However, what bothered me most wasn’t that Saint had stumbled across me acting like an idiot and held it against me all this time, but that she had just automatically thought whoever I was bitching about had been her. That spoke to self-esteem issues and self-doubt that I wasn’t sure I was equipped to handle. Not to mention I didn’t really know how to show her the guy I was now versus the pissed-off kid I had been then.

I shadowed her into her apartment and followed suit as she tossed her coat on the back of her couch. I didn’t even look around the place. When she turned to face me I stepped immediately into her space. I wasn’t going to give her the option of running again. She was almost as tall as I was with those wicked boots on. I grabbed her hair in one hand and wrapped the curls around my fist and used my other to grab on to her chin. She was caught.

“We can do a lot in ten minutes, Saint. Where is the bedroom?”

She looked a little unsure and tilted her head in the direction of a doorway past the little galley kitchen. Since I was working on a clock, I didn’t have a lot of time to waste. I kissed her and simultaneously moved her backward in the direction of the door. She moved with me, which made me sigh in appreciation against her lips. She got her hands under the hem of my thermal and started to tug it up over my back and ribs.

No way was that happening again. I hit the door and pinned her against it, which made her gasp a little and had her eyes widening in surprise. I had to say I liked how well we lined up. It would be super easy to tangle her all around me and get down to business … maybe after these ten minutes were up I would show her that ten more would be a great idea … and ten more after that. I gently untangled her fingers from the fabric of my shirt and lightly put my hands on her narrow waist under the hem of her sparkly tank top.

“My turn.”

I think she was stunned, but she stuck her bottom lip out a little bit at me and I couldn’t resist the desire to catch it between my teeth.

“But I want to see your tattoo.” Her voice was breathy and had a catch to it that made my dick all kinds of happy.

I lifted an eyebrow and watched her carefully as I got her top off up over her head. She was breathing shallow and obviously she was anxious, but so far so good, and I still had time on the clock. I turned the doorknob behind her and the door opened easily with her weight leaned against it. As I continued to dance her backward I found the tiny little zipper on the back of her skirt and started to pull it down.

I kissed her again to distract her from the fact that I was steadily heading her toward the bed in the center of the room and told her in a husky voice, “Later. It’s not going anywhere.”

I wanted to turn the lights on so I could see all that pretty white skin I was uncovering and the way all her red-and-copper-colored hair looked all over it, and the bed, and me when we got there. I didn’t think she was there with me yet, though. She was kissing me back, had her arms wrapped around my neck, but she was still stiff and she didn’t seem like she was in any hurry to let me get down to business as I wiggled the skirt over her hips and down over those pirate boots.

“Nash …” There was hesitancy in her voice and I felt like I was running out of time.

I got down so that I was on my knees in front of where she was hovering on the edge of the bed. She looked like she wanted to bolt but she took a deep breath and looked down at me. Her eyes were swirling like a hurricane. In that gaze was an equal mix of desire, trepidation, and question. The way her breasts rose and fell was captivating. She put one of her hands on either side of my head so she was holding on to the fire that marked my skin.

“You okay?” I stuck the tip of my tongue in her belly button and she whimpered a little.

“No. But I don’t want you to stop.”

I looked up at her from under my eyelashes.

“Good, because I’m not going to.”

I could see she had no idea what I was talking about and I figured surprise was in my favor. The boots were going to have to stay; it would take too long to get them off, but the cute, black underwear had to go. I sent out a silent hope that they weren’t a favorite pair and snapped the elastic on either side, leaving her very much naked and exposed, right in front of my face. She was obviously turned on, but the way her stomach quivered let me know she was equally nervous.

She called my name in a panicked tone, and I felt her fingernails curl into my scalp, so I knew I had to distract her. No problem. She was shaking so bad and the heels on those boots were so high it only took a little nudge to get her to topple back on the bed. She started to wiggle away across the mattress, but I was bigger, and I think more determined to prove to her we should be doing this than her fear was. I trailed my fingers up the inside of her thigh and lifted it up over my shoulder. I was listening, because if she told me no, told me to stop, I wasn’t going to push her, but all I heard was a breathy panting and my name said like a curse on repeat.

