“Hanna.”

My eyes fly open to find Nate standing in front of me, hands in his pockets. His eyes are unreadable, cloaked under the shadow of the ball cap. I’m so drawn to him that, despite the sting of fresh rejection, I want to step into his arms, rub up against him like a cat.

But I’m not the kind of girl who can rub up against guys and get them to respond. I just proved that, didn’t I? How did I forget?

“Hanna, talk to me.”

My heart pounds in my chest, and I want to scream. “I’m sorry. I thought…” I shake my head. “I misunderstood what was between us. Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”

“Shit.” He steps forward, his body a breath from mine. “I’ve wanted to get my hands on you since I saw you walk into the bar at the hotel.” Taking my hands, he hooks my arms behind his neck. The gesture works with his words to fill me with one last ounce of courage.

My stomach riots with nerves, but I lift onto my toes to get my mouth to his ear. “Then why won’t you kiss me?” I hardly recognize myself in the boldness. It’s him. He does this to me. His eyes and touch, his words, making me so sure of his attraction to me when it’s ridiculous for me to be sure of any such thing.

Before he responds, his hands settle at my h*ps and tighten. He sweeps up my sides and back down. When he speaks, his words come out with something resembling a growl. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all night long. I’ve hardly thought about anything else since we started dancing. But I’m not just thinking about kissing you, Hanna. If I thought we would stop with kissing, I would have done it hours ago.”

I’m so distracted by the heat of his hands through my dress. I don’t understand. “Then why not?”

“Because I want to do more than kiss you. I want to touch you. Explore you.” He dips his head, and his hot breath glides against my neck, his lips so close but not touching. “But I promised Asher I wouldn’t.”

“Asher? He thinks Max and I are still together. He—”

“He would have given me the same warning if he’d known the truth. You’re heartbroken and on the rebound.”

“I—” Can’t deny that.

“I shouldn’t do any of things I want to do to you.” His voice drops lower, and he skims his thumb over my bottom lip. “I shouldn’t taste these lips.” He follows the words by brushing his mouth over mine.

A shiver of pleasure rushes through me as he repeats the motion. My lips part under his, and he draws my bottom lip between his teeth and sucks gently. Then his mouth is slanting over mine and our tongues meet in a hungry, desperate kiss. For a moment, my brain holds Nate’s kiss up against Max’s, the hungry to the gentle, the rough to the soft. But then that slips away and I’m not thinking at all, just kissing him back and clawing at his shirt, wanting him closer and closer. I wasn’t wrong. This man wants me. And I want him so badly that the want is a live, pulsing thing, consuming me until I am nothing but desire.

When he breaks the kiss, his eyes skim over my face as if memorizing it. “I shouldn’t put my hand under that skirt.” And as he says the words, his hand connects with the sensitive flesh of my inner thigh.

I shift, instinctively parting my thighs for his touch. A moan slips from my lips, and I lean my forehead against his chest and close my eyes. “Why not?”

“Because you’re sweet, Hanna.” His hand moves slowly, torturously on my thigh. “Too sweet for me to touch right here.” He finds my panties with his fingertips and, with whisper-soft pressure, sweeps over my center. His breath is hot and heavy against my ear. “Too sweet for me to finger f**k just because I want to feel how wet you are. Too sweet for me to make you cry in pleasure where anyone could hear. To make you come just because I want to feel you fall apart in my arms.”

There’s a tug on my panties. Then the lace is magically gone and his hand is against me, the heat of his palm then his fingers finding my clit. We both gasp at the touch. I am so swollen, slick, and I want nothing more than for him to do the very things he just described.

It’s crazy. I shouldn’t. Not here. Maybe not at all. But my body has all but shut off the function of my brain, and the only thing that seems to matter is getting his fingers inside me.

He toys with my clit, rubbing it between two fingers, and I curl my fingers into his arms. His triceps flex under my touch, and for a blip, my brain slingshots back to Max, his thick arms, his muscled body. Max touching me, Max kissing me.

Max breaking my heart.

