“T-teach you?” Thorn repeated shakily, his hands balling into fists. He had to progress very carefully; the world could shatter with a bat of her gorgeous eyes. “Like…you want…”

“I figure I'll have to do this eventually,” Savannah explained hurriedly, her gaze darting to the floor, a warm blush spreading across her cheeks. “So…umm…I thought…if you want me to…”

He laughed nervously. “Savannah, I—”

“If you don't want me to, I won't,” she amended quickly.

The laughter kept coming. He couldn't switch it off, nor could he keep himself from saying something stupid. “Not want a gorgeous girl to wrap her lips around my prick? You really are new to this, aren't you?”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He'd officially lost control over words. They lived on their own.

Savannah's face fell, hurt replacing nervousness, and Christ, it was his kryptonite.

“Never mind,” she said. “I just thought… You did it for me, so—”

“Kitten—”

Her head whipped up, her eyes blazing brilliantly. “Don't you 'kitten' me, you big…jerk guy! I don't… I thought you'd want something. I thought… I don't know what I thought, but I wanted to do something for you, and that seemed like the best thing, and if you can't be decent about it, then…” Savannah's face fell again when words ran empty, gaze redirecting to her bare, bronzed legs. She hadn't bothered dressing in his brief absence, and at the moment, he didn't know whether he should consider himself lucky. It was awkward enough between them without taking nudity into consideration. “I just thought…”

Thorn sighed harshly, running a hand through his hair and hating himself. “Sweetheart,” he said, his voice softer. “Savannah. Will you look at me?”

The request only hardened her stare. She didn't budge.

Well, if she wouldn't come to him, he'd go to her. He found himself kneeling before her the next instant, hands rubbing her thighs of their own volition, waiting for her to relax before raising a hand to her face.

“I'm an ass,” he said plainly.

She snickered.

“A good-looking ass, yeah, but an ass.”

Another snort. “Conceited much?”

“My beauty's a burden, love, not a perk.”

This time she laughed outright and looked up at last. He smiled when he had her eyes. Maybe there was a chance he could talk himself back from a full-blown train wreck…providing his dick didn't do his talking for him. “You made my brain short-circuit,” he said honestly. “Can't rightly offer a bloke a blow like that and expect him to be anything but…well, this.”

Savannah pouted at him a minute longer. “Jerk.”

“Yeah.”

“I am new at this.”

Thorn smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I know,” he replied. “And as much as I want to say yes, I don't want you to feel like you gotta do anything for me. I'm just happy to—”

Her eyes widened. “I don't feel like I have to.”

“No?”

“No, I just…” She licked her lips, and he bit back a moan. Just imagining those lips around him, that tongue caressing him, licking him, drawing him in deeper, deeper. Oh God. “I want to.”

Every muscle in his body tightened. His cock had hardened to the point he thought he'd bust his zipper. Her flesh against his…her skin…her scent…around him, sucking… “You want…Savannah… Oh God.”

“What?”

Rational thought fled the room. His hands closed around her face, and his lips crashed hard against hers. A long moan raced through her body, igniting his every nerve. She responded so wildly to his touches. Her kisses tasted hungered and desperate, mouth stealing aching, hot drags off his lips as her hands reached and grabbed. She explored him with boundless curiosity, fingers trailing up his arms and over his shoulders, down his chest and across his thighs. Her thumb brushed against his denim-clad cock once, and when he gasped into her mouth, she did it again with gusto. No part of her lacked fire or passion; she touched and discovered, leaving his skin feverish in her wake, and for one perfect moment, she belonged to him. Touching him, her beautiful, bare body his for the taking. She belonged to him. He could pretend.

He could pretend…