The big bad Shark is nervous? It only makes me want him more.

I nod and he slides them off, easing them down my legs.

His fingers skim over my wet folds and I throw a pillow over my face. In the auditorium, we were so rushed, but this is slower and he’s right there…

“Don’t be shy now, Tulip. You’re so brave. Unless…unless you want me to stop?”

I whip the pillow off my face and throw it on the floor. “If you stop, I will kill you with a lightsaber. I have one in the closet. You wanna talk about a dark side? I’ve got one.”

“I’ve watched a few of them because of you,” he murmurs as his fingers dance over me, skimming over my mound, never quite hard enough, not nearly enough until he eases a finger inside me and I moan.

“Uhhhhhh, good.” I can’t breathe.

“Is this okay?” he rasps, and I nod, trying to move so I can touch him too, but he holds me back, so I wait and fall into bliss, my hips rising up against his fingers.

My breaths come in erratic pants and when I look at him, he’s intent on me.

“More?”

“You’re torturing me.” I don’t know why he’s even asking. I am his right now.

“How about more torture?”

“Lightsaber, remember? Don’t stop.”

He laughs and pulls me to the edge of the bed, gets on the floor on his knees, leans down, and holds my legs apart. Part of me feels vulnerable and nervous. I’ve never done this, never, and it’s with him and that means something special—

His head dips and my fingers grip the quilt on my bed, clawing at it when his slick tongue brushes lightly over my center, lingering on my bundle of nerves. He groans. “Tulip, you taste so good, like, like destiny…” He leans closer, his nose trailing up my inner thigh. “I want to consume you, eat you up so fast, but I’m trying to go slow…” Another long, slow lick up my center, and I shudder.

“Knox, Knox, that, that…” My chest heaves. “Ohhhhh…don’t stop!”

Cupping my bottom, he settles in and teases me, never quite enough pressure, his touch light and excruciatingly slow, swirling his tongue, wicked, so wicked as he draws intricate patterns on my clit, stoking the fire inside me hotter until I’m burning…

My body tightens, tension building at my spine.

His finger curls inside me, rubbing and stroking, and I can feel his breath on my skin, his tongue as he sucks—

Lights burst behind my shut lids. The universe becomes just him and me as sensations ripples across my skin.

“Knox!” I writhe underneath him, shameless as I press harder into him.

I’m boneless when he moves up and touches my face.

“You like?” He grins.

“That…that…when can we do it again?”

He throws his head back and laughs, satisfaction evident on the planes of his face.

And nothing matters. To see him laugh, to put joy there…being with him is so easy, and we laugh together, and I just…gah…I’m so close to falling—

“What are you doing to me,” he says when I reach up and kiss him hard and long, sucking on his tongue with a fast rhythm, imagining him fucking me to the same beat.

Without our mouths parting, I use my hands to push down his underwear. He’s thick and hard and long, his crown veiny and wet. I stare at him, getting a good look, nerves kicking in at how big he is even as my core clenches in anticipation. Wrapping my fingers around him, I stroke from his base to the tip, my thumb skating over the silky skin.

He groans, hovering over me. “Tulip, please…”

“Please what?”

“Harder.”

Increasing my pace, I pump him with long, firm strokes while he kisses me.

He gasps for air, his chest shuddering. “Condom. Do you—”

Before he can finish, I jump off the bed and dash to my chest of drawers. They’re two years old, but they’re there, thank you, in the top under my underwear. I grab one and whip around and he’s already up and behind me. With hands that tremble, he takes the package from me and rips it open with his teeth, his gaze never leaving my face. He slides it on and picks me up. My legs lock around his hips. Somehow we’re back on my bed and he’s on top of me.

Slowly, he rises above me and teases my entrance. His face is flushed and small beads of sweat dot his brow.

“So good…” I exhale. “Don’t hold back, Knox, please…”

His hands clench around my waist as he strokes in all the way, stretching me, the fullness tight. He stops and holds me, clutching me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…haven’t been with anyone in a while,” he growls.

I smile, remembering our conversation at Lou’s. He was waiting on me.

“Are you going to come too soon?” I tease.

He huffs, slides back out, and enters me again, swiveling his hips, getting a new angle that makes me shiver. “No. I’m going to fuck you till you see stars, Tulip.”

“Always wanted to see the universe up close.”

He huffs out a laugh.

He owns me then, taking control, moving my hips up, his strokes hard and solid, each slide precise and sure, my wetness coating him, the sounds of us, our bodies slapping together, our heavy breaths are all I can think about.

Leaning over me, he hitches one of my legs over his shoulder and gains momentum, his voice in my ear, dark and husky. “I want to know everything about you. What you eat, except for tomatoes, God, I hate those, what you dream about, what songs you listen to, what makes you laugh, what makes you happy, how you feel when I fuck you. I want you breathing for me. I want you begging me for more of this. I want you kissing me, just me. I want you, Tulip, you, you, you, you…”

His finger circles my clit in tandem as he takes me, and I writhe underneath him. He does it so well, so good until I can’t breathe, until I’m thrashing as I clutch his ass and dig my nails in. “Tulip…” he grunts. “I’m close. Come with me.”

He moves faster, faster, his cock thickening even more and I call out his name, undulating under him. He cups my face and goes over with me, his breath hard and unsteady as he kisses me with our eyes open. Emotion claws at my heart as my body pulses around him in the aftershocks.

I want you kissing me, just me.

God. His words.

I’m falling so hard, dancing near the edge of the vastness that’s him.

And I know there’s barely any trust left in me for guys, but for him…

I want this. Whatever it is.

17

Coiled and tense, I’m waiting for her in the parking lot. Okay, what’s the etiquette for seeing a girl after you’ve had sex with her? I mean, I know what happens after the usual girls, but she’s…her.

Her Jeep parks a few spaces over from mine and I jog over. She gets out of the car, bends over to grab her backpack, and turns to face me.

My heart skips. Fucking skips.

Last night.

Well.

It’s all I can think about and I’m ignoring those voices in my head, the ones that tell me to tread carefully, to go slow.

I just…

Want her.

I shove down niggling warnings that prick at me, reminding me that I have other commitments. Football. Dane.