Would they even make it to the bed? Zy wasn’t optimistic.

  His lips never left hers as he urged her from the foyer to the living room. She took baby steps backward and pushed his coat off his shoulders. He shrugged out of it, not caring when it dropped to the floor, landing somewhere near the shoes he toed off while unfastening his jeans and deepening their kiss.

  Even with their tongues tangling and his clothes melting away, he wasn’t close enough to her.

  Zy lifted Tessa against him, cupping her ass and grinding her against his cock as he took ground-eating steps to her softly lit bedroom. She didn’t protest, simply hooked her legs around his hips and rocked against him with pleading moans he swallowed with his bruising kiss.

  Fuck, he loved sex…but this? It was paradise wrapped in candied fantasy. It was pleasure stacked on top of ecstasy and soaked in bliss. He’d only kissed Tessa, but already he felt speechless and half-dizzy. His brain had all but stopped, his thoughts skewing to nothing but the million ways he ached to please her.

  Zy raced to the bed, setting her on her feet beside it and breaking their kiss. It was the last goddamn thing he wanted, but he needed information. Problem was, when he looked down at her, all rosy and unfocused, her lips plump, parted, and waiting, he nearly lost all restraint.

  “Zy…” She lifted her hand to his chest.

  The brush of her fingers through his shirt blasted him with heat.

  “I know, baby. But before we go any further, you need to tell me two things. How long has it been?”

  “Oh…um.” She closed her eyes, lashes skimming her cheeks, before she blinked up at him, looking so vulnerable. “About a year and a half.”

  He’d suspected that. It had been way too long for him, too—by his own choice. He hadn’t wanted any woman except Tessa.

  “And how careful do we need to be? I’m clean but—”

  “We don’t. After I had Hallie, my doctor put me on the pill to regulate my cycle.”

  “Thank fuck. For almost a year, all kinds of shit kept us apart. I don’t want anything between us ever again.”

  “Same, starting with this.” Tessa grabbed for the hem of his T-shirt.

  Zy was faster. He took hold of her too-big pajama top and yanked it over her head. As he’d hoped, she wasn’t wearing a damn thing underneath it.

  And holy shit…

  Zy’s mouth went dry. Tessa’s tits were a work of art—pale and round with stiff candy-pink nipples, standing pert above her narrow rib cage that flowed into her small waist. He wanted to cup the soft mounds, see them in his hands, suck the pretty, rigid tips until they swelled and she cried out and begged him to fuck her. He wanted her naked.

  But he needed her in his arms.

  Zy crouched at her feet and gripped the waistband of her pajama pants.

  “Oh, my god. Is this really happening?” Her voice dripped breathless excitement and longing as she raked her fingers against his scalp and gripped his hair.

  Yeah, this felt like a dream to him, too. And he didn’t want to wake from it.

  “It fucking is.” He jerked her pants down her hips savagely, baring her thighs, stopping only when the spring-green cotton puddled around her feet. “Step out.”

  She did, her audible breathing torqueing up his anticipation. Her fingers tightened in his hair. And he didn’t care because he couldn’t stop looking at how fucking beautiful she was.

  Her baby-pink toenails were like dollops of frosting on the confections of her delicate feet. Her dainty ankles gave way to lean calves, dimpled knees, and curvy thighs that made blood rush to his cock. But it was everything she hid between those gorgeous legs he couldn’t stop staring at.

  Other than a modest dusting of dark blond curls at the top of her pussy, she was bare. And wet. And swollen. Her visible desire sent his need surging.

  Zy knew he should go slow, build her desire, tease her until she couldn’t stand it anymore. But he’d waited too long and he needed her too much.

  Banding his palms around her middle, he lifted her onto the bed, then reached behind his head to tear off his shirt as he followed her down, pressing her onto the mattress with his body. While he tossed the T-shirt aside, he pressed his bare chest to hers, hissing at the heat of their melding skin, before he captured her mouth again.

  Tessa flung her arms around him, tilting her head to offer him total access to her mouth as her hips swayed under him in supplication. She let out a needy little whimper.

