Zach and I piled into the back of the first taxi that was empty in the parking lot of The Stripe. We were both giggling and high on the adrenaline rush from my confrontation with the buffoon called Ghoul, and the pounding of my heart in my chest had the blood rushing in my ears.

“Where to?” the cab driver asked, not turning to look back at us as we drunkenly tried to buckle our seatbelts.

“Uh.” Zach paused and glanced at me.

“I don’t have a place we can go back to,” I mumbled, realizing we hadn’t really thought this through.

Zach leaned forward. “Where’s the closest hotel?”

“A few miles that way,” the driver said, nodding north out his windshield.

“Is it a dive?”

The driver shrugged.

“Come on man, help me out here. You see how beautiful this girl is? Is it the kind of place I can take her?”

I buried my face in my hands to hide the burning of my cheeks.

The driver sighed. “No, but there’s a nice one not far past that. Will that work?”

“Thanks,” Zach said, falling back against the seat beside me. The driver pulled out of the parking lot, and we sat in breathless silence for the drive.

Was I really doing this? Was I about to have sex with Zachary Flynn?

Holy shit, I was.

I considered telling him that this was a bad idea. That it wasn’t professional and that we should both just head back and rejoin our groups. But the heat between my legs and the ache below my stomach were overwhelming. Sex—and any form of physical pleasure—had eluded me for months now. Maybe longer. Being constantly surrounded by people and pushed to the physical limit had a tendency to make intimacy hard to come by. Even solo intimacy.

You’re going to fuck him, I thought to myself. And you’re going to have the best night you’ve had in a long time. And then you can move on. You just need to get it out of your system.

Zach reached over and put a big strong hand on my knee. I sucked in a breath. Just that touch, which wasn’t even sexual, had me burning with need. His hand wandered up my thigh to rest in the groove of my hip.

I wanted him to touch me. No, I needed him to. I needed to feel his hands on my naked body; everywhere. The whole cab was beginning to smell like him, and my panties were turning into a sloppy mess. My nipples were taut beneath my bra, and with every second that passed, I found myself wanting to climb into his lap and stick my tongue down his throat.

But I didn’t want to scare him off.

The cab dropped us off outside the lobby doors of an average hotel. We put on our best sober faces and went inside, where Zach booked us a room. He paid, much to my protest, and then we both hurried to the elevator, which opened as soon as we pressed the button.

We got inside, and Zach punched the button for level six. The doors closed, and we started to ascend. I shot him a sideways look at the same time he looked over at me. We both smiled, and my willpower crumbled.

I pushed him against the back wall and hooked my leg around his. As I pinned myself against him, he cupped my face in his hands and crushed his mouth to mine. He tasted like beer and tequila and sex. His tongue slipped between my teeth and explored my mouth as I hooked my thumbs in his belt loops, pulling his hips to me to feel the length of his cock along my stomach.

Holy Hell, he was big.

My need burned fiercer, and I fumbled to pop open the button of his jeans. He smiled into our kiss and nibbled playfully at my bottom lip, then walked forward to pin me against the opposite wall.

Zach grabbed my hands and lifted them above my head to stop me from stripping him naked in the elevator. He held me by the wrists above my head with one hand, while the other slipped up the inside of my shirt.

I sighed as he ran his thumb beneath the underwire of my bra.

Then the elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and we were exposed to the hallway. Thankfully, no one was there, and we poured out, attached at the hip and unable to keep our hands to ourselves as we half ran, half fucked down the hallway to our door at the end.

Zach had to insert the key card three times before the door unlocked. He pushed it open with his hip and pulled me inside by the waist. Neither of us bothered to flick on the light. I flicked the lock on the door and hurried back to Zach as he pulled his shirt off over his head.

Even in the near pitch darkness, I could see the outline of his abs and chest.

“Take it all off,” I told him.

He did, stepping out of his jeans next and his boxers. He tossed everything aside and stood naked before me. My breath hitched in my throat, and it became hard to swallow. His cock was stiff between his legs and curving up toward his belly button.

“Damn,” I whispered.

“Your turn,” he said, his voice husky.

