I was planning on doing that anyway, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. I arch my back and slowly, inch by inch, glide inside of her, our bodies fusing. Any doubt melts away when I’m finally fully buried in her virgin body. She bites down, staring into my eyes, and then a smile slowly and gorgeously melts across her face.

“Oh, Gray,” she whimpers. “Gray, Gray…”

“Callie,” I growl.

Maybe it shouldn’t mean much, saying each other’s names, but it means everything. It contains all the lust and desire we’ve stored up inside ourselves. It contains all the heat. All the knowledge that, somehow, we’re certain this is forever. We tried to fight it. But naturally, our affection for each other was built brick by easy brick until we couldn’t ignore it anymore.

What about the future? What about our obstacles?

They don’t matter as I gently slide out of her, then push myself back inside of her. She gasps and lets my face go, her hands clawing at the sheets instead. I slip in faster next time, watching her carefully, my length buzzing with a sensation I can barely take. But there’s no damn way I’m going to deprive myself of the feeling of her walls fluttering around my dick with another orgasm.

Her big tits jiggle as I glide out and then push back in. She moans and starts rocking her hips in time with my movements. It’s like our bodies know each other better than our minds. But that’s always been the case with us. Ever since we met, our bodies have known a truth our souls have tried to deny.We’re meant for each other.

My instinct is proven right when her walls let me glide in and out of her body seamlessly, telling me wordlessly that her body has gotten over the first hump of her virginity. She’s able to fully enjoy what we’re doing.

As if I need more proof, she grabs my shoulders and starts pumping her hips. I almost howl at the sexy-as-fuck sight and feel of her fully letting go. She sinks her touch into me,claiming me as much as I’m claiming her. Our rhythm becomes unstoppable.

I rock my hips like we’re racing toward a shared finish. Each time I slide out, she shifts, and then she moves down so that our sexes meet in a collision of hot-as-hell near-release. I lean up so that I can look into the ecstasy on her face—but who am I kidding—also so I can watch her tits bouncing up and down.

Fuck. She’s so good at reading me. She sees where I’m looking, thenpushes her mounds together. I gasp as my seed surges up my shaft, threatening to release, making it difficult to hold back. But I need to feel her…

“Come,” I growl, giving voice to my desire. “Come on my dick. Cover my hard dick with your come. I need to feel it.”

“You can come,” she moans, knowing why I’m saying it, her voice urgent.

“Not—before—Ahhh…”

Wave after wave of pleasure threatens to batter my resolve, eroding my control until I can’t take it anymore. I know she’s not finished yet, but something aboutmereleasing seems to push her over the edge. Her hands fall away, her eyes snapping open widely.

“Oh—my—fuck—”

My entire body buzzes with heat, so much so I can hardly believe it’s real, that she’s real, thatwe’retogether. This euphoria we’re sharing—it’s otherworldly. Her pussy tightens around my dick as her orgasm strikes her, driving me to pound into her with even more intensity as I spill my seed inside her.

I collapse atop her, opening my mouth for a kiss, but neither of us has the coordination for it when we’re gripped so tightly by pleasure. Instead, our mouths remain near each other. I taste her moans, her release, as she tastes mine.

Then I fall aside, immediately pulling her into an embrace. She eagerly rushes into the folds of my arms, pressing her face against my chest and making a trembling noise.

“That was perfect,” I say, kissing her forehead. “You’reperfect.”

“I can’t believe how…not scarythat was.” She laughs, kissing my chest. “That was just heaven. But now…”

“There’s nobut,” I tell her. “We’re going to find a way to be together: me and you, Callie. I promise I won’t control you. I won’t box you in. But if we’re going to make this work, we need to commit.”

She takes a breath. “I’m ready,” she murmurs. “I can’t keep running from this feeling. I can’t run from you. I tried to stay awayfor a freaking day, and even that was impossible. But what about Sloane? And what if …”

Things between us endgoes unvoiced.And we hurt Emery.

“You can’t even say it.” I laugh lovingly, kissing her forehead again. “This has felt too natural and easy from the start. If I’d been honest with myself, I would’ve seen you and Emery together and known right away,Yep, that’s the woman for me. But I’ve been on my own for so long, cold and distant, I tried to fight it. We’re not going to hurt Emery because—”

“I’m going to be there for her,” Callie says firmly. “We’re not wrong about this feeling, are we? I can’t believe that we are.When I was reading those romance books, I always thought,How can somebody know so fast, so certainly?But now I get it.”

“Go on,” I whisper.

“There’s a magic to it,” she murmurs. “Trying to explain it just doesn’t work. It just… happens.”

I almost don’t say it. I almost let fear of the future hold me back. But it’s the truth. I’m done running. “I love you, Callie.”

She stiffens against me, pressing her hands into my sides, her breath warm against my chest. For a terrifying second, I don’t think she’s going to say it back.