"You have no idea."

A couple of minutes later he speeds up the driveway, into the garage and shuts the engine. Twisting to face me, his hand molds to my cheek and his thumb caresses my skin. This is not what I was expecting. I a.s.sumed he'd be carrying me inside as he stripped me naked on the way upstairs. "Baby," he murmurs the term of endearment so lovingly. "Go upstairs to my room, strip down to nothing, and lay on my bed." His voice is sultry and my panties soak from his directions.

I swallow the lump in my throat and stare into his determined eyes. He wastes no time to follow through with his threat about teasing. He'll never hold out long enough. As it is, he wants me to undress myself.

"Okay." My hand fingers for the door handle and when I blindly find it, the door clicks open, but Rob's lips merge with mine. Gentle, loving, and nothing I want in this moment. Don't get me wrong, I love when he's tender and thoughtful, but I've craved him all day. There's no waiting for him to go slow this time around. I want him to slam me against the wall and f.u.c.k me until I can't walk.

"No tongue?" I pout in the seat and a quiet chuckle escapes him when he breaks away with nothing but a long peck to the lips.

"Go, baby." He sits in the car, waiting for me exit.

I do what he instructs, happy to see Dex's truck gone and Chrissy's keys missing from the dish by the back door. The house is quiet, no footsteps or television blaring. It's only me and Rob until one of them returns and I'm crossing my fingers it's not for at least a half hour. I wish that thought alone didn't bring out a million b.u.t.terflies to my stomach.

When I step into Rob's room, I'm surprised to see his bed made, the dresser neatly organized with cologne bottles lined up with not a speck of dust. Even his guitar pics are tossed into a dish. The receipts that covered the oak surface are now gone and I contemplate opening his top drawer to see if he swiped an arm along the surface right into the drawer. Even if he did, the rushed act doesn't negate that fact he straightened his room for me, which brings a gentle tug on my heart.

When I hear the backdoor slam shut, I remember my instructions and toe out of my black flats and shimmy my jeans down my legs. When I grab the hem of my shirt to fling it off my body, I hear his footsteps climbing the stairs. As fast as I can, I unhook my bra and shove my panties off. Jumping onto the bed. My body flits around, as I test out five different positions, deciding which one will make him jump me the fastest.

There's a soft knock on the door and it opens a sliver. "Ready?"

I change my come and get me pose on the bed one last time.

"Yes."

He opens the door, steps in, shuts it, and locks it. There's a bottle of caramel sauce tucked under his arm, a bowl with strawberries, and another bowl I can't see nestled in the crook of his arm. My body tingles thinking of his tongue licking it off my body.

"You have plans."

He nods, admitting nothing as he travels over to the bed. After positioning the bowls and sauce on top of his nightstand, he swaggers over to me and climbs onto the bed.

Not removing a st.i.tch of clothing, he straddles my hips and raises my right hand. Reaching back, he whips strips of shredded cloth out of his back pocket and then ties my wrist to his headboard. His eyes concentrate on the task, never veering down to me, or my chest pushed out to entice him.

My body wiggles underneath him, desperate for a release. "Hold on, baby." He raises my other wrist gently in his hand and ties what I see is a rag from the garage around my wrist. I tug my hand and my back falls back into the mattress unable to move. He stands up and I groan from the loss of his heat. "Now, do I need to tie up those legs or do you think you can control yourself?" He leans over me, dangling two other rags across my already pebbled nipples. The breeze and the feathery light brush across my breast staggers my breathing.

"Rob!" I plea and he chuckles sauntering over to his drawer.

"You should have listened." He digs through his dresser, revealing a tie. He owns a tie?

My core heats up and I clench from the pure want building to max level inside of me.

Sauntering over to me, he graces me with his naked chest as he strips his shirt off. "You like to tease . . . let me teach you how it's done."

Oh s.h.i.t.

I stare up at him, trying to concentrate on my breathing before I pa.s.s out. He's exactly the man I knew he was, and if I thought he was the one for me before, he just branded me exclusively for him.

"Show me," I whisper and he laughs.

"Lift up your head."

I do as he requests and soon darkness consumes my sight.

"Good girl."

G.o.d, I love it when he calls me that.

Now having only my senses of touch and hearing to go by, the room quiets. I fear he left me strapped to his bed, that his version of teasing is leaving me alone, while I antic.i.p.ate his return. Then my excitement picks up when I hear the zipper of his jeans. My back arches, and my knees fly up as I widen my legs.

"Don't make me tie your ankles."

His voice is even toned, no emotion. Kudos to him because if I could I'd slip my hand down myself to finish this off, from him leaving me teeter tottering on the edge.

Quickly lying my legs flat on the bed, the mattress dips and a lukewarm drizzle sprinkles from the crevice of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s down my stomach.

"A little bit of sweet." The mattress dips on either side of my hips and his tongue swipes the gooey liquid off my stomach, surging a current of desire right to his target.

"Rob." My hands tug against the restraints and my back arches further as I try to control my pleasure.

