Their eyes got stuck on each other as John’s words sank in. It was the first time either of them had said the word love to one another. But the moment wasn’t scary. The moment felt good. The moment felt warm. There was central air pumping through the room, but Mary felt the heat rise between them. She felt lit from within, churning with a glowing heat that she wanted nothing more than to share with him.

“I’ll love you when you’re a raisin too,” she said in a low voice. She still pinned his hands to the mattress, and she gave them a little extra push to let him know that she wanted him to keep them there as she unbuttoned his shirt.

He was breathing fast, flexing his hands, looking like he wanted to touch her every single place he could. But he didn’t lift his arms except to help her peel his shirt off. “Mary,” he whispered.

She slid down his body and worked him free of his pants next, roughly shoving his boxers away like they were a personal offense to her. John moved his hands but only to clutch at his own hair, the strands of black spiking up between his fingers.

Mary tossed her bra and underwear away, planted her knees on the bed and bent over him. She loved this man, and her body demanded that she show him. She took his hardness in one hand and swallowed him down in one big gulp, holding him against the back of her throat and drawing his eyes to hers.

He said something that she didn’t hear before she kept at him, working him in and out of her mouth, again and again. He spoke again and grunted. Suddenly, she set him free and let every inch of her skin slick across his as she crawled up his body.

“You have to be quiet,” she admonished him with a smile on her face as she pressed in for a kiss, giving him all her weight. “There’s other people in the house.”

“Quiet,” he agreed, almost nonsensically, his eyes on her mouth.

She slid against him again, opening her legs and pinning him with a hug, her mouth pressed to his. He made a small, almost restrained noise, and she reveled in the fact that she was definitely peeling him apart little by little.