“Want to make love with you, Lovey.”

She blinked at his choice of words, then smiled. “Yes.”

He reached down and lifted her to her feet. “A bed would be nice.”

“We can—”

“No time for that. It’ll have to be the couch. For now.”

She laughed as he tugged her over to it and sat. He pulled her down too and flipped her beneath him, one foot planted on the floor, the other knee in the couch cushions. “Do I need a condom?”

She gazed up at him. “I don’t know…do you?”

He shook his head. “I’m good. I haven’t been with anyone but you in weeks and before that I always used protection.”

“You haven’t been with anyone else since we’ve been sleeping together?”

He frowned. “No. Hell no. Have you?”

She rolled her eyes. “No.”

“Good.”

“We’re both good, then. I trust you. I’m on birth control. And I would love to have you bare inside me.”

He groaned. “Love that too.” He lifted her leg that was on the inside of the couch and pushed it up, then fisted his cock and stroked it through her pussy. Yeah. Wet. So wet. What a gift. “I always want to make you this wet. Love your sweet pussy, Lovey. Ah, yeah…” He pushed into her and her walls closed around him, scalding hot, so slick without the latex. He eased in deeper and deeper, watching her face. Once fully in, he paused, his nerves stinging with pleasure, his body pulsing with the need to come.

Their eyes met, with warmth and luminescence and love. Emotion expanded in him. He set his hand between her breasts, felt her heart jumping. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she choked out. “I really do.”

He began to move, gliding in and out, heated strokes that built the fire in his balls. Sparks sizzled up his spine. “So lucky,” he muttered. “I feel so damn lucky. You’re mine.”

The corners of her mouth tilted, but her eyes held his. “I’m yours. But I’m the lucky one.”

He came down on top of her to kiss her, his hips rocking against her, his tongue in her mouth, his cock inside her, filling her, again and again, getting lost in pleasure so deep he never wanted to stop. Her breast in his hand, her thigh around his hip, her pussy squeezing him so tight, pulled him deeper, deeper into mindless bliss. He only wanted her, ever. She moved with him as he drove into her, taking him deep and hard, just how she liked it, and he wanted to give her that. He wanted to give her everything.

The rhythm built inside him, the tingles up his spine intensifying, all the way to his scalp, until her silky heat and soft body took him over the edge, blood scalding his veins, the top of his head feeling like it was coming off. He groaned into her mouth and she pressed her hips up into him, her pussy rippling around him as she came too. She tightened her arms around him as if she never wanted to let him go, and he never wanted her to.

“Don’t ever go,” he murmured against her lips. “Don’t ever leave again.”

“I won’t.” Lovey held on tighter. “I never will. I promise.”

She couldn’t hug him tight enough, couldn’t get close enough even though they were as close as two people could possibly be with him inside her body. Tears stung her eyes and her heart worked in painful beats. Her pussy pulsed in slow aftershocks, her powerful orgasm reaching straight to her heart.

“Okay. First we had sex in a bed, then on the couch. I think we did it backwards.”

She huffed out a laugh. “You’re supposed to start on the couch?”

“Or in a car.”

She squeezed him tighter as she laughed. “We’re not teenagers.”

“True.” He lifted his head, fingers in her hair, thumb rubbing in front of her ear. His smile melted her. “Merci dieu.”

“Whenever you speak French I’m going to worry you’re saying something silly and laughing at me.”

His smile went a bit dirty. “I would never do that.”

“You seduced me by telling me you’re allergic to cats.”

His grin was unrepentant. “Hey, it worked. Does it matter what I say?”

“I liked what you were saying earlier. Je t’aime.”

He kissed her nose. “It’s true. Okay. Need to move. We’ll get cleaned up, get you into something sexy to sleep in, and move that bed down.”

He pushed up and off her, withdrawing in a wet slide that reminded her they hadn’t used a condom. She loved that. She sat and he pulled her up by the hands.

“Bathroom?”

She nodded toward the entrance, where her closet and bathroom were, and he tugged her along with him. He snagged a washcloth off a towel rack and ran the hot water until it was warm, wet the washcloth with it, then turned to her and kissed her while he stroked the warm cloth between her legs. His kisses had her blood rushing in seconds.

Then she got to watch while he used the cloth on himself, wiping his cock and balls. He dropped it to the counter and reached for a towel, which he used so gently on her and then again himself.

“Now for the sexy sleepwear,” he murmured, turning her.

She knew just the one—the apricot silk nightie she’d bought and never had a chance to wear for him. Tonight she was going to get her wish—they would sleep together all night. Finally.

And it wasn’t going to be just sexy, like she’d said. It was going to be…significant. Because it was more than sex. And it was more than sleeping. It was intimate and trusting and…okay, “sacred” might be too strong a word. They weren’t exchanging marriage vows. But this was special and important.

And still sexy.

She slipped the silk nightie on, smoothing the lace edge on her thighs, and looked at Marc.

“Oh yeah. That’s what I’m talking about.”

She dipped her chin, smiling. “Glad you like it.”

He reached for her waist. “The only time I saw what you sleep in, it was a skimpy top and little shorts.”

“That is what I usually sleep in. What’s wrong with that?”

“Not a thing. Except that when I saw you in it, I developed a massive hard-on.”

She laughed. “Oh good.”

He gave her butt a little swat that surprisingly made her pussy tingle. “Tease. You were totally teasing me, walking around in that, weren’t you?”

“I was not. Well. I knew you were looking. And I wanted you to look. And…” She fluttered her eyelashes, letting herself be honest and vulnerable. “I wanted you to like what you saw.”

“I definitely did.”

They shoved the couch practically into her kitchen and wrestled the mattress and box spring down to the floor. Lovey found sheets and together they stretched the fitted one over the mattress, then arranged the top sheet and duvet she’d been using on the couch. She added a couple of pillows and turned out the lights, and they climbed in.

It was crazy. They were crammed into her tiny apartment, with boxes she still hadn’t unpacked, too much furniture, bare walls…but it felt beautiful. She snuggled into him as she had so many times, as usual sighing with pleasure at the feel of his body against hers, the heat of him, the roughness of the hair on his skin, the perfect fit of them together. She twined her legs with his and he wrapped his arms around her.

“I thought you were all stiff and serious when we first met.” She snuggled into him in the dark. “Every time I made you smile or laugh, I think I fell a little bit in love with you.”

His fingers stroked her arm. “That’s funny, because every time you made me smile or laugh, I think I fell a bit in love with you. Don’t belittle yourself, Lovey. Your tattoo is important. Living and laughing and loving…those things really are what it’s all about.”

“I want to be more serious, like you. Focused. Determined.”

“Sure. Those are good qualities. But I want to have more fun, and you make almost everything fun. Goals are great. But you can’t take everything too seriously. You helped me see that.”

“Oh.” She sniffled. “That’s so sweet.”

“That’s me. Such a sweet guy.”

She smiled against his chest and petted it. “You totally are. Even with bruised knuckles and a black eye. Captain Codger with a soft side. A fun side. I love you.”