I keep my promise, whisking her out of the gala as soon as the applause dies down with her spectacular speech.

“You really did something.” I nod my head, looking at her in the dim car light. “I know you are, but you should be damn proud. You’re superwoman. I’m in awe.”

The way those people had held onto every word, the stories she told about the wishes she and her staff had granted this year … Demi was amazing. Plain and simple.

“Thanks.” She blushes, her hand resting on my leg as I steer us toward her condo.

I’d seen her eyes when I called myself her boyfriend. I flashed back to a time when I made a bet … and so much grief ran through my system that it was a wonder I didn’t drop dead on the spot from being such an asshole to her all those years ago. It was a miracle she was even still sitting here with me, allowing me to escort her to her own gala and not slapping me in the face when I claimed her like some kind of caveman in front of a donor.

“I’m sorry about the whole boyfriend thing back there. I know that we haven’t discussed it, and it was piggish of me to say it for the first time without consulting you.”

Demi studies me, her beautiful head tilting to the side. “You know, there was a time when I would have given anything to hear you put a title on our relationship. And now here you are, apologizing for being hasty and checking to make sure it’s okay with me that you did so. That’s how I know you’ve changed, Pax. The guy you were in college would have never done that. Would have never admitted he was wrong.”

I give her a small smile. “We all have room to be a good person when someone lets us.”

Pulling onto her street, the reality that I’ll have to say good night in just a few seconds sets in. I don’t want to go back to my lonely, empty apartment. I don’t want to roll over in my big bed, wishing she was curled up next to me. Since we’d started seeing each other, I found myself doing just that night after night, wondering if she felt the same.

We pull into her driveway, the ornate porch light over her front door lighting up the walkway. Without words, I help her out of the car and take her hand, then her elbow, walking her to her door.

“I had a great time tonight,” I tell her, leaning in to kiss her.

She stops me, a small, soft hand on my tux jacket. “I … I was thinking maybe you could come in. If you want to.”

I know how big of a step this is for her and so I don’t answer with sarcasm or banter like I normally would. “Yes. Yes, I would like that very much.”

Demi smiles, fiddling with her keys as she tries to unlock the door. Nerves are fresh and pungent in the air, both from her and I. With that one question came so much weight. I was coming in, but it was much more than that. Complicity. She was saying it would be okay if we went further.

She was giving herself to me, and I was prepared to treat her with the utmost respect and care.

“Do you want a … drink? A snack, maybe?” Demi fiddles with her keys, she still hasn’t set them down.

The small sweater wrap she had on over the dress, that had me trying to hide my erection all night, still hung over her shoulders. Slowly, I walked to her, unbuttoning my tuxedo jacket and then raising my hands. Just before I touch her, I speak.

“Can I touch you?”

“Yes,” she breathes, her eyes never leaving mine.

I lay my hands on her shoulders, pushing the fabric of her wrap off so that I can feel the bare skin underneath. Goose bumps zip down her flesh as my fingers lightly graze her collarbone, her neck, her cheek.

“Can I kiss you?” I gulp, because restraint is so hard in this moment but I know I must use it.

“Yes.” The answer is a moan.

Her foyer is dim, nothing but the one light she left on in the living room showing us the way up the stairs. I dip my head, taking her lips slowly and methodically. I want to emblazon my mark on her, so gently and so calculating that years from now she’ll touch her lips in a meeting at work and think of this very moment.

After what seems like an eternity of exploring her mouth, I pull back, my vision hazy and my cock as hard as a steel pipe.

“Can I take you to bed?” I wanted to make love with her between the sheets, properly.

“Yes.” It seems to be the only logical thought Demi can make right now.

I lace my fingers through her hand, climbing the stairs slowly, not knowing where I’m going but leading anyway. She’s relying on me to do this right, and do it right I will.

Before we enter her bedroom, a cream and white paradise that screams of her and smells like almond and vanilla, I wrap her in a hug. My eyes peer down at her, trying to look into her soul.

“I’m going to ask you before I make any move. I want your permission, I want you to be right there with me, knowing full well what you want and what you want to give to me.”

She nods, and I can see her pupils dilate and go cloudy. Lust has already stolen over her like fog does to the forest on a dark morning.

Backing into Demi’s room, I sit down on the bed facing her. I take off my shoes, unbutton my shirt, unbuckle my belt, all while she watches. She stands there, in that green dress that feels like heaven and looks like hell, her breasts rising and falling with each shallow breath. When I’m naked down to my boxers, I descend on her again, things getting a bit faster.

I nip at her neck, finding the zipper on the dress and pulling it down all the way to the beginning of her pert ass. I push it aside, letting it fall and pool around her feet.

My breath is stolen when I stumble backward, taking in the sight before me. Black lace over creamy skin, begging to be touched.

I lead Demi by the hand, falling backward on the bed. “Straddle me.”

She does as I say, her warm, perfect body rubbing up against mine. And then it’s on.

My hands are in her hair, her mouth is claiming mine. She’s grinding on me like a wanton, needy thing and I can’t get enough friction to satisfy my aching cock.

Her tongue runs over the small diamond stud in my ear, sending a jolt to my balls that has me flipping her onto her back.

I run my hands down her sides, and she arches her back. I smell the sex on her, and I need to taste it. Moving down the bed as she wriggles beneath my hands that mold to her, I find her center and pull off her thong, sending it flying across the room.

“Can I taste you?” It’s a groan.

“Paxton …” It’s as much of a yes as she can give, and I take the opening.

Feast. Devour. Claim. That is all that registers as I taste her, memories assaulting me. I forgot how sweet she was. Is. I forgot all of her quirks, the things that used to drive me wild and coming back for more.

“I need to be inside of you. Tell me I can be inside of you.” It’s a question, but my voice is so pained with need that it almost sounds like a command.

“Yes. Yes.”

I don’t reach for a condom, something I would usually do. We’d moved past those in college, and damn me, I wanted to be inside of her bare. It was a pig move, but she had to be on the pill.

And if she wasn’t … who cared. The thought registered before my brain had time to catch up to it … but it was the right thought. I was serious about Demi, so serious that nothing was a consequence. Everything was only a step in the eventual steps we would take together.

Driving into her, we both sucked in a lungful of air, every synapse registering pleasure.

“Oh my God …” Demi moaned quietly, while I tried to get a grip on my spinning vision.

So good. So good. It’s the only thing I can think as I stare down at her, my body worshipping hers and vice versa.

Each moan. Each breath. It takes me back to a time so long ago, when I barely knew what I was doing. Memories flood me, the feeling of familiarity gripping my balls tight.

But there is also a newness there, excitement tingling in each bone, muscle and tendon.

Demi unravels just seconds before me, gripping onto me and latching her lips around my neck, almost trying to claw her way through her orgasm. I remember this, her need to get as close to me as possible when she imploded.

And then I see stars, dancing brilliantly before my eyes, encasing Demi in a sea of fireworks as my body empties into hers.