“Black,” he said, his voice muffled as he kissed my neck.

I couldn’t stop laughing. “Yes, black.”

Matt came up for air long enough to look me in the eye. “You like it?”

“I love it. You look great. Beautiful. My beautiful night owl.” I fit my hand to the contour of his cheek. His eyes shone with happiness … and something a little darker.

He resumed kissing my neck, sucking hungrily on my bare throat. I moaned into the night. I was so right, I thought—I was going to get f**ked against my car. But Matt was barefoot. And Laurence was in the car. And there was food, and—

“Your skin tastes so f**king good,” Matt whispered. He dragged his teeth over my jaw. The way his tongue touched my neck … the way he pulled my body against his, forcing me to straddle his thigh … I groaned.

Through my coat, through Matt’s thin lounge pants, I felt his erection trapped between us. Oh, Lord.

“B-bunny … in the car,” I panted.

“Hm? You want it in the car?” Matt wedged me against the door. It felt like a sheet of ice. “How about against the car? Right here.”

“No, Laurence. Laurence. He’s in the car.”

Laughter overtook me, fueled by happiness and relief. Matt started to laugh, too. We were helpless with it, sagging against one another and the car.

And God, if it wasn’t heaven to see Matt laugh like that.

“Well, I’m not horny or anything.” He rubbed his face. “Goddamn, Hannah. I missed you so much.” He kissed my mouth. He slowed it down, rocking against me and teasing my tongue with his. I moaned and clung to him.

“Mm, birders … if you start moaning like that. Shhh.” He silenced me with a finger and peered into the car. “You really brought him. Crazy girl.”

“He missed you.” I grinned. I couldn’t take my eyes off Matt. With his black hair, he looked like a rascally Nate. Maybe he’d lost a pound or two, but I’d expected worse—an emaciated Matt with a limp and a chunk missing from his leg.

My relief swerved toward disappointment. Matt looked just fine. Gorgeous, strong, passionate—the same old Matt. He wasn’t wasting away without me. I guess I wasn’t wasting away without him, either. At least, not on the outside.

“What is it?” Matt caught me staring. He smiled uncertainly.

“Nothing.” I smiled back at him. He had the back door open and was working Laurence’s cage off the seat.

“Nothing, huh?” He returned to me. He slid a hand under my coat and got a handful of my bare ass. I squeaked. His eyes widened. “What … are you wearing?” Matt tried to get a look.

I tugged down my coat. “Inside!”

With a laugh, I broke away and headed toward the cabin. The food would keep in the car. The night was like an icebox.

Matt followed with the rabbit cage.

“Ah … wait!” he called.

I giggled and flew into the cabin. Hot air enveloped me. It smelled of cinnamon and pine and … something burnt. I wrinkled my nose. My eyes adjusted to the firelight. Votive candles glowed in a misshapen heart formation on the dinner table.

On the far side of the room, a huge spruce slumped against the corner. From it emanated the powerful scent of pine. A bit of ribbon drooped around the tree’s middle.

Either I felt hysterical or this was seriously funny, because I found myself hugging my belly and fighting new waves of laughter.

Matt backed into the cabin. He hefted Laurence’s cage and kicked snow from his pants. “Let me explain.” He slid the cage onto the coffee table. He was half laughing, half crooning to the terrified rabbit. “Hey, little guy. It’s okay. Too hot for you? You’re too fat, is what it is.”

Matt adjusted the thermostat, then pulled me back into the circle of his arms.

I smiled up at him. Dear God, I’d missed this handsome face, this strong grip.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” he said, the edges of laughter in his voice, “and happy Valentine’s Day. I made a snack.” He hooked a thumb toward the table. I glanced over his shoulder. It was Valentine’s Day, wasn’t it? I had forgotten.

In the candlelight, I saw two paper plates, a bag of Wonder Bread, a jar of peanut butter, and one spoon. I pressed my lips into a line to keep from laughing.

“Oh, sweetie. Wow. And … a tree.” My mouth twitched. “Did something burn?”

I was still acutely aware of Matt’s arousal pressed against me. His fingers gathered up my coat as we spoke. I trembled against him.

