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Swallowing a wavering breath, I ran my eyes over the sleek planes of his face, the fair eyelashes brushing his cheeks and his soft, full lips. I’d never forgotten their taste.

I slowly leaned my body toward Brody’s before placing the softest kiss on his mouth. Initially, he didn’t move, but after a heartbeat, he returned my pressure. Gentle at first. Tentative. But then, when he gave my bottom lip the slightest of bites, I parted my lips, and he slid his tongue inside.

A wave of need engulfed me. A thick, years old, pulsing bank of hunger. As he kissed me harder, I couldn’t contain my thirst any longer. I had to drink him in.

The action took all my weight, but I pushed Brody down onto my mattress, hands splayed across his chest, fingers digginginto his hard muscles. And he let me. Pulled me into him, our tongues chasing each other in a crazy dance. My core throbbed with desire. No kiss could ever have lived up to the one I was drowning in now. I’d been a fool to even try with anyone else.

Brody was the first to break away, his hot breath on my neck. “Are you sure? Do you really want to do this? I’d give anything to pick up where we left off, but I don’t want you to have regrets.”

He lay a kiss behind my ear, and the corners of my lips bowed. I’d never been surer. “Why think about regrets?”

His eyes glowed hard, emboldening me.

“I just need you.” I reached down and found his solid length, gripping him through the fabric of his sweatpants.

At my touch, Brody arced, throwing his head back. “Fuck, Ro,” the growl in his voice tightened something inside me, and I sat up to straddle him, pinning his arms above his head, grinding against him in slow, delicious circles.

His breath came hard, his eyes laced with desire. “You’re incredible,” was all he said before I claimed his mouth once more. Brody worked his hands free and brought them to grip my buttocks, pulling me into him, matching the rhythm I set.

Our bodies met each other at every rotation of my hips, but before long, he tightened under me. “Stop, Ro. Please, stop.” His words rasped in my mouth, and I pulled away, my heart battering against my ribs. With a lump in my throat, I searched his eyes for remorse, for regret, but found only craving. I didn’t understand.

He didn’t look like a man who wanted me to stop. Still, the abruptness of his plea set my teeth on edge. My stomach churned. Had I completely humiliated myself all over again? What must he think of me? That I was some sex-starved nymphomaniac who thought writhing around on top of him was sexy? Desirable?

I pulled in a breath, rolling off his hips and curling onto my side. I’d told him the extent of my sexual experience that first morning in the diner. And though he hadn’t laughed, he must have thought me a liability instead of a worthy bed partner for the great Brody “Flock Boy” Flockhart. A naïve pretender compared to his usual conquests.

I hugged my knees, my racing pulse slowly returning to normal as a dull ache settled in my chest.

Within a heartbeat, though, Brody was at my back, his lips at my ear. “What happened?” He wove a warm hand over my hip and across my belly, a million goosebumps bursting to life in its wake.

“You don’t want me.” My words were barely a whisper.

Brody huffed a laugh into my neck, and my nipples hardened against my shirt. “You have no idea how much I want you, but I would’ve exploded if we’d carried on, and I can think of much better places to be when that happens.” He nudged the hair of my now disheveled braid away with his nose and lay feathery kisses at my neck. “You surprised me. I didn’t expect you to be so… committed. So amazing.”

My lips curved a little. “I’m not as sweet as people think.” Particularly when I had Brody Flockhart between my thighs.

He snickered, the vibration of his laughter going straight to my center. “I’m glad for it, but I want to take things a little slower. Find out all about you.”

Oh, believe me, I was ready to take him on a guided tour, sell him a map, and buy him a souvenir. Brody kissed my neck and gently nudged my thighs down, encouraging my legs to straighten. Finally, he returned his hand back to my waist, stroking the skin there.

“You’re sure you want this? Me?”

With a wavering breath, I gave the tiniest nod, and Brody brought his mouth to my neck, peppering it with kisses. Hefound my breast, playing with its stiff peak through the thin cotton of my top, rolling it between his fingertips. The sensation, the tug of need at my center, stole my breath, and I let out a low moan. It was like a siren call to Brody’s body because he immediately pressed his solid length against my buttocks, laying his hand across the front of my panties and pulling me against him.

Now, it was his turn to act like a desperate teenager, but the pressure from the heel of his palm so close to the bundle of nerves between my legs had me chasing the sensation. The harder he pressed, the stronger the ache and the harsher my breath became.

“Touch me,” I whispered, sureIwas the one about to explode. With a guttural growl, Brody pulled the fabric of my panties away, his thumb gently circling my heat before dipping two fingers deep inside me. I sucked in a quick breath. The feeling was exquisite as he moved in torturous glacial circles over the bundle of nerves between my thighs. Each stroke of his skin against mine led me higher, leaving me hotter. Desperate for the feel of him inside me.

Brody kissed me. Whispered words against my neck, but I didn’t know what they were. Lost in sensation, I brought my hand down to his, gripping him in place. Rocking into him, taking my pleasure. I was about to unravel around his fingers, and nothing could stop the waves of intense bliss that crashed over me, wrecking me on the rocks of sensation.

Brody must have sensed the tightening inside my body because he pinched harder at my nipple and drove his fingers deeper. With a cry I hardly recognized, my whole body shuddered before the most sublime sweetness engulfed my entire being, and I came, bringing his free hand to my mouth to quell the moan that someone would surely hear.

I sucked in ragged breaths, releasing the fingers still buried between my legs. Within a beat, Brody pulled my panties back up and wrapped an arm around my body, turning me toward him and laying kisses on the top of my head. A smile laced his voice. “I could do that to you all night.”

I might never walk again if he did, but I’d happily submit to the experiment. I reached up to touch his face, the hint of scruff at his jaw scratching against my fingers. “I want to make you feel the same way, too.”

Brody looked down at me, the smallest furrow appearing between his brows. He shook his head, and my heart almost cracked in two. What had I done wrong? Had I disappointed him? Something passed over his face like a shadow, and he let out a sigh. Pulling me even closer, his fingertips trailed over my shoulder.

“Ro. I’ve waited a long time to touch you. To please you. But I won’t make you lie.”