Harper’s eyes widened the minute his lips crashed onto hers. He was kissing her. It wasn’t gentle. It was anything but. It reminded her of the way the ocean’s waves crashed into the shore during a storm. And the best thing she could do was relax into the strong current and let the ocean pull her away. So her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around his neck and she opened her mouth, granting him a rare treat of being able to take in her taste, to duel for dominance, to really feel her.

His tongue was strong and determined, and when she put up a fight, he had no problem meeting her challenge. His hand was holding her head in place, his fingers clinging to the tresses tightly, a painful pull on her head causing her to hiss. Harper felt him grin in triumph through their kiss. The bastard actually grinned.

Two could play at this game.

Harper dropped her hands from his neck and put them on his chest, pushing him backward until he hit the wall behind him. The hallway was secluded; no one was around so she didn’t have to worry about prying eyes or camera phones – if anyone even recognized Zachary Ryan. They certainly wouldn’t recognize her. Then, once he had something solid behind him, she stepped between his legs and pushed her body against him. He groaned in surprise, a noise she found she liked. A noise she wanted to hear again.

His other hand dropped to her back, clawing at it to push her even closer to his body. Harper didn’t even know how that was possible. There was no space between them where even the air couldn’t breathe.

When they finally had to breathe, they grasped the oxygen like desperate divers with no air left in their tanks. Zach wasted no time in finding the skin on her neck with his mouth, sucking and gnawing and kissing and licking and whatever else he could do to evoke her ragged breathing and her gasping moans. She clung to his shirt with white knuckles and even though she was positive he was going to leave marks on her flesh like they were middle schoolers, she couldn’t bring herself to care all that much. At least, not right now. She angled her neck away, giving him more access to her skin, and he took her up on the offer without any hesitation.

His hand slid to her shoulder, his fingers splayed as he gripped her collarbone, her heart hammering against his hand. She wondered if he could feel it beat, wondered if he realized he was causing her to react in this way. It was his fault. He had to have known it.

His hand dropped further and it cupped her breast, not too rough to hurt but just enough to let her know that he thought this, her body, was his to do whatever he liked with it. She arched into his touch and he squeezed, causing her to gasp. The dress she was wearing barely covered her breasts so she felt the warmth of his hand, the calluses on his palm, the possessive grip.

She gripped his shirt and pulled him to her, capturing his mouth with hers, letting him know that she approved of his touch, that she wanted more. He grunted through the kiss, and she knew she was reacting the way he wanted. She could feel him pressing insistently against her thigh, all but yelling at the reaction she caused inside of him. Her heart tripped over the pride that coursed through her body at being the reason for this, at rendering Zachary Ryan helpless.

Harper wanted to do more, cause him to make more of those sounds. She kept her mouth on his but dropped her right hand from his shirt and trailed it downward until her palm pressed against his member through the denim material of his jeans.

Zach tore his lips away, his hooded eyes heavy and dangerous. He couldn’t even hold his head upright – he rested his forehead against hers. “Don’t start something,” he said through heavy breathing, “that you can’t finish.”

Her eyes were sharp, offended that he would make such an insinuation. She wrapped her fingers around him and squeezed. “I never do,” she assured him.

He groaned helplessly, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. “Let’s go,” he managed to get out, “before I fuck you against this wall without giving a shit about who sees.”

They managed to keep their hands to themselves in the cab, through the lobby, even in the elevator. For whatever reason, they wound up back at Zach’s room, even though he had a roommate and she did not. But Solis wouldn’t bring back a girl and Zach made sure to hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door so even if Solis did come back earlier than expected, he would know the room was occupied.

When they were in the room, Harper looked at him with wide eyes. He didn’t know her well enough to know if she was suddenly hesitating now that they were alone, in a bedroom, or if she was adjusting to the darkness.

“Do you want the lights on?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied.

For whatever reason, that made his temper react. It should matter. This would be their first time, and that mattered. At least, it mattered to him.

“We don’t have to do this,” he said, his voice more annoyed than he intended it to be. “If you don’t want to.”

Her brow furrowed. “You’re defensive,” she said. Like it was a fact. Because it was. “Why are you defensive?” She tilted her head to the side and gave him a pointed stare. “This doesn’t have to mean anything. Sex is sex. I know guys like to think that girls can’t separate sex and love but we can. At least, I can.” She narrowed her eyes when she saw him smirk. “What?”

