“I’m gonna need you to ditch the clothes.” My shoulder rests on the wall opposite the window I was staring out last night when Mia came to me. Only now I don’t see the snow inches up on the window, or the weighted branches of trees, limbs about to snap from the piles of snow. I only see Mia, holding her cup of tea, her sweater wrapped tightly around her for warmth.

She glances over her shoulder, a smile that was never reserved for me until recently, graces her lips. “I wondered when you’d wake.”

I walk toward her, wrapping my arms around her waist and burying my face in her neck. “Someone couldn’t get enough of me last night.” She elbows me in the gut, not hard enough to do any damage. “It’s okay, I know I’m edible.”

Her tea sprays all over the glass and she covers her mouth, laughing.

“What am I? The ugly stepsister?” She leaves my arms and heads over to the kitchen.

“You’re definitely Cinderella.” I take the wet paper towel from her hands when she returns and clean the tea off the window.

“You already got me into your bed, you can lay off the sweet talk.” She holds out her hand, but I bypass her to throw away the soaked-up towel. “And now you’re cleaning up after me? Where’s the real Grady Kale?” She takes her tea and sits on the couch, taking the remote off the table.

“You made me coffee?” I pour some into a mug and join her on the couch.

“Don’t think you’re special or anything, I was contemplating having a cup. Went for tea instead.”

I plop down right next to her, grabbing her thigh and placing her leg over mine. Leaning over, I kiss her cheek. “Thank you.”

She says nothing, but body language speaks volumes and the way she’s tilted herself slightly away from me is like a megaphone in my ear.

I’m not sure where the girl that rode me like a bull at a rodeo is, or who the girl who had me licking chocolate sauce off her chest at three in the morning when we got hungry has disappeared to. I’m seeing a foreign side of Mia, a shy, timid side that I don’t like.

“What’s the deal?” I ask.

Dodging any eye contact, she sips her tea. “What are you talking about?”

“Why are you acting so different?”

She gives me a fleeting glance and then looks back to her cup of tea. “I’m not.”

“You are.”

She takes a deep breath, gives her head a shake and then curls up in the corner of the couch, her legs pressed to her chest. “What is this?” Her finger motions between the two of us.

“This?” I mimic her movement.

She rolls her eyes and places her teacup on the coffee table. “Us. Where do we stand now?”

I really try to fight the smile, but it breaks through because I might be surprised with this side of Mia, but I’ve changed my mind. I like it...a lot. Bending forward, I place my coffee cup next to hers.

“I was thinking we might as well take advantage of our time alone.” I pick her up and plop her on my lap, my already hard cock pressing against her ass.

She wiggles, her hands planted on the back of the couch. “You know what I mean.” This time her eyes are locked on mine. Goodbye shy girl and here’s the Mia I know. Direct and upfront.

“Listen.” My hands hold her face in them and she leans into my right palm. I ignore the way that made my stomach do something funny. It could totally just be too much chocolate sauce last night. “I don’t know where this is going to go, but last night was not a one-night stand. At least not for me. I’d never do that to you, given our past. The only thing I know is that I liked last night.” I flex my hips up, circling my pelvis. “And I like this.”

Finally, her teeth emerge and all the tension in her face vanishes. “Me, too.”

“So, can we stop talking for a bit?”

She rocks against me and my hands fall to her hips. “Definitely.”

Leaning down to me, her lips land on mine and I get lost in Miaville again. I’m not quite sure I’ll ever grow tired of roaming her streets—whether it means being out for a leisurely Sunday walk or racing through town in a sports car.

My hands move, sliding up the hem of her tank top, my fingers poised and ready to tweak her nipples when her body starts sliding off me, falling down between my open legs.

I watch her, the way she pulls my pajama pants up and over my rigid length, her eyes on my cock. The way her tongue slides out and licks her lips. Peeking up to me through her eyelashes, our gazes lock as she takes me in her mouth.

“Fuck.” My hands move to her hair, tightening in her dark strands and my ass slides to the edge of the couch, opening my legs farther to give her more room.

Her head twists and turns around my dick until she takes all of me and then she works her way back up—she’s slow and almost painfully arousing and all I can think of is how I want to fill her mouth.

My eyes won’t leave her handiwork and my dick grows harder the longer she’s down there. Last night she teased me briefly, but I know she’s down there to finish the job this time and there’s nothing sexier than watching a girl who enjoys blowing you.

The more she sucks and the more the sound of slurping saliva echoes through the room, the harder it becomes to hold back. Suddenly, my head feels like it weighs thirty pounds and it collapses to the back of the cushion, as I rock my hips up.

She fists me, pumping up and down at the same speed as her mouth is sucking the life out of me.

“Fuck, Mia. Your mouth...”

She lets out a moan or whimper, I’m not even sure because her other hand cradles my balls and it’s game over. They tighten up inside of me and though I try my best to hold back, I lose it.

“I’m coming.” I use the last of my energy to try and pry her off my dick.

She shakes her head, not stopping and I explode in her mouth. Her eyes meet mine and she swallows—holy fuck, she swallows!—licks her lips, pulls back and smiles. I think she just put my dick out of commission for a while, but I crave the taste of her.

She happily obliges when I reach for her wrist and pull her up so she’s straddling me once more, but this time I flip her onto her back and she yelps.

“Let me repay you the favor.”

The smile that overtakes her face tells me this is another area in our lives where Mia and I are on the same page.