“What do you have in mind?” I whispered, entranced by the moment, letting myself live the fantasy.

  Holding my eyes, Rex’s hands lowered to the front of my jeans, popping the button. I caught his wrists. He smiled innocently.

  “This will help you relax.” He sounded so confident and reasonable, and I let myself be convinced.

  Never looking away, Rex unzipped my pants slowly, like he didn’t want to make any sudden movements, and then lifted his hand to push into the waistline of my underwear, leaning forward to give me a soft kiss as his middle finger separated me and gave me a gentle stroke.

  “See? Doesn’t that feel good?” he asked on a quiet whisper.

  I nodded, gripping his arms, my lace-clad breasts brushing his chest with each inhale.

  He circled my clit with achingly delicate caresses as though exploring me, his touch tender and loving, coaxing, and I sucked in a shuddering breath. Rex “TW” McMurtry definitely understood the assignment, and he was acing it.

  He’d listened, and instead of teasing me, making it lewd, or being boorish, Rex was playing the part of an enamored high school senior, anxious to please the girl of his dreams.

  He tugged lightly at my jeans, working them down and over my hips. His hand then lifted to the middle of my back. I barely noticed he’d pushed my pants to my knees until Rex gave me another light kiss and guided me backward, still working me tenderly with one hand while supporting my weight with the other.

  My back sunk into the mattress, my legs bent in front of me, my ankles tangled in my jeans. Rex lowered himself next to me, still holding my gaze. “You’re so beautiful, Abigail.” He kissed my cheek, my nose, the lids of my eyes.

  The fingers in my underwear shifted away to grip the fabric. “Can we take these off?”

  I nodded, my heart in my throat, and moved to push them down, but Rex was already rising above me, hooking his fingers into the lace at my hips and slowly dragging them off my body along with my jeans. I could only presume he dropped them in the same pile as my sweater and shirt.

  His gaze moved over me now, dazedly trailing over my shoulders, my bra, my stomach, and he brought his hands to my knees to separate them, placing a delicate kiss on the inside of my right, and speaking against my skin, “You’re so soft.” He kissed higher on the interior of my thigh, his tongue coming out to lick me, and encouraging my legs further apart. “You taste so good.” His arms moved under my legs and he knelt on the floor, pulling me toward the end of the bed.

  “What—what are you doing?” I lifted up to my elbows, watching him drag his lips against the sensitive skin just south of my pussy, his hot breath fanning against me.

  “Tasting you,” he said gruffly, his eyes colliding with mine over the canvas of my body, his pupils dominating his irises. I sucked in a breath and held it because gentle, tender playacting Rex was gone.

  This was real Rex.

  A spike of raw arousal had my body clenching deep inside and heat pulsing up from the base of my spine to my neck. His dark eyes on me, he lowered his mouth, closing over my center and French-kissing my clit. The heat in his gaze and the hungry, slippery wet sounds he was making had my head whipping back, my body arching.

  I fell back to the bed, the base of my palms pressing against my eyes as a keening sigh wrenched out of me.

  “Take off your bra,” he commanded, licking me with the flat of his tongue. “Want to see those tits.”

  With shaking, fumbling hands, I unclasped my bra and pulled it off.

  He grunted his approval, then sucked me into his mouth, groaning, the rumble of the sound vibrating through my body. My needy sounds filled the room and my legs began to shake.

  “Fuck, you’re so fucking perfect. I could fucking do this all fucking day. Don’t come yet.”

  I laughed helplessly, because I was so close. “Don’t think I have a choice, husband.”

  “Oh, babe.” His chest rumbled again, a deep, pleased purr, vibrating my center, his generous lips and eager tongue joined by a thick finger sinking into my channel, my hips jerking instinctively, my body arching off the bed as the constellations on the walls of his room blurred into stars bursting behind my eyes.