  Fuck, if she kept that up, he’d plunge straight inside her and keep at her until she screamed.

  Fighting for patience, he peeled her hands from his shoulders and pressed them flat to the bed, holding them down with his forearms. “I’m trying to go slow. You’re tempting me too much.”

  “I don’t need slow. I just need you.”

  Her words threw gasoline on his blazing need. “We’ve waited a long time for this. I don’t want to rush you. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to leave you a fucking shred of doubt that I will give you more pleasure than you’ve ever had, and I want to do it every day of your life.”

  He wanted her to know—to feel in every part of her body—that she was his.

  “Oh.” She looked stunned and flushed and beyond beautiful. “You’ve already succeeded. I’ve never been more aroused in my life.”

  Was she kidding? He’d barely touched her. And she thought she was ready?

  No. Hell no. Not even close.

  “Don’t move.”

  “Okay,” she promised with a shaky nod, her exhalations loud in the otherwise silent night. “But I want to give you pleasure, too.”

  “You already do, baby, just by being with me.”

  “No. More than you ever imagined.”

  That would be a tall order considering how many fantasies of her he’d indulged in since they’d met, from his first time masturbating in her shower to thoughts of her last night, lying in his solitary bed, so hard for her he could barely breathe.

  He’d never imagined then that he would finally be free to kiss her, unclothe her, penetrate her, and pleasure her. Make her his. Now, her entire body was open to him, and the night was theirs.

  Zy smiled as he brushed a blond curl from her face. “You will. I promise.”

  Then he took her mouth, barging past her pillowy pink lips to taste her kiss again. When she was breathless, he began working his way down, still pinning her to the mattress with his forearms over her wrists. His mouth was on the move, skimming the graceful line of her jaw, gliding up her neck. She cried out with a head-to-toe shudder and a sweet flush. With a feral smile, he laid his lips behind her ear and exhaled. Her hands tightened into fists and she arched beneath him in a silent plea.

  In the next heartbeat, he inhaled her musky female scent. It carried vanilla and a hint of something citrus—orange, maybe?—that urged him to breathe her in again and again until she melted his senses.

  With his nose full of her, he descended from her neck to her collarbones, laving them before he dropped to the swells of her chest. She was so soft here, the skin like gossamer. The valley between her tempting mounds lured him. There was no way he couldn’t rake his taste buds over her skin.

  Tessa’s body tightened. She let out a harsh breath. She fought to lift her arms from the bed, but he held her in place, tormenting her with his lips as he edged closer to the jutting nipples she arched his way, seemingly desperate to have them in his mouth.

  Who was he to say no?

  He grabbed both her wrists in one hand, pressing her deeper into the mattress as he took her breast in his palm and lifted it to his thirsting lips. He tasted the tip with a greedy lick before opening his mouth and sucking as much of her onto his tongue as he could.

  Tessa jerked. Her cry became a wail. Her nipple turned to stone, and he sucked even harder, grazing her with the edge of his teeth.

  Under him, her legs moved restlessly, wrapping themselves around him. She fought to free her hands and plant her lips on him. But he held her in place with a firm grip, switching his attention from one breast to the other. If possible, she tasted even sweeter here. He pulled hard on her. She sucked in a needy breath and gave up trying to escape. Instead, she arched and twisted as if trying to give him more and grabbed at the hand covering hers.

  Beneath him, her legs parted, allowing his body to slide between.

  Just where he wanted to be.

  A flush crept up her peachy-pale skin. She closed her eyes in ecstasy, her body tightening. The pulse at her neck pounded. Her swollen lips parted, tempting him every bit as much as the gorgeous breasts he gorged on.

  “Zy…”

  He released her nipple and squeezed it, delighting in her soft gasp. “What, baby?”

  She wriggled and cajoled. “Now.”

  Soon, but… “Not yet.”

  Tessa opened her eyes. “Haven’t we waited enough? Is something wrong?”

  Their gazes fused, and he felt a zing inside him, at a place so deep in his chest he’d never felt it. He’d never even known it existed.

