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We both wanted the same thing, but I couldn’t stop teasing him, pushing him until he whispered against my mouth, “Please.”

Affection spread through me, and I gripped him a little tighter. “What did you say?”

“Ava. I need you.”

He’d barely uttered the words before I guided him inside me.

With one smooth glide, he bottomed out and groaned against my ear, “Fuck.”

His deep, roughened voice had me wrapping my legs around his waist and holding on tight.

He started off with slow thrusts while we both got used to each other, pressed so close I could feel his racing heartbeat.

“You smell so good,” I said. “Like lavender with man underneath.”

Luke made a sound that could have been a laugh or a groan. “It’s the damn soap. I grabbed yours by mistake.”

I tried to smile, but my body shuddered under him.

His stomach clenched as he drove deeper, breathing harder. We built a steady rhythm together, and as the tension climbed, he gave me a long kiss and pushed back from me. With our bodies still joined, he moved to his knees, gripping my hips and pulling me against each thrust.

I stroked my breasts, his thighs, the lower part of his stomach that just looked so nice, all tense and muscled.

With a vague smile, Luke grabbed one of my roaming hands and guided it between my legs. He didn’t say a word, didn’t need to explain.

My fingers slipped lower, and I sighed, lifting my hips.

As I swirled slow circles, he made a gruff sound in his throat and drove into me. “Tell me when you’re close.”

I’d been close from the second he touched me. It took barely any time at all.

“Luke… now. I’m…”

My head tilted back as it came over me. My hips jerked, and I lost it completely. Loud, unrestrained.

The tendons in Luke’s neck tensed, and his jaw hardened as he watched me. He leaned over me, his lips touching my throat, then with one last thrust, he pulled out and came on my lower stomach.

Silence settled over us, leaving only our heavy breaths. He took a moment to grab a tissue from the box on the bedside table and clean my stomach, then rested his full weight on me, his breath warming my neck.

I trailed my nails gently up and down his back and sighed. Strange how my life was scattered into pieces, and this was the most content I’d ever been.

“Ava, Ava, Ava,” he murmured.

When I smiled and shifted underneath him, he rolled onto his back and took me with him, draping me across his chest.

The chill had already seeped in again, and he pulled the covers over us both, tucking them around me.

“You don’t mind me touching you now, do you?” I asked.

“You’re not a human ice block anymore.” He stroked lazy patterns up and down my arm.

“What am I now?” I tilted my head and looked at him.

He cradled my chin and pressed a kiss on my mouth. “Beautiful.”

I eased out from under the quilt, pausing on the edge of the mattress. Luke murmured something unintelligible and rolled onto his side, eyes still closed.

A smile tugged at my mouth as I pushed off the bed. I’d worn him out reaching for him a second time, but it was his own fault for being irresistible.