God, was she sweet in spirit and flavor. I don’t think I had ever had my lips and tongue on anything that tasted as good as her. I don’t how much trembling and spasming was happening because she was freaked out, or how much was because I put my mouth on her. I caught her clit between my teeth and sucked—hard—which made her jolt so much that her hips lifted off the bed. I used her move to slide my hands up under her and hold her to my face.

“What are you doing to me?”

It wasn’t a question, it was more a plea, so I just hummed lightly against her trapped flesh until I felt the rest of her body start to respond. Her thighs trembled, her channel got damp and oh so welcoming, and I took that as an invitation to add my hands to the mix. I let go with one hand and trailed it around so I could stroke her, pet her, lick at her until she was tossing her head from side to side and I could see her hands curling into the sheets on the bed. It was the most beautifully unrestrained thing I had ever seen in my life. She tasted wild, she tasted special and slightly illicit, and I knew it was the best ten minutes any other person had ever given to me. Even if we didn’t make it to the end this time, at least I got to see her like this, feel what I was doing to her and how much she liked it.

I felt the crest of her orgasm roll over my tongue, felt her inner walls squeeze around my stroking fingers, and felt the tense muscles in her thighs go lax as she made a high-pitched sound in her throat and just sort of vibrated all around me. I gave her little nub one last hard flick with the tip of my tongue and rose up to my feet in one fluid motion.

I put my hands on either side of her hips and looked down at her replete form. Her stomach was fluttering with aftershocks, her pale skin glowed with a nice, rosy flush that I could see even in the dark, and her eyes were open, dazed and staring right at me. Yes, there were glossy tears in them, but they weren’t falling and she didn’t look half as shell-shocked as the last time we had tried to do this. She looked awed and slightly dumbfounded. My ego was thrilled with the results.

“Time’s up, Saint. It’s your call what happens from here.”

She blinked slowly at me.

“It’s not you getting me off that worried me in the first place, Nash. You already proved you could with very little effort. It’s the other way around that makes me want to hyperventilate and run for the hills.”

Her voice was barely a whisper and it squeezed something in my chest. She was so honeyed, so pretty, I didn’t understand how she didn’t just know any guy would bend over backward to get the opportunity to worship her. Saint naked wasn’t something any decent man would ever pass on the opportunity to appreciate with his hands, his mouth—with everything he had and then some.

“I don’t know how to make you understand that isn’t a possibility. Nothing about you could ever disappoint any man, Saint.”

She sat up on the bed and quaked a little. She was looking me dead in the eye when she reached behind her and unclipped the bra she still had on. She was perfect. I mean really perfect, all full breasts, smooth skin, and perky pink nipples. She was just about my favorite thing I think I had ever managed to lay eyes on, and I didn’t have a clue what to goddamn do with her.

She scooted to the edge of the bed so her legs were on either side of mine and she was face level with my stomach. She put her hands on my abs and started pushing my shirt up. I grabbed it by the collar and ripped it off one-handed over my head. While I did that she tangled with my belt buckle. She glanced up at me and I could see her fingers were shaking again.

“Do you have anything? I don’t keep protection on hand, because … well, you can probably figure out why.”

I wanted to laugh, but she was really close to my dick and I was having a hard time keeping my thoughts in order.

I pulled out my wallet and tossed it on the bed next to her.

“In there.” I felt like if I let her take the lead, this had less of a chance in ending with me having blue balls and a lonely shower again.

She muttered something I didn’t catch and trailed the tips of her fingers along the tips of the wings tattooed all along my sides and down across my front. The very tip of each wing ended right next to my crotch and had probably been the most miserable tattooing experience of my life. I thought she was going to stop when she reached the top of my boxers, but she didn’t. She pulled them down, setting my cock free, and traced the wings all the way down to where they stopped.