I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt the orgasm draw together and then . . . it splintered into a thousand shards of pleasure radiating from my center out through my limbs. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back the scream, so I pressed my lips against his shoulder to silence the sound.

Rix paused, letting me revel for a few moments before he continued. Stroke after stroke, faster and faster. His ragged breathing clued me in to his quickly approaching orgasm.

I wanted it. Wanted him to let go. With me. Because I did this. This was my daring move, and I loved knowing that it brought him to the brink.

Rix didn’t silence his roar as he came. His forehead dropped to mine as his chest heaved with each breath he sucked in.

“Gonna kill me, woman. But what a way to go.”

Kill him? I couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped. He made me sound like some kind of skilled seductress, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. But then again, I had been tonight.

Rix pulled away, and that’s when it hit me. We hadn’t used a condom.

Oh. Shit.

He stiffened, and I knew he’d just had the same realization. He reached around the stack of linens beside us, producing a cloth napkin, and I quickly cleaned up. I’d just finished blindly setting my clothes to rights when the door swung open and the light flicked on. As soon as my eyes adjusted, they swung to the young server standing just inside the door, shock stamped on his expression.

I glanced to Rix as he was buttoning his suit coat.

“Uh, you shouldn’t be in here, sir.”

Rix grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind him. “Thanks for the heads-up. We’ll be on our way.”

The curtains were drawing closed as we stepped out into the main room, and the lights were coming up.

“End of the first act,” Rix murmured to me. “You want to stay? Or go back to your place?”

What did I want? More Rix. But in a private setting.

“I’m ready if you are.”

He nodded and we moved toward the elevators. “We’ll come back another night, and you’ll get the full experience.”

Another giggle escaped me. “I feel like I got the full experience tonight.”

“Not yet, but you will.” Rix’s silver eyes flashed as we entered the elevator, and he pulled out his phone. A quick text and he tucked it back in his pocket.

“Johnny?”

“Letting him know to get us.”

This driver business was kind of convenient, but still very strange. I waited a few beats before speaking again.

“Are we going to talk about the fact that I jumped you without a condom?”

Rix grinned. “Couldn’t wait for even a second, but I can’t say it bothers me.”

“So you’re not freaking out?”

He shook his head. “Are you? You’re on the pill, right?”

“The shot, so we’re good. And I’ve been tested. I’m clean.”

Rix slid his arm around my waist and pulled me close. “Then we’re fine. I wouldn’t put you at risk in any way, and certainly not that. I’ve never not used one, and I can’t say I’m in a hurry to start using them again after that.”

The lingering so was it good for you question was put to rest in my head. Of course it was. I stood a little taller, pride straightening my spine. For whatever reason, Rix had the same fascination with me that I had with him. I still didn’t understand it, but I wasn’t going to question it. Too many questions would dull the shine, because I was sure I didn’t have answers for most of them.

For right now, I was going to live in the moment and enjoy every bit I could. I knew all too well that everything could be snatched away in an instant, and I refused to miss appreciating this experience.

Rix led me out to the car, one hand on the small of my back. It reinforced the feeling of safety I always had in his presence. Like nothing could touch me. I craved that feeling almost as much as I craved him.

We slid into the SUV, and Rix gave instructions to Johnny as we rolled forward. “Back to my woman’s place. Take a different route than we did before, and make sure we aren’t being followed.”

Being followed?

I waited until he settled back in his seat before asking, “Are you worried the other gang would follow you?”

Rix shrugged. “It’s always possible. I don’t need to lead anyone directly to you. We took a long, backassward route on the way there just to be sure.”

Every time he said or did something that put me and my safety first, I fell a little further, a little harder. Honestly, though, who was I kidding? I was already past the point of no return.

Instead of taking a few minutes, we drove for twenty-five, and when we passed my favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant for po’boys, I asked Johnny to pull over. Rix didn’t raise so much as an eyebrow when he had Johnny run in and get us some. We devoured them before we even made it back to my house. Which raised the question . . .

“Are you going to come in the front door?”

“Your neighbors would be scandalized.”

My neighbors were good friends of my parents and kept a fairly close eye on my house at my father’s request.

“I don’t care.” It was the closest I’d come to a declaration.

“You might.”

“I don’t.”

Rix had Johnny slow the car two blocks away from my house. “I think this will be more fun.” He pulled the door open and hopped out.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna race you.”

“Race me?”

“Whoever makes it inside first calls the shots tonight.”

This got my attention. But there was no time to respond because Rix was already shutting the door.

I slapped the back of the empty passenger seat. “Hurry!”

Johnny chuckled, low and rusty, indicating that while he might not see anything Rix didn’t want him to see, he certainly heard plenty.

He turned a corner and slowed at the next stop sign, the car seeming to move at a snail’s pace. I stemmed the urge to smack the seat again. Barely. Instead, I scanned the yards of the neighbors’ houses, my mind filling in images of Rix scaling brick walls and hopping garden gates.

When Johnny pulled up at the stop sign at the corner of my street, I yanked open the door and jumped out.

“Wha—”