Give up control.

The idea would have sent her screaming before this week. But the thought of losing Quinn over being too rigid about how to have sex made her feel ill.

He rolled her onto her back and kissed her neck. “Just hold on to the headboard. I don’t ever want to tie you up against your will or anything like that. But I want you to give me this. I want you to give up the control, just for a little bit. Because you can, with me. You know I’m never going to hurt you. You can command me to stop at any moment, and I will. I’ll drop to my knees and bow my head for you.

“But it’s not in my nature not to be in charge from time to time. And if we’re going to do this, then we need to try out everything. Test everything. And rule out what doesn’t work…for both of us. Between us. But you don’t know that this doesn’t work for us until we try it.”

“Okay.”

“And if it’s not your—”

“I said okay.” She reached for the hem of her tank top, then paused. “Can I strip?”

The look on his face was pure pleasure, like she’d given him a castle or a pony or whatever boys dreamed of when they were little. Maybe a giant slingshot or an endless mud puddle. That made it worth her while to quash the worry bugs in her gut. He grinned. “Yes, please.”

She wiggled out of her clothes, then stretched out naked.

“Is this weird?” He caressed her collar bone, then her breasts, stroking his fingertips around the sensitive flesh in lazy, leisurely circles that raised a wake of goosebumps.

“Not weird. Nice.”

“Nice! The horror.” He rolled his eyes before leaning over to pull her nipple into his mouth. Wet, hot suction was better than nice.

“Yes,” she breathed. “More of that.”

“I should get you worked up and then make you wait to come,” he muttered. “I still haven’t gotten over that.”

“That was hot!” she protested.

He laughed against her skin. “It was. But that’s not what I want to do to you today.” He reared up and pulled off his t-shirt, then rolled it up. “I want to blindfold you.”

“Okay.” Her pulse raced, but only with excitement.

His shirt was soft and smelled like him as he settled it over her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered in reflexive protest, but as soon as it was tied off behind her head, he cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her.

And then nothing else mattered but Quinn.

She held on to the headboard as he sank into her mouth, an achingly loving kiss that seemed endless and all-encompassing. The blindfold disoriented her, because she couldn’t see him and guess what his next move would be, so each touch was another layer of pleasure that lingered after he moved on. When he squeezed her breasts, she felt it even as he stroked down her waist to grip her hips. When he grazed her nipples on the way back up to circle her neck with his fingers, the phantom tease kept them hard. And he always returned. Up and down her body he touched her, and she quickly stopped trying to guess where he would touch next.

The answer was surely everywhere, over and over again.

By the time he touched her sex, she was wet and ready for him. He still made her come on his fingers before fitting them together and thrusting slowly inside her.

She cried out for him, and he kissed his name off her lips. She clung to him and he whispered promises that seemed too good to be true, but felt completely right none the less.

He loved her with his entire body, his entire being, until she shattered again. And even as she drifted on the post-orgasmic bliss, he was urging her to do it again.

* * *

Three orgasms later, Quinn’s phone alarm sounded as they were climbing out of the shower. He swore under his breath. “I have to go. There’s a rehearsal dinner tonight.”

She tossed him a towel. “Come by once it’s done?”

He nodded, then stopped and gave her a slow, searching look. “Come with me.”

“No.” She snatched a towel for herself and left the bathroom.

He followed. “Yes. And come with me to the wedding.”

“As your date?” She needed more clothes for this conversation.

He watched her with an amused smile on his face. He pulled on clothes, too, but his movements were leisurely. “As my girlfriend. As the woman I want to sail around the world with.”

“You want to what?” She stared at him.

“At some point, I want to sail around the world with you, Leah.” A wide grin split across his face. “Doesn’t that sound awesome?”

It really did. Nervous excitement fluttered in her chest. “What are you doing?”

“Making plans.”

“Oh my God.”

“First, I introduce you to my brother. He looks just like me, except without the tattoos. And then we drink a lot of wine and dance and celebrate two people getting hitched.”

“Two people I don’t know.”

“Minor detail.”

“And what comes next?”

He crossed the room and took her in his arms. “Whatever you want.”

“Sailing around the world.”

“That will have to wait until I’ve got some time off work.”

“This is crazy. I need to figure out what I'm doing about school.”

“San Diego has world-class universities.”

She swallowed hard. “We don’t even know each other.”

“I think we do. More than most people do. But what else do you want to know?”

“I don’t share well.”

“I know, you’re a cover hog.”

“That’s not what I mean. These plans…are they exclusive plans? Just you and me, nobody else?”

He froze. “Babe. There isn’t anyone else. And if I play my cards right, there won’t be anyone else, ever again. From the second I laid eyes on you, you were it for me.”

“That could be the bikini magic.”

He shook his head. “I’m not talking about on the beach. I’m talking about that bar off-base. That pale pink t-shirt you were wearing. I do like you in pink. It’s definitely your color.”

“You remember my shirt?”

He brushed his mouth against hers. “And the way your ass looked in those jeans, too, but I thought that was best kept to myself.”

“Never.”

“You were prettiest little spitfire I’d ever seen. I wanted you to take me home and ride me hard that night.”

“I wanted that, too.”

“We were meant to find each other again. I don’t care if that’s sappy to say.”

Tears pricked behind her eyes. “It’s not sappy. It’s the kind of sweet I…I…I never thought I’d have.”

“No crying, babe. Not until the wedding tomorrow.”

“I don’t cry at weddings.”

“There was a lot you didn’t do before you met me.”

Wasn’t that the truth. She looped her arms around his neck. “Okay, then, Parry. Better pack tissues, because I’ll be your plus-one.”

“For the wedding?”

“Yep.”

“And the sailing trip.”

“Yep.”

“And school?”

“Tell me more about San Diego…”