  His heart?

  “No, baby. Everything is so right. You feel it, don’t you?”

  She nodded, then nibbled her lip. “Then why…”

  Would he torment her and refuse to plunge inside her immediately? “Because we only have one first time, and I’m going to make sure you never forget it.”

  “I already won’t because it’s you.”

  Fuck. Women who said things like that were usually mentally picking out china patterns and choosing monogrammed towels. In the past, he would have taken his quick orgasm and run. Not with Tessa. That was the closest she’d come to telling him she loved him. And it turned him on almost more than he could stand.

  “You’re making it hard to resist you.”

  “Because I don’t want you to.”

  There were a thousand ways he wanted to touch her and a million ways he wanted to take her. Right now, all he could do was close his eyes and try to bring his runaway heartbeat under control.

  But it was no use.

  “Fuck.” He rolled to her side and positioned his mouth just above her nipple, then covered her soaking pussy with his greedy fingers. “Get ready. This is going to be fast.”

  “What?” The word trembled from her lips, but the question came too late.

  He’d already dragged her taut tip in his mouth with a savage suck and plunged a pair of fingers between her folds. He began working them inside her. Oh, holy shit, she was tight. He got dizzy just thinking about how much patience it would take to ease his way inside her and how perfectly they would fit once he did.

  As he finally wedged his fingers as far inside her as he could, Tessa let out a low moan, planting her feet flat on the mattress and bucking up to meet his searching touch. With one hand, she gripped the sheet. With the other, she dug her nails into his back.

  Zy looked at her, lost in the passion he heaped on her—and he nearly lost all restraint.

  His impatience mentally yanked like a rabid dog on its leash, but he jerked it back and focused on Tessa, on her pleasure, hooking his fingers inside her to rub the smoothest bit of flesh behind her clit. All the while, he settled his thumb over the little nubbin and started a teasing counter-stroke.

  Instantly, she gasped. Her eyes flew open wide. Her body tensed. And her pussy clamped down on him. The little bead under his digit was as hard as a diamond. “Zy!”

  “You’re getting close, baby.” He didn’t ask; he knew.

  “Yes, but I want to touch you, taste you…”

  He wanted that, too. “Later. The first time will be hard and fast. I can’t help it. I fucking need you.”

  “Yes!” she cried as he took her nipple onto his tongue again, sucking it deep as he traced fevered circles on her hardening clit.

  She kept tensing, tightening, clamping down as her breathing quickened, her color flushed, and her pulse drummed. She was seconds from orgasm.

  “Oh, my…Zy. Zy!”

  Her body was seizing up, and that was his cue.

  He pulled his fingers free, shoved his jeans around his hips, slid between her legs, and fitted his thick crest against her slick opening—and started pushing in. Sweat already slicked his back as he locked his fingers with hers, then drilled his stare into hers as he did the same to her body, one strong, driving thrust after the next, punctuated by her little whimpers and pleas, until he was fully seated inside her.

  Hell, the feel of Tessa around him was the most perfect ever. He’d fucked women for a decade and a half in all corners of the world, of all shapes, sizes, and colors. And right here, right now, he knew this one had been made for him.

  He was never letting her go.

  Zy used his knees to spread hers wide while he anchored his elbows against the mattress for maximum leverage. Then he pushed harder into her, plunging in and bottoming out, wishing he could go even deeper and lose himself inside her forever.

  Under him, she met him thrust for thrust, lifting to him, twisting and welcoming, spreading frantic kisses across his shoulder and up his neck, her teeth tugging at his earlobe with just enough sting to make him sizzle. She mewled restlessly, urging him on.

  And he was on fire. Every nerve ending, every inch of his skin. Down in his gut and inside his heart, he burned for this woman. And he fucked her like it was the first and last time he ever would. Like only she mattered. He wanted her to understand on a visceral level how much he desired her and always would.

  The second they were forced to leave this bed, he was going to find the nearest jeweler so he could put a ring on Tessa’s finger and call her his every day, every night, for the rest of his life. No way would he let her slip through his fingers. Whatever she needed, whatever it took, whatever he had to do, she would be his.

