Jake knew there was no turning back.

He’d been fighting to resist her all day, ever since that damn feather boa in the warehouse. She’d twirled down the aisles, so full of excitement, it had taken everything he had not to pull her closer and kiss here right there in amongst the fake plastic trees and confetti snow. But there on the dark street, with real flakes tumbling from the sky and catching in her curls, all his control melted clean away.

Why was he still fighting this? She was inevitable. Necessary. The realest thing he’d felt in so long. And she was standing right there in the snowfall, almost challenging him to make a choice.

She should have known he’d made that choice a month ago when he kissed her for the first time. Because now that he knew how it felt to hold her, he wasn’t going to stop until he had it all.

His lips found hers again, and he pulled her closer, losing himself in the exquisite rush. Her cheeks were chilled from the night air, but her mouth blazed hotly, pressing closer as the inferno sparked to life, and Jake fell headlong into the fire, and taste, and feel of her—his Mackenzie.

He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her as close as he could, hands sliding under her coat to feel the soft shape of her body as their mouths burned together, a slow dance of lips and tongues that only made him want more. God, what she did to him . . . This was more than just lust, thundering in his veins. This was something primal, a need that blotted out everything in the world but her. He kissed her harder, desperately, and who knew what he would have done if there hadn’t been a distant blare of horn cutting through the night.

He pulled back, feeling drugged on her sweetness. The horn blared again, and he realized they were blocking the narrow street. He tugged Mackenzie back out of the way, and she stumbled after him, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright and she was so damn beautiful, he had to kiss her all over again, up against the wall like a couple of kids, not caring who was around to see.

Mackenzie hooked her arms around his neck and dragged him eagerly down to her, pressing kisses along his jaw and nipping lightly against his earlobe until Jake groaned and captured her mouth again. He slid his tongue deep, needing to taste every inch of her, make her feel this burning desire that was consuming him. She sighed against him, her body arched and pressing, and damn the layers of clothing that kept them apart. He wanted her naked and moaning. He needed her to come apart in his arms, for him.

It should only ever be him.

Mackenzie finally dragged her lips from his, panting for air. There was something bright in her eyes, and for a moment, the face that was so familiar looked like a stranger to him: full of depths he’d never realized, the parts of her he’d never even dreamed.

“What now?” she whispered, the desire on her face giving way to uncertainty.

The question loomed, bigger than he wanted to deal with, but maybe Mackenzie felt the same, because she added, “We should hit the road, if we want to beat the snow.”

She paused and drew a breath. “Or . . .”

The word hung between them, full of possibilities that roared hard through his body.

“It’s late,” Jake managed to say. “We should stay. Here. In the city tonight.”

Mackenzie’s lips curled in a smile. “That seems like a good idea.” She nodded, still breathless. “The sensible thing to do.”

To hell with sensible. Jake was on a one-way road to reckless, and he was going to savor every damn moment. With another searing kiss, he pulled Mackenzie after him down the street, back to wherever the hell he’d parked the van. He wasn’t sure how they made it across the city, to a hotel by the park, he only knew that the moment the elevator doors closed behind them, they were up against the wall again: hard and hot, and too good to ever forget. Mackenzie let out a moan against his mouth, and Jake felt his whole body scream to life, demanding more until—

Ding!

The elevator doors opened, too early, to reveal an older couple standing in the hallway. They blinked, looking shocked to see Jake and Mackenzie still holding tight, their breath coming hard.

“Well I never . . .” the woman said, her lips pursing in disapproval. “Sorry,” Jake managed, reaching over to hit the button again. “This one’s occupied.”

The doors closed, and Mackenzie dissolved into laughter. “Oh God, did you see their faces?” She giggled. “Anyone would think we were naked!”

“Soon,” Jake growled, landing a kiss on the bare curve of her neck. Mackenzie shivered against him, and if the elevator hadn’t arrived at their floor, he would have given those strangers something to complain about for sure.

Mackenzie grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall. She somehow managed to find their room, swiping the keycard even as she kissed him again. They tumbled backwards into the room, the door slamming shut behind them.

“Multi-tasking.” Jake yanked her jacket off. “I’m impressed.”

“I’m good with my hands, remember?” she teased, sliding her cold palms under his coat and sweater, making him flinch with the touch. He caught her wrists and pulled her hands away, catching them behind her back as he kissed her again.

This time, he took it slow.

Easing her mouth wider, sliding his tongue deep inside—Jake tried his best to go slow, even as his body demanded it all. He wanted to remember every moment, every breath. Mackenzie seemed to melt in his arms, swaying closer as he teased kisses along her jaw and down the curve of her neck. He peeled her sweater over her head, leaving her in just a thin camisole and bra. Her skin was flushed, not just her cheeks but the freckled surface of her chest too, and he bent his head, impatient to lavish every last freckle with the attention she deserved.

“Wait.” Mackenzie broke away. “Shouldn’t we . . . you know, talk about this?” She gulped, and Jake could see the nervousness slip into her eyes.

“Sure.” He took her hand and began to kiss his way up her arm. “You talk. I’m all ears.” He nuzzled in the crook of her elbow, and Mackenzie let out a breathy sigh.

