"What did you mean by 'a training ground'?" Bethany asked before lifting her sandwich to her lips. She sat in one of his T-shirts, her body bare beneath it. Soft music played from the TV as they snuggled into the couch together.

"Exactly what it sounded like. You're not used to a man wanting to take pleasure from you, both his own and yours." Damon licked mustard from his finger before glancing over at her. "If I'm going to settle down with one woman, I want her to get used to me taking what I want."

"Sounds greedy to me." She shrugged, not minding it at all. The idea of him settling down with one woman and her being that woman left her heart racing. What she wouldn't give for that to be the future.

"It is. Life's too short not to be though." He moved her legs off of him and stood, his slacks the only thing he wore. "Plus, it's not like I'm taking something from you that you don't want to give. I'm talking about opening you up to the possibility that as your man I know what you need, and if I ever don't, well, you just speak up, and it will be yours."

Not able to respond, Bethany watched him pick up her plate and walk back toward the kitchen. He was devastatingly gorgeous, his ass flexing in his pants perfectly as he moved. The thick swell of muscles running along his spine and rolling over his shoulders left her dizzy. How in the world had she ever ended up so lucky? When was the rug going to be pulled out from under her? Surely it was coming.

"You want anything else, baby?" he yelled from the kitchen as she turned and curled up on her side on the couch.

"Just you."

He walked back in, lifting a beer to his lips and taking a deep drink. "Tell me about your afternoon. The part after you almost dicked up our relationship again."

She kicked at him playfully as he smiled, sitting down and pulling her legs back into his lap. He pressed his thumb into the bottom of her foot, rubbing softly back and forth as she felt herself begin to melt.

"I just met the accounting prof I would be working with for the fall. He reminded me of a proper version of you." She laughed.

The side of Damon's mouth lifted in a smirk. "The proper version? Poor guy."

"No, it’s just that he was good looking and really well dressed, but he was very standoffish. He told me his age and the fact that I would be ejected from the program if I so much as looked at him in a sensual manner."

Damon stopped rubbing and turned his attention to her, his eyebrow lifting. "Did you hit on him?"

"What? Fuck no. I'm ruined for life thanks to you. He was just really apprehensive about me being there I guess."

"Did he hit on you?"

"No, Damon. He was just straightforward, making the rules clear." Bethany shrugged and ran her finger over her lips, enjoying the view of the sensual man of her dreams rubbing her feet.

"What's his name? You know I went to school at UT as well, for my undergrad at least."

"Dr. Kendal Tarrington. He teaches cost accounting."

A smile lifted Damon's mouth, and Bethany sat up, pulling her legs from him. "You know him?"

"Fuck yes, I know Kendal. We were in our frat together. Biggest prick in the universe." He laughed loudly, the sound of it wrapping around her and making chill bumps break out on her skin.

"He seems like a great guy."

"Oh, he is. He's one of my best friends actually, just very uptight."

"Why isn't he married? Seems so weird."

"Same reason I'm not, I guess."

"Why is that?" She pulled her legs toward her, stretching his shirt over her knees to cover her nakedness beneath.

"He hasn't found the right woman, but he's not looking. His girlfriend from college dicked him over royally. He doesn't trust a woman as far as he can throw her." Damon moved closer, shifting to slide in behind her. Bethany straightened her legs out, scooting forward as he took over most of the couch, his arm sliding under her head. The other arm wrapped around her and his hand moved up to play with her breast.

"What about you?" She had to ask. "Do you trust me?"

"I want to. I think I do, but I have a lot of demons in my past." He leaned forward, pressing his lips to the side of her neck as he breathed in deeply. She shivered, and he moved his hand to the bottom of the T-shirt, tugging it up and slipping his hand back up to cup her bare breast.

"Why are you such an ass to me sometimes? One night we're making love, and the next day you're tearing me apart with your words. Do you need meds?" She turned her face, a smile on her lips as she teased him, the derivative truth still very much there.

"I don't know. I'm going to work on that. I think I have a hard time not separating work from pleasure. I don't see you as my girl at work. I see us as colleagues, at least I try to."

"Why? Am I not good enough to be yours in front of our peers?" Anger slipped into her voice, and she hated to ruin the mood, but she needed resolution.

"Hush, woman. That's silly. I would show you off to everyone, and I will when the time is right. You're breathtaking and have me panting like a high school boy with a hard-on."

"Then why not let me be yours everywhere?"

"Because I'm not sure how to do that, Beth. I've worked to protect myself so long that undoing that isn't an easy feat. That and the fact I can't seem to get my fucking hormones under lock and key when you're around. You can hide your wetness from peering eyes, but I can't exactly hide my erection."

"True. I just don't like it. I don't want there to be a separation anymore, and the next time you bark at me, I'm going to drop kick you."

He groaned and shifted his hips forward, grinding himself against her rear.

