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“This isn’t a casual fuck for me. Surely you can feel that.”

Yes, I can. My thoughts race back over our encounters. The fact this means something to him is evident in every touch. Each is infused with lust and longing and something more than just the momentary need to screw. I haven’t thought about it much before. But now…it gives me pause.

“What are you saying?”

He grabs my arms, pulling me closer. “I love you.”

Love? He thinks he loves me?

I stiffen and jerk out of his grip. “You can’t.” Panic sets in. “It’s impossible. I don’t know you. You don’t know me.”

“Bullshit,” he spits out. “We know each other, heart and body. I’ve watched you for years, wanted you forever. You feel it. Some part of you knows me and wants me, too, or you wouldn’t respond to me with such abandon. You’re going to love me.”

Panic swallows me whole. “I don’t want to love anyone again. I’m done with love.”

“You’re not made to be alone for the rest of your days. I’m going to be the man who fills your life.”

I shake my head, edging away from him. “Get out.”

His hands bunch into fists. Shoulders tense. He looks ready to argue as he snatches his black bag up from the floor near his feet and sends me a terse nod. “Think about what I’ve said because you haven’t seen the last of me.”

Chapter Seven

Noah

* * *

Early Tuesday morning, I spot Lauren stirring her coffee. Alone and somewhat distracted. Perfect for what I have in mind.

I sidle up to her, discreetly inhaling her female, vanilla-tinged musk—and my memory transports me back to the previous night, having her spread out like a buffet across her dining room table with her ass in the air and her wet, swollen pussy completely open to me. Her little pants and cries as I toy with her lush body, then fill her with my aching cock, has nearly destroyed my self-control. Just thinking about last night, desire roars to life despite the fact she did nothing more enticing now than stare at the speckled Formica counter.

Not the time or place to start sweating, Reeves.

The only thing that would have made the previous night better would have been to sleep next to Lauren all night and wake up to her kiss in the morning.

Soon…

“Good morning.”

At the sound of my voice, she starts, then sends me an embarrassed smile. “Oh, I didn’t hear you come in. I was off in space somewhere. Morning.”

Weariness surrounds her eyes. They look a bit puffy. Red and tired.

“You didn’t sleep well.” I frown in concern.

“No.”

“Something wrong?”

Lauren hesitates, like she’s weighing whether she should say anything about her evening with her stranger.

“Just…a lot on my mind. You?”

I keep my disappointment that she doesn’t open up to me. “Yeah. I didn’t sleep, either.”

But for an entirely different reason, I’m sure.

Last night, Lauren gave me everything I asked for, responded so completely it had blown my mind. Certainly, a woman like her wouldn’t give herself with such abandon without feeling a damn thing for her lover, right? That assumption led me to vomit out the contents of my heart.