Waking up next to Olivia, her warm, soft naked body pressed against mine, I feel like I could float up to the roof. I’ve never been a lighthearted guy. Even before the SEALs, I was a hardcore badass, intense, focused and determined. The SEALs don’t accept just anyone.

Once I was in, it was like all those traits grew and multiplied, leaving no room for the other stuff. Like weeds crowding out the sunshine and killing other, weaker plants, there wasn’t much room in my life for the fun stuff, let alone the warm and mushy feelings that make up Nicholas Sparks movies.

Now I feel like I’m starring in my own feature romantic date-night film. Gathering Olivia in my arms, nuzzling her hair and breathing in her scent, all sorts of crazy shit fills my mind and heart. I’ll go to the ends of the earth to protect her. I’ll love her to the end of time. I want to marry her and start a family together and care for her as we grow old together.

Two weeks ago that kind of crazy talk would have made me turn off the TV. Now it’s coming out of my own brain and I’m so far gone I’m not even rolling my eyes at myself. I’m just in it.

“Hey.” She smiles up at me, sweet and shy. I took her virginity last night. And she loved it. Masculine pride swells through me. Another part of my anatomy is swelling right up, too, as she awakens.

I kiss her in greeting, giving her neck some time and attention. She’s sensitive there, in a good way. The noises she makes when I give her a little lick, or soft kiss then a light nip, drive me crazy. She’s a playground I never want to leave. See? Those lines just keep occurring to me, with absolutely no trace of irony. Who is this guy and what has he done with Knox Mater?

“What are you smiling about?” She’s beaming herself, looking up at me like I’m her hero.

“I’m just happy.” I thread a strand of her hair through my fingers.

“Me too.”

We’re kissing again and like always with Olivia it doesn’t take much to go from zero to a hundred. In minutes we’re panting and grasping at each other like we haven’t touched in years, instead of sleeping in each other’s arms all night. I don’t want to freak her out, though. She’s just had sex for the first time. She’s got to be hurting, maybe needs a break.

“How’re you doing?” I force myself to ask, rolling to the side, letting her know it’s cool if she wants to tell me to back off.

“I’ll be a lot better once you’re inside me again.” She gives me a devilish smile. I’ve found the woman of my dreams.

“You’re not too sore?” I’m back on top of her as I ask, eager as a teenager. It might be a while before I last like the nearly-30-year-old man that I am. Last night I almost came as I entered her. That’s literally never happened to me.

“I’m sore, but I feel good.” She smiles up at me, parting her legs. I love the nastiness I can sense blending with her sweetness, and that I’m the one to help her discover it. There’s so much we can do together. But for now, getting inside her as fast as I can is all I can think about.

She groans as I enter, her eyes closed, her fingers biting into me. I’d worry she wasn’t liking it if it weren’t for the yes she keeps panting, her little whines of need nearly driving me over the edge. It doesn’t seem possible that she wants me as much as I do her, with a consuming, burning fervor, but when our bodies join it sure feels that way.

Seated all the way in, I have to take a deep breath to keep my control. She’s still new to this. She’s sore. I can’t pound her like it’s my job.

“Fuck me harder this time, Knox. I want to see how it feels.” She looks up at me, all innocence and seduction blending into one.

“You want it harder?” I push her legs apart, still favoring my good arm, but feeling my strength coming back in spades. Nothing like great sex to make a man feel all’s right with the world. Holding her thigh to the side, I angle myself in where I know I hit her right in that magic spot.

She coos, her eyes closed, mouth open. Positioning myself, I watch my cock slide all the way out, all the way in, covered in her juices she’s so slick for me. Rocking into her, I fill her completely. I pick up the pace, bucking into her harder, pushing her down into the mattress to gain more purchase.

Eyes rolling back in her head, she’s groaning, her tits jiggling with each thrust. Her back is arched up like she wants even more, and she’s bucking with me, taking everything I have as she runs a hand down my chest.

“Fuck, yes, Knox!” There’s nothing sexier than watching my girl get fucked by my huge cock, feeling her get closer and closer to orgasm through nothing more than the friction of our bodies, the spot I’m hitting every time I thrust.

“Like that, baby? You like getting fucked hard?”

By now she can’t talk anymore, she’s just moaning and gasping with need, getting fucked like she needs, like she deserves. I’m pounding into her, way harder than I’d intended to go. But it’s what she wants, and who am I to say no.

