He catches up to me just as I’m climbing the steps. Once we hit the top, he grips my hips. “And how do you know that?” he growls in my ear.

I breathe him in—that scent I’ve missed for far too long makes me feel a little dizzy. I stabilize myself and take my keys from my purse. “Because I missed you too.”

Then I turn to face him. He’s staring at me, his eyes gleaming. “That strangely makes sense,” he says, and takes the key from my hand before leaning in to place a soft kiss on my lips.

The heat between us intensifies and he pulls away, caressing my cheek and motioning for the door. When we get to it, he quickly shoves the key in the lock. I stand behind him as close as I can and rest my chin on his shoulder to peer down.

He twists his neck around to see me. “What are you doing?”

I grin, liking the feel of his body so close to mine. “Making sure you know how to unlock the door.”

“You know, I could use a little direction,” he says.

I press closer into him. “You insert the rod into the hole,” I whisper into his ear. My voice is low, raspy with desire.

His body stiffens and his breathing is rough.

I close my eyes and feel a rush of excitement. “Next you turn it and pull it out.”

He twists the key ever so slowly. “Like this?” he asks in that husky voice that makes me throb between my legs.

My own breathing picks up and I’m shamelessly panting. If I never understood kinetic energy before, I do now. He grabs the door handle and quickly pushes it open, ushering me by him at a rapid speed. I take the key from his hands. “Then you—” I start to say as I turn around to lock the door, but I’m silenced when his hard body meets my back.

He grips my hips and his lips find my neck. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

I try to catch my breath, but all my air is gone. I let my head fall back on his shoulder. “I’m sure. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

He flips me around and runs his hands down the side of my body. “Do you have any idea how badly I want you?”

“Show me just how bad,” I breathe huskily over his lips.

His eyes close and he shudders.

“Ben, stop thinking.”

His eyes open at the sound of my voice, and they have never been bluer. “I’m trying to figure out if we should be doing this after everything that happened tonight.”

I bring my hands to his face. “He didn’t attack me. I wasn’t really afraid, just startled. I’m okay. This is okay,” I reassure him, my body aching for him in a selfish way.

He stares into the depths of my eyes and brings a hand up to stroke my cheek. “We’ll take this slow.”

I slide my lips to his hand and kiss it, nodding.

And again he stares into my eyes. And then as if he can’t take another minute of restraint, he slides his knee between my legs. My chest rises and falls with an intensity I’ve never felt before. He brushes the hair from my forehead and softly kisses above my bandage. I wrap my arms around his neck and throw my head back as he feathers kisses down my neck. He kisses behind my ear, and a hum of some kind escapes my throat. He groans at the sound. My breath is shallow but fast. Finally he moves to my mouth. My lips part and when he presses his to mine, I slide my tongue inside his mouth and across his lower lip. I want to explore every part of his gorgeous mouth and I want him to do the same, but I know my breath must smell really bad right now.

“Ben?” My voice is shaky.

He pulls away to search my eyes.

My palms flatten on his chest and I can feel his heart pounding. “I need to brush my teeth.”

Obviously fighting off laughter, he presses himself into me and kisses me even harder, deeper. “You taste delicious. You always do,” he says.

I melt back against the wall and band my arms around his waist. “You sure?”

“I’m sure,” he chuckles.

“Okay, then.”

“Besides I don’t want to wait another minute to see you naked,” he growls, and then promptly lifts me off the floor.

I flick my shoes off one at a time and hear each clatter against the floor. Then I wrap my legs around his waist and ask a question I already know the answer to. “Where are we going?”

He slides his hands up and down my sides. “To your room.”

“I liked the wall,” I purr.

“If I f**ked you against the wall, I’m afraid you’d bang your head against it. Let’s keep to soft surfaces like the mattress. I told you we were going to take this slow, and besides, we’ve already done the wall.”

I place openmouthed kisses down his neck, tasting him with each lick and suck. “What if I don’t want slow?”

“Good thing I’m the one in control, then,” he says, and my heart races at his tone.

“Maybe that’s where I want to be,” I tease and run my nails down his back—hard.

“Fuck,” he groans, lowering me to the floor in my bedroom. “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”

“Did I tell you I’ve dreamed about you almost every night since the library?” My fingers trail to the buttons on his shirt and I undo them one by one.

“Tell me what you dreamed,” he says in a seductive voice.

“I dreamed about you delivering pizza to my apartment but I had no money to pay you, about you pulling me over and me trying to get out of a speeding ticket, about you being my doctor and me needing a very thorough exam.” Okay, so really I dreamed about him and me lying together, naked, happy, just us, but I want my dreams to sound a little sexier than they actually were. And I don’t want to scare him off.