“Fuck the shower.”

Sofia gasped as Adrian picked her up again and carried her into the bedroom. When he did that so easily, like she was a light little flower, her heart fluttered. She tucked her head into the curve of his neck, inhaling deeply, wanting to remember every detail of this fleeting moment. When he sat her down on the edge of his bed, she held that breath, hoping it would give her the courage she needed for this next step.

“I want you right here, right now. Let me see you, Sofia. Let me have you.” He knelt in front of her, hands tracing over her hips.

Doubt crept into her mind. Would he like what he saw? She clenched her thighs together and stiffened. He rocked back onto his heels.

“What? What did I say?”

Moment of truth. Did she want him more than she wanted to stay hidden? Did she trust him to try and understand? After all, he’d been paying attention. He’d noticed she wasn’t comfortable and had asked. Gathering her courage and her words, Sofia decided to try and explain her paralyzing emotions.

“I’m afraid…”

“It’s not your first time, is it?” Shock blanked his features and his hands stilled on her hips.

“No. No, it’s nothing like that.”

Adrian let out a deep, relieved exhale. “Thank God for that.”

“It’s just been awhile…”

He rose back up off his heels, scrambling her thoughts as he moved his hips between her thighs. When he whipped his shirt off over his head, she nearly swallowed her tongue. Each hard day of labor had given him the build of a god, and she wanted to trace every divot, dent, and curve. Preferably with her mouth. His arms alone made her drool. The strength she’d felt gentled for her tempted her to trust him.

“Don’t worry, gorgeous. It’s like riding a bike.”

She stopped him with a hand on his chest, needing him to slow down and listen, but jerked it back, singed by the heat pumping off him. She had words. Somewhere in her brain. Words she had to say, before she started thinking with her hormones and let him do whatever he damn well pleased. She leaned back, away from temptation. She needed to be clear and open with him, so he knew what he was getting into. If he was going to reject her, she needed it to be while her clothes were still on.

“Wait.” His hands dropped from her hips to fist around handfuls of the comforter beneath her. He tilted his head down and held her gaze, waiting as she’d asked. She cleared her throat and pushed her shame out of her mouth.

“It’s been awhile, and I wasn’t this heavy before. I haven’t been with anyone since I gained all this weight, and I’m nervous to let you see me.”

Sofia blurted her painful confession and then fixed her eyes firmly on the floor. She could feel the tears building at the corners of her eyes and prayed that she wouldn’t embarrass herself any further than she already had.

“Hey.”

Adrian hooked a finger under her chin and lifted, forcing her to face him and her fears in the same glance.

“Hey, there. It’s just me. Let me tell you a little story and see if it helps, okay?”

Sofia nodded, caught in the warm sincerity in his eyes.

“Once upon a time, there was a boy. He was scared and lost, alone in the world of men, looking for somewhere to belong.” His hands ran down her arms and around her back so he could pull her back to the edge of the bed to kiss her neck. “The king took pity on this boy and gave him a job carrying trash. One day, an angel walked across the job site.”

He kissed his way across her collarbone and she shivered.

“She wore cutoff jean shorts that barely covered her ass.” His hands skimmed down her back to squeeze his target. “And a tight tank top that clung to her in all the right places. When she walked, her high blonde ponytail swished and swayed.” Adrian moved one hand down her ponytail, deliberately gripping and tugging lightly. “He wanted her instantly, the way a seventeen-year-old boy wants, all heat and little reason.”

Wrapping her ponytail around his fist, he tilted her face up for a brutal kiss that left her lips throbbing and aching for more. She tried to follow his lips, but he leaned back and continued his story.

“But she walked right up to the king and said, ‘Hi, Daddy,’ and the boy’s dreams crumbled.”

He slid his hands down her neck, over her shoulders, down her back. She barely remembered being that girl, and his hands were making it very hard to remember anything at all.

“Then came the dark time, when the princess went away.” He reached behind her and unzipped the back of her skirt, fingers dipping lower to grip her ass and pull her closer. When he reached around front and began to slide her tight skirt up her thighs, nerves compelled her hands to flutter over his. He steadied them and kissed them, grounding her in the moment. “The young man was sad, but he understood her need to grow her own wings. And when she came back, Dios mio, could she fly!” Her hands still caught in his, he moved them to slide up her thighs, pushing the skirt ever higher. She was twenty-eight years old and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d touched her body and enjoyed it, shame free. She wanted new memories to replace the ones she couldn’t find. “The girl had become a woman, and everything the boy had felt for her before magnified.”

He bent his head and licked the hammering pulse at the base of her throat and she gasped as the pleasure shivered down her arms.

“She wore sweaters to hide her lush, perfect breasts.” Adrian slid his hands over them reverently, before moving lower. “And jeans that molded themselves to her sexy hips. And lust tied the boy’s tongue, because she was so smart and beautiful and he felt so dumb and crude next to her.” He kissed his way to her ear and gently bit the lobe, then soothed it with his tongue. He whispered into her ear, “He had no right to think about putting his rough hands on such smooth skin.”

