Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

“The hell you will,” Deke snarled. Then he lifted Kimber from the table, up against his body. Her legs automatically wrapped around his waist as his mouth crashed down on hers, every sweep of his tongue desperate. He wanted to crawl inside her and stay as he wrapped his arms around her, supporting her with a hand under her bare ass. The sweet juice of her cunt seeped onto his wrist and through his jeans.

Good damn thing she was wet. She was going to need all that lubrication.

Inside the darkened bedroom, Deke shifted aside the mosquito netting and laid her across the antique tester. She looked perfect here. Beautiful and gleaming, like the bed itself, with lean, clean lines.

“You sure, kitten?” he rasped, his voice thick in the air.

Kimber nodded, writhed. “Yes. Please. Now.”

“Is that you talking or arousal? Luc jacked you up—”

“I wanted this, wanted you, before he laid a hand on me. Please,” she whispered, inching a slow hand between her legs to tease her clit—and driving him closer to insanity.

Deke’s knees buckled even as his cock leapt in approval, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled it away. He wanted to give her this orgasm. Him and his aching cock. He swallowed. Fuck it. He was going to do it. Forget everything but now and make love to Kimber. Fuck her. Be her first lover. Claim her. He couldn’t stop it, didn’t want to.

“I pushed you away before, said terrible things I didn’t mean…”

“I know. I forgive you.”

The breath whooshed out of him. How wonderful was she, to understand he hadn’t meant that crap? He didn’t deserve her, and hoped like hell he didn’t fuck up her life. But he couldn’t fight what they all wanted anymore. And that wasn’t just her body, but closeness. He needed to feel as joined to her as two people could be.

“Thank you.” He turned to Luc, his heart firing faster than an M60. “Condom?”

“No.” The small, feminine word pinged shock all around the room, all through his body.

“She’s on the pill,” Luc reminded.

Deke looked back to her, stared, couldn’t resist placing a hungry, wet kiss across her mouth, thumbing her stiff nipple. “Is that true?” Kimber arched into his touch. “I saw a doctor after I left Jesse. I hoped this would happen.”

The information sank into his churning blood and made it sing. Safe. She was safe. Bless her! He rewarded her with a nibble to her other breast. She hissed in response. Not only could he be deep inside her, but he could be bare and deep inside her.

Not smart, another part of him shouted. The pill wasn’t totally effective…

“Give me a condom,” he told Luc. “Just to be sure.” Then he brushed a soft hand over Kimber’s hair. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I don’t want anything between us. Please…”

Oh, hell. Stupid, crazy, impulsive. But something primitive inside him erupted, shouted hell yeah, at the thought of being inside her with nothing between them.

He wanted to have Kimber in a way he’d never had any other woman. The pill was safer than condoms, and he knew from experience that condoms weren’t foolproof.

Deke couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. This time, though, his gaze latched onto her healing stitches and fading bruises. They reminded him that he could have lost her before he’d ever claimed her. That would have been a goddamn travesty. He needed her. In the most elemental way possible, he had to have her.

“Kitten,” he rasped. “I promise I’m clean. I have regular physicals. I’ve always been careful. I’ve ne—never…” He swallowed. “Be sure.”

“I am.” Smiling, she caressed light fingers down the length of his back. He shivered and sucked in a breath at the sudden rush of sensation. “Then I can be your first in a way, too.”

Like she could be claiming him. Need raised another notch. He downshifted his brain and turned it off. Everything he did with her tonight would be pure instinct…all heart.

“I want that.” He shoved his jeans down his hips and crawled up on top of the bed, lowering himself beside her.

Diving into the sweet heaven of Kimber’s mouth, Deke lost himself in her taste, unique and clean. Her kiss was strong, demanding. Without words, she told him that she expected him to give her everything, hold nothing back.

