The cab pulls up in front of my house a little after seven that night. I start to make my way up the sidewalk when the front door is thrown open and Sophie—wearing a pair of sweats, a tank top, and her hair down, lying against the tops of her breast—runs to me at full speed. I drop my bag to the ground as she crashes into me so hard I’m forced to take a step back to catch her without toppling backwards. She wraps her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. Her mouth crashes down on mine as one of my hands goes to her ass and the other to her hair so I can control the kiss. I pull her head to the side, opening my mouth under hers, her taste exploding in my mouth as soon as her tongue touches mine. Both of her hands move to hold on to my face as she kisses me back.

“I missed you,” she breathes, pulling her mouth from mine to look down at me.

“Missed you too, baby,” I tell her, pushing her hair out of her face. That’s when I see the bags and dark circles under her eyes and know that she hasn’t been sleeping. “Why didn’t you tell me you haven’t been sleeping?”

“I…I didn’t want you to worry,” she says, looking over my shoulder.

“Baby, even when I know you’re okay, I worry about you.” I pull her face back down for another kiss. When I pull my mouth from hers, I whisper against her lips, “You should have told me you needed me.” I crouch down and pick up my bag.

“Let me down,” she says, trying to unwrap her legs from around my waist.

“No,” I growl as I squeeze her ass, pulling her tighter against me. “I’m not letting you down until I get you to bed, and then I’m going to f**k you so hard you won’t have a choice but to fall asleep afterwards,” I say. Her h*ps shift, rubbing against my erection. I can feel the heat coming off her pu**y through my jeans and her sweats. “Are you wet for me?” I ask, dropping my bag just inside the front door. Daisy starts jumping around at our feet. I’ll come back out and give her some attention, but only after I’ve gotten inside my girl and put her to sleep.

Sophie moans, her tongue licking up my neck to my ear before biting down. I stumble slightly before running us into the wall, holding her up with my hips.

“Fuck, baby,” I groan, my hands ripping the front of her top down the middle, baring her tits to me. My head drops forward, pulling one nipple into my mouth while pulling and pinching the other between two fingers. I hear her head fall back against the wall with a soft thunk as her h*ps roll into me. “You wet now?” I ask, looking up at her.

She nods, and I shake my head.

“I don’t think you’re wet enough. I want you drenched when I eat you.” I press into her harder; hearing her soft moan is music to my ears. “You want me to eat your pussy?” She shakes her head. “You don’t?” I ask, surprised.

“No, I want you.” She bites her bottom lip, shifting her h*ps against me.

“You’re gonna get me, but I haven’t had your taste on my tongue for a week. I need it, so you’re gonna be a good girl and lay back and let me eat your hot little pu**y until I’m full, and then I’ll give you the dick,” I promise.

She moans again as I pull her away from the wall, walking into my bedroom. Laying her on the bed, I look down at her for a second before pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it behind me, toeing off my boots and pulling off my jeans and boxers in record time. She watches my every move with her beautiful eyes clouding with lust, her lower lip caught between her teeth, and her thighs rubbing together.

Once na**d, I go to the bed, and my hands go under her ass to pull her sweats off, along with her panties. Her eyes roam over me; I can feel them burning into my skin. I toss her clothes over my shoulder before my hands go to her thighs to spread them wide. My mouth lands right on her center, licking deep the first time. I missed her taste; I could never get enough of it.

I bury my face in her pussy, placing one hand on her stomach to hold her down when her h*ps try to buck me off. “Come in my mouth, baby. I want to taste it,” I tell her before going back to licking and biting. I know she’s on the edge by the way she’s thrashing around on the bed.

I suck her cl*tinto my mouth as I enter her with two fingers, scissoring them inside her. She comes on a scream, her taste flooding my mouth, her body convulsing around my fingers. I lay my forehead against her stomach, trying to calm down enough so that I won’t hurt her when I take her. I feel her body stop shaking as her hand goes to my hair, running through it softly.

“Nico?”

“Just a second, baby.” I take a breath; I can feel my c**k throbbing. Having her taste in my mouth is not helping to calm me. It’s been too long.

“Are you okay?” she asks softly.

My eyes meet hers, and I take another deep breath before moving up her body. Her legs open wider, making room for me. I run my hand up the smooth skin of her thigh as the other cups behind her neck to bring her closer.

“Fine, I just need to be inside you.” My mouth opens over hers as I slide in deep. Her tight, warm heat has me pulling my mouth from hers to grit my teeth. “Fuck, your pu**y is too f**king hot.” I swivel my hips, keeping our bodies as close as possible. Her legs wrap around me, her hands going to my hair, holding me close.

“Nico,” she whimpers, her legs pulling me closer.

“I’m here, baby.” I hold her tighter, sinking into her, pulling out slightly, and sliding back in. I keep my strokes even, pressing into her fully and grinding my pelvis against her clit.

We’re both breathing heavily, our breaths mixing between kisses. I can feel her heart beating rapidly against my chest. A thin sheen of sweat has started to slicken our skin. Her hands roam over me, her nails digging into my skin on each thrust. I can feel her getting closer as her h*ps tip, making me slide deeper. I know I’m close when I start to feel that deep tingle and my toes start to curl.

“I’m going to—”

“I know,” I say, cutting her off, thrusting my tongue into her mouth as her pu**y squeezes my cock. I bury myself balls-deep inside her, letting her orgasm pull me over with her. I hold her close as I roll, pulling her on top of me. “You okay?” I ask once my breathing returns to normal.

“Yeah,” she whispers, cuddling closer. “I hated that you were gone, but hated it even more when you had to stay gone longer. I was really worried about you,” she confesses softly. I can feel her tracing one of the tattoos along my ribs.

