Bram’s hands move under my dress and they creep up the leg holes of my panties so he’s gripping my bare cheeks. “Can you please wear a dress every day from now on? I’m really into this easy-access stuff.”

God, this feels good. But stripping me out of my dress and panties in the living room isn’t how I want our first time to happen. I have plans. Special ones.

My heart is about to pound out of my chest. I can feel each beat of my heart in every part of my body. Everything between my nipples and knees has become ultra-sensitive.

Why am I so nervous? This is Bram. My Duke. Everything about tonight is right. And it’s going to be the best night of my life. A night I’ll always remember and happily reminisce about. “I need a minute in the bathroom to get ready. I have some things I want to do for you.”

He nods as he attempts to suppress the smile trying to spread. He’s unsuccessful. “Yeah, bae. I’ll be waiting for you in the bedroom when you’re finished.”

I press a quick kiss to his lips. “I won’t be long.”

I close the bathroom door and breathe in deeply as I look at myself in the mirror. I release the air from my lungs slowly and repeat the process a few more times as if it will help me gather my courage. Calm down, Claudia. It’s sex. You’ve been trying to get him to do this for weeks. And for fuck’s sake, he’s already gone down on you. That much won’t be new.

Bram and I haven’t had alone time in a week. We’ve snuck a few kisses and embraces here and there when Owen and River weren’t looking, but I’ve not had his hands on me in seven days. It’s been brutal to have him near yet so far away.

“Come on, girlie. It’s time to do this.”

I take off my dress and slip into the black satin baby-doll gown and matching panties I bought especially for tonight. The sleek fabric feels exquisite against my skin. Just the light abrasion of it touching my sensitive nipples makes them instantly harden.

My hair is a little too flat to suit me so I flip my head over, run my fingers through it at the roots, and fluff it a little before flipping my head up again. I smooth the few unruly tresses and think about how hot it would be if Bram fisted my hair and pulled it while he fucks me.

Maybe I should tell him it’s all right if he wants to be a little rough. I think I’d like it. And I bet he would too.

My skin is tingling as I imagine his mouth licking me. His hands worshipping me. His cock stretching me.

I need him.

Now.

One last look in the mirror and I’m ready after an upward adjustment of my boobs in my baby-doll gown. He’s all yours. He wants you. Go get him, girl.

Bram is standing by the bed wearing only his hugely tented boxer briefs. He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.

I run my hands down the front of my gown. “Do you like it?”

“Fuck, yeah. Love it.” He comes closer and circles me, inspecting my body from every angle. “I am so fucking lucky to have a girl this sexy.”

He places his hands on my hips and slowly glides them around to dig his fingers into my butt cheeks. A roguish grin spreads across his face when he pulls them apart. “Not tonight, because you’re not ready, but one day soon I’m going to fuck you there.”

My breath hitches and my heart speeds as I consider what he means by there.

“I mean exactly what you’re thinking. I want my cock in your ass.”

I’ve never heard Bram say anything so filthy.

I love it.

I swallow hard as I consider my answer, but nothing comes out of my mouth. I don’t know what to say to that.

His lips hover over mine, his warm breath teasing me. “Tell me, little dove. What do you think about that—my cock in your tight virgin asshole?”

Tight virgin asshole. I should be offended by those words. Insulted. Grossed out. But damn if they don’t turn me on. “I want you to do it.”

His broad smile reassures me that he likes my answer. “My cock is greedy. It wants both of your virgin holes.” He touches his finger to my bottom lip. “And this one again too.”

His cock in my ass isn’t something I’ve been thinking about. But putting it in my mouth… that’s a different story. I wouldn’t mind doing that again tonight.

I lick my lips and tug on the waistband of his underwear. I bend at my knees to lower myself, but Bram stops me when he places his fingers under my chin. “Not right now, love. I have other things in mind.”

Bram cups my ass and lifts me so that I’m straddling him with my legs around his waist. He carries me to the bed and lowers our bodies together, him lying on top of me. I love feeling his weight pressing me into the bed. I relish this closeness. And we’re about to get even closer. Become one body and soul with nothing separating us.

He slides his hand inside the top of my gown and circles my breast with his fingertips before lightly tugging on my hard nipple. “You’ve never let a boy touch these, have you?”

“No. I always knew I wanted you to be the one to touch them.”

“That makes me really happy.” He yanks on the fabric of my gown and frees both breasts. He lowers his face and sucks my nipple into his mouth and then gently bites it, sending tingles of pleasure straight to my groin. “I’m your first for everything?”

