Page 76 of Protected from Torment

I’m still sensitive from last night, so taking him verges on pain. But it’s the most exquisite feeling—feeling so full and my nerves firing like crazy and my body stretched so tightly around him.

Tyler grabs my hips and pulls me firmly against him, filling me completely. My inner muscles clutch at him. My head falls back as I moan, “Ty, oh…”

He pulls part of the way out of me, then plunges deep again.

Fireworks spark.

Bright lights edge into my vision.

I’ve never come close to finishing this quickly before. Ever. But there’s just something about how spontaneous this is, how exposed we are, how desperate we are for each other…

Inside me, Tyler stills. “Shit.”

My heart stutters. “What?”

Guilt shadows his gaze. “Condom. I don’t have one.”

“Oh.” My heart settles into a regular rhythm again. “I’ve been tested. Years ago, but there hasn’t been anyone. So…”

“I’ve been tested, too,” he replies. “Just as part of my yearly physical for work.”

A flutter of nerves hits me, not because I don’t trust him, but of what this means. “I don’t mind, then. If we go without.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am. But if you’d rather stop⁠—”

“No.” Tyler sinks deep inside me again. “I don’t want to stop.” Then he kisses me hard. “This is perfect.”

And it is. All of it.

Feeling Tyler moving inside me.

The chill of the air against my heated skin.

His lips on my breasts. My neck. My mouth.

His strength as he moves me above him. The flex of his muscles as he moves. How his abs contract—an eight-pack, I verified last night, not a six—as he drives into me.

Then, in an explosion of fireworks and light, we come, one after the other.

And it’s everything.

Still joined, with the aftershocks still rippling through us, Tyler hugs me close and presses a kiss to my forehead. After a long silence, he finally murmurs, “Mel.”

I tip my head back to look at him. “What?”

His expression is more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen it. “Thank you.”

This time, I’m the one who’s confused. “For what?”

He hesitates. “For liking me, just as I am.”

Oh.

I bite the inside of my cheek hard to fight away tears.

“You’re perfect,” I tell him. “Just as you are.”