“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.

It didn’t matter if I was; only that he thought so. “Come to bed.”

Teasingly, I scrambled across the mattress, making him come to me. He was gentle when he did, and I squirmed down onto my side, eyes locked on his face. Ty wore an expression of incredulity and longing, like he just couldn’t believe I was actually here. He kissed me at last, lips delicate as a flower petal when I wanted so much more. That lightness didn’t last long. With a hungry growl, he deepened the kiss, and I tasted mint on his tongue.

Against my mouth, he whispered, “I’ve imagined you here so often.”

“Yeah?” I loved knowing he’d fantasized about me.

“In my favorite scene, you slip in through the patio door. I’m sound asleep in bed and you wake me.”

“How do I do that?”

A shudder worked through him as he touched a fingertip to my lower lip. “With your mouth.”

Teasing him, I whispered, “That’s dirty. I’m not sure how I feel about taking advantage of a helpless, sleeping man.”

He shivered. “Just so we’re clear, consent is granted ahead of time.”

More kissing. I initiated it, using Ty’s favorite move. I loved the rasp of his scruff against my palms. As I nibbled his lower lip, he brought me closer, until my breasts fit against his chest. He made a sound in his throat and I wrapped a thigh around his hip, trying to get closer. The shift rubbed us together deliciously, only my panties between us.

Considering how wild, how desperate, he had been the first time we touched, his patience seemed unusual. Suddenly, I suspected I knew why. “You cheated, didn’t you?”

“Hmm?” He was kissing a tender path down my throat, nibbling, licking and evoking all the tingles.

“I know what you did in the shower.” Turning his head to the side, I bit his shoulder. That drove him nuts last time. He rewarded me with a hiss of pleasure. “And I can’t believe you didn’t let me watch.”

Ty throbbed against me; the push and surge made me moan. “You deserve more than seven minutes in heaven, so to speak.”

“But I missed out on you. In the shower. All soapy and wet. I promise it would’ve been good for me. I’d be even more turned on than I am right now.”

Ty fell onto his back when I gave a little push and by the jump in his breathing, he was into the idea of me watching him. “Next time,” he promised. “Although why I’d be doing that again when you’re here—”

“It was your idea,” I whispered. “And it’s rude to invite someone over and then keep all the fun for yourself.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” When I nuzzled down his chest toward his belly, he fisted his hands in the sheets. “If it’s any...consolation, it’s not helping as much as I h-hoped.”

Good. I didn’t say it out loud, but I wanted him in bed like he had been that night on the couch. Incoherent, shaking, completely on fire. I kissed and licked a path around his navel, then reversed directions, bit his nipple on the way up to his ears. I set a palm on his inner thigh, a whisper away, but I didn’t move it upward. Instead, I leaned in and nibbled his ear, remembering how he’d begged me to touch them.

“Shit,” he breathed, closing his eyes.

He turned his head, giving me better access. I nibbled and licked, bit gently, until he was shivering. Such an odd, specific hot zone, but clearly it drove him nuts. Then I went for his other ear and he moaned. Now he was closer to where I wanted him, wild and demanding, not tender and civilized. There might come a point when I’d enjoy the latter but not tonight.

He shoved me onto my back, no finesse, and lowered his head. His mouth on my breasts was pretty close to the best thing I’d ever felt. Ty played the game my way, never touching me below the waist, no matter how much I wanted it. I squirmed and writhed while he worked his mouth over me, sipping at my nipples until I clutched his head, demanding more. Then he gave me teases of teeth, still not enough. I rolled my hips, desperate for pressure. He ripped off my panties with a guttural protest that I should still be wearing them.

“If I don’t get inside you,” he whispered, “I’m going to hump the mattress and come.”

“Condom,” I managed to answer.

“God, yes.”

My hands were shaking too much to help him, and he was clumsy. It took two tries to get him covered, and then he pulled me upright and sat back at an angle against the pillows. I came down on top of him slowly, wrapping my legs around his hips. Perfect fit, he throbbed inside me, so hot, so hard. I tightened, and he trembled, lips parted. With the moonlight streaming in, his face was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

“Like this?” I moved.

“Yes. I have to see you, hold you, taste you.” His eyes were on mine as he cupped my ass, working us together, slow first and then faster. “Show me it feels good.”

