“Touch me.” He didn’t move, and I begged again. “Please.”

“Don’t do this if you don’t mean it. Don’t—”

I pressed my lips into his. He groaned down my throat the second our mouths touched as if an endless hunger had finally been satisfied. He put his hands around my face, holding it steady as he slipped his tongue inside my mouth and licked me ravenously. I had never been kissed that deeply. It was like he was f**king my mouth with his tongue, demonstrating what he wanted to do to my body.

I knew there was no going back now. Guilt was making an attempt to rise to the surface, but it wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t stop if I tried. I moved back for a moment to catch my breath when he pulled me into him harder. Wetness trickled down my thigh. I was so incredibly turned on by the commanding force of his kiss.

When his mouth left mine, I panted and licked my lips, starving for more. The scruff on his face scraped my skin as he kissed my chin, and ended it with one slow, gentle bite. He pulled my hair back roughly and devoured the base of my neck, sucking so hard that it hurt. There would be marks tomorrow, but I didn’t care. I was all in, wanting the pain, wanting everything he had to give.

He slowly licked a line back up to my mouth. This time, as he pressed his lips against mine, his hot erection also pressed against my stomach.

Misty rain continued to spray my nearly na**d body as he kissed me with his palms placed firmly on my ass. The warm, humid air blew our hair around as he kept his forehead on mine. Neither of us moved as the waves crashed around us. He whispered against my mouth. “Tell me this is real.”

I ran my fingers through his hair. “It’s real. It’s not a dream.”

“I’m going to make love to you tonight in that big, white bed upstairs.” I nodded against his forehead in agreement as he continued, “But first, I really need to f**k you…right here on this beach.”

The muscles between my legs began to rapidly contract. “Please,” I begged.

“Take off your underwear.”

His chest was rising and falling as he watched me step out of the pink lace panties. Metal clanked as he unfastened his leather belt without delay and threw it onto the sand. When he unbuttoned his jeans and lowered the zipper, they fell to the ground. His swollen c**k rested against his thigh through his tight boxers. I had forgotten how big he was, and my heart galloped. I couldn’t wait another second to feel him.

He didn’t have to direct me this time. I leapt into his arms. He kissed me harder than before and moaned into my mouth the moment he entered me. In one slightly painful thrust, he was inside of me. My muscles pulsed and squeezed around him in a way I had never experienced with anyone. My legs were wrapped around his waist as he f**ked me with a force and depth I didn’t even know was possible.

He let out a single, intense breath with each thrust. Each one seemed harder than the last, and I’d move my h*ps to keep up. It was never enough. His eyes were closed tight as if the pleasure were unbearable. I knew with every movement, he was taking me back, taking back everything we lost and at the same time, finally claiming me in every way.

He bit my bottom lip and growled, “Ten f**king years, I’ve been dying for this.” In a rhythm that matched his thrusts, he repeated, “Ten…fucking…years. Promise me no other man will ever touch you again.”

I could hardly think straight. “Yes.”

“Say it. Promise me. When I come inside you, I need to know that I’m your last, that you belong to me now.”

I bore down on him faster in an attempt to demonstrate my feelings. “I’m yours. Take it. Take it all.” I remembered something I said years ago that made him crazy and repeated it. “I’m going to come all over your dick.”

My words immediately set him off. “You little shit. You remembered.” He laughed against my mouth, and his body shuddered. “Say my name then when you come all over my dick, baby. Say it.”

“Mitch. Oh, God…Mitch. Yes!”

He screamed out in pleasure as he came, staring intensely into my eyes and pushing me down over his orgasm. I tightened around it as I cl**axed, wanting every drop of his hot release in me.

My legs, now limp, were still wrapped around him as he stayed inside of me and kissed me softly this time.

I felt wetness on my face.

I looked at him and realized tears were pouring out of his eyes. “You’d better f**king mean what you said, Skylar. Because I can’t go back now.”

Neither could I.

The rain picked up, pelting us, but we didn’t move immediately. He pulled out of me and put me down only to lift my na**d body back up again and carry me into the house.

Once upstairs, he brought me to the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the tub, checking the temperature. He let it fill for a while before he grabbed my hand and led me in.

We said nothing as he poured liquid soap onto the sponge and ran it slowly down my body, washing in slow circles between my legs and down to my toes. He pumped some shampoo into his hands and massaged it into my hair. I closed my eyes in heaven as the bathroom filled with steam and the smell of mint. He was being so gentle, caring for me as if I were a delicate flower. It felt like he was trying to make up for what he couldn’t give me in the past. It wasn’t my first time, but it was our first time. This was what he would have done for me had we had that chance years ago.

I grabbed the sponge and began to wash his back. The water was still running, but it had nearly topped off, so I shut it. I massaged the sudsy bubbles over his cross tattoo.

“What does the cross stand for?”

“This one is more recent than the rest. It symbolizes the fact that everyone has a cross to bear. Henry has his autism, yours was the cancer and the domino effect that came along with it. Everyone has something.”

“What’s yours?”

“What do you think?”

“It was losing me?”

“Losing you and hurting the person who meant everything to me, having to live with that. You remember when we first met? How afraid of love I was because of my parents’ divorce and what my father did to my mother?”

“Yes, of course I do.”

“You made me believe in love. Then, when that shit happened with Charisma, I essentially became my father. I became the man who got some girl pregnant and devastated the woman who loved him. It was a sick twist of fate. The circumstances were different, but the outcome was the same. Everything I had ever feared had come true. I couldn’t live with myself. I wanted to die. Up until now, Henry was the only thing that saved me. But what you gave me tonight…a second chance to love you…was a gift. I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you don’t regret it.”