“You’re babbling,” he said, cocking his head to the side and looking at her with a knowing glint, even through the haze of lust. “You’re nervous. Which means this isn’t just about sex to you. It’s more.”

She felt her cheeks start to heat up. “Is it,” she began.

“You’re cute when you’re nervous,” he said, interrupting her without a care in the world. He reached out and curled a strand of hair around his finger. “Especially if I’m the one making you nervous.”

“Do you want sex to mean more to you?” she forced herself to ask, forced herself to not think about his words and the effect they were having on her heart.

He stared at her for a long moment. “You really don’t get it, do you?” he asked. “What you do to me.” He shook his head, the corner of his lips tilted up. “I want what you want, Harp. I want you. I do. But sex isn’t just sex to me. Not when it comes to you.”

Harper swallowed, nodding her head. She had no idea why she was nodding her head. Probably because she didn’t know what else to say.

“How do you feel?” he asked, his eyes still intense, still cloudy and dark.

“I,” she said, “I don’t know how I feel, to be honest. I just know I want you.” She locked eyes with him, the truth of her words surprising even her. “I want you.”

His nostrils flared at her words, his gaze becoming even more intense, and he nodded his head. He didn’t hesitate and took her in his arms before claiming her lips like they were his, like he had any right to claim them at all. She opened willingly to him, and when he started to tug at her shirt, she didn’t pull away, didn’t stop him.

Because she did want him.

Badly.

It wasn’t long before her shirt and bra had been carelessly discarded on the floor, Zach on top of Harper, her back on the bed, his mouth devouring every inch of skin she could offer him. Her legs were already wrapped around him and her impatient fingers tugged on his shirt so she could see his skin, feel his body flesh to flesh.

When it was finally off him and disposed of, she let her fingers roam every ripple of his muscles. She reveled in the way he twitched under her touch, loved the way someone as strong as he was became powerless under her fingers. He was tight in all the right places, and a part of her wished she had a better view of his back because she was positive she would find the muscles there just as strong as his chest, if not more so.

“You’re beautiful,” she breathed out, not being able to contain the words any longer. Her eyes found his as her words compelled him to stop kissing her. Instead, he simply stared, like he was in shock. Like he had no idea what to say to that.

“No one’s ever said that to me before,” he murmured. It wasn’t something he should have told her, but she was glad for it anyway.

“Then everyone who came before was fools,” she said.

At that moment, he sprung on her. Passion sizzled between them, her fingers clawing at his arms, his back, anywhere she touched. It wasn’t long before the rest of their clothes were shed and they were completely bare for the other, on complete display.

“You’re beautiful, Harper” he said. It was cliché, she knew, and she had just told him the same thing, but the way he looked at her when he said it, the fact that he said her name… To her, there was meaning behind the words other than mere flattery. He meant them.

She kissed him in response. She could feel the length of him press into the inside of her thigh, and her pelvis throbbed with moisture at the simple feeling of it.

In expert time, Zach managed to grab a condom, remove it from its wrapper, and sheath himself up in one moment. He didn’t ask her if she was sure. He didn’t tell her they didn’t have to do this again. He took his time entering her, but he entered her with pride, without worry for himself or from her.

She gasped in response, needing a moment to get used to his girth, but then it was like riding a bike. A new, big bike.

Zach didn’t go slow. Nor was he rough. But he couldn’t seem to control himself when he was inside her. She knew she wouldn’t come from this position, and she refused to have sex with Zach without coming, so she reached between them and started to massage her clit in the way only she knew how.

Zach seemed surprised by this, but he grunted in approval, his eyes getting even darker than she thought possible.

It wasn’t long before she reached her peak. Her heart jumped in her throat and the only sound she heard was the pounding of her heart, somehow beating in time with Zach’s thrusting. And then, like he knew, he whispered her name, and she was gone. She splintered around him in a million pieces with no desire to be put back together again. Zach wasn’t far behind, and when he spilled himself inside of her, she felt this odd sensation of being whole, of being complete.

Harper hadn’t planned on it, but she fell asleep with Zach inside her.