And I wanted this. I was ready. Ready for more than just kissing and touching. I was ready for Zayne, for all of him and everything that entailed. My heart raced at the thought of it. Being ready was a huge decision, a monumental one. There were things we needed, like condoms. Maybe not plural. Probably only one, but we needed that, because I had no idea if baby making was possible between us. But I was ready, and wasn’t that the strangest thing, to suddenly be so sure? To have woken up today not even considering the whole losing-my-virginity thing, and still be so damn sure, I wanted to shout it?

“Do you want this?” he asked.

God, did I ever want this—want him. So much so it was a little embarrassing. “Yes.”

A tremor rocked his body and his head tilted. His warm breath touched my lips—

“No kissing.” My hand tugged at his hair when he stilled over me. “Kissing...kissing makes this more.” My logic had so many holes in it, but it made sense to me. And not just because I’d seen Pretty Woman, but because kissing was... It was beautiful when it was right, and it would be too beautiful with him. “No kissing.”

Zayne’s chest rose against mine and then he shifted onto his side.

Pressing my lips together to stop the sudden urge to cry, I looked at him. I wanted to take those words back, but I couldn’t. It had to be this way—

He settled beside me and his fingers curled around my chin. For a heart-stopping moment, I thought he was going to ignore my newly established rule.

“We can work on that,” he said.

I relaxed and then tensed as his thumb dragged over my lower lip.

“I’m...greedy enough for anything.” His thumb moved along my chin and then the line of my jaw. “Or maybe it’s that I’m desperate for anything that you will allow.”

A terrible, insidious part of me broke through the surface, forcing words out of me that I hadn’t thought I’d dare speak. “It could be easier.”

“What could be?” His fingers made their way back to my chin.

“This,” I said, exhaling roughly. “You could do this with literally anyone else, and it would be easier.”

Zayne’s fingers halted. “You’re right. It could be. No rules. No complications.” He started moving again, tracing the line of my throat. “It would be so much easier.”

I thought about the waitress. “Not like there’s any shortage of willing participants.”

“There’s not.”

My eyes flew open. “Then why me?”

“Good question.”