He doesn't respond, instead, an icy cold cube hits my skin from his hot mouth. His tongue slides it up my stomach, up the curve of my breast and his mouth covers my nipple. Circling the outline of my breast with the ice cube in his mouth, I squirm.

"Remember who started this game," he reminds me, as the ice cube melts in the middle of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"You're taking it too far." I fight him, loving his arousing exploration of my body.

"Am I?" he questions, his hands and lips disappearing again. "I think you're wrong. I didn't even grab the whipped cream."

A giggle leaks out of me before I can mask it. I have to show how serious I am because he needs to get a condom on and thrust into me hard right now before the most intense o.r.g.a.s.m falters to the sidelines.

Just as I'm trying to control my imprisoned pleasure, his hard body lays on top of mine. I savor his light cologne as my b.r.e.a.s.t.s crush against his chest. "Next time you should listen," he whispers in my ear and the tip of him is right at my opening.

Sliding side to side and lifting my hips, I attempt to end this game he's enjoying playing with me. With a little finagling, I'm positive I can entice him to ditch this whole teasing business.

"I need you," I beg and my hands lift only to remember they're trapped.

"I know. I need you, too," he admits. Thank the heavens. I'm making progress. "But, all in good time."

"What?" I screech. "Rob, grab a condom and get your d.i.c.k inside of me now," I demand and he leaves my body once again. "Rob!" I scream and then Best I Am by Flaw sounds from his iPhone.

I hear a drawer open and shut. The mattress slopes again and my heart rate picks up with the hope he's finally relenting. His hand removes the tie off of my eyes and he's smiling down at me.

Ogling his naked body, I notice his condom is already on and he's moving on top of me again. "You make it too hard," he softly murmurs, reaching up and untying the rags from my wrists.

He lightly ma.s.sages each wrist, bringing them back down. His fingers skim down my arms as I bring them around his neck. "Listen to these words as I f.u.c.k you, Paige."

I sink into the mattress, hearing the lyrics to the music. Rob flips our moment from l.u.s.t-filled to love in a flick of his finger to his phone. He slowly moves inside of me and I lay drowning in him and the fact his heart is opening for me.

The song is a promise of sorts. Sticking to his true colors, the song conveys he'll do the best he can to make this work between us. It's his own sentiment to our situation, and I restrain the tears from the trust he's giving me after such a short time.

He rolls his hips and I melt into his hold, bringing my legs up and over his waist. Our lovemaking syncs into a harmonious tempo, and a peace flows between us.

His fingers weave through the hair on the sides of my head as he rests the weight of his body on his elbows. The honest blue eyes dig into mine with promises he doesn't know if he can fulfill, but he desperately wants. He isn't giving me bulls.h.i.t lines about how much he loves me, or that he'll never mess up. Instead, he's allowing me inside of the raw creature he believes is screwed up, but for me, he'll try to change and that's enough. I don't want empty promises, just truth.

My eyes flutter from the emotions and the physical satisfaction he's handing me. The o.r.g.a.s.m that I expected to rack my body five minutes ago hinders on the edge, ready to explode in a much more quiet way than I figured. My fingernails scratch his shoulder blades and my legs tighten around his waist as he sends me over that cliff, soaring into the air with him alongside of me.

As we come down from our fall, he lowers on me, kissing me softly and slowly. His tongue whisks in my mouth, churning my tongue with his. A soft moan releases into his mouth and his hand removes my arms off him as he entwines our fingers above my head.

He breaks our kiss and his lips travel down my jaw, but his hands stay linked with mine. "Paige," he sighs and with only my name I know exactly what he's conveying.

"I know." We had a moment that neither one of us is ready to admit. The ramifications if it doesn't work are too fearful to acknowledge what just transpired. Instead we're content with the knowledge that our relationship is evolving faster than we thought possible. We've zoomed from physical attraction, to dating, to something neither one of us is very good at communicating, or feeling. I give us credit; at least we aren't ignoring the moment between us. That has to be a start.

A half hour later, I'm still naked in his arms. His phone plays music, love songs that I never would guess he enjoyed listening to. I'm grateful there's no sign of Chrissy or Dex yet.

"Can I ask you a question?" I sit up, thumbing through his music to pick a song.

"What?" He lays there, his fingers brushing up and down my back, igniting shivers.

"What's your relationship with your dad?"

His hand leaves my back and a huff pa.s.ses his lips. "There isn't one. He's an a.s.shole."

"Oh." My eyes light up when I see a song. "You have Stay by Lisa Loeb?" I ask and he chuckles.

"Yeah. I hope my secret is safe with you. I don't make a habit of showing people my music collection."

"Promise." I lay back down on his chest. "Why?" I ask and he stares down at me confused. "Why is your dad an a.s.shole?"

His body stiffens and I wonder if I've pushed too hard, too soon.

"He cheated on my mom. After the accident, my parents' relationship became strained. Both my parents grew up in Mill River, so, their son being a killer didn't exactly bode well, especially at first."

"You're not a killer. It was an accident." I tighten my arms around his stomach to comfort him.

