He never imagined she’d be the one to reassure him. “Baby, come here,” she said, disobeying his unspoken request and holding her arms out to him. He’d have been the dumbest son of a bitch alive not to go into them.

It wasn’t too hard, in that moment, to almost understand where Brian was coming from now in his need to stake a claim with his woman, to make her his and his alone. Truth of the matter was, though, that it made no difference how much you gave her, or how many rings you put on her finger; there was always a motherfucker around the corner just waiting to try to entice her with a better deal. Didn’t he f**king know it.

Even as he relaxed into her embrace, despair ate a hole in his gut. It couldn’t last. But he couldn’t fight it. As much as he liked taking her control away, her arms around him and her soft body welcoming his stole away every last bit of his own. With only a few words, a touch, she’d brought his ragged beast to heel under her own gentle command.

She hadn’t come here to f**k him; she’d come here to make love to him. He wasn’t ready for that yet.

“It’s all going to be okay,” she whispered, stroking his back.

He inhaled the overwhelming sweetness of her skin and hair and released his breath on a shudder, trying to get a grip before he just f**king lost it, right here, right now. There was so much, too much shit flying around his head…and maybe this had been an epically bad idea to expose her to it.

“Turn over; let me up.”

No use arguing with her. He rolled, pulling her with him. Maybe she wouldn’t look at his face too much. God only knew what she’d see.

Planting little kisses along his jaw, she lifted her hips, letting him slide out to just the last half-inch. He groaned, clenching his hands on her ass in an effort not to shove her back down. Slowly, so damn slowly it curled his toes, she sank again. Inch by inch until she’d taken him all and he’d broken out in a sweat.

“Oh God,” she gasped. Her warm palms captured his face, and her lips melted over his. Then, as she lifted and sank again, she pulled her head back and stared right at him, lips parted, eyes glazed with pleasure. “Oh.”

“Macy…” Heaven. She was a little piece of heaven wrapped around him to offset the hell in his head. Her body moved with fluid grace as she began to love him…it was the only word for what she did. Every withdrawal brought her lips back to his. Her scents—like cupcakes and sex—swirled in his head, and he could drown in the dark luxury of her heavy silken hair falling around him.

A little faster now, but still gently, she rode him, seeking the angle that told him she was reaching her peak and needed to fly. So much for his hope she wouldn’t look at him much, because she stared right in his f**king eyes, hers like burning amber glazed with pleasure and need.

“Fuck, that’s good,” she said, and it was so unexpected he almost burst out laughing.

“Aren’t you glad you didn’t run screaming?”

“Wha…? Oh.” She gave a breathy laugh, apparently remembering her comment about his piercing. “I am. So freaking glad.”

“Turn around.”

“Huh?”

He urged her up with a gentle push on her hips. “Turn around, cowgirl. You’ll see.” Curious uncertainty flashing in her eyes, she did as he told her, putting her back to him. He reached between them and positioned himself at her entrance, both of them groaning as she sank back down, swallowing him whole.

“Fuck,” he breathed. Running his hand up her sides, he drew her back until she lay atop him, turning her head for a kiss as he caressed her belly and br**sts. It was a welcome break from her probing gaze, and, given her whimpers and the minute gyrations of her hips on him as he lay perfectly still, he knew his piercing was resting at her sweet spot.

“Seth,” she moaned against his mouth. “I need…” Her pu**y pulsed around him, involuntary spasms that were going to drive him out of his mind.

God, yes, she needed, and he wanted to be the one overseeing the fulfillment of those needs from now on. He took one of her hands and slid it down over her belly. “Play with your clit, Macy.”

The disadvantage was that he couldn’t see as she obeyed. He felt her hand leave his, heard the tiny, moist sound of her fingers finding their target and her answering sigh. In little increments, he began to move. It was all she needed—for him to work the very spot he was at. Her fingers explored lower and touched his dick where it disappeared inside her, and the shock of it jolted up his spine, made him growl, made him tighten his arm around her waist.

“I need you to come, baby, before I blow,” he said in a rush at her ear. “Need to feel you squeeze me while I’m hard and deep.”

“Yes.” The brush of her fingers left him and returned to working the little bud he couldn’t wait to kiss and tongue and suck later until she screamed. He told her all about those plans while she sighed and moaned, trembled and jerked, until finally she broke over him. Her body undulated in waves while he left control in the dust and took her in long strokes that sent her cries higher and milked his own release from him in great heaving spasms that took all the stress and heartache with them—at least for the moment. Her weight collapsed onto him just as the last shudder rent him.

But she didn’t stay. She slid off him and curled at his side, her body still shaking so violently he was compelled to turn and wrap her in his arms.

“Are you okay?”

She only nodded, clinging to him. He didn’t push. It had been f**king intense for him, too, and he couldn’t have articulated it, so there was no reason to make her attempt to do so.

As quickly as he was able, he took care of the condom. Then, reaching over her, he pulled the lower half of the bedspread away from the mattress and tossed it over both of them, snuggling her closer into his chest. Just in case her shivering wasn’t only emotional in nature.

And if it was? If she was as affected by what was happening here as he seemed to be?

He gripped her tighter. Her smooth leg slid over his, and her arm went around his waist, her head nestling under his chin. Warm breath gusted against his shoulder. So much for his grand, smart plans to keep her at a distance. Here in this little cocoon, the world didn’t matter, and seemingly anything he’d ever thought or felt before didn’t matter either. He would f**king die for this girl.

“You’re too good for me,” he whispered. Not really what he wanted to spout at the moment, but it was what came out.

“Don’t say that.” Her voice was still small, husky, breathless.

“I know. It’s lame.”

Her head lifted, and clear hazel eyes met his gaze. “I want you. And I’m an uptight bitch, remember? I don’t tend to want things that aren’t good enough for me.”

“An uptight bitch? Who the hell ever told you that?”

“No one ever had to tell me that.”

“For an uptight bitch, you’re pretty damn selfless.”

A grin teased at the corner of her lips. “You think I don’t have my own selfish reasons for being here?”

“Well, so did I, for that matter. So, how about admitting neither of us is perfect and getting on with life.”

“You brought it up.”

“It was an observation. Correct but irrelevant.”