This chapter is short, but the end felt like an important moment and I didn't wanna pair it with anything else. Next chapter we'll probably get out of the bedroom and back to civilization. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! As always, thank you for the reviews. I love hearing from y'all!

Daryl

Beth is curled up beside me. Her small body fits against mine like the missing piece to a puzzle. It's raining outside, but her breathing is steady and her body is relaxed, so I know she's sleeping. Over and over, I drag my fingers through the length of her hair, loving the way it slips through my fingers like silk.

This is new territory for me. I've had sex with women before, sure. But I never spent the night with them after. Usually once I slept with a girl, I ushered them out or scared them away before I could even pull the condom off.

This is so much better.

I don't want Beth to go—ever. I want her again. And again. And again. I want to lock her away and throw away the key, so I can keep her all to myself. I've been inside her once. Once. And now my body is craving her like some sort of illicit drug.

Beth sighs against me and presses a little closer. I turn my head and touch my lips to her forehead. Her small hand works its way across my abdomen and curves around my side. My hand tightens on her hip, and I feel her smile. Her hand moves back across my stomach, the muscles tightening in response. She lingers on them before slowly traveling lower, her fingertips skirting over the trail of hair that leads to my package.

My hips rotate of their own accord, and I can't stop the low moan that comes rumbling out of chest. Her hand continues lower, her silky skin causing goose bumps to prickle along behind her touch. When she meets the short, wiry hair just above my cock, she pauses. I don't say anything or urge her forward. I want her to move at her own pace.

My heat is thumping so hard I know she must be able to hear it against her ear. She starts moving again, pushing into the nest of curls and sliding down to where I'm already achingly hard. Her touch is cautious at first, driving me mad with desire. Her fingertips skim down my length before grazing across my inner thighs. It's a ghost of a touch that has me clenching my jaw muscles to stop the urge to order her for more.

Slowly, she becomes bolder, her fingertips encircling my swollen head, then dragging down. My chest rumbles with pleasure as she continues to stroke. I turned off the bedside lamp hours ago, so when she lifts her head to stare up at me, her round, blue eyes are darker in the moonlight.

Her tongue darts out to wet her bottom lip, and I can practically feel my self-control ripping apart. Then she drags her teeth across the path her tongue just took, and the final shred of restraint I was clinging to unfolds and drops.

I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and tug her up to me. Then I kiss her. Hard. The kiss is wild and sweet all at the same time. The taste of her tongue, the bite of her teeth, the way she moans right into my mouth all work to beat down the last of my resistance. When she breaks away from me, her pupils are blown wide, dark with desire. I drag my fingertips across her shoulder and press my lips to her collarbone. She's shaking, and when I softly bite down on her smooth skin, she whimpers. Fuck. I love that sound.

She runs her hand up my dick and squeezes. "Daryl?"

"Yeah, baby?" I move back toward her neck, peppering her skin with kisses.

I nip at her earlobe with my teeth and she gasps. "I want you. Now."

"You aren't too sore?" I ask, my voice so deep and thick I don't even recognize it.

She shakes her head and bites that damn bottom lip. I fling a hand out and feel around the bedside table until my fingertips graze the corner of a small foil packet. I bring it up to my mouth and tear it open with my teeth. She sits back to watch me as I smooth it over the tip of my erection. Then I take her hand and guide it down with mine, rolling the latex down over me.

Hooking my hands under her arms, I lift her, pulling her over my body, until she's straddling my waist. I skim along the inside of one thigh until I feel the slick heat of her core. I circle her clit with my thumb and suck one nipple into my mouth while I graze the other one with my thumb.

"I don't know how," she starts to blurt, then snaps her mouth shut. "I mean, this position—I've never . . ." Her voice falls away when I rock against her center.

"I know," I whisper. "Just trust me."

She nods, lifting a little, as I position myself her entrance. I lean back and palm her tiny waist, slowly guiding her down, inch by inch.

When she's fully seated, her head falls back and she purrs, "Ohh, that feels good."

Smug satisfaction threatens to bust wide open when I catch sight of the blissful look on her face. She starts rocking without any kind of instruction. Her hips roll and move in perfect cadence with mine. I push my palms up the curve of her hips and over the bumps of her ribs until I reach her breasts. I graze the pads of my thumbs over her nipples, and I'm rewarded with a low moan.

Her body is on full display, bathed in the moonlight filtering through the window and occasionally lit up by lightning from the storm. I feel my breath catch in my throat. She is so fucking beautiful.

Intimate feelings, strange and foreign feelings, threaten to overwhelm me as she moves on top of me, her hands clutching my chest. I absorb her warmth, her vitality, her scent. It's almost too much—everything I feel for her. It's fucking terrifying.

