Halfway through assembling sandwiches, I hear the strangest sound that makes the hair on my arms stand on end.

It takes me a minute to realize what it is.

And then before I can blink, I’m in the living room, my heart hammering as I watch Dani sob into her hands.

The sound of her anguish grips me, and I kneel in front of her.

I don’t know what just went down, but it wasn’t good. When she was in the hospital, she told me her mom had cancer last spring, and now she’s sobbing on my couch. Fuck.

Her face is in her hands. As she breathes, she trembles. I brace myself on either side of her.

“Babe, you okay?”

She doesn’t move. I reach up and stroke her hair, and she starts crying again. I sit next to her and pull her into a hug. After several minutes, she pushes away, and when she looks at me, her eyes are distant.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

Do what? Let me hug her? Before the right response forms in my head, she says, “I’m going to take a shower.”

“Do you want some help? I could—”

“No.”

She doesn’t look at me as she grabs her crutches and hobbles toward my room.

This whole thing makes me feel like an asshole. There are guys who always know what to say in any situation. The sky could be on fire, the Earth sucked into a vortex, and Daren would have the perfect words to calm the masses. Me? I sulk. I argue with myself about what I should do. I get pissed off and feel helpless or kick shit in my way.

So what do I do now?

I give her space. I pace in my room. I watch the clock.

Back and forth I stalk, feeling like some kind of caged animal. Finally, I sit at my desk, just outside of the bathroom, so I can hear her if she needs help. The water starts to run, and all I can think about is how she slipped and almost fell yesterday. A few minutes later, when I hear the clatter in the bathroom, I don’t even think before I reach for the door.

Steam billows from the shower, and I call out, “Dani? Are you all right?”

All I hear are her muffled sobs.

I yank off my shirt as I cross the bathroom and then pull back the curtain slowly. My heart almost breaks when I see her huddled in the corner still wearing her bra and sweats, her shoulders shaking.

“Baby, I’m here. If you want me to go, tell me.”

I wait and she says nothing.

That’s all it takes, and I’m right behind her. I pull her into me, and she turns around, nestling against me like a little bird.

“I couldn’t get my pants off,” she whimpers, water pouring down around us.

“That’s okay. I have a dryer.” I grab her head in my hand and press her cheek to my chest. We stand there until her breathing is normal and the tears have stopped.

I kiss the top of her head. “Do you want to hold on to me while you get your clothes off? I’ll close my eyes.” It’ll take every goddamn muscle in my body to do that, but I will. I won’t violate her trust that way.

She looks up at me for several breaths, her green eyes soft, and she sniffles. “You don’t have to. Close your eyes, I mean.”

Christ.

Water trickles down her bare shoulders, and through the lace of her bra, her piercings are like a beacon calling to me. Her arms, which she had tucked between us, slowly wrap around my neck and pull me closer until our bodies are flush. Don’t take advantage of her, asshole, I yell at myself even though my dick feels like a raging beast against her taut stomach.

I have to clear my throat before I can speak. “Dandelion, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want. You’ve had a rough day and—”

Her voice is a whisper. “I want you to help me forget, Jax. Just for tonight.” Her brow furrows, like she’s somehow worried I won’t want her for more than that.

I run my thumb over her jaw. “Babe, you know this is different for me, right?” I take a deep breath to get the balls to finish my thought, and I feel like I’m hovering over a canyon when I say the next words. “I can’t explain why this means more, but it does, and I want to spend time with—”

She doesn’t let me explain, her hands drawing my mouth down to hers.

My tongue gently presses against the seam of her lips, and she opens her mouth. We press together, heat and need somehow overshadowing her pain.

Our bodies are wet, slick as water rains down on us. She’s not wearing her brace, so I have to be careful with her.

“Does your knee hurt?” I whisper against her mouth.

“Only if I put pressure on it, not if I move it a little.” That’s all I need to know before I press her back into the tile. Taking her hands, I pin her wrists above her head as I make a slow descent down her body.

Everything about this woman is perfect. Her smooth skin. Her beautiful breasts. Her tight, flat stomach. I kiss my way down her neck and lick across her clavicle. Her head drops to the side as she moans. Unsnapping her bra with one hand, I grab one lush mound in my hand and wrap my mouth over the other, yanking gently on the hoop.

“God, Jax.”

The pounding of my heart increases when she says my name like I’m her last breath.

I lave her breast as she arches into me, my hand dipping to hold her hip steady. I want to lift her up, wrap her legs around my waist and pound her into the wall until she screams my name, but I know I can’t be rough with her in this condition.

The bruises marring her skin have turned a darker purple in some places, a greenish yellow in others. I kiss down her hip, wishing I could make them disappear.

When I reach her sweatpants, I look up at her, releasing her hands. If she wants me to stop, I want her to feel she can say it, but when I stare at her, I don’t see hesitation. Her eyes are glazed and dilated but wanting. She tangles her fingers through my hair and nods yes.

