Normally, I never had a problem wearing heels, but we’d walked for so long my feet gave up before the rest of me was ready to.

“Damn,” he said, pretending he had to bend over just to keep hold of my hand once my heels were off and I carried them. “I forgot how short you are.”

“Is memory loss a side effect of being abnormally tall? Not getting enough blood all the way up to your brain or something?”

He laughed. “Not that I know of. I think it’s more of an issue for those of us with big cocks.”

I groaned. “Not enough blood to go around, right?” I swung my shoes at him, smacking him in the belly.

“Ouch. You’re strong for a tiny, little person.”

“Knock it off before I remember what very sensitive area of your body someone as short and strong as I am happens to be closest to.”

His eyes widened at my threat. “Teasing over. Promise. But you shouldn’t walk barefoot around here.”

Before I had a chance to react, he slid his arm under my butt and scooped me up into his arms.

“Is this so I don’t step on glass or just an excuse to kiss me?” From this position, all either of us had to do was lean in an inch or two.

He scoffed. “Actually, it was to impress you with how strong and manly I am. But I suppose you could show me how impressed you are by kissing me…if you really want to.” He bounced me a little higher so he could adjust his grip. “On second thought, keep your lips to yourself. We’re supposed to talk, not kiss.”

“Good, because I wasn’t that impressed with your strength or manliness, anyway,” I lied.

“You’re incredibly heavy for a short person, too,” he joked. “Wrap your legs around me to help out.”

After a quick check to make sure my skirt was covering my ass, I did as he asked.

As soon as my legs were wrapped around his waist, his laugh cut off, and he swallowed.

“This was a bad idea.”

“Why?” Knowing exactly why, I squeezed my legs until he groaned, feeling his growing erection press against my core. The temperature suddenly rising everywhere our bodies touched.

“Stop it.” His gaze darted between my eyes and my lips as our hips ground together the tiniest bit.

“You put me here.”

“Yeah, and then immediately admitted it was a bad idea.” He shifted my weight to have a hand free to brush the hair out of my eyes. “So, would you rather I give you a proper piggyback ride or carry you over my shoulder? Or get a cab to take you home before you make me lose all semblance of control?”

“Or…we could get a cab to take both of us to your house so we can lose all semblance of control together.”

“Or that.” He groaned again, his eyes slid shut, and his grip tightened. “But…are you sure? We don’t have to. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely want to, but only if you’re absolutely sure. Because nothing’s changed. I can’t take the deal—sex without caring. Not with you.”

I shut him up with a kiss. It wasn’t soft or hesitant. Nope, as soon as my lips landed on his, I silently begged him to let me in. After a moment of doubt, he gave in, kissing me back with a force that matched mine.

I open my mouth for his tongue, knowing it was wrong. Knowing but not caring enough to stop. My shoes clunked onto the ground behind him. I needed my hands to feel his hair between my fingers and holding him tighter.

Kneading my ass, he pulled me closer every time his hips rocked into mine, and staggered around the closest building. I grunted when my back hit something hard and smooth—the glass window of a shop, maybe? Didn’t know. Didn’t care. Not even if a crowd of people were gathering inside to stare at my ass.

Declan held himself away enough to slide his hand up under my shirt, his strong, talented fingers pushing the fabric of my bra down for better access. He cupped my breast in his palm and swiped his thumb across my nipple.

“You’re fucking perfect,” he mumbled into my neck, between kisses and drags of his tongue and teeth.

The heat between my legs was almost unbearable. I needed more, needed him to relieve the burn. As if he’d read my mind, his hips grew more insistent, pushing his erection against me, spreading my legs apart until I couldn’t keep my legs wrapped around him.

“Declan,” I moaned. I’d never wanted to be part of someone this much, to have them be part of me.

He’d already become so much more than just a great lay. I liked him too much, wanted him too much. I didn’t know what we were doing or where it would go. All I knew was that I wanted more. I tried not to think about the fact that I didn’t know how to be more to someone.

“Sara,” he said breathlessly. “This is—”

I kissed him again, not wanting to hear him tell me this was wrong or a mistake. Eventually, we’d have to decide what it was, but all I wanted to think about now was how right he felt. Maybe that’s why I blurted out the question that wouldn’t stop swirling in my mind.

“Have you ever made love to anyone before?” Ugh. As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. No matter how much I wanted to know his answer, how much I wanted him to have been thinking something similar, I shouldn’t have said the words.

He didn’t even flinch, or ask for clarification, or look horrified as he set me down. “I’m not sure.” His kiss was light, a reminder of how gentle he could be. “Is making love the slow, gentle, deep kind with lots of kissing and moaning and long strokes? When you know without words that there’s no one else the other person has wanted to be with more than you? Or that the physical connection isn’t nearly as powerful as the emotional one?”

I nodded without breathing, afraid everything I felt was just a trick of the mind. A cruel lie my heart was leading me toward. “Have you ever done that before?”

