“Take that off,” I ordered, reaching for my wallet in the back pocket of my jeans and retrieving the condom.
“Bossy, aren’t we?” she breathed and stepped out of the thong.
“You wear a lot of skirts,” I grunted, freeing my rock-hard erection and rolling the condom down.
“You’re just now noticing? I don’t own a single pair of jeans.”
“Don’t start,” I said and pushed myself inside her.
Shiloh moaned, and her entire body shuddered. “Oh God. So good. So good…”
Fuck yes. The soft, tight heat of her around my cock, pulling me deep into her, was so fucking good. I took hold of her hips and drove in and out, slowly, though I wanted to take her hard. To try to do the impossible and satiate my hunger for her.
“Harder,” she breathed. “Make it rough.”
Her words fueled me, driving me senseless. I ran my hand up her spine, over the bunched material of her dress until I found skin. I gripped her shoulder and pulled, arching her back and holding her there, halfway out of my mind with how good it felt to be inside her. Sometimes, I thought Shiloh letting me into her body was the only salvation I had.
“Yes…” she managed, and I moved harder, faster. She began to moan, then cry out at each thrust.
“Your neighbors will hear…”
Shiloh glanced at me over her shoulder. “Then you’d better do something about it.”
My hand moved to her mouth, covering it and stifling her cries. She whimpered and then I felt the hot, wet softness of her tongue sliding between my fingers.
Fuck.
The sounds of flesh slapping flesh filled the tiny shed as I held her pinned, one hand on her hip, the other clamped on her mouth, and yet Shiloh was fucking wrecking me. I drove harder, watching my cock slide in and out of her, listening as her breath rasped in her nose.
I was starting to lose control, but she hadn’t come yet. I let go of her hip and found her clit, wet and swollen. I strummed her and she cried out behind my hand. I could read her now, sense when she was on the brink and what she needed to push her over.
I pinched her clit gently but hard enough that she practically screamed. Shiloh’s teeth clamped down on the flesh under my middle finger. Her body tensed, the orgasm rocketing through her while the sweet pain from her bite sent me over the edge.
We came almost together, my hands falling away to brace myself on the table, my chest molded to her as we shuddered, my release spilling deep, draining me.
“Jesus Christ,” Shiloh breathed.
She slumped over the table, her cheek on the smooth wood, her back rising and falling beneath me. I lay over her, nuzzling her neck, still inside her, still trying to catch my breath. She kissed the teeth marks she’d left on my finger, then her hand briefly cupped my jaw, before sliding into my hair. I kissed her slow, taking my time, showing her that sex was only one part of what I wanted from her.
All of her. I want all of her.
Slowly, I stood, disposed of the condom, and tucked myself back in my jeans while she pulled on her thong and smoothed her rumpled dress.
“Well.” She moved into my arms. “Hello to you too.”
“You good?”
“Better than good.” She smiled. “You don’t have to ask, but I love that you do.”
I kissed her softly, but it deepened quick, the emotions still hanging in the little shed pulling us back to each other.
“Damn, Ronan…” she said breathlessly and put her hands on my chest to push me away. “Bibi will be back. We need to show a little restraint.”
“I suppose.”
She laughed. “Her lasagna is to die for. You hungry?”
“I am now. What’s the occasion?” I couldn’t imagine it was all for me. I hoped it wasn’t.
“No occasion,” she said. She kissed my chin, then moved to pack up her tools. “Except, well…miracle of miracles, that little place I showed you in the fall? The laundromat? It’s still available. The rent is scary but not as bad as it could be because of the size.”
“That’s fucking great. Are you going to make a bid for it?”
“I still have a lot of hurdles to jump through. A bank loan would be nice. But…” She shrugged as if to keep her hope in check, her smile radiant. “We’ll see.”
The meal was one of the best I’d had. Bibi treated me like a long-lost son without making me feel weird or self-conscious. Instead of feeling like an intruder, like I had that first day, I felt welcome. Like I had a normal life.
After dinner and a dessert of tiramisu from a local bakery, I helped clean up the kitchen and said goodnight to Bibi. She took my face in her hands and gave me a little shake.
“Goodnight, Ronan.” She kissed my cheek again and then whispered quickly. “She’s so happy. You did that. Thank you, sweet boy.”
She let me go and I stepped back, a little stunned.
“Okay, what’s with all the whispering?” Shiloh asked with a small laugh.
“I was telling your man that he’s welcome for dinner any time he likes. Isn’t that right, Ronan?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Shiloh rolled her eyes. “I’ll bet.” She took my arm. “I’ll walk you out. Be right back, Bibi.” On the front porch, Shiloh pursed her lips. “My man, hmm?”
I shrugged. “You going to argue with your grandmother?”
Shiloh peered up at me, her eyes soft. “Guess not.” Then she caught herself and straightened the collar of my jacket. “Bibi says my future shop needs a name. To put it out in the universe and make it real. But I’m stumped.”
My hand skimmed up the smooth skin of her back, over her dress, thinking of the piece she’d made earlier. A mix of stone and metal, the elements flowing and blending naturally. Unique.
Rare Earth.
I nearly said it, but this was Shiloh’s shop. Hers to name.
“You’ll think of something.”
“You’re a big help.” She kissed me and then wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head against my chest. “I love listening to your heart.”
I didn’t speak but held her as tightly as I dared and basked in the warmth that emanated from Shiloh’s slender body into mine.
Happy, I thought. I think this is what happy feels like.
We kissed until time started to slip away, and then I left her and walked home, stupidly thinking I could hold on to that feeling forever. I should’ve known better.
I was halfway across the parking lot at my complex when they got me.
I heard a shuffle behind me and instinctively ducked. A club meant for my head glanced off my shoulder, and I spun around. Two figures in ski masks—one big, the other skinny—had slunk out of the shadows from behind a van. The skinnier one had the club, and it took zero seconds to recognize the eyes that stared at me.
“Dowd,” I seethed, backing up slowly as they both circled me. I jerked my head at the bigger one. “Grimaldi.”
Fuck me.
In that instant, I went over every time I’d been with Shiloh in the last month, praying we hadn’t been careless. That no one knew.
This can’t touch her. I won’t let it…
“You’re dead, fucker,” Mikey Grimaldi bellowed from beneath his mask. “Fucking dead. I know it was you who tagged my Jeep. I saw you.”