Then there were no words. All communication was through lips and teeth, tongue and hands. He nipped at my breasts and suckled deeply as he trailed a fiery path of hot kisses down my stomach and below my navel, and he still went lower. He licked every inch of my skin and every breathy moan he drew out from me was an expression of love.

Intense heat built, turning into a glorious ache. Lust and love spread throughout me, and when his mouth closed over the tight knot of nerves, I screamed his name. My head fell back as his fingers plunged deep inside me. He worked me up and took me over the edge.

I was coming when he rose above me once more and planted himself deep, delving into my mouth with his tongue, and he thrust his hips against me almost savagely. I bucked under him, grasping his straining arms as I wrapped my legs around him.

As he moved, I no longer knew where I began and he ended.

My head thrashed as he thrust in and out, in and out, his mouth leaving mine so his hot breath panted in my ear. We were fucking. We were making love. Grinding his hips, he reached between us, and the tension spun tightly. Pressure built, and then it happened. I came again in a burst just as powerful and beautiful as the first. Tight, sensual spasms rocked my body as Brock’s thrusts lost all rhythm. He moved so fast and so hard, pushing me across the bed. The thump of the bed against the wall filled the bedroom.

“I love you,” he said, and then he was falling over the edge, surrendering to the bliss still echoing through my veins.

Skin slick with moisture, we held each other as the minutes ticked by. I don’t know how long we stayed like that before he eased out of me and onto his side. He brought me with him, circling his arms around me and holding me so I was facing him, holding me in a way that said he was never going to let me go.

Brock kissed me in a way he never had before. At least that was how it felt. He kissed me slowly, tenderly, and so deeply that tears rose.

Love.

This kiss was what love felt like.

* * *

Long after our bodies stopped moving and our hearts slowed, I lay awake beside a sleeping Brock, replaying his words over and over again. A crooked smile was probably permanently fixed to my face, and I didn’t care. There was so much Brock had said to me that had brought that smile to my face. The fact he loved me was a big reason. Duh. But there was something else.

He’d said I had fire in me.

Hearing that and knowing he believed that meant that I had come so, so far from the Jillian he’d grown up with.