Once inside the room, he kicks the door shut, sets me on my feet, and turns me around. He moves my hair aside and kisses my neck, seductively whispering, “God, I need you now,” while unzipping the back of my dress. Pulling my dress down, he kisses my right shoulder. “You’re so beautiful.” Pulling down the other side he whispers, “You smell so good.”

He turns me back around to untie the belt at my waist; he then kisses each of my eyelids. “I love your eyes, their color, the way they look at me.” He moves to sit on the bed and pulls me to stand between his legs. Motioning for me to lift one foot, and then the other, he unbuckles my ankle straps and removes my shoes. “There’s just something about you that I haven’t been able to forget.” While still sitting on the bed, he tugs my dress all the way down and it puddles to the floor. He kisses my stomach softly. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for five years.”

As the moonlight streams through the windows, I struggle to find my breath as all the air leaves my lungs from his words, his charm, his everything. He just leaves me breathless. Standing up, he stares at me in just my bra and panties and then in one quick move he removes my bra and slides my panties off my h*ps where they too fall to the ground. He continues to stare for a few more seconds before raking his eyes down my body. “You’re perfect, really.”

I stand there completely na**d, vulnerable, and unable to move. I’m shaking as he steps closer and touches me. His hands wander from my h*ps around to my backside and he pulls me to him. “Do you want me?”

“So much.”

Pressing my body into his, it almost feels like we’re about to perform an erotic dance. I rip his shirt from his body, and it falls to the ground. Sliding my hands up his hard smooth chest, I push him down on the bed and fall on top of him, kissing his throat as he groans in my ear. Running my hands further down the deeply etched V in his abs, I slide one hand into his boxers. I finally grasp him, moving my hand up and down his length as he moans louder panting my name.

Gently rolling me on my side, he sits up and quickly removes his shoes and socks. I prop myself up on my elbows as I watch him standing there taking off his jeans. He reaches down to the floor to pick up them up and pulls a condom out of his wallet, tossing it on the bed, before removing his boxers.

He’s standing in front of me, gloriously na**d, and I can’t help but smile a huge smile. He really is the sexiest man alive. His body is just amazing. He has chiseled arms, hard abs, and taut muscles. He grins back at me as he bends down and kisses my lips, my jaw, my ear. He lightly sucks on my lobe and then returns to my lips.

I pull him on top of me as his hands go from my hips, to my breasts, to my hair, and then clutching my face with both his hands he loudly groans. “I want to touch you everywhere, all of you Dahlia. I want you.”

Trying to manage words, I hoarsely say, “I want you too.”

Shaking his head, he lets out a low husky laugh as he responds, “You’re just too sexy.”

Drawing away for a mere second, he lets go of my face and rolls us over. I cannot wait any longer; I reach across the bed, pick up the packet, and tear it open. His eyes glaze over as he watches me, his breath heavy. I move to the side as I attempt to put the condom on him. I can feel his body trembling under my touch, and my body quakes in response.

I’ve never put a condom on a man before, and my hands are shaking so badly I can’t possibly do it. Leaning into him, I laugh against his mouth. “I’ve never done this, you’re going to have to help me.”

And with that, he laughs along with me as he says, “Dahlia, you are . . . amazing.” The moment isn’t broken as he chuckles, “Yeah, I can do it.”

But he doesn’t, instead he reaches for another packet and tosses it on the bed as he throws the unused condom to the floor. Then gazing at me with his powerful green eyes, he says, “But there’s something I have to do first, something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.”

Then gently, he rolls me over onto my back, resting my head on the soft pillows. He moves his leg over my body. Hovering over me, he looks down with a wicked grin and says, “Dahlia, I need to taste you.”

Chapter Eleven

CLOSER

Help me tear down my walls

I want to be near you

I need to feel you

I don’t want to be with anybody else

I only want to get closer to you.

Photography is all about finding the moment, but it’s nice to know when to put the camera down. Sometimes I’ll ask myself, “Do I want to photograph this, or should I just experience it?” Right now in this moment I know I want to just experience it.