For as long as he’d wanted her, as much as he cared for her, could he even begin to withhold a single, scintillating thing he wanted to do to her? She’d already proven hearty enough to meet his needs with other varieties of sex. They’d be perfect together.

As he clasped the back of her head to bring her deeper into the kiss, Deke felt Luc climb up on the bed and take up position on Kimber’s other side.

He broke the kiss, then stared at Luc. Opened his mouth, then snapped it shut.

How had he forgotten about his cousin? He, who hadn’t had sex alone with a woman in twelve years? But he had forgotten. Now he had to face the fact that Kimber would be not just his lover, but Luc’s.

The thought stabbed him with immediate denial, complete rejection. Deke shoved the instinct away, forcing logic into his lust-hazed brain. He needed Luc here.

He might be willing to slide into Kimber without a latex barrier between them.

Oh, fuck it—he was dying to feel her bare flesh gripping him. But he wasn’t willing to forego all precautions. He couldn’t be the lone man responsible…just in case.

Giving into that fear meant that he had to share. And no matter how much something inside him railed, he couldn’t be the only man she made love to.

Shoving the thought from his mind, he watched as Luc’s tongue swirled around one of Kimber’s stiff nipples. He took the other, laving, nipping—thrilled at her quick response, the automatic parting of her thighs.

Deke slid a reverent hand down the soft skin of her abdomen, then continued down into her pussy. A wet haven, drenched, swollen. She gasped at his very first touch. Under his fingers, the hard knob of her clit pulsed. Damn, she was beyond primed. Knowing that, Deke was, too. He slid lower, sliding one finger inside her.

Tight. Oh, hell…so damn tight. Gasping. Her body closed around his finger, silently begging. Adding a second finger, he plunged deeper. Good damn thing he’d jacked off twice already today, or the moment he got inside this vacuum of sultry heat, he’d explode.

But getting his cock inside her, it was going to hurt her. Deke hated that fact. With his fingers, he scissored, trying to spread her open, minimize the pain.

“More,” she demanded.

Snapping his gaze up, he stared at Kimber. She wasn’t talking to Luc, who was treating her nipples like a cross between a lollipop and something his Hoover would attack. She was talking to him.

“Deeper?” Deke’s voice cracked as he asked the question, while he thrust his fingers inside her up to the hilt.

Her breath hitched as she shook her head and nodded—virtually at the same time. “Deeper. More. I want to be full of you.”

Deke nearly staggered at her gasping, starkly honest answer. “I want to fill you, kitten. I don’t think I’ve wanted anything more in my whole life.”

“You’re making the right choice,” Luc whispered, dusting little kisses up her jawline.

The nipples he’d left behind were red. No other way to describe them. Swollen, well worked, beyond hard. They’d be tender tomorrow, but given the way Kimber arched to Luc and led his head back to her breasts, she wasn’t feeling it now. The only thing she felt was ready.

Easing off the bed, Deke stood at the side and, caressing his way up her thighs, to her hips, he pulled her to the edge of the bed, curving her thighs around his hips.

“Deke?”

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the flat of her tummy. “I’m not leaving.

In this position, I can better control the angle and the pressure. If it hurts too much, I can back off.”

At least he hoped he could. What he really wanted was to charge into her like a riled-up bull with a red cape in its face. Deke forced a full lungful of air in, held it, centered.

“A little pain won’t break me.”

“I’m leaving Luc a little room to work here, too.” His hands wandered up the sleek lines of her torso, then back down, pausing to swirl around that candy-button clit.

“But trust me, by the end of the night, you’ll feel well fucked.” Kimber wrapped her legs around his waist, trapping him in. “Promise?” That one taunting word arched through him and went straight to his dick. Deke glanced at the ceiling, looking for some self-control. He wanted Kimber to feel well loved, too.

“Yeah,” he croaked. “Oh, yeah.”

She answered with a stunning smile that only ratcheted up his anticipation. His control snapped.

Taking his stiff cock in hand, he guided himself to the small, swollen opening.

