My chest tightens as I brush against her lips. “I love you, my beautiful sunshine. And I’ll do anything to make you happy. Always.”

“You love me?” she croaks.

I nod. “I’ve loved you so fucking long. Since that night under the stars. Do you remember that?”

Tears fall down her cheek and I catch them with my lips. “Don’t cry. Why are you crying?”

“I fell in love with you that night too, Emery. Your birthday, we woke up together the following morning. I knew it then. I knew you were the one.” There’s fire in her voice.

“There’s one detail we overlooked,” I say, my hand on her bare breasts as my mouth waters. “I don’t have protection. I wasn’t planning for this.”

“Okay…” She pauses. “What if you let me know when you’re about to come and I turn around and suck you off?”

Every last bit of blood I had in my brain drains to my cock. “Dirty words, for such sweet lips.”

She rocks her head from side to side. “I’ve thought about this for quite a while. I’ve imagined you behind me, on top of me, in my mouth. I’ve dreamt about your come on my skin and what I’d do to your dick to get you hard. I’ve dreamt about the way you’d hold me down and fuck me like an animal.”

Needy and filthy.

“How you’d kiss my neck and fuck me soft like you were in love. I even thought about you fucking me down by that river. When your hands were on me,” she pants, “I imagined moving my panties to the side and sliding onto that hard cock you thought you were hiding. I’d have sat there, completely normal, when everyone came to check on us.”

My eyes widen. “Fuck. Are you sure you’re a virgin?”

She laughs. “Yeah. Being a virgin in your twenties implies I have a lot of time to think about all the things Icouldbe doing, but I’m not.”

She laughs and rolls on top of me, her long hair falling onto my chest.

I stare up at her, memorizing every soft line and curve. I’ve touched her face a dozen times today, but now, it’s different. This time, our bodies have been given permission to act on their desires. This time, we’re free.

I roll her over, and grip her ass, as she wraps her legs around my waist.

Her arms loop around my neck and she lifts up into my lips, kissing against me as I groan while burying my face in her throat.

“You sure you want this, sweet girl?”

She moans softly as my lips graze her neck.

“Are you needy? Do you ache for me like I ache for you?”

She moans again and I growl against her skin, sucking in the sweet scent of the strawberries she’d eaten earlier.

“This is for us.” I scrape my teeth against her shoulder. “You and me. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else, okay?”

She seems fine, but if I’m being honest, I’m terrified. I’m terrified this is the only chance I’ll ever get to be with her. What if hormones are all that’s at play for her? She’s young. Her feelings could be transient. What if I finally get her and she turns me away?

I wouldn’t be able to take it. Then again, I can’t turn down the one time I get. I have to make the most of it. I have to soak up every sigh, every touch, every moment of her, and make it count. I have to love her tonight, knowing she may not love me in the morning.

Quick and fast, her mouth crashes into mine and my heart aches.

“I want you, Emery. I want you so bad.” There’s need and desperation in her tone, unlocking a primal part of me that’s never been unleashed before.

My blood burns beneath my skin and a monster unleashes itself. I press my fingertips harder into her skin. “Are you sure you want to keep going? I’m not sure what’s happening.”

She nods quickly, panting as though she’s excited to see this side of me.

Her permission only pushes me harder as I strip off my jeans. This has been years in the making, and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.

Chapter Seven