“Please,” I say, rocking my h*ps toward him. “I need this.” I need to turn off my mind. To forget.

Nate draws back and studies me. I see the tension in his jaw and shoulders. He’s holding back.

“Please, Nate.”

8. Nate

AT THE sound of my name on her lips, what little control I have left snaps. I have to feel her. I step closer, one leg outside hers, my body angled to protect her from the curious eyes of anyone coming around the corner. I run my fingers over her wet sex one more time before I slide a single finger inside her.

“Jesus,” I hiss against her ear. “You’re so damn tight.”

My c**k aches against my fly at the feel of my finger sheathed in her. She’s hot and wet, and she feels so good I’m nearly blind to anything but how soon I can be inside her. I want to hail the nearest cab and take her back to my hotel, let her crawl onto my lap and grind against me on the ride. Fuck, I want to unbutton my jeans and take her against this building, squeeze that amazing ass, and drive fast and hard inside her. Make her cry out as I make her come with my c**k instead of my hand.

I take a deep breath, searching for sanity. Her scent nearly undoes any attempt to calm myself down. Her lips part and her lids go heavy. Pleasure washes over her face in waves. I move slowly, sliding my finger out as I circle her cl*twith my thumb, then back in, curling it just enough so she shudders in my arms.

“I love how wet you are,” I growl against her ear. Words turn her on, and I’m not about to fail to take advantage of that. “I love how your pu**y squeezes my finger, how you respond to my touch.” I draw out again, and this time, I add a second finger.

At the added pressure, she opens her mouth against my neck and bites down softly. She works at my neck as I f**k her with my fingers, her mouth licking and nipping and sucking in ways that are giving my dick all kinds of ideas.

It’s with the thought of that mouth on my c**k that I use my thumb to apply pressure to her cl*tand move my fingers inside her. “Every second you danced in my arms, I was another second closer to losing this battle with myself.”

“Please,” she whimpers.

“You’re too sweet for a mess like me, but every second I stand here smelling your perfume, touching your perfect body, my control slips another notch. Nothing will stop me from f**king you until you’re coming and crying my name.”

She buries her face in my neck and shudders again, rocks her h*ps into my hand as her body pulses around me. Then, just as she goes limp in my arms, the sky opens and rain pours down on us.

Hanna looks up into the downpour in wonder, and I slowly remove my hand from between her legs and smooth her skirt down to cover her.

She blinks at me through the rain, her wet cheeks flushed. Her tongue darts out over her swollen lips. “I don’t know if I should be embarrassed or…grateful.”

I chuckle and take her hand, kissing the soft skin over her knuckles. “Come with me?” My voice hitches at the end, and my suggestion becomes more of a question. There’s something about Hanna that makes me feel vulnerable.

She grins. “Let’s go.”

By the time we get a cab, we’re drenched, but she doesn’t complain about her hair or makeup like most girls would. Instead, when we slide into the back, she keeps biting back a smile. So damn sweet.

Taking my hand, she intertwines our fingers. My plans for using the cab ride for another ten minutes of foreplay melt away. For now, I settle for breathing in her scent.

9. Hanna

WE ENTER the hotel’s glitzy lobby and make our way to the elevator hand in hand, leaving a path of damp footprints on the marble tiles.

When the elevator dings and the doors slide closed, Nate presses the P button and slides his room key in the slot. A shiver shudders through me. I was okay outside, but in the air conditioning, my skin is breaking out in goose bumps.

He rubs his knuckles over my bare shoulders. “We’ll get you out of these wet clothes and warmed up.” He cups my face in both his hands before kissing me.

My heart pounds and I can feel it in my ears. I’m really going to do this. I’m going to lose my virginity to a guy I just met.

He pulls back, concern twisting at his beautiful face. “Are you okay?”

I nod, but before I can figure out what to say, the doors slide open to a lush suite. I step inside, afraid I’ll chicken out if I don’t move quickly.

He’s behind me, settling his hand possessively at my waist. “Do you like it?”

“It’s really nice.”

