Yes! Harder, deeper, more. I needed more. I needed all of her. I pulled out, and she cried in protest before I flipped her onto her stomach and jerked her hips up. “On all fours,” I demanded.

She was up and pushing back for me to take her immediately. “Back inside me,” she moaned.

I grabbed her ass and sank back inside, sliding deeper from this angle. Letting my head fall back, I roared as she began milking my cock with each plunge.

Leaning forward, I grabbed both her tits and squeezed. I needed a fucking mirror so I could watch them sway with each thrust. Just imagining how she looked was enough. I was almost there, filling her with my release—

Fuck! “No condom. I gotta—”

“Don’t!” She reached back and grabbed my ass, holding me in her. “I’m on the pill,” she gasped. “Come in me.”

Come in her. As if on command, I shouted her name while my body pumped into her. Her loud cry followed mine as she shook beneath me and clamped down so tightly she pulled everything from me. All I could do was wrap my arms around her and hold on.

Bethy

Tripp’s lips grazed my back, and then he slowly pulled out of me before I collapsed on the bed, completely spent.

“Stay right here,” he said softly. I wasn’t sure where he thought I would go. It wasn’t like I could move after that.

His smell was on the sheets pressed against my face, and my body tingled in response. Really? It was tingling? Already?

Tripp’s hand was on my thigh. “Roll over,” he said as he gently helped me move. I wanted to lie here with my face buried in his smell, but if he wanted me to roll over, I would.

He opened my legs and took the washcloth in his hand and began cleaning me up. Just like the first time. I watched him in awe as he touched me as if I would break. Once he was done, he lifted his gaze to meet mine. The possessiveness gleaming there startled me.

I had forgotten. Only Tripp. No one else had looked at me that way after sex. Ever. I had been an easy fuck for Jace in the beginning, but even after it all changed for us, Jace had never cleaned me up or stared at me like I was his reason for breathing.

Only Tripp. That look, I’d seen it before. Many times. I had just forgotten, or I’d refused to remember. Because once you knew that look, it was hard to accept less. The warm feeling that ran through me, making me feel cherished and special, was all because of that look.

He tossed the used cloth aside and crawled up to lie beside me, pulling me into his arms as he did. I couldn’t talk yet. The emotion in my chest was all I could handle right now. This was why he could destroy me. This was why I built walls. Because being loved by Tripp changed you. His kind of devotion was rare. I knew that now. I hadn’t known it then, and I hadn’t known how excruciating it would be to lose this.

“I can’t share you,” he said as he pressed his mouth against my temple. “I know you want to take this slow, and you’re scared. I get it. But I can’t . . . this is mine. It always was. You were mine then, and you’re mine now.”

The idea of being with someone else after experiencing this again seemed impossible. I knew what shallow, meaningless sex was. I’d rather never have sex again if that was all there was. “I forgot, or maybe I couldn’t allow myself to remember,” I said as I lay against his chest.

“Forgot what?” he asked as he ran his fingers down my arm and then back up.

“You. How it is with you. I won’t be able to move on from this. You’ve ruined me. I won’t be able to forget again.”

He took my arm and pulled me back so he could look down at my face. “What do you mean?” I had scared him. I could see that now. He didn’t understand.

“I mean that nothing compares to having you inside me. I mean that when you treat me like I’m some special treasure that’s all yours and give me that look of possession, I am ruined. How can I ever move on from that? I forgot once, but I won’t be able to again.”

He cupped my face with one of his big hands and brushed his thumb over my lips. “Are you telling me you won’t be able to let anyone else touch your body?”

“Yes.”

He closed his eyes tightly and inhaled sharply before his eyes opened back up and the green had darkened. “That’s good, sweetheart. Because that means I don’t have to go to prison for tearing a man apart for touching what’s mine.”

A giggle burst out of me, and he smiled, then bent down and captured my lips. It wasn’t a hungry kiss. It was slow, delicious, and deep. I sank into his arms and decided I’d worry later about how I’d survive if he left me again.

When I opened my eyes this time, the sun was brighter outside, and I was in Tripp’s bed alone. I much preferred waking up in his arms on the sofa. Stretching, I turned over and looked around his room, which hadn’t changed much since the last time I was in here. The best thing about it was that it smelled like him. Snuggling in the Tripp-scented sheets was tempting, but I missed him being here with me.

I sat up and swung my legs off the big bed and grabbed a T-shirt he’d left lying over the chair in the corner. After pulling it on, I ran my hands through my hair and went to find Tripp.

The first thing I saw was his back. Even when he did something as simple as pour coffee, his back muscles moved. The sweats he’d pulled on hung low enough that I could see the dimples in his lower back and the cut of his hips. My hands itched to touch every inch of him. I really wanted to see his backside naked.