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He scratched his beard. “Ah, we’re going on a date.”

“In the basement?”

David looked around them, rocking back on his heels as his cheeks puffed out with a loud exhale. “Yeah. That’s the plan.”

“Not that I don’t love a good game of pool,” Sage began, taking a step toward him. “But why exactly are we calling this a date?”

David groaned, scrubbing at his face with his hands. “Because I’m an idiot and I made some comment about taking you on a real date before spending the night with you. And we’ve both been so busy that it hasn’t happened yet. And now here we are, about to share a bed for the first time, and I haven’t had the chance to do the thing that I said I was going to do.” He let out a harsh exhale, wincing. “So now I’m improvising and I know it’s lame, but —”

Sage cut him off with a kiss. One of the slow ones that felt indulgent, like they had all of the time in the world.

After they broke apart, their breathing heavy, Sage walked over to the cue rack, picking one at random. “A basement date it is then,” she said, and honestly, she couldn’t imagine anything better than getting her ass kicked in pool by a man like David Hughes.

Especially if the night ended with them in bed together.

* * *

They were both terrible at pool.

David was marginally better, but even he occasionally missed entirely.

They kept getting distracted — first with a heated discussion about who was most likely to step into the captaincy on the team next season, then a debate about what music they should play, which David won when he put on The Eagles.

Sage teased David’s lack of skill, only to scratch immediately after. David decided that leaning coyly against the table with his ass popped out was the best way to distract her, and, well, he wasn’t wrong; the man had an incredible ass.

There was a lightness to David there in that basement, a playfulness that Sage had never seen in him. Like he was in a place where he could fully relax and let go of whatever worries usually weighed on him. He was quick to laugh, and his smile never faded.

Sage had four balls left and David had two when she trailed her fingers up his back as he bent over to shoot. She had three left when he crowded her against the table’s edge, dropping kisses on the sensitive skin where her shoulder met her neck.

David was on his last shot when Sage leaned out over the table across from him, fully aware of the fact that the low neckline of her tank-top likely meant that he was getting an eye full of her tits.

When he missed, Sage threw her head back in a delighted laugh.

When David circled the table and picked her up before depositing her on the edge of the pool table, her body flared to life. He stepped between her thighs, and her breath caught in her throat as his hands cupped her breasts, thumbs brushing back and forth over the tips of her nipples.

Sage arched into his touch, finding a glimmer of relief, and yet craving more and needing more to the point where she felt like she might explode if he stopped.

“David,” she gasped, her voice coming out in a desperate whine. “Where’s our room?”

Rather than answering, David pulled her to her feet, and, linking their hands together, dragged her from the room.

They ran together up the basement staircase, through the kitchen and past the living room, ignoring the catcalls and whistles from the group watching the movie. Then David was pulling her up another flight of stairs. When he reached the top he turned to the right, running down a long hallway until they reached the final closed door.

David flung the door open, tugged Sage through, and then slammed it shut behind them.

They were on each other immediately.

It only took seconds for them to wrestle each other out of their clothes, leaving Sage in nothing but her underwear and David in black briefs. His skin was hot, his hair coarse under her touch as she ran her palms up his chest.

Again, David kissed her. The kiss was frenzied, their lips pulling and tongues battling, like they were still figuring out their rhythm together. David’s hands, which rested on her hips, guided her forward, even as their mouths remained fused together. Without warning, David tipped backwards onto the large bed, pulling her down on top of him.

The kiss broke as David shifted beneath her, scooting up the bed until he lay flat against the white comforter that glowed in the dim light from the lamp on the bedside table.

For a moment, she simply ogled him.

For someone with such a strong body, David was capable of incredible softness. His body was sprawled out, the curves and swells of his muscular legs soft and lax against the white duvet.

She needed to touch him, so she climbed up his long body, trailing her fingertips up his thighs and skirting over the fabric of his briefs. For the moment, she intentionally ignored the thick press of his erection straining against the dark cotton.

She straddled his thighs, the width of him spreading her open, and she watched as his dark eyes dropped down to where her cotton thong barely covered her. Her fingers continued their journey, dragging over the softness of his stomach and over his hairy chest, and she relished the way that his breath hitched and stuttered under her touch.

She looked up at his face. His gaze was burning, eyes almost black, and there was no mistaking the unfiltered want in the way that he looked at her. His face, already a specimen of masculine beauty, was somehow more striking in that moment than she’d ever seen. Her eyes dipped down to his mouth, at his soft, barely parted lips.

In a sudden change of direction, her fingers trailed down his torso until she reached the waistband of his briefs.

“I want to suck your cock.”

