“You already know.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do, and if I say the words, it’ll change things. It’ll put pressure on you that you don’t need right now, and I don’t want to do that to you.”

“You really feel that way about me? And Simone?”

“I really do.”

Sighing, she closed her eyes and tightened her hold on him. “I do, too, and I keep asking myself how that’s even possible.”

“It happened that first night for me, when I talked to you about things I never talk to anyone about.”

“That’s when it happened for me, too.” She pulled back to look up at him. “Are you happy about it?”

“So happy. What about you?”

“Very happy. I’d given up on anything like this ever happening to me.”

He rested his forehead on hers, caught up in an emotional firestorm the likes of which he’d never experienced before. And then he kissed her with all the love he felt for her, even if he hadn’t said the words. He wanted her to know how he felt.

They undressed each other slowly, reverently, both seeming to understand that the stakes had been raised in the last few minutes. Everything was suddenly more important, more fraught, more intense. Grayson pulled back the floral comforter for her and then followed her into bed, immediately reaching for her. Being in her arms felt like coming home, and he needed her the way he’d never allowed himself to need anyone.

He’d intended to go slow, to give her sweetness and tenderness, but the desire that had been on slow burn all day flared to life when she slid her leg between his and put her arms around him. Their lips came together in a burst of passion that had him clinging to her as he kissed her and cupped her breast.

She arched into him, letting him know she wanted the same thing he did—right now.

Grayson couldn’t wait. He needed to be inside her immediately. “Emma,” he said as he broke the kiss. “I want you so badly.”

“I want you, too. Hurry.”

Her urgent tone made him crazier for her than he already was. He took himself in hand and slid into her, gasping at the incredible feel of her tight, wet heat surrounding him. “God, that feels so good. You feel so good.”

“Don’t go slow, Grayson. Please don’t go slow.”