A flash of something akin to anger flashed across his eyes as they bored into mine, an intense sea of brown and gold. “Don’t you get it? You don’t have to beg me for anything. I’m already yours.” His kiss scorched me. I heard a rip, and my panties fluttered to the floor. Thank God. He unzipped and unbuckled enough to slide his pants and boxers down past his delectable ass and was back against me before I could appreciate how exquisitely beautiful he was.

Everything in me tingled and throbbed, aching for him. “Please—”

He stopped my plea with a kiss and thrust inside me with one powerful surge, stretching me to the max. “Oh fuck, December. I’ve never. Without. Amazing. You’re perfect.” He rested on his elbows, sharing my breath.

I skimmed my hands down the silk-smooth skin of his back and brought my heels up to balance on the edge of the desk. With what leverage I had, I pushed against him, bringing him even deeper. “Not perfect, but I am yours.”

Joy passed between us, the sweetest feeling of the meeting of two hearts, one soul. It was just . . . right. I swirled my hips around him, and his eyes darkened. Talk time was over. He gripped my hips, pulling them back into him as he slid inside, kissing me with the same desperation.

Everything about him consumed me, from his mouth on mine, to his body moving within me. Tension spiraled, coiling tighter until my muscles cramped and movement seemed impossible. He broke our kiss and stared into my eyes, his breathing as harsh and ragged as mine. He slammed into me over and over, gripping my hips so I didn’t slide back across the desk. “Josh!” I cried out, hovering so close to the edge. “I-I-I . . .”

He kissed me softly, but didn’t stop moving. “Shhh. I’ve got you.” He held my weight with one hand, and used the other to slide back under my dress. With the first taste of pressure on my clit, I moaned. He rubbed, and I gasped, arching off the desk as everything crashed in release. He caught my cries in his mouth, and fell over the edge with me in intense shuddering waves.

For what seemed like eternity, yet not long enough, we lay there, holding onto each other and absorbing what we’d both been longing for.

Josh braced himself and met my eyes. “You’re mine?”

I let loose a slow, very satisfied smile. “Yes.”

“Say it once more.” There was an anxiety in his eyes I never wanted to see.

“I love you, Josh. I’m yours for as long as you want me.” I was laid bare, every emotion raw.

He kissed me softly. “Like I’d let you get away again?”

I laughed. “You’re going to have to let me get a little bit away, before someone peeks through that window.”

Like I’d said the devil himself was watching, he was off me in a second, pulling my dress back down across my thighs before putting on his uniform. Once we were cleaned up and presentable, he stood between my knees, tucking my ripped panties into his pocket with a wicked grin. It had taken more than a few minutes to find all of his buttons.

He kissed me again, but there was no rush to it this time, no desperation. He kissed me like he’d been doing it forever and would continue the same way.

“You and me.” I met his lips one last time as he lowered me to the floor. “Against the world?” I couldn’t help the cliché.

His smile radiated pure joy. “Always.”

Epilogue

“How many clothes did you bring?” Josh asked as he huffed up the stairs to my second-floor walk-up apartment in Nashville. It was in a great area, safe and close to Vanderbilt, for which my mother left a sizeable amount of money in my account to pay for. She excused her actions by saying it’s what Dad would have wanted.

“Enough,” I answered with a smirk, opening the door with my foot so he could get inside. The mid-August heat had sweat dripping between my shoulder blades, and the air conditioning offered sharp relief. Josh collapsed melodramatically on my couch, throwing his head back.

“Dying. I’m dying.”

Well, if that wasn’t an invitation. I straddled his lap, and he immediately came alert. “Better?”

He skimmed my shorts and gripped my thighs with a playful squeeze. “I just think you have too many clothes. I like you with none.”

He kissed the laughter out of me and had me relishing the perks of my own place. “When do you have to be back?”

“Tomorrow night.”

Too soon. I tried not to pout, and instead ended up kissing him again. I could’ve lived off kissing Josh. “That means you’ll be here all weekend,” I whispered suggestively.

“It does,” he agreed, pulling me harder against him.

“Sweet! I like my closet color- and weather-coded according to the order of the rainbow.” I gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek and bounced off his lap, heading to unpack the kitchen.

He groaned. “Can’t we just have lots of sex?”

“Sure, as long as everything is put away . . .” I laughed uproariously as he jumped over the back of the couch and chased me into the kitchen. He lifted me to the counter and mercilessly tickled me.

I wondered if this is how it always would be with him, laughter and smoking-hot chemistry, with enough soul mixed in to melt me. Whatever it was with us, I knew it would always be more than enough. Josh was my home, even six hours away at Fort Rucker.

Two more years here, and we’d both finish together; him with flight school, and me with college. And we would make it, not because we were strong, or determined, but because there was no other option for us. We simply were.