into the sun and the warmth was washing over him. He’d felt nothing and now he felt everything. His nerves were on fire, his dick was granite. She tasted sweet and salty with a floral note beneath. His hands roamed, taking in those curves as she thrust her tongue into his mouth and stroke it against his. The kiss—she was fucking glorious, and he was on fire and—
A throat cleared.
Loudly enough that it told him that it wasn’t the first time the person had tried to get their attention.
Stef stiffened in his arms, her wide eyes coming to his.
He released her, bent to pick up the bucket, needing it because . . . fucking erections like he was twelve years old. Positioning it in front of him, he turned to face the person who interrupted them. The usher appeared all of eighteen, and though his cheeks were pink, he didn’t look at them as he pushed the trash can by them.
“Did you want,” Stef asked, her own color high, “to throw—”
Ben shook his head.
“You—”
He glanced down, back up, lifted a brow.
Her cheeks went pinker. “Ah.”
Fucking cute.
Fucking not helping his situation.
“Did you want—”
His eyes shot to hers. So help him God, if she tried to get rid of the popcorn container, he was going to use her as a shield. Especially since it didn’t seem like his erection was going to recede anytime soon.
Not with her swollen lips. Not with her fucking squeezable ass . . . right there.
So not helping.
“—to go back to my place?”
His cock surged again, and he almost felt dizzy from the amount of blood gathering in the southern portion of his body. As thus, it took him a moment to gather his thoughts, to be able to speak.
Enough for him to see that disappointment creep into her face.
“Or not—”
He took her hand, drew her against him, rocking his hips against her ass, knowing it was crude and not giving a shit since it felt so fucking good.
“My place is closer,” he breathed into her ear.
She shivered, ass tilted back. “Okay then,” she murmured.
Then she took his hand and led him from the theater.
Chapter Thirteen
Stef
He held her hand the entire way back to his condo, one rough finger stroking the inside of her wrist, shivers sliding up her arm, through her middle, and down between her thighs.
She was dripping wet.
She was aching.
Then he parked and opened her door, tugging her up and toward a bank of elevators. A swipe of a card. A code punched into the keypad.
The steel doors opened.
They stepped inside.
And then he was on her.
His body pinning her against one wall, his hands beneath her ass, lifting her so she was propped onto the railing, her legs wrapped around his hips, the fabric between them doing nothing to blunt the hard jut of his cock.
She rocked against it, and he hissed out a breath, the warm puff of air hitting her lips just a heartbeat before he pressed his mouth to hers.
Another kiss, sinking deep into her, pulling her into another dimension where everything felt right and perfect and . . . as though she’d known this man for an eternity. As though she could continue kissing him forever.
The doors opened on an absurd ping, and they took a while to pull away from each other, Ben finally drawing back enough to clamp a hand around one of the metal panels when it began to close on them. Grinning, he tugged her off the bar, leading her out of the small metal death box and into the hall . . . or not the hall.
Into an . . . entryway.
Stumbling, she glanced around, brain trying to process mirrors and marble and a large thick white rug that had to be hell to keep clean. “This is your place?”
“Yup.”
His fingers tight on hers, he drew her down the hall, past a huge kitchen with sleek white cabinets and gray countertops, past a sunken living room filled with a giant TV and a large gray sectional, past a—
Growling filled the air.
“Fuck,” Ben hissed, yanking her behind him. “Careful,” he said. “I’ll grab her and—”
A tiny, fluffy white ball of adorableness sprinted down the hall, her growl far too fierce for her size, the sound of it echoing down all the marble.
He bent, but the pup dodged around him, fur ruffling under his fingers when he released her hand to snag the dog.
“It’s okay,” she said, kneeling down to meet the little pupper. “Hi, baby.” She extended