“Shannon—”

“Please.” I pleaded.

He sighed. “Stu, I’ll be a minute.”

Stu grinned at us knowingly. “That’s right. You talk some sense into him, wee fairy.”

Ignoring that I grabbed Cole’s hand and dragged him back out into the main studio. “You’re not doing this.”

Cole immediately glowered at me. “I was hoping for a better reaction than this. Something along the lines of ‘that’s so romantic, Cole, I can’t believe you love me enough to get me etched permanently across your chest’.

“It’s so romantic.” I squeezed his hand in reassurance. “I love that you love me that much, but… let’s be serious here. Anything could happen. We have no idea what will happen. And yes, I hope to God that in fifty years time we still have the photograph,” I gestured to it on the reception desk, “and we’re looking back at it together. But we don’t know with one hundred percent surety that we will. A tattoo, Cole. It’s forever.”

“But we’re forever. We’re getting married”

I melted. “I know. You know I love you. But a tattoo seems like a bad idea. Almost like you’re jinxing us.”

“Jinxing us?”

“Mmmhmm.”

He huffed out an exasperated sigh. “I’m not jinxing us, Shannon. You and I are forever. I’m not going anywhere. Are you?”

“No, of course not!” I moved into him, slipping my arms around his back and tilting my head back so I could meet his gaze. “I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”

In answer Cole wrapped his arms around me so tightly every inch of me was pressed against every inch of him. “I’ll never regret anything about you.”

As I found myself melting into him again, giving in, a sudden thought occurred to me and I blurted out, “Make it an ‘S’!”

Cole’s head jerked back in surprise at my outburst. “What?”

“The tattoo.” I patted his chest where his heart was. “Just make it an ‘S’. We’ll know it stands for me but if anything ever happened you could easily change it into another word.”

“Nothing is going to happen, but—” He covered my mouth with his hand knowing I was opening it to argue again, “If it will make you feel better about the whole thing, I will just get a stylized ‘S’.”

I grinned against his skin and he moved his hand, returning the smile.

“I just thought of something,” I said, trailing my fingertips over his chest. “This is a two-fold present.”

“And how’s that?”

Heat moved through me at my dirty thoughts. “You need to watch your new tattoo tonight… which means I get to be on top.”

Cole shook with quiet laughter. “It was all in my plans.”

“I’m sure it was.” I stood up on tiptoe to kiss him. “Hurry and then let’s skip dinner tonight.”

***

“Lie down on your back.” I stood at the foot of the bed in my skimpy black dress and heels with my hands on my hips.

Cole’s lips twitched with aroused amusement as he sat on the bed before me, wearing nothing. I’d just gotten done ordering him out of his clothes, which he did with a sensual amount of teasing that had me more than hot and bothered.

He stared up at me with those gorgeous green eyes of his, and I think he knew I was itching to touch every inch of him. Every inch but the square on his chest that was covered with cling film, protecting his new tattoo. A beautiful stylized ‘S’ right across his heart.

I forced myself to stop smiling at the tattoo and reiterated my demand.

“Are you getting undressed first?” he said.

“Not until you’re lying across that bed ready and willing.”

He chuckled and did as I asked, his hard-on straining to full attention.

I licked my lips, feeling the wet slickness between my legs. “My turn,” I whispered, feeling my nipples pebble against the fabric of my bra as I unzipped my dress.

Cole braced his head on his hands and watched me with hot eyes.

First I slipped the dress off and stepped out of it, wearing just my bra and underwear and the black heels. My hair tumbled around my shoulders and I let Cole look his fill for a moment before I reached down to unzip my boots.

I kicked those off and then unclasped my bra.

My breasts swelled under his darkening gaze and my nipples tightened into hard points.

“Fuck,” he said softly, his body tensing and his arousal throbbing and straining more toward his stomach.

I pushed my underwear down my legs and then crawled up onto the bed, moving over him on my hands and knees, my fingertips trailing across his skin as I worked my way upwards

Until I stopped at his erection.

“Shortcake,” he groaned as my head dipped.

Taking him in my mouth I felt his thighs tense under my fingertips. My tongue trailed along a vein on the underside of his cock and Cole dragged in a breath on a hiss of excitement as I began to suck, bobbing my head so my mouth slid slowly up and down his length.

“Shannon,” he groaned through gritted teeth, pumping his hips.

I released him, my gaze promising him that I’d finished what I’d started after we both enjoyed the main event. Trying not to hurry to the main event and fighting my body against that, I kissed a path up along his roped torso as I crawled up his body. Knees on either side of his hips, I shivered as I felt his cock brush high on my inner thigh. I pressed my lips over his right nipple, avoiding his left side. I flicked my tongue over him, my moan muffled against his body as he cupped my breasts, my own taut nipples eager for his touch. When his thumbs brushed them, I shuddered, a sigh escaping from between my lips.

“Shortcake,” Cole growled, squeezing my nipples between his fingers and thumbs. I barely had time to recover from the streaks of heat that shot toward my sex, when his right hand coasted down my stomach, heading between my legs.

As two fingers slid into my slick passage, my back arched, giving his left hand better access to my breast, and my hips surged against his right.

“I need you.” I whimpered, shaking my head as I dislodged him. “All of you.”

He gripped my hips as I positioned myself over him and we both cried out as I slammed down on him, Cole’s hips jerking up off the bed in reaction.

We found a delicious, pressure-building rhythm quickly and with my hands braced on the bed beside his thighs, I leaned back slightly so his cock thrust into me at the most satisfying angle. I moved slowly, building myself toward orgasm.

Our eyes held as I rode him, feeling sexy and powerful at his gleaming expression, watching the way his green eyes darkened on my breasts, on my hair swinging across my back. His grip on me tightened, urging me on. The heat between us built and built, our bodies slick with sweat.

The coiling pleasure low in my belly began to build in pressure, my excitement increasing at the intimacy that matched our passion—our eyes holding, filled with love, the sound of my uncontrolled breaths and mews of pleasure, the intoxicating smell of sex… and Cole groaning at me to come.

“Cole!” I cried out, my body moving faster up and down his length, rushing me toward climax. My muscles clenched around Cole as I came, wave after wave of pleasure pulsing around his cock.

As my limbs melted with satisfaction, Cole started pumping his hips beneath me, lifting me against his hard thrusts until I felt him stiffen seconds before he came inside me.

His grip loosened and he relaxed under me, his chest rising and falling with his rapid breaths.

I leaned over him, careful still not to touch his tattoo and I kissed him—a long, deep, sweet kiss that made my inner muscles squeeze around him. I broke apart just far enough so I could talk, shivering as he coasted his fingers lightly over my naked spine. “Our first Valentine’s Day was a success,” I whispered against his mouth.

He nodded and squeezed me closer. “Every single one is going to be.”

“All fifty of them?” I teased.

“You fucking bet your arse, Shortcake. This here,” he encircled my waist with his large hands, “every inch of you is mine. Forever.” He glanced down at his chest and then back into my eyes, “ ‘S’ or ‘Shannon’… it will always mean one thing. That I love you.”