Our past-lovers conversation only covered sex, so I wonder if he’ll be angry to learn I did a little experimenting. “Almost.”

His head jerks up to look at me. “What does almost mean?”

“I knew you were screwing around with lots of girls. It hurt. I thought kissing someone else might help me get over whatever it was I was feeling for you.” But it didn’t help. I never stopped wanting Bram to be the one I was kissing. He’s the only one I’ve ever wanted.

“I was hoping these lips were untouched. I want to be your first—and only—for everything.”

“You were my first real kiss. And my last.”

“You bet your ass I am.”

He cups my breasts from the bottom and pushes them together. He lightly squeezes my nipples again, sending a chain reaction of tingles between my legs. “I love everything about these. Their size. Their shape. Their color. Total perfection.”

His lips claim the side of my neck while his hand navigates its way down my body. It dips into the front of my panties and cups me between my legs, rubbing up and down. Petting me. It’s not enough. I want more. Need it. Now.

I part my legs wide, giving him full access to my body. It’s an unspoken language. Interpretation: touch me any way you like.

My shallow breath is moving in and out of my chest quickly as I anticipate his next move. My vagina clinches in hopes it’ll be that jerking/tapping thing he does with his fingers. Damn, that was so good, and he hasn’t done it again since that night. I need him to do it again. I need him to do it now.

He pushes a finger through my slick center and back up once in a slow, torturous stroke. My clit is barely grazed.

Sweet. Torment.

I’m desperate for more, so I impatiently move against his fingers. Riding them.

He chuckles. “My girl needs more, huh?”

“A lot more.”

He rubs his fingers up and down, every upward stroke hitting my clit. “Feel good?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

He changes his technique and rubs me in a circular motion. My back arches off the bed and my legs fall even farther apart. A soft whine slips from my mouth when Bram stops and moves to kneel between my legs. Why’d he stop? It was getting so good. I felt the beginning of something.

He grasps the sides of my panties and drags them down my legs. “I’m dying to get my mouth on you.”

Holy shit. He’s going down on me.

He presses his lips to my inner thigh and trails kisses up my trembling legs. It’s impossible to stop squirming beneath him. He moves upward and nibbles the skin of my groin, making me involuntarily convulse, before he grabs my thighs and pushes them back and apart.

I’m thrilled the lamp is on. I plan on watching his mouth devour me this time.

I move so my upper body is propped on my elbows. Those intriguing hazel eyes meet mine when he places his tongue against my center and drags it in an upward sweep. His eyes on mine while he does this is super hot.

He licks me again. Slow. Soft. So good I want to scream.

“You like that?”

I nod because my vocal cords fail, but I manage to get out an, “Mmm-hmm.”

He changes methods—sucking my clit into his mouth while gliding two fingers inside me, palm side up. I don’t know what he’s touching and rubbing in there, but it feels so damn good, I nearly die. But I can’t die. At least not before I come. I won’t be able to feel this way if I’m dead.

He does the jerking/tapping thing and my body jolts with the first contraction in my pelvis. And then I’m so wet I feel it running out of me. My legs tense, my toes curl. I mean it. My toes fucking curl. It’s a real thing. Tingly warmth floods my face, neck, hands, and feet as I ride my orgasm to its fullest extent.

Bram comes up licking his lips. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you taste even better after you come.”

He shoves his thumbs into the waistband of his underwear and pushes them down. His erection jumps out and points directly at me as if to say, you’re the one, and I’m coming for you, virgin, so get ready.

Can’t lie. Despite how much I want to do this, a little bit of panic sets in.

Bram crawls over me, and the glide of his body up my satin gown stirs a whole other set of desires. He lies against me once we’re face to face, the brunt of his weight supported by his arms pressed into the mattress on each side of my head.

His eyes lock with mine. “I love you with every bit of my heart. What I feel for you isn’t fleeting. It’s not something that’s going away once the new wears off because it isn’t new. My love for you has been there all along. It just needed a little time for you to catch up with me.”

I put my fingers in the back of his hair and toy with a lock at his neckline. “When I’m in your arms, I feel like I have the world because you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. You’ve always seen something in me that separates me from the rest. And with you, I know my heart is safe because the love we share is never ending.” I place a quick kiss against his mouth and part my legs wide. “I just want to do life with you.”

Bram settles between my legs and reaches for his cock. He slides the tip up and down my wet center, smearing the slickness. Preparing me.

“I love you.” He pushes into me slowly, and I pant in and out as I feel the stretching and then the burning sting of my virginal barrier tearing. It’s an odd kind of pleasure-pain.

