Natalie stared at her own bathroom door like it might’ve contained a live lion. Her mind was divided in battle between summoning all available courage she had, stripping, and joining him in the shower or putting on several extra sets of clothing and hiding under the covers of her bed.

“You’re a fucking cowgirl. Get it together,” she commanded herself. She’d finally told him she loved him. She’d suspected that she’d fallen in love a while ago, just like her mother had said. She just had no way of fully understanding what that meant or what to do about it.

“People have to call it making love for a reason.” She spoke through her teeth as she wriggled out of the old nightgown and flung it on the bed. He thought she’d somehow missed him saying that she thought she was in love with him.

People said she was stubborn. Clearly, they’d never tried to convince Aaron Weber that they were in love with him. Shaking her head, she slipped her panties down her legs and kicked them away. Remembering her mother’s words that he didn’t believe he was worthy, determination sluiced through her, stiffening her spine and enlivening her body. This wasn’t a one way deal. He needed her to teach him something as well.

She paused for one more moment, remembering the rough gravel of his voice when he’d informed her that her innocence belonged only to him and the feel of his stubble on her neck and his fingers on her hips.

A shiver quaked her. More than anything else in that moment she wanted her body to belong to him, wanted him to fill the emptiness, wanted to hear the sounds he made and the commanding tenor his voice took on when he forgot how little experience she had.

That was all it took. Her wants and needs tangled in her mind. She understood only small parts of each. She needed him to unfold them, to suss out the puzzle pieces she’d been missing for far too long. She needed him to show her what it could be like between them.

And she would show him what love really was. Despite the hell her uncle had put her through, the rest of her family had always stood by her side and loved her through it all. She knew how to love even if she wasn’t certain exactly how to make it.

A wall of steam greeted her when she opened the bathroom door. His clothes were rolled in a ball on the countertop. The shower curtain swayed. She could just make out the shadow of his masculine form behind the cloth barrier. Longing clogged her throat. She continued to watch him for far longer than was probably normal. His body dominated most of the space in her shower. She couldn’t look away.

Her heart beat out a frantic SOS. She needed to be back in his arms but her feet refused to move. Her chest rose and fell in rapid pants. The humid air made it difficult to breathe. His hands skated down his chest until his right hand wrapped around his cock.

A small squeak of approval escaped her lips. Suddenly, the curtain was jerked aside, revealing the ropes of chiseled muscle that comprised his body and the intricate tattoo work that made her weak with desire.

His eyes devoured her with need that bordered on possession. “You like watching don’t you, baby?”

With that question her mind flatlined. Words seemed a foreign concept. A hive of responses buzzed in her head. They made no sense. Yes. Maybe. Was it wrong if she did? Was it weird if she didn’t? Who wouldn’t want to look at him? He was so gorgeous it was almost painful.

“Come here to me.” It wasn’t a request. Nothing about his tone said she had any other options than to comply with his summoning. It was a command she willingly obeyed. The cold tile registered on the soles of her feet. It juxtaposed with the fiery heat roaring in her belly and singeing her cheeks. Once she stepped into the shower, there was no going back.

Inventorying her mind, she located no regret. For as long as she’d been able to remember she’d wanted to shatter her past into diminutive pieces so tiny they could never be restored. He offered his hand to help her make the final step. She was certain it was an invitation to sin if ever there was one. She grasped it firmly and threw herself into his arms under the rapid fall of water.

“So damned beautiful,” he grunted in her ear. He cradled her against his chest using his body to keep the water from her eyes. “I wanted to be the one to strip you, baby. I wanted to take my time. I want to study every square inch of your body. But you coming to me like this… it’s better than anything I’ve ever fantasized about and I’ve been dreaming about you naked under me for so fucking long.”

His cock was an iron brand against her. His scars were pressed to her abdomen. She longed to touch both. She could bring relief to the fierce strain and tender skin. She knew how now.

