More than once, and fairly desperately. Pride goeth before the fall. But hell’s bells, she hadn’t been prepared for this fall. Okay, yes, she’d had sex—maybe more than her fair share—for the fun of it, or to relieve the boredom of another predictable Bluelick Friday night, or for the ego-validation of the conquest. Sometimes playful, sometimes sweet, sometimes purely physical, but never anything like this. Shaun’s urgency made her feel as necessary as a heartbeat, as important as oxygen, and the ruthless honesty of his need wrung a response from her she hadn’t dreamed existed. She might as well have been the virgin he’d teased about, because now, in this moment, she found herself grappling with symptoms she didn’t understand, and had no idea how to deal with, and she would have offered him anything, opened up to him in any way he demanded, as long as he delivered the relief his touch promised. I need more of you. All of you, he’d said.