He’d taught her to kiss.

  So she did. Taking him by surprise helped her in the quest to lead. She lingered on his open mouth, sucking on his lower lip until he gasped. She nipped his upper and then slipped her tongue in, dancing along the ridge of his teeth, tasting the lingering bitterness of coffee, the potent salt of male underneath.

  Groaning, his hands grabbed her arms and pulled her closer, tighter. The heat of his body blasted through his T-shirt, making her stomach flip, flop, flip, flop. She straddled him, kissed him, led him, but she knew the power of this man beneath her. Knew she rode a wild male intent on having her.

  As she was intent on having him.

  Long fingers slid under her shirt, pushing the cotton off her back. Tam shivered as the edge of his nails skimmed along the length of her spine.

  “Take this off.” His voice was blurred with lust, sending her heart racing.

  She pushed herself up to look at his face. His dark gaze met hers, a challenge in the depths.

  Will you do this? Will you be with me? Will you be mine?

  She didn’t want to think. She didn’t want to answer questions. She didn’t want to confront the fact she was acting the fool.

  All she wanted to do was feel.

  Placing her hands on his flat stomach, she rolled her hips on the hard length beneath. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes, blocking out the moonlight, blocking everything except feeling.

  Felt the heat and virility of the male. Her male. For now.

  Strong hands grasped her, guiding her movements. She heard his breath quicken and reveled in her power.

  “Take your shirt off.” He paused and she wondered if he were thinking or only feeling like her. “Please.”

  She opened her eyes at the word, uttered with a husky plea. The tone shot through her like a long-lost dream. His voice had been like this before, before when they’d loved and he’d been unafraid to be vulnerable.

  His face gave her nothing as she stared at him.

  Yet his voice, the tone, had given her what she needed.

  Grasping the edge of her T-shirt before she let doubt cloud her determination, she slipped it over her head. For a stark moment, she wished she had put on her one pretty bra instead of the old cotton one she wore.

  Then, a sound came from his throat. A growl, a rough, urgent call, wiping the wish from her mind in one instant. Rafe skated his hands from her hips onto the naked skin of her waist and she was dazed with sudden heat.

  Tam shivered, keeping still.

  His fingers slid slowly across her stomach, brushing, drifting as if he had all the time in the world to take her.

  She shivered again.

  “Cold?” he murmured.

  “A little.” The confession wasn’t true. She burned with need. Still, there was something deep inside that continued to quiver.

  “Don’t worry, kardiá mou.” The sudden flash of his smile hurt her heart. “I will keep you warm.”

  Two hands slipped under her bra as the words were spoken. A hot well of heat flushed her skin and she whimpered.

  “You like this.” His fingers plucked at her stiff nipples. “I like it, too.”

  Before she could gather herself, her bra was off and his hands were everywhere: lifting her breasts and rolling them in his hot hands, skimming over her shoulders and down her sides, sliding the tips of his fingers into the edge of her shorts.

  “I have to taste you.” His head reared up and his mouth latched onto one of her nipples, sending a shot of sparks into her bloodstream.

  She’d dreamed. Many dreams. Every one of them starring this man. But she’d never dreamed of the heat and the hot and the heedless need enveloping her. She dimly noted her hands grasping his head and her body bending into his mouth. She wondered if she should do something, say something, yet nothing came into her head.

  She was body. She was female.

  She was his.

  “Écho̱ na káno̱ ti̱n agápi̱ se sas,” he muttered. “Prépei na káno̱ ti̱n agápi̱ se sas.”

  I have to make love to you. I must make love to you.

  The words were tortured, like he had no control over what was happening. Just as she had none herself.

  They were in this together.

  “Rafe,” she breathed on the skin of his brow. A trickle of his salty sweat touched her lips. “I want you.”

  A sharp crack of laughter ruffled against her breast before he leaned back and ripped his shirt over his head. “You have me, Tam,” he said, a wry twist on his mouth. “As always.”

