Sara pressed a hand over her heart. “I . . . I . . .” She swallowed hard, determined to be able to say what she felt in her heart in this moment. “I love you, too, Shane. Since you came to check on me in the dressing room that night. Right now, it feels like my chest can’t possibly hold it in,” she finally managed in a fast whisper.

“Don’t cry, Sara,” he said with a small smile.

The emotion flowing through her was so big, so intense, she had to let some of it out. “I can’t help it. I’m just so happy. I never dared to hope . . .” She wound her arms around him and held him tight. And Shane held her right back. “I love you,” she whispered again. “Please make love to me.”

Shane let out a groan so low and sexy it was almost a growl. “Just tell me what you want, sweetness. How I can make this good for you?”

Arousal fogged her thoughts, but Sara knew what she wanted. “Can I, um, be on top?”

“Fuck, yes,” he said licking his lips. “What else?”

Sara wasn’t used to talking so graphically about sex, and she certainly wasn’t used to someone’s wanting to learn what gave her the most pleasure, but it was just another reason why she felt safe taking this step with Shane. “I want to do so many things with you,” she said. “But right now, I really want you inside me.”

“Your wish,” he said in a rough voice as he worked at the remaining buttons on her shirt. “If you tell me to slow down or stop, I promise to do it immediately.” He helped her slip the cotton off her shoulders, then he rolled to the side and kicked off his jeans and boxers.

Holy crap, Shane was gorgeous everywhere. His cock stood thick and veined, and another time she was going to revel in learning the contours of him with her tongue. Needing to feel him, she grasped him in her hand and explored the heavy weight of his length from base to tip. A deep groan ripped from his chest that made her need him more urgently. “Mmm, I’m going to enjoy you,” she said.

“God, Sara, you are so fucking sexy, I am losing my mind right now.” He leaned up and captured her lips in a powerful kiss. “Stand up, sweetness.”

Intrigued by the mischievous look on his face, Sara smiled and stood at the side of the bed.

In a flash, Shane sat up and swung his feet to the ground on either side of her legs. He slid down her panties, dragging kisses along her legs until they fell to the floor. Then he wrapped strong arms around her thighs and worshipped her belly and hips with soft, sweet kisses that made her smile.

Shane’s mouth dropped to the apex of her thighs. “Just one taste,” he said. And then he pushed his tongue into her folds, finding her aroused clit on the first wet swipe.

Sara gasped and nearly screamed in pleasure.

No one had ever done this to her before, but he’d given her so little warning, so little time to get nervous about it, that his amazing tongue had already enslaved her to the wet, fast, flicking sensations before she’d had a chance to think about it at all.

“Should I stop?” he rasped.

The withdrawal of his tongue nearly made her cry. She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled him close. “Don’t stop. Please.” Sara would’ve bet every dime she owned that it couldn’t get better, but Shane returned with a vengeance, licking and sucking until she couldn’t stop moaning. One of his arms continued to hold her thighs closed tight, forcing his tongue to hit the exact right place over and over and over again, while he brought his other hand around to open her just the smallest bit more to his mouth.

A sob of pleasure ripped up Sara’s throat. She pulled his hair in an involuntary reaction, and Shane groaned.

The room spun and Sara felt dizzy with mind-blowing and totally unexpected pleasure that spiraled tighter and tighter in her belly.

“Oh, oh, something is, Shane—” The orgasm slammed into her so hard that she saw stars and couldn’t make a sound, as if she were frozen in suspended animation. His mouth still pressed to her core, Shane unleashed a groan of satisfaction as his tongue slowed and licked her lazily a few more times.

He leaned back and looked up at her with blazing eyes and wet lips. “I could tongue you all day long,” he said, his chest lifting and falling.

“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt,” she said, glad he’d taken the initiative. Had he offered, she almost certainly would’ve said no. And then she might not have learned the incredible intimacy and indescribable pleasure of having the man she loved pleasure her with such singular abandon. Reaching between them, she grasped his cock, slick at the thick head. “I want you in me, Shane.”

He patted her thigh. “Let me get a condom.” He crossed to a duffel and, bending over, sorted through an inside pocket. His ass and thighs were corded, lean muscle. He turned with a square packet in his hand.

“Thank you,” she said, glancing at the wrapper and grateful she didn’t have to have an argument about this. For once. Bruno had hated to use condoms. And though Crystal was on birth control—which was . . . back at her apartment—she suspected Bruno sometimes strayed and had wanted the extra protection. Thank God she’d never caught anything from him.

Shane kissed her hard and deep, and it was an erotic rush to taste the salty-sweet of her own flavor in his mouth. “I’m clean, sweetness. But I will protect you every way I can.” He tore open the packet and rolled the condom on. So sexy. Then he stretched out on his back on the bed.

For a moment, she got tied up in admiring the graceful, hard lines of his muscles. And then he held out a hand and helped her onto the bed. She straddled his thighs, and she wanted him—wanted this with him—bad. But the moment his cock brushed the inside of her thigh, a stray arrow of panic darted through her, and she froze.

Shane was right there with her. He sat up and stroked her hair off her face, his expression concerned and affectionate. “There’s no rush, Sara. There’s no expectation. I could ride the high of making you come with my mouth for a week and be perfectly happy. Don’t do this for me. Do it for you.”

“This is for me. I promise.” She leaned down and kissed him, and accidentally rubbed herself against his erection. But there was no panic this time. “You,” she said. “You take it all away, Shane. When we’re close like this, I feel so safe.”

He nodded. “It’s amazing to hear you say that.”

