The light breeze lifts strands of Mia’s hair, and as it floats around her face, I place one hand against her neck and guide her mouth to mine. We kiss deeply, our tongues moving together, as a thousand emotions erupt inside of me. One thing becomes abundantly clear: I’m in love with Mia. Maybe I have been all along, but my head is just now figuring out what my heart has always known. My pulse pounds in my ears as the depth of this moment rushes over me. Mia lets out a small moan of pleasure, and I force myself to break the kiss.

“Gremlin…” I growl.

She opens her eyes, lazily, and blinks at me.

“It’s time to get home.”

She can hear the desire in my rough voice, and she nods twice.

When the ride comes to a stop, I help her off, and we hurry back to the Jeep. I need her like I’ve never needed anyone.

***

Mia pushes her hands into my hair and leans up on her toes to kiss me. Taking firm hold of her wrists, I remove them from my hair and bind them behind her back, which makes her breasts jut out. “Undress and wait for me on the bed,” I growl.

She whimpers, but as soon as I release her, she does as I’ve instructed, removing her clothing piece by piece while I watch. We are each learning each other’s sexual tastes and fantasies. She likes it when I take charge. I make her wait, turning and heading into the closet where I pull off my T-shirt and toss it into a basket. When I emerge with my shorts unbuttoned, and riding low on my hips, Mia’s eyes grow wide. She’s lying on her side in the center of the bed, waiting for me, just as I knew she would be.

“Beautiful,” I whisper, laying down behind her and running my fingertip along her spine. When I reach the top of her ass, she shudders and pulls in a breath. “Shh,” I admonish. “I’m in charge, remember?”

She squirms on the bed, ready for more contact, but I won’t give it to her, not yet anyway.

“Tell me what you want,” I whisper, placing my lips at the base of her neck.

“You,” she breathes.

“You have to do better than that.”

“This,” she says, pushing her ass back to grind against my erect cock.

The lush curve of her soft ass pressing against me feels incredible. I’d be content to just lay here and let her work herself against me, but I know we’re both craving more. I lift her top leg and place it over mine, opening her to my liking.

“Are you wet for me already?” I ask.

We’d made out heavily in the Jeep—with her grinding in my lap—before we drove home. Putting her in her own seat and buckling her up was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I wanted to take her hard and fast, not giving a single fuck that we were in a parking lot for an amusement park. Luckily, common sense won out.

Mia moans and reaches between us to stroke me, touching the head of my cock to her opening so I can feel just how ready she is for me. The hot, pleasurable sensation cuts through me like a knife.

Goddamn.

I growl out a curse as she uses her own moisture to rub me from base to tip.

Planting a damp sucking kiss at the base of her neck, I press my hips forward, stimulating her clit with the head of my dick. “Are you ready for me?”

“Please,” she cries.

Easing myself in behind her, I give her everything she’s asked for.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mia

I can hardly believe three whole months have passed since I surprised Collins by showing up on his doorstep with almost everything I owned. It’s even harder to believe how things have turned out since then.

Collins and I share the master bedroom. We have for a few months. It still feels a bit odd to have so much space just for a room to sleep in, but when I pointed this out to Collins, he got a smug grin on his face and grumbled that he planned on doing a whole lot more than just sleeping with me in this room. He’d definitely delivered on that promise.

Saturdays Collins and I usually spend the day together, however, today he has some loose ends he has to tie up at work, so we won’t be meeting up until later.

I lay in bed, still in a lazy Saturday morning haze, when Collins emerges from the bathroom, clean-shaven, wearing jeans and a T-shirt.  He sits down next to me on the bed and leans over, brushing a stray hair back from my face.

“I can get up and eat breakfast with you,” I say and start to sit up, but he pushes me back.

“Don’t. Stay in bed. I’m running late anyways. I’ll eat on the way. Sorry I have to go in,” he says, kissing me gently on the lips.

“It’s okay,” I smile, hoping to wash his worry away. “You’ve been working hard on this business deal, and I know it means a lot to you. Besides, we still have tonight.”

“Mia, you’re too good for me.”

I shake my head. “Just good enough.”

That gets a smile from him.

“I’ll see you later.” He steals one more kiss before rushing out the door.

As I watch Collins go, it hits me how lucky I am to have him. Despite being close to him my whole childhood, our relationship now is on an entirely different level. We connect better emotionally and physically than I ever dreamed. I love him deeply, and though we haven’t flat out spoken those words yet, I know we both feel it. I feel it when he holds me close and whispers promises to take care of me. He feels it when he’s in the mood to discuss his mother, and I listen patiently and hold his hand. We are there for each other in all the ways that matter.

I hug his pillow to my chest, and breathe in his musky scent that still lingers. He is my rock, my savior, and at times, my comic relief. He’s always seen something in me that no one else has. Starting the first day we met. Me, in last year’s pants that were two inches too short and a second-hand T-shirt. But Collins didn’t see any of that. He saw the girl beneath. My mother said I had a heart of gold, and while my father always warned that it doesn’t get you very far in life, Collins saw inside me and he loved all of me, which made me feel whole. I could just be me and not worry that all my classmates had designer clothes, and yet my family scraped by to make ends meet. It never occurred to me that I might not measure up, because to him, I always have.