I caught the rhythm quickly, loving the friction, the hot rub of his sweaty skin on mine, his chest against my breasts. If I tilted forward a little, it was even better. Sharp sparks of pleasure rocked through me with each push and glide. He bit the side of my neck, a tender pain, and I whispered his name.

“Jesus.” He swelled inside me, reacting, so I said it again, until there was only his name, and our bodies, grinding together, faster, harder, harder. His fingers might be bruising my hips, and I didn’t mind.

“Nadia.”

Heated breath misted my lips, so I leaned in those two inches and took his mouth. Almost there. I thought it, didn’t say it, but his mouth said it back, as we pushed home. He jerked and shuddered, and the spiked pleasure rolled through me in waves, tightening my thighs, again, again, until we were panting into each other’s shoulders. My whole body felt loose and warm, the perfect culmination of so many weeks of wanting what I thought I’d never have.

It didn’t happen as I’d expected, but it was amazing sex. Ty kissed my sweaty temple and lifted me off him. He was gone two minutes according to his bedside clock. When he returned, I was a melted puddle of girl on one side of the bed, too spent to crawl under the covers. He shifted them over me and then slipped in beside me. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had rolled over, but instead he drew me against him, finding the perfect spot for my head on his shoulder. We fit together like jigsaw pieces, and happiness sparkled through me like a kaleidoscope, all the scintillating colors wheeling through the spectrum in my head.

“Two days isn’t enough,” Ty said. “So I have to ask you to come back in November.”

It thrilled me that he seemed so sure. But then I realized, “That’s Thanksgiving. Won’t you be with your parents? And even if you aren’t, I’m going to Nebraska with Lauren.”

“Fucking holidays.”

I smirked. “Not for me. I’ll be too far away.”

His arms tightened around me. “Don’t say that.”

“I’m coming back, Ty.”

“I know. But I’ll miss you.”

“Me, too. But if you have video chat, we can watch each other do dirty things.”

He turned his head toward me and I caught the faint smile. “You have my attention.”

“It’s not like being here, but—” He already knew that it got me hot to watch, so no need to elaborate.

“I wouldn’t even consider doing it for anyone but you,” he admitted.

“Clearly, I’m special.”

“You have no idea.” Ty kissed the top of my head, my cheeks, my chin and finally my mouth. This kissing was slow and lazy, exploratory and tender, because we were both tapped out, no chance it could lead to sex without us sleeping a few hours first.

But I recalled what he’d said about the little things. I didn’t have long nails, so maybe it wouldn’t be as good, but I drew my fingers lightly down his back. Goose bumps immediately sprang up in the wake of my touch. He practically purred.

“Don’t stop,” he demanded.

“Definitely not. This is one of the benefits of sleeping together.”

“Mmm. God, Nadia. This is too good. You are.”

That alone kept me stroking for ten minutes. But eventually a yawn burst out of me. “I know it’s only ten-thirty, but would you hate me if I went to sleep?”

“Now I know you were made for me. I was just thinking the same thing.”

Never in my life had I slept with a guy, but with Ty, it was perfect. Easy. I just rolled over on my left side, he tucked himself behind me, and we both winked out. Four hours later, according to the clock, I woke up needing to pee. He was still holding me, so it took some doing to get out from under his arm without waking him.

Tiptoeing back from the bathroom, I remembered his confession, and a devilish impulse took over. Instead of settling quietly on my side of the bed, I burrowed under the covers and found him half-hard already. A few gentle strokes and he grew out of my palm.

He shifted, spreading his thighs to make room, and for a few tense seconds, I thought he was awake. But his breathing remained steady, and I hoped like hell that he was dreaming what I suspected he might be. Imagining the moment when he came in the dream and woke up coming, well, it was all I could do not to put my hand between my legs right then.

I didn’t tease. Gently I licked up and down until he was well lubricated, then I sucked him into my mouth. He tasted clean and I savored the contrast of hardness and silky skin rubbing over my tongue. Keeping my teeth well away, I gradually increased the pressure of the suction, until he started to move, taking my mouth in slow, dreamy thrusts.

“Harder. Suck harder.” By the mumbling quality of his tone, he had to be mostly still asleep, but lost in the pleasure, lost in me.