I swayed on the spot as I struggled to get out of my skin-tight jeans. I stripped them off one leg at a time and almost pitched forward when they got caught up around my ankles. I managed to kick them off and tugged my shirt off over my head. Then I stepped out of my panties and reached behind my back to unclip my bra. Once I was naked, we both stood soaking in the sight of one another, our loud breathing filling the small space between us.

“Are we doing this?” Zach asked.

This was my chance to switch gears and change my mind. He was offering it up and making it so easy for me to say no. But his concern for what I wanted only turned me on more.

“Fuck yeah, we’re doing this,” I said.

“Thank God,” he breathed.

And then he was on me. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the bed, where he dropped me on my back. I giggled and wriggled across the mattress. Zach grabbed my ankles and pulled me back to the edge, where he dropped to his knees and pushed my legs open.

“You don’t have to—” I started, but his tongue already tasted me, and he was pushing my legs farther and farther apart until the sides of my knees rested on the bed. “Oh God,” I moaned.

Zach started with slow caresses with his tongue along the sides of my opening. When I thought I couldn’t take any more, he pulled my clit between his lips and suckled gently, rolling his lips and pressing his tongue to my most sensitive spot. The ache below my belly tightened into a hard knot, and a familiar pressure began to form as he released my clit and ran his tongue up and down the length of me once more.

This routine continued until I was a breathless, writhing thing beneath him. He had to use his hands on my hips to hold me in place.

When I came—for the first time in months—I saw stars. Bright little lights popped behind my eyelids, and I screamed his name to the ceiling for all I was worth. Nothing had ever felt so good, and I knew I would do anything he wanted in order for him to keep going.

He kissed the insides of my thighs and moved back. I propped myself up on my elbows to peer down at him. “My turn,” I said.

“No, I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “I won’t be able to last, and I want to fuck you.”

His words rippled through me and set my veins on fire. “Then fuck me.”

He chuckled. “I intend to.” He stepped between my legs and stroked himself before tilting his hips forward and pressing the head of his cock against my clit. I gripped the sheets and bit my bottom lip. Then he said, “I don’t have a condom.”

“That’s all right,” I assured him.

“You’re sure?”

I nodded as white-hot need clawed at my insides. “I’m sure. Please. I can’t wait any longer.”

He didn’t make me wait. He leaned in deeper and pressed his cock lower, slipping himself inside me. He stretched me, and I moaned as he gave me every inch he had, which was more than I had ever felt before. My body opened up for him, and a brief flicker of pain rushed through me before giving way to glorious pleasure.

Zach braced himself with a hand on either side of me. I reached up, hooked my arms around his neck, and pulled him down to me so I could kiss him while he thrust in and out of me.

He cupped my cheek as he kissed me, then let his hand wander to the back of my neck. He gripped me tightly and held on as he bucked against me.

I was going to come again.

I held on to his shoulders and wrapped my legs around his waist as my second orgasm washed over me. I moaned into his mouth as he continued to kiss me. His grip on the back of my neck tightened, and I loved the power in him. I traced his shoulders, his biceps, and then let my hands wander over his muscular chest. I followed the line of his spine and gripped his ass as he fucked me, and then I let my fingers wander over his hips to trace the grooves of his abs.

“I want to feel you come inside me,” I whispered. He shuddered above me, and the soft groan that escaped him was the sexiest thing I had ever heard. I pulled him down and forced him to turn his head so that I could nibble his earlobe and suckle his neck. I pinched him gently with my teeth. “Please. Oh God. Please, Zach.”

He crushed his mouth to mine once more as his thrusts deepened and quickened. I whimpered into his mouth with pleasure, and he groaned as his orgasm took hold. He tightened his fist in my hair as he filled me with warm, silky wetness.

Even after he came, he continued kissing me. He teased me with little pecks and then indulged me with long, deep, desperate kisses that had me gasping for air. When he did finally straighten above me and pull out, I ached for him to be back inside me.

Zach padded over to the bathroom and flicked on the light. He was forced to shield his eyes from the glare, and he turned back to me before closing the door. The light from the bathroom fell upon me and the bed, and I still lay on my back where he had left me.

Zach let out a long, slow whistle, gave me a sideways grin, and closed the bathroom door.