“We’ll be alone for hours,” she whispered. “Did you bring protection?”

He nodded, his eyes going from hers to her lips and back up to her eyes again. Even in all the times he’d been in trouble—all the times the adrenaline had pumped through his veins as he readied himself to kick someone’s ass—he’d never felt his heart beat this erratically. “Rosie,” he whispered, “you’re positively sure about this, right?”

She smiled, running her fingers through his hair. “Positive, Vincent, I love you.”

Her soft touch alone followed by her words did things to him he couldn’t explain. He’d felt this many times when he was around her. She didn’t even know it, but he was already completely at her mercy. Rosie could do no wrong—she was faultless. And now she’d be his completely. It was as alarming as it was thrilling.

Forcing himself to get his thoughts together, he took a deep breath before kissing her again softly. “You should get a towel.” He swallowed back the immense fear that suddenly inundated him. This was really happening. “You might bleed, baby.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh,” she nodded as the fear swept across her face, too, “right.”

He lifted himself away from her, and she slid off the side of the bed and walked out into the hallway. She walked back in, covering her bare chest with a towel, and smiled at him nervously.

Since this wasn’t so spontaneous anymore, Vince stood and helped move her teddy bears aside. It made him smile to see out of all the bears on her bed, the pink one—the he’d won for her—was front and center. He stopped to kiss her again then lifted the bedspread. This was only his second time doing it in a comfort of a bed. Ironically it’d also been when a girl he knew had called him to ask him if he wanted to hang out while she babysat. He’d gone over and hung out then he left immediately after. His friends were parked up the street waiting for him.

All the other times had been in backseats, front seats, on the roof of his apartment building; he’d even made use of public bathroom stalls a few times. None of those times had he given any thought to the outcome—the consequences. The only consequence he’d ever worried about was the possibility of getting one of them pregnant. Otherwise it was just something he’d enjoy and never think twice about. This—this had him thinking so differently now. Rose being pregnant with his baby was almost a pleasant thought. It didn’t scare him half as much as what Sal would do to him if he knew what was about to go down—under Sal’s very own roof.

Rose placed the towel on the bed. Vince closed in from behind her, kissing her neck and cupping her perfect br**sts in his hands. “I don’t think you realize,” he whispered in her ear then sucked her lobe, “what you do to me.”

She turned around to face him and smiled. “If it’s anything like what I’m feeling, then I do.”

He shook his head staring in her eyes. “No,” he said slipping his hand behind her neck, “I am so crazy about you, Rosie. I really don’t think you have any idea.” He gulped again, trying to suppress the fear, but only because it was her would he share a little of what he was feeling. “It’s terrifying.”

Her eyes widened again, searching his. “Why?”

There was no way to explain it. “I don’t know, but after we do this, I know it’ll be even worse. No one has and I don’t think anyone will ever come close to making me feel what you do, ever.”

“Good,” she smirked, “because I don’t want you to ever be with anyone else. I know I don’t want to be with anyone else…ever.”

God, that’s exactly what he needed to hear. Taking her face in his hands, he smiled, groaning as he kissed her with the same urgency he’d kissed her earlier. Within seconds, they were back on her bed. He kissed her deeply before moving down to her soft br**sts again.

Knowing he was the only guy that had ever had the pleasure of even kissing her and hearing her say she wanted to keep it this way alleviated a little of his fear. Vince had no doubt he could stay out of the normal stuff he usually got into trouble for. After his punishment for the Randy fight, he decided nothing that petty was worth it. He realized that taking any kind of chance was a slap in the face to Rose who herself said she’d never chance something like that. But lately just thinking of her being so far away and the possibility that any other guys might make a move was more than enough to make his blood boil.

After today he knew that feeling would be magnified a thousand times. This past month away from her had been torture. He loved and trusted her completely, but it still didn’t take from the fear that he may someday snap, and his ability to be around her would be taken from him for good. She was after all still a minor—would be for another year.

Vince stopped suddenly, lifting his head when he heard something. “It’s the baby,” Rose said running her fingers through his hair, smiling, and gesturing to the monitor. “He makes noises in his sleep.”

His relieved heart thumped a little less violently. “We’d hear them before they’d walk in the house, right?”

Vince was having visions of jumping out her window into the backyard while she threw his clothes at him frantically. He’d be dead if Sal caught them. She nodded. “Yes,” she smiled obviously trying to reassure him. “They come in through the garage, and we’ll hear the garage door open before they even drive up the driveway. But I’m telling you they’ll be gone for hours.” She pulled his shirt to bring him closer and kissed him even more passionately.