  She tightened again, and he felt her pussy begin to flutter around him. “Zy! Oh, my god. Please. Please. I can’t… Don’t stop. I—”

  “Yes,” he ground out, thrusting into her faster and faster. “Fuck. Fuck, yes. Oh… Tessa. Baby!”

  She screamed in his ear, her pussy clenching and spasming on him as he let go with a harsh, hoarse cry, gripping her hands tight, rattling the bed, and showing her absolutely no mercy.

  Pleasure pinged inside him, filling every corner of his body, flooding his cock…and inundating his heart. He gripped her hands tighter, shoved his elbows deeper into the mattress, and used his knees to propel himself even harder. A low growl of shocked ecstasy rattled from his throat as he released deep inside her.

  Suddenly, he wished she wasn’t on the pill. He wished even more that he had every right to plant his seed in her womb, hold her while she slept, and call her his wife.

  Slowly, the blackness in his vision receded, his heart rate slowed, and his breathing returned to normal.

  And only one thing careened through his overwrought brain. “I still love you, baby. Move in with me.”

  Tessa clutched him, pressed her lips to his, and burst into tears.

  The following morning, Tessa rolled over and sent a bleary-eyed glance at her alarm clock. It would go off in ten minutes. That’s how long she had to figure out what to say to Zy.

  He’d asked her to move in. She hadn’t seen that coming…but she should have. He’d talked about it before and he’d told her that he loved her. Lord knew she was beyond tempted to say yes. She might not have said the words to Zy yet, but she loved him, too.

  His warmth and woodsy, masculine musk lured her closer. She pressed her body to his, nuzzled his neck, and inhaled him. His scent filled her nose and swam in her head. God, how was she supposed to think straight when she was this close to him?

  Tessa couldn’t get enough of the man, couldn’t stop wanting every inch of him—all steely, well-forged muscle wrapped in downy-warm skin in the body of a sex god. She didn’t even know the words to describe how good he made her feel when he touched her. He’d definitely been indefatigable all night. She’d lost count of the number of orgasms he’d heaped on her, especially when he’d been determined to prove that his oral fixation hadn’t been mere pillow talk.

  Today was Tuesday and she had to work, but to have all the pleasure he’d given her, Tessa would gladly give up sleep. But even if he hadn’t made love to her over and over last night, resting wouldn’t have been in the cards because Zy had given her too much to think about.

  Caution urged her to stop and thoroughly consider his proposition. Moving in together was a big step. Sure, he’d been great with Hallie the week he’d stayed with them, but her daughter was almost a toddler now. She slept through the night, but she was far more active, requiring constant supervision every waking moment of her day. She was mobile and inquisitive. And she got attached to people very easily. Last week, one of her daycare workers moved to another position, and Hallie had cried for hours, stomping out her displeasure. Tessa could only imagine what would happen if the little girl glommed on to Zy and then he moved on to greener pastures.

  Of course Hallie had recovered. All it had taken to make her smile again had been a happy song and a stuffed sparkling unicorn.

  This hesitation isn’t about Hallie; it’s about you.

  Tessa inched away from Zy and stared out at the cloudy morning. When her ex-boyfriend, Cash, had abandoned her, she’d been devastated—and she hadn’t even loved him. She’d just been pissed that he’d run out on her and afraid she wouldn’t be able to handle single motherhood. She’d since proven otherwise to herself—and the world. But Zy was another story. She loved him so much her feelings scared her.

  So much that she hadn’t told him how she felt.

  How would she recover if she moved in with the man she loved, then he decided that shacking up was more permanence than he wanted? Or that being a daddy figure was more responsibility than he could handle? Tessa wasn’t sure how she’d make it. Then again, what would happen if she turned Zy down? He’d have every reason to leave.

  And it was entirely possible he’d had everything to do with the sudden changes in their contracts. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered… The bosses would never admit they’d caved, but it seemed possible Zy’s insistence had convinced them to relent. What happened if he’d gone to all that trouble for her, and she refused to commit?