  But then he was gone, leaving me dangling just as I’d begun to fly, and my eyes flew open. Rex had stomped to his closet and opened a door, slamming it and barreling back to the edge of the bed. He was fully naked, his cock jutting out and curling upward from a patch of brown hair, thick and big and so damn beautiful, saliva rushed into my mouth. He had a foil packet in his hand and he tore it open with his teeth.

  “Oh! Wait,” I said around a shiver, lifting my hand. “I’m on birth control.”

  Apparently that was all he needed to hear because he tossed the foil packet away and climbed on top of me.

  “Need you,” he said between fast, starving kisses, rubbing the entire length of his erection against the spot he’d frenched earlier. I groaned, reflexively shivering again, my body almost painfully sensitive with the orgasm denied, tasting myself on his lips.

  I grabbed fistfuls of his hair and tilted my hips up in offering, and he pushed inside. My head whipped back again at the invasion while his eyes slammed shut, his jaw clenched, the tendons on his neck in relief.

  “How are you so perfect?” He sounded almost angry about it as he rocked his hips back and then rolled them forward in a controlled movement.

  My breath hitched and my hands flew to his shoulders as he filled me a little more than before, and I felt myself stretch to accommodate him.

  He rocked back, pressed forward, again stretching me, hitting something deep inside that made my eyes roll back. “God, Rex.”

  “Okay?” He asked through labored breaths. “This okay?”

  I bit my lip and nodded, my hands sliding under his arms to grab his back, feel his muscles move under my fingertips as he continued to slowly roll his hips, giving me more and more of himself each time.

  “You—I’m—” I shook my head, trying to spread my legs wider to accommodate the size of his body. I’d never thought of myself as small until that moment.

  He reached behind himself to grab my knees, one at a time, and pressed them back to the mattress, opening me further. I swallowed convulsively as my eyes fluttered and I found his gaze fastened to mine, his brow furrowed.

  “Babe. Is this—”

  “It’s good. So good.” How big and hard and rough he was—literally everywhere—was a little overwhelming, a little painful, but so fucking good.

  He frowned. Shook his head. “I think you need to be on—”

  “No. Trust me.” I lifted my head to kiss him. “I love it.” I bit his chin. “Don’t stop, please.” I sucked on the skin of his throat. “Please.”

  Rex lifted himself up and away, planking over me and searching my face, his cock still entering me slowly, carefully. “Abby, tell me if—”

  “I will.” I reached up and trailed my nails down his chest, saying again, “Trust me.”

  He nodded, but the concern in his features persisted, and his movements seemed to grow even softer, his thrusts shallower.

  I squirmed beneath him, planting my feet back on the bed, pivoting my hips to encourage him to go deeper.

  He stilled, his eyelashes wavering. “St—stop that.”

  “Then give it to me.” I slid my hands to the sharp bones of his hips and tried to force him down. “I want it.”

  His eyes flared, grew dark. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yes.”

  He pushed forward, thrusting hard, filling me completely, the pressure indescribable.

  I gasped, smiling. “More.”

  His jaw clamped down, his lids lowering, and he withdrew quickly only to return twice as fast, repeating the motion again and again until the bed squeaked and rocked and banged against the wall, and I thought I might die from how unbelievably essential it felt. Holding himself on one arm, he reached between us and tapped my clit, then stroked it—slow at first, then faster and faster—maintaining a soft, teasing pressure that soon made me whimper. My release built a fire in my lungs, lava in my veins, until I felt myself fragment into infinite tiny pieces of sharp sensation.

  I knew I’d feel it tomorrow—or probably later today—but I didn’t care. I’d walk funny for a month if it meant living a moment like this.

  Rex followed me without a sound, the movements of his hips becoming unpracticed and selfish, drilling deeply and prolonging my ecstasy, his entire body tight, his thick thighs flexing as my body constricted around his with each of his inelegant thrusts. And then his arms gave out as he rolled to the side and gathered me tightly to his body, his mouth on my neck, then collarbone, my throat, then chest.

