince from the movement to crowd right in front of her, our bodies inches apart. I casually reach down and adjust my cock with my palm, enjoying the way her eyes track my every movement and knowing that we both wish it were her hands on my cock. I can see the hitch in her breathing, the flush rising on her cheeks again. “Understood,” I say.

She looks disappointed at my lack of argument, and for a moment, I almost give in, but I know it’d backfire and give her ammunition against me, sending her running off once again. No, holding tight on my tongue, I let the silence stand, hoping that soon, I’ll be able to speak more freely and tell her the truth about what happened all those years ago and that she’ll actually listen to me.

Letting the seed plant and hoping that it’ll lead to her wanting more, I switch topics to throw her off-balance a bit. “You know what you need?” I let the question hang in the air and watch the dirty thoughts race across her face with a groan. “Mmm, yeah, that too, but I was gonna say that you came up here to get away, be with nature, and have an adventure. Right?”

Ana bites her lip. “Well, yeah. It’s supposed to be a vacation, to relax and unwind. Not nursing a stubborn oaf who won’t do as he’s told. Speaking of, no more games to get me running over. You could’ve really hurt yourself. Also, you’re on your feet . . . again.” Her tone belies the suppressed eye roll.

I shrug. “It was a calculated risk. And it was damn worth it, if I say so myself. You know what you do to me, Ana.” I let my need for her into my voice even though I honestly mean more than the physical effect of being near her, but her eyes track right back to my cock, thick and hard between us. I groan, the warning clear in my voice as I chastise her. “Ana, I’m trying to have a conversation with you here, but if you keep looking at my cock, I’m gonna push you to your knees and make you suck me into that mouth that keeps dropping open in invitation.”

There’s a beat of hesitation where we both think she might actually do that, especially when I see the way her bare thighs are pressing together, but it passes with a huff of indignation. “Ugh . . . such a caveman.” She turns to stomp off, but I catch her arm in my hand.

“Ana, what I was trying to say before we both got so distracted . . .” I pause, giving her a hard look, daring her to disagree with me, but she stays silent so I continue. “is that you should let me take you hunting. I told you at lunch that I hunt most of what I eat. Cutting logs in the middle of nowhere doesn’t exactly afford weekly trips to Trader Joe’s. Let me show you. Let me take you on an adventure.”

“I don’t think so. You need to stay off your ankle, not go traipsing through the woods,” she argues. “I can’t allow that. Nurse’s orders.”

“You act as though you have a choice. I’m going hunting, need to so that I can eat. You can stay here, holed up in your cabin and worrying about me. Or you can go with me, see some beautiful scenery, and make sure I’m being a good boy and don’t do anything too stupid.” It’s a risk and I know it. She might rise to the challenge or ditch me in favor of couch surfing.

The ‘no’ is on the tip of her tongue, but I can see the ‘yes’ swirling in her eyes as she battles internally. Finally, she reaches a compromise . . . with herself and with me. “Fine, but only if we wait until tomorrow. You’ve already overdone it, so stay off your foot for the rest of today. Then tomorrow, we’ll go hunting. As long as the trip is short, and heavy on the sightseeing more than the hunting. Deal?”

“Deal,” I growl, more than satisfied with her terms.