Cole glanced around to see if anyone was watching them, feeling reassured that there was already so much going on in the ballroom that no one would spot them sneaking out.

They had really gone all out in the decorations and entertainment at this thing. It just went to show how important many of the people attending were. Not that Cole cared much about that. He was just thankful he’d had the chance to connect with Curtis Prime, and even more thankful for Ivy being there to facilitate it.

Really, if he had to boil it down, he was just happy for Ivy’s presence. It was hard to look anywhere else with her wearing that dress, which hugged her in all the right places. And dancing had been a near mistake. She was too sexy to be that close to him for very long. It was all he could do to restrain himself on the dance floor.

He pulled her around to a staircase, near the kitchen entrance and away from the action, and kissed her. She tasted of the sweet cocktails she’d been drinking, but it was more than that. It was a comforting familiarity. The roll of her tongue when he rubbed his thumb against her cheekbone. The rhythm of her fluttering breaths as their lips touched.

“I need you,” his said, looking deep into her green eyes. He hated to break the contact of their kiss, but he felt the words needed to be said. She had no idea just how much he needed her. It went beyond the pressing physicality of his cock against his pants. Beyond the feel of her satin lips on his. It was deeper than that, drawing him forward.

“I’m here,” she whispered.

But he needed more of her—he had to have it. It was the visceral, heady attraction that drove him to crane his neck up the stairs in a desperate search for privacy. There had to be somewhere up there. An opportunity to have her away from prying eyes.

“I don’t think anyone’s allowed up there,” Ivy said quietly, watching him tap his fingers against the banister.

Cole grinned. “They won’t mind if we sneak off for just a couple of minutes.”

“Cole…”

“Fine, more than a couple of minutes.” He grinned at her, and she smiled back, her cheeks attractively flushed, eyes gleaming.

It was an easy enough thing to step around the velvet rope limiting access to the stairs, and a short dash up them.

Cole had an arm around Ivy’s waist, guiding her down the carpeted hallway, when he stumbled upon a game room. It was obviously a place for people to get away from the party, complete with a couple of dart boards on plush walls and a large billiard table in the middle. He imagined that in decades past, this would have been the smoking room. Cole could imagine fragrant cigar smoke drifting toward the ceiling.

Now, though, it was his and Ivy’s getaway, their private stage.

“You don’t think anyone will come up here, do you?” Ivy asked, slightly breathless as he pulled the door shut behind them.

“No.”

He had no real way of knowing, but he also knew that this had to happen. That he couldn’t bear another second of tonight without her. They should’ve met up at some point during the week. Even the handful of days they were apart was too long. He needed her too badly.

Cole took Ivy in his arms and carried her to the table, sweeping the rack of balls away. He wished he could’ve been gentler about it, a tad more graceful, but he was well beyond that kind of control. He ravished her neck, barely registering Ivy’s fingers digging into his back through his uniform.

He considered, dimly, what it might look like, the two of them returning to the party, both rumpled and completely sexed out. Hickeys on Ivy’s delicate throat. And in the space of a panted breath, Cole realized he didn’t care. Everyone could find out, Curtis Prime included.

Her fingers splayed behind her on the emerald green felt. She was propping herself up, supporting her own weight, but Cole wanted her to rely only on him. To give him all her trust. He needed it.

“Trust me,” he growled at her, and she instantly hooked her arms around his neck, no questions asked. It was intuitive, the way she moved against him, how she parted her legs for him, her dress riding up her thighs. He helped it on its way up, caressing the silken panties that acted as a barrier between his fingers and her body.

Some other time, he’d undress her slowly. Unwrap her like a present. Revel in taking his time and revealing her, inch by inch. Right now, though, he simply unzipped his fly, hooked his fingers in the crotch of her underwear, and plunged in.

Ivy muffled her cry against his shoulder, and he cradled her to him for a brief moment, stilling his hips, waiting for her body to adjust. Fingers still tangled in her panties, he undulated them against her sensitive clit. She jerked, breathing hard, legs tightening around his waist. Cole took that as encouragement, maneuvering his length until just the tip was inside of her. She squirmed, but he only left her empty and waiting for a fraction of a breath before slamming home.

Because she did feel like home to him, he realized, kissing her, completely buried in her body. Nothing had ever felt as good as this did. He had the passing thought that nothing ever would.

His thrusts were brutal and desperate, and there wasn’t a lot he could do about that except to make sure Ivy felt as good as he did. He rubbed her in the way she liked it, with just the right amount of pressure, cupping her breast through the luxurious material of her dress, seeking out the hardening nipple there. She hadn’t been able to wear a bra with this dress, which was to his advantage. He eased out one of her milky white breasts and licked at it, teasing the nipple lightly with his teeth.

Ivy huffed out a tiny sigh, biting back, restraining herself. Cole regretted that a little—he wanted to hear her—but they didn’t need to draw attention to themselves.

He thrust in and out of her, leveraging against the billiard table, the pool balls rattling against one another in the rack with every movement. It had to be over soon—they couldn’t afford to disappear for too long. And yet Cole wished it would never be over. If he could somehow suspend this moment, perfectly pumping in and out of Ivy, he would. Even if it meant he never came. Because it was so good, Ivy hanging on to him, both of them struggling against the urge to groan, rocking against the table.

But then Ivy gave the tiniest, most perfect cry, her entire body shaking, and Cole was right there with her, crashing over the edge and down, spiraling. He had no idea if he’d made a sound, and there was no way to tell, closing his arms around Ivy, trying, somehow, to keep them both on the ground.

“God,” Ivy whispered, and Cole had to agree with her, had to agree with that turned out, quiet exclamation.

Cole kissed her shoulder, winded like he’d just completed a mission, wondering how she could steal so much breath from him. Hell, she didn’t need steal it. He’d give it to her of his own free will. All of it. As much as she wanted and more.

He wasn’t like this, sappy. Sentimental. His time in the Navy hadn’t allowed him to be. And he had very little experience with serious relationships—or relationships at all, for that matter. But something about all of this told him he should become very used to the idea of a relationship with Ivy. His feelings ran just too deep for something casual.

“Ivy.” He faltered on the second syllable of her name, covering it with a kiss as he helped her off the table. “I really like you.”

She looked up at him, adjusting her dress, the expression on her face soft. “I like you, too, Cole.”

“What would you say to making this thing official?”

Whatever she’d been expecting him to say, that clearly hadn’t been it. Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes shining. Cole felt as vulnerable now as the day he’d waited for her response on him asking her to dinner, right after their electric sexting. She had the power to break him, if she chose to, in this moment.

She gave a gentle laugh, and Cole gradually realized she wasn’t laughing at him. She was just happy, those green eyes full of emotion.

“Are you asking me to go steady?” she asked, the light in her eyes dancing.

“I’m asking in whatever words you want me to.”

“Yes.”

She started to say something else, something he couldn’t quite make out, because there was a sound in the hallway. Somebody coming.

Cole took Ivy by the hand and they ran through another door, into another room, stifling wild, happy laughter.