"I need to tell you something else. I spoke with Matt a little about your mother and that whole situation a while back. He brought it up, and I just listened."

Damon stiffened behind her, his body going still. She continued to explain, hoping that it wasn't wrong to tell him.

"I wasn't going to say anything, but I know being transparent and open is important to you, so I promise you one thing ... no secrets between us, at least not from my side of the relationship."

He pressed another kiss to her neck and slid his hand to her stomach, pulling her back toward him as he slipped one of his legs through hers and wrapped himself around her tightly. He didn't have to say anything. His action spoke volumes. He wanted love as much as everyone else did, and like half the population walking around lonely, he was scared. How could he not be?

"I still hate her, Beth."

"I can imagine so." Bethany reached back and ran her fingers along his thigh before pulling from his hold and turning to face him. She lay down on her side, snuggling into him as she nuzzled her face into the sexy smell of his chest.

"I wish I could just tell Dad, but what good would it do?"

She looked up as he reached down and brushed her long hair back, his eyes on her but looking far away from the present. She rose up a little and brushed her lips against his. He blinked and leaned down, deepening the kiss, his tongue rolling over hers as his hands tightened on her back.

Moving back from his oncoming assault, Bethany licked her lips and reached up to touch his with her fingers, committing the softness of them to memory. "Not telling him makes you feel like a liar, which is what she was. I don't understand it fully, but I think you need to get this off your chest."

He kissed her fingers before sliding his hand back under the T-shirt, his fingers rubbing softly over the curves of her rear. He pressed his hips forward, grinding his hardness against her softness once again.

"Maybe. I don't know. I don't want to think about it right now. I want to make love to you until you drag me deeper into the depravity that your sexy little body begs me for." He shifted them again, moving her to sit on top of him. "Take the shirt off for me."

He extended his hands above him, tucking them behind his head as his eyes narrowed slightly. Bethany pulled the T-shirt over her head and dropped it on the floor next to her, her body bare and on display for him.

"Mmmm ... everything I want, right here. Do I trust that it won't be gone soon?" He reached up and rolled the tip of his index finger around her nipple as she rocked against the thick press of his arousal, his pants still in their way.

"I'm not going anywhere unless you force me to." Bethany moved back, working to get him out of his slacks.

"I want you with me. I'll work on that other shit if that means keeping you by my side."

"Good," she whispered, her heart beating so hard in her chest.

He lifted his hips as she pulled his pants down. He wasn't wearing underwear, which honestly didn't surprise her at all. She chuckled, and his brow lifted.

"Where are your underwear?" She moved toward him, and he reached for her, forcing her to move faster.

"I told you not to wear any, but you did. I, on the other hand, followed the rules."

"You wear panties?" she asked, sliding herself along the firm length of him as her expression changed. Nothing seemed funny all of a sudden as need rose in the center of her body.

"Hush, woman. Arch your hips, and take me inside of you. I want to watch and enjoy every moment of this." He took her face with one hand and lifted it a little; her chin extended toward the ceiling.

Bethany arched her hips, his body pressed against hers as he lifted her a little. The position was almost uncomfortable, but knowing that he wanted to savor the moment and force her to remember he was in charge somehow overwhelmed her system. She groaned as he rolled his hips, his cock barely inside of her but pushing in a firm circle against her opening.

She moaned again and reached up, pushing his arms from her face. She didn't realize the movement would cause her to lose balance and slam down on him, his body stretching hers in all the right ways.

"Oh fuck, Beth." He slapped her thighs hard before pushing on the couch to move back and sit up. He pressed his lips to her breast, opening his mouth slowly and tonguing her nipple rhythmically as he took hold of her ass, rolling his wrists and causing her to work him.

"Almost too much," she whispered, burying her hands in his hair and wrapping her arms around his head as she lifted up and arched her back. He tightened his grip on her as she rode him hard.

"No, you've got this, baby. You know how to work me. Stop thinking about it, and let yourself sink into me. I'm all yours. That's what you want, isn't it?" He looked up from below her, his eyes filled with a softness she didn't know existed in him.

She jerked faster as she watched him, her eyes rolling back into her head slowly as she came. He lifted up off the couch with his thrusts, his body so hard and strong, everything a man should be and then some.

"I want you so bad. I need you." She rocked against him as he growled softly. "Only you. Please don't make me go to anyone else. I just want you."

"I'm all you're getting ... forever." He tucked his forearms under her knees and moved quick, standing up as her body was still spazzing. "Hold onto my neck tightly. I want in deeper."

"Yeah ..." She tightened her grip as he slid his open palms against the bottom of her ass and dug his nails in. She screamed at the pleasure-pain and tried to focus on what he wanted—what he needed. Somehow it always married beautifully with her fantasies.

The sound of him coming slammed into her, and she joined him.