She purred. Honest to goodness purred in response. And then, sweet Mother of God, she crawled all over him. She kissed and tickled and massaged her way across his entire body, until he was wound so tightly he could hardly breathe for fear of exploding. When he couldn’t stand one more second of the sweet torture, he grasped her waist and lifted her off him. She stared down at him, her eyes huge and black with need.

“My turn,” he growled.

Rolling over swiftly, he returned the favor, kissing and nipping and tasting every last spot he’d fantasized over for the past two months. Day and night. Wet. Dry. In the pool. In the mud. Hell, in the shower.

“Let me know if you get cold,” he muttered.

“Griffin, my problem at the moment is that I’m burning up. I need you inside me in the very near future.”

He nearly lost it then and there. But he managed to pull back from the brink by dint of sheer, stubborn will. Jaw clenched against the agony of holding back the lust pounding through him like a jackhammer, he managed to dig a condom out of his wallet and get it rolled on without coming like an overeager schoolboy. But it was a close thing.

Finally, at long last, after an eternity of wanting this, he positioned himself between her silken thighs and planted an elbow on either side of her head. He stared down at her, memorizing the moment for all time. He never, ever wanted to forget this feeling. Whatever the future might bring, they had this moment together. And he damned well wanted to make it perfect.

“We’re good?” he asked.

“If that’s SEAL speak for confirming consent, birth control, and freedom from STDs, yes. We’re very, very good.” She looped her legs around his hips and gave a muscular squeeze.

He laughed under his breath. “I don’t think there’s any official protocol for asking a fellow SEAL for consent to have sex.”

She smiled up at him, and he pressed into the tight, slick heat of her body ever so slowly. As he stared down at her, her smile faded, replaced by dawning wonder. Awe. Blinding joy.

If he thought she was beautiful before, it was nothing compared to her now, lost in the throes of pleasure, her internal muscles clenching and unclenching around him, sending ripples of such sweet agony through him that he could hardly stand it.

Finally he paused, seated to the hilt within her.

She smiled, and her eyes drifted closed as if the pleasure was too much for her to bear, too.

He moved his hips a little, pulling back slightly. She made a sound of protest in the back of her throat, and then he drove forward gently.

“Oh my. Do that again,” she sighed.

“Like that?”

“Yes. Definitely yes. Again.”

Chuckling, he complied.

That drew a full-throated groan from her this time.