Having never showered with a man before, she had nothing else to draw on but what she’d learned the evening before. Easing back a half centimeter she scaled her right hand between them and ran her fingers over his cock. Rivulets of water and pre-cum flowed down him. She followed their trail. A ragged growl echoed around her. His girth and length registered in her mind prodding at the hive of nerves that had robbed her of words. The pain everyone seemed concerned about finally worked through the hunger that had deadened the words of warning she’d heard since she was a teenager.

Seeking reassurance from him, she blinked back the water that rushed into her eyes when she sought his gaze.

His arms wrapped back around her, crushing her to him and keeping the water at bay. She clung to the only anchor she’d ever really wanted. “Are you scared, baby?”

“No.” The single word was lost in the drumming beat of the water. She lifted her head. “Just nervous.”

He nodded his understanding. Beads of water rolled down his shoulders. She wondered what they tasted like mixed with his sweat. She longed to know what would happen if she bent and tasted the pearly mixture weeping at the head of his cock. She wanted to know his flavors, wanted to breathe him in, to absorb him with every single one of her senses, wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

“We’re gonna take it nice and slow. I’d never do anything you didn’t want, Nat. I got a little crazy thinking about you with a vibrator. I know I scared you.”

“You didn’t.” She spoke with more authority now.

He eased her away from the water. “It’s okay to be nervous.”

“You’re so… big,” she finally confessed.

His body shook with one of those intoxicating chuckles she’d fallen hard for two seconds after she’d met him. “Damn but you’re good for my ego. I’m gonna get you nice and ready for me, baby. Open you up for me. Fit you to me. I’m gonna make it feel so good. I promise.”

Her nipples throbbed against him, urging him onward. Her body was awash with nerves and raw with need. Her confidence was fleeting, making its way down the drain with the rest of the water.

“Hey, look at me,” he soothed. She lifted her head. Once again he blocked the water from her face with the expanse of his back. “First time you learn to HALO jump, you jump tandem with an instructor. Not gonna lie to you, I was more than nervous. I was pretty much scared shitless.”

A grin returned to Natalie’s face. A sense of why she was standing in the shower with him washed over her. His voice steadied her. She was right where she needed to be.

“Instructor told me there were only two things I had to remember for my first jump. Breathe and hold on. Can you do that for me? Just do those two things and I’ll take good care of you. I’ll do everything else. I just need you to breathe for me and to hold on to me. I’ll never let you go. You’re not free-falling alone in this, okay? I’m right here.”

Pressing her body to his, she held on for dear life. He was right there with her. He’d never let her fall. She knew that. Even that night she’d run from, him she’d known he’d be there waiting on her return.

“I want you.” The only words she’d really wanted to say that night finally took flight from the buzz in her brain. “Now.”

She was so soft. God, she felt so damn good. Aaron kept her cradled to him. His hands explored her back and then he mercifully granted himself access to the finest ass he’d ever seen. Cupping her backside, he gauged her, plying and squeezing then softening his touch. Her moans increased in volume as he neared her pussy. She spread her legs without his prompting. So damn needy. So fucking hungry for him.

“Let me see you, honey. Let me look at you.”

“I thought I was supposed to hold on,” she chided.

Thrilled she wasn’t too nervous to joke, he shook his head sending water shooting out from his hair. “Careful, baby. It’s taking everything I’ve got to keep my baser nature locked up tonight.”

She did step back. Intrigue danced in her eyes as she raked her teeth across her bottom lip. “Meaning what?”

“Meaning if you want that lip bitten I’ll be the one doing the biting and if I tell you to let me see you, you do as you’re told. After tonight, and when I know you’re ready, whenever we’re in bed I call the shots. Believe one of your requests was that I show you the less vanilla side of sex.”

Her eyes narrowed and those perfect pink lips of hers twisted in consideration. “I don’t normally like being told what to do.” Her eyebrow lifted. She was testing him, wanted to see what he’d make of that.

“Trust me, honey, you’ll like doing as you’re told when you’re with me.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re right about that, just don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too fucking late.” He crashed his mouth down on hers, unleashing unrelenting devastation on her mouth. His tongue dove past her lips, hungry and demanding, all the things he was. All the things he’d always been for her.

