No, he’s a words man, an observant bastard with a fighter’s instinct. He digs in deep and forces you to face yourself, demands strength and craves fearlessness.

Pretty sure he craves me.

The possibility has my body tingling.

My eyes open and I sit up in bed considering my options.

Two perfectly good hands or a brooding boy with jade eyes and a six-pack. Not to mention, the serious girth he teases me with when wearing basketball shorts.

Yeah ... easy decision.

His door is cracked when I reach it, so I sneak inside, quietly closing it behind me.

“What do you want?”

I jump and look around but don’t spot him, so I push off the frame and walk farther into the room.

He’s got his forearm leaning against the wall, staring out his window at the empty night like I had been the other day.

Only he’s ... I follow his other arm, finding his hand hiding behind the thin layer of fabric at his waist.

My eyes snap to his and he turns, leaning his shoulders against the wall.

His hand stays where it’s at.

“What are you doing?” I breathe and he arches a brow.

“What are you doing?”

Fuck the scratchiness in his voice has my toes curling into the carpet.

“Whatever I want.”

His tongue slides out to lick his lips, his teeth scraping across the bottom one as it disappears back into his mouth. “Imma need you to break it down for me.”

I lower my gaze, making sure my eyes touch every inch of his chest and stomach on their way down.

If I was standing against him and looked down, I might get a glimpse of what he’s holding onto.

“Raven.”

My eyes dart up.

Right.

I push forward until I’m a foot in front of him. “If there’s ever a night where I get to do something that might be real stupid, it’s tonight.”

“How do you figure?”

“’Cause tomorrow, I can pretend I was too drunk to remember ... if I wanna forget.”

“What’d I tell you about using me to forget?”

“This is so different and you know it.”

The muscles in his bicep, the one leading to the hand on his junk, flexes and my core tightens.

“What are you trying to say, Raven?” he rasps, lazily tipping his head to the side, he stares and a chill runs over me.

Which makes no sense because I’m hot all over.

His hand starts moving, up down, up down, the only sound heard in the room the silk of his boxers as it scratches against the roughness of his knuckles.

My hands find my thighs and plant there.

“You wanna forget whatever it is you came in here for?”

“I don’t know yet,” I breathe, pushing up on my toes, trying to get a better look.

He groans lightly, squeezing himself in his palm. “Not good enough.”

“It’s all I got. It’s honest.” I pull my shirt over my head and drop my bottoms to my ankles, kicking them somewhere on the carpet. Stepping into him, I place my naked chest against his.

Instantly, his free hand shoots around me and slides down the curve of my ass.

“All you got,” he rasps, leaning down to speak against my neck. He blows hot breath across my collarbone and my nipples harden against his skin. His tongue comes out, sliding across my neck. “So this, us in my room tonight, would be you giving me ... all you have to give?” He’s slow to bring his head back and locks his eager eyes on mine.

His gaze is penetrating, fighting to slip past the surface I’ve polished in cement over the years.

I tense, but only for a moment before I nod my head in response.

My fingertips slide inside the elastic of his boxers, skating to the center, ready to relieve his hand of its work and take over. But then he pulls it back, and it finds my ass like the other. I’m jerked forward.

He grips my ass in both hands and pulls, demanding I jump and wrap my legs around him.

His mouth meets mine and holds. “Then I’ll take it.”

Finally, his lips press against mine, right as my back hits his mattress, my legs falling open for him to settle between.

They’re hard and greedy, needy. Just how I want him.

He groans and slides his mouth across my jaw before running his lips down my neck. He kisses right where my breasts dip, then runs his tongue to my right nipple, swirling it around, before pulling it between his lips.

My back lifts a few inches, my head diving deeper into the pillow.

When he pinches my left nipple, I gasp, my knees coming up to rest against his ribs, heels touching his ass.

That sets him off.

With a deep growl, his mouth rips from my chest and crashes against mine, his dick slamming into me at the same moment.

I cry out and he jerks inside me and holds there.

“I’ve been waiting to slide inside you, Raven,” he whispers against the hollow of my neck and I shiver beneath him. “So fucking soft. So damn wet.”

A whimper leaves me when he flexes inside me.

His hips do all the work. With each thrust timed just right, perfectly deep with a slight grind when he’s at his deepest, it doesn’t take long for pressure to build.

I scrape my nails down his back as incentive and he responds like I knew he would. Wild. Crazed.

He jerks back, quickly making his way to his knees. He grips my hips hard and yanks me down. He holds me steady, my ass off the mattress completely, and slams his hips against me.

I’m frantic, gasping, and I try to reach for him but in this position, I can’t, so I grip my own breasts and squeeze.

He growls, using one of his hands to slide up my pussy and stomach until his rough fingers can wrap around my neck gently.

It sets me off more and my hands shoot up to grip his wrists.

His thumb brushes along my skin as his eyes command mine. “Come for me,” he rasps, and with one more thrust I am, my toes curling into the mattress, and he’s right there with me.

He lets his knees slide back so he can fall on me, pushing in as deep as he can and holds. His forehead against my breastbone.

After a minute or two, his tongue flicks across my nipple and I jerk, making him chuckle.

I hit his shoulder and he rolls off but doesn’t move.

Me either.

My eyes peel open and I groan, bringing my hands up to run over my face when I freeze and look beside me.

I sit up, blinking into focus.

Empty bed, no panties on the carpet.

I frown, shaking my head.

I knew when she came in here last night what we were about to do, so did she. To be real, I’m surprised it took so damn long, but I knew her stubborn ass would cave and accept her body was mine to play with.

Clearly, her head still doesn’t agree.

Irritated, I stand and pull on some clothes and head downstairs.

Captain is sitting on the couch, holding his head. He looks up. “Hey, man.”

“’Sup.” I walk around, adding an extra scoop to the coffee today, and lean back to wait for it to brew.

Grumbles come from the stairs and both me and Cap grin as Royce walks in, his eyes hardly even open.

He throws himself back on the couch beside Captain, dropping his head back. “Excedrin me. Fucking please.”

I grab the bottle of pills and a water and drop beside them.

Cap turns on the TV and we sit like zombies a minute when a door opens upstairs, then bare feet hit the stairs. My eyes lift when her legs come into view, then more of her with each step taken.