Bullets & Bonfires

“What does this mean?” she asks, averting her eyes.

Gently placing a finger under her chin, I tip her head back so I can see her eyes. “What do you want it to mean?”

She ducks her head and wriggles out of my grasp. “I’m afraid to say.”

I stop her with a hand on her arm. “You’re my friend. But that’s not enough anymore.”

“I want to be more than friends.” She hesitates, eyelids fluttering closed. “But what if it doesn’t work out?”

“Impossible.”

She doesn’t seem convinced. Can’t say I blame her. I’ve done nothing but push her away since she came home. She peeks up at me again. So much need simmering in her eyes.

“Were you really going to leave?” I ask, furious with myself for making her feel running away was her best option.

She nods once, then shakes her head. “I can’t be here with you anymore. Not like this.”

“I’m sorry. You’ve been through so much. I thought I was doing the right thing by letting you deal with everything first. By—hell, Bree. I don’t know.” The slippery slope I’m headed down gets steeper with each word out of my mouth.

Reaching out, she grips my arm. “I appreciate it. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I do. And just so you know. You’re—” She stops to take a deep breath. “You’re so important to me. You could never be…some stopgap until the next guy. I couldn’t use you like that.”

She might think that now, but what about later? I care way too much about her to ever let her go.

Then show her, jackass.

Curling my hand around the back of her neck, I pull her closer. Her lips part. To protest? Question me?

Her lower lip trembles. “You want me? Really want me?” she asks, so timid I ache.

“Yes, I want you.” I brush my fingers against her temple and down her cheek. “I want your mind, your heart, your soul, your body. You already have every part of me.”

Tears fill her eyes. “That’s what I want.”

All I can think about is kissing her. She reaches up, placing her hands on my chest, sliding them up around my neck. I lean down and kiss her with my heart and soul, showing her with every breath, every brush of my lips how much I want her. Need her.

Her body falls into me and I pull her as close as possible.

A thousand ideas demand attention in my overheated brain. Closer. Get her closer. Her scent. Her taste. Her heat.

We break away and I touch my forehead to hers as we catch our breath.

I slip one arm behind her knees and the other against her back, lifting her into my arms.

Her fingers trail down the side of my face and she presses her lips against my jaw. “Please don’t stop this time.”

Pain squeezes my chest. “Never again, Bree. I need you more than air.”

I carry her down the hall and have a brief moment of remorse for what we’re about to do under Vince’s roof.

But there’s no way we can wait another second.

In the bedroom, I set her down. She keeps her arms around me, staring up into my eyes.

“Next time we have to go to my place,” I say.

She cocks her head. “Next time? Next time what? What do you think is about to happen?”

That freezes me in place for a second, until her mouth quirks up, and I realize she’s teasing me.

“I guess I deserve that.” I reach out, brushing her hair back from her face.

Without thinking, I kick backward, slamming the door shut. Bree jumps, but a playful smile curves her lips. “Did you say something about spanking me last night?”

“No. You did.”

I pull her against me and hook my fingers into the strap of her tank top, slowly sliding it down her shoulder. She gasps. A sweet little noise because of something as simple as lowering a strap. Imagine what she’ll do when I put my mouth on her.

My hand slides down her back, squeezing her ass with just enough pressure that she meets my eyes. “I probably should, though, since you were about to leave me.”

“Your own fault.” Her tone is gentle, not mean.

Deciding I need to see more of her a hell of a lot faster, my fingers skim along the bottom of her shirt. My knuckles brush against soft skin and she jerks away. “You’re tickling me.”

I grip the shirt and strip her out of it. “That’s better.”

“Now you,” she says, fisting her hands in my shirt and yanking it up. I help her by taking it off the rest of the way and tossing it on the dresser.

“Wow.” She sighs and rakes her gaze over me from shoulders to shorts. My skin heats at the way she appreciates what she sees. She hooks her fingers in the front of my shorts, but doesn’t yank them down the way I expected.

