Her throat closed up and her eyes watered. But she put on what she hoped was a sensual face. “I know.”
He pressed a kiss to her lips that, considering their position, was surprisingly sweet. “Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, babe. Tell me what you need. Because I won’t leave you frustrated.” His hips flexed, dragging his erection over the folds of her sex and instinctively, she lifted herself up. His tip lodged firmly against her center and she gasped, her legs shaking again. “One way or another,” he promised, “I’m going to make you scream with need.” And there was nothing sweet about that.
It was hard to breath. Because he meant it. He meant every last word and in that moment, she fell in love with him. How could she not?
She lost her half-hearted battle with gravity and sank down onto him. For a long moment, they both sat still, breathing hard. Renee couldn’t think, couldn’t feel anything but Oliver inside of her, Oliver filling her. He was a part of her now. He always had been, but this?
“Woman,” he growled again. “I can’t—I need—oh, God.” His fingers dug into her hips and he lifted her up before guiding her body back down again. She moaned as he filled her.
“I had no idea,” he ground out, the cords on his neck standing out as he held himself in check. Then he caught her left nipple in his mouth and tugged, ever so gently, while she rose and fell and rose again. Each pull of his lips drew an answering pull from where they were joined and she was helpless to hold on to anything but him. “That’s it, babe,” he growled, moving to her other breast. “Take what you need.”
And she fell a little bit more in love with him because he was waiting for her. And even if he came first, he’d still take care of her. He wouldn’t leave her behind. She wasn’t just here for his pleasure. He was here for hers, and that? That made all the difference in the world.
She lifted his face and kissed him with everything she had. He groaned into her and that sound of pure need was her undoing. Renee came apart in his arms, her body going tight around his as the wave crested and broke over her.
She collapsed against his chest, unable to do anything but breathe hard as he thrust up into her, his hips moving harder and faster. “Renee,” he said, somewhere between a groan and a shout. “Babe!”
She clenched her inner muscles at the same time she bit him on the shoulder and he made a noise of pure animal pleasure, so raw and desperate that she came a second time as he gave her everything he had.
Legs and arms everywhere, they didn’t move, except for the panting. “I had no idea,” Oliver said, his voice shaking. He leaned back and looked at her. “Okay? Or do you need something more?”
How could she not love him? Because no one—not a single one of her previous boyfriends—had ever asked. And if she’d tried to ask for something else, they’d taken it as an insult to their manhoods. It was her fault if she hadn’t come, not theirs.
But Oliver was a different man. A better one.
God, it’d be hard to leave him when the time came.
But that was still a ways off. Hopefully at least a few more weeks. She didn’t dare look further ahead than that.
Right now, she was going to live in this moment for as long as she could.
“Better than okay,” she said, kissing him again as she lifted herself free. “So much better.”
Oh, she liked that grin on him. Then, because on some level, she was apparently still ten and he was still thirteen, she added, “But we might need to try that again later, just to be sure this time wasn’t a fluke.”
His eyes popped open in surprise and she tried not to laugh, she really did—but that was a battle she lost. A second after she started giggling, he narrowed his eyes to slits and he would have looked dangerous if he hadn’t been smiling. “Why, you little tease. You know what I’m going to do?” He caught her in his arms and she wondered if maybe he hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said five minutes—maybe even just three—earlier.
“What?” She barely got the words out because he took her breath away.
“I’m going to...” He cocked his head to the side. “Do you hear something?”
“What?” That wasn’t romantic. Or seductive. That didn’t even count as basic flirting.
But then she did hear something. A steady, insistent beeping. Then another beep joined in with the first one, louder. Closer.
Her mind was still sluggish from the climaxes, so it took her a second before the beeping penetrated. Oliver got there first. “The smoke alarms!”
“The cookies!”
Seven
Renee scrambled off his lap and grabbed her top, but Oliver didn’t even bother with clothes. He went streaking out of the bedroom at a dead run, his legs still a little wobbly from the sex.
Dear God, if she burned the whole damned house down...
He went skidding into the kitchen. For the second night in a row, smoke was curling out of the oven and hanging in a low cloud against the ceiling—but no flames. Thank God for that.
Oliver moved fast. He grabbed the oven mitts and turned the oven off before he snatched the cookie sheet out of the oven. Still no flames. Just carbonized cookies. Again.
These smelled even worse than the ones from last night. He didn’t want to dump them in the sink and there were still dozens of cookies covering every flat surface.
Thankfully, Renee came running into the kitchen. “Door!” he barked, the oven mitts getting hotter the longer he held on to the cookie sheet.
Coughing, Renee turned and ran. Oliver had to wonder where