  My throat closed at the raw intensity of his kisses even as an ache in my chest ballooned. What we’d just done had been profound for me, and I wondered if it—the trust and the vulnerability—had been just as profound for him. I couldn’t imagine my life without him now, without all parts of this magnificent man, so gruff and sweet, rough and sexy and perfect. To me, he was perfect.

  “I love you,” I whispered, not thinking about it, giving myself permission to feel it first. “I love you so much.”

  Rex stilled for a split second, then lifted his head from my chest, his wide eyes moving between mine. “What did you say?”

  I smiled, tears pricking behind my eyes for some reason. “Rex McMurtry, I love you.”

  His eyes grew glassy and he blinked, his chest expanding with a deep inhale. “I’m going to need you to say that every day.”

  “How about every other day?” I teased, blinking the blurriness from my eyes and laughing so I wouldn’t cry.

  “Twice a day.” He kissed me quickly. “And thirty times on a game day.”

  I laughed harder and he rolled to his back, bringing me with him. He seemed content to just stare at me, his eyes dazed and hazy, his hands stroking my body lazily. I played with the hair on his head, twisting it and enjoying its texture. Then I kissed his nose, eyebrows, the spot between his eyebrows, his cheeks, and chin. I traced a line to connect the dots of my kisses with a light finger, wondering if my hands could sculpt his likeness and thinking that I’d like to try.

  Maybe I’ll go to art school and learn.

  I pushed away the errant thought, tucking it away for later, much later, because I wanted to be right here, right now, thinking only about us. But then another errant thought entered my mind and I paused in my mapping of his face.

  “Do you mind?”

  He blinked, his eyes focusing on mine, his hand stilling on my bottom. “Mind what?”

  “That our first time was part of my fantasy?”

  A sly grin slowly tugged at the side of his mouth and his hand resumed massaging my backside. “Babe, I have a feeling every time with you is going to be a fantasy.”

  CHAPTER 28

  “Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.”

  LEMONY SNICKET

  Dinner was a boisterous, unruly affair with lively debates regarding the true story of the Alamo, which Tex-Mex restaurant in Alenbach was best, and arm wrestling challenges.

  Rex won all the challenges except the one against me. I kissed him as soon as it started, his hand went lax, and I slammed his fist down on the table. Then I stood and raised my fists in the air in triumph. He didn’t seem to mind.

  “I heard that Pauline is running against her own son for county dogcatcher.” The white-haired Mrs. Leavers whispered loudly to Rex’s Uncle Terry, her eyes narrowing into slits. “I hope he annihilates her.”

  We were all sitting or standing with our pie, chatting in the various rooms—all twenty or so guests—and I couldn’t seem to bring myself to stop eavesdropping on Mrs. Leavers. She was so cutthroat. I loved it.

  “Me too.” Terry nodded. “He’s got my vote.”

  I felt big hands slide onto my hips. A second later, hips brushed against my backside. Rex leaned down to kiss my cheek, then neck, then he nuzzled and bit my ear. “Can I get you anything?”

  “I’m so stuffed. I couldn’t eat another bite.” I turned and smiled up at him, the ground shifting a little beneath my feet as I swam in his eyes.

  He took my plate, kissing the corner of my mouth and then licking it. “You missed some frosting, right there,” he teased, stepping back.

  I smacked his bottom as he left, wrinkling my nose at him and chuckling. He was so cute.

  The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I glanced around, watching as a few sets of eyes dropped the moment I made eye contact. They then seemed to swap stares with each other, many accompanied by smiles and headshakes. I didn’t feel self-conscious about it, this had been happening all night. Sal had explained that folks weren’t used to Rex being so outwardly affectionate.

  “You mustn’t think anybody minds, it’s just strange to see.” She’d bumped my hip with hers as she, Terry, and I had worked on the dishes while Rex had cleared the table earlier. “I think it’s wonderful.”

  “So do I,” Terry had piped up.

  Presently, I smiled at anyone who was still making eye contact and the room fell back into easy conversation. Or in Mrs. Leavers’s case, vicious conversation.

  Most people left around seven, citing growing concern about the snow. Terry accompanied Mrs. Leavers home, telling Sal to sit down and rest as he pulled on his coat. They bickered, but they sure were sweet together.

