He snagged a condom from the nightstand and tore it open as he went up on his knees. She watched him roll it on, doe eyes soft and affectionate and so damn beautiful he took a moment just to savor the view. She reached for him as he came down over her, and he gently pinned her wrists beside her head as he aligned their bodies, nestling his cock against her entrance.

“Wait,” Tracey pleaded.

He stilled, hoping she hadn’t changed her mind.

“I want my hands free so I can touch you.”

“No,” he said gruffly. He’d long ago locked his heart behind a lead door, chained it down, and threw away the key. She was already taunting that keyhole with some kind of magic. He didn’t need to test those boundaries. But the hurt in her eyes nearly bowled him over. He dipped his head beside hers, “It’s not you, baby girl.”

“Then what is it?”

He didn’t respond, just clenched his teeth, wishing she’d let it go. But this was his feisty girl, and he knew she wouldn’t settle for silence.

“Is my touch too intimate?” she whispered over his cheek.

He lifted his head, and one look in her eyes drew the truth in the form of a nod.

“I want intimate,” she said softly. “I don’t want to feel like a prisoner in your bed. I felt like that with Dennis, and I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”

Gutted, his forehead fell forward. “Fuck, Trace. Is that what you feel like?”

“You don’t look at me like you don’t care, and you weren’t touching me like that. But this”—she tried to lift her wrists, which were pinned to the bed—“feels cold. I mean, at some point it’ll feel sexy and hot, but this is our first time, and it kind of feels like I could be anyone, and I don’t want to be just anyone to you.”

He released her wrists, pissed at himself. “If you were just anyone, I would’ve fucked you a year ago and moved on. But you’re not. You’re in my bed. Most women never make it past the pool table.”

“You should have stopped after in my bed.” She sounded a little mad and a little hurt, but the amusement in her eyes overrode both.

Amusement gave way to something softer, kinder. She reached up and caressed his cheek. Her pleading eyes held him captive as her fingers trailed down his neck and along his shoulder, alighting sensations unlike anything he’d ever felt, and it took everything he had not to swat that hand away.