He plunges all the way inside me and then stops when I grip his back tightly, digging my fingertips into his skin. It only takes a moment for the burning sensation to pass. “I’m okay. Keep going.”

He closes his eyes tightly when he starts moving inside me. “Baby, you feel so good.”

His pace is slow at first—I think because he’s still afraid of hurting me—but every stroke is deliberate and fierce. He pulls back with leisure and then thrusts with complete domination. “So tight and wet. Feels amazing.”

I rock my hips away when he pulls back and tilt them upward when he thrusts. The movement comes naturally without any thought at all. It’s as though my pelvis has a control center of its own. “Harder, Duke.”

He moves faster and pounds deeper when he lifts my legs to prop them on top of his shoulders. No mercy. “I’m close. I want to come inside you, but I need to know that’s what you want too.”

“Yesss.”

“I’m coming.” Bram bites his bottom lip during the last few thrusts but it’s the final one that makes him groan loudly. He’s deep and motionless, not letting up on the force rooting his cock within me. And that’s how he stays for the next several minutes—inside me, unmoving except for the kisses he showers over my face and neck.

He presses his forehead to mine and smiles. “Thank you for giving me that part of you. I will always treasure it.”

“There was never a chance I’d give it to anyone else but you.”

He kisses my mouth and pulls out of me slowly. I can immediately feel the wet mess between my legs.

He pushes my legs apart and grins. “Cherry officially popped.”

I guess that means there’s blood. “You look extraordinarily proud for someone who probably just had his sheets ruined.”

“It may sound crazy, but seeing your virginal blood on my sheets stirs powerful feelings inside me. It reinforces that I’m the only man who’s ever had you and that I want to keep it that way.”

He lies beside me, and I scoot closer to place my head on his chest. I can feel his heart pounding hard against my face. His arm wraps around me and I toss my leg over his. I imagine we must resemble a pair of vines intertwining with each other.

“Was it good for you?” I didn’t want our first time to be bad because my virginity forced him to hold back.

“It was amazing, Claud. No kidding. The best ever.”

“Good. Because I want to do it a lot more tonight. I want you to fuck me in different positions… and hold me down by fisting my hair.”

Bram lifts his head from the pillow to look at me. “What do you know about different positions and fisting hair?”

“I read books and watch movies.”

“Sounds like you’ve been reading and watching porn.”

“Maybe a little.” Bram is twenty-three. As much as I hate it, he’s sexually experienced. I’m not. I’ve never done anything with a boy other than kiss, and even that was nothing like the way Bram devours my mouth. As much as he seems to like my inexperience, it means I didn’t know how to pleasure him. “I wanted to turn you on. And I wanted our first time to be perfect, so I did a little bit of research.”

“It was perfect, baby. Don’t ever think you don’t turn me on. I’m reduced to nothing but a horny bastard when I’m around you. Totally addicted. I’ll never get enough of you.”

I know the feeling. “I’ll never get enough of you either.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’ll be together forever.”

I roll to my back when Bram pulls away and sits up. Instead of getting on top of me for round two, he opens the drawer on his nightstand. “Time for your birthday surprise.”

I touch the diamond pendant at my throat. “You shouldn’t have gotten me anything else. I know this necklace must have cost a fortune.”

“It didn’t. But this… this was two months’ salary.”

Two months’ salary? Oh mercy.

He holds out a black velvet box and snaps open the top to unveil the most beautiful engagement ring I’ve ever seen. White gold. A square solitaire in the center surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds. My dream wedding ring.

He goes down on both of his knees and takes the ring out of the box. “Our story began with a love and connection neither of us could label or understand. That’s because we’re a fucking living-and-breathing fairy tale. I don’t want to chase any more false happily-ever-afters. I want to start living the true one with you. It’s time for us to do life together.”

I wasn’t expecting any of this. I’m stunned speechless.

He holds the ring between his thumb and index finger. “Say you’ll be my wife, Claud.”

Zero hesitation. “Yes, yes, yes. I want to be your wife.”

Bram takes the ring from its box and slides it on my finger. “It’s your birthday but I’m the one receiving the greatest gift of all.”

I hold out my hand in awe. “It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.”

He brings my hand to his mouth and kisses the top. “Claudia Laine Windsor. It sounds good.”

“It doesn’t just sound good. It sounds perfect.”

“When do you want to tell everyone?”

“Now?” I want the world to know that I’m going to be Mrs. Windsor.

“You can forget that. Neither one of us is leaving this bed anytime soon.” He gets up and climbs over me. “It’s just you and me tonight, Mrs. Windsor.”

“Whatever you say, Mr. Windsor.”