The voice faded into my subconscious, and I suddenly felt heat at my back and the smell of rainwater filled my nose. Looking in the reflection behind me, Austin was there, in only his boxers, looking beyond perfect and dark, only adoration in his eyes, and all my fears lifted.

Austin reached up and ran his finger down my cheek, nuzzling into the crook of my neck, and feathered kisses along my hot skin.

Closing my eyes, I reached around to the back of his thigh and pulled him closer, feeling his hardness press right against me.

“Austin…” I whispered and felt heat pool at my core.

“Pix…” he said, voice hoarse, and I turned in his arms. My palm flattened on his chest, and I lifted on my toes and softy kissed at the white dove tattoo on the underside of his throat.

Gripping the nape of my neck, Austin rolled his hips and groaned. “Fuck… Pix… I need you…”

Stepping back, I took Austin’s hand and led him to the huge king-sized bed. Austin was looking down at me in confusion, and I motioned for him to sit on the edge.

Doing as I asked, Austin sat on the side of the bed, and I ran my hand through his hair, his eyes rolling back at my touch. His reaction fuelled my courage.

When he reached out to hold my waist, I stepped back farther, and Austin tilted his head to the side. “Pix? What’s wrong?”

Unable to speak with the intensity of what I was about to do, I shook my head and reached for the back zipper of my dress. Austin’s eyes widened, and my gaze never left his.

Pulling the zipper down, I closed my eyes and, on a deep breath, let the loose, black material pool to the floor beneath me. I caught Austin sucking in a pained gasp, and as I opened my eyes again, he was gripping the sheets in his fists, staring at me in my bra and panties like he couldn’t resist, his hard length testing the material of his boxers.

Skirting my hands up to the front clasp of my bra, heart thundering in my chest, I slowly released my br**sts and dropped my bra to the floor. Feeling small and weak, I almost faltered in my action, until a frustrated moan slipped from Austin’s lips as he roved his hungry gaze down my nearly bare body.

I inhaled a sharp breath.

I wasn’t disgusting him… I was turning him on…

Hands shaking at the importance of the moment, I hooked my thumbs into the sides of my black panties and pushed them down my legs.

As I straightened, I looked Austin straight in the eyes, and tears filled his dark Italian gaze. “Pix…” he whispered and, reaching out for my hand, pulled me to his chest and ran his hand down the length of my chest and stomach. “You’re so f**kin’ beautiful,” he said in a raspy voice. “You, like this… perfection…”

Perfection… the goal I’d always strived to achieve.

Almost melting inside at his honest words, I replied, “I’m beautiful… with you…”

And then it hit me: I wasn’t afraid anymore with Austin. I wasn’t afraid of baring my fears, all my secrets… my soul… myself.

Suddenly, wrapping his hands around my neck, Austin pulled me down on top of him and crashed his mouth to mine.

I was lost to his touch.

My hands clutched the messy strands of his hair, and his tongue pushed between the seams of my mouth, dueling with mine as though he wanted to crawl into my skin.

Breaking from his mouth, I used my hands on the mattress to slowly crawl down his body, laying kisses to the hot skin of his stomach, the muscles twitching and tensing underneath. “Pix… Christ, that feels good…” he murmured and gripped at my hair.

Reaching the waistband of his boxers, I tucked in my fingers and rolled them down his thighs and off his ankles, discarding them on the floor with mine.

We were flesh against flesh, and we both paused, realizing what this meant. I had conquered my biggest fear. I was naked before Austin. I was finally completely myself, with Austin.

It was perfect.

Rolling me on my back, Austin kicked open my legs and braced himself at my entrance. His tongue lapped along the scalding skin of my throat and his fingers ran down my torso, all the way down until they brushed against my core. Shivers racked my body as Austin left a wet trail of kisses over my br**sts, down my stomach, and across my hips. His hands pressed on the inside of my thighs, and, looking up at me, Austin pushed my legs apart and shuffled his body down the bed until his mouth hovered at the apex of my thighs.

“Baby, I gotta taste you. I’ve been wanting to lick you for far too long.”

Swallowing back my nerves, Austin ducked his head and his tongue ran along my folds in one slow swipe. My head threw back and a long moan slipped from my lips as Austin circled and sucked me with his lips and hot tongue.

Instinctively, my hips ground against his mouth, and I felt as though I was floating on air, reaching a high I’d never touched before.

“Fuck, Pix, you taste so good. So f**kin’ good,” Austin murmured against my flesh, and heat seared my skin.

“Austin!” I cried out when he inserted his finger inside me, pressing against that perfect place within my channel. The sensation of falling washed through me and, as Austin built up the speed of his tongue, I came against his mouth, Austin groaning and fisting his length as I did so.

Lifting his head, Austin’s eyes were determined as he towered over my flushed and sated naked body. As he ran himself along my wetness, I stilled. Austin immediately did too.

“Pix?” he questioned in a tight voice.

I cupped his face with my hands. “I want…” I took in a fortifying breath. “I want to be… on top. I need to take the reins tonight…”