How had she not known? Sofia was so entranced that she barely registered that his hands had traced back to her breasts. She gasped with sudden awareness when he squeezed them together and gently tweaked her nipples, sending waves of electricity through her system. She groaned with pleasure and broke the spell, and he released her.

“What happened next?” she asked breathlessly, needing to hear the rest of the story.

“He tried to better himself so she would find him worthy. But then tragedy struck. Her smile dimmed in the shade of grief, and he wished more than anything to find the way to make her happy again. He wanted her the way a man wants his woman, but he waited for the right moment to tell her.”

He tugged her blouse free from her skirt and slowly slipped her buttons free, one by one.

“Every day. Every damn day, the woman walks in the door, and the man has to remind himself that he cannot touch her. Her body has curved and rounded in all the best ways, and it drives him crazy that she can’t see it. He sees the girl she was and the woman she’s become, and he wants her with his whole heart.”

His voice wavered and he lowered his forehead to her sternum. She held her breath while he chose his next words.

“You slay me, Sofia. Let me make you happy.” His eyes rose to meet hers, and the plea in them made her tremble. “I see you, Sofia. Better than you see yourself. The only thing I don’t like about your body is that it makes you sad. Let me show you.”

Her shirt hung from her shoulders, open but still covering most of her torso. He waited on his knees for her to decide. Did she dare to bare herself to him? When she tried to look away, he followed her, compelling her to look him in the eye.

“I see you. I’ve always seen you. And what I see keeps getting better and better. Do you trust me?”

Every nerve ending crackled, begging for his touch, and every doubt had burned away in the heat of the fire he’d kindled deep within her. She did trust him, and she found her courage in his story. She could take what she wanted and give what she could, and she would be safe in his arms. In answer to the question lingering in the silence between them, she shrugged her shoulders, letting the shirt fall behind her, and nodded.

“Show me.”

She had expected him to pounce, unleashing his desire, but he surprised her yet again with his restraint. With both hands he framed her face and kissed her gently, insistently, until she was drowning in him.

She tugged her skirt up to her waist and wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him with her as she leaned back on the bed. He followed, bringing his delicious weight on top of her. She rocked her hips up, needing to ease the ache against his hard length, and he gasped and rolled to his side, breaking the kiss.

“Be careful.” He reached behind her and unsnapped her bra. “Or this will be over too quickly. I have wanted you for too long.”

He tossed it aside and marveled at her. There was no other word to describe the wonder in his eyes.

“How could you think I would not like to see you?”

He bent his head to kiss her freed breasts, and she answered on a shaky exhale. “Those aren’t the problem.”

He deliberately held up a hand to silence her protests. She rolled to face him and he dropped that hand to her hip, impatiently pushing her bunched skirt down her legs. She inched back on the bed to help and to gain a little distance, but he rejoined her immediately. Nearly naked and lying on his bed, she felt strangely calm. Her nerves were suffocating beneath the blanket of desire he’d woven. He pressed a hand against her sternum, and she dropped onto her back before pushing up on her elbows to watch him.

“Now let’s see here.” He grinned evilly, and Sofia couldn’t suppress a shiver. He ran his gaze over every inch of her exposed flesh, raising chills, and then soothing them with his warm hands and wet lips. “I was right.”

She was so caught up in her own reaction that she had lost the thread of the conversation.

“Right about what?”

“There’s not a single thing I see that I don’t love.”

His playful tone sparked her own to life. When was the last time she’d felt relaxed enough to tease a man in bed? Too long. She was done being passive and afraid. This was a man she could trust. This was a man she could be herself with.

“I wish I could say the same, but I haven’t seen all of you yet.” She raised an eyebrow and looked at his offending pants.

He grinned and tugged them off, kicking his feet free. His impressive erection strained against his boxer briefs, begging to be freed. He rolled toward her, intent on covering her bare body with his own. But Sofia wanted to enjoy the view. She’d been too afraid the last time they’d been together, but tonight she would be brave. He hadn’t run away screaming yet. She playfully pushed his chest, and he leaned back.

“I’ll show you mine, if you’ll show me yours.” She slid her fingers under the last scrap of lace covering her and sat up to tug it off.

His hands trembled gratifyingly as he traced from her thighs to her knees before spreading them, revealing her to his gaze.

“Sofia.” Her name was all he managed to whisper before his lips were busy doing something else entirely. Her eyes fluttered closed as he licked and loved her most intimate folds, afraid that the visual of him going down on her would push her over the edge too quickly. When he added his rough, thick fingers to the assault on her senses, even her closed eyes couldn’t save her and over the edge she went, shaking and clenching her thighs around his head. When the tremors stopped and her limbs went limp, he rose quickly and drew in a deep breath.

“Dios mio, Sofia.” He stripped off his underwear with fierce determination.

