“W-what are you doing?” I stammered.

“Giving you control. Showing you I’m yours. Do what you want, angel.”

He was giving me control? Now? Summoning my courage, I raised my hips and lifted his c**k from his body, positioning the tip at my entrance. Lowering myself slowly, I felt him begin to impale me and I stiffened above him. What if I wasn’t good at this?

“Take a deep breath, relax your muscles.”

I released an exhale and let myself sink down farther, savoring the feel of him stretching me, entering me so deeply.

“That’s it.”

Knox might have said this time was for me, but it seemed he couldn’t resist bringing his hands to my hips, his fingers gripping me tightly, biting into the skin. His face was a mask of concentration, his eyes locked on mine and his jaw tense.

“Like this?” I asked, pressing my knees into the bed so I could lift up and down on him slowly.

“Fuck, yeah, baby. Ride me. Just like that.” His voice was a rough, gravelly plea and I couldn’t help but obey, rocking my hips against him over and over.

As I grew accustomed to his size, the pace built faster. I sensed a shift in Knox and soon he was no longer okay with lying back and letting me take control, he was clutching my butt and raising his hips with thrusts of his own that pushed into the very core of me.

Guiding my mouth to his with one firm hand on the back of my neck, Knox kissed me. Desperate to feel his warm lips on mine and the heat of his breath wash over me, I returned his kiss greedily. He groaned helplessly underneath me, pushing his thick c**k deeper and deeper inside me with each thrust.

Without breaking our connection, his pace increased, slamming my hips down onto his lap and claiming my mouth with deep, hungry kisses. I might have been the one on top, but I was no longer in control. My body was like a rag doll being used for his pleasure, and subsequently my own. The pulsing sensation of an unexpected orgasm crashed through me, my head dropping back and a low desperate murmur clawing up my throat.

Knox growled something in response to my body’s tightening and slowed his pace, his expression twisted in pleasure or agony, I couldn’t be sure. “Fuck, angel. You’re so perfect.” His tight grasp on my hips loosened, as though he realized he was probably bruising my skin. I didn’t care. A deep, all-consuming orgasm like that would be worth whatever bruises and soreness I had tomorrow.

Once my inner walls had finished trembling, Knox withdrew amid my protests and lifted me off of him, laying me on the bed next to him while he positioned himself above me. Keeping my legs together and my knees bent and pushed up to my chest, he held my calves in one of his hands and used his other to guide himself back inside me.

My back arched involuntarily off the bed and my hands scrambled for him, gripping his thighs as he rocked forward again and again, pummeling me with long, purposeful strokes. I clung to him desperately while he worked himself inside me, pumping his hips and keeping my legs in place.

He bit out a string of curse words and I felt the moment he gave in, his body jerking and his c**k swelling inside me, filling the condom he wore.

Knox released his hold on my legs and pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. He got up just long enough to remove the condom and grab me a handful of tissues, wiping between my legs carefully before returning to the bathroom to dispose of it all. I made a mental note to take the trash out before Brian got back. I didn’t need him seeing the evidence that my virginity was indeed gone and make some comment about it.

Knox crawled into bed beside me, pulling the quilt that was folded at the foot of my bed up and over us.

“You’re trembling,” he whispered, brushing the hair back from my face.

I nodded. “That was intense.”

He smiled and pulled me closer, tucking me against his side and draping a heavy arm over me. “This feels so good, holding you like this.”

Panting to catch my breath, I curled onto my side and let him hold me. His big, warm palms smoothed up and down my body, lightly stroking me and soothing me until all my muscles were relaxed and I felt sleepy.

As I dozed off into a light sleep, feeling complete and happy, I made mental notes of all the things I needed to do. Check on Brian. Check on Amanda and her baby. And find a way to become an anonymous donor for a college scholarship and be sure that Luke was the recipient. But for now, I just relaxed and let Knox hold me snugly in his arms.

The way he’d been himself—so uninhibited and fierce, taking me over the edge with each punishing stroke—was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. He’d claimed my mouth with deep, hungry kisses, seeking love, acceptance, and belonging. He might not have said the actual words yet, but it was only a matter of time. I felt his love in each kiss and whispered compliment.

He kissed me once more on the forehead and then rose from the bed. “I need to get home to check on the guys.”

I nodded and got up, pulling on the pink bathrobe hanging on the back of my door.

Knox stepped into his jeans and tugged his shirt on over his head. Once he was dressed, he pulled me into his arms, lifting my mouth to his and looking deep into my eyes. I didn’t know what he was trying to tell me, but I felt his love and concern all the same.

But he had told me he’d loved me, hadn’t he? Not in words, but with his body. The tender way he’d made love to me for my first time, his protectiveness over me, the way he read my body and gave me exactly what it needed. It was closer to love than anything I’d had before.

“Thank you for the date tonight,” I whispered against his lips. I’d felt so cherished and thoroughly cared for that I wanted to tell him I loved him, too, but I didn’t. I just pressed my mouth to his and felt his lips curl in a smile.