Looking into his heavy-lidded gaze, Sara reached between them, centered his erection, and sank down. She was so wet, she took the head of him in easily. But then she froze again, like her body was waiting for something bad to happen. Not with Shane. Never with Shane. He was so in tune with her body, he’d brought her the greatest pleasure of her life.

Shane rubbed her cheek with the back of his hand. “You honor me to even give me a chance,” he said.

His words loosened the band of fear holding her in place, and she slid down farther, and a little farther, until she was fully seated in his lap, his cock deep inside her. And then something amazing happened. Her brain, her body, and her heart all connected the dots and realized she had chosen everything about this sexual experience. The man. The moment. Even the position.

The revelation drained the fear-borne tension from her body and allowed her, for the first time in years, maybe for the first time ever, to give herself over with abandon to the pursuit of ecstasy.

She had to move. Hands on his shoulders, she rode his cock, alternating between fast ups and downs and grinding rocks that dragged her clit against his hard belly. Shane drew up his knees behind her and met her thrust for thrust, moan for moan. Her body felt almost frenzied in its freedom. Nothing forcing her. Nothing restraining her. Nothing controlling her.

Except, in that moment, she craved more of Shane’s affectionate touches. One of his hands braced against the bed behind him, and his other wrapped loosely around her hip as if to steady her. Love flooded through her as she realized he was probably keeping his hands off to avoid scaring her. She reached for his arm, and he gave her his hand. Sara brought it to her breast, and said, “I need your touch.”

Shane instantly complied, like he’d been desperate to touch her. He cupped her breast and stroked at her nipple, then drew the peaked flesh into his mouth. Pleasure ripped through her as he sucked and flicked, as his hands caressed and gripped with urgency.

“Oh, God,” she rasped, as Shane stroked and cradled her while she took him in deep again and again.

“So pretty, Sara. Make me so fucking happy,” he said in a low voice. The words made her heart expand in her chest. He groaned and grasped her hips, urging her to slow. “You’re so good. I’m going to come too fast,” he said, panting.

“It’s okay. Come,” she said. “I want to see it, feel it.”

Shane’s eyes flashed hotter still. And then they were racing together toward a steep cliff. With a restrained groan, Shane threw his head back, his orgasm jerking and pulsing inside her. The man’s face, always handsome, was exquisite when he came, full of raw, open passion that she’d caused.

Watching him fall apart shoved her body toward her own orgasm. “Oh, my God, I think I’m going to come again,” she rasped.

“Fuck, yeah,” he said, satisfaction rolling into his eyes. He gripped her hips and rocked her back and forth, creating incredible friction between her clit and his stomach. “Come on me, Sara,” he said.

For a long moment, she dangled right on the edge, then she was falling, flying, soaring through space. And when she fell to earth again, Shane caught her in his arms. Even as their chests heaved and their blood raced, Sara’s heart filled with peace and love and acceptance. “I love you, Shane.”

Still deep within her, he pressed a warm kiss over her heart and looked up, his expression full of adoration and contentment. “That’s good, darlin’, because you’re stuck with me now.” He collapsed back on the bed, bringing her down on top of him.

She yelped in surprise and laughed until her eyes watered. “Well, that doesn’t sound like such a hardship,” she said, grinning. Sara lifted off his lap and allowed him to dispose of the condom, then they fell back in bed together, tangled in one another’s arms.

Guilt threatened to wind its way into her little bubble of happiness, but this one time, she refused to let it. She believed in Shane, and he’d saved Charlie. They would bring Jenna home, too. Knowing Shane loved her made Sara that much more hopeful that they would succeed.

What happened after that, Sara didn’t know. For so long, she’d been convinced that the only way she could escape Bruno and Church was to leave Baltimore and never look back. But she never expected to find a reason to want to stay.

And not just any old reason. She’d fallen in love with a man who loved her back. A good man. A sweet man. The only man she’d ever want to have.

But once they got Jenna back from Confessions, Sara wasn’t sure she could do anything to place her in harm’s way again. And that meant leaving. Didn’t it?

Sara blew out a long breath, her thoughts whirling.

“You okay?” Shane whispered.

“Yeah,” she said.

“We probably have a little time. Wanna sleep some more? It’s gonna be a long day.”

Between the amazing orgasms, the incredible sex, and conquering of her fear, Sara did feel worn-out. Add the warm comfort of Shane’s strong body, and Sara really didn’t want to move. “That’d be nice,” she said. Even if she couldn’t fall asleep, she’d rather lie here with him than do anything else.

Shane tugged the covers back over them. “Then sleep, pretty girl. I’ll be right here with you.”

The words squeezed Sara’s heart with love and loss. Every part of her believed he’d stay by her side, which was miraculous and amazing and more than she’d ever hoped for. But that didn’t mean she could stay by his.

If it was in Jenna’s best interest—and if Jenna wanted to go—Sara wouldn’t talk her out of it a second time. And then Sara would have to be the one to do the leaving behind.

A FEW HOURS of sleep later, Shane talked Sara into a shower together. It had been filled with wet kisses and soft caresses under a stream of warm water. Fucking perfect. Another first for her, she’d told him, streaming a deep sense of male satisfaction through his blood. But as much as he’d enjoyed learning that, he’d find even more pleasure knowing he’d be her last—for everything.

When they were clean and dressed—Sara in clothes Becca had loaned her—Shane guided Sara to the gym so they could touch base with the team and plan for the day. They found everyone there—the whole team, Jeremy, Miguel, Becca, and even Charlie had made it over.