The light is dim in Brian's kitchen-slash-living room. I'm leaning against the kitchen counter, watching him make some coffee.

The black shirt he's wearing hugs his sculpted torso, clinging to his lean muscles. My gaze travels down to Brian's forearms and then to his wrists, and finally, the fingers. The ring I'd given him is still there, and warmth floods my chest.

"Stop checking me out, babe," Brian says. His eyes stay trained on the mugs in front of him. How did he know?

Before I have a chance to reply, Brian turns around and smiles broadly at me. "Busted!"

"You shouldn't be so pretty, O'Brien," I say, cocking my head to the side.

"I'm not pretty, Kitten. I'm a dude. A handsome one, maybe."

"And modest, but his kisses are average."

Brian steps forward and wraps his arms around me. "My little liar. And you'd better stop talking about kisses and shit because I need to drink that coffee to show you my average bedroom skills."

A chuckle leaves my lips as I reach for the mug. I give it to Brian and grab the other one for me.

He takes a sip, looking at me over the rim, with one of his arms wrapped loosely around my waist.

We don't break eye contact and say nothing while drinking the coffee, just study each other in comfortable, relaxing silence.

Unlike many other times in the past, this time, I don't have to wonder what's on Brian's mind. Insignificant as they might seem, the things he said to me at the promenade were a huge deal.

The Brian I used to know wouldn't have talked about his anxiety openly, and he surely wouldn't have mentioned the classmate's comment. The guy I'm looking at now is more honest about his worries and feelings.

Brian rests his empty mug on the counter and takes mine from my hands to do the same. My eyes close when he hugs my shoulders. Hard and warm, his body presses against mine, caging me in between the counter and him.

Brian's lips brush against the column of my neck softly, slowly, leaving a wet trail when he kisses me harder, licking the skin there.

I caress Brian's forearms with my fingertips. My touch gives him goosebumps, and he trembles, pausing with his lips on me, his ragged breaths blanketing my skin.

Swiftly, he moves his hands to my behind and hoists me up until I have no choice but to wrap my legs around Brian's waist while he carries me to his bedroom.

It's dark, but Brian doesn't turn on the lights. I glance at the bed covered with a gray comforter, but Brian's plans are different.

He sits me on his desk, next to the pile of textbooks, and puts his hands on either side of me, leaning forward until our faces are an inch apart, and his breaths mingle with mine.

"Perfect," he whispers, pressing his lips to mine.

The kiss makes me lightheaded, and I almost miss the moment when Brian slips his hands under my dress. He palms my thighs and moves his hands up until his fingers find the band of my tights.

The sheer black material slides down my legs and lands in a heap on the floor, followed by my panties.

With my lips on Brian's, I still and lift my eyes to his.

Brian's hazel irises are warm and full of desire, which becomes more evident when he turns on the small lamp on the desk, and I can finally see him well.

He kisses me once more, with tenderness and reverence, unhurried and calm as if we had all night for this. I know we don't, and the thought fills me with inexplicable disappointment.

Brian's lips move from my mouth to my neck and down to the cleavage of my short black dress Tara insisted I wore. He kisses the skin he can reach and tugs the fabric down with his teeth, exposing my lace-covered chest.

The feeling of his wet mouth on my breasts makes me clench my thighs, eager for some relief.

Brian grips the hem of the garment and lifts it, taking it off me. In barely a couple of seconds, all of me is bared to him. I exhale a shaky breath when Brian gets down on his knees and pulls me forward, making me grip the edge of the desk.

"Spread your legs open, Princess," he says, caressing my inner thighs with a featherlike touch.

I don't wait to comply. A curse falls off Brian's lips, and then, they are on me, kissing me in the most sinful of ways. He uses his fingers to caress me at the same time and slips two of them inside me while the tip of his tongue plays with my clit.

My legs are on his broad shoulders, and my knuckles whiten from the force I'm gripping the wooden surface with.

"You'll fucking kill me one of these days," Brian says against my thigh, moving his fingers in and out slowly and then faster.

I feel myself pulse around them, but it gets so much more intense when he curls them inside me and rubs the spot that makes me shake and moan, raising my hips to Brian's hand.

He restarts his kisses, and it's all it takes for me to lose it. "Brian," I cry out, fisting his hair as my muscles clamp around his digits.

Brian slows down his caresses but doesn't rise to his feet. His hands stroke my thighs, and he seems to be unable to look away from the most intimate part of me. I would've felt self-conscious about another guy looking at me the way he does, but I never do with Brian. There's no shame when I'm with him.