I knew he would, but this night was bittersweet. I wouldn’t be able to just return home and start a new life with Mitch. I had a major loose end to tie up, and his name was Kevin. It wasn’t going to be pretty.

CHAPTER 29

MITCH

Until Skylar was wearing my ring, nothing was set in stone. She was still technically engaged to another man, and there was always the chance that she would go home and get sucked into the safety zone again. I needed to do everything in my power to make sure she didn’t forget one moment of this night. It was all I had.

Water bubbled down the drain as I lifted her out of the bathtub and wiped her down, delighting in the smell of her skin.

I threw the towel on the ground and pressed my c**k against her, backing her into the wall, desperate to be inside of her again. “I need to have you again, but I just want to look at you first.”

Her na**d body was even more phenomenal than I remembered. A few extra pounds added dainty curves to her delicate frame. I cupped her cheek and ran my hand slowly down her neck to her tits. They were the perfect size, round and just big enough to fit in the palm of my hands. Her ni**les were large and a delicate, blush color. They hardened as I ran my hands down over them. Saliva gathered in my mouth as I dared myself not to lick them. I rubbed my index finger across the familiar cluster of freckles in between her breasts, smiling to myself as if they were old friends I never thought I’d see again.

My hand traveled down to her stomach. I couldn’t help the stinging thought that crossed my mind: I would have given anything to see it swell with my baby inside. I loved her so much and wanted to be able to give her a child. I hated that I didn’t have the power alone to make that happen, regardless of how desperately I wanted it.

Her pu**y looked freshly shaved, and I wondered if she did it because she knew this was bound to happen. I slipped two of my fingers inside of her.

Shit.

“How could you be so wet when I’ve barely done anything?”

“I’ve been like that this whole trip. Even when you’d just look at me, it made me wet. No one makes me feel the way you do. What we did on that beach tonight…it’s never been like that for me…ever.”

“I can’t even remember what being with a woman was like before tonight. That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt bar none.” I pushed my hand deeper inside of her. “I’ve never come inside of anyone before…well, willingly at least. I’ve never done it without a condom.”

“Neither have I.”

I stopped moving my fingers in disbelief. “What?”

“Kevin always used condoms. He never wanted to take a chance…even though I likely can’t…you know…anyway.”

I cowered at the thought of anyone else inside of her but couldn’t have been more pleased to know that.

“After five years, I wouldn’t have guessed that, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that no one’s ever done that to you before and that I could be your first at something.”

“You were my first kiss, too, remember?”

“Ah…the stolen kiss.”

She whimpered as I suddenly kissed her greedily.

She licked my lips and said, “You’re the first in all the things that have ever truly mattered. You were my first love, my only love.”

I needed to continue to make sure I was the last. Feeling insanely possessive, I pulled my fingers out of her and led her to the bed in the adjacent room. Her damp hair fell across the pillow as I hovered over her. My own hair nearly covered my eyes.

My dick was painfully hard and a drop of p**cum dripped onto her stomach. I needed her now, but first I had to fix something that was bothering me. I grabbed her hand and slowly slipped off her engagement ring, placing it on the nightstand. It was a bold move, but I couldn’t stand looking at it anymore. She didn’t resist, and I was grateful, unsure how I would have reacted if she had protested.

The rain outside fell harder now against the window. I locked her in with my arms on each side. “Tell me what you want. You want me to be gentle this time? I was a little rough on you out there.”

She bit her lip in apprehension. “Um…”

“What? Tell me.”

“I don’t…want you to go easy on me…at all.”

I smiled mischievously. “You like it rough?”

“Yes…very much.”

My already excited c**k had now become engorged.

I bent down to nip her breast. “What else do you like?”

She was blushing and didn’t say anything.

I lightly bit her earlobe, refusing to budge. “I’m not moving until you tell me what you want me to do to you.”

“Actually, I like it when you tell me what to do, when you’re demanding and when you talk dirty. That’s what makes me the craziest.”

Fuck yeah.

I slid my c**k against her opening, “Don’t ever be afraid to tell me what you want. I can’t wait to try everything with you, things neither of us have ever done. I want to explore every last inch of you, push boundaries if you let me.”

“I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

No, I definitely couldn’t ever go back. I’d die.

I kneeled up off of her. “Turn around. I want to see that gorgeous ass.”

When she did, I slid my c**k between her cheeks and moved it along the top of her crease without entering her. “Remember when I did this to you in the tent years ago?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“I was dying to f**k you from behind so badly that night, but I stopped myself. Not this time.” I entered her in one slow movement. “Fuck. Never again.” I pulled out of her slowly and pushed myself back in even slower. “Never again,” I repeated.

She gripped the pillow and started gyrating her h*ps into me.

I placed my hand firmly on her lower back. “No. Don’t move. I want to take you slow until you can’t stand it anymore and need to beg me to do it harder.”

She breathed in quick, trembling breaths with each deep penetration and then again whenever I would slide myself out. My dick was drenched, and I couldn’t tell if it was her essence or my own arousal. Moving slowly in and out of her like this was delicious torture. I wanted more of her. I licked my finger and slowly inserted it into her ass. Her breathing quickened in response, and she flinched.

“Does that hurt?” I asked.

“No.”

“Stay still.”

I pushed it in deeper. “Does it feel good?”

“Yes…really good.”

I moved my finger at the exact pace that my c**k pumped inside of her, slow and deep. I could have come at any second. This was the most erotic thing I had ever seen or done, and it was only the tip of the iceberg of what I wanted.

“Mitch…”

“Yes, baby?”

“I need more.”