boats where she stood. “You came,” she said, looking into dark eyes she’d never been more relieved to see. She couldn’t even begin to explain why she felt so close to tears.
Jake placed his backpack on the floor and emptied his keys, wallet, and travel documents on her small entryway table.
Then he stepped over their debris and lifted her into his arms. “I did, love. And the look on your face says I made the right call.”
His lips were so close to hers that she could feel his breath as he spoke. “A very good call.”
“Yeah? Because I’m happy to write that first kiss off as shock. But a second kiss. I don’t know if there’s any coming back from that.”
His lips hovered above hers.
“Then kiss me, Jake.”
Jake pushed Cassie up against the wall. The groan she released as their bodies pressed together revved his engine, as did the familiarity of her in his arms. His lips were on hers, not in the practiced, gentle way in which he’d greeted her downstairs, but with the violent need he hoped showed her how much he’d missed her.
Cassie’s hands threaded into his hair, her nails scratching his scalp as he took everything she was willing to offer. Using his hips to keep her pinned to the wall, he reached between them, grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head.
“Fuck, I missed you,” he gasped, throwing the T-shirt on top of the bags.
He peppered kisses along her jaw, down her neck, even across her collarbone. He reacquainted himself with the smell of her, the softness of her, the way she always seemed to want him exactly the way he wanted her without being told.
“Bed,” Cassie gasped, as he licked between her breasts.
“Take your bra off,” he instructed, carrying her to the bed that lay against one wall, banging his elbow on the fridge as he walked by. By the time he lowered her to the crisp white bedding, she’d done as he asked.
He grasped her breasts, pressed them together, switching between them, licking, sucking, and blowing on her nipples.
“Get naked, Jake.”
He loved it when she told him what she wanted. “Same.”
They quickly undressed each other. She fumbled with his belt, and he nearly fell trying to remove his sneakers with his jeans around his thighs. Cassie groaned as he shimmied her khakis over her thighs and down her legs.
“Socks,” she said randomly, before taking them off and throwing them across the room, and it struck him as the oddest item of clothing to worry about.
But when she lay naked, gasping for breath as a result of their efforts, he realized it didn’t matter what came after, what they had to do to be together. Because this, the two of them, were perfect together.
Jake crawled to the foot of the bed. “I missed us, Cass. I missed the way you drive me half out of my mind with need. I missed the way your hands feel on me. I missed the way it feels like fucking heaven opens and rains down on me when your body moves against mine.”
He settled between her thighs and they both groaned.
“Fuck, I left my condoms in my bag. One sec.”
“Wait.” She reached over to her side table, opened the drawer, and grabbed one before handing it to him.
By the time he’d pulled it on, Cassie’s head was back, her eyes closed. “Eyes, love,” he said quietly.
And when Cassie opened them, he saw everything he needed to know. Whatever sacrifices were needed, he’d make them. This time when he lay down between her thighs, he gripped her knee and pulled her thigh up to his hip.
“Ready?” he asked.
Cassie nodded and reached between them. The touch of her fingers on his aching cock made him throb in anticipation. She rubbed his head against her opening, an agonizing back and forth.
“How badly do you want me, Jake? Because I ache for you.”
Fuck. He couldn’t wait any longer, and nearly seated himself inside her in one thrust. “Christ, Cassie. You feel too good.”
He slid out and pushed again until his balls pressed against her ass, until her hips were wide open to him. Barely moving, he rocked against her, keeping the need to come at bay.
Cassie ground against him, her lips enveloping him as she moaned. “Yes, Jake. Oh, God, it feels so good.”
His entire body was strung out, on edge. The feel of her wetness grinding against him had him gasping for breath. “Love. This isn’t going