“I was making pasta. I threw it out. It came out all … weird. Hannah, what—” Matt’s fingertips trailed over the tops of my thigh-highs. Again, confusion flashed through his eyes. He began to undo my coat, freeing one button after another and finally throwing it open. I swayed on my heels. Fuck …

Matt’s expression grew serious, and my own giggly mood floated into oblivion. Already, my chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. My ni**les stood stiff against the mesh cups of my slip. I lowered my eyes.

“Do you … like it?” I whispered.

How did this work? Matt’s desire seemed to suck the sound out of the room, and the breath out of my body. And he was only staring. I peeked at him through my lashes.

The look I found on his face is with me forever. It was need mingled with satisfaction. A hunger in his eyes, a thin smile on his lips.

Matt wanted me, and Matt already had me. I was his.

He pushed the coat from my shoulders and it flopped to the floor. I dropped my purse. Matt shucked off his T-shirt and I stared at his torso.

I came alive then, flattening my palms to his chest. His heart knocked under my hand.

“Yeah,” Matt said. He nudged me toward the wall. I let him move me; I yielded easily and started to pant. Heat gathered between my legs. “Yeah … I like it, Hannah. I like this…”

He pinched my nipple through the polka-dot fabric. I moaned. My hands flew to the drawstrings on his pants. He grinned down at me as I fumbled with the knot.

“I like this,” he whispered, shifting out of my reach and slipping a hand between my legs. My thong was soaked. Matt pulled it down. He unclipped my garters and let my panties slide down my thighs.

“This.” He squeezed my ass with both hands. I squirmed.

“Please.” I reached for his pants again. It was humiliating, being the only one exposed, and I wanted … I wanted to see Matt’s need. I wanted him naked.

Again, Matt moved his h*ps out of reach. He chuckled and pressed my back into the wall. I stamped my foot.

“So precious, Hannah. So f**king sexy. Touch your br**sts … your ni**les.” Matt trained his green eyes on my chest. “Do it, and I’ll take off my pants.”

I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes, lifting my hands to my br**sts. Matt always embarrassed me during sex. And some part of me … loved it.

“Eyes open, look at me.” His voice tickled my ear.

I forced myself to meet Matt’s gaze as I squeezed my br**sts. He tilted his head. The tent in his lounge pants said he was enjoying the show, but f**k, I wanted to see his body. When I rolled my ni**les between my fingers, I gasped and Matt’s mouth dropped open.

“God, Hannah.” He pushed off his pants. He braced a hand against the wall and gripped his shaft. My eyes broke from his. I drank in the sight of his sculpted body, his stiff cock, his strong thighs. “This … is how it was, wasn’t it? You touching yourself … me touching myself.”

My eyelids fluttered.

“It was,” I said. “Not anymore.”

“Not anymore.” Matt touched my face. He turned me gently to face the wall and rested his shaft along the cleft of my backside. “Can you tell, Hannah?” Matt gathered my hair with one hand. He kissed my ear. “Can you tell I like it, your tight little lingerie?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

“How? How can you tell?” Matt slid his sex up my crack. I pushed out my bottom and clenched my cheeks to grip him. Matt hissed. I grinned. Two could play at this game.

“The way you stare,” I said.

“Mm, what else?” He kissed the corner of my mouth. Lightly, he teased a fingertip over my sex. My desire oozed down his finger.

“Your cock,” I said quietly. I knew that was the answer he wanted.

“Yes. What about it?” Matt rewarded me by lazily circling my entrance with his finger. He pushed his chest against my back, and my heaving br**sts met the wall.

“Hard,” I mumbled.

A whisper of laughter crossed the nape of my neck. I reached back and gripped Matt’s hips, trying to draw him closer to my body. His c**k throbbed against my bottom.

“That’s right, Hannah. You make my dick so f**king hard.”

I moaned and tried to drive my body onto Matt’s finger, but I couldn’t move.

Matt released me suddenly. My heavy hair fell around my shoulders; the pressure of his body eased and air rushed into my lungs. And then he dragged me down.

Chapter 18

MATT

Fuck … the lingerie. Fuck.

