“Mmm, so okay.”

“Does it hurt?”

“A little. Been a while.”

“We’ll go slow.” He bent to nuzzle her neck. “You’re so hot and so tight. I’ve never felt anything better than this.”

His words were as much of a turn-on as the insistent press of his cock into her. He was much bigger than Carl had been, and the extra-tight fit triggered sensations she’d never experienced before. And then he hit a spot deep inside, prompting an orgasm that seemed to come from her very soul. That had certainly never happened before.

“Paul,” she said, gasping and clinging to him as he picked up the pace, hammering into her and riding the waves of her release until he found his own.

“God,” he muttered when he came down on top of her, breathing hard and sweating from exertion.

She loved that she’d made him sweat. She loved the way he smelled and how his whiskers felt against her skin. And she suspected she was well on her way to loving all of him. So much for proceeding with caution, she thought. A deep breath shuddered through her at the possible implications that came with giving her heart to another man.

“Am I too heavy?”

“No.” She tightened her arms around him, wanting to keep him there for a while longer, to enjoy this never-to-be-repeated moment of sheer perfection. Perfection had been hard to come by for her—and for him, too, she suspected. And they would never again experience this first time together.

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Paul’s world had been tipped upside down in the course of a couple of hours. From the instant his mother’s hand had connected with Hope’s face and he’d known a second of pure, unmitigated rage that anyone, even his own mother, would dare to strike the woman he thought of as his, to their talk on the beach to making love to her, his life had been altered. It now included her—and Ethan—and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’d like to say for the record that I told you it would be amazing.”

“Yes, you did,” she said with a low chuckle that made him smile.

He raised his head so he could see her gorgeous face. “Was it amazing for you, too?”

“You have to ask?”

“Just making sure.”

“It was beyond amazing. It’s never been like that for me.”

He planted his elbows on either side of her head and used his thumbs to brush the hair off her face, mindful of the bruised area on her cheek that served as a painful reminder of what’d happened earlier. “How was it different?”

“You want, like, specifics?”

“Specifics would be good.” The heated blush that infused her face made him laugh. “Oh, this is going to be really good.”

“I can’t say it.”