She took another step toward him, a little too close to be appropriate but not so close that they were touching, looking up at him with eyes so big they were almost cartoonish. “Wh . . . where do you want me?”

What a perfect way to phrase that, he thought. What room do you want me in? Which bed do you want me in? You know where I want you.

As if reading his mind, her eyes darted to his bed, then back to him, and she seemed to shrink a little. A distant voice in his head reminded him that now was not the time to do this. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. They’d acknowledged their mutual attraction, and they were both adults, but it had been such a terrible few days. But wasn’t that all the more reason to go for it? Release for both of them? After all they’d been through, didn’t they deserve this? Didn’t he deserve this?

Her cheeks were flushed, and it seemed like her lips were pinker and plumper than they had been a few seconds ago. Such a terrible few days, and maybe now wasn’t the time. Maybe they should wait a couple of days and see if they still felt the same way after things had cooled down a bit.

His mouth moved to hers like it was drawn by a magnet, his fingers sliding inside the robe and roving all over her skin, pressing her body to his. In two seconds, the robe was on the floor, in five seconds, she was lying supine on the bed, and he was straddling her, kissing her hungrily. There was no reason not to do this. She had offered herself up to him again and again, unambiguously and without reservation. He wasn’t thinking now that the dam had burst, his body possessed by a surge of adrenaline and testosterone telling him he needed this, he deserved this.

The thought only made him more aggressive, and he propped himself up so he could get a look at her. She was stiff, her hands balled into fists by her shoulders, her whole body trembling. He had planned on being careful, and gentle, and meticulous, not busting down her walls like the Kool-Aid Man.

“Oh, honey,” he said, the fires in him doused slightly when he saw what his recklessness had done. “You’re shaking.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Just excited. Don’t stop.”

“Excited?” Under normal circumstances, he would have believed her without question, but it was hard to tell whether this was excitement or fear, especially when every chemical in his animal brain was telling him, Of course this is excitement. She wants you to fuck her brains out!