“I’ll come back to you.”
Emotion bubbled into my throat, and my vision blurred. “I can’t lose you, Drew.”
“My little warrior. Trust me. I’ll never leave you.” He pressed his lips to mine.
“Will you make love to me?” I stared into his eyes. “I mean, let’s do as much as I can take.”
“You can stop me at any time.” He kissed down my neck as he put me on my back.
I tensed, remembering when the enforcer was on top of me, and the other guy held me down. I put my hand on Drew’s chest to stop him before my mind took me back to that night. “Maybe I should be on top?”
“How about you let me cherish you first? I don’t want to jump ahead.”
“Oh. What comes before doing it?” Gosh, I felt ignorant. I’d seen many movies with sex in them before that fateful night. But after it, anything with sex triggered me. I’d chosenThe Bodyguardtonight because it was one of my favorite movies. I hadn’t watched it since well before the attack and I wanted to test myself to see how much I’d really healed. Drew holding me the entire time had done wonders to make me feel safe and self-assured. The whole stalker plot hadn’t fazed me as I thought it might. I was stronger, maybe the strongest I’d ever been, because of the man staring at me with concern in his olive-green depths.
“Foreplay usually.”
My heart fluttered. Those sensations from earlier returned. “Okay. That sounds nice.”
“I’m going to treat you like it’s your first time, baby. In my mind, it is.”
I nodded, suddenly feeling more anxious. “Um…”
He kissed me softly. “Shh. I’ll take care of you. Worship you.” He rubbed his nose to mine. “You can stop me at any time.”
Those were the words I needed to hear. “I trust you.”
He brushed hair away from my face. The tenderness in his eyes spoke to my soul. “You’re so beautiful, Ava Marie.”
“Keep talking to me.”
“There’s my warrior. Demand from me, baby.” He reached his hand to the back of his neck and pulled off his T-shirt in that sexy way guys do. The muscles in his biceps and abs flexed. This was the first time I’d seen him without a shirt. He had tattoos. On his left pec was the Knight’s Legion MC logo. “Take from me.”
Holy buckets. I knew he meant every word. I felt it deep in the marrow of my bones.
The very sight of him stole my breath away. My God, he was handsome.
Drew Rivers was my dream guy. My bodyguard. My best friend.
He was sculpted to perfection and had the sexy scruff women loved, with a mysterious glint in his eyes and a smooth voice that could make me weep. I trusted him with every fiber of my being.
I hoped tonight I could take him into my body the way I imagined. I wanted to give myself to him. And afterward, I prayed we’d become lovers.
No, I wanted more. I wanted forever.
He left his jeans on and kissed the base of my neck, then worked his way down my chest. I still had my T-shirt on, so I didn’t feel his lips on my skin.
“Help me,” I told him as I raised my hands above my head.
“Yes, Ava. Whatever you want.” His fingers brushed my torso as he removed my shirt. “What else?”
I had sweatpants on. Under them were boy shorts. I’d showered while he was at the club for a meeting—for church. If I was in spandex pants, I wore a thong or nothing at all. I sort of wished I didn’t have panties on. I pretty much wanted to get to business, rip off my fears like a Band-Aid, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t let us speed through our first time together.
“My bottoms too.”
His long fingers slipped under my waistband. He lifted his gaze. “What about your underwear?”
I sucked in a deep breath.You can do this, Ava. “Those too.”