With his last words, our momentary lapse into laughter quickly fades and emerges as a different emotion entirely—pure desire. He’s standing in front of me while I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, nodding, speechless. Emotions are sailing through me as we embark on this course, seeking the beautiful horizon. I want him. No, I need him—badly. But, as quick as a sail goes up on a windy day, a surge of nervousness wraps itself around my desire like the chain of an anchor, dragging me down. He wants to taste me? Thank God Aerie took me to the salon! I haven’t slept with a man in almost two years. Is it like riding a bike? Do I remember or even know how to do this? God, what am I doing na**d in front of this delicious man whose middle name could be Seduction? Should I stop now before embarrassing myself, before drowning myself in the vast ocean?

He must sense my apprehension because as he leans into me, he whispers, “Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow.” His words do extraordinary things to me. They give me the courage to continue the course we have charted, to dive into this sea of desire so welcoming, so warm, so inviting.

Moving between my legs, he rests on his forearms as he begins to softly kiss my lips. Snaking my arms around his neck, I pull him closer to me, arching my back and pressing myself up into him. I want him inside me, now, but he seems content taking it slow. I’m aching for him, not only because I’ve been abstinent for so long, but also because I have wanted him for far longer.

As my hands slide along his taut muscles, feeling the smooth skin of his back, they make their way around his h*ps and feel their way to the point of no return. Before they meet their destination, he stops kissing me. Raising his head, breathing heavily, he lifts himself back up onto his arms and looks at me pointedly. “Not yet,” he whispers, shaking his head and kissing my nose before gliding his lips down my throat.

As I try once again to slip my hands around his h*ps to feel his hardness, he slides his body further down mine. I can feel his grin as his mouth connects with my hard wanton nipple, circling it, sucking it before moving to the other. The feeling is overwhelming, and I’m shocked that I feel like I can come again so quickly. Knotting my fingers in his hair, I begin tugging on it as if it’s a life raft pulling me ashore.

My hold is lost as he descends further down my body, my breath increasing at an alarming rate. I can feel his tongue on my stomach, jetting in and out of my navel, as small moans escape me. River mutters, “You taste so good.”

As his mouth lingers on my slick flesh, my core starts to pulse in anticipation, and a much louder, “Yes,” escapes my lips.

Hearing his hitched, ragged breathing as he slowly sucks, lightly strokes, tastes, and licks my most sensitive skin I start to moan his name. As his tongue plunges inside my core, going as deep as it possibly can, moving in and out in a constant rhythm, his eyes flick up at me. He notices I’m watching him. “Fuc . . . Dahlia, you’re just so hot,” he moans with a devilish grin.

When he starts circling his tongue around me, I lose all ability to function. He then presses his tongue harder while slipping one finger inside me. He pauses again to say, “God, you taste so sweet,” and when he slides a second finger in, I can no longer even remember my own name.

I start to grind myself against his mouth, his fingers. “Oh God, River,” I cry out as I come harder than I’ve ever come in my life, momentarily leaving this planet behind.

As I float back down to Earth, he’s slowly, seductively making his way up my body, still licking and tasting every inch of my skin. His mouth meets mine and I can taste myself. It is the most erotic feeling. He lightly licks my bottom lip from the outside around to the inside. I open my mouth further, and his tongue brushes against mine. He gently bites down then flutters his tongue against the tip of mine before finally kissing me.

As we continue to kiss, I trail my fingers down the deep line of his abdomen. His stomach clenches beneath my fingers as I pass over his sensitive flesh. I hear him let out a sharp breath as I wrap my hand around his girth, making my way down to the base.

Shifting my body, I’m now hovering over him. Breathing, panting, almost gasping, I can feel each and every pulse radiating from his hardness. I can barely hear the music in the background, but I think I hear Sex Therapy playing from his phone. How appropriate. As my hand finds its own rhythm, I begin sucking on his lower lip, moving to his upper lip, before running my tongue over the roof of his mouth, making him groan even louder.

Stopping only to look into his powerful green eyes, which are darker, filled with deep desire, I pull back to an almost sitting position. I can hear his breathing; fast and unsteady, nearly uncontrollable, much like my own right now.

