After a while, the wings grew cold. That was how Cole knew that he was having a good time—he and Ivy were in such deep conversation that they kept forgetting to eat them.

“Is there something wrong with the wings?” the waitress asked, delivering another round of beers.

“We’re just too busy talking, I think,” Cole confessed. “Could you heat them up again for us? I promise we’ll try and be more responsible wing-eaters the next time around.”

Ivy laughed at him, her green eyes gleaming. God, how did he get so lucky? He was going to have to go back in time to high five his blacked-out drunken self. Exchanging numbers with Ivy had been the best decision he’d made in a long time. He was enjoying every single second of every word she said. They didn’t run out of things to talk about, and there weren’t even any lulls in the conversation.

“You can’t think of a single story you can tell me about your missions?” Ivy asked.

“Classified, all of them,” he said. “Now, come on. You’ve got to eat some of these wings. We promised the waitress, and you haven’t had dinner.”

“If you can tell me a funny story, I’ll probably be able to stop and eat a wing.” She smiled at him, and it made him rack his brain to find something to make her laugh. Because that smile? He wanted that smile to stick around.

“Okay.” His lips twitched as his brain landed on an anecdote he could share. “All right. I think I have one to tell. It was a SEAL operation. You don’t need to know where it was or when it was. But it was at night, on a beach. A team of my men and me. We were looking to move, and—”

“Wait. Move where?”

“Nope. No questions. You’re supposed to be eating wings.”

Ivy took a huge bite of the wing she was holding. “Go on.”

“We needed to move. To take the beach. Secure it. But we became aware that there were hundreds of enemies encamped there, just lying in wait. We’d gotten reasonably reliable intelligence saying the beach would be clear, and we were shocked that it wasn’t, shocked that we were so outnumbered.”

Ivy’s green eyes were wide. Cole had her undivided attention. Still, he pushed the plate of wings meaningfully toward her. She was so petite, and she’d had a lot of beer. He wanted to make sure she was all right. He wanted, more than anything, to take care of her.

“Don’t leave me on that cliffhanger,” she begged, and Cole smiled as she snagged another wing.

“We didn’t know if they were waiting for us or if they were waiting for something else,” he said, remembering, transported back to the crashing waves and night air and gripping uncertainty. “So we waited, too. Hunkered down. But these guys weren’t moving. We couldn’t be sure if we’d been seen or if it was just a matter of time. So I decided to get a little closer, try to figure out if there was a way around without being seen. And that’s when I realized. It wasn’t the enemy at all, lying in wait for us.”

“Who was it?” Ivy demanded.

“Seals. The animal. Not the Navy.” Cole cracked a grin and Ivy threw her head back and laughed.

“I can’t believe that!” she said, shaking her head. “You’re lying to me.”

“My hand to God. It was just a bunch of seals. Sleeping on the beach.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“You asked for a funny story.” Cole reached out, his hand acting on its own volition, to thumb away a drip of wing sauce off the corner of Ivy’s mouth. She surprised both of them by leaning into his touch, and leaning out of it just as quickly. There was a spike of delicious tension between them, and then Cole decided to break it. “Now it’s your turn.”

Ivy blinked, lashes all but brushing her cheeks. “Fair enough. Give me a second to think.”

Cole would give her all the time she needed. Those golden waves of hair framing her pretty face. Emerald eyes tracking back and forth as she flipped through the memories in her brain to give him what he requested. God, she was beautiful. He was happy to be here. Happy that she was here. Happy that, somehow, they’d crossed paths last night, even if he couldn’t completely remember it.

“All right.” She looked at him, and he did his level best to banish all inappropriate thoughts of her from his mind. He’d promised her that they were going to start over. Not make the sext session that had transpired between them weird. “First time I dissected a human body.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Pretty much.” Ivy tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I came in dressed to impress, certain that I wasn’t going to do anything to embarrass myself, like faint or show any other weakness, even if it was my first time.”

“You’re going to faint, aren’t you?”

She flashed a good-natured smile. “I’m going to tell you my story. If you’ll let me.”

“Sorry.”

“So I went to my table, which had my cadaver on it, ready to start the procedure. And there was something on the floor, fluid or water or something, I’m not sure. I obviously didn’t see it, but I slipped on it and knocked myself out.”

“Jesus Christ!”

“Pretty much. And so my professor comes in, sees me laid out on the floor, and tells everyone else that there’s always one in the cohort that passes out the first time they have to deal with a dead body.” Ivy laughed, not a trace of bitterness in the merry sound. “I never bothered explaining the slick spot on the floor, and none of my classmates saw it happen. It would’ve sounded weird, too, probably. Me trying to explain wiping out and coming to on the floor. So I let it go.”

She grinned at Cole, and he couldn’t take it anymore. Couldn’t take the unbearable, magnetic attraction to her. The thought of her lying down was enough.

