I tap out a quick message to my girls and am relieved by their quick responses.

Me: Things are finally turning around. Damon and I sort of … spoke earlier.

Quinn: You “spoke”?

Me: Well, yeah. I finally got him to listen. He’s been thinking awful things about me all week.

Zoey: This is what happens when people don’t communicate.

Hadleigh: Um, I think there was at least some form of communication going on earlier in the supply closet.

Me: OMG.

Hadleigh: So, I was right! That’s fucking stellar. I’m so happy for you.

Madison: Holy crap, did you …?

Me: No! Not that. But things happened. OMG this is embarrassing.

Sophia: So, what’s going on now?

Me: He’s on his way over here. He had to practice with Frank so we didn’t get to finish talking. We’d have finished talking earlier, but our lips kept getting in the way.

Quinn: Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. At least you’re on the same page there.

A quiet but firm knock sounds at the door.

Me: OMG, he’s here.

Sophia: Good luck!

That’s the last thing I have a chance to read before another knock sounds. I pause to calm my racing heart before I answer the door. It’s okay. You can do this. You can talk to him. Tell him everything. He is still just Damon.

Damon who’d kissed me senseless and had his hand in my panties in the middle of the school day, turning me into a wanton puddle of need. So yeah. Just Damon.

I take in a ragged breath as I open the door and set eyes on him. His hair is still damp from the shower, and he has on a pair of dark jeans and a simple black T-shirt that stretches to fit over his broad chest. A low-level buzz fills my ears and my mouth waters. My gaze meets his and without thinking about it, my only real worry comes spilling to the forefront and rushes right from my lips. “Please don’t be disappointed that I’m her.”

In one step, he’s slammed the door shut behind him and is in my space, his face inches from mine. He’s close enough that my skin is warmed by the heat radiating off of him. We stare into each other’s eyes, and I couldn’t have looked away if I’d wanted to. He grits out, “Never.”

I blink, and his lips crash over mine, firm and unrelenting. All at once, I’m in his arms. The freshly showered scent coming off him whips me into such a frenzy, my mind goes haywire. I grab at his shoulders, pulling him to me, hanging onto him tightly, anything to bring him closer. His tongue strokes mine, and a blistering fire burns its way through my veins, the sensation zooming straight down my spine to my core. His tongue licks mine with heat and passion like I’ve never known before. My heart beats wildly inside my chest, looking for an opportunity to break free—to join his in a chaotic, rhythmic dance. Damon is all-consuming, burning me up from the inside out.

Our hands roam and begin to claw at our clothing. Impatient, he shrugs out of his coat, taking only a second before his hands dive into my hair to pull me in for another savage kiss. I’ve never felt like this in my whole life. I’m going up in flames.

He grips the hem of my blouse and pulls it over my head, then yanks his shirt off, too. We come back together, hands squeezing, touching, needing to feel all of each other. Before I know it, somehow, we’re on my living room floor. Damon unzips my boots and pulls them from my feet at the same time I begin to slide my skirt down over my hips.

“Let me.” His fingers hook onto the waistband, pulling it down and off in one smooth motion. Once he’s tossed my skirt over his shoulder, he kneels and his mouth immediately begins to savor every square inch of flesh he can find. The cups of my bra get yanked down, freeing my breasts, and his hot mouth descends on one, his tongue sliding over my nipple before he sucks it into a peak. While his mouth worships one breast, his hand has claimed the other, kneading my flesh and tormenting my nipple with the rough skin of his palm. I throw back my head as his demanding mouth switches to the other breast. The wetness of his tongue on my nipple sends a fresh jolt of arousal between my legs.

I can’t hold back my moan as Damon lowers his body to mine, letting me feel his arousal against my center. My hips move involuntarily, grinding against his jeans-covered erection. Oh my God, Damon’s got a big C-O-C-K. I almost laugh to myself, my disbelief warring with my refusal to think right now. I reach down and make quick work of the button and zipper of his jeans, pushing them down over the most muscular ass I’ve ever had my hands on.

Oh, shit. My hands are on his bare ass. His boxers must be somewhere down there around his knees with his jeans. My breath comes fast as his long, hard length teases my lady parts through my panties. I whimper somewhere in the back of my throat.

Damon nips his way down my torso, rearing back on his knees before he grasps my panties and slips them down, baring me to him. I don’t know what has come over me, but nothing has ever felt so right as this. I’m not embarrassed, I’m not nervous, and I want to be his in the worst way.

He helps me as I kick the panties off, and then he’s back to kissing me with such intensity I’m half out of my mind. I can’t think. I don’t want to think. I only want to feel. I just want this man. I want him. I grip the back of his neck and kiss him until we are both senseless with it, drugged by it. I reach between us, take him in my hand, and stroke the silky soft skin over steel a few times before I guide him to my entrance.

He groans and clasps my chin in his hand, kissing me breathless. As he drags his lips away, he rasps, “Is this what you want, Piper?”

My hips move against him, his cock sliding against my wet flesh. “Yes.” That one word comes out strangled, a desperate plea.