"Not according to the town of Mill River, but anyway, I was too wrapped up in my own s.h.i.t to really notice anything with them, or they put up one h.e.l.l of an act. After my mom found my dad with her business partner slash best friend, she fell into a depression." He sits up, resting his back along the headboard. "I think it was all too much for her at that point. I tried to help, continuing to go back home. Doing her laundry, trying to get her to eat. My aunt would call me with updates, but my mom was on a downward spiral. She wasn't even the person I knew growing up. After the accident she would fight my battles for me, holding the ground that I was a seventeen year old that made a terrible mistake. With Carly ditching out, it seemed as though all the blame hit me, not that I didn't welcome it."

Holy s.h.i.t, he's had a rough seven years.

"So, one night I drove down to help her. Things were s.h.i.tty between us. I was in a c.r.a.ppy mood and I yelled at her to get up, eat and stop being depressed over some a.s.shole that probably had his d.i.c.k in another woman in that moment." His face is pained as though he's reliving the moment in his head.

"What did she say?"

"She threw me out and told me to get my life together before I start sprouting advice like a pastor on Sunday morning. My aunt tried to plead with me that she didn't mean what she said and that she was drunk or had too much Valium or whatever. Krypto offered me a spot on their tour the next day and I accepted."

"I'm glad you have patched up your relationship." I smile over to him, and he smiles back.

"Me, too. It's been a long road, but things are changing." He leans forward, and his hand cups my cheek. I tilt into his hold and he stares into my eyes. "You're changing me," he admits and I sink into his trusting eyes.

"Is that good, or bad?" I ask, secretly hoping he's liking the change I'm evoking from him.

"Good." He comes closer, his lips covering mine. He breaks the kiss, "Very good," and leans forward again, taking my lips to his again.

The backdoor slam shuts and I jolt up in bed. Rob chuckles and jerks me toward him again. "They don't know who's in here with me." He casts kisses to my neck and I lean into him desperate for more.

"That's true. Do you think they know?"

"I don't even care at this point." He grabs his phone, switching the song to a faster and louder one. Placing it on the nightstand, loud enough so that Chrissy won't hear us, but not so loud that she'll complain. All those worries if anyone has figured out our secret disappear with Rob claiming all my thoughts.

He eases me down on the mattress, covering my body with his. "I have some strawberries I wasn't even able to use," he slyly proposes, winking at me.

"Well, we don't want them to rot."

"No, definitely not. Roll over, baby."

PAIGE LIES IN my arms, a low and steady stream of breath inhaling and exhaling from her lungs. She fell asleep after I took her from behind just like she expected me to in the first place. It was my plan to tease her, make her beg and then nail her hard like I know she enjoys. Then the mood shifted with the pleas from her lips and the way her back arched from my stroking. The goose b.u.mps that traveled right behind my fingertips when I brushed them up the inside of her thigh. I couldn't spoil the love that emanated inside of me with a mask of f.u.c.kery. I was desperate to show her what I realized this morning when I was under the hood of my car.

Seriously, what the h.e.l.l is wrong with me? My music played through my wireless headphones as I torqued and rotated the wrench to my engine when Best I Am started playing over my phone. Paige's face flashed in my head. How I wish I could be like one of my friends and promise her a love like no other. Spout the cheesy lines they do, making sure her heart felt protected by my love. It makes me only respect them more than I already do that they have no fear of breaking that promise.

Then I contemplated if I even loved her the whole two hours I fixed my engine. It took me six months to fall in love with Carly and I wasn't even screwed up like I am now. How could Paige capture my heart in only two months? Sixty days? Impossible, especially since I haven't even taken her on a real date. This afternoon was going to be our first. Denying my body's need and desire to drag her back to the house and have her, my plan to buy her lunch derailed with my mom's call.

Maybe it was a sign from fate that my mom called because seeing Paige interact with mom convinced the small part of me that believed I was delusional in this whole love thing. They laughed and even though some of it was at my expense, my heart opened wide in that restaurant this afternoon at watching two women that I love enjoy each other.

Paige stirs in my arms, interrupting my thinking.

"Hey," she utters softly, stretching her body like a cat in my arms. "Sorry, I haven't gotten much sleep lately."

"You're beautiful when you sleep."

"Only when I sleep?" She smiles and a devilish smirk crosses her lips.

"More beautiful during the day since I don't have to worry about drool."

She narrows her eyes and smacks my chest.

When she rises up to escape my hold, I sit up and close my arms around her slim figure. "Don't get carried away now." I laugh into her hair and drag her back down.

Flipping in my arms, her bare nipples sc.r.a.p against my chest. "How do I get out?"

Her fingers mindlessly make patterns across my skin. "Do you want out?"

"Well, I do need to shower at some point. Maybe eat. I don't think strawberries and caramel sauce are going keep my energy up."

I laugh and she inches up, and grants me a quick peck of her lips. "We can't have that."

"Not with what I have planned."

"Shouldn't that be my line?" I guide her in, unable to be close enough. "I had no idea you were such a nympho."

She slaps my chest again. "I'm not," she whines and I laugh.

"That's alright, baby, I like it." I kiss the top of her head and she moves to sit up. I groan, wishing she'd stay, but understanding that I can't keep her holed up in my room all night.