Moving down, he ran his tongue along the vertical pathway over her stomach, pulling her body up to meet his. Ava let her head fall backwards, loving the heat of his mouth on her body. Millimetre by millimetre, he pulled her jeans over her hips, exposing simple black cotton panties and the whiteness of her thighs. Throwing the denim to the floor, he manoeuvred himself between her legs, gently nibbling the sculpted hipbones that defined her sides, running his fingertips back and forth over her thighs. Ava relaxed back onto the bed, her neck tipped upwards, her right hand playing in Callanach’s hair.

‘I suppose I should ask if you’ll still respect me in the morning, or something like that,’ she murmured.

Callanach replied in French – something incomprehensible but Ava got the general idea – as he slipped her panties down and tossed them aside.

‘Thank God. Did I finally get you to stop talking?’ he asked, running his tongue up the inside of her leg.

‘That’s kind of rude of you,’ Ava laughed.

‘You think that was rude? Give me another minute.’

Ava gasped as Callanach’s fingers found the most tender part of her, playing gently between her legs, circling up and around her clitoris, keeping his touch silky and light as he maintained the pressure enough to have her melting back into the bed. He followed his fingers with his tongue.

‘Oh my God,’ Ava groaned. ‘Don’t ever stop.’

‘Not even to take my jeans off?’ Callanach asked, getting to his feet, hands on hips, staring down at her naked body.

‘Okay, I’ll accept you stopping to take the rest of your clothes off,’ Ava smiled. ‘Just don’t be long.’

‘Other than that,’ he said, ‘I don’t think I ever want to leave this apartment again. Not as long as you’re here with me, anyway.’ He climbed onto the bed, one knee between her legs, the other to the side. ‘Say you’ll stay.’

‘The night?’ Ava grinned.

‘You know I mean for longer than that,’ he replied, kissing her neck and lying on his side next to her. ‘Promise me.’

‘Hey, you know what?’ Ava stared into his eyes as her fingers made a trail down the ripples of his stomach. ‘That problem you thought you had? I honestly don’t think you have to worry about it any more.’

She wrapped her hand around his penis, gripping the hard length of it, pulling gently, leaving him breathless, gritting his teeth to control his reaction to the long overdue pleasure.

‘It was you I was waiting for,’ Callanach said. ‘Ava, I’ve imagined this so many times. I just never thought it was going to happen.’

‘Don’t admit that!’ she grinned. ‘What happened to your cool, collected, sexy man-of-mystery routine?’

He kissed her gently, parting her lips, taking his hand back down between her legs, slipping his fingers gently inside her as she rolled over, thrusting towards him.