Once we’re inside our private space, Shane switches on a bedside table lamp and sits on the edge of our bed, pulling me between his legs.

“Now talk,” he says, holding both of my hands in his as he stares me down. “Get it off your chest, sweetheart.”

I try to pull away in an effort to avoid what I know will be a stressful, painful conversation, but he holds my hands fast.

“Beth.” There’s his lord-of-the-universe voice. He’s in bossy mode now, and fighting him will be an exercise in futility.

I tug on my hands, hoping he’ll let go. “I’m tired, Shane, and I just want to get ready for bed.”

His eyes narrow and his lips tighten, and I know he’s frustrated with me. “Is this about Luciana?”

Hearing him say her name sets me off again. My eyes fill with tears once more, damn it, and I feel both mortified and angry.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I cry, feeling my throat tighten painfully. I jerk my hands out of his as my anger builds. “Do you have any idea how I felt when she told me? When she flaunted her ring in my face? I felt like such an idiot, because I had no idea! If you’d just told me – ”

Shane genuinely looks perplexed. “Beth, I – ”

Now I’m pacing anxiously. “Don’t you dare tell me it’s irrelevant, because it’s not! She stood there, trying to belittle me, telling me you’d run back to her in a heartbeat if she gave you a sign that she’d take you back.”

He has the gall to look amused, which only pisses me off more. I think he can tell, because the grin disappears immediately.

“It doesn’t matter what she said, Beth. She lied to you. Even if she was the last woman on Earth, I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole.”

“Why were you even engaged to her in the first place? She’s an awful person. How could you?”

He nods and sighs heavily. “I know she is. But she didn’t start out that way. When we first met, she was... different. It wasn’t until after we’d been together for a while that her real personality started to come through. She’s vain, greedy, and vindictive. When I realized I’d made a mistake, I ended it.”

As quickly as it came, my anger dissipates, leaving me feeling only the hurt. “You should have told me.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” He pulls me onto his lap. “Sweetheart, I never meant to hurt you. She was old news by the time I met you. And frankly, once I met you, you were all I could think about. I certainly wasn’t going to waste time thinking about past girlfriends. I wasn’t trying to hide anything. It just never occurred to me to tell you.”

He runs his hand up and down my back, caressing me, and despite my irritation, his touch feels undeniably good. I close my eyes and lean into him as his strong fingers massage the back of my neck.

“It’s late,” he says. “And you’re exhausted. Let’s get ready for bed, and then I’ll give you a back rub. How does that sound?”

I can’t help smiling at the offer of a back rub. Damn it, he knows just how to get to me. I’m like putty in his hands.

* * *

I grab a nightgown from the dresser and head to the bathroom to get ready for bed. I’ve gotten in the habit of sleeping in the nude these days, as Shane does, but tonight I feel too raw to be so exposed.

After brushing my teeth, I take my birth control pill, then head back into our bedroom. Just as I’m climbing into bed, Shane walks out of our walk-in closet, naked, and I watch him as he crosses the room to the bathroom.

My girl parts tingle at the sight of him... taut, golden skin over finely chiseled muscles, and I can feel my sex heating up and softening with arousal. I clench down with my vaginal muscles, but there’s nothing to hold on to – there’s just an aching emptiness inside me that only he can fill.

God, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. One minute I’m angry and on the verge of tears, and the next all I can think about is getting Shane inside me.

A few moments later, Shane climbs into bed beside me and switches off his bedside lamp. “We shouldn’t have stayed out so late,” he says. “You’re exhausted.”

“It’s okay. I enjoyed watching you play poker.”

Shane scoots closer and rolls me onto my belly. “Would you like a back rub?”

Actually, I’d like a little something else, but I certainly won’t turn down a back rub. “Yes, please.”

He brushes my hair aside to kiss the back of my neck, and I shiver in response.

After tugging the bedding down to my waist, Shane begins to knead my shoulder and neck muscles. I can’t help groaning as his strong fingers dig gently into my muscles, chasing away the tension and turning me into mush. The impromptu massage is accompanied by a trail of light kisses starting behind my left ear – where I’m very ticklish – and meandering down my neck and across my shoulder.

When he makes his way back up to my ear, his mouth hovers inches above it. “Will you marry me?”

I smile. “Yes.”

“When?” he says, as his hands work my back muscles. He applies just the right amount of pressure, not too soft and not too hard.

“I don’t know. I’m still working on that part.”

“Do me a big favor, please, and pick a date. The sooner, the better. How about when my parents get home? That’s just two weeks away.”

Two weeks? Oh, my God. I’m so not ready.

