He watched, the moonlight from the window he hadn’t shut off to outside illuminating her as she threw back the covers and got out of bed.

She went to one of the windows he’d done and threw open the curtains.

What the f**k?

“Roc –”

She turned to him and whispered, “It’s too dark.”

Okay, again… what the f**k?

She’d never been scared of the dark.

“Rocky, we need the curtains closed.”

She shook her head and moved to the window next to the one he was at. “No.”

He walked to her as she threw one side of the curtains open and asked what was on his mind. “Baby, what the f**k?”

“It’s too dark,” she repeated.

“We don’t need people seein’ in, Roc, and there are people out there who’ll be lookin’.”

“It’s too dark,” she said yet again.

She moved to pass him to get to the other side of the drapes and he caught her by hooking an arm around her belly. She stopped and looked up at him.

“Rocky –”

“I need them open, Layne.” She tried to pull from him but he tightened his arm, sliding it around her to bring her up against his front.

“We can’t sleep with them open, Roc, too much exposure.”

“I need them open,” she repeated.

“Sorry, sweetcheeks, that’s not gonna happen,” he told her, felt her body get tight, not with anger, with something else, something that started seeping into the room, something not good and not right.

“I need them open,” she whispered, her voice suddenly trembling.

Layne heard it and treaded cautiously when he reminded her, “Baby, you’ve slept with them closed the last three nights.”

“Yes,” she was still whispering, “but you were here.”

Layne’s body went solid at her words and whatever was coming from Rocky started filling the room, pressing into them and he sensed that whatever it was, she didn’t have it in her to beat it back. Whatever it was, he needed to beat it back for her.

“You scared of the dark?” he asked gently.

She didn’t answer. Instead she said, “I need the light.”

“You scared of the dark, Rocky?”

“I need the light,” she repeated, now her body was trembling.

“You weren’t scared of the dark twenty years ago, honey.”

“No, I wasn’t,” she whispered again. “Because you were there.”

Fucking hell.

His hands went to the sides of her head and he turned her, moving her backward toward the bed.

“What scares you?” he asked, she didn’t answer except to shake her head in his hands. “What scares you, baby?” No answer, her legs hit bed and he stopped, thinking he knew so he explained, “Tonight wasn’t dangerous, Rocky.” She tried to look away but he kept her head tipped toward him and his face got close to hers. “It wasn’t dangerous and I had backup.”

She lifted her hands and curled them around his wrists, whispering, “Layne.”

“I’m good at what I do,” he told her and she shook her head in his hands again so he gave her a gentle squeeze and moved even closer. “Swear, I’m good at what I do.”

She stared in his eyes through the dark and, suddenly, she lifted up on her toes half an inch and her mouth was on his.

He didn’t know what was happening with her and it more than concerned him but, even so, Layne didn’t hesitate. He accepted her invitation by slanting his head to the side, his hands moved from her head to her waist, curling around her back, trapping her in his arms and he kissed her.

After all those dreams, Layne was ready for what was about to happen and had been ready for a long f**king time and Rocky showed him she felt the same. She gave with her mouth and took with her hands. Greedy, hungry, she was all over him, pressing into him, communicating need.

He understood her need, her need was in his blood, blood that was now coursing through his body and making his c**k hard.

He put his hands to her pits and lifted her up high, his mouth disengaging from hers, he growled, “Knees,” and she knew what he was saying. She kicked her calves back and he set her on her knees in the bed.

His hands went to the hem of his tee and he nearly growled again when, without delay, her arms went straight up to help him. He yanked off the tee, tossed it aside and one hand went to the middle of her back, pushing in and up, arching her back, he bent and used his other hand to lift her breast, he took it with his mouth and sucked deep.

Her fingers slid into his hair and she moaned, arching her back further, holding him fast. He pulled hard then swirled with his tongue, pulled hard again and then moved to the other side to do the same. When he was done, she was clenching his hair in her fists and she pulled him up, his mouth to hers and he took it, the kiss deeper, wilder, out-of-control as she pressed her bared tits tight to his chest and one of her hands went into his pajamas to curl into his ass, the other one went in the front to wrap around his hard c**k and she pulled him to her.

Christ, she was primed already.

He tore his mouth from hers and she stroked his c**k before gently tugging him toward her again and he shook his head. “Unh-unh, baby, I’m hungry.”

He listened to her breath catch and he knew she remembered. He’d say that to her when he wanted to go down on her, whenever he wanted to go down on her. He’d walk up behind her as she was doing the dishes, he’d whisper it in her ear when she was curled into him on the couch, when he’d wake her up in the middle of the night or when he woke up in the morning wanting the taste of her. It got to the point if he said it because he was hungry for food, her eyes would go half-mast, her mouth would get soft and he knew what she was thinking and would have to fight against going hard.

And she knew now and he knew she knew because she let him go and moved to her back. He moved in, sliding his fingers into her panties, he yanked them roughly down her legs and tossed them aside. She pulled herself up on the bed and was opening her legs before he got a knee to the mattress.

She wanted it, his Rocky, f**k, she was magnificent.

Hands to the soft skin of her inner thighs, he spread her wider and put his mouth to her. Her h*ps jerked and she gave him another mew. That coupled with the taste of her, having it back after so long meant he didn’t go slow, he didn’t take it easy, he just took. Her feet went into the bed and she lifted her h*ps to offer more, rubbing herself against him.