A choked groan fell from David’s mouth, and she felt his muscles strain and flex under her hands. “Fuck. Okay. Yes, please.” The words were rushed and his voice rasped as he added, “only if you want…”

Sage wasted no time pulling the briefs down, her breath catching in her throat when her movement freed the hard length of him. He was so fucking beautiful — his spread thighs covered in a smattering of dark hair, and his cock thick and leaking against his lower belly.

She couldn’t believe that she’d spent hours of her life with this man without doing this . Not when he looked so good and watched her like she was something precious. Like she was a gift.

Letting her eyes fall shut, she lowered her mouth to him.

The moment her tongue brushed the impossibly soft skin, a broken “Sage” fell from his mouth. She’d never loved the sound of her name as much as she did at that moment. She explored him, starting at the tip and then trailing down to the base that was nestled in thick dark hair. His scent was intoxicating, a mixture of heady, masculine musk and a barely noticeable hint of his soap. Breathing him in as her mouth explored his heavy sac, she relished how every touch elicited a hitch in his heavy, panting breaths. She took him fully into her mouth, swirling her tongue around him before swallowing him down. Her hands on his thighs struggled to hold him in place as his hips bucked up, thrusting him all the way to the back of her throat.

She tried to breathe through her nose, but refused to stop him, not when he was so obviously undone under her attention. She found a rhythm bobbing her head up and down, spending extra seconds in the places that caused his stomach to jump and his thighs to tremble.

“Stop,” David growled, pulling her off of him before hauling her up his body. He cradled her face in his huge hands and pulled her mouth to his in a claiming kiss.

Their bodies met, his length jutting up against her core and perfectly brushing the apex of her thighs. A whine escaped her throat as their mouths collided, the kiss perfectly hot and filthy — a promise of what he wanted to do to her.

Sage rolled her hips against him, the building need in her body crossing over into desperation. His cock felt good against her — so fucking good — but she was ready for more. Ready to lose the scrap of fabric that still separated them and finally feel him inside of her.

She tore her mouth away from his. “I need it,” she panted, the pounding between her thighs like a heartbeat, making her frantic.

She felt David’s fingers curl around her braid, tugging her up so that her chest lifted from his.

“I want to taste you,” he ground out, and even in dim light she could see the way his eyes raked down her body.

“Not tonight,” she said, her voice breathy and strained. “I need you inside me now.”

Something that looked a lot like disappointment flashed across David’s face, but the expression faded quickly as he nodded up at her.

“Condom?” Sage asked, even as she shifted above him to strip off her underwear.

“Nightstand.”

Sage crawled over to the small table, immediately locating the square wrapper. Tearing it open with her teeth, she walked on her knees back over to David.

“You came prepared,” she said, her voice rough with want.

David hissed as she rolled the rubber down the length of him. Once he was covered to the base, Sage resumed her position straddling his hips, gripping him in one hand as she hovered over him.

“I didn’t want to presume,” David began, his strong hands brushing up her sides before wrapping around and settling on her ass. “I can’t believe we’re here,” he said, his whisper full of reverence, like maybe he hadn’t meant to say the words out loud.

Rather than responding, Sage began to lower herself onto him. Her head fell back, her breathing shallow, as she accepted him into her body inch by excruciating inch.

It was a stretch, but in an exquisite way that sent spikes of sharp pleasure from her nerves straight to her brain, sending her arousal into a frenzied overdrive. She felt her body adjusting to him, and when he was fully seated inside of her, a whimper fell from her lips.

“You…” David’s voice rumbled beneath her. “I knew it was going to be like this. I fucking knew .”

She hadn’t realized that her eyes had drifted shut. Maybe it was her body’s way of telling her that the overwhelming satisfaction inside of her warranted the full attention of her senses. Like maybe the sight of him in addition to the feeling of him filling her would have been too much.

She gave her hips an experimental roll forward.

Oh, fuck. That. She did it again, only this time David thrust up to meet her.

She couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing him, and she forced her eyes open. Immediately, she was hit by the full force of his gaze, and the look in his eye sent a shudder of pleasure down her spine. And as their bodies found movement together, she stared down at him.

So much of what she saw was familiar. There was none of the thrill of discovering someone for the first time, of learning their features and body through intimacy. No, she knew David, and David knew her.

She knew that he was self-conscious of his body, which was incomprehensible because to her, he was a wet dream. She knew that even though dark hair shadowed his jaw and neck he’d only shaved two days ago. She knew the weight and certainty of his touch against her skin. She knew that there was a sweetness to David Hughes that she was only just beginning to see.

“God, Sage. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve imagined this? You, riding me like you were made for me?” David’s voice was low, almost a growl, with his accent slipping out more than she was used to. The sound of stretched vowels and the smoky rasp had her body clenching around him.

His hands gripped her hips and she felt his legs repositioning behind her. His hips thrust up, bucking into her, and the sudden movement had her falling forward, bracing herself against his chest.

