"Can I tell you something?"

It was after round two which started approximately zero point seven five seconds after round one but lasted a whole lot longer.

Ty was on his back on top of the covers, head to the mattress, we were still perpendicular to the pillows; I was pressed to his side, my legs tangled in his, my face tucked into his throat. His clothes were all gone. My bra and shoes had been removed in fantastic ways.

I'd become acquainted with nearly every inch of his beautiful skin, I'd felt his hands and mouth on nearly every inch of mine and I'd had three orgasms.

I was sated.

And he'd been giving all day; it was time for him to take.

"Yeah," he answered.

"It's kinda embarrassing," I warned and his arm around my waist squeezed.

"What?"

"You know... in Vegas?" I started but then couldn't continue.

He gave me a minute and when I didn't say more, he prompted, "Yeah, I know Vegas."

"I mean, when we were there."

Again I said no more.

Again he had to prompt and he did this by asking, "What?"

"That day I came in and threw sass about breakfast."

"What about it?"

I pressed closer then I sucked in breath.

Then I whispered, "I'd actually come back to the room earlier."

His body stilled beside mine.

"I saw you in the shower," I whispered.

He stayed still and silent.

Then he growled, "You're fuckin' shittin' me."

My head came up and I looked down at him to see his face was blank.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"I'm sorry. I..." I shook my head. "I don't know. I just..." My hand at his chest drifted up to curl around his neck and I needed to instigate damage control so I whispered the truth, "It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."

He blinked.

"I wanted to join you," I admitted.

His eyebrows went up as he blinked again, this time slow.

"Like... bad," I finished.

"Why the fuck didn't you?" he asked, voice edged with impatience then he didn't wait for an answer and went on. "Christ, woman, torture. Spendin' time with you, sleepin' beside you and hands off and you tell me, a coupla days in, you saw that and wanted to let me inside?"

"Well "

"That why you took care of yourself in the shower later?" he asked and it was my turn to blink.

Then I whispered, "What?"

"Babe, heard you make yourself come."

Oh God. Oh no. Oh God. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

His arm gave me a shake and I focused on him. "Is that why?"

"Yes," I said softly.

His hand not around me went to his face, palm to forehead, he closed his eyes and muttered, "Fuck me."

"Ty " I started but he dropped his hand and his eyes locked with mine.

"That the reason behind you throwing sass?"

I bit my lip. Then I mumbled, "Yes."

"Fuck me," he repeated.

"Ty " I began again and he rolled me so I was on my back and he was looming over me.

"I don't even want to count the days I been usin' my hand instead of your pussy to get off."

"Ty!" I snapped.

"What? You shared the honesty but you can't take it?"

"No," I shot back, feeling my eyes narrow, "I just figured this is the start of something. We're starting something. And I didn't think I should hold anything back. Keep any secrets. That's not a good way to start. Ronnie kept shit from me all the time. Bets he made gambling. Shit Shift was into. It goes on. I know you have to keep your grand plan o' vengeance secret and I get that but other than that, if we're starting something it should be out there. So, I saw you, I liked what I saw, it made me angry I couldn't let myself have it because I couldn't be sure I could trust it and I took that anger out on you. There. Now you know."

His bizarre response was, "Think I proved a couple times real recent I got a dick."

"Yes," I hissed.

"Babe, I haven't had pussy in over five years. I walk out of the joint and there you stand. You. All of you. Can you get, even a little bit, how tough this has been on me? Now you're sharin' that you saw me jackin' off, which, by the way, I was doin' thinkin' of you in your bikini down by the pool, and you liked what you saw so much you had to make yourself come in the shower and you think that's good?"

I glared up at him because maybe he had a small point and I was using the glare as cover.

Then I mumbled, "Maybe I should have kept that to myself."

His brows shot up and he asked, "You think?"

"I was just trying to be open," I snapped.

His big hand cupped my cheek and his face got close to mine before he said, "I get it that things were fucked between you and Rodriguez but you are not lyin' naked next to him, Lexie. You're lyin' naked next to me. I'm a different man. You don't wanna make the same mistakes. I get that too. But you gotta get that I am not him. You're right, we're startin' somethin' here. We are. He does not factor in."

Okay, he had another point and maybe that one wasn't so small.

"So you're saying I should have kept it from you?"

"No, I'm sayin' you shoulda picked a better time because just then, I was feelin' good. Just then, I was lyin' there, lookin' at the ceiling, the sweetest pussy I've ever had pressed naked to my side. Just then, I was thinkin' about two weeks ago, a month ago, three months ago, four years ago, how I would lie in that fuckin' bed in that fuckin' cell and think what was done to me meant I'd never taste pussy that sweet. And, just then, I was fuckin' grateful that the life that sucked that I thought yawned before me was not the life that walkin' out of that place led me to and then you tell me I coulda had it over a week ago and for a man who's lost five years of his life, a week is a really fuckin' long time."