  Before she had time to think of what this meant, her attention was caught by the breadth of his shoulders and the gleam of his skin. She’d seen him swimming many times during the last few weeks. This was different, though. His nakedness was hers now, hers to touch and stroke and inflame.

  When she touched him, he took in a deep breath, but remained silent.

  She took this as encouragement to keep going. His skin was hot, almost steamy. The pads of her fingers slid down, across his biceps to his elbows. Before she let herself stop in shivery fear, she drifted her hands across his pectorals to his tight nipples.

  He sucked in a quick breath, then went still once more.

  The tuft of hair between his nipples was glossy, soft. She followed the line of hair down his stomach, watching her fingers with fascination as they explored her lover’s body for the first time. Exactly as he had, she let one finger slid under his shorts, reveling in the next quick breath he sucked in. Enjoying the heat of his slick skin.

  “We have too many clothes on.”

  Glancing up at his rough statement, she met eyes black as midnight and yet lit with a fiery glow.

  “Take all your clothes off, Tammy,” he demanded.

  Another shiver quivered in her heart. Not only at the demand, one she’d never heard from any man, but also because he’d finally, finally said the nickname she’d never thought to hear from his lips again.

  “I’ll do it if you do.” She pushed away the yearning in her heart with her quip.

  His mouth quirked. “Eláte.”

  Come with me.

  Come by me.

  Come to me.

  She wanted to blurt, come into me, but she didn’t have the guts. Instead, she stood in a rush. Wobbling on shaky legs for a minute, Tamsin rocked at the blast of awareness shooting through her as Rafe rose to stand beside her.

  She was going to have sex with a man for the first time.

  Should she tell him?

  “What is it?” His voice came low, yet insistent. “Are you having second thoughts?”

  Tam looked at him. Standing still and tense, his hand stopped at the button of his shorts. He towered above her, the tops of his shoulders gilded with the white light of the moon, his face shadowed, only the line of his tight jaw showing his emotions.

  “No.” Her own hand went to her shorts. “Not at all.”

  She wasn’t having sex. She was making love to this wounded man. This was her gift to give and she couldn’t imagine giving it to anyone except him.

  Not that he would ever know.

  She would never tell him of her love, of her gift. And she knew enough about virginity and sex to know the likelihood of him figuring anything out was slim. Taking her courage in hand, she unbuttoned her shorts and pushed them down, along with her panties. She let them drop to her feet, and stepped out of them.

  And stood before him.

  She was proud of herself, of this moment. She wanted to present herself as a woman, fully grown, ready to be his mate.

  “Tam,” he inhaled. “Tammy.”

  Forcing herself, she looked into his eyes, but his gaze didn’t meet hers. It flitted over her naked body, seeming to drink in her entire being.

  “Eísai ómorfi̱,” he breathed.

  He thought she was beautiful. Tears filled her throat, but she managed to husk out, “I want to see you, too.”

  A sudden grin lit his face, as he pulled a condom from his pocket.

  The action stopped her cold. “You planned this?”

  “No, I…” He dropped his head, shielding his expression. “I’ve been walking around with a condom in my pocket from the moment we got here.”

  His husky confession should have made her angry. Instead, she found a strange sort of amusement running through her. “You were so sure of me?”

  A crack of laughter came from him. “Hardly.”

  “Then…”

  “I dreamed.” He lifted his head and met her gaze.

  Everything inside her melted. “Okay.”

  He puffed out a relieved breath.

  Chuckling, she ventured a tease. “You can’t put it on unless you take everything off.”

  He gave her another grin. “Whatever you want, kardiá mou.”

  His hand flicked and his shorts dropped.

  Now it was her turn to breathe in deeply. She knew what naked males looked like. She’d seen pictures in school, she’d changed enough of the twins’ diapers, and she hadn’t been clueless about the Web.

