“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he murmurs. When I can’t stand this lazy perusal any longer, he looks up. Sharp eyes. Laser focused. “May I take you to bed?”

“Yes!” I shout, and he breaks into a smile and bends forward and throws me over his shoulder.

I yelp as I’m lifted in the air, inches away from the ceiling, but soon enough I’m being lowered, my back gently hitting the mattress as Ryan comes over me, grinning.

“You sounded pretty eager,” he says.

“You left me so hot and bothered the other day—”

“I know.” His smile disappears, lips dipping in a frown. “Let me make it up to you?”

“You better.”

He kisses my forehead, then my lips, moving down—neck, chest, stomach, hip. I need no encouragement to let my thighs fall open, and I gasp when I feel his wet, warm tongue as he tastes me, sucking, sliding two fingers to stroke inside me. It feels as wonderful as it did the other day in the bookstore—but now there’s nothing between us, no holding back, no unwilling deception. He was right; this is infinitely better, and I’m so damn grateful for him, grateful that he was patient when I wasn’t ready…and grateful that he made us wait until we could be fully open with each other.

He’s still going slow, and I shift myself to guide him where I want him. When he hits the right spot, I suck in a breath. I’m about to say, “Do that again,” but he’s apparently gotten the message, because he repeats the same motion, circling and stroking, and the rhythm is perfect, the friction exquisite.

Somehow, he manages to continue exactly the way I want. Time stretches and twists until I have no idea how long we’ve been here, but I’m squirming and my legs are trembling and I’m making the kind of noises I’ve mocked in the past, gasping and groaning, pleading for him to keep going, don’t stop, just like that, oh my god oh my god yes yes yes. He’s relentless, holding me in place as the intensity builds and builds, waves on a stormy sea, until I crest the highest peak and tumble down, head over heels, crying out over and over again.

I’m shaking when I open my eyes to see his face over mine, blurry.

He’s smirking down at me. “I seem to remember someone suggesting that women don’t make noises like that in real life.”

“Apparently that’s because I’ve only had mediocre sex.”

He chuckles. “Not anymore. Only the best for BookshopGirl.”

I laugh, shaking my head in amazement. “I still can’t believe you’re RJ. That I’ve been talking to you all this time. It’s going to take me a while to get used to it.”