When he used his bulk to push her back against the bed, she let him. They never broke the connection. If anything, it got more intense as he arched his hips against her, letting her feel the hard outline of his cock through his jeans. She just clutched at his shirt and savored the feel of his tongue pushing into her mouth and brushing against hers over and over, finding that she still liked being under him.

They kissed like wild, frantic teenagers, as if they were back in Wyatt’s room and hiding from the world. Everything was exactly how she remembered it, and it left her feeling like the person she once was before life burned her. Her towel fell open, and she would have been too far gone to notice if the brush of Wyatt’s cotton shirt against her nipples hadn’t forced her to arch into him. She was suddenly hypersensitive and wound tight. Her fingers were in his hair, and she clenched them tightly as a tremor of pleasure seized her.

Wyatt grunted in response and broke the kiss to study her face as both their chests heaved from the unexpected cataclysm of desire that exploded between them. After several breathless seconds, he looked down at her completely bare beneath him, making it obvious he’d noticed the towel falling to the wayside, probably before she had.

She didn’t feel fear or shame when he groaned and became blatant about studying her naked body, but she did feel the hot flush of desire that burned her neck and cheeks at the flare of possessiveness that shone in his eyes. Wyatt’s breathing was harsh as he lowered his gaze and stopped to stare hungrily at her breasts. Then he leaned down and sucked on one taut pink nipple as if it was too much a temptation to resist. It was all happening really fast, but it didn’t matter. She tossed her head back against the pillow at the lightning bolt of bliss and unexpectedly found her voice.

“God, Wyatt!” she shouted, because she’d forgotten how good it felt to have his mouth on her.

She pushed her fingers into his short hair once more. She was panting. Her body was already tense with the need for release, and every tug on her sensitive nipple sent a white-hot rush of pleasure straight to her center.

Nothing existed but the need for more of everything. For one day, Tabitha was free from what felt like a lifetime of post-traumatic stress, and she seized it like a woman starved. What made it even more amazing was Wyatt met her every step of the way. His hunger was palpable. His need was overwhelming and humbling. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she felt more loved and feminine than she did as she watched Wyatt worship her small, pert breasts that were never anything to brag about.

Then he pulled up to tug at the neckline of his shirt, and Tabitha helped him get it off. She didn’t have a chance to admire his cut, muscular form before he fell over her, forcing the air out of her chest from the weight of his heavy body, but who needed to breathe? The warm press of his bare skin against hers had Tabitha clinging to him. She turned her head to the side as he kissed and licked at her neck once more.

“I need you,” he groaned into her ear. “I’m sorry. I can’t wait. It’s been too long, and—”

“I need it too.”

He lifted his head as a look of uncertainty crossed over his handsome face. “I wasn’t kidding before. I haven’t done this since—”

“It’s okay.” She winced, finding that the tears were threatening despite the yearning. Her voice was choked as she admitted, “I haven’t either.”

“I guess we’ll just have to relearn together.” He gave her a hesitant smile. “Won’t be the first time, right?”

The tears spilled over without warning as she remembered what was once beautiful and perfect. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, don’t,” Wyatt pleaded, the tears sounding in his voice too. “I don’t wanna cry right now. Let me love you instead. We’ll take a rain check on the rest.”

She nodded silently as she fought the urge to come apart. Wyatt reached up and rubbed a thumb over her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut against the emotion, but she still felt his gaze on her. When he kissed her again, she tasted the salty tang of tears, but she wasn’t certain if they were hers or his.

She ran her hands over the thick ridges of his back muscles, savoring the feel of his warm skin. The sound of Wyatt reaching between their bodies to undo the button to his jeans and then pull his zipper down sent little darts of anticipation through her, and she found herself reaching down to help him push his pants off.

When there had been so much separating them for so very long, she needed to be skin to skin with Wyatt, stark, honest, with nothing between them. Once they got his jeans and underwear past his hips, she hooked her feet under the waistband and helped him kick them off.

They were still kissing, with Wyatt’s tongue pushing into her open mouth over and over again. Bare skin against bare skin, she could feel the hot slide of his thick cock against her thigh. She remembered that he was big, that’d it been a challenge at first, but now it was likely an issue once again when it’d been so very long.

“I’m gonna get you off first, okay?” Wyatt whispered when his lips broke away from hers. He placed a kiss against the curve of her neck as if having the same thoughts she was. “It’ll be easier if you’re really wet and relaxed, because I’m not sure how slow I’m gonna be able to go once we get started.”

“I’m really wet now.” Tabitha panted, hating the idea of Wyatt having to rein himself him. “I think it’ll be fine.”

Wyatt’s hand slipped between their straining bodies, because they couldn’t seem to stop moving. It was as if they were instinctively trying to come together. Tabitha kept shifting under him, alternating between spreading her thighs wide and then wrapping her legs around him, letting her feet trail down his strong thighs.

His touch was soft as he rested all his weight on his other hand and pushed up a little to give himself the room to maneuver. He traced the line of her wet folds, making her squeeze her eyes shut.

“You weren’t kidding.” Wyatt’s voice was a low rasp of need. “You really are wet.”

“I want you,” she admitted as he slipped one finger inside her. She arched into the feeling of it. “God, Wy.”

“Christ.” His groan was almost pained. “We’re definitely gonna have to get you off first. You’re way too tight.”

