“I’d hope you’d think more of me by now.” His tone was annoyed. “I don’t care about sex. Frankly, sex is easy to come by. You’re not.”

She remembered the taste of his mouth, the hardness of his body, the gentle stroking of his hands. “But I do care about sex. I wanted you. I still want you.” She dropped her guard and let him see it in her eyes. “I need you.” She needed the physical reassurance of his presence. The press of his body against her skin.

He hesitated.

“Please.” Her hand curled in his shirt. “Unless you don’t still want me.”

“Oh, I want you. You have no idea how much I want to make love to you.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “But I also want you one hundred percent on board. I don’t want our first time to be an impulsive, heat-of-the-moment act. Despite the way my body reacts to you, I’m no adolescent controlled by raging hormones. You mean more to me than a physical release. I could take care of that by myself. The whole point is that it’s you. I can wait.”

“I don’t want to wait.” If he rejected her now, she’d crawl in a hole and cry. She wouldn’t be able to trust anyone else. No one else had ever worked this hard to connect with her. No one else had ever cared enough to persist. “Besides, I’ve gotten used to having you in my bed. I sleep better when you’re there.”

“That was my devious goal: to make you dependent on me as a sleep aid.” Though his words were tinged with humor, his eyes were serious. His thumb stroked her chin. “We could just sleep.”

She captured his hand in hers, turned, and led him into the bedroom. “I need you.”

“You have to talk to me.” His eyes were determined. “There’s no getting out of it if we take this next step.”

“I will. Just not now. I’m tired of overthinking everything. I need to feel you.”

“That big brain of yours does get in the way.” His eyes darkened. “But you have to promise you won’t run away from me again. Afterward, we’re going to have that long talk. I don’t do just sex.”

“All right.”

“I would never hurt you.”

“I know.” She reached for the hem of his shirt and tugged it over his head. Tossing it aside, she put her hands on the firm muscles of his shoulders. Her earlier desire had been a thunderstorm, all clash and noise. This was a steady summer rain, warm and gentle, soaking into her skin like a parched summer garden. She pulled her sweater off and dropped it at her feet. Her lace bra followed.