My brain went haywire when I looked at Hannah.

“On the floor,” I said, pulling her down with me. Not for a moment did I let my c**k lose contact with her skin. Hannah’s pert ass gripped me—that little devil—as I pressed her onto her hands and knees. I climbed over her.

It was easy, that position, and so intimate. My limbs were longer than Hannah’s. I was stronger, firmer, taller; she fit under me perfectly.

Hannah tried to part her knees on the floor, but her thong constrained her. I tugged on her hair. She moaned and lifted her head.

“I’m going to f**k you on the floor,” I told her.

She stilled beneath me. “Yes, please,” she said in her softest voice.

“I’m not going to come. Not here. But I have to remember…” I reached between my legs. I positioned my head against Hannah’s sex. That touch—her wet cunt brushing the most sensitive part of my body—sent a violent shiver through me.

“Get on my dick,” I growled.

“Matt…” She began to rock back, the tiny motions sliding her onto my cock.

I have to remember how this feels.

“Good, that’s good,” I whispered. “Come on. That’s it…” I didn’t move. I let Hannah take her time, and she took her time. She pushed backward, then slid off me, then back, again and again. Our harsh moans mingled.

At last, Hannah sank onto me fully. Her satin thighs pressed at mine. Her ass fit snugly against my abs. And her tight pu**y held my cock. She quivered below me.

“I love you,” she murmured.

“Hannah, I f**king love you so much.” I bit her shoulder.

We didn’t move—not much. I reached under Hannah and lifted her tits. She circled her h*ps subtly, moving my dick inside her.

I pinned Hannah’s hand to the floor. I thrust into her once, slowly, and we moaned. Goddamn … I should have rubbed one out earlier in the day. I was never going to last.

Hannah met my second stroke with a backward push. I snarled. “Fuck. Hannah … fuck. I changed my mind. We’re going to come. You’re going to make a mess for me. Right here.”

I began to move in earnest. I got up on my knees and held Hannah’s hip; I snaked a hand beneath her to tease her clit.

Her sex clamped around mine. Already? I gazed down.

One look at Hannah’s body in that tight getup and I needed to come. I thrust frantically, watching my c**k and her ass, the curve of her spine, her swollen pu**y. Excitement rushed through me. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop moving. Hannah was here—under me. For one weekend. Not long enough.

My pace grew punishing, my thrusts brutal. I poured my anger and frustration into that f**k, and Hannah bucked and moaned in response.

How could she live without this? I couldn’t.

“I need … to come,” I managed. “Come for me, Hannah … come.”

“Don’t stop,” she panted. “I am—I am—” And she did. With a cry, she convulsed and tightened, the pressure of her body practically painful on my dick.

I swore and released. My pleasure spilled into Hannah; her pleasure dripped over my hand and ran down her inner thigh.

She always made a mess for me.

We collapsed across the floor. I rolled Hannah’s body onto mine and lay there gasping. She curled on top of me and held me.

“I was…” I laughed. Some of my anger evaporated in our afterglow. “I was … planning to draw that out a bit more.”

Hannah giggled. “Me, too.”

“Oh, yeah?” I tugged on a garter strap. “Is that why you wore this? I just about spontaneously combusted, Hannah.”

“I think that’s exactly what you did…”

“Hey, now.” I slapped her bottom. “I wouldn’t put too fine a point on it.” I stood and lifted Hannah easily. She wrapped her arms around my neck.

“We have plenty of time,” she murmured.

I carried her around the room. My sweet little bird.

“Mm … plenty of time.” One weekend.

Laurence watched us in a mild state of alarm, and when we noticed him watching, we laughed all over again. The things that rabbit has seen …

I set Hannah on the couch, dressed, and retrieved her things from the car. It took three trips. She had a suitcase, a cooler, and about seven loaded grocery bags.

She smiled each time I returned.

“Hannah.” I frowned at the pile of stuff. “You know I have food, right?”

“Hm?” She shrugged and hopped off the couch to inspect my tree. The f**king tree. After I cut it down and hauled it into the cabin, I realized I had no base for the massive thing. Hence standing the tree in the corner. It looked like a joke.