He cocked a brow. “I agree, but I think we need to conduct an entirely different study. Let’s see how high we can push those pleasure peaks.” The smile on his lips was both sexy and sinful. Then he sobered. “But this part of your recovery is a journey, Darby. It’s not a one-shot deal. We can figure it out over time—”

She grabbed his hair and tugged his mouth closer. “Shut up and kiss me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Then she stopped thinking because Eban was doing wonderful things to her mouth and his hand was stroking her body and making her skin hypersensitive and sending shivers all the way down to her toes.

He unsnapped the button of her jeans and slowly undid the zipper. She pushed them down and kicked them off. She tugged at the waistband of his jeans. She wanted to feel his skin naked against hers.

He chuckled.

“What can I say? I’m a fast learner. What’s next?”

“What do you want to be next?” he asked.

“What does the playbook say?”

“The playbook says check in regularly and see what Darby wants to do.”

Emotion clogged her throat. None of this compared to angry strangers ripping at her clothes and making her weep.

That wasn’t sex.

And that wasn’t anything she wanted to think about in this moment. She urged him onto his back and straddled his thighs. He wore briefs that were doing nothing to hide his arousal.

She leaned down and took his mouth with hers. He reached up and released her hair from the tight braid she’d woven it into earlier, taking his time to work out the strands. It cascaded in a curly mess around her shoulders. He ran his hands through the tangled tresses.

“I love the feel of your hair. Soft as silk. I love the color too.”

Her hair was a scraggly mess, but she wasn’t about to dampen his enthusiasm by telling him so.

She kissed down his neck and down his chest, across his stomach and lower. She hooked her fingers into the waistband of his shorts and dragged them down his thighs. She glanced at his face to make sure she was doing the right thing and he looked at her with eyes as molten as any magma she’d ever studied.

She bit her lip and stared down at him. She’d seen movies and read enough books to know what she should do, but she was worried about getting it wrong.

“Darby.”

She looked up.

“C’mere.” He tugged her until she fell on top of him, laughing. He rolled them and suddenly her mind balked, and she froze. Eban immediately realized something was wrong and turned them on their sides, so they were facing each other.

“Better?” he asked.

She swallowed and nodded. He didn’t ask her what was wrong. He knew.

Her mind spun a little, as if she were on a fairground ride. He pressed his brow to hers and they stared at one another for a long silent moment while she found her equilibrium. Her heart punched. It took a moment for her to catch her breath. It took her another moment to let the memories slide away from her consciousness.