She nodded, and I kissed up her neck to her swollen lips. Swollen from the rough treatment I gave her not long ago. Holy shit she must be sore everywhere. Even still, she lowered her arms, reached between us, and rubbed me over the crease of her sex.

When she kissed me, she moaned quietly against my tongue. “You taste like me.”

“However could that have happened?” I asked, nibbling her bottom lip.

Angling her hips, she pushed up into me, suddenly demanding and urgent.

“Easy,” I whispered, pulling back and sinking into her slowly, groaning into her neck. “Don’t go too fast.” Fuck. She even felt like honey, smooth and sweet. “So good. Always so fucking good, Chlo.”

“How did you know?”

I paused for a moment as I pulled my hips back, interpreting her question. “How did I know you’re sore?”

She nodded.

It was her favorite game, the one where I told her every tiny thing I noticed. I paid attention; she loved it.

“You rode my fingers pretty hard earlier.”

She hummed, eyes closed and hands running down my back.

“And I wasn’t particularly gentle in the restroom.”

“You really weren’t,” she whispered, turning her head to suck on my shoulder.

I started an easy, steady rhythm moving in her. “So just now, when I put my mouth on you? I wasn’t surprised you were a little swollen.”

“Close. Faster, please, baby,” she gasped, but I didn’t pick up speed.

“Not faster,” I objected, lips near her ear. “It’s the slow sex that drives me most wild. It’s when I can feel you best, hear every sound you’re making. I can imagine how we might look beneath the blankets, where I’m moving in you. I think about how many times I’ll make you come. I don’t have all of those thoughts when I’m fucking you hard in a bed, or in a bathroom of a casino.”

Her breath faltered, and she held it, silently begging me to get her there. She ran her hands up my back, around my neck to my face. I felt the cool press of her engagement ring, thinking holy shit, this woman is going to be my wife, have my children, share my home and my life. She’ll see me grow old and most likely insane. She’ll promise to love me through all of it.

I lifted myself above her, arms straight so I could watch what I was feeling, moving inside her. But her hands cupped my face, brought my attention back to her eyes.

“Hey.”

I tried to catch my breath, felt sweat drop from my forehead onto her chest. “Yeah?”

She licked her lips, swallowed. “I am so in love with you.” Her thumb slipped into my mouth and I bit down sharply, causing her to let out a tight moan. “And whatever happens outside of this, of us like this . . .”

“I know.”