He couldn’t do a damn thing to stop himself from taking her by the chin, interrupting the conclusion of her story, and kissing her, pressing hard against those petal-soft lips. She surprised him by kissing him back, apparently just as interested in him as he was in her. It was a strangeness, knowing that. Experiencing the sweet heat of her mouth.

He pulled away suddenly, out of breath, and looked at Ivy, worried. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to cut you off like that.”

“Don’t you dare apologize for that,” she said, smiling faintly as she touched her lips with her fingers. “That doesn’t require an apology. That was…amazing. You’re a really good kisser.”

And just like that, Cole was as turned on now, sitting here, in the middle of the tumult of the bar, as he was earlier today, in bed, stroking himself off to her typing out little prompts on his phone.

“Let me take you back to my apartment,” he said. His heart pounded. He had to have her. He posed the words as a request, but the truth was he needed her. He could barely wait for her response.

Ivy eyed him with those unearthly green eyes, wiping her mouth carefully with a napkin before throwing it down on the table. “Let’s go.”

The wings still weren’t finished, but Cole couldn’t help that. Priorities had shifted from taking care of Ivy to…really taking care of her.

He flipped several bills on the table and stood, helping her from her chair, hand on the small of her back, guiding her out the door. He hailed a taxi like he was in a panic, but the truth of the matter was, he just wanted to get Ivy back to his apartment as soon as possible. His mouth still tingled from kissing her. He wasn’t sure if it was the spice from the wing sauce or just the sheer attraction to her.

When Ivy slid in beside him in the backseat of the cab, and Cole had given the driver his address, he pulled her to him, kissing her deeply, seeking out that burning indication that they shared a connection. It was present in every breath they shared, the way their tongues rolled against each other, how Ivy worked to keep up with his frantic movements.

He couldn’t help smoothing his hand over her bare thigh, fingers just slipping under the hem of her dress. The skin there was perfectly smooth, a welcome to the coming summer, but as he squeezed, Cole was surprised to find the muscle beneath that smooth skin taut and strong. She took care of herself. That much was certain. She wasn’t all pliant flesh and softness. There was steel beneath it, and it thrilled him to discover it.

“Wait,” Ivy whispered against his lips, smiling, her eyes shining beneath each passing streetlight.

“I don’t know if I can,” he confessed, hoarse, barely able to get the words out.

“Give it a try, would you?” the driver asked, glancing in the mirror. Ivy laughed even as Cole’s face burned in the dark.

“We’ll make it,” she promised, more to Cole than to the driver. “It’ll be worth the wait, won’t it?”

Cole nodded against her face before kissing her again. He wasn’t usually one for getting up close and personal in the backseats of taxis, but he couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t keep his lips from hers, fingers tangled in the soft strands of her hair.

It was, quite possibly, the longest ride home in his life. Cole hadn’t thought he’d lived that far from the bar they’d met at tonight, but the anticipation was killing him. His cock was so hard it was difficult to sit.

Cole didn’t even wait for his change when they pulled up outside of his apartment complex. He seized Ivy by the hand and rushed her inside.

“We have time,” she said, smiling at him. “Cole, I’m not going anywhere.”

He wasn’t sure why he had such urgency about things, pushing into the apartment, fumbling at the light switches, never letting go of Ivy’s hand. They made it to his bedroom, both of them slightly out of breath from the way he’d rushed them inside. He waited for a moment, tried to slow his racing pulse, and turned to kiss her again.

She tasted so sweet. Cole had never experienced anything like it. He wasn’t sure if it was simple chemistry or something deeper. She moaned into his mouth and it sent a shot of pure arousal directly to his groin. It was a heady reaction to such a simple thing, the bubbling up of feelings as their lips met and clashed.

“I’ve wanted you so bad,” he told her, holding her face in his hands. “Ever since this morning, you’re all I could think about.”

Ivy just looked at him with luminous green eyes, hanging onto him tight, and Cole all but crushed her with a hug. It had been a while. Jason hadn’t been wrong about that. But Cole would’ve been more than willing to wait so much longer if he’d known a woman like Ivy was at the finish line, waiting for him. He couldn’t explain the connection he felt with her. He only hoped she experienced at least a small percentage of it, too. That she was just as eager as he was.

He shouldn’t have worried. As he worked her out of her dress, Ivy plucked impatiently at the buttons on his shirt, helping him shrug off and step out of his clothes. Standing naked in front of each other felt like some deep affirmation to Cole. Her dress had been flattering, but Ivy’s true beauty was natural. Compact and slim, with full breasts and curves in all the right places. It was as if there was a light that shined from within her, illuminating her best features.

“I could look at you all night,” he said, barely aware of the way his cock pulsed with desire, jutting out from his body almost aggressively. “You’re so beautiful.”

