“What are you thinking, Aaron?”

A hum rose in his throat, the sound deep and husky. It shot straight to my chest. “I’m thinking that you want me to kiss you.”

My blood swirled at his words, turning thicker. I do. I do.

“And I’m also thinking that if I don’t do it soon, I might lose my goddamn mind.”

The palm that was cupping my face fell, and a finger trailed down the skin of my arm.

I didn’t speak. I didn’t think I could.

His gaze traveled down my throat, leaving a path of shivers on my skin. “But I was serious when I said that when I finally took your lips, you’d know what it meant.”

He stepped closer, the tips of his shoes grazing mine, our bodies almost touching. I braced my hands on his arms, not trusting myself anymore, seeing as how I shook. How I trembled.

“Do you know now, Catalina?” His nose brushed my temple, making my breath hitch. “Do you know what this means?”

Aaron’s lips flicked along my cheekbone, making my back arch, my shoulders coming flush against the wall behind me. My lips parted, my answer stuck somewhere in my throat.

He released a shaky breath, his body tight with restraint. “Answer me, please.”

Aaron’s forehead came to rest against mine, and I watched his eyelashes hide that ocean I’d gladly drown in if he let me. Eyes closed, he inched closer, his lips almost coming against mine.

“Put me out of my misery, Catalina,” he gritted out, cupping the back of my head with trembling fingers.

My heart—my poor heart—lost it at the desperation in his voice. At the unfiltered need I heard.

“Real,” I finally breathed into his mouth. “This is real,” I repeated, needing to hear the words, feel the truth on my skin. “Kiss me, Aaron,” I told him breathlessly. “Prove to me that it is.”

A growl—a deliriously low growl—left Aaron’s mouth. And before I could even process how the sound had seeped deep, deep inside of me, right into the marrow of my bones, Aaron’s lips were on mine.

He kissed me—Aaron was kissing me—as if he had been starving for an eternity. Just like a beast meant to devour me. His hard body coming against mine, desperately seeking anything I’d give him.

Our lips opened, ravaging each other’s mouths, while his large palms roamed down my sides. Down, down, down they went, stopping below my waist. My hands flew to his chest, and I relished how hard it felt, how warm, how perfectly solid and just for me.

My heart drummed against the walls of my own chest, and a sound climbed up my throat when I felt Aaron’s heart do the same against my fingertips.

The noise only fueled Aaron to press into me with his hips. To reward me with a wild sound of his own. His hands gripped my waist, bringing me even closer to him, making me feel the heat of his hardness on my belly and punching another moan out of me.

Aaron, Aaron, Aaron, my mind seemed to chant as my body went on sensory overload.

His hands roamed over the fabric of my dress, coming around me, dragging down my back, all while his tongue danced against mine.

Another press of his hips against mine made my body spin out of control and sent more and more heat to pool between my thighs.

Aaron’s lips left mine, revealing he was breathing as violently as I was. Without wasting a moment, his mouth landed on the soft spot between my jaw and neck. Looking up at the dark sky, I bared my throat for him. Another whimper left me, carried away by the breeze coming from the sea.

“That sound,” Aaron breathed into my skin. “That sound is driving me goddamn insane.”

Insanity—that was what this was. What was pumping in my veins.

He kissed a path up my throat, veering for my ear, leaving little nips that left my blood roaring. Thundering across my body.

My hands toured up his wide chest, reaching the nape of his neck. My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling at it softly when he nibbled at the skin below my earlobe. When he grazed his teeth over it, I pulled a little harder.

“Hold on to me, baby.” In a swift move, Aaron picked me up from the floor, my legs going around him and my arms wrapping tighter around his neck.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I worried about the fabric of the dress, about it not being airy or thin enough so it’d let me feel him. Aaron. All of him.

Every doubt fled my mind as he pushed against me once more. My back came harder against the wall, and I could feel his length nestled between my legs.

Hot—he was so hot and hard.

“That’s not enough. More,” I implored. I wanted more, more, more. I’d shred the dress to pieces if I had to.

As he rocked his hips in one firm motion that made me see the stars, his lips found mine again, muffling another of my moans.

“You are killing me, Catalina,” he said against my lips.

My hold on his neck tightened, trying to bring him even closer. More.

“I know,” he gritted out, and with another motion of his hips, he positioned himself right against my crease, almost tipping me over the edge. Aaron pressed himself against me, the heat of his hardness furiously seeping through the layers of clothing between us.

“More,” I begged again. I wasn’t ashamed. I’d do it again. And again and again.

“So demanding.” A husky chuckle caressed my lips. “If I snuck my hand under your dress,” Aaron rasped against my mouth, rocking against me and throbbing between my legs, “how wet would I find you, baby?”

He wouldn’t believe just how much. I didn’t think I’d ever been this turned on, this aroused, this recklessly desperate for more.

Aaron grazed my lips with his, the touch barely enough to appease me. “I’m not going to do that.” His voice was husky, bathed in the need I felt washing over my body. “Not now.”

“Why?” I breathed out.

“Because I wouldn’t be able to help myself,” he growled in my ear. He rocked his hips against me once more, pressing me harder against the coarse surface behind my back. “And the first time I’m inside of you, it’s not going to be a quick fuck against a wall.”

I whimpered at his words. At the loss of not having what he had just painted so clearly in my head. I’d give anything to have him bury himself deep inside me. Perhaps that way, I wouldn’t feel this void in the center of my chest.

His forehead came to rest on top of mine again. Every motion came to a painful stop. “I’d die a happy man if I could make you come right here and now,” Aaron whispered, making me shiver. “But anyone could walk by and see us, and that’s a privilege I want for just myself.”

Sighing, I trailed my fingers through his hair and then around his neck until coming to cup his jaw. Slowly, I came to my senses. “You are right.”

My lips puckered, pouting.

Blue eyes that shone like they had never done before crinkled with a smile. “Look at that,” he said before kissing me firmly. Way too briefly for me to be anywhere satisfied. “I will get foolish, crazy ideas if you start agreeing with me so easily.”

That got my pout to fall just a smidgen, and perhaps a small smile peeked out. And just as I was considering puckering my lips again, remembering how hot and bothered I still was, his head dipped again, and he kissed the remainder of that pout off my face.

“Let’s go. Your family is probably wondering where we are.” He slowly dropped me to the floor. Then, he brushed his fingers over a few strands of hair that had come out of place, the back of his hand grazing my cheek before he stepped back. “Perfect,” he said, looking me up and down.

And the word traveled straight to the middle of my chest.

He offered his hand, and I took it before it hovered in the air for a complete second. I was a needy woman, it seemed. And when it came to Aaron, I’d take from him as much as he was willing to give me. And then perhaps I’d beg for more.