“Jake, I’m serious,” she said. “What are we doing?”

Her body was so close, so tempting, but he dragged himself back. She was worried, and he didn’t have to ask why. This was unchartered territory for them, the brave dawn of something unknown, but he knew in his bones that there was nothing to be afraid of.

“It’s OK,” he promised, looking into the eyes he’d seen a thousand times, but never like this. “Whatever happens, it’ll be alright. It’s us.”

He didn’t know any other way to explain it, the feeling of total rightness that wrapped around them, making the real world seem like a million miles away. But maybe Mackenzie knew exactly what he meant, or maybe the tension between them was too much to resist, because either way, he saw her face change—from questioning to something certain.

She kissed him, and this time, she didn’t stop.

---

Mackenzie tumbled backwards onto the bed.

What had happened to learning from her past mistakes, being older and wiser this time around? She knew all the reasons why this was a very bad idea, but somehow, pesky things like “sense” and “logic” didn’t seem to matter at all, not with Jake’s mouth hot on hers, and his hands sliding under her clothing, skimming over her skin and making her moan at the touch.

She wanted him. And for the first time in her life, he was right there for the taking.

She wasn’t going to waste another moment.

Jake wrapped her legs around his waist, burying his face against her neck as she pulled his sweater over his head. God, that body . . . It was an athlete’s physique, all taut, tanned flesh and curved muscle, and she wasted no time exploring every inch, from the swell of his biceps to the chiseled line of his abs. She dropped a dozen kisses, teasing him with her tongue as she made her way over the expanse of his broad shoulders, loving the way his body shivered under her mouth. He was tugging her camisole away from her, and she gladly obliged, stripping it off and tossing it to the floor.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” Jake breathed, staring up at her. But before Mackenzie could feel self-conscious, he rolled her beneath him, pinning her to the sheets. His mouth grazed over the lace of her bra, and her breath hitched in anticipation.

Almost . . . almost . . . there.

He closed his mouth around her, teasing as Mackenzie swooned back into the covers. The sensations were overwhelming: his steady weight, and sliding hands, and God, that miraculous mouth, sending her soaring as he stripped the last of her clothing away and lay her out, naked beneath him.

Her breath caught.

He was looking at her, really looking, the reverence in his gaze like nothing she’d ever seen before. Slowly, his eyes skimmed over her body, and she felt their path like a burning touch, bringing every part of her to life until she was panting, tension sweet between her thighs. She could have stayed like that forever: suspended on the edge of something, with anticipation burning in the air, but Mackenzie’s patience was already long gone.

She’d been waiting ten years for this, and she wasn’t going to waste another moment.

She reached for him, hungry, and then his clothes were joining hers in a mess on the floor, and there was nothing separating them anymore. Just the delicious, hot tangle of hands, and limbs, and bare skin, and searching mouths. The kisses she’d dreamed about all those innocent nights—and so much more. She didn’t want to stop, not for a moment, and a small part of her felt almost desperate with desire—as if any pause, even for a moment, would pierce this reckless haze and it would all slip away, before she could possess him the way she craved.

But Jake didn’t stop. His touch was ravenous, electric, as he spread her open and explored every inch, driving Mackenzie higher with a hungry touch until the storm was dancing, cresting, just out of reach. When he peeled away from her, she moaned in frustration, but he was only gone a moment, long enough to grab a condom from his wallet on the floor, and then he was back, yanking her against him, and it was her turn to explore: feeling the shifts and shudder of his breath beneath the rake of her fingernails, devouring him, teasing him in all the ways she could have imagined. She could have spent hours discovering the planes of his body, but Jake let out a ragged groan, and then he was rolling them again, pinning her beneath his delicious weight and easing her thighs apart.

When he moved inside her, Mackenzie lost her mind.

Something took her over, a raw, animal need she’d never known before. Hot and pulsing, demanding more. Harder. Now.

Jake rocked higher, and she heard herself cry out, as if from far away. She was clinging to him, meeting him stroke for stroke, wild with desire as he surged inside her, thick and deep and God, right there. She bit down on his shoulder to keep from screaming with pleasure, and Jake let out a raw, ragged cry. His pace became frenzied, their bodies a slick blur of sweat and gasps and wild abandon. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t breathe, all she could do was hold on for dear life, feeling the fire take her over, burning the world down in the blaze of his touch until she was poised on the edge of the precipice, a live wire sparking in the night.

“Jake,” she gasped, drowning in him, in the wild, sweet fever of it all. “Oh God, don’t stop. Jake!”

He shifted, pinning her down and then thrusting deep again, deeper than before, his face a mirror of her own wild abandon, those blue eyes frenzied with the same desperate need. Mackenzie lost herself in them, lost herself in the slam of their bodies and the thick slide of him and the friction building, burning, raging deeper until she couldn’t hold back, couldn’t stop the supernova. He surged up inside her, stroking every last inch and oh, she shattered with a scream, ravished by the surge of pleasure, consumed by the sound of her name on his lips, a desperate, ragged prayer before his body tightened and she felt him come undone.