It drove her straight to the very edge, even past it, just enough that she hovered there over the precipice, in that stomach-dropping heartbeat just before the free fall.

Had she ever felt like this? So wild, so completely, utterly out of control? So…close to another human being?

That answer was easy.

No.

Which brought its own terror. Because what the hell was she doing, allowing him to see her like this? Hell, allowing him to take her like this, turning her into a panting, whimpering, overheated ball of messy lust?

And that’s when she froze, too open, too exposed, too damn…scared about what it might all mean. “Wait—I can’t,” she panted, her fingers white-knuckling a death grip on the headboard. “I can’t—”

Jacob immediately reached up, covering her hands with his large warm ones, using his fingertips to run between hers and gently pry hers from the wood. “I’ve got you,” he murmured huskily, squeezing her fingers. “Sophie, I’ve got you.”

She nodded wildly. Good. He had her. That was really good, because God knew, she didn’t have herself.

“Breathe,” he ordered quietly, running his hands up and down her thighs—which were hugging his ears! “Just breathe.”

Right. Breathe. She sucked air in and out, in and out, even as he kissed one inner thigh so gently and then the other. And then in between. She moaned, and he did it again.

And again, slowly driving her back up.

And then her fingers were in his hair, holding tight because he took her someplace she’d never been, someplace completely outside of herself, and when she came, she came long and hard. Afterward, her entire body collapsed. She just went completely boneless, unable to pick up her pieces and put herself together again.

But it didn’t matter because Jacob scooped her in close, wrapping his arms tight around her, murmuring some sweet nothings in her ear. When she finally returned to herself, he smiled and kissed her, and then rolled, tucking her beneath him. “Now,” he said. “Let’s review the ‘I can’t.’ Because you just did.”

She laughed. “Show-off.”

His smile faded, and he cupped her face. “Any more reservations?”

She couldn’t think of a single one, so she slowly shook her head. He smiled again as he reached over her for something in his nightstand.

A condom.

Okay, good. Really good. One of them still had an operating brain. Because all she could do was run her hands over his chest, over the ridged muscles of his abs, which quivered beneath her touch as she headed south to the promised land. When she stroked him, he let out a very male sound of appreciation and thrust into her hand.

“Hold that thought,” he said. He tore open the package with his teeth and then rolled the condom down his length, leaving her practically panting as she watched. This was lust on a seismic scale. It was something more, too, but she shoved that way down deep. She had no idea how, but he was making it impossible for her to resist him, or even remember why she’d wanted to. “You keep forgetting to hurry,” she complained.

With a half laugh, half groan, Jacob sank inside her. Weight braced on his forearms, he cupped her face as he moved, taking his time, going so deep she gasped and her eyes threatened to roll back in her head. And then again. And yet again, and she felt her toes start to curl as she rocked up, cradling him between her thighs like he belonged there. “More,” she moaned.

He thrust again and she tightened in anticipation, but instead of more, he pulled his mouth from hers. She opened her eyes, and in his dark gaze she saw her own heavy-lidded look reflected.

“I’m not really into hurrying,” he said.

“What are you into?”

“Slow. Long. Hard. Hot. Dirty…” His teeth sank into her earlobe. “You still in?”

She took a breath to steady herself and rocked up, seating him even deeper inside her, clenching her inner muscles at the same time.

He groaned out her name. “Yeah, you’re in.”

“No, you’re in,” she said, making him snort.

Then he gripped her hips and took her. Slow. Long. Hard. Hot. Dirty…She was gasping, panting, begging for more in thirty seconds, but he continued to take his sweet-ass time, remaining buried deep and rocking gently, only to pull out and push in slowly, stretching her, reaching deeper with each stroke.

When she arched up into him and dug her nails into his back, crying out his name, she finally unleashed the beast. He set a pace that had her writhing beneath him, desperate as he moved over her, holding her head between his hands, kissing her with the same intensity that their bodies moved together.