“Fuck,” she cried, as the new angle had him thrusting directly against that spot inside of her. She shifted, adjusting her body so that in addition to the internal stimulation she could grind her clit against the base of him.

“That’s it. Take what you need.” Sweat dotted David’s forehead, and a piece of his dark hair had flopped forward onto his forehead. “Yours, Sage. This cock is yours. These hands are yours. Tell me what you need and it’s done, beautiful.”

It built, the pressure between her legs that started like a vibration under the skin of her inner thighs and curled up her spine, tightening her muscles until she couldn’t stop the trembling in her arms and legs.

“You,” she said, struggling to find enough breath to form words. “You on top. Now.”

David moved her like a wrestler, leveraging his strength and size to hold Sage against him as he flipped them. Somehow he was able to execute the entire move without withdrawing from her.

Draping himself over her, his breath was harsh against her chest as he slung one of her legs up and over his arm, spreading her open for him. He rolled his hips forward and her vision blurred. She wrapped her hands behind his neck and tangled her fingers into his hair, hanging on like she wasn’t already hurtling toward the edge.

David’s head hung down between his shoulders as he moved above her, and she could feel the harshness of his breath against her breasts every time he thrust inside of her.

“What do you need,” he asked between heavy breaths.

Sage untangled one of her hands and reached down between their bodies, finding the wetness of her slit.

“That’s it,” David praised. “You know exactly what that little clit needs, don’t you?”

A moan fell from her mouth as she began rubbing tight, frantic circles, her inner muscles tensing and clenching around him.

“Fuck, Sage,” David breathed, and his movements slowed as he dragged his cock in and out of her. It was unhurried, like he was savoring every moment of being inside of her. She felt his lips brush against the sensitive skin on her neck. “It’s never been like this. Ever.” Another painfully slow thrust that left them both shaking. “I know you won’t believe me, but,” thrust , “this? With you? It’s so much, Sage.” He sunk his teeth into the place where her neck and shoulder met, biting with unexpected strength before drawing back and running his tongue over the place where his teeth had undoubtedly marked her. “It’s so much more than anything else has ever been.”

Sage had transcended beyond words, so she kissed him, pulling his face to hers and pouring out all of the feelings and thoughts that she couldn’t articulate into each brush and curl of her tongue. Her fingers still worked between her legs, sending her closer and closer to the edge.

With a harsh groan, David sped up, his movements becoming frenzied. Sage felt the shaking in his body, and knew that he was close.

So was she. “I’m almost there,” she managed to whisper, knowing that David would be waiting for her. He wouldn’t let himself go before she’d found her release. He was just that kind of man.

He groaned. “Get there, please.” There was a desperation in his voice that mirrored the way his hips stuttered.

One, two, three more circles and there . She was fucking there.

Launched off of a cliff, her entire body tightening and throbbing while her mind went harshly, blissfully blank. Waves and waves of pleasure ripped through her, and there was no choice but to ride it out, wrapped up in the heavy warmth of David’s body.

She barely heard the “Yes, Sage. Fuck, yes,” that tore from his chest before he followed her, chasing his own release. Even through the overwhelming pull of her own pleasure, she could feel the pulse of him inside of her.

“So good,” he breathed, burying his face into the crook of her neck even as his hips continued to thrust almost lazily against her. “So goddamn good.”

Sage struggled to find her own breath, her body limp and relaxed, relishing the weight of David on top of her. Her fingers tracked up and down the sweat-slicked skin of his broad back, her chest so full that she thought it might overflow the confines of her skin.

She thought she wouldn’t mind staying just like that forever. But after a few more seconds with nothing but the sound of their breaths filling the room, David slowly withdrew from her body, carefully holding the condom in place as he climbed off the bed.

Sage rolled to her side, unabashedly watching his ass as he walked to the door in the corner that she assumed led to a bathroom. He disappeared for a moment before he emerged, still stunningly naked, his sweat-slicked skin practically glowing.

“What,” he asked when he noticed her watching him. There was still that softness about him that made something in her chest ache.

“Just admiring your body,” she answered honestly.

In a sudden burst of movement, David dove back onto the bed, launching himself at her. She shrieked, but quickly surrendered to the onslaught of kisses.

David pulled the covers over both of them, laying on his side and pulling Sage into his chest. While she loved the tickle of his chest hairs against her nose and the weight of his arms wrapped around her back, Sage knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep like that.

She pulled away and looked up at him. “I can’t do face to face smushed snuggling.”

David opened his mouth, and, based on the pained expression on his face, was about to apologize.

Quickly, Sage turned over, scooting herself back until she was perfectly spooned against him, her back nestled against his front. “This I can do,” she said.

David’s low chuckle ruffled the hairs on the back of her neck. “I can work with this.”