Ivy wasn’t vain. She blushed and lowered her eyes, and her humbleness simply endeared her even more to him. He wanted to draw that beauty out, to make her revel in it, to kiss and suck and lick her until all she could do was exist on that pleasure.

It was all Cole could do to take her by the hand and draw her onto the bed with him. A lesser man would’ve simply tackled her to the mattress, giving in to the deafening roar of arousal. But Cole wanted it to be right. Wanted the first time they were physically together to be perfect. Wanted to make sure that she loved each and every caress.

“Tell me what you want,” he said. “Show me how you like it.”

Ivy shook her head, taking his hands and pulling him on top of her as she laid back on the bed. “I want you. All of you.”

His heart pounded in his ears as he considered that request. It would’ve been the easiest thing in the world to just give in to her request and slide home inside her body. Instead, he trailed his tongue down her torso, pausing to circle her breasts and tease her nipples to hardness, lingering around her navel, peppering kisses on the thin, delicate skin of her inner thigh. Ivy panted at that light contact, and Cole nuzzled between her legs, inhaling the very essence of her.

She smelled so good. So right. And as his tongue laved between her lips, as she mewled and grabbed at his hair, settling on his ears when she couldn’t get a good grip, Cole smiled against her softness. There was an art to this, one he’d been a faithful student to. It was one of his favorite ways to show a partner just how dedicated he was.

Cole didn’t feel that he was arrogant about his skillful tongue, the way he could skate around the most sensitive part of Ivy without quite touching it, making her huff and moan. He was simply proud that he could elicit such sounds from her, each one music to his ears. He loved hearing her. Loved being the cause of those cries. Loved even the taste of her, bright and earthy.

He took his cues from the way Ivy’s grip would change on his ears, urging him up or down. He plunged his tongue directly into her body, tasting her juices, before working back up and suckling gently but firmly beside her clit. Ivy’s muscles tensed, and he traced his fingers over her strong thighs, down to her calves, back up, his tongue never stilling, lips pursed around her.

She screamed out, and Cole could’ve sworn he heard a fragment of his name, cut off, garbled in the throes of Ivy’s ecstasy, and he gradually eased off from her clit, letting her enjoy the waves of orgasm as they crashed over her. He glanced up at her face, smiled at eyes that seemed to be glued shut, and tried to back away to give her space. Most women he’d been with preferred some time to process everything after a performance like that.

But Ivy grabbed hold of his biceps as he backed off. He should’ve suspected she’d be different. Because up until this point—and including it—she’d been so unique. Unlike anyone he’d ever been with.

He let her draw him up, draped himself over her, noting the swell of her breasts beneath his chest. She kissed him without hesitation, her tongue in his mouth, and he was in danger of coming right there and then, imagining what she thought about tasting her own essence on his lips.

“You…” she whispered, and it was both a command and a plea.

Cole sunk gratefully into her, careful to take it slow. She was wet and relaxed, but she was still so tight. He should’ve eased her into it better with his fingers, but when he tried to withdraw to do it right, she hooked her legs around him, dug her heels into his ass, kept him in place. Green eyes blinked up at him, languid, questioning.

He took her into his arms immediately, holding her to his chest. “I’m not going anywhere,” he promised her. “I’m right here.”

He was dimly aware that he was echoing her own words from when he’d rushed them into the apartment. But all other capabilities of thinking vanished as he thrust into her. She felt so good around him. So close, her inner muscles flexing around his length every time he pressed inside. Cole could feel sweat springing to every pore. He held himself back as much as he could, stroking back and forth slowly, rocking, until her body could accommodate him better. Loosen. Soften.

Cole bent her legs against her chest and angled in differently. Ivy choked out a moan, one hand clawing at the sheets beneath them, the other digging into his back.

The spike of pain only sweetened his pleasure, and he thrust again, finding that deep, resonating spot inside of her body that formed her lips into a perfect “O.” He wanted to make her come again. Wanted to keep her coming for as long as she could take it.

He reached between them and pulsed the pad of his thumb against her clit. He watched her come completely apart and felt the lightning within him, exploding into her body.

It took him several seconds—his orgasm ebbing, throat sore from groaning—to realize he’d squeezed his eyes shut so tightly that he was seeing stars.

He slipped out of her wet warmth and drew her to him, both of them panting, unable to say a word to each other. Cole could barely keep his eyes open. He could only guess at how Ivy felt after two orgasms.

He curled around her, the sweat on her body cooling even as her breathing deepened in slumber. He felt strangely protective of her, like he’d do anything to ensure her happiness. All he wanted was to make her feel good. Make her smile. Treat her like a princess. Give her anything she wanted.

How could he feel so strongly about a woman he’d just met?

It wasn’t a thought that kept him from sleeping, though. He eased into a doze quicker than he had in months, soothed by Ivy’s warmth pressed up against him.