“Well, I’ve done slow and deep. I think that’s the making part of it.” A smile barely touched his lips.

“Have you ever done the other parts?” I wasn’t even sure what I wished his response would be. That he’d never felt like this either, or that he had and could tell me it wasn’t as terrifying as it seemed.

“No,” he said after a moment, his eyes never leaving mine. “What about you?”

“I don’t…” I shook my head. “I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“But you could be? With the right person and the right timing.”

I wouldn’t have thought so, but... “Yeah. I think so.”

“Good to know.” He kissed me again, a little longer than before. “Definitely good to know.”

“But…” I ran my lips between my teeth. “For now, I think I need someone to practice with.”

He cocked a brow. “I’ve been looking for a good opportunity to volunteer somewhere. This one might work.”

I sighed when I felt the warmth of his breath on my neck, then again when his mouth touched my skin.

“It’s going to be hard.”

“Believe me, I already am,” he said, chuckling.

After unsuccessfully trying to push him away, l left my hands on his abs, closing my eyes as my fingertips traced each muscle. “I meant difficult.”

“Only if you keep me waiting much longer.”

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “It’ll take a lot more patience than that, Declan.”

“Will I be inside you when this patience is required?”

“Partially.” I tilted my head to give him more room as he reached a spot just under my ear. “The patience will be required, not you. You’re required to be all the way inside.”

He let out a heavy breath when my hand ran the length of his erection. The rough fabric of his jeans kept me from stroking him the way we both needed me to.

“Jesus, woman. You’re killing me.”

“I want you inside me, Declan,” I moaned in his ear. “Now.”

He looked around us, cursing under his breath before dragging me into the late-night coffee shop across the street.

He set me down long enough to take ten bucks out of his pocket and drop it onto the counter. “We’ll have two cups of coffee and the keys to the bathroom.”

“Oh, my God.” I ducked my face into his side and laughed.

The cashier must have given him a look or said something I didn’t hear, so Declan reached back into his pocket for more cash.

“I better not have to clean up after you,” the cashier said.

“Gross. You won’t—I give you my word.” After picking up the key and then me, Declan headed to the back of the practically empty café, not stopping until we were inside the bathroom.

As soon as the door was closed, he pressed my back against it and took my mouth before I could finish gasping. His hands were up my skirt, in my panties, and at my core three seconds later. I tore at his belt and pants, impatience making my movements clumsy

“Here.” He reached into his back pocket with the hand that wasn’t caressing me and shoved his wallet at me. “Condom. Get it out. Fast. I can’t do it with one hand, and I really need to be inside you now.”

I pulled the condom out just as he made my whole body arch and my hand lose grip of his wallet. “I’m sor—”

“Don’t care. I’m losing my mind here, Sara. Hurry the fuck up.”

The second I’d slid the condom onto his cock, he picked me up. He was already pressing against me when both of us realized I still had my panties on.

“Sorry.”

“For what?” I hadn’t finished speaking when he yanked the stretchy fabric to the side so hard it ripped. “Oww!”

“You okay?” He pulled back to look at me, his eyes a mixture of outright need and concern.

“You’re forgiven.” I watched his concern slip away, leaving only lust. “Or you will be, just as soon as you— Oh shit!” I would give up every pair of underwear I had to feel him slide into me like that.

I leaned back and rested my head against the door. My back scraped the wood every time he thrust into me, but I couldn’t ask him to stop.

Wrapped around his waist, my legs fought to pull him deeper inside, even knowing it was impossible to be any closer than we already were. When I felt the intensity build, I clutched his shoulders and neck tighter.

“Fuck,” he groaned, his lips at the base of my throat. “I don’t even think this is making. I can’t do slow making right now, Sara. I’m sorry.”

Sorry? He was sorry for making me forget where we were or that anything else existed?

“Declan? Shut up and fuck me. We can practice making later.”

“God, I think I love you.” He jerked his head back to look at me. “I…”

The expression on the poor guy’s face cracked me up. Attempting to wipe his shock and horrified look away, I put my hand across his open lips.

“Fuck me. Now.”

He nodded quickly and flicked his tongue at two of my fingers when they dipped inside his mouth.

“Then, afterwards, we can do the awkward discussion about saying things you don’t mean during sex. Okay?”

“Um…”

“Make me come, Declan. That’s all you need to think about right now.”

“You’re amazing.” He smiled. “And I’m not just saying that.”

“I think you have something you need to do now,” I said sternly. “So, shut up and do it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, laughing.

It didn’t take me long—the man had perfect rhythm and his hands were practically magical.

In the middle of one of the best orgasms of my life, my mind momentarily flashed to the barista who could probably hear me screaming. The thought wasn’t enough to diminish any of the pleasure rippling through my body, though. I doubt anything could’ve.

But as I melted, collapsing in Declan’s arms, I did decide to leave some more money in the tip jar on the way out.