No, she tortures me first. Skimming her finger under the waistband, stopping on my hip.

“What’re you doing, baby girl?”

“Exploring. I’ve waited this long. I want to savor every second.”

My hands cup her cheeks, tilting her head back. “You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever known.”

“Kiss me.”

“With pleasure.”

Our lips meet, gentle at first, then I take possession of her mouth. She sighs and presses her body against mine. My heart pounds while my hands touch her everywhere, cupping her jaw, the back of her neck, the slope of her shoulder, curve of her breast, down to her waist. Not about to waste another second, I push her shorts down her legs. If I strip her down completely, we won’t make it to the bed.

How long have I been dying to do this?

Too long.

We don’t break our kiss as I back her up to the bed. She falls against the mattress and I follow her down, covering her with my body. Each one of her kisses burns me up. Her blue eyes are hazy and unfocused. She flicks her tongue at the corner of her mouth, and I almost lose it. “Up,” I grunt at her, raising myself off her just enough to give her room to scoot into the center of the bed.

“Better.” God, she’s reduced me to one-word demands.

I take a second to absorb how beautiful she is before descending on her like a ravenous beast.

Hooking my thumbs in her underwear, I drag them down her legs. She’s shy, bringing her knees together. I let her have the second of modesty, laying kisses around one ankle, then the other. I trail my lips over her calf, stopping to lick the inside of her knee, before wrapping my hands around her legs and pushing them wide, making room for my big body.

She sucks in a breath. Fear? Or surprise? “Liam?” Her throaty rasp makes it hard to stop.

I meet her eyes. “I’m here.” She props herself up on her elbows, watching me.

“What’re you doing?” she whispers.

“Staring at your beautiful pussy.” I run my fingers over her skin.

She sucks in jerky breath.

I lean in and rub my chin over her inner thigh, tickling her with three days’ worth of scruff. My mouth waters to taste her.

“Uh,” she reaches down, covering herself.

“Don’t.” I grab her hands and pin them at her sides. When I’m sure she won’t move, I release her and rest my cheek against her leg. With lazy slowness, I drag my thumb over her impossibly soft skin. Teasing and exploring.

She whimpers when my thumb flicks near her clit. Slowly, I press a finger inside her, exploring wet, velvet heat. She gasps and raises her hips when I graze her G-spot.

I want to do everything to her. Pleasure her. Comfort her.

Lose myself in her.

My tongue darts out, licking, sucking, and kissing.

She tenses up, gasps, sighs, squeals. All sorts of delicious noises. Her heels dig into the mattress, lifting her pussy to my mouth. I grunt out a few encouraging sounds because I can’t take my mouth off her to form any words.

Spreading her even wider with my shoulders, I keep tonguing her, licking and tasting her. Kissing her lips, flicking my tongue over her clit, and finally sucking it into my mouth. Her legs quiver and sh

e cries out. Her hands fist in my hair, tugging to the point of pain. A rough sound leaves me, my dick hardens.

Her body twists. Trying to get more or get away from me. She pushes me back, then grinds herself against my face. Soft noises work out of her throat, growing louder by the second.

“Liam!”

She trembles and shatters around me.

“Oh. Oh God.”

I rub my face against her thigh, smearing her wetness on her skin. When I look up, she’s covering her face with her hands.

“That was quick.” She misses my pussy-licking grin because she’s still hiding.

She peeks out at me. “You’ve had me wound up for days.”

Laughter rumbles out of me. Her giggles are muffled by her hands, but she shifts and squirms as I kiss her hip, then drag my tongue over her stomach. My teeth nip at her bra, pulling at it until the cups slip down, exposing her nipples. I can’t decide which one to suck first.

She lightly touches my face. “That was so…”

“Good?”

“Better.”

She leans up to kiss me, and I slip my arms under her body, rolling us so she’s on top. She slides down, her pussy bumping against my rock-hard dick. “God, Liam. I still want you so much.”

“I’m here.”

Slowly, she inches down my body.