His hands continue down my torso, his fingers stroking my muscles and sinking gently into my flesh. I moan when he splays his hands across my hips and presses his thumbs into the base of my spine, kneading my flesh and melting away the tension. Then his fingers meander lower, over my buttocks to the tops of my thighs.

I gasp when his hands slip between my thighs and nudge them apart, coaxing me to spread my legs. When I do, he slips a finger between the lips of my sex, groaning when he finds wet, warm flesh. He swipes his finger through my arousal, then reaches deeper to anoint my clitoris.

I press my hot face into my pillow to muffle a whimper.

“You’re so wet,” he whispers, his breath a warm puff of air behind my ear. His index finger, slick with my arousal, circles my clit, pressing and teasing and making me squirm.

“Shane.” I spread my legs to give him better access. My God, I have no shame.

His mouth latches onto the skin at the base of my neck, and he starts sucking gently. I know he’s going to leave a mark. My hips are rocking against his finger now, desperately seeking the pressure I crave, and my breath is quickening. I can feel my orgasm building as he teases the tiny bundle of nerves between my legs.

His finger gets serious then, insistent as it torments me, and I know he’s determined to make me come. Faster and faster his finger teases my clit, knowing just how and where to press and pluck and lightly pinch the tiny bundle of nerves. I swallow hard, fairly panting now.

His lips trail up the curve of my throat to the tender spot just below my ear, and I shiver, whimpering.

“Are you going to come for me, sweetheart?” he murmurs in my ear.

I nod as my breathing quickens.

“Are you? Tell me.”

“Yes!” I gasp, panting and keening as the pleasure inside me crescendos. When my orgasm rips through me, I press my face into my pillow to muffle my cries.

I’m so overwhelmed by this man, so taken over. He owns me heart and soul, and when he touches me, I’m lost. Luciana’s words come back to me in a rush, and pain slices through me at the thought of losing him.

It’s all too much, the pain and the pleasure, and my irrational fears. It’s just too much. A sob tears through me, and I pray in vain he didn’t hear it.

But of course he hears it. He notices everything. “You’re mine,” he says, his voice suddenly hard. He rises up behind me and pulls me onto my hands and knees. “There’s no one but you, do you hear me?” he says in a tight voice as his hands grip my hips hard. “No one!”

He positions me in front of him, my bottom up in the air. I fall forward onto my pillow, burying my face. When he sinks deep into my wet core, pressing in slowly and steadily until his thighs hit my buttocks, I cry out at the sudden feeling of fullness. He’s thick and hard as he grinds himself deep inside me. I’m so wet and soft already that my body opens for him, greedily accepting him as he takes every inch he can.

“You all right?” he says, his voice hoarse as he holds himself still deep inside me.

“Yes!” I gasp. I push back against his hips, lodging him further inside me.

“Fuck,” he groans, his voice rough. His breath comes hard and fast against my shoulder as he leans forward, covering my back. He kisses the back of my neck. “God, you feel so good.”

I rock myself back against him in an effort to get him moving. Right now I need to feel him moving inside me, marking me inside as well as out. I need to know he’s mine, too, because the alternative is unacceptable. He’s ruined me for anyone else, and now I can’t imagine my life without him.

As he starts to move, slowly at first, but quickly gaining momentum, I rock back against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. The heat and friction of him inside me is scorching, and my entire world narrows down to the sensation of him taking me, consuming me. There’s no room for any other thoughts in my head right now, no room for insecurities, no room for fear. His hands clasp my buttocks, his fingers digging into me to hold me in place for his deep thrusts. It’s rare that he lets himself go like this, that he indulges his more aggressive needs, and I revel in it.

The feeling of fullness is both tantalizing and comforting. When we’re joined like this, when I feel his heat and his strength deep inside me, I think we’re invincible. I don’t think anything can come between us.

“You’re mine,” he repeats, clutching my hips so he can thrust harder. “Do you understand that?”

“Yes,” I groan.

He slams himself hard into me, sinking as far as he can go. “Do you?”

“Yes!”

As he moves in strong, measured thrusts, his hand slips beneath me, and his finger sinks between the slick folds of my sex to zero in on my already sensitized clit, circling and tormenting it with increasing intensity. He’s determined to make me come again. He’s going to make me come right along with him.

When I feel him tense behind me, his thigh muscles hard as stone, his breath hot and heavy in my hair, he pinches my clit and I see stars. My body clenches down on his erection, squeezing him hard and holding him deep inside me.

“Fuck!” he grates, throwing his head back and grimacing as if in pain. He sinks deep as he erupts inside me, filling me with stream after scorching stream of liquid heat.

His thrusts slow as he slides his cock through his come, and he murmurs rough, unintelligible words. Finally, he rolls us onto the mattress, onto our sides, still joined together.

And that’s the last thing I remember.