My fingers relax their death grip on the sheets. His lips and tongue ignite a blazing fire along my skin as he works his way up my leg. About three inches beyond my knee, he brushes his tongue against my inner thigh and makes a slow move to continue up my leg.

I snap my legs together against his head like a vice, preventing him from going any farther.

“Vivian? What are you doing?” His voice muffles against my leg.

“What are you doing? Whe–where are you going?”

He grips my knees and pries my legs open, releasing his head. “I’m preparing you.”

I swallow. “For what?”

“For me.”

“Oh … um … uh …”

He takes my hand and guides it between my legs until I’m covering myself. His lips press against the back of my hand, kissing my knuckles and each one of my fingers. Then his tongue repeats the same pattern and my hand twitches. My pulse takes flight and my mouth falls open as my breathing becomes heavy. I curl my fingers and touch myself. Oliver slides his tongue between my wet fingers and grazes my sensitive flesh. He sucks my finger into his mouth and as I pull it from his mouth, I slide it up my belly and relax my legs exposing all of myself to him.

“Ahh!” I cry, jerking my hips off the bed when his mouth covers me.

He doesn’t stop and it’s embarrassing how quickly I’m seeing stars. “Ol–Oliver … stop … I’m … I’m going to—” I grab his hair and fist it so hard I’m pretty sure he groans, but he doesn’t stop his relentless assault.

“Oh God! Oh God! Oh … Oliver!” I yell, thrashing my head from side to side as my orgasm sucks the life out of me in thundering waves.

There’s not a tense muscle left in my body. In fact, I feel like I could pass out from exhaustion. Oliver kisses his way up my abdomen to my breasts and hums as his mouth closes over my nipple. Releasing it, he sits up and removes his boxer briefs then goes right back to my other breast.

“Did you like that?” he asks while working his way up my neck.

“Yes.” I start to find my breath. “Ung!” I cry as his mouth takes mine and he pushes into me with one hard thrust.

Stick, pinch, buurrrnn! Goodbye, virginity.

Oliver stills while his tongue invades my mouth. My fingers dig into his firm butt muscles, then he starts to move—slow at first. His mouth never leaves my body; it’s on my lips, neck, ear, and breasts, distracting me from the torpedo invasion down below.

I don’t really have anything to compare him to except books and movies, but Oliver is not very vocal during sex. He must think I’m a real screamer. Then there is my twin bed that I’ve had since I was six, the frame on it squeaks and squawks like a rusty wagon being pulled along a cobblestone road. I’m so grateful that Alex is not home to hear the symphony of Vivian and her childhood bed getting seriously nailed by the hottest guy to ever walk the planet.

“Ouch!” I yell.

Oliver distracts my thoughts as he stills deep inside me and bites my nipple a little harder than necessary. I glare down at him and he smiles with my nipple still between his teeth and sweat beading along his brow.

“Sadist, huh?”

He releases my nipple and kisses it shaking his head. “Not hardly.”

Easing off me, he inches out and I can’t hide the slight grimace on my face. His mirrors mine. “Sorry.”

I shake my head. “It’s fine.” I sit up on my arms, look down, and see a little bit of blood on him and something else that’s not there. “Oh my God! Where’s your condom? Please tell me you used a condom? I don’t remember you putting one on! Oh. My. Go—”

He kisses me and I relax, a little. Releasing my lips his gaze falls and he stands pulling on his pants. “I can’t have children, sorry.”

Wrapping the sheet around my body, I sit up. “Why are you sorry?”

He runs his hands through his hair. “Because I should have told you before things … went this far.”

“You’re assuming I want kids and being with me would just be leading me on?”

He nods and the pain in his face is so disheartening. I stand letting the sheet fall from my body. Resting my hands on his chest, I look up at him. “Before I met you I had resigned myself to the idea that my fate was to be an eternal virgin.” I press my lips to his chest and his hand cups the back of my head with tenderness. “So really, kids haven’t been on my radar since I played dollies as a young girl. Okay?”

Oliver kisses the top of my head. “But you deserve—”

“I deserve this.” I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him to me. “No take backs.”

He nods with a sad smile as he wraps me in his arms. I can’t get enough of him. He’s ice cream on a hot summer day, peanuts and the Red Sox, popcorn at the movies, and a candlelit cake on my birthday. My lips find his and become demanding as my hands move to the button of his jeans.