Tabitha wasn’t sure why he was such an expert when he just admitted to having exactly as much experience as she did, but then she remembered Wyatt always did seem to have a knack for these things. He found the spot inside her that had stars bursting behind her closed eyes, and she gasped from the feeling.

“You want my fingers or mouth?”

She moaned and tossed her head to the side when she remembered what it felt like to have Wyatt’s mouth on her. Just the memories were enough when all she could feel was his warm skin and his knowing touch. All she could smell was the blend of her shampoo and his aftershave. All she could hear was the sound of their low, labored breathing as he relearned her body.

“I think I’m gonna come,” she admitted with an embarrassed moan. “I’ve had a really hard week, and I haven’t had time to touch myself. It’s all pent up, and being with you again is making me—”

“Tab, shh, you don’t have to explain yourself.” His touch moved up to her clit, soft and featherlight, as if he knew too much stimulation would overwhelm her. “Better?”

Tabitha clutched at the sheets and arched her hips into his touch as a low, keening sound of pleasure burst out of her. Words were gone, obliterated completely as Wyatt rubbed her clit like it’d been thirteen hours instead of thirteen years since they’d last done this.

“Just let go.” Wyatt’s touch grew faster, a little firmer, making the need wind tighter. His voice was husky with a hunger Tabitha thought she’d never hear again as he groaned and said, “God, I used to love to watch you get off from my fingers. Seeing you get all flushed and sweaty and desperate while I touch you, it’s still one of my favorite fantasies to jerk off to.”

Tabitha reached out to him blindly, needing to touch him as she strained for completion. She wrapped her arms around those wide shoulders and pulled Wyatt closer as she arched deeper into his touch and moaned from the fight for completion.

“You’re beautiful, baby,” Wyatt groaned against her ear. “Fuck, but I’ve missed you.”

Tabitha came with a shout, her entire body shaking from the force of it as she clung to Wyatt and rode out the wave after wave of pleasure that crashed over her. It was wild and shameless and one of the most amazing things she’d ever experienced in her life.

When the rush started to ebb, Tabitha ran her hands down Wyatt’s back, still holding him close. “What else do you think about?”

“Huh?” Wyatt’s voice was dazed.

“When you touch yourself? What else do you fantasize about?”

“Oh.” Wyatt swallowed hard, the quake of suppressed need making it come out in something close to a croak. “Everything, really. Seeing you. Touching you. Tasting you.”

“Fucking me?” Tabitha asked, sensing he was holding back.

“Yeah.” Wyatt shuddered in her arms and pressed his lips against her shoulder. “I think ’bout that a lot. Just completely drowning myself in you. Feeling you all around me. I miss it so much.”

It was Tabitha who guided him to her, because she thought about that too when the loneliness got to be too much. What it felt like to be so totally connected with Wyatt it was as if they were wrapped together into one, and she needed it desperately. Even if their souls were broken and fragmented, it felt like if they could just come together again, they’d fill in all those cracks and holes and be one whole, perfect soul instead of two damaged ones.

Wyatt really was a big man, and Tabitha was extrasensitive after such a powerful orgasm, but somehow they still fit. His cock stretched and filled her, and the pleasure was so white-hot all she could do was moan and push her hips up to take more of him.

His large hand held her hip as he took her slow, despite Tabitha shifting against his hold and begging for more. By the time he bottomed out, they were both panting and breathless. So full. It felt as if he had been made to be in her.

If he didn’t move, Tabitha felt like she’d die.

Fortunately the moment seemed to shatter the tight hold Wyatt had on his control, and that dangerous tiger he’d warned her about surged to the forefront. With a growl of defeat, he pulled out of Tabitha, only to take her hard the second time. She gasped from the reverberating surge of bliss it caused, and that seemed to be enough for him. He took her again before she’d even had a chance to catch her breath, and the pleasure was even more shocking the next time.

This wasn’t a gentle reunion; it was a claiming and rough in a way neither of them anticipated. Wyatt held down her hands and took her body over and over again with feral growls of pleasure. He dragged Tabitha along with him on the sea of ecstasy even if it felt a little like he was punishing her. It was harsh and filled with hurt, but they were together and that was so much better than being alone. She still felt safe and wrapped up in him until all she could feel were the strokes of his body moving in hers, every single one pushing her higher and higher until she was shaking with the need for a second release.

It became too much for Wyatt, and he stiffened over her with a furious gasp, making it obvious he hadn’t planned on it. Tabitha was afraid she’d have to finish another way, but then he leaned down and demanded in a harsh rasp against her ear, “Do it. Come for me, Tabby.”

And she did, just like that, Tabitha bowed to the pleasure. She came because he told her to, proving that his hold over her hadn’t lessened in time. If anything, it was more encompassing than ever.

They rode out the storm together, trembling in each other’s arms as Wyatt’s hips slammed into hers to the hard, erratic pulse of his orgasm and her body milked him in response. Then Wyatt was over her, crushing the air out of her chest and panting in her ear. She just savored the feel of being pressed into the mattress and holding him as tight as possible as he took several minutes to come down from the high.

When his breathing finally evened out, Wyatt said, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Tabitha assured him. “It was perfect.”

“I don’t think it was perfect. It was quick and messy and not at all how I pictured it. I need more time.” Wyatt pushed up, making his massive biceps bunch as he looked down at her in concern. “Once’s not gonna cut it, Tab.”