Firefighter Phoenix (Fire & Rescue Shifters 7)

Even now, after all he’d done to her, he knew he would not be able to withstand the sweet fire of her touch. He was forced to turn to face her, before she could reach out and burn away the last of his resolve.

She didn’t reach out to him, but she was still close, too close. He pressed his back into the closed door, trying not to feel the heat of her body. He focused on the tears gleaming against her ebony skin so that he would not see the lush softness of her half-parted lips, or fall into the endless wonder of her eyes.

“Did you…” Rose paused, her throat working as she swallowed. His fingertips yearned to trace that long, elegant column. “Did you ever truly care for me? Or was it just guilt?”

His own throat burned. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry. Everything that he’d done to her, and this was what she asked?

“I never just cared for you,” he said. Her eyes widened, but he hadn’t finished. The words spilled out of him in a fierce, desperate torrent, bursting free at last. “I love you, Rose. I have loved you from the moment I first saw you. I will always love you. I came here, I stayed here, because I could not bear to be apart from you. I love you.”

She searched his face. “Even though I’m not your mate?”

“I am not your mate.” She still didn’t notice the subtle correction. “But you are my everything.”

She nodded, once, as though she’d come to some private decision. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Of course she didn’t, not after everything he’d dropped on her tonight. Even now, his heart lifted a little at the prospect of being able to serve her in some small way.

He reached for his work-issue cell phone, holstered as always on his belt. “I could call Hayley, or—”

Her look stopped him mid-sentence.

“Ash.” Very deliberately, she hooked a finger through one of his belt loops. “You are an idiot.”

This seemed very likely. His mind had gone completely blank. He stumbled forward as she pulled him into her arms.

“But,” he started, and then completely forgot whatever he’d been about to say as her free hand curved around the back of his neck.

“Shut up, Ash,” she whispered, drawing him down.

Her mouth pressed against his, silencing him. And she was warm and welcoming and his mate, and it had been so, so long since he had been home.

He closed his eyes, sinking deep into the sweet taste of her. Her lips parted for him, without hesitation, just as they’d done all those years ago. She was still just as bold and fierce, claiming his tongue with hers, her fingernails digging into the back of his neck. He cradled her face, fire racing through him as his fingers spanned the familiar, proud line of her jaw, the fine arch of her cheekbones.

He tightened his grip, holding her still as he broke the kiss. Even pulling away the barest inch felt like ripping his soul in half all over again. He burned with the need to fall back into her heat again.

“Rose,” he gasped, barely able to draw enough breath for words. “I took everything from you.”

Her eyes met his. “So give me something back.”

Her strong fingers were still hooked into his belt loop; she pulled him closer, pressing her hips against his. The shock of that contact undid him completely.

No more restraint. No more second thoughts. She was his only thought now.

The Phoenix rose in his soul, unrestrained, ravenous. His body rose too, fast and hard. Rose’s eyes flew open.

“Oh my,” she gasped into his mouth. “Ash, this is probably the point where I need to tell you something. I’m a virgin.”

For a second, he was utterly baffled—and then his heart lurched.

“You never, in all these years…” He choked the words off before he said too much. His thumb brushed over her mouth, lightly, wonderingly.

“You’re my first,” Rose said, her midnight skin taking on a warmer hue as she blushed furiously. “And, um, that doesn’t feel like novice-sized equipment.”

He was her first. Again. Which meant that he was her only.

He kissed her hard, deeply, until she was limp and liquid in his grasp, head tipped back, hands fisted in his shirt. His mate. His Rose. His first and only, as he was hers, always, forever.

“What was that for?” she gasped, when he finally had to come up for air.