Waking up achy and grumpy is a bad habit. I need to stop drinking so much.

But as my bleary eyes start to clear and I make out my room and the pills and glass of water by the bed side, as her scent drifts up and fills my senses, it all comes back to me.

Hailey.

I sit up too fast and the room starts spinning. Dizzy, I fist my hands into the covers and wait it out, gritting my teeth and willing my churning stomach to settle.

Hitting my head sucks. Then again… it may have knocked some sense into me. Why didn’t I call Hailey since she left? I was fucking angry, sure, but her accusations… I remember them now. At the time they didn’t make sense, and I was pissed she’d looked at my phone without permission.

But whose fault was it that she got suspicious? I kept her mostly locked out of my life.I never bothered to listen to what she accused me of. All I heard was her distrust, and then she was out the door and out of town.

Never paused to consider the fact that we may be more similar than I thought.

That we both have difficulty trusting others.

And that I didn’t help things any by keeping her at arm’s length when she let in the whole of me.

Not fair to her.

I’m gonna make it up to her. Clear this up. Make her see I could be good for her.

Christ, I’m as fucking nervous as I’ve ever been, and the dizziness isn’t helping. I swing my legs off the bed and swallow down bile. How am I to win my girl back when I’m feeling like shit?

Probably look it, too.

Hell.

And this beard… I tug on it. It’s grown too long and shaggy. I could trim it.

Or shave it off. Cut my hair. Matt shaved off his beard and cut his hair. Turned civilized.

If he could do it, I can do it, too.

Maybe not the hair. I like tying it back when I work. But the beard has to go.

Shall I do this? Show Hailey I can change. I am capable of it. I’m just a mechanic, a grease monkey, and she’s a fucking queen, but at least she will see I’m trying.

I sure damn hope it will be enough.

* * *

By the time I’ve managed to stand up without throwing up or faceplanting, I hear voices in the living room. And by the time I make it to my bedroom door and reach for the handle, it turns and Hailey appears in the opening.

Her hair piled up on top of her hair, golden strands framing her face, and wearing nothing.

Okay, wearing a towel wrapped around her, but that isn’t leaving much to my imagination. Or my memory, because now I remember everything, and I remember every time I’ve been with her, every detail of her body, every tiny mole and little imperfection – every curve and every inch of satiny skin.

Her mouth opens in a tiny O of surprise, then her gaze travels down my body, over my chest to my dick that’s hardening fast and rising to say hi.

Her breath catches, her dark eyes flicking up to my face and back down. My dick likes the attention, swelling more, and I wrap a hand around it and give it a good stroke, letting my gaze drift down her neck to where her tits are almost spilling out of the towel.

My towel, wrapped around her, and I like that. A lot.

“Jared was here,” she whispers, talking to my dick. “Says he’s here if you need anything.” She clears her throat. “We need to talk about…”

Her cheeks are flushed red, her eyes glittering. Her tits rise and fall rapidly. I can smell her arousal, sweet, heady.

Again my plans go out the window when she reaches for me, planting her hands on my chest, pressing herself to me. Since the first time I saw her, I knew I’d be spoiled for other girls. My mind goes blank, my body goes hot and tight, and my heart… I fucking gave it to her from the start.

In a locked box. All the keys inked on my body and I didn’t give her the key to myself.

I’m offering it now. “I love you, Hailey. No more fucking against the wall and on the floor. I’ll make love to you.”

“But I love it when you do me against the wall,” she breathes, and oh fuck, she’s killing me. “And on the floor. I told you when we first met… I like all you do to me, Kade.”

With a growl, I press her back against the doorjamb and slam my mouth over hers. I need to slow down, do this my way. Show her I can do it the slow, civilized way. That I care enough to try it. But when the towel opens, falling to the floor, and I put my hands on her soft body, I lose control.

Again.

I eat up her mouth, my dick caught between us, her tits rubbing on my chest, and yeah, the slow love-making I had in mind will have to wait again. I need her now, with an urgency I haven’t felt in ages.

Not since she left.

I lick at her lips, then bite the side of her neck until her head falls back and she pushes her tits out. I bend over to suck on them and dip two fingers inside her pussy.

Fuck, she’s so damn wet and hot. Scorching. Pumping my fingers in and out, opening her up, I straighten to kiss her mouth some more, struggling with my last threads of control.

Then it snaps, and I pull my fingers out to replace them with my cock. I lift her legs until they’re wrapped around my hips and push into her, one slow, hard shove that has my head spinning.

The room is spinning again, in fact, but I don’t fucking care. I’m right where I want, where I need to be. I want to stay like this forever, inside her, but she squirms and moans my name, and I need to start moving.

Sliding in and out of her tight heat is fucking amazing. I lift her higher, to thrust in deeper, and damn it all, this is off the fucking charts. Her pussy squeezing around my cock, her moans in my mouth, her body arching into mine.

“Oh shit,” she whispers, and clenches harder, her heels digging into the back of my thighs as she writhes on me. Then she’s coming with a cry, milking my dick until I see stars.

I slam a hand on the wall by her head to keep my balance and clench my jaw as my balls detonate and my cock jerks inside her.

“Hay…oh fuck.” She’s still clenching and moving, and I come so fucking hard my knees buckle. Whoa.

Black spots swim in my vision. The room starts to tilt.

Shit, this isn’t a good sign.

“Kaden. Don’t pass out on me,” she warns, lifting a hand to my face. “Kade!”

I grunt, not feeling all that good now the adrenaline and the pleasure have begun to ebb, so I unhook her legs from around me and drag her to bed.

If I’m to pass out now, then at least I can do it there with my girl in my arms.