“Just getting some water. Wasn’t expecting to walk in on a porno,” she comments, strolling over to the fridge and opening the stainless steel door. I jump down from the counter and turn off the burner, pouring the scalding water over the packet of herbs.

There’s a pounding sound on the stairs—Emma’s trademark.

“Put your shirt back on,” I hiss at Beck. He grins, completely unrepentant.

“I thought I heard—oh my God!” Emma appears in the kitchen and focuses on—no surprise—Beck’s admittedly impressive torso.

“Good night!” I call out, grabbing my mug in my left hand and one of Beck’s in my right. He glances back at the kitchen as I tug him toward the stairs. “If you hook up with any of my housemates, we’re never having sex again,” I inform him.

“That’s what you got out of our conversation? That I’m looking to hook up with someone else?” Any affability leaves Beck’s face.

“No. I just—I don’t know,” I admit, trying to pull together my scattered thoughts as we reenter my room. “I think…”

I didn’t have any impressive lines cued up, but Beck doesn’t wait to find out. In seconds, he’s pulled off my tank top and yanked down my shorts, walking me backward until I have no choice but to lie down on the comforter. I’m expecting him to plunge right into me, but he doesn’t.

It’s a continuation of the torture from earlier.

He kisses me. His tongue and lips assault my breasts, my neck, my chest. All while rubbing his massive erection against my inner thigh. Teasing me.

“Beck, please.” I let him hear the desperation in my voice. It’s not like he can’t tell I’m a wanton, writhing mess beneath him.

“Do you want me, Scott?” He’s never called me by my last name in bed, and the sound of it falling off his lips is surprisingly erotic.

“What the fuck does it seem like?”

There’s a flash of humor in those perfect blue eyes, but it’s extinguished like a doused flame. One hand slides between my thighs, and my hips jerk upward from the additional stimulation. If this were anyone else, I wouldn’t capitulate.

“I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone,” I tell him, laying myself bare in more ways than one.

Beck unrolls a condom and then thrusts inside of me. I barely have the presence of mind not to cry out, muffling my moans against his shoulder.

Thoughts flee like dandelion pappuses in the wind. All that remains is sensation.

I’m aware of everything and nothing.

Thoughtless and overstimulated.

There’s the heat of his skin. The ripple of his abdominal muscles against my own stomach. The thick hair my hands are raking through.