She wanted him to slow down so she could enjoy the revelation of his body as well. She wanted to hold him in her hand and see if he tasted as good as she thought he would. But she couldn’t find the energy or the words to object through her post-climax haze. Next time. What a tempting thought…

“Sofia.” Her spinning thoughts stilled as he pressed the full length of his body against hers, setting off a chain reaction of trembling nerve endings.

“Hmm?”

He grinned at her sleepy response, and she mirrored his expression. Wrapping her legs around his bare waist, gripping her ass with his strong hands, he pressed her into the bed. As he rocked his hard length against her still throbbing pussy, he muttered a curse and a question.

Words? Did he honestly think words were an option?

She let her head fall back on a groan, but he didn’t stop talking. Forcing her brain back into commission was hard, but so was he and he wasn’t moving inside her yet, so she did her best to pay attention.

“Sofia, look at me, angel.” She opened her eyes and her heart followed on his next words. “Let me love you. Say yes.”

She managed a nod and a whispered, “Yes.”

* * *

Finally.

He was nearly shaking with simultaneous relief and need. After so many years of watching and waiting, he was finally going to be with her. He’d earned every minute of this pleasure, and he was determined to remember every sweet second.

He’d been nervous earlier, revealing the well-kept secret of his crush, but she’d needed his words, his reassurance. He was helpless in the face of her need. Bringing her to climax almost had him shooting in his underwear like the goddamn boy who’d loved her first.

He pulled the blankets down and scooted her back until her head was on his pillow. He hoped he’d smell her hair there later. The sight of her naked and grinning in his bed made his heart clutch uncomfortably in his chest. His cock twitched in agreement. She was his. At last.

He grabbed a condom from his bedside table and climbed back into bed beside her. Even just touching side to side was threatening his control. He kissed her lips gently, reveling in her sleepy, sated response. She opened for him so sweetly. While she was relaxed, he took the opportunity to run his hands over every curve, committing her architecture to sensory memory. Neck, shoulder, collarbone, sternum, breasts, waist, belly, hips. Every place he touched her was beautiful to him, and he was determined to show her. He considered it a battle won when she didn’t flinch until he reached her still sensitive pussy, breaking the kiss with a gasp.

“Oh, yes, Adrian. More.” She tugged at his shoulders, and he let her pull him where she needed him.

His weight pressed her into the bed and her greedy hands on his ass were urging him to take what he so desperately wanted. What they both needed. “Hold on.”

“I am.” She flexed her fingers, her nails sending sharp spurs of pain straight through his ass to his cock, twitching his hips forward so the length of his hard shaft stroked over her clit. The pleasure was intense and reminded him why he needed to slow down a second.

“I mean, wait. I need to cover up.”

“Don’t tell me I’m not the only one with body issues,” she teased. She ran her hands possessively up his back, and he enjoyed the chill running down his spine.

He could think of nothing he’d rather do than stay naked around her permanently. But he had to protect them. He pulled out of her arms and snagged the condom off the bed. “I meant this, smart-ass.” He wiggled the foil packet between his fingers.

“Oh…right. Okay, I guess I can wait for that, but hurry up already. Talky, talky, talky.”

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed in the middle of sex, but he loved that he could with Sofia. She was still chuckling when he slid his latex-covered cock into her sweet pussy. He could feel every giggle and gasp gripping him, guiding him deeper until he was fully sheathed.

And then the time for laughter had passed.

“Sofia. You feel so fucking good.”

He tried. God help him, he tried. To go slow. To bring her back to the peak. To keep a firm grip on his sanity. But when she pulled her knees up to grip his ribs, moaning and rocking her hips to his rhythm, taking him as deep as he could go, any hope of restraint disappeared.

His need for her rode him hard. He pistoned his hips, slapping his thighs against her ass with every thrust. He knew his hands were gripping her shoulders too hard, but the thought of letting her go was obscene. She arched up, and he took her breast into his mouth, suckling hard, and sent her over the edge once again. Feeling her orgasm clenching around his cock was more than enough to send him chasing her over that cliff into oblivion.

When he came back into himself, he realized he was crushing her. He levered up on his forearms so he could see her face. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” The way she said it, with a laugh tickling the back of her throat, made him grin.

“Fine, huh? You know, a wise woman once told me that fine is never fine when a woman says it.” He nudged forward with his hips, still buried inside her, on every repetition of the f-word.

“Then maybe you should try again. Practice makes perfect.”

He chuckled into the crook where her neck met her shoulder and nipped her lightly. “A very wise woman, indeed.”

When he pulled away and rose from the bed, she groaned and rolled after him. He disposed of the condom and turned back, committing the image of her draped across his bed, sated and sleepy, to memory. Those old art dudes knew what they were doing. She belonged framed in a museum, just like this. A goddamned masterpiece.

He tucked his arms behind her shoulders and beneath her knees, and lifted her to his chest. She wrapped an arm around his neck and burrowed in.

“Where are you taking me?”

“I believe I mentioned needing a bed and a shower.”

“That sounds just fine.”