“Andre forbade me to wear any. Said we were coming here to cheer you up.”

“I knew I liked that guy for some reason.” Jace’s hands tracked up her inner thighs, his thumb reaching out to caress her heat. The pad of his thumb went slick the instant he found her swollen nub. So wet and ready for him.

She sucked in a sharp little breath as he stroked her clit, the afternoon breeze making her skirt flutter around her thighs. “Lord, that feels good.”

“I need you. Now.”

She walked her hands up his chest, forcing him to recline all the way on the lounger. “So take me then.”

He grabbed her wrists and kissed each one. “Out here?”

She glanced down at his hold on her wrists, her voice going husky. “Out here, sir. Please.”

Her change in demeanor alone would’ve made his cock hard if he hadn’t already been ready to pound into her the minute she’d climbed on his lap. He pulled her close and turned until he had reversed their positions on the lounger. Thank the gods of sex he’d left his wallet in his pocket when he came home. He reached for a condom.

She plucked the foil wrapper from his fingertips and tore it open with her teeth. He laughed. “In a hurry, pet?”

“Not at all. May I?”

He nodded.

She unfastened the button of his jeans and dragged down the zipper at an impossibly slow pace. Her eyes stayed on his as she spread his fly and wrapped her fingers around his cock. She stroked with just enough pressure to make him shudder. “Looks like I’m not the only one who went commando today.”

He rocked into her adept grip. “I had to rush out to the hospital.”

“I like it. It’s sexy.”

“I’ll never wear underwear again if this is what I get as a reward.” She drew her nails along his balls, adding an irresistible sting to the pleasure. He grabbed her wrist, stilling her. “But if you keep that up, this may be a one-sided quickie.”

She laughed, and he released her so she could roll the condom along his length. “Wouldn’t want that.”

“Definitely not.” He hiked her skirt up and positioned himself between her thighs, bracing himself on his forearms. “Tell me now if you’re too sore from this morning.”

She locked her legs around him. “Bring it on. I’m tough.”

Of that he had no doubt. He sank into her, his whole body seeming to groan with satisfaction as her velvet clasp enveloped him. She sighed beneath him, and he wished he could capture that sound in a bottle—so darkly seductive. He could get off simply listening to her take her pleasure.

He canted his hips backward, sliding his cock until only the tip was inside her. Looking down their bodies, he watched as he moved back inside her. In and out, the connection as erotic a visual as he’d ever seen. He glanced up and caught her watching the same thing.

“You like seeing me fuck into you, pet?” he asked, his voice like sand in his throat.

“Yes,” she said—no shame, no embarrassment. He gave her a hard thrust, and her teeth pressed into her bottom lip. “Makes me wish I had my camera with me. You’re too beautiful not to photograph.”

His balls tightened, the idea of Evan taking photographs starring the two—or three—of them an enticing fantasy. “Maybe next time. Or the time after that. Or after that.”

Her lips parted on a gasp as he pushed deeper, burying himself to the hilt and grinding his pelvis against her clit.

“Because I’m never going to get enough of you, Evan.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head back, exposing the damp column of her neck. “Jace.”

A simple plea. Maybe to fuck her harder. Maybe to stop making long-term promises. He didn’t know. And at the moment he didn’t care. He lowered his mouth to her neck and pressed his teeth to the tender skin, eliciting a moan and a buck of her hips.

Fuck. Her response to the roughness sent electricity curling down his spine and winding around his cock. Her cunt clenched around him, and his own groan of pleasure filled the balcony. His hips dialed up the speed without his conscious awareness as he mouthed her throat. The lounger creaked beneath them, mixing with their ragged breathing.

She dug her nails into his shoulders. “Jace, I’m so close. Can I—”

The request rippled through him like fire. She was asking. Asking to fucking come. Without the pretense of a scene happening. Every muscle in his body seemed to coil tighter, her submission like sexual heroin to his already climbing pleasure. “You have my permission, baby. Let me feel you come.”

He reached down to give her even more pressure on her clit and stroked. Her torso arched and he claimed her neck again, this time sucking her skin so hard he knew it’d leave a hickey. A proud, visible mark for Dr. Dan and the world to see. Mine. The word whispered through him, feeling more right than anything had in a long time.

He held on, driving into her with rocketing need. A freight train without brakes. Sensation enveloped him. Evan cried out in orgasm, calling his name and burying her face against his chest.

And that’s all it took. The pleasure pooling at the base of his spine exploded like a sunburst, and waves of bliss rolled through him as his cock pulsed inside her. “Oh, baby. God. Yes.”

Mine.

When their breathing slowed, he eased out of her and settled her skirt back down. She didn’t open her eyes, simply laid there with a sated smile. He quickly discarded the condom and zipped back up, even those few seconds too long away from her. He settled back down next to her, and she cuddled against him, both of them perfectly content lying in silence next to each other.

As he lay there watching the sky turn to dusk, feeling her heart slowing to a steady beat against his side, he realized that two months would never be enough. That he wanted her to walk away from Dr. Dan. That he’d never stopped missing her. And that he’d claimed her as his long before he’d known what that meant.

