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I shuttered out a breath and widened my lips, my eyelids fluttering closed.

Weakness swallowed me whole, infecting my resolve, and I didn’t stand a chance.

My tongue grazed the pads of her fingertips in a slow, savoring slide, and I lapped up every ounce of her arousal, imprinting her essence onto my marrow. A low groan pinwheeled through me as her sweetness bathed my tongue, and I sucked her fingers into my mouth, rolling my hips while she let out a squeaky, mewling sound that edged us both toward annihilation.

A single taste had me tangled in tripwires.

I was fully, devastatingly aware that one misstep, one more move in the wrong direction, would have both of our worlds detonating.

Slowly, Halley slid her fingers from my mouth, dusting them along my bottom lip as she lowered her hand. With a half-lidded stare, skin flushed red, and dynamite in her eyes, she murmured huskily, “Now you know.”

Now I know.

Yeah, I knew. I knew just how close I was to burying my cock inside her while simultaneously burying us both alive. Her taste was unadulterated ecstasy, honey in my veins, but something else mattered more.

Tara.

My daughter…and Halley’s future.

Reality clobbered me like a frying pan to the back of the head. My brows twisted, my arms corded with full-blooded restraint, and I shot up and off of her like lightning.

I didn’t look back.

Didn’t spare her a single glance to see how badly I’d just burned her.

My vision clouded with red as I charged into my bedroom, slammed the door shut, then locked it behind me. I shoved my pants down my hips, dropping them to my ankles. My dick was in my hand before I could take my next breath, and I was jerking myself off like a fucking animal.

Less than twenty seconds later, jets of warm cum spurted onto my hand, my abdomen, my thighs, as a soul-shattering orgasm tore through me like the explosion I’d just narrowly dodged. I groaned, shuddered, swayed, vibrating through wave after wave of release with the taste of her pussy still coating my tongue.

Now I know.

Now I knew what it felt like to really play with fire.

And I was damn certain, that any day now, I’d go up in flames.

CHAPTER 19

I hadn’t seen Reed in two months.

Snow had given way to green grass and vibrant wildflowers, while I’d focused on schoolwork, photography, and everything but him. I was three weeks away from graduating, and my GPA was hovering just below a four-point-oh. Not only was I finally going to walk the stage with my best friend and accept our well-earned diplomas together, but I was also graduating with honors.

The thought made me giddy.

Proud.

Elated.

But everything good in my life was sullied by that sparring session that had taken place in Reed’s apartment seven weeks ago when I’d pushed him over the edge and taken things too far.

I was humiliated. Sorry. Beyond regretful.

In turn, Reed had put a stop to our training sessions, having told Scotty to pass the news along to me. Reed couldn’t even tell me to my face. He didn’t want to see me, and I didn’t blame him.

Wanting to avoid questions and probing, I had told Tara that I’d accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish with the training, therefore, there was no need to continue. Reed had other clients to train. He couldn’t waste anymore time on a burden like me.

“You’ve been nothing but a burden since I’d laid eyes on you.”

His words often funneled through me like an angry windstorm. A blizzard.

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