He tore his mouth away, but his hands slipped under my sweats and underwear to cup my bare ass. “Ask me to stay, Em. Ask me or I need to leave.”

I may have been confused and scared earlier, but I knew exactly what I wanted now. “Stay.”

“Hold tight. I want you in a bed for this.”

I braced myself on his shoulders as he lifted me like I weighed nothing. My ankles locked around his waist, and I groaned as I came into contact with the hard length of him.

He carried me through the doorway of my bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him. The moon shone dimly through the pine tree in front of my lone window, giving us enough light to find the bed. For once, I was glad I didn’t have a lot of belongings to get in the way.

Derrick set me on the ground and skimmed his hands down my legs, bringing my clothes with him. He crouched in front of me and trailed his mouth over my hip, across my stomach.

“So beautiful,” he whispered against my skin.

I tugged on his hair until he looked up at me. “You need to lose the pants. Now.”

His eyes darkened, and his lips curled into a wicked grin. “Get on the bed.”

I stepped out of the puddle of clothes, peeled my shirt off, and backed toward my bed naked. Derrick stripped like his life depended on it. My mouth went dry at the swirling expanse of tattoos across tanned skin—the sleek curves and sharp lines highlighted his muscles. He didn’t have an ounce of body fat, just a smattering of hair on his chest that arrowed down to a cock I couldn’t wait to get my hands on.

Derrick stilled as he turned to look at me. “I’ve imagined you here—what you looked like that night—so many times.”

I leaned back against the pillow and watched him stalk forward. “Now you don’t have to imagine.”

He crawled onto the bed and caged me between his arms. “Even my wildest dreams couldn’t compare to you.”

Derrick settled between my thighs and lowered his mouth to my breasts. His tongue wreaked havoc on my nipples, and I gripped his hair tight as he slowly moved his hips. He slid through my wetness, rubbing my clit, each motion driving me higher. I arched up, notching his cock closer and closer to where I wanted him. It took entirely too long for me to remember that we’d forgotten something important.

“Wait.”

Derrick immediately stopped moving and raised his head, but I could feel the tension in his muscles from holding himself motionless. I knew the feeling. Every inch of me wanted to raise my hips—to rub myself against him until I came. But I couldn’t throw away a lifetime of ingrained responsibility.

“Condom. I don’t have a condom.”