  Still, nothing prepared her for having a fully grown, naked man in front of her.

  A man with an erect penis. A very big erect penis.

  Were they all this big?

  A shiver went through her once more and this time she could safely say there was a bit of fear running in it.

  “Hey.” His smile faded as he reached for her and brought her against the length of his body. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she whispered on the hot skin of his chest.

  “Don’t lie, Tam. Not now.”

  An echo of old pain made her tense, but he began stroking his hand along her back, soothing away the ugly memories.

  “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  His command ringed through her. Should she confess her virginity now? Would he think the less of her and maybe even laugh at her naїveté? She didn’t want to be laughed at, she wanted to win this, rule this. She wanted to be his equal.

  She grasped at the first thing that popped into her mind. “You’re really big.”

  His cock bobbed against her stomach as if agreeing with her words. Tam had a sudden urge to giggle which would have made her appear to be about sixteen.

  His hushed laugh came from above her head. “Don’t worry. We’ll be perfect together.”

  They’d been perfect together from the start. She’d fit perfectly in his arms. Their mouths had touched and created perfection. Even the words they shared had communicated in a perfect way.

  Their hearts had once been perfectly matched, too.

  All that was gone and she grieved deep inside. Yet she had this moment, this perfect moment with Rafe. In this one area, she wanted to still be perfect with him.

  Lifting her head, she kissed his collarbone, then his jaw. “Lie down.”

  He met her gaze, his black eyes like shiny stones glittering in the moonlight. She thought he might disagree or take command. Instead, he kneeled in front of her and stretched out.

  Male beauty at her feet.

  They stared at each other; a silence filled with memories and dreams and reality blurring together. As she watched, he ripped the silver package open and slipped the condom on.

  Slowly, carefully, she came down on him, relishing the warmth of his body, the silk of his skin, the hardness of his muscles and penis. Lying on top of him, she kissed his cheek, his nose, finally his mouth.

  The movement of their bodies started like a soft wind that soon turned into a raging storm. Tam’s thoughts and emotions were swept away, leaving only her aching body and heated blood. She’d thought having sex would be about doing it right, and making it happen, but the only thing she could hold on to was her lover and her heart.

  “Tammy,” he panted in her ear, his hand tight on her hips. “It’s time.”

  Deep inside, she shook. This was Rafe, though; this was her love. Planting her hands on his shoulders, she raised herself up to stare into his face. His jaw was tense, his cheekbones stark. His mouth was taut with need. A shimmer of sweat lay on his brow.

  “Take me,” he cajoled. “You know what to do.”

  No, she didn’t.

  Yet somehow, she did.

  Deep inside her a womanly core blossomed. Her hand reached back and took him.

  Hot. Hard. Male.

  “Nai,” he groaned as his head went back.

  Tamsin placed him at her entrance.

  And took him.

  Chapter 15

  One more acceptance.

  A bright blast of happiness exploded inside Tamsin as she stared at the computer screen. Or perhaps happiness wasn’t the word. Perhaps the word was astonishment.

  One month ago, when her determination to make her own way had been all-consuming, she’d doggedly sent in over twenty applications to every Greek university and several online colleges. She’d figured if she could be accepted into only one, she’d be satisfied and on her way.

  Of the twenty, nine had responded so far and every one of them had sent her an acceptance. Of course, it was too late to start this fall, but all of the entrance departments wanted her to start after the New Year, and four of them had even offered her help with covering the costs.

  She was smart.

  She could get a degree.

  She could be something more than the boys’ sister.

  More than Rafe’s lover.

  “Tam.” Isaák’s excited voice forced her to jerk her gaze away from the newest acceptance letter. “Look at me!”

  Closing the laptop, she smiled as her brother galloped down the diving board and splashed into the pool. The early-afternoon sun shone bright, hazing the yellow-and-blue tiles with a golden glow.

  “I can do better than that,” Aarōn scoffed as he lurched out of the water. “Watch me.”