Every cell in my body is stripped and completely raw; every nerve stands at attention. I watch her mouth fall open and her eyes close. She braces her hands on my shoulders, her fingernails biting into my skin. She whispers my name, her hair falling over her shoulders, her lips swollen from my kisses. I move my hands to her hips and squeeze, thrusting up to match her movements.

She puts a palm on my chest and leans forward, so she can look down to where I'm driving in and out of her, shiny with her slickness. Watching her, watching us, makes the muscles of my abdomen tighten, and I start to feel that perfect resonance unfurl around us.

Abruptly, I sit up and drag her back until my shoulder blades are braced against the headboard and our bodies are rubbing against each other from shoulder to thigh. I jerk my hips up hard and fill her completely. She spreads her thighs wider, so I can drive deeper as her legs automatically link around me.

Her breasts press against my chest and her forehead falls to my shoulder. I put my fingertips on her chin, urging her to tip her head back. "Look at me." My voice is soft, but it's a command, and she obeys.

I know she's close. I can feel it in the way she tightens and trembles around me, and I can see it in the wild desperation of her eyes. But for some reason, she won't let go. She's clinging to the cusp of her orgasm like she's afraid to give in, and I know she's gonna need a little push.

I shift her body, tilting her hips back the slightest bit, so I can thrust into her deeper, harder. I reach down and find her clit with my thumb. My words work her up just as much as my touches do, but I start slow. "Does this feel good?"

I jerk my hips up, then slow the circling of my thumb, and she makes a noise of frustration, her eyes flying to mine. I press my lips together to stop my smile. "Answer me."

"It feels good." She reaches for me, her fingernails digging into my biceps as I give her what she wants and press my thumb down on her most sensitive spot. "It feels really good."

A long, loud moan piggybacks on a whimper as her eyes roll back. I press a kiss to the hollow of her throat. "Good girl. Now, I want you to come on my cock so hard that you soak us both." She gasps and I chuckle, pressing deeper into her. "Can you do that? Can you come on me?"

My words are her undoing. She crushes her lips to mine, and as if I heard it snap myself, I know she just lost all control. Her moans grow louder as she rubs against me with a new desperation, clawing her way toward release.

My abs start to quiver at the same time I feel her tighten around me. Together we go, to the place where nothing matters but this second. This heat, this need. This blur of colors and feelings. This explosion of things that I can't control, can't even name.

Tiny explosions claim my body, and my mind swirls with one thought, over and over: her, her, her. Then my vision goes dark and only comes back in silver pinpricks of bursting light.

Her limp body falls against my chest, both of us still pulsing together. It's a long minute before I can form a complete thought, and I'm vaguely aware that one of us is shaking.

We topple over, both of us winded and covered in a sheen of sweat. She rolls over and reaches for the glass of water beside the bed. She glances over her shoulder, her bare ass in perfect sight. Before I'm able to harness my willpower, I grin and give her a quick slap on the ass.

An immediate spark of fury flashes through her eyes, but it's quickly replaced by a deep, loud laugh. Soon we're both hysterical, rolling around the bed in each other's arms, a summer storm raging on outside the window, and I have never wanted to lock a moment away forever more than I do this single, perfect one.

It's still dark out when the lamp beside the bed flickers and goes out. Beth goes tense beside me. It's still storming outside, and I know that when combined with the dark, that makes her very nervous.

I slip out of bed, pull on a pair of boxers, and pick up my t-shirt from where I threw it on the floor, then toss it to her. I pad into the bathroom and flip the light switch, but nothing happens, which means the generators are out of fuel. At the moment, I can't remember who's in charge of filling them. Whoever it is, sucks at their job. Not my problem though. I've got a beautiful woman in my bed. Someone else can deal with this shit when they wake up.

I walk back into the room and dig through the closet until I find a bag with candles. We'd needed them in the beginning, before we figured out the generators and found a steady supply of fuel. Shit's way easier now. That is, when everyone remembers to do their part.

I line the top of the dresser with candles, then fish a lighter out of the pocket of my jeans. Just as I'm lighting the final wick, Beth half-sighs, "This sure beats a prison cell."

I laugh and turn around. The breath I was taking freezes halfway to my lungs.

She's sitting in the center of my bed, the blankets rumpled and piled around her. My shirt is way too big, and the neck is slipping down low over one of her slim shoulders, exposing a wide patch of creamy skin. Her cheeks are pink, and her lips are swollen. The long thick mass of her hair is tangled and messy, falling around her face and down her back.

She tilts her head and looks at me, wrinkling up her nose. "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I look like a mess?"

I shake my head, unable to speak. I never thought this would happen to me. I never thought I would care about someone so much. So fast. But seeing her sitting there, taking up so little space in my bed but so much room in my chest, it's sorta something I can't deny.

I cross the room and tug the shirt over her head without saying a single word. I kiss each of her ribs and massage her back and thighs before making love to her with all the tenderness she deserves.