He swallowed her moans. He swore they slipped down his throat and wrapped themselves forcefully around his cock. Nipping at her lips, he cupped her breasts, drawing them together.

Stepping back, he made certain she was with him, staring into his eyes, still every bit as hungry as he was. “I fucking love your tits. Small and perfect. Makes me want to sit you down in front of me and let you watch while I come all over them.”

“Oh God, yes,” she whimpered. Perfection. He needed her drunk on him, intoxicated with all of the things he wanted from her, and desperate to comply.

“Mm-hmm, I knew you’d like that. They hurt though don’t they, baby. They swollen for me?” He traced his index fingers around her nipples, dark with her arousal, sweet little peaches too long on the vine. He refused the thing he knew she most wanted. His muscles pulsed to the hammering of his heart. His cock throbbed anxiously.

A low throaty hum was her only response. Another circular trace of his fingers elicited a gasp of pure need. Her body rolled against the tile wall as she tried to press her nipples into his palms. He rolled them between his fingertips instead.

Convulsive waves jolted through her body like she’d pressed her hands to an electric fence. “Oh God, yes, please,” she panted. Fucking hell, she was going to kill him.

He closed her his hands over the swells, giving her what she couldn’t seem to ask him for yet. “You could come like that couldn’t you, baby? So sensitive for me.” His mind instantly conjured up an image of her in clamps. He damn near lost it all from the thought alone.

He swallowed down a possessive growl that threatened to tear from his lungs. First time. It’s her first fucking time became his mantra. Tonight wasn’t about what he wanted. It was about what she required. He’d get his later and he’d wait a lifetime to see her come full circle, giving her pleasure over to him entirely.

He followed the fall of water as it moved over her svelte abdomen and gathered in the curls that covered her sweet little pussy. This was where things could get dicey. “Look at me, Nat.” He kept his voice calm and in control, leashing the demanding edge successfully for the moment.

Her eyes flew open. They were jewel drenched pools of confusion and need. “Stay with me, baby. Here’s where you hold on.” He gathered her hands in one of his own, leaving his other free to explore.

Other than his good girl slip, he had no idea what that piece of human waste had said to her before he’d touched her. Revulsion drove away a little of his own frantic desire.

“Can I touch you, sweetheart? Can you spread your legs for me?” She’d been all about this in his truck but this was different and they both knew it.

He prayed nothing that came from his mouth would summon any of the demons that had been so cruelly forced on his baby. The demons he would damn back with everything he was, the ghosts of her past that he would smother and cage, the fears he would starve for so long they no longer held any power over her.

“Please,” sang from her lips as she revealed herself to him. She kept a tight hold on his hand. His eyes drank her in. Her long hair fell in soaked curls over her shoulders. Her soft belly was pulled taught. Her eyes closed once again. She writhed.

With precise gentleness, he circled her mound with his free hand. Her breaths stuttered from her chest. “Still with me, honey?” He ran his middle finger up her slit, back and forth watching as she bloomed for him.

“Yes. Just please. I need…” Her plea dissolved.

“I know what you need, baby.” He slowly dipped his finger between her lips, so ripe and full of heat she shook for him. “I know what you want. I know you’re so fucking hungry for it right now it hurts, and I’m gonna give it to you. Someday soon I’ll have you just like this. I’ll spin you around against a wall and give you exactly what you’re wanting hard and fast, make you scream for me. But tonight, we’re going nice and slow.” He punctuated the last three words with teasing strokes over her clit.

Her fingernails dug into his hand. A harsh cry whimpered from her.

“Feels so good right there. I know, baby. I know it does.” He continued his ministrations until her body opened and her clit sought out his touch. “That’s it, honey.” He increased his pace. Her pussy clenched against his fingers, hungry to be filled.

“Please, please.”

“Feels empty doesn’t it? So needy for me.”

“Yes, God, yes, please.”