Very small. And he wasn’t a small guy. He was going to have to fight his way in. The thought had him breaking out in a fresh sweat.

Deke leaned forward a fraction and eased the head of his cock inside her. Oh, damn. Already so hot and tight. Under him, Kimber thrashed, lifting, forcing him in an additional inch.

Gripping her hips, he forced his way in another. Right up against her barrier.

“Don’t stop,” she pleaded.

He couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to. But a million thoughts slammed through him. What if…he hurt her too much, or she didn’t like the feel of him deep, or she wasn’t as ready as she thought?

Or worse, what if history repeated itself?

“You’re over thinking this,” Luc murmured. “You want each other. Unless I miss my guess, you love each other. She’s protected, and I’m here. It doesn’t get more perfect than this.”

All his arguments were hang-ups, his problems. Luc was right about that.

Worrying about her pain or readiness—even the future—were just excuses. After twelve years, it was time for him to take a chance again.

CHAPTER 14

With his left hand, Deke gripped Kimber’s hip. With his right, he skated his way to her pussy and rubbed in soft, slow circles, his fingertips providing friction on the little bead of her clit. He stroked her until she gasped. Until she gripped the sheets, and a fresh flush washed over her fair skin.

After being denied climax so many times, she pleaded, “Please, Deke. Now. God, now…”

She was right on the edge. He wasn’t going to refuse her again. Deke reared back to her opening, gathered power and, teeth bared, he pushed inside her with one hard thrust.

Her flesh yielded to him slowly. Though his heartbeat drummed in his ears, her scream rose above it, clutching at him. There was no stopping. He slid into her.

Then he lifted her hips, tilted her toward him, leaned over her, and moved in another half inch.

Finally, he was in. Completely. Shaking so damn hard, Deke realized he’d never had a woman feel so perfect, like…home. Until Kimber, he hadn’t missed it. Now, in some elemental way, Deke knew she was his.

Under him, she twisted on the pale sheets and watched him with hazel eyes now so green and glossy with unshed tears. Maybe the “Band-Aid” approach, dealing with it quickly to put the hurt behind her, hadn’t worked. Guilt for her pain raked him.

“I’m sorry,” he choked.

“There’s a good part to this, right?” She panted. “If there is, don’t you dare stop.” She was certifiable if she thought he could walk away now. But he was determined to void the pain with pleasure. Forcing himself to remain still, despite the sweat and ground teeth it cost him, Deke rotated his fingers over her clit again, soothing, cajoling. It took a moment to coax her, as if her body had recoiled from the shock of his flesh tearing through her.

His balls boiled as her sheath enveloped his cock, but he didn’t move an inch. Luc seemed to understand his goal and helped him out with a gentle caress of her nipples, soft, deep kisses across her mouth.

Soon, Deke felt her swell around him even tighter. Flutter. Gasp. Explosion was imminent. Damn, she was amazing. He wanted her to have this one…just in case the rest was too painful this first time.

Under his fingers, her cries became mewls. The mewls turned to pleas, then the pleas to a shout of spectacular release as her entire body bucked under him and her pussy gripped him like a desperate fist, nearly milking him of self-control and seed.

God, she looked beautiful, joined with him, surrendering all control to the pleasure…

Deke tensed against the promise of ecstasy teasing his cock. He barely managed to hold off. But he’d waited too long to be inside Kimber to treat it like a ten-yard dash. She’d waited too long for her first time for a rush to the end. Somehow, he had to make it special. Memorable. Even if she left him after the danger to her had passed, he wanted her to remember him. He wanted to be in her heart the way she was in his.

Once her peak of pleasure subsided and the walls of her sex caressed him with a slow pulse, then he drew back, all the way to the tip of his cock, and eased in. He set a pace like molasses—sweet, slow, designed to dazzle. From the very first stroke, she responded, gasping, tightening, staring at him in wonder.