Finally, Jamie drops his weight over mine. When our bodies meet, we both gasp at the pleasure of hot skin and feverish touches, the places where we ache, warm and wet, finally meeting as Jamie moves over me. His tongue dances with mine in a sensual rhythm that feels like the way we’ve waltzed—dizzying and fast and just enough clumsy to feel human and safe and real.

“Jamie,” I whisper.

“Hmm?” He kisses the corner of my mouth, then my jaw, before he starts slowly kissing his way down my body, his tongue swirling against my skin as he goes. His hands wrap tight around my waist as his mouth travels me hungrily. He drags his touch up, over my breasts, then rolls his thumbs over my nipples, teasing them to stiff peaks. He’s so tall that when he reaches the foot of the bed and hikes my hips to the edge of it, he’s kneeling but still bent over me. His mouth trails down my hip bones, over my pelvis, inside my thighs.

“I’m on the pill and STI-free,” I tell him. “Test results are on my phone, if you want to—”

“Bea,” he says against my skin, before he glances up and meets my eyes. “I believe you.”

“O-okay.”

He smiles, still thumbing my nipples. “I am, too.”

“Can we not . . . I mean, I would like . . . no condoms. But if you’re not comfortable with that—”

“I want that, too,” he says, kissing lower. “But first, I want this. If that’s all right.”

I reach and clasp his face, my fingertips sweeping over his cheekbones. “It is, but it takes me a while for that.”

His eyes darken. “Spending a good long while between your thighs is my idea of heaven.”

I try to push away thoughts of the past, but the embarrassment I’ve felt when every partner I’ve had grew frustrated with how long it took is hard to forget.

Jamie seems to sense where my thoughts are going. His hand travels up my stomach to rest over my heart, his fingers tracing the bumblebee as his eyes hold mine. “I’m going to spare you statistics of the average time a woman requires to build to orgasm. Both because doctor mode is a mood-kill and because you don’t need a man telling you about your own body.”

A smile tips my mouth. “Thank you.”

“But I want you to listen to me.” There it is, that stern voice that makes my eyes snap to his, makes my heart pound. “With us, there’s no long or short. There’s what your body needs, and mine. No one gets to say otherwise.”

Tears prick the corners of my eyes. I nod quickly.

Jamie’s jaw tics. “Whoever made you feel that way, they’re not here. It’s me. And you. All right? Just us.”

“Just us.” Tears spill down my cheeks.