...Will started to undress and Poppy watched him divest himself of his blue jeans and red-checkered shirt. Just the exposure of that black-furred chest had her burning already. The churning of arousal began to warm her blood. It never took much when she was in Will’s company. She walked toward him.

“Why is it you think we’ve never made the commitment to live together?” She slid a hand over his bicep. She enjoyed his company, she enjoyed sex with him. What was stopping her from making a commitment?

He lifted her into his arms and she anchored her legs around his hips. “Now’s a hell of a time to get into a discussion like this.” He laid her on the bed and then began removing her clothing. First her sneakers, which he tossed across the room. Then he moved to her black leather pants, drawing them slowly down her rounded hips. And then her white T-shirt. He leaned forward and kissed her, then dropped lower to tug at a nipple. She arched up against him.

“We’re good together, Will.”

“Yeah, but we both have wandering spirits.” He looked up at her from between her spread thighs. “What kind of commitment do you want to make? Monogamous living together? Marriage? Kids? Are you ready for any of that stuff?” Then he leaned down and sucked her clit into his mouth, flicking his tongue over and around.

She cried out. Her hands latched onto his shoulders, her nails digging into his flesh. It wasn’t long before her orgasm exploded over her. Will climbed up onto the bed next to her. Balancing his head on a hand, he looked down at her. He trailed his fingers over her breasts, down over her ribcage.

“What is it you want, Red? You and I are good together. But I know you, babe. You aren’t ready to settle just yet. I love you, girl, just the way you are, and I don’t want to tie you down, sure as heck not before you’re ready.”

“What if I want to be tied down?”

One of Will’s eyebrows shot upward in surprise. “Do you?”

“Would you want to be tied to one woman? Are there other women in your life right now?”

His gaze shot away from her. “Are you asking me if I have other lovers besides you? You’ve never really wanted to know that before. Why now?”

Is that what she was asking him? Or was she asking something else? Was she really thinking about what Gray had said about men?

“I don’t really know what I’m asking. I know I love you, Will, I just don’t know if it’s enough. I don’t know if I’d disappoint you. Or even myself. When I think about the word commitment it just scares me for some reason.”

“Are you thinking about your parents? How it didn’t end up so happily-ever-after for them?”

“Maybe that’s part of it. I don’t know. I just know that after the wolf incident anything that smacks of being tied down, being confined, scares the hell out of me. Do you think it’s possible to have a happily-ever-after for people like us?”

He sheathed himself with a condom, then shifted over her. “I think everyone’s happily-ever-after doesn’t have to be the same. For some people it’s marriage. For others it’s not. Some people just react well to traditional ties. Open relationships are not a bad thing. But if you want to sit down and talk about it when this is over with, we’ll do it.”

He thrust into her and she arched up to meet him. She wound her arms around him and he pressed close.

“Gray thinks you have sex with men—do you?” She didn’t know why she blurted that out, but suddenly she wanted to know the answer. He stopped moving and looked down at her.

“He does, does he?” He stared down at her for a long time. “Have you ever had anal sex, Poppy? With a man? Has any man ever been inside your little bung hole?”

“No.” She was breathless as she stared back at him. Suddenly she found the idea intriguing and erotically exciting.