“I hated being away from you too. You know that, right?” I tip my head down to look at her.

“Yes.” She nods, her eyes meeting mine, “I’m just glad you came home,” she says, and my heart squeezes at the word home. She is my home now.

“I will always come home to you. I won’t lie and tell you what I do isn’t dangerous sometimes, but I’m always careful, and now, with you, I have a whole new reason to stay safe.”

“Did you take care of whatever it was you were doing in Vegas?” she asks, and I feel my muscles tighten at her question; I’m not used to sharing things about my job with anyone but Kenton.

“I did as much as I could. Hopefully it won’t take long for the police to get the situation figured out.”

“What does that mean?” she asks, and I let out a long breath, wondering how much I should say. “You can tell me,” she encourages.

“There are bad people in the world. You know that, Sophie. I just don’t want you to know how bad some of them are, and I really don’t want to talk to you about this right after I just got home and I’m still inside you in our bed. We should make a pact now to never talk about work stuff while we’re in bed.”

“Fine.” She sighs before lifting her head and putting her chin on her hand. “You know how you want me to talk to you?”

“This is different. You and I both know it is.” I run my fingers through her hair. “There are going to be times I can’t or won’t tell you about my job.”

“Why?” she asks, shifting, making me groan and my dick jump.

“There are things I will always shield you from, and my work is one of them.”

“Don’t you think it’s better for me to know?”

“No, I don’t. If it’s something you need to know, I will tell you. Otherwise, you’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Okay, but if something happens to you, I’m going to kick your ass.”

I smile and flip her to her back, making her scream out in surprise. “How are you going to kick my ass when you can’t even get out of this position?” I ask, bending down to pull one of her ni**les into my mouth.

“I could if I wanted,” she breathes, pulling my mouth closer to her breast.

“You think so?” I ask before moving to her other nipple.

“I know I could,” she says, wrapping her legs around me; her h*ps rise up higher, causing me to sink deeper into her.

“Fuck,” I groan, surprised to feel myself hardening inside her.

Her hands go under my arms, her fingers running along my back before hooking around my shoulders. She moans before licking up my neck, breathing into my ear. “Ready?” she says, biting down on my earlobe.

I’m so lost in her that I’m caught off guard when one of her legs unwinds itself from my waist and goes to the bed. Her arms shift, and then I’m suddenly on my back with her standing over me on the bed and looking down at me.

“Holy shit,” I say in shock.

“Told you I could get out of it.” She smiles down at me before sitting, straddling my hips.

“Where did you learn that?” I ask, running my hands up her thighs.

“Devon, Maggie’s fiancé, is a cop and taught me some moves. He said it would help build my confidence back if I knew I could put someone on their back if they ever got me down.”

“You’re awesome, baby. I’m proud as f**k of you right now.”

“Really?” She smiles.

“Really.”

“Thanks,” she says shyly.

“Come here, sweet Sophie.”

I can see that she’s tired. I pull her down to lie against my chest, running a hand over her hair and down her back. I hold her until I hear her breathing even out and know she’s asleep. I roll her over and make sure she’s covered before I leave the room.

Daisy’s sitting outside the bedroom door when I open it. “Hey, girl.” I scoop her up before going to the kitchen. “Things are going to change around here. First, I think you may be getting a friend to play with,” I say, referring to another dog. “Then, we need to talk Sophie into moving in. Do you think you can help me with that?” I ask her. She doesn’t care about anything except that I’m paying attention to her.

I walk over to the bag I dropped inside the door and pull out my phone. I slide my finger across the screen and make a call I’ve been avoiding since I met Sophie. I love my mom, but I also know her. If she knew about Sophie before, she would have been demanding I bring her around, and I couldn’t do that. I needed to give Sophie time to get used to us being an us. Now, though? Now, I don’t care. There will be no more of her not doing shit because she’s afraid. I refuse to let her live the rest of her life like that.

“Hey, honey. Are you home?” my mom asks as soon as she picks up.

“Yeah. I got in a couple hours ago.” I walk into the kitchen, setting Daisy down before washing my hands and going to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

“How was your trip? Did you have fun?”

“It was work, Ma. I wasn’t partying it up in Vegas,” I tell her with a chuckle.

“Well, you were in Vegas. Why wouldn’t you try to have some fun while you were there? You think I don’t know what you do in your free time?” I can see her in my head rolling her eyes. “I know how you and your brothers act when you’re single.”

“Yeah, Ma, but I’m not single anymore,” I declare, smiling.

“You guys are such man-whores. I swear—it’s a wonder one of you didn’t end up on that show 16 and Pregnant,” she says, completely missing what I just said.

“Ma, stop talking for a second and listen to me,” I say, waiting for her to stop rambling.

“I swear—Trojan owes me royalties for all the condoms I bought for you boys.”

“Ma, listen.” I shake my head.

“What?” she says, sounding annoyed.

“I found my girl, Ma.”

“What do you mean ‘found your girl’?”

“I mean I found the girl I’m going to marry.”

“Is it April Fool’s Day?” she asks jokingly, but I can hear shock and happiness in her voice.

“Nah. I wouldn’t joke with you about something like this.”

“When did you meet her? Who is she? When can I meet her?” she yells so loud I have to pull my phone from my ear.

“Her name is Sophie.” I laugh. “I met her when I found her phone and retuned it to her. She is beautiful, smart, and so sweet, Ma—so sweet I don’t even know how I got so lucky.”

“You love her,” she whispers in awe.

“More than love her.” I can’t even begin to explain the way I feel about Sophie, but I don’t think it’s normal love. It’s something more. I love my family, and I love my life, but what I feel for the girl who’s asleep in my bed right now goes beyond that.

“Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you,” she says quietly, “but you should try to take it slow.”