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She didn’t know what she expected, but she liked kissing him. She remembered when he’d kissed her on the porch, how he’d used his mouth and the angle of his jaw. She had paid attention. Or she had replayed it so many times in her head since it happened that she’d analyzed every possible movement he’d made.

She didn’t know. But she tried all of those things out on him now. And the more she moved against him, the better it felt.

But then he started kissing her back.

And this was something entirely different, she thought wildly. Because this was not standing up on the front porch, dressed to go out into public. This was not a kiss on a public road.

This was on a bed together, tangled up, already overly hot from a night spent touching like this. His thigh was already between her legs, and she could feel the differences between them even there. His thigh was all muscle, and there was hair on him, and as he moved between her legs, she felt it… like a power surge.

Then he shifted even more and that thigh pressed up into that space between her legs, right there in that place that ached the most, and Kitty moaned out a sound she had never made before, straight into his mouth.

His hands were on her face, maybe guiding her mouth to his or maybe simply holding onto her, she didn’t know.

But she could feel the way his body changed as he rolled over and was then even more firmly between her legs. He was bigger there now, big and hard, and he felt wonderful.

She had never felt anything so wonderful in all her days. She was shivering, trembling, and Finn pulled away to look at her. There was something like wonder in his eyes, and then, holding her gaze, he rolled his hips against hers.

And it was as if she burst wide open and became nothing more than a comet’s tail of brilliant stars, careening out into nothing.

Maybe she was careening forever. She couldn’t tell. And when she became aware of herself again she was still lying in her same old bed, but there was nothing same old about it.

Because Finn Patrick, who she was actually married to, was still there between her legs. Only now he had a look on his face that she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before. Not from him. Not from anyone.

It was intense. It seemed to hollow her out and then fill that hollow with heat.

Until she felt as if she was pretty close to careening all over again.

Finn ran one hand up beneath her pajama top, smoothing his way over her belly until he could cup one of her breasts. He looked almost meditative as he looked down, so she did too, and she could see his hand beneath her top. And the movements of his thumb as he began to play with her nipple.

She felt that same hint of comet tails and a brightness tearing through her.

And she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She lifted them up a little, then dropped them again. Finn leaned closer and there was a smile in his eyes, though his mouth was still so serious.

She wanted to kiss him again more than she thought she wanted another breath. And she was not the sort of person who thought things like that.

“Kitty,” Finn said, in a voice as serious as his mouth. “I’m going to ask you something, and I don’t want you to get mad.”

“Why would I get mad?”

He shifted, though she could still feel him hard and hot against the core of her, where she was softer now and far hotter. And his hand, that strong palm, was still holding her breast like it was his.

“Have you done this before?” he asked.

“Woken up with a husband in my bed?” She frowned at him. “No.”

“That’s good to know,” Finn said. “I realize I didn’t think to ask you about your previous exploits. But that’s not what I meant.”

He moved his thumb almost absently, she thought. Then again, he was looking at her so intently. She didn’t think there was anything absent about the way he was doing anything.

“You kiss me like it’s new,” he told her quietly. “I guess I’m wondering if it is.”

She felt her chin rise, though she lay on her back. “Yes, then, you are my first husband. That’s definitely new.”

This time he pinched her nipple slightly, and she hissed in a breath.

“Kitty,” he said, in the exact same steady voice. And something about his ability to remain so calm when she was being willfully stubborn made everything inside of her seem to shimmer. “Have you had sex before? Because that’s where this is heading. I need to be sure that’s where you want to go.”

She was breathing too hard. She was sure that not only could he hear her heart pounding, he could probably see it too, there in her neck. And god knew where else. Maybe he could feel it in her nipple.