There was no walking away unscathed. It was already too late.

“So Andre told me about your proposition,” she said long after he thought she’d dozed off.

He traced his fingertips down her arm. “Is that right?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“And?”

Her sigh was weary, but she snuggled closer. “And I can’t imagine going back to The Ranch and letting anyone else touch me.”

He closed his eyes, letting her statement wash over him. “Glad to hear it, Ev.”

“Daniel gave me two months of freedom before the wedding and the move, so I might as well spend it how I want it, right?”

“Of cour—” Every tendon in his body went stiff as he registered the rest of her comment. “Wait, what move?”

She sat up on her elbow to look down at him, her brow furrowed. “To L.A. For the show. As soon as we get back from our honeymoon we’re going to start packing up to head west. I thought you knew.”

Her words twisted his windpipe into a knot. He tried to clear his throat, but no response came out. Two months and she’d be gone? Like cross-country gone?

She ran her thumb along his forehead, smoothing the creases. “What’s wrong?”

He swallowed hard, forcing down the lump. “Nothing, it’s just, I’m a little surprised is all. I didn’t know. I mean, I knew that we would end this part when you got married, but I was hoping to still be a friend afterward. I just found you again. And now you’re leaving.”

Her smile held heartbreak. “You think Daniel would’ve let me do this with someone local, someone I’d have a chance of seeing after we’re married?”

He grimaced. Of course not. The guy may be an idiot but he wasn’t stupid. “I see your point.”

She laid her head against his chest again. “Guess we just need to make these two months count.”

Fucking-A he was going to make them count. Screw it all—his rules, his fears, all of it. No way was he letting Evan walk out of his life again. Not without doing everything in his power to stop her.

He curled his arm more tightly around her, his resolve hardening like steel inside him.

Game on, Dr. Dan.

Game fucking on.

TWENTY

“Tuck your tits in more. You have nip showing,” Finn advised as he adjusted the lighting on Callie’s left.

“Professionalism, Finn,” Evan reminded her intern from behind her camera.

“Sorry.” Finn cocked his chin up in a haughty pose. “Pardon me, Ms. Jessup, for my crassness, but there may be a wee bit of your naughty bits exposed on top.”

Callie giggled and adjusted her boobs in the snug red bustier she’d donned for the first part of her boudoir photo session. “No worries, dollface. It’s not like I’m a real customer. But the British accent does sound cute on you.”

Finn blew her an air kiss.

“That looks good. Keep the light at that angle. And muss up the pillows behind her on the bed. They look too perfect.” Evan adjusted a setting on her camera, then straightened. “You look gorgeous, Cal. You still sure this is what you want to do?”

Callie shot Evan an eager smile. “Definitely. I didn’t spend four hundred bucks on lingerie and have you drag an air mattress in here for nothing. I’m going to show Brandon exactly what he’s missing if he keeps hanging out in the slow lane.”

“You trashy whore,” Finn teased.

Callie stuck her tongue out at him. “Says the man slut.”

Evan waved Finn out of the shot. “Enough you two. Let’s work on some make-your-man-drool magic. Ready?”

Callie smoothed her expression and gave the camera her best come hither look. Evan snapped a few shots, then checked the preview window to make sure the lighting looked as good on film.

“Looks all right?” Callie asked, her voice not quite as confident as it was before.

Evan sized her up in mock evaluation, then smiled. “I’d do you.”

She grinned. “Excellent.”

Evan spent the next hour and a half snapping shots of Callie and adjusting each background in between Cal’s outfit changes. Finn also jumped behind the camera for a small chunk of the session to get some practice. He kept telling Callie to look fierce, which inevitably made Cal laugh instead of looking fierce at all. But even with that, there was no doubt they had gotten some great shots.

By the time Callie had headed out in her street clothes to meet Brandon for a date, it had gotten dark outside. Evan checked the time on her cell phone. Damn. She’d told Jace and Andre that if the session didn’t run too long, she’d try to stop by before heading home for the night. But she was going to have to text one of them and cancel.

They’d all gotten in the habit over the last month of stealing whatever time they could together, not bothering with the pretense of going to The Ranch anymore. That home turf boundary had already been crossed the day she went to Jace’s apartment and made love to him on his balcony. She’d stayed the night there with the two of them, cutting through every safety net she’d set for herself.

No matter. She could fall for them just as easily wherever they were having their interludes. Her heart certainly didn’t care about the location.

But having “the end” looming at the end of eight—now four—weeks had kept her in check. Ever since she’d broken down and cried at the cabin, she’d made sure to hold a piece of herself back when she was with them. It’d taken her a few days to get her footing again once she’d returned home, but now her guard was solidly back in place. Leaving herself that vulnerable again was not an option. Especially after she’d felt the shift in Jace.

Over the last few weeks, he’d morphed from Mr. Distant Dom to a grown-up version of the boy she used to know—playful, sweet, and so fucking flirty that it was hard to believe that when the bedroom door closed, he could be such a ruthless cuss. The combination was the sexiest damn thing she’d ever encountered. Add in Andre with his relentless charm and giving nature, and a girl could completely lose herself.