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Her head fell back against the wall and her mouth dropped open, the sweetest, sexiest moans lighting me on fire. The heat raced down my spine and my balls pulled up tight and I pushed in hard, emptying myself. I latched on to her shoulder as I rode the waves of my orgasm, only coming back when her nails dragged across my scalp sending shivers down my body.

I slipped out of her without letting go and moisture followed. “Fuck,” I breathed, my lungs still working overtime. Even more so when I realized what I’d done.

“Yeah, that about sums it up.” Her soft laugh puffed against my forehead.

“I didn’t use a condom.”

Her body stiffened, her hands no longer moving through my hair, when she finally caught on.

“Erik. I…”

I could feel her throat move up and down against my head. “I’m so sorry, Alexandra. I-I didn’t think.”

“Umm…We-we should be okay. I should be starting soon. So, we should be okay.”

I nodded, not super confident in her words, no matter how many times she repeated them. I lifted my forehead and cradled her face in my palm. “No matter what happens, I’ll take care of you. You know that, right?”

Her eyes were wide and she managed a jerky nod. I placed a soft kiss against her lips offering her comfort. Guilt hit me more than fear. I was thirty-one, a baby wouldn’t do damage to my life. It wasn’t planned, but it wouldn’t hold me back from what I was doing. But Alexandra was only nineteen, getting ready to start her future. I’d played a gamble with her life more than my own. One more kiss and I eased her down to the floor.

“Let me clean you and we can go do breakfast.”

“I was already clean before you came in,” she said, a small smile tipping her lips. The stress of the moment slipped away if only a little.

“What can I say, I like making you dirty. In fact, after breakfast, I’ll do it again.”

I grabbed the soap and began running it over her skin. “As much as I’d love that, I have four apartments to look at today and my first appointment is in an hour.”

My hands froze on her skin, but I kept my eyes down, pushing through it and continued washing her. I didn’t want her to leave. I liked having her with me. I liked waking up to her every day. I never knew I’d so easily fall into a relationship, but I loved it. Somehow I knew it wouldn’t feel as easy if it had been with anyone else.

Only Alexandra.

I couldn’t be the guy to hold her back. Not when her eyes lit up the way they did when she talked about being on her own. I didn’t have to like it, though.

“Okay. I’ll drive you.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Shut up, Alexandra. I’m taking you.”

When I looked up she was making a face and mocking me. I gave a glare that softened into a laugh.

“Don’t make me spank you. Although you may like it.”

She made the move of zipping her lips but laughed with me.

The first apartment we didn’t even stop at. We drove past. When she argued, I said I was too scared to leave my car for more than a minute in fear it would get stolen. The neighborhood was horrible.

The second apartment we at least made it in the door, but just.

“We haven’t even looked at it,” she’d argued.

“It isn’t safe.”

“It’s in a better neighborhood.”

“Alexandra,” I sighed. “Come here.” I pulled her into the hall and made sure to lock the door behind us, the confused landlord standing wide-eyed on the other side.

She stood there with her arms crossed, hip out, and foot tapping. “Well?”

I cocked an eyebrow and lifted up on the handle and pushed lightly with my shoulder, easily opening the door. She didn’t even say anything, just dropped her arms and rolled her eyes with a disgusted sound.

“Sorry, we won’t be looking at this one,” I said to the landlord with a smile and happily followed the ball of thunder back to the car.

“I don’t want to hear it,” she’d argued, her finger in my face at the third apartment. “It’s in a great neighborhood and cable and Wi-Fi are included. Cable, Erik. Real, life, cable.”

“It’s disgusting,” I argued back. This landlord followed our argument like a tennis match of words.

“It is not.”

“It’s a shithole, Alexandra.”

“I can clean it.”

The landlord opened his lips to interject, but I cut him off.

“I wouldn’t even fuck you here, and you know I’d fuck you damn near anywhere.”

Red bled into her cheeks and her mouth slammed shut. If she could have burned me down with a look alone, I’d have been another unknown substance sinking into the used-to-be-cream carpet. I managed to hold back my victorious grin until she turned around and rounded the corner to leave.