“It’s my first guitar.” His words sounded choked, as if he could barely get them out. “The one my mom gave me.” He looked up from the necklace. “How did you know what it looked like?”
“After you told me about it, I scoured the Internet until I found a picture of it.” She was unsure from his expression whether she’d done well...or horribly. “I just thought it was so lovely that your mother bought you your first guitar and that you ended up being so inspired by—”
His arms came around her, hugging her so tightly against him that the oxygen she needed to finish her sentence whooshed out of her lungs.
“Ash.” She could feel how hard his heart was pounding against her own chest. “This is the best birthday gift anyone has ever given me.”
She smiled and hugged him back as relief hit her. But at the same time, tears threatened to come, too. Her parents meant just as much to her, and she couldn’t imagine losing them. And yet, when was the last time she’d seen her mother? At least a year ago, on her mother’s last trip out to California.
Drew’s phone buzzed from the corner with James’s ring tone, and she knew their private time for the morning was up.
“I’m really glad you like it,” she said when he finally loosened his hold on her.
“I love it.”
For a moment, he looked as though he was going to say something more, and her heart nearly stopped beating at the thought that he might be about to say he loved her, too. Nothing in her life had ever moved as fast as her relationship with Drew. It had all been amazing so far, but in the light of a new day, all those worries she’d made herself stuff down last night wanted to come popping back up like the Whac-A-Mole arcade game.
In the end, though, all he said was, “That’s my half-hour warning bell from James. How about we see if we can both squeeze into my shower before he comes pounding on the door?”
Silently bopping her worries over the head with a mallet so that, at the very least, they would go away for the rest of Drew’s birthday, she smiled at her amazing rock-star lover. He was the only man who had ever made her entire body heat up like this, with nothing but a few naughty words.
“Is your shower bigger than the one I’ve been using?”
He already had her in his arms, had grabbed a condom from the bedside table, and was carrying her toward the shower. “A little bigger, but not by much.” He grinned down at her. “We’re going to have to get real creative in there.”
Creative. Oh my, just the thought of getting creative with Drew was enough to nearly send her over the edge.
“I have a minor in math,” she told him when he put her down to reach into the shower to turn on the tap. “I was particularly good with space-filling models. I could always make things fit that no one else could.”
“Jesus, Ash.” He dragged her under the water. “Show me.” His hands roved in dangerous and wonderful ways over her naked, wet skin. “Show me how we fit together better than any two people ever have.”
The water was hot, but she still shivered at the passion beneath his words. All she wanted was to be close to him—there was nothing as good as that moment when he pushed inside her—but the shower wasn’t big enough for her to wrap her hands and legs around him the way she wanted to.
The kisses he was running down over her neck and shoulders and then the swell of her breasts didn’t help her brain work any faster. For several long moments, all she was capable of was soaking up the dual sensations of his mouth and hands on her.
He slid one hand down over her stomach and between her legs, then groaned as he slipped and slid over her aroused skin. The sound was low and raw and breathtakingly sexy in the small space.
“How long have you been this ready for me?”
Her response came before she could even think to edit it. “I always am.”
He crushed his mouth to hers, and his unleashed desire matched hers perfectly. Even if she’d wanted to hold something back, there was no way that she could. Not today. Not when his mouth tasted like heaven, and his hard, rippling muscles against her naked skin were as close to nirvana as anyone could possibly get.
Well, almost as close. Because she knew that having all of him would be even better...
She tore her mouth from his as inspiration hit. “I’ve figured it out.” She was too lost to desire to second-guess herself. Besides, while she didn’t have anywhere near the sexual experience that he did, she had always been a fast learner.
As she began to turn around, the warm water—and the unfettered need coursing through her veins—made her movements slower than they would otherwise have been. Finally, when she was facing the shower wall, she placed her hands palm-down against the wall next to her head and looked over her shoulder at Drew.
“Like this. Take me like this.”