Warnings and Wildfires

“Oh.” She leans in, brushing her lips over my shoulder, distracting me.

“Give me something.”

I’m done avoiding whatever this is between us. No, I’m all in. I want to be closer to her but not just in the physical way. I take her head back and kiss her soft lips. Slowly savoring her, I continue kissing her neck and when she finally moans for me, I pull back.

She sighs, and I cover her mouth with my finger. “Give me something,” I repeat.

“I’m prepared to give you everything.” Under me, she wiggles her hips to emphasize the everything.

“I want more than sex from you. Tell me something simple.”

She throws her hands in the air. “You know where I live, where I work, my favorite flavor of ice cream, what my major is. What more do you want to know?” Her bottom lip juts out and I barely resist taking another taste.

“What’s your favorite color? We’ll start there.”

Her shoulders drop in obvious relief. “Red.”

“You look good in red. Favorite season?”

“Fall.”

“There, was that so hard?”

“What about you?”

“Black and summer.” I don’t give her time to cut me off. “When’s your birthday?” I ask.

“January.” Her eyes soften as she stares off at something in the distance she can’t quite touch. “I hate winter. Just once I want to spend my birthday somewhere warm. On the beach. From sunrise to sunset.”

I squeeze her to me and pat her butt. “I’d definitely be down for you in a bathing suit and some sand under our toes.”

“January’s kind of far away,” she whispers.

Not liking what her words imply, I kiss her forehead. “Not really.”

“Now we know more about each other. Happy?”

I chuckle against her neck, pushing her heavy hair out of my way. Under my touch, she shivers. “Cold?”

“I’m so hot for you it’s not even funny.”

I open my mouth to tell her I feel the same way, but she presses her fingers over my lips. “Sully, question time’s over.”

I kiss her fingertips, her palm, and the inside of her wrist. Her body tenses and I glance up, meeting her troubled eyes.

“I thought of something else to tell you about me,” she whispers.

“What’s that?” She looks so scared and vulnerable. Whatever she has to say, I want to assure her it’s okay.

“Please don’t break my heart.”

Has anything more pitiful ever come out of my mouth? Probably.

“You’re the heartbreaker here,” Sully says. Somehow his words reassure me that I’m not alone in what’s happening between us.

I glance at the clock and poke him in the chest. “We can’t be late again.”

He groans and shuts his eyes. “Sometimes being the boss really sucks.”

Tickling my fingers over his chest, I lean and kiss his cheek. “Yeah, but you’re really good at it.”

“You’re killing me.”

We end up arriving at Strike Back on time.

Around three, Celia sends me a text to let me know her flight is on time.

I hate interrupting Sully, but I want to let him know I’m leaving.

“Sully,” I call out.

He sets the weights he was using down and in the couple seconds it takes for him to scrub a towel over his face I admire his glistening muscles.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I need to go pick up my sister.”

“Sorry, I forgot.” Something, maybe disappointment, clouds his eyes. “I don’t suppose I can entice you to come to dinner tonight? Nothing fancy,” he hurries to add. “I usually get together with some of the guys on Sunday nights.”

“So, not a date. Just friends?”

I think he realizes what I’m asking before I do. “Girlfriends are allowed to come.”

I step closer and grab onto his T-shirt, twisting my fingers in the material, bringing him closer. “Are you calling me your girlfriend?”

“Is there something else you’d rather I call you?” he teases.

“Does that mean I can tell people you’re my boyfriend?”

“You can.” He hesitates and pulls back. “Is someone asking?” A hint of jealousy colors his question.

I’m not one to play games or stoke the flames of envy, so I answer honestly. “I ran into Ty yesterday, and he asked if we were seeing each other. I wasn’t sure what you wanted me to say.”

He frowns. “Yeah, you can definitely tell him.”

I tip my head back and poke him in the side. “Aww, are you jealous of my neighbor?”

“No.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s into my sister. So I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

He shakes his head, but it feels like there’s more he wants to say on the subject of Ty. “If Celia’s interested, she’s welcomed to join us tonight.”

“Okay, I’ll let her know.”

He walks me out to my car. “I’m going to miss having wheels,” I joke as I open the door.

“Be careful.” He presses a quick kiss to my cheek and opens my door for me.

Celia’s plane is not on time. I grabbed a caramel Frappuccino from the airport Starbucks for her and it’s currently melting in my hand while I wait.

Finally, the screen announces her plane’s arrival and my heart rate slows. It’s still another fifteen minutes before I spot her. I raise my free hand and wave, hoping she can see me.

“Hey! I was getting worried about you!” I give her a tight hug.

“Ugh, the last thirty minutes were awful. I’m so happy to see you!”

I thrust the drink into her hands and she beams at me. “You must love me. I know how you feel about the big coffee giant,” she teases.

“Don’t tell Brantley.” My manager at Busy Beans would die if he knew I set foot inside a Starbucks.

My sister travels light, so we don’t have to wait for her luggage. She’s vibrating with energy, practically skipping to the car. “I’m so happy to be home.”

I toss her the keys and she adjusts the seat before sliding into the driver’s side.

“How was your weekend? Do anything fun?”

Sully. And yes, he was fun.

“I, uh, yeah. It was good.”

She glances over. “Sounds like there’s more to it than that. What’d you do?”

“Hung out with Sully, mostly.” I wince and wait for her to lecture me.

“Mr. buff, gym dude? The guy you’re working for part-time?” she asks drawing out the questions, pretending her memory’s a little fuzzy on the subject.

“Yes,” I answer with a hint of impatience.

“Go, Aubrey,” she mutters. “He’s pretty damn hot.”

A relieved breath whooshes out of me. “He is. He’s really sweet though too. I like him a lot,” I add in a quieter voice.

“Good. God, Aubrey. It’s been a long time, you should be dating.”

“I’ve dated.” Or at least I’ve tried to.

She blows out an I-call-bullshit breath. “You have to stop punishing yourself for something that wasn’t your fault.”

She’s wrong of course, but I’m not going to argue with her. I’m moving on with my life and that’s all that matters. “He invited us to meet up with him and his friends tonight for dinner if you’re interested.”

“Sure. I’m still too keyed up to go home for the night.” She’s quiet for a second. “Wait, is his degenerate brother going to be there?”

“Stop. Jake’s actually really nice.”

“Yeah, because he knows if he touches you, Sully will kill him. To everyone else with a vagina, he’s probably a dick.” She stops and snickers. “Or tries to stick his—”

“Yeah, yeah,” I interrupt. “Save it, funny girl.”

She spends the rest of the drive home filling me in on her conference. All about new products she plans to try. She wants me to stop by the salon one morning so

she can use me as a hair model for a class she’s supposed to teach.

“Sure. As long as it’s not braiding. Last time I thought you were going to rip my scalp off.”

“No braiding. I promise.”

At home she switches into planning-a-night-out-mode, tearing through outfits in her closet at warp-speed.

“You have such great legs,” she says, tossing a short denim skirt at me. Well, on her it’s short, on me not so much. “Wear that.”

“With what?”

“Uh.” More stuff goes flying through the air. “This.” She throws a peacock blue halter top my way. “That color makes your eyes pop.”

I cock my head. “Do I want my eyes to pop? Sounds painful.”

“Ha. Ha. Go get dressed.”