“We can go slow.”

“Yeah?” he asked as his heartbeat pounded in his ears. “You sure? I don’t wanna pressure you.”

“You’re not pressuring me.” She gave him a conspiratorial smile. “I’ll tell ya a secret.”

Even the lust pumping through his bloodstream couldn’t stop him from leaning in closer out of curiosity. “I like secrets.”

“I had Doc Philips prescribe me some birth control pills. Been taking ’em for over a month.” Tabitha’s smile grew wider. “That way it can be just us. I wanna feel you, all of you, with nothing in the way. We’ve had too much in the way for too long, don’t ya think?”

Wyatt was silent, his voice trapped behind the wild explosion of excitement. “You did that for me?”

“I did it for us.” Tabitha reached up and ran a hand down his chest, letting it stop to rest over his heart. She looked up at him, her eyes mirroring the same love and longing he felt. “I want it too, Wyatt.”

He nodded and said, “Okay,” because anything else was beyond him.

Wyatt kissed her, and Tabitha let him, opening wide to the thrust of his tongue even though he still had her taste on him. He didn’t know why he found that so incredibly hot, but he did. It made him lose track of himself as he dropped down, forcing her to bear most of his weight, but Tabitha didn’t seem to mind. She ran her hands down his back, tracing the muscles there as they kissed in hot, openmouthed desperation. He thrust against her, letting her feel the hard length of his cock against her thigh.

She tugged at his boxers in response, and he got the silent communication. He pushed them down, and Tabitha helped him get them off by hooking one foot under the waistband and forcing them past his knees. He finally managed to kick them off without breaking the kiss.

It was amazing how quickly things could get heated when they were alone, naked, and kissing. The warm, smooth slide of Tabitha’s skin against his. The soft sighs against his lips every time they parted for air. The way they moved and strained against each other. Wyatt was so far over his head with desire he likely would’ve forgotten his own name if asked. There was such intimacy about having Tabitha in his room, even if it was completely forbidden. It should have made him nervous, but it excited him instead.

No guy who loved being in the boxing ring as much as Wyatt did could deny being an adrenaline junkie.

Still he couldn’t shake the very real fear of hurting her. He had done the math a million times in his head, and he knew it was probably going to be difficult. He slipped a hand between their straining bodies and touched her again, hoping to somehow make her first time easier. He wanted it to be good for both of them.

“Heck,” Tabitha moaned and broke the kiss when he started rubbing his fingers against her clit in earnest. “You keep doing that, and we’re gonna wind up sidetracked.”

Actually, they were on the right track, but Wyatt didn’t tell her that. Instead he just kept touching her as he worked on trying to kiss every freckle he could find on her chest and the curve of her breasts. Tabitha clutched at the sheets. She tossed her head on the bed, and it didn’t take her long to come a second time. For someone who was outwardly reserved, she was actually a very responsive partner. Wyatt felt like it was his secret, something he knew about Tabitha that no one else did.

While she was still shaking with her orgasm, Wyatt pushed his fingers into her again, making her moan and move her hips against him, but her actions were languid. He could feel that all the tension had drained out of her body.

“God, you’re good.” Tabitha’s eyes were closed as she gave him free rein over her body. “I feel so amazing right now.”

“You look amazing too,” Wyatt couldn’t help but choke out as he looked down at her. He wasn’t nearly as relaxed as Tabitha. “Move up a little. Toward the pillow so we’re not both hanging off the bed.”

Tabitha blinked up at him and then gave him a slow, lazy smile, making it obvious she knew what he was really asking for. He returned her smile when she pushed back on the bed and made the shuffle to lay her head on the pillow. Wyatt moved with her and draped himself over her again. He rested all his weight on one hand and brushed the sweaty hair off her temples with the other.

“I wanna go to bed every night for the rest of my life looking down at you like this, all flushed and sexy and relaxed,” he admitted quietly. “I’m gonna get you out of that house and—”

“Let’s worry ’bout today instead of tomorrow.” Tabitha interrupted him by placing her fingers against his lips. “Right now. This moment. The only thing that matters is me and you. Now are you gonna make me yours or what?”

He smiled against her fingers. “Is that a dare?”

Tabitha arched an eyebrow in challenge. “It sure as heck is.”

He laughed and leaned in to kiss her yet again. At the same time he reached down between her folds, feeling her one more time before he decided it was now or never. Tabitha was about as relaxed as she was going to get. He shifted his hips and ran a hand down her thigh.

“Put ’em around me.” He breathed into her mouth and then groaned when she did as asked and cradled Wyatt between her legs. “I could die a happy man. This is the place I like to be.”

“You are always yapping.” Tabitha giggled. “I’m ’bout to agree with Clay’s complaints over it.”

“Hush, you like my yapping.” Wyatt took himself in hand and looked down to their bodies, so close together yet so far. He studied his large hand wrapped around his cock and admitted, “I’m nervous, Tab. What if it hurts you?”

“Oh, jeez.” Tabitha reached between them and covered his hand with hers. “Lemme do it, okay?”

Wyatt nodded and let go so Tabitha could guide him into her. He liked the way her hand looked wrapped around his dick. He moved his hips a little. Tabitha spread her legs wider, and then Wyatt’s breath caught when he felt her warm and wet against the head of his cock.

“Fuck.” He clenched his teeth against the tidal wave of lust that slammed into him.

Everything in him wanted to push forward and just drown himself in her, but he went slow, feeling her soft body wrap around his hard one. He rested his forehead against hers and squeezed his eyes shut to fight the pleasure that was slowly tearing away at his ability to form rational thought.

