“I thought the campus playboy would know what lingerie looks like,” I reply. In the darkened room it’s easy to pretend the past day never happened.

Jace sends me a look that makes it clear he’s not amused by my flippant comment.

I take slow, deliberate steps over to his side of the bed before climbing up on the mattress next to him. Jace takes an unsteady breath and turns off his phone.

“What are you doing, Viv?” he asks. The sound of the familiar nickname makes my heart clench. “This is hard enough already, don’t make it worse.”

“I know,” I whisper into the darkness. “And I know it’s not fair to ask you this, but I want it to be you, Jace.”

“Vivienne.” My name comes out as a tortured whisper.

“Please, Jace,” I plead.

I don’t see his hands move in the darkness, but suddenly their warm weight settles on my bare thighs. They rest there for a moment. I remain completely still, hardly daring to breathe for fear of ruining the moment.

I’m suddenly flipped around onto my back by the practiced dexterity of Jace’s hands. He hovers over me for a moment, and I’m reminded of the night of our first kiss. The same heady suspense floods my system.

This time, Jace kisses me first. Hesitantly, and then hungrily. I run my nails across his back as his tongue explores my mouth, and he groans, pushing himself closer to me so there’s no space between our bodies at all. He moves his mouth to my neck and then to my chest, kissing every expanse of exposed skin he encounters. There’s no shortage, thanks to my choice of sleepwear. I moan loudly, the pleasure overwhelming.

Jace’s hands slide up and under the lacy nightgown, and he discovers I’m not wearing anything underneath. He tugs the material higher and higher until it’s over my head. I lie completely naked beneath him. He traces his hands up and down my body slowly, reverently, leaving goosebumps in his wake.

I tug at the waistband of his boxer briefs, and he laughs.

“Hang on,” he tells me, climbing off the bed and walking over to where his duffle bag sits in the corner. He pulls something out of it, and then returns to the bed, lying back down beside me.

“Awfully presumptuous, weren’t you?” I ask, nodding to the foil packet he’s holding.

Jace grins. “Says the girl who came into my bedroom in the middle of the night wearing that.” He nods to the scraps of pink lace resting next to my head.

I wiggle closer to him. Bolts of lust shoot through me as his bare skin makes contact with mine, mingling with the tingles of nervousness I’m also experiencing. Jace gazes down at me, his expression unreadable and his body motionless. I panic, thinking he’s changed his mind.

“I thought you would be a little more efficient about getting naked,” I tell him impatiently. “Maybe sometime in the next minute?”