She gasped and flinched when I groped her too tightly. Not the reaction you are looking for when trying to convince your partner in a short amount of time. She stiffened against me.

“Sorry,” I breathed against her mouth. “I’m too eager and a little desperate.”

She gave a light laugh and pulled her mouth away, raising her hand to where I must have hurt her.

“Can I kiss it better?” I asked.

She frowned for a moment as if she wasn’t listening, so I reached over and gently pulled her hand away from her breast and replaced it with my mouth, kissing, gently slipping my tongue out to taste her. She tasted like spiced wine and blackberries. And a hint of something I couldn’t describe—some flavor uniquely her own. The smooth, soft texture of her skin only added another layer to her essence. I licked her and she moaned my name.

I kept my mouth where it was and slipped my hand over her smooth stomach to rest on the warm mound beneath her panties. She rewarded my efforts with a tiny squeak at the back of her throat.

I rubbed her there and her breath caught, her hands tightening around my biceps. This was all a dance with steps we were still learning and discovering. And it was always different.

Her hands wandered underneath my shirt, which she had hurriedly untucked from my pants. Her touch was red-hot, palms traveling across my chest. I hissed out my breath. “You don’t have an ounce of fat on you. You’re rock hard.”

I shot her a wicked grin. “That’s not the only place I’m rock hard,” I said, unbuttoning my pants.

I had to get inside her. That goal was paramount now. And I wasn’t going to waste another minute.

My hand returned to her panties, stretching the crotch aside and she braced her hands against my shoulders. I looked into her eyes. “I need to fuck you. I can’t wait another second.”

And I pushed into her wet heat. She closed in around me, tight, encompassing. I growled in response. The satisfaction of sinking into her was short-lived because that knot of tension tightened in my groin. I was going to spill like a teen if I didn’t calm down.

She wrapped one long leg around my hips, locking me to her. She was so goddamn sexy—irresistible, really. Not that I wanted to resist her in any way. Instinct screamed in me to charge. And so I did, sinking myself all the way in, pinning her to the door. My mouth found hers again, forcing me to slow down.

It had been too long and I was so turned on, I was pretty sure this first time wasn’t going to last long no matter how hard I tried. After dinner we’d take our time, savor it. Maybe take hours if we felt like it. Shit, I wasn’t even done and yet here I was, planning for more. It was ridiculous, really, because I was inside her and she was amazing and swallowing me whole with her body, her lips, her eyes.

I reached between us and stroked her clit and she tipped her head back against the door and moaned. Her hold around me tightened as she clenched me tighter where we were locked together. She was about to come already and I could barely keep it together. I rocked my pelvis against hers, my own muscles taut and tense. Whenever I felt it near, I stopped and stroked her instead.

“Oh God!” she moaned, climaxing. I could feel the spasms tightening her around me. I blew out a long breath, ready to follow her over the edge. She arched her back, pressing her luscious chest into mine. The contractions from her orgasm squeezed the breath from me. I rocked into her one last time, letting go as I came, pushing deep inside her. Pure pleasure seized me, violently overtook me. I gasped her name.

When I relaxed and came back down from the high, I kissed her, tightening my arms around her. I knew I should just pull out and let her go, but I didn’t want to.

I kissed her neck. With just the slightest coaxing, we could start this all over again. With every shred of control I had, I pulled my face away and looked into her eyes.

I put my hands on either cheek and pressed my face close to hers.

“I love you,” she said.

“I know,” I replied, grinning as I echoed the famous retort Han Solo gave Princess Leia in The Empire Strikes Back.

She laughed and I kissed her again.

“I don’t ever want to be away from you for that long again.”

“No,” she sighed, content. “You need to stop leaving me behind when you go off on your grand adventures.”

I stared at her, cheeks flushed from our lovemaking. She was my next grand adventure. She was mine.

“Mine,” I said.

“What?”

“You’re mine. For good. And since you don’t like being left behind, you can come along with me on next year’s thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.” I was mostly kidding, of course. Just thinking about another epic hike made me ache all over.