“No way.” He grabs my wrists. “You’re going to be sore. You should think about taking a hot bath.” Interlacing our fingers he moves our hands behind my back. “I’ll see you in the morning. Okay?”

My lips pull into a forced smile so he doesn’t see my disappointment. It’s not about the sex. He’s right, I’m a little … okay, a lot sore right now. I just don’t want to leave the comfort of his arms, and my twin bed isn’t too inviting so asking him to stay would be ridiculous.

He kisses me again, and again, and again.

“Bye.” He smiles and kisses my forehead.

“Bye.” I wait until he closes the door, then I sit down on my bed hugging my knees to my chest. There’s nothing worse than being alone with my thoughts. I should be thrilled. Earlier today I planned on handing my virginity to Chance in the least romantic way possible: half clothed on his couch. Instead, I ended up with Oliver and he made me feel beautiful, sexy, and amazing. So why am I sad?

I look up as I hear my door open.

Oliver grins. “You could throw some clothes in an overnight bag and come take a bath at my house … with me.”

Once again, the world stops turning. It’s just us.

* * *

Oliver

Vivian insists on a bubble bath. I insist my non-SLS soap would not make very many bubbles. Nearly a full bottle of body wash later, we have a weak layer of bubbles floating around us, but Vivian seems nonetheless pleased.

After our bath, I’m equally as pleased to have her naked body next to mine in my California king-sized bed.

“I should have brought my pillow.”

I offer her my arm. She rests her head on it as I pull her close.

“Can I ask why you have such an aversion to pillows? Bad neck or something?”

“It’s something from my past to be shared in the future, just not now.”

She tilts her head up and kisses my jaw, a non-verbal acceptance of my vague explanation. I know that won’t always be the case. I can’t remember the last time I felt this content … maybe never.

Creatures of habit like my dad and I don’t need alarms. The sunrise calls to me, so I reluctantly leave the naked woman next to me to go out on my deck and welcome a new day. After I feel the official beginning, the end of another darkness, I run to Dunks and get doughnuts and coffee.

Vivian is still asleep by the time I return, and I can’t believe the way she’s managed to spread her long body diagonally across my bed. I assumed someone who slept in a twin every night would stay huddled on the edge. So much for that theory.

I set breakfast on the nightstand and remove my shirt and shorts before finding a small section of the bed in which to lie next to her. She’s sleeping on her stomach with her tangled hair hiding her face. I have an unobstructed view of her back. Of course I’m curious about her scars, but I won’t ask. That might be her past to be shared in the future, just not today. I lean over her and kiss one of the closed blossoms hiding a scar, then another, and another.

“Oli,” she says in a groggy voice.

I move lower and kiss the soft curve of her ass. “Did you just call me Oli?”

“Mmmhmm.” She draws in an audible breath then flips over and sits up. Her nipples are pebbled, and her raven hair is everywhere and so damn sexy. My already hard dick pulses. I tried to play it cool last night, like bathing with her and sleeping next to her naked wasn’t torturing me. How stupid am I?

“I smell doughnuts.” She whips her head around and grabs the box.

“Doughnuts? Only you would smell doughnuts in a box before steamy coffee.”

She flips open the lid and grins so big.

Thump, thump, thump … my dick pulses.

“Boston Kreme.” She swipes some chocolate frosting off the top and sucks it slowly off her finger. “Mmm …”

Thump, thump, thump.

I grab my coffee and take a sip, hoping the caffeine will counteract the effect she’s having on me.

She sticks her finger in the hole and moves it around before pulling out the creamy filling and sucking it off with a soft moan while she closes her eyes.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!

I choke on my coffee as it scorches my tongue and the roof of my mouth.

“You okay?”

I nod, setting the coffee back on the nightstand while clearing my throat. She sticks her finger back in that damn hole.

“Stop!”

Her eyes go wide and she sticks her coated finger in her mouth again. “Stop what?” she mumbles around it.

Her innocence in the matter only makes things worse. There’s nothing sexier than a woman who doesn’t know she’s sexy.

“This!” I pull her finger out of her mouth and stick it in mine then ease it out rolling my tongue around it. “Finger-fucking your doughnut. Stop. Finger-fucking. Your. Doughnut.”