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Her underwear goes on top of the pile, and I can’t look away. Goosebumps break out across her skin. I meet her at the shore as she tentatively wades in. The hot water has heated my body, and I hold her close, warm for once. She locks her arms behind my neck, and I kiss her as we sink lower into the steaming water.

“This is amazing,” she murmurs, chest pressed to mine. “Do you think anyone would notice if we built a cabin right here?”

I grin against her tender skin and let myself daydream of us living together, out in the woods. I’ve been collecting these moments like precious stones, storing them away, to sustain me if she decides not to stay.

Pushing us through the water, I back her up to a ledge of flat stone, lifting her out of the pool.

“The rock is warm.” She flattens her palm against the granite.

My hands slide along her damp legs. Thumbs on the inside of her thighs.

“Lie back for me.”

She doesn’t argue, stretching out on the hot stone. Snow comes down around her, landing in her dark hair like stars.

I kiss the inside of her knee. Her leg jumps. I work my way up her inner thigh, her skin still hot from the water. Blood rushes through her veins, whoosh-whoosh-whoosh, in time with her speeding heart. My mouth finds her, and her whole body goes taut. She gets a fistful of my hair and holds me there.

I take my time.

Another press of my tongue.

“Nick.” Her heel digs into my back. “Don’t you dare stop.”

I do as I’m told, and then more than I’m told.

She’s moving under me now, chasing it, and I hold her in place.

She cries out, loud enough that birds flutter from the trees, and melts against the rock. Thirty minutes ago, she wouldn’t take her socks off.

I dig my fingers into her soft hips and drag her to me, pulling her back into the pool. She kisses me hard, biting my bottom lip, her tongue sweeping into my mouth. With one arm hooked around my neck, she takes me in her other hand and sets her own pace.

I let out a groan. “This is your revenge, isn’t it?”

“Little bit.” She says it into my mouth.

My restraint has a floor and she’s found it. I gather her against me, her knees pinned to my hips, and she takes me all at once. Her mouth drops to my shoulder, biting down hard enough that it would hurt anyone else.

My fangs slide down, and I don’t try to hide them. Her need is feeding mine, and I’m running out of reasons to be careful. I kiss her instead. She opens for me, and I feel her tongue find the point of one fang, testing it.

She breaks the kiss. “You can bite me if you want. If you’re hungry, if you need to.”

“No.”

“Wait.” She pulls back. “Will I become one if you do?”

“No. It doesn’t work like that.” I should leave it there. “That wasn’t why I said no.”

“Then why?”

“Because I promised I never would.”

“All of you, Nick.”

Four words undo that vow. A vow I made before I knew it could be something she’d ask for. Could be something we shared.

“Tell me if you want to stop.” They’re the only words I manage as my mouth moves lower over her throat, my fangs grazing her skin. She shudders in my arms.

“Don’t stop.”