“You beg so sweet my stubborn little cowgirl.” He chuckled. Giving her what she craved he dipped his middle finger back. Rotating his thumb around her clit now, he pressed inside her. “Jesus Christ you’re so damn tight.” Every cell in his body vibrated with greed. “All for me.”

She rode his hand in earnest now. Back and forth, her body pulled at his finger. “That’s it. Take what you need. Can you feel that, Nat? Can you feel your body pulling me in? You need it. Give it to me.”

Moving their joined hands over her head and pinning them to the shower wall, he leaned and latched his mouth onto her right nipple sucking hard. Her entire body tensed, the tight walls of her pussy cinched against his fingers, and then she shattered on his hand, calling out his name. Her honey flowed over his knuckles. His every fantasy in living form.

Easing his finger away for the moment, he wrapped her up in his arms offering her a sanctuary from any fears that might’ve brought back. “I’m right here. I’ve got you. You come so sweet, baby. God, I can’t wait to feel you on my cock.” He planted a kiss against her wet scalp. “You okay?”

He got a single nod in response. For tonight, he’d take that. “I’m not finished, not near finished,” he warned.

“Good,” panted from her.

“I’m gonna taste everything you just gave up for me. Plan on half-drowning myself in your sweet snatch.”

She jerked back but before he could panic her hands landed on his shoulders. She attempted to push him downward. “Do it. Taste me.”

He fell to his knees. The unforgiving tile sent a tremor of pain up his thighs. He didn’t give a damn. “Just hold on to me and breathe. Okay?”

“I will.”

Water flowed freely down his face. Squeezing his eyes shut, he let the perfume of her arousal fill his nostrils. Sweet and spicy nectar, ripe with abandon. He ran his tongue over her lips, bathing her before he opened her with his thumbs.

Her legs spread farther. Her grip on his shoulders increased. Starved for her flavors, he pressed his tongue over her clit. He’d imagined this hundreds of times. Not one single wet dream or stroke session held anything over the heavenly reality of tasting her.

Burying his face against her, he worked his tongue inside her, letting her ride his face this time.

“Oh my God,” she screamed against the pounding water as his whiskers chaffed at her lips.

Still driving constantly toward his ultimate goal, he slipped his tongue out of her opening and spun it around her clit. Dipping two fingers through her swollen tissues, he used more force this time. She ground harder, clawing at his neck and hair now. As soon as he got her through this, his sweet baby was going to like it rough. Perfection.

With each pass of his fingers she slowly stretched open. He worked quickly, pounding his fingers into her faster, sucking harder. Leaning back in, he bathed that warm bundle of nerves with his tongue and let his teeth scrape against her folds. The next moment, she spiraled over the cliff once again.

His own accomplishment and satisfaction rode on her juices as they flowed over his tongue. His muscles throbbed with accomplishment but his own hunger pulsed under his skin as well.

Standing, he returned to his previous position, wrapping her up in his arms, making certain she was still with him in the present, proving to both of them that he’d be both her lover and her protector.

Her hands slicked down his back. She grabbed his ass, seeming to need the moment to explore his strength pressed against her softness.

“That was incredible.” She spoke into his chest.

“I agree. Sweetest candy I’ve ever tasted. Let me take you to bed, baby. We’re not finished yet.”

He shut down the shower as it lost its warmth and wrapped her up in the towel he’d hung on a nearby hook. The flavors of her saturated his every sense. He was insane with need. His cock was strung so tight he hurt. Every muscle in his body was poised to take. The last thing he wanted to do was rush her, but he was walking a fraying tightrope of greed.

Grabbing another towel from the cabinet, he ran it over his back. She squeezed the water in her hair into her towel and then wrapped it around her body. When her hand hesitantly reached out and touched the scars marring his abdomen, he forced himself to let her explore. His eyes closed, sealing away the memories.

“I want to know what happened.” Her voice was a half-haunted breath laced with the desire he’d worked so hard to achieve.

“Not tonight, baby. Come here to me.” Lifting her into his arms, he carried her to bed.