“Damn, you’re pretty.” He cupped her breasts through her bra. “I’ve dreamed of how you’d feel.” He swished a thumb over first one hard nipple, then the other, sending sparks racing down to her center.

Ari shivered with a need she’d never known before, her core clenching for his touch, his mouth. She swore he must be able to read her mind as his hand followed the trail of sparks, down, down, down, to cup her where she was hot and so very ready.

“I couldn’t stop dreaming of how you’d taste.”

She opened her mouth for breath, but he’d stolen all of it. He was a man, not a boy. He didn’t fumble, he didn’t beg. He seduced her with a man’s desires, with words that made her tremble.

Hooking his fingers in the waistband of her leggings, it seemed as though inner conflict held him in its grip again for a long moment. She held her breath to see which way he’d go.

Finally, he eased them down, looking at her as though she could say no at any moment. As though he would actually stop if she asked him to.

“Please,” she whispered, a million miles away from no.

When the pants slid to her bare feet, she held on to his arms and stepped out of them.

“Beautiful.” He ran his hands from her rib cage to her hips. “Beyond beautiful.”

She blushed all over, her skin turning as pink as her cotton panties and bra.

“Kiss me,” he urged. “Show me how much you want this. How much you want me.”

She leaped to kiss him the way he demanded, opening her mouth beneath his, diving in. She wanted to climb his body, wrap herself around him. She felt primal, as though she was devolving into her animal nature. And he devolved just as quickly, growling deep in his throat, his hips thrusting against hers, his hands holding her tightly to him, taking her mouth like he couldn’t get enough, like he’d lost all control.

She was fumbling for his belt when he pulled back abruptly and held her hands still over his still-latched buckle. “Look at me, Ari.”

The command in his voice shot a thrill through her as she raised her eyes to his burning gaze. She’d never felt so desired. Sex had only ever been about the end game—get in, get off, get out—at least for the boys she’d known. Matt made it intimate and special, like in her dreams.

“Promise me you want this, or we’ll stop.”

She didn’t have to think, didn’t so much as hesitate. “I’ve never wanted anything more.”

His grin was slow…and utterly devastating. “In that case,” he said, “keep taking off my belt.”

She didn’t fumble, his eyes on her giving her bravery and grace. She pulled his buckle loose and had begun to unzip him when he laid his hand over hers again.

“Just the belt until I tell you I’m ready for more.”

Her fingers trembled with the need to hold him in her hand. And her whole body trembled with the sensuality of his erotic commands.

She ached to rip off his clothes and dive on him, but she loved that he made her wait. Then, finally, he said, “More,” his eyes lit by fire.

She left his jeans for the moment and slid her hands beneath his shirt, resting her palms on his stomach. “Like this?”

When he growled his assent, she skimmed her hands slowly over his abdomen, to the chest hair beneath the pads of her fingers, to his flat nipples. His skin jumped beneath her touch, and his hard body flexed against her belly.

Gathering his shirt, she pushed it over his head. Oh God, all that awesome flesh, all that power, was right before her eyes, his chest broad, his muscles taut.

“You make me crazy. This is crazy.” His voice rumbled against her ear. “But I want to savor it. I want to savor you. Don’t rush.” He slid his hands down her bare back, cupped her bottom, holding her long and hard against him, letting her feel what she did to him.

He was the definition of sensuality, enjoying every touch, every taste, every moment of her—making her feel like no other woman had ever mattered, only her.

He couldn’t know how badly she wanted to matter to someone. And in this moment, she truly felt like she mattered to him.

Her hands trembled as he put them on denim, helping her unzip and shove his jeans all the way down. Once they were gone, she stepped back, dying to see his erection, so hard, so big, outlined by only a thin layer of cotton.

“For you. Only for you, Ari.” When she shivered with the thought of him inside her, he soothed her. “Don’t be scared.”

“I’m not.” Not of whether they’d fit—he would be perfect—but of something else entirely. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

He lifted her high, and she wrapped her legs around him. The cotton between them barely a barrier, she felt the steel of him between her thighs.

“You could never disappoint me.” He knelt on the bed and laid her down in the middle. She sank into the thick comforter. “Don’t you know you’re special?”

She could barely think, certainly not well enough to answer a question like that.

He didn’t wait, simply ate her alive, kissing her until her lungs were starving for breath. He pressed her down into the bed, his weight like a blanket, like heat, like the stars above.

Slowly he kissed his way down her chin, her throat, her collarbone, until he reached the edge of her pink bra, flicking the clasp open with expert fingers. Inch by inch he eased the cups aside, caressing her with his tongue and the short whiskers along his jaw. His lips closed over her nipple and he sucked hard.

Ari cried out, arching deeper into his mouth, her hands fisting in the comforter. Her legs fell open, and his hips slipped between them, the hard pressure of his erection turning her insides to liquid and fire.

Now she knew that she’d only played at loving before. Because making love with Matt was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. His mouth on her, his hands all over her, his body between her legs—this was man owning woman, possessing her body, touching her soul.

He pulled the bra straps down her arms and blew a warm breath over the wet peak of her nipple. She shivered with need.

“Ari.”

She wanted to cry at the way he said her name, so tenderly, so gently, so reverently.

Working his way down her stomach, he layered every inch of bare skin with kisses. Her belly jumped in anticipation…and a little fear. She’d done this before, but with those two boys, it had felt clumsy and messy and wrong, and she’d just wanted it to be over.