Right before I explode I realize I never put on a condom. The urge to fill her with my seed is almost impossible to deny. She’s mine and that would bind her to me, making her swell with my child.

But I love her. I love her so much I need to talk to her before I do that. So I pull out, rearing up on my knees and work my huge cock over her writhing, naked body.

I jerk myself off with one hand. With the other I play with her tits, cupping them, squeezing them, twisting her nipples until her berry-pink lips open in a scream of ecstasy.

“That’s it.” I start pumping hard as she begins to orgasm. “Show me how much you love my cum.” The first spurt lands across one of her huge, round tits. It feels so primal, marking my woman like that. I cum all over her, thick, creamy jets crossing along her breasts as she screams in ecstasy.

“Rub it in, baby,” I command as I stroke myself, coating her in every last drop. “I want to see it all over you.”

She moans and looks up at me, her eyes drunk with pleasure as she spreads my thick cum all over her tits, squeezing her nipples between her fingers, cupping her mounds, slipping and sliding all over them.

“That’s it,” I coax. “Show me you know you’re mine.”

“I’m yours, Knox,” she moans, the last shudder of her orgasm trembling through her.

Down by her side, I wrap my arm around her waist. She feels so small against me, but a perfect fit. Still in the throes of pleasure, she brings her fingers to her mouth and sucks them with a deep, throaty moan of satisfaction.

“Fuck me,” I murmur, amazed, watching her lick her fingers clean of my cum. She is the perfect woman.

“I think you just did that to me.” She laughs, the full laugh of a woman absolutely satisfied. It suits her.

I make her some food—not sure what to call it, breakfast, lunch, something in between. We’ve lost track of time naked together in bed, making our own rhythm. We’re both hungry, I know that much. I fry her up some eggs and potatoes.

She hums and puts together some flour and other stuff. I’ve never been much of a baker. The sight of her in just a tight tee and panties has me hard as a rock yet again.

After we eat what I’ve fried up, she takes out these little cinnamon rolls she’s baked that melt in my mouth. Damn. She can bake, too.

I stoke the fire, making it roar, and pull her with me onto the couch. It’s snowing thick and fast outside and I use that as an excuse to take the entire day off, not doing a lick of work. There’s plenty that needs doing, but none of it is half as tempting as staying inside with Olivia. Snowed into our remote cabin in the wilderness, nothing and no one can stop us from indulging in every pleasure we can think of. And I have a very creative mind.

She sighs, content on my chest in front of the fire as I play with a strand of her hair. “I feel so safe,” she confesses in a soft voice, sounding almost as if she’s embarrassed by the sentiment.

“You should.” I hold her secure in my arms against my broad chest. I want her to feel my strength, let my power seep into her sense of self. “I’ll never let anything hurt you ever again.”

She shakes her head. I don’t know if she’s disagreeing or marveling over it all.

“What, you think I will?”

“No.” She puts a reassuring hand to my chest, her touch so gentle and yet so hot all at once. “I trust you. That’s what’s so crazy about all of this. It’s happened so fast.”

“It has.” I have to agree. It’s head-spinning how it all went down. I’ve known women for years before who didn’t affect me a fraction as much as Olivia did the first time I saw her.

“First, I thought you’d kidnapped me. I mean, technically you did.”

“To keep you out of a very bad set of hands.”

“I know.” She reassures me, running her hand up and down my bicep. “I’d much rather be in your hands.” She giggles at her own joke. I relax a fraction. I don’t like remembering her initial distrust of me, as well-founded as it was.

“I’m still getting used to how I feel, I guess.” She nestles her head against my shoulder, right where she belongs. “It’s all so intense.”

“Take your time. There’s no rush.” I kiss her forehead, wrapping my hand around her waist. “You’ve got all the time in the world.”

She smiles, a secret pretty little smile like that’s exactly what she wants, too. “I’ve never felt this way before, you know.”

My chest swells to hear her say it. I knew I was the first—and only—man to have her physically. But to know no one else has captured her heart and emotions, that feels damn good.

“I haven’t either,” I admit, the gruff and tuff guy baring his soul. Words fail me, but I hope she can sense everything in the way I hold her, the promise I give her in every touch. I will protect her, provide for her. Together we’ll build a home. She’ll have my children. We’ll build a family. All those golden ideals I’d always thought were out of reach, not for a hardened guy like me, sitting there with her in the glowing firelight, it all feels real, like it’s in my grasp. Like I’ve earned it. Like I’m finally home.