“River,” I say while reaching for the condom packet, tearing it open and handing it to him. “Do you know how much I want you?” I feel like a spider caught in his web of seduction, or maybe it’s my web.

“God, Dahlia I want you so much,” he whispers to me as one corner of his mouth lifts, and he grabs the condom. Watching as he rolls the condom on, smiling and more than ready, I move to align my sex with his. His face is a picture of clear passion.

He smiles, grips my head, and pulls my mouth to his. As he deepens the kiss, I open my mouth further to welcome the softness of his eager tongue. His fingertips press into my hips, searing me, as I lower myself onto him.

Watching him closely as he fills me completely, I think this is the most satisfying thing I have ever felt. I begin to move faster. He clutches my h*ps trying to slow my pace, but I don’t let him.

Sucking in a deep breath, he bites his bottom lip before closing his eyes and cringing in ecstasy. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this,” he manages through gritted teeth.

Opening his eyes, he rolls us over still connected. I’m now under his beautifully hard body. While moving inside me with slow even thrusts, he’s kissing down my neck, touching my arms, cupping my breasts, thumbing my nipples. I like that he doesn’t know what part of me he wants to touch.

Fire burns through my veins as a blaze of arousal flames through my body. Moans of passion flood the room as my fingertips claw his very well defined muscular back, urging him to move faster.

My head falls back as I suck in a breath. The lyrics from Robin Thicke’s Sex Therapy echo from the other room and River sings me his own version of the song. “It’s your body, we’ll go slow if you want or as hard as you want to.”

Moving slowly, precisely, intently, he momentarily stops kissing my neck. “Dahlia, you feel so good.”

Gazing at me as his h*ps continue to slowly roll, he kisses one cheek then the other, kisses my nose, then my eyelids in turn. He moves toward my mouth, reaches under me, and pushes me upwards allowing himself to plunge deeper inside. It’s much more intense.

“Oh God, don’t stop,” I cry as I wrap my legs around his waist, our bodies fitting together like they were made for each other. Moaning himself, he starts to pick up the pace as he grabs my hand and pulls it to his heart.

The moonlight is luminescing through the windows as I moan louder now, feeling the buildup approaching from within me again. And when I look into his face I know he’s there too.

Opening his mouth, halting his breathing, I feel him start to explode. Groaning low and intensely, he stills for a beat as I scream out in pleasure from the mind-blowing orgasm that rivets through my body. Cupping his chin with my free hand, I pull him to me as every fiber of my being tingles from my head to my toes. As the intensity of our kiss calms, our lips rest together. Panting against each other, he gently trails his fingers up my cheek and wipes my hair from my face before resting his forehead to mine. “You take my breath away.”

As our breathing becomes more controlled, he gently rolls off me and lies by my side. Removing the condom, he ties it in a knot, and tosses it to the floor alongside the unused one. Then he pulls me into his arms. Caressing my cheek, he turns to look at me with his gleaming green eyes. “That was amazing, definitely worth the wait.”

I nod my head and words momentarily escape me. Oh my God, why didn’t we do that before? But I remember why. Ben. I think about how glad I am that I didn’t succumb to my desire for River that night at the bar because I unequivocally know I would never have recovered from it, from him, and even now I’m not so sure I ever will.

Needing to rid my mind of my inability to see this for what it probably is, a one-night-stand, I stare back into his eyes and say, “If your definition of amazing is incredibly hot sex with an equally incredible partner, I definitely agree.”

He looks at me with a smirk on his face that says more than words possibly could.

With my arm draped over his chest, I lightly stroke his smooth skin as he rubs circles on my back. I glance up at him, wanting to clear the room of the throws of passion that are still knocking at my door and say, “Was that Robin Thicke I heard playing from your phone?”

Rolling onto his side, his eyes meet mine as he circles his finger around my ear lobe, tugging on it before leaning in to kiss just the corner of my lips. Then raising an eyebrow, the biggest grin crosses his face. “I’m willing to explore your naughty side. Are you willing to let me unleash mine?” He follows his own adorable lyrics with a wink.