“SEALs know how to do everything in silence, you know,” he teased.

Her eyes flashed open. “I dare you to make love to me and not make a single sound,” she retorted.

Grinning from ear to ear, he nodded. “Challenge accepted. First person to make noise loses.”

And with that, he set out to win. She surged up against him in time with his thrusts, and they established a rhythm that all but made his eyes fall out of their sockets. She was strong and met his power with equal enthusiasm. The sweet friction of body on body, sweaty skin on sweaty skin, hot flesh sliding on hot flesh was mind-blowing.

She bit her lip and then clapped a hand over her mouth as the pleasure built between them. He pressed his lips together so hard he tasted blood, but he didn’t care at all. Pain blended with pleasure until it was all one big pool of exquisite ecstasy. Electric shocks zinged through his body, over and over, higher and higher.

Sherri’s face and then her entire body flushed pink, and she began to shudder around his shaft, convulsing as orgasms began to roll through her. He couldn’t stand it any longer. His control shattered all at once and he pounded into her mindlessly, letting the sexual storm between them rage wildly.

He buried his face in her hair, and she buried her face in his neck as they reached a fever pitch, driving each other completely out of their minds.

All at once, his entire being coiled. For an endless, perfect instant he teetered on the edge of bursting. And then, with a mighty explosion, pleasure totally consumed him.

It registered on him belatedly that Sherri was crying out too against his chest, in every bit as much abandon as he was.

She fell back to the wadded clothes, and he gathered her closer, rolling over onto his back. She sprawled bonelessly across him, breathing as hard as he was.

He stroked her hair lazily as his heartbeat gradually slowed and awareness slowly returned to his body.

For her part, Sherri seemed content to rest on top of him, her ear plastered to his chest over his heart.

Eventually, she murmured, “Who won the bet? I was a little too distracted to notice.”

He chuckled, relishing the feel of his chest rumbling against hers. It felt so natural to be lying here with her like this. Like they’d always been the two halves of a whole.

“Hell if I know,” he confessed. “I couldn’t have told you my own name, let alone who yelled first.”

“Hmm. I guess we’ll have to do it again, then, and pay more attention next time.”

“I like the way you think,” he drawled.

“When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

“A SEAL mindset all the way,” he quipped.

Except neither of them could remember who shouted first the second time, either.