  Another gallop. Another splash. Titus barked at the side of the pool, his yips of joy echoing in the air.

  A tear of regret and fear and anticipation ripped at her heart. Her boys were growing so fast and she loved them so much. For a moment, she wanted to stop time, tell it to come to a standstill so she could relish the love binding her to her brothers.

  Not only this love, Tam. Be honest.

  Sucking in a breath, she threw another cheerful smile at Aarōn as he ran by, water dripping from his red swimsuit. His skin, like his brother’s, was deeply tan from the month of Greek sun. When he smiled back, his dark eyes danced with happiness and complete fulfillment.

  To the boys, everything was settled.

  They loved Tam. They loved Rafe.

  Therefore, Tam should love Rafe.

  Which she did.

  Her heart tore straight through, but the knowledge wasn’t new, wasn’t surprising. What was new and surprising was that maybe, just maybe, Rafe loved Tam.

  Maybe.

  “Hey.” A deep voice startled her out of her reverie and she turned to find her other love leaning on the arch separating the patio from the family room.

  “Hey, yourself.” She was glad for the sunglasses shielding her eyes from his because she didn’t want him to see her torn heart. This past month had been an endless dream of sunny, happy days with the boys laughing and playing, and dark, delicious nights filled with this man’s heat and desire. And all the time, she’d hid some part of herself from the twins, another from Rafe, and much from herself.

  She only wanted to love. She didn’t want to think.

  He wore a plain white T-shirt and his usual tan cargo pants. Barefoot, he padded to her side and without a glance at the boys, dipped in to nip at her neck.

  “Stop.” Leaning away, she shot a frown toward the pool. “Aarōn and Isaák.”

  “They aren’t stupid.” He nuzzled along the side of her throat. “They know what’s going on.”

  She’d made it clear to Rafe she wanted to keep their lovemaking between themselves. He’d agreed at first, completely. The fact had ironically hurt her. But during the last two weeks, he’d started to touch her at the dinner table, or bring her to his side with a strong hand, or sneak a tug at her nipples when they swam in the pool.

  The boys were smart. She’d caught their sideway squints and the quirky smiles. She hadn’t known what to say or do. So she’d said and did nothing.

  “We decided—”

  “Decisions can change, Tam.” Straightening, he sat in a chair beside her. “You know that.”

  “Sure.” She gazed into his dark eyes trying to figure out what decisions he was talking about. She hoped, dreamed that perhaps it was more than merely a decision about PDA. “But—”

  “No buts.” He flicked a finger at a buzzing bug, his mouth turning down. “The boys know and I’m tired of pretending it’s not going on.”

  She almost blurted out—what is IT?—then the ding of the laptop receiving an email interrupted her thoughts.

  “For you or me?”

  Tam flipped open his laptop. “For me.”

  Along with their lovemaking, there’d been an ease in his restrictions and a building trust. She no longer had him staring over her shoulder as she used his computer to check her own email and send out her applications.

  The implied trust sat like a small seed of hope in her heart.

  A seed that had steadily grown during the days and weeks.

  His chuckle weaved through her hope. “I’m beginning to think my staff has forgotten about me.”

  “Right,” she tsked. “Not if the hundred-plus emails you get a day has anything to say.”

  “That’s about half the emails I usually get.” He eased back in his chair and clasped his hands on his stomach.

  She eyed him and took a chance. “You don’t appear to be too upset about it.”

  “I’m not.” Abrupt surprise clouded his eyes.

  The air stilled around them and Tam forced herself not to smooth it over. More than anything else—the boys’ future, her future, their future—she wanted Rafe’s future to be what it should be.

  He didn’t want to be a mover and shaker.

  She’d seen it in every glower he gave to his business email, every time his mouth tightened when he went into his office here at the house. She’d seen it in the tenseness of his body the two times he’d left to drive back to Athens to take care of critical business.