“Oh, Wy.” Tabitha released him to put her hands over her head. She held on to the headboard, using her hips now to bring them closer together. “This feels a heck of a lot better than your fingers.”

“Yeah?” Wyatt was breathless, his voice low and raspy at the feeling of being halfway in her. “Feels good?”

“God, yes.” She shifted under him with a low moan. “Push in a little bit.” She squeaked when he did it. “Shit!” she panted. “We fit.”

“Yeah.” He kissed her temple. “Sorta.”

“Yeah, sorta,” she agreed. Her breathing was as sharp and irregular as his. “Just a little more.” She moaned and arched her back. “God.”

He squeezed his eyes shut tighter to fight the carnal need to start moving. “It’s a fucking miracle I haven’t come from just this.”

“It feels good to you too?”

Wyatt didn’t know why Tabitha sounded so surprised by it. “I don’t think I’ve felt anything better in my whole fucking life. I don’t even think I could imagine something feeling this good before right now.”

“Just—” Tabitha was still shifting under him, arching her hips up impatiently. “Just do it. All the way. One time.”

“I can’t. I feel something.” Wyatt wrapped one hand around her hip to stop her from moving under him. “Maybe we should stop—”

“Just do it!” Tabitha demanded in a rare show of frustration. “Now.”

Wyatt did it.

He used his hold on her waist to move forward but then stopped suddenly when Tabitha screamed. There was a white-hot wash of fear that rolled down his spine, and he pushed up and looked down at her in horror. She had cupped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide.

“I hurt you,” he said in panic.

Tabitha shook her head quickly and took a sharp, hard breath before she moved her hand and squeaked, “No, it’s okay.”

“I don’t think it’s okay.” Wyatt tried to pull away, but Tabitha wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. “Oh, shit. I’m an asshole.”

“Shhh.” She took another shuddering breath. “I think it’s better now. It’s fading. I’m fine. We knew it was supposed to hurt.”

“But, I didn’t want it to hurt.” Wyatt tried again to pull away. “Are you bleeding? Jules said—”

“Just shh,” she whispered and put her fingers against his lips again. “You’re here, Wy. Lemme feel you for just a little bit. Come closer.” She relaxed under him and trailed her bare feet up the backs of his legs. “Slow.”

“O-okay.”

Wyatt followed Tabitha’s lead by taking a cooling breath and then made a valiant attempt to let some of the tension flow out of his body. He couldn’t deny it felt amazing to be in her. There was a little voice in the back of his mind chanting move, but he ignored it because this was his girl, and the last thing in the world he wanted to do was hurt her.

“I love you,” he whispered against her temple. “I wish it could hurt me instead of you.”

“I know.” She stroked a hand through his hair. “Just once, and it’s over now. That means we can do this whenever we want.”

“Really?” Wyatt couldn’t help the hopeful pitch in his voice. “You know I want it pretty much all the time, right? Probably not in your best interest to be telling me that. ’Specially right now. You do feel incredible.”

She laughed, which made Wyatt laugh, and somewhere along the way he ended up the rest of the way in, with her hips flush against his. He was suddenly so wrapped up in the warm, wet feel of Tabitha he knew he was going to look back on this night forever and know this was the first, perfect moment when he found out what heaven felt like.

“Kiss me,” she said softly when their laughter subsided.

Wyatt cupped her face and kissed her, gentle and reverent as he tried to remember everything about Tabitha as she was right now. “I love you so fucking much,” he whispered against her lips as he recovered from the shock of hurting her and started to really savor what the two of them were doing. “This is—” He kissed her again. “God.”

“Yeah,” Tabitha agreed and then let out a small moan as she nudged her hips against his. “I wonder what would happen if you touched me when we were like this. It always feels so good when you use your fingers and—” She stopped when Wyatt reached between them to find out. He found her clit and traced his finger in a small circle around it, making her gasp and jerk her hips. “Oh.”

“Shit,” he panted over her. “I can feel you move when—”

She tossed her head back and jerked her hips once more. “Heck, Wy. It’s good. It’s really good.”

He could feel her pussy clamping around him from the pleasure, and it was making everything a thousand times more intense. Now he was a lot more motivated with his touch. He rubbed her clit in firm, tight circles, and soon Tabitha’s breath was bursting out of her in sharp, hard pants of bliss, and he could feel her quivering both inside and out.

Wyatt had never been more turned on in his life.

When Tabitha climaxed with a shout, milking him from the intensity of it, he couldn’t help but move. He pulled out and pushed back in while she was coming, and instead of ruining the orgasm, it seemed to prolong it. Her fingers dug into his shoulders; her legs wrapped around him. She moved her hips with his as if compelled by that same hard driving force to reach for pleasure, to ride the tide for the next high that they knew instinctively was stronger, sweeter, and infinitely more intense.

Wyatt buried his face in the curve of her neck. He fisted the sheets and fought not to completely lose his head and take her as hard as his body was demanding. He wanted to claim her. Own her. Leave his mark on her. It was a raw, primal moment for Wyatt. He’d always known he loved her, but until now he hadn’t understood just how desperately he wanted to push her down on the bed and fuck her until he went blind from the pleasure of it.

It completely hazed his thinking, so much so it scared him.

Rather than give in, he just promised himself soon. Tabitha said they could do this whenever they wanted, and Wyatt hadn’t been joking when he said he was going to want this all the time.