At the window, she stood with a glass of water pressed to her lips, the coolness grounding her, chasing the heat from her cheeks. She drank not out of thirst, but necessity -- to focus, to steady, to remind herself of her body.

But the image wouldn't leave.

Not just the sight of him, but the understanding.

The why behind those sounds last night -- those moans that hadn't been pretty, hadn't been sweet. They'd been torn from the gut. Desperate. Shattered. Real.

Shannon thought of her own first time with Craig. How he'd filled her. How her legs had shaken from the stretch, the ache blooming with pleasure. He...