My hand still at his neck squeezed and I whispered, "I didn't know any of that."

He drew in breath through his nose and looked over my head.

Then his eyes came back to mine.

"You're right, baby, you didn't. So, I'll clue you in so you never walk into somethin' like that again. It's doubtful you'll ever have done to you what was done to me so you can't know and you'll never know, hope to God. But I been out for eleven days. I still smell that place, hear the bars slammin' shut, walk everywhere with one eye over my shoulder. It's gonna take awhile to shake that. And I got that for breathin'. I did nothin' but live my life. I did nothin' to be punished for, nothin' that needed reforming. Now, I gotta go see a parole officer, I gotta put up with whatever shit the Carnal PD is gonna shovel and I gotta do what I gotta do to make what was done to me right in a way that I can live with it. We're startin' somethin' and, you want it open, that's what's on my mind, that's what I'm livin' with and you're livin' with me so that's what you gotta live with. So for awhile, until I settle, you need to have a care."

"I can have a care," I said softly and I also said it immediately.

And just as immediately, his eyes changed and again it was a meaningful change but this time Ty would explain it.

"Shit, what'd I do that I walked outta that nightmare straight to you?" he murmured.

"I don't know," I replied. "The same thing I did to drive out of mine straight to you."

Again, at my words, his big body stilled but this time it went completely still, immobile, like he wasn't even breathing.

"Though, I took a detour to the beach," I added.

And that was when I knew Lady Luck had started to like me.

Because three seconds later, Ty Walker threw back his head and burst out laughing.

And I got to watch.

Chapter Ten.

I'm the Teacher Ty was in the shower, hand pressed to the tile in front of him, head bent, water cascading on his neck, back, head, his fist was wrapped around his cock and he was stroking.

I was behind him, pressed tight to his back, alternately kissing and tasting the sleek, muscled skin, my arms around him moving on his chest, his abs, everywhere.

I heard the noises he was making change, they went deeper and I knew.

So I pressed my front tight to his back, my arms tight to his front and I tipped my chin back and whispered over the spray, "Finish in me."

He didn't need to be asked twice. Before I could blink the water out of my eyes, he'd turned, grasped me under my pits, hauled me up and shifted me so my back was to the side wall. My legs circled his hips, my arms his shoulders and he stepped in, my back hit tile, his hands moved to my ass and he filled me with his cock.

Beautiful.

He drove in, pulled out, in again, and again, hands at my ass, mouth on mine alternately kissing me deep and almost brutal then soft and sweet then leaving his lips at mine, our heavy breaths mingling. If he was kissing me, we closed our eyes, if we were breathing, his eyes locked with mine, they were hot, fevered, staring deep, giving and taking.

I kept my legs tight around his hips, an arm tight around his shoulders but I pushed a hand between us to assist his driving cock in taking me there.

Feeling him, seeing him, hearing him, pressed against him and touching him while he stroked himself, living a fantasy I played in my head with my fingers between my legs and no Ty, one that was way better in real life with him right there as close as he could get was so beautiful, so hot, I was primed. Way primed. My finger had to move on my clit for about half a minute before the noises I made went desperate. He heard them and one hand left my ass to curl around the back of my head which was good seeing as a second after it did, my legs spasmed around him, my arm got super tight, my back and neck arched and my head slammed his hand into the tile.

A little while later, my mouth was at his throat when his cock thrust deep and his head jerked back with his orgasm.

A little while later, we finished our shower.

I was in a pair of panties and Ty's tee, my hair wet, standing at the coffeemaker pouring him a travel mug.

Ty was standing beside me, body turned to me, jean-clad hip leaning against the counter, bowl of raspberries, blackberries, banana and yogurt mixed with some of his protein powder cupped in his huge hand held high and he was spooning it into his mouth.

It was Wednesday, two days after we became us. Two magnificent days after we became us. Asshole Ty was long gone. Taciturn Ty was a memory. He didn't share much verbally but he shared.

Oh yeah, he shared.

And mostly he did this through sex. Lots of it.

He was making up for lost time, so was I, this was true. But it was mostly that it was just that good. We managed to eat and he went to work. Monday night, he worked out after work. Other than that, we were in bed (and once we were on the couch). We'd talk in between times, before we drifted off to sleep, or I would talk, he didn't say much and I would talk mostly in whispers. This didn't last long before he turned into me with intent. It wasn't that he didn't want to hear what I had to say, it was just that we had better things to do.

I shouldn't compare Ty with Ronnie and wouldn't tell Ty that, in my mind, I did.

But I did.

I couldn't help it. I'd had two lovers and they were night and day.

Ronnie, hit and miss. He tried but sometimes he failed and I didn't have the heart to tell him he did or where he went wrong. It upset him when I did; he'd go into himself or get mildly pissed so I learned to stop doing that.

Ty hit, every time.