  I finished up in the kitchen with Rex while Sal had a rest. Sounds of the Great British Baking Show: Holiday Edition sounded from the other room.

  I passed Rex a bowl to dry, dunking my hands in the sink to wash the next dish. “I don’t understand you, Rex. You make no sense.”

  “How so?”

  “Your aunt said you never come home, only for Christmas. If I had a bedroom like yours, a place to come back to and people who loved me like Sal and Terry, I’d be here every chance I got.” I glanced at him and found his expression thoughtful.

  Rex’s eyes lost focus and his chest expanded with a deep inhale. He said nothing for a moment, then, “They’re too good to be true.”

  I almost dropped the dish I’d been washing. “I’m sorry? What did you say?”

  His smile wry, his gaze sharpened on me. “When I came, they were so nice, and . . . attentive. Interested. They wanted to see my report cards and hardly asked me about football. It was weird.”

  “You mean, when you moved in? After your mom passed?”

  He nodded. “I’ve known them all my life, as my aunt and uncle, and they were nice then. But I wasn’t allowed to spend much time with them. My mom had sole custody, and Sal is my dad’s sister, so . . .”

  I frowned, unfortunately understanding his meaning without further explanation.

  Turning off the water, I faced him. “So why don’t you visit them now?”

  “They still seem too good to be true,” he grumbled.

  I laughed, rising up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. “You are the cutest, do you know that?”

  Rex set down the dish he’d just dried and wrapped his arms around me. “No one, in my entire adult life, has ever called me cute.”

  “Except me.”

  His eyes lost a little of their focus and turned soft. “Except you.”

  We gazed at each other, much like we’d done earlier in his bedroom until we had run out of time. Just before the guests had arrived, I’d taken a quick shower and changed back into my clothes. Moments later, Terry and Sal had returned with the perfidious Mrs. Leavers.

  Looking at Rex like this now, sharing these sacred moments of mutual love and trust were as close to heaven on earth as I’d ever experienced in my life.

  “Maybe we both deserve some too-good-to-be-true people in our lives,” I whispered, like it was a secret.

  His attention dropped to my lips and he grinned. Then he kissed me, soft and slow, making me dizzy and warm. And when he finished, I sighed, so happy I didn’t know how I could contain it. It was too big for me. It’s Rex-sized.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “I know,” I said.

  He lifted an eyebrow. “You’re not going to say it back?”

  “I already said it three times today.” I slid my arms from his neck and cackled, returning my attention to the sink.

  Rex pinched my bottom and I yelped, showing him my hands covered in suds. “Don’t make me retaliate, you know I will.”

  “Truce.” He laughed, a rumbly, happy sound that gave my heart wings. Then he had to ruin the moment by saying, “Hey. We should get going soon. The plane leaves at midnight.”

  My heart lost its wings. Sal had said earlier that she wished we could stay, and so did I.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Rex leaned against the counter and searched my face.

  “It’s just, I wish I could stay.”

  Rex reared back and frowned like he was surprised. “You want to stay?”

  “I do. I mean, I barely finished decorating the gingerbread cookies, and there’s loads more to do, plus the sugar cookies. And she said she was making peppermint bark, I’ve never made that. And Terry mentioned needing help at the Santa house. He’s short on elves, and I thought maybe I could see if one of the costumes fit.”

  As he examined me, the severity of his frown increased. Taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth to say something.

  Feeling compelled, I interjected before he could. “I know you can’t stay—you have that game on Wednesday, so obviously we need to get you back to Chicago. But I don’t need to work this week, and I’ve been working every day for over a month. I’m tired. I don’t get a chance to decorate gingerbread houses and craft holiday ornaments with friends. Your aunt knits, Rex. She does colorwork.” I gestured to his sweater with a soapy hand. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to do colorwork.”

  Rocking back on his heels, his frown easing but not completely disappearing, he nodded. “Then you should stay,” he said quietly.