My thumbs press tighter into her skin as I pull down her pants to reveal a matching pair of black lace boy shorts. I let her sweats sag around her knees as my hands wrap around her ass and squeeze, my dick somehow hardening more. I don’t remember ever wanting a girl this much, a terrifying thought that makes me close my eyes and press my head against her stomach.

She strokes my hair, as though I’m the one who needs comforting tonight, and I clutch her tighter. I say her name against her skin until I taste the water that’s dripped down her body, and I long to taste more.

Looking up at her again, I watch her as she watches me strip her out of her panties. She grips my shoulders as she struggles out of her clothes, and then I’m staring at this girl who is so gloriously bare in front of me, I feel like a twelve-year-old boy who’s about to come in his pants.

Because Dani waxes it all off. Fuck me.

At eye level with this amazing sight, all I can do is admire this vision before me. My cock screams at me to do something, anything, so I press my mouth against her skin, spreading her apart gently with my hands as she grips my hair. She feels so right, so good, that I almost feel shaken by some sense of déjà vu. I still as I stare up at her again, questions I can’t quite word edging near the surface of my mind.

But then she gasps, “Don’t stop!” and I want her to come undone around me.

I lick my lips, her sweet scent nearly derailing my ability to speak. “Do you trust me?”

She nods, her eyes telling me she’s hungry for more.

Edging her over a little so she’s wedged into the corner of the shower, I slowly pull her injured leg over my shoulder as I kneel in front of her.

“Does this hurt? Is your leg okay?”

A small laugh escapes her.

“Jax, only one thing hurts, and it’s not my leg.” A devilish smile curls her lips, and I grin back. Someone’s feeling better.

I dip my tongue into her, stroking so softly that I’m barely touching her, but it’s enough that she yanks on my hair, pulling me harder toward her. I laugh against her skin, loving that I’m driving her crazy, wanting to take her right to the edge.

So that’s what I do, touch everything but the spot I know she’s dying to have me devour. Her breath picks up, and she’s grabbing for me, one hand gripping my hair and the other scratching up my shoulder.

I can’t take it any longer either, so I slide one finger into her while I finally settle my mouth on her bundle of nerves, and she screams my name, shuddering apart against me.

When she stills, I do my best to ignore my angry hard-on. This is about Dani, about making her feel better, and the last thing I want to do is take advantage of her when she’s feeling vulnerable.

So I wash her body and wrap her in a towel and carry her to my bed. I go over to my dresser, and throw on a pair of boxers, trying to ignore the wood I’m still sporting before I pull out a t-shirt and toss it to Dani. It lands on her head and she laughs, yanking it off.

“Clothes? Really?” Her eyebrow arches. “I thought we were well beyond that point. Besides,” she says, lowering her voice, “I’d like to reciprocate.”

So much for ignoring my dick because it’s like the arm of a compass pointing north. I sit next to her, my back to her. Get it together, Avery. When I turn around, I say it before I can change my mind. “Dani, I’m sure this is going to sound crazy, but I want to go slowly with you.”

Her head tilts, confusion in her eyes.

I clear my throat. “I don’t want to fuck things up and—”

“Jax, I’m not made of glass, and I won’t break. Get your ass over here. Now.”

Shit, I love a forceful Danielle.

She tells me to sit back on the bed, and then she rolls over onto her side, letting the towel drop open as she lowers my boxers. The sight of her breasts brushing up against my thighs has me wanting to slam into her until she comes so hard, she begs me to stop. I clench my jaw, trying to keep myself from taking over.

The metal on her piercings scratches against my skin, and I’m dying to wrap my mouth around them again. I lean up to grab her, but she stops me with her palm. “Sit still,” she says, a smirk on her face.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She props herself against me as she wraps her hand around my length. Her green eyes stare at me as she dips her head down into my lap where, dear God, her mouth is like a religious awakening.

Her tongue darts out and teases me until I have to squeeze my eyes shut because the sight of her wrapped around my dick nearly makes me lose it.

A few minutes later, I fall out of her mouth, and I slowly open my eyes.

She shakes her head like she’s scolding me. “Watch,” she purrs as she closes around me, making me hiss.

I hold out as long as I can, but she’s too good. Her mouth is too wet. Too snug. Too warm.

“Babe, I’m there,” I groan as I grip her hair.

The rush powers through me, seizing every muscle and joint in my body until I’m spent and gasping for breath.

As soon as I’m able to string together a coherent thought, I grab Dani and wrap myself around her. My face to her neck. My chest pressed to her side. My leg nestled between her thighs.

Her fingers thread through my hair, and her contented sigh does something crazy to my heart. I close my eyes and breath in the sweet scent of apples and marvel at how she feels like my missing puzzle piece.

I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve the blow job of my life, but when I wake up a few hours later with her body laced through mine, it pales in comparison to watching her sleep against my chest.

How have I gone so long without recognizing how much I want this woman?