I stroke his pecs and kiss his nipple too. A groan of pure hunger and approval rumbles up his chest. I push his shirt over his head, and his hair ends up rumpled and sexy.

He leans over me again.

Matthew unhooks my bra and exposes my breasts.

He touches me.

My nipples harden under the feathery touch and I suck in a breath. I wait, my body tense, wanting. He strokes the pad of his thumb over the tip of my breast, sending a shiver down my spine.

“So responsive,” he says as he leans over and kisses the inside of my thigh. I squirm a little, and his laugh caresses my skin. “So sweet.” He moves his lips over my sex. Oh god. He trails his hand up my hip, to my breasts. My muscles contract deeply and a low groan leaves me.

He tugs my panties off and tosses them to the floor. His thumb circles my clit and passes over my wet slit, over my folds, then penetrates me. I clench my muscles, even my belly muscles. “Ohhh.”

He pulls on my breast with one hand.

He breathes in my skin and licks and laps my nipple. His warm tongue moves languidly over my skin, and my body beneath it is on fire.

He swipes his tongue over my belly and lower, to my sex again.

He’s so hungry. I’m so hungry.

I want to touch him. I reach out and run my fingers over his chest, his muscles visible in the city lights streaming through the window.

He kisses the inside of my other thigh. I squirm and thrust my hips up in a silent plea.

His tongue dips into my sex, tasting me.

I’m about to come. It feels so good. I’m so hot for him it’s not even funny.

“I can’t get over how good you taste. How gorgeous you are.”

His eyes look tender and wild as he kisses my sex for another minute, watching my reaction, and it’s an intoxicating combination.

I pull him up and kiss him. He kisses me back, tasting like me. Our tongues move, our hands searching, his exploring, mine kneading.

He grabs my hips and leans in to lick his tongue across my nipple. I gasp and thrust my chest upward, and his laugh again brushes over my skin.

“Don’t laugh at me—this is serious,” I groan.

“It’s very serious.”

He kisses my sex lips with a languorous, wet tongue. I buck, but he stills me with one hand on my hip bone. He eases his thumb over my clit and starts rubbing in circles as his tongue dips languidly inside me.

My clit is getting rolled in delicious little circles by the pad of his thumb, and I’m biting down on my lower lip to keep from moaning too loud.

My breath comes in a fast, choppy rhythm as Matt shifts back and strips his jeans with fast, powerful jerks of his hands—I see all of him, golden skin and muscles, and I salivate in silence.

He’s well delineated, athletically built and perfectly proportioned, and I want every inch of the guy. He rolls on a condom. He’s so big and thick, I lick my lips, screaming silently in anticipation.

“This is what you want, Charlotte.”

And then he pushes in.

He’s so thick and he moves fast, taking me by surprise with the delicious stretching sensation in my sex.

I go off.

“Oh god, Matt!”

My orgasm gains intensity, a curling, twisting, tightening rope, stretching from the tips of my toes to the tips of my fingers.

I groan one second, and the next, I’m experiencing the most intense, breathtaking, body-shaking, soul-shattering orgasm I’ve ever had in my life, caused by Matt’s thick cock inside me. I’m bucking beneath him, the pleasure almost agonizing, clutching onto his shoulders for dear life.

He grabs me by the hips and moves inside me, faster, deeper, and shouts as he releases.

He holds me against him as he comes, really hard, his cock jerking several times inside me, bringing me to a second orgasm.

Cursing under his breath, he continues rocking his hips as he brushes my hair back behind my face, prolonging the pleasure, gazing down at me until the convulsions in my body turn to tremors and then to lingering little shivers. Then he rolls to his back and brings me with him, brushing one stubborn wet tendril of red hair back again.

I’m panting against his neck. I’m sweaty; we both are.

I shut my eyes, not certain that just happened and not certain that I don’t desperately want it to happen again—even if it shouldn’t.

My body throbs from the way he just fucked me. My nipples feel sensitive.

I stroke my finger up his chest.

I’m curled against his side. My mouth is probably red. I love that his mouth is red from my kisses too, his hair is rumpled, and even in this state, he looks like he could take on the world.

And then I’m reminded that soon, he will.

I glance at the clock on the nightstand, wanting time to stand still. Wishing we could stay in this moment. For our lives to be different. Him just a guy. Me just a girl. The two of us just here, with no expectations from anyone but each other. No campaign. No media scrutiny. No guilt for knowing our actions affect not only us but those around us—the team. My parents. His mom . . . the country.

“Your mother isn’t thrilled that you’re running, is she?” I ask, stroking my finger up his chest as the tips of his fingers feather my back.

Matt peers into my face, looking puzzled and amused that I chose to ask him something about the campaign rather than what just happened. “How do you know?”

“She has avoided every event and isn’t speaking about it.”

He drags his hand over his face, then curls his arm behind him as he slides his hand under his pillow. “She worries.”

He tightens his other arm around me and I curl closer, craving his warmth.

Matt is staring at the ceiling, thoughtful. I know they’re close, he and his mother. And I really feel for his mother. Her husband was brutally killed. Matt is all she has; of course she’s concerned. But I can see Matt wouldn’t be a man to back down for anything. “Matt? When you told me about your biggest fear?” I pause for a moment. “Mine is to disappoint my parents. To fail to be whatever it is they wanted me to be, somebody great, responsible, respectable. Look at me now.” I groan.

He peers into my face, thoughtful. Just a bit concerned. “We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?” He runs his fingertip down my nose. “America’s playboy and America’s sweetheart.”

I grin up at him, still breathless. “They may have thought you were just a gorgeous face, but they take you seriously now.”