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There was this urgency radiating from him as he laid me down on the bed and I quickly realized this was going to be different from last night. Last night, he’d only made a move to take my clothes off after I’d started tearing at his.

Now, the second he laid me down, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of my pajama pants, immediately starting to slide them off. Those eyes flicked up to mine in the dark, almost like he was silently asking permission. Instead of responding verbally, I kicked off my puffin slippers and dutifully lifted my ass for the fabric to pass behind it.

Holden pulled my panties off with the pants, then dropped to his knees and wrapped his fingers around my thighs, tugging me closer to the edge of the mattress. It came as such a surprise that I gasped.

No one had ever manhandled me like this, not even a little bit, but I loved it. Probably because I knew he’d never hurt me even if he was being a bit rougher tonight.

As he pushed my thighs further apart, he leaned forward and moonlight washed across his sharp, gorgeous features, illuminating his heavy eyelids and slightly slack jaw. Need raced through me like a lightning strike at the sight, my teeth sinking into my lower lip.

Holden’s eyes held mine, not lowering despite the fact that I was naked from the waist down. “This is still your show, Alicia. Say yes.”

“Yes,” I murmured, so shocked by the raw desperation in his voice that I could barely even form that single word. Sitting up slightly, I brushed my fingers through his hair, then reached for the hem of my shirt and pulled it off. “It’s always going to be yes when you’re the one asking.”

Maybe the moonlight was playing tricks on my eyes, but it looked like he was suddenly staring up at me like he couldn’t quite believe I was real. I stroked my fingers through his hair again and he groaned, leaning fully into my touch. “Holden?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“No, but I will be.” He kept looking into my eyes until I finally saw a hint of that cocky asshole spark to life in his gaze, a slow smirk spreading across his lips. “Stop me anytime.”

Without another word, his eyes finally dropped away from mine, his hands pushing my legs further apart until he had a completely unobstructed view of my undoubtedly slick… lady bits? Pussy? God, it’s been so long, I don’t even know what to call it anymore.

Either way, he seemed to like what he saw, groaning as he brought his lips to the inside of my thigh. Slowly kissing his way up, he murmured against my skin. “I need you to keep talking to me, okay? If I do anything you don’t⁠—”

“Will you please just relax?” I asked breathlessly, seeing the tension in his shoulders when I finally looked away from his face. “If I don’t like something, I’ll tell you, but so far, the only thing I don’t like is that you still don’t trust you’re not going to scare me away.”

“I’m trying, Alicia.” He ran a hand along the thigh he wasn’t kissing and I moaned when he stopped just before he reached my entrance. “Before I can trust that, I have to be able to trust that you’ll keep talking to me.”

“Fine.” I huffed out a breath, already embarrassed about what I was going to ask, but lying back on the bed and asking anyway. “Touch me, Holden. I want to feel all of you everywhere and I don’t want you holding back or being afraid of showing me exactly what you like.”

A noise caught somewhere between a growl and a groan escaped him. Then his mouth was on me, hot, wet, and wonderful. It’d been so many years since I’d felt anything like it that my hips went flying off the bed, but Holden grabbed one hip in a big hand and anchored me to the mattress, leaving the other free to rock and writhe like it was nobody’s business.

“Oh, God,” I moaned, my eyes squeezing shut as my back arched and his free hand shot up the length of my torso to tweak my nipple between his fingers. “Holden!”

He groaned and swirled his tongue around my clit, catapulting me into a whole new world of pleasure. I didn’t want to know how he’d gotten so skilled at this particular activity, but the guy had a mouth made of pure magic.

On a complete sensory overload, I bucked underneath him, my fingers tight in his hair and my entire being tensing in preparation for the onslaught of my orgasm. For the briefest of seconds, I wasn’t sure how to let go.

Every nerve ending I had was thrumming with the need for release. My toes curled as he licked me like a popsicle. When he swirled his tongue around my clit again and didn’t stop this time, I started trembling, wisps of pleasure starting to lick through my veins.

It was never like this when I was by myself. I’d never felt anything this intense actually, and the thought of surrendering was almost too intimidating to face, but then he lifted his hand from my breast and slid a thick, strong finger into me, essentially eradicating any choice I had in the matter.

My body clenched around that finger like it needed his touch to survive and all those knots that had been tightening at the core of my being released all at once. One more flick of his tongue at exactly the right moment, and the next thing I knew, I was coming.

“Holden!” I screamed, not even caring if the neighbors heard me as I rode out the cascading waves of pleasure. They stole the air from my lungs and the thoughts from my brain, leaving me panting and speechless in the aftermath.

I expected him to stop, to look up at me, and maybe crawl up to my side, but instead, he stayed exactly where he was. The speed and pressure of his mouth changed though, and it took me a second to realize he was actually cleaning me up.

With his tongue.

Oh, God. I moaned again, shivering as I lay there in the dark, wondering if this was what it felt like to have one’s mind blown with an orgasm.

“You okay?” he murmured when he finally lifted his head up, wiping his mouth with the back of his forearm as his gaze caught on mine. “We’re still good, right?”

“We’re still good,” I whispered, beckoning him closer. “I think you might’ve just ruined me, though.”

“For other men?”