Humming, Brian plants a kiss on my knee and lifts his eyes to mine. "Hey, Kitten. Have I told you your girl is beautiful?"

I bite back a grin. The teasing side of me wants to come out, and I let her.

"She'll be more beautiful soon," I say.

Brian's dark eyebrows bunch up.

I take a breath. "I'm gonna pierce my girl."

It takes all of me not to laugh at the shock on Brian's face. "You what?"

I shrug. "You did it. I want to do it too. It might look pretty, don't you think so?"

Brian jumps to his feet and hooks an arm around my bare body, lifting me as if I weighed nothing and carrying me to the bed.

He throws the comforter off it and lays me on the white sheets. "Hell no, Kitten."

I pout. "Why? Mike will be waiting for me tomorrow. I chose one of those pretty little diamond studs. He says it's easy to remove them."

The look on Brian's face is murderous. "What the hell, Kitten? Nobody's going to look at my girl, got it? I'd rather pierce her myself than let another dude...no. Not a chance in hell. You're not piercing anything."

"You can, but I can't? Who pierced the boy?"

Brian rolls his eyes. "A guy called Dex. Happy?"

"You can ask him to pierce my girl if you trust him. I don't mind."

Brian covers my body with his and pins my arms to the bed. "Fuck no."

"So possessive, O'Brien," I say, wiggling my hips, knowing that Brian feels it because of the position we're in.

"It's common sense, babe," he says. "What if they use bad instruments or do it in the wrong way? It could get swollen or...Jesus, Kitten, I'll go into fucking cardiac arrest at the age of twenty. Your girl is mine, got it?"

I jab a finger into Brian's chest. "She's mine. It's my body. If I wanna pierce my girl, I will."

"If you love me, you won't."

"It's blackmail."

Brian shrugs. "Whatever you wanna call it. If I wanted to do something to the boy, I would ask you."

I'm tempted to tell Brian it was a joke, but his words make me change my mind. He didn't have an issue with my tattoo. In fact, he loved it. Why is he acting this way now?

"Okay," I say.

Brian smiles. "Okay, as in you're not gonna do it?"

"Okay, as in, you would ask me, Brian. Now kiss me. We don't have all night, and the girl wants what she wants."

Pure disbelief takes over Brian's features, but I move my hips again, and his lips wrap around my nipple, sucking gently and then hard.

Brian lets go of my wrists and yanks his shirt over his head, exposing his hard stomach. I put my hands on his warm skin, caressing him while he drives me wild, biting my nipples and licking them afterward.

My fingers find the button of Brian's jeans, and I undo it, desperate to see and feel all of him.

I pull the jeans and boxer briefs down Brian's hips and legs. He helps me undress him and returns to me, laying his naked body on top of mine.

I kiss him slowly, massaging his neck, shoulders, and back. Brian moans into my mouth and reaches for the condom on the nightstand.

His hard length is pressed between my thighs, hot and pulsing. I watch him put the condom on, unable to tear my eyes away from his beautiful body.

"Come here," I call him when he's ready.

Brian eases into me. The feeling is as wonderful as ever. He fills me and stretches me, and makes me feel all of him as he rotates his hips and gives it to me slowly.

My lips seek his, and this time, his mouth is the one to devour mine. Brian slides his hands under me and cups my behind, raising it to him. The angle intensifies my pleasure tenfold. I kiss him faster, close to losing it for the second time.

"So fucking in love with you," Brian whispers, covering my neck in wet kisses. His fingers dig into my flesh and hold onto me as I start moving, too, mimicking what Brian is doing.

"I'm close," I whimper when the pace of Brian's thrusts increases. He slides his tongue into my mouth and gives me a raw, plundering kiss as I come undone.

Tremors course through Brian's body a moment later. "Fuck," he pants against my neck, shaking with the intensity of his orgasm.

"I love you," I say to him as we lie in each other's arms, trying to slow down our breaths.

"I've never felt this way," Brian tells me, stroking a finger down my spine. "You make me forget about everything by just being with me. And when we're like this, it's fucking heaven. I wish..."

Brian trails off, and I cup his cheek to make him look at me. "You wish what?"

Brian's mouth opens and closes when the screen of my phone lights up, and the gadget vibrates on the nightstand.

I reach for it and swipe my finger across the screen. My eyes widen when my brain registers the meaning of the text from Tara.

"What's going on, babe?" Brian asks.

I bite my lip and turn the phone around to let him see the screen. "It's Tara."

Brian sits up in bed and groans. "Shit. Tell her to bring him here."