The only thing that would make this better would be if Vaughn were here too.

And because there’s no reason to hold back, I tell him that night via text.

Quinn:Thanksgiving was amazing, but I have a confession.

Vaughn:You ate all the leftovers already? Oh wait, that was me.

Quinn:You are going to be in so much trouble. But that’s not my confession.

Vaughn:Don’t make a man wait. Especially since I have one for you too.

Quinn:Ooh, what’s yours?

Vaughn:I miss you like crazy.

Quinn:Same. I miss you so much. I’m counting down till I see you again. It’s four miserable days.

Vaughn:Four endless days.

Quinn:Four lonely nights.

Vaughn:Stop, or I’m going to fly back early, and I can’t do that. But I want to. Badly.

Quinn:Just know the sex will be red-hot when you return—I want you that much.

Vaughn:And I’m on the next plane.

He doesn’t catch the next flight, but when I see him the Sunday after Thanksgiving, all systems are go.

I fling open the door, yank him in by the collar, and strip off his shirt in seconds flat.

“You did miss me,” he muses.

“I miss you, I want you, I need you. Now get inside me.”

He laughs, scoops me up, and carries me to my bed. “Inside you is the only place I want to be.”

Before I know it, I’m naked on all fours, and he’s banding an arm around my waist and fucking me hard.

It’s delicious and dirty, rough and frenzied. It’s everything I want from him. And the orgasm is so intense, my entire body shakes, and the sounds I make are animalistic.

As I’m coming down, he flips me over so I’m on my back, then hooks my legs around him. “Want to look at you. Want to see your face.”

He stares at me intently, the vein in his neck pulsing as he thrusts deeper—so deep I see stars.

The pleasure is almost too much.

But I’m feeling more than pleasure.

When I fall over the edge again, I’m falling into him.

Into a love I shouldn’t let myself feel.

* * *

Later, when we’re half-dressed, he does the very thing he promised to do the night we met.

He doesn’t need a step stool or a crate. He simply raises a strong arm and sets a glittery red star on the top of the tree.