Page 43 of 4th Degree

“Kissing you,” I say simply.

I watch his Adam’s apple bob on a rough swallow. “Why?”

I pause, softening as I decide to answer honestly. “Because I wanted to.”

He almost looks more surprised that I answered the question. His voice is shell-shocked and flat when he says, “I’m almost twenty years older than you. And your coach.”

His chest heaves with his breaths, and there’s a wild look in his eyes. Everything about him screams defensive.

“Well, the age difference doesn’t bother me,” I admit with a small shrug. “And I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of gym owners dating fighters. So I guess I just didn’t think any of that mattered.”

And yeah, that’s definitely panic in his eyes. The only thing he manages to get out is a desperate, “Skylar, you can’t just kiss me. It’s wrong.”

Finally, the blatant refusal knocks me back to reality. I’m not surprised I needed to push a little, but an outright rejection drives a knife of hurt into my gut that decimates any remaining butterflies.

I look down so I don’t have to meet his eyes. “Sorry,” I murmur. “It won’t happen again.”

Cheeks burning with humiliation, I start past Dominic so I can get out of here as quickly as possible. I’ll worry about how I’m going to look him in the face again when I get home.

But a grip on my arm stops me, and my breath hitches.

It takes me a second to work up the nerve to turn around and face him again. Maybe because I don’t know what I’ll find.

Or maybe because I do know.

Slowly, I turn around. And where a moment ago he looked scared, now he looks…ravenous.

The air between us stills as my heart thunders in my ears. Neither of us is breathing any longer, and our gazes lock in a way that tells me it would take the world ending to break it.

The world stands still for a beat, and then…

“Fuck it.”

The second he slides his hand into my hair to tilt my head up for his kiss, I’m a goner.

Because he doesn’t just kiss me. He devours me. His lips take ownership of mine, and there’s none of the frozenness or hesitation from before. I don’t even know if I can call what I did a minute ago a kiss, not if this is how Dominic kisses.

His grip on my hip tightens and my stomach clenches in response. When he tilts my head with his other hand, licking deeper into my mouth, a groan rumbles through him, vibrating against my hands where they lay flat on his chest. The sound is enough to make a whimper build in my throat and press higher on my toes to get as close to his mouth as possible.

My desperation unleashes something in him. With a feral growl, he turns us so he can press me up against the wall. I let out a gasp at the feel of his body molding so perfectly against mine, and he swallows the breath with another heated kiss.

He can’t seem to get enough. His touch is possessive, his mouth hungry, and I’m starving for air when his hips push into mine. And at the feel of his rock-hard length against my stomach, I melt all over again with a needy moan.

I don’t know how long we stand there, completely connected and consumed by each other. It feels like forever, but at the same time not long enough. I’m addicted to him. I don’t know how I ever fought the urge not to kiss him. And if the look on his face when he finally pulls away to give us a chance to breathe is any indication, he’s feeling the same.

“Holy shit,” he gasps, sucking down air. He leans his forehead against mine, his hand still wrapped in my hair and his body still caging me against the wall. The half inch between our mouths is the only space that exists between us.

“Yeah,” I breathe. Curling my hands in his shirt, I silently beg him to kiss me again.

Unfortunately, the pause seems to have brought back some of Dominic’s earlier reluctance. When he pulls away another inch, I see regret shining in his eyes. And my stomach drops at the sight.

“Skylar…”

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I loosen my grip on his shirt. It gives him the opportunity he’s so obviously looking for to step away.

And he does. Taking a step back, he says, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

I don’t have the breath to speak. I simply nod, in what hopefully looks like understanding.

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