The elevator chimes, and I spin around and watch the doors slide closed again.

“Hanna.” He tilts my chin so I’m looking at him. “Your room is an elevator ride away. We can say goodnight any time you want.”

“I…” Why can’t I feel like I did outside the club? Bold. Uninhibited. Ready to throw off the chains of my virginity. Instead, I’m a live wire of nerves and hyperaware of everything. The burbling of the saltwater fish tank set into the wall, the soft hum of the air conditioner, the way Nate’s eyes are searching mine.

What will he think if I back out now? What will I think?

What if I’m wrong about me and Max and we end up together again? Will I tell him about tonight? Will he resent me for it? Or will I keep it to myself and let it be the secret that sits between us our whole lives, the something keeping us from truly connecting like we once did?

Pushing my thoughts aside, I rise onto my toes to press my mouth to Nate’s. He doesn’t take long to respond, and the feel of his mouth over mine, his tongue sweeping inside, helps to quiet the chaos of my mind.

“Shower?” he murmurs against my mouth.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“With me?”

Another shiver rushes through me, as much from nervous anticipation as from cold. “If that’s okay with you.”

His eyes flash. “More than okay.”

Taking my hand, he leads me farther into the suite, past the living room area and into a giant bedroom. The king-sized bed is made with fresh white linens and seems as enormous and frightening as what I’m about to do.

Any nerves I feel at the sight of the bed fall away when Nate continues on, flipping the lights in the bathroom and revealing an oversized en suite with a large glassed-in shower and Jacuzzi tub.

I watch in awkward silence as he turns on three different showerheads. What am I supposed to do with myself? Am I supposed to undress or wait or…?

Worry fizzles, because before I can decide what to do, he’s back and kissing me again, pressing me against the long granite countertop. He pushes one dress strap off my shoulder and tugs on the fabric until one lace-covered breast is exposed.

He groans softly. “Your bra matches your panties.”

“What happened to those?”

With a boyish grin, he produces them from the pocket of his jeans. I take them and hold them up. They’re ruined. Torn at both hips. And I’m not the slightest bit upset about it.

I prop my hands on my h*ps in a pretend pout. “Now what am I going to put on after our shower?”

“If I have my way? Not a damn thing.”

Dropping his head, he puts his mouth to my breast and sucks me through the lace. The sensation is too much—the wet heat of his tongue, the rough texture of the lace, the painful pleasure of his rough mouth. I cry out, and the sound echoes against the walls.

Before I realize what he’s doing with his hands, my dress falls away, puddling at my ankles and leaving me standing there in nothing but my bra and my strappy heels. He slowly drags his mouth from my breast, and my nipple puckers harder in the cool air as Nate steps back to take me in.

This is the part I hate. Men’s assessing eyes on all my imperfections—the stretch marks at my breasts, the extra fat around my stomach, the cellulite on my ass and at the tops of my thighs. There’s nothing sexy about any of these parts of me. And there’s nothing that turns me off more than the disappointment in men’s eyes when they get me na**d. It wasn’t like that with Max. But then again, I’ve never let him see me na**d—not entirely. And by the time he saw me semi-nude, he was already in love with me.

Or you thought he was.

I focus on Nate and will myself to stop thinking about Max. I won’t let my broken heart ruin this night. This isn’t about love or men who make you feel whole. This is about sex and pleasure and—

Nate lifts his eyes back to mine, and what I see there brings my overactive brain to a screeching halt. Not disappointment. No. The heat in his eyes is undeniable. And it’s for me.

“You couldn’t be more perfect, Hanna.”

I look down, confused. Has someone else’s body magically replaced mine, because…? It’s true that I’ve toned up a bit in these last months while working out with Max, lost maybe ten pounds, but I still don’t have anything near the bodies my sisters have. I’m still the size-sixteen embarrassment I’ve been since adolescence.

Nate tilts my chin up with his thumb. He cocks his head as he studies me. “You really don’t know, do you? Our conversation earlier wasn’t just an act. You have no idea how gorgeous you are.”