Page 76 of Fire in You

Crossing my arms across my chest, I shivered. I didn’t know what to make of that confession, what to make of any of this. A huge part of me was in shock. When you’ve spent a good part of your life wanting something and then another decent chunk of your life accepting you’d never have it, to now have it seemingly within reach was hard to comprehend.

I glanced over at him, and my stomach dipped in the most pleasant way. What would it be like to be with him, with our past no longer between us, and justnow? My skin flushed with sweet anticipation, but at the same time, a part of me held back.

A part of me wanted to run screaming for the hills.

“I just . . . I really need to think about this. I mean, I don’t even know what you really want, if you just want to get laid—”

“If I wanted to just get laid, I’d already have someone in my bed right now. That would be easy.”

“Wow,” I muttered.

“I’m not saying that to be an ass. It’s true, but I don’t want that. Obviously.” His jaw tightened. “If I just wanted that, I wouldn’t be here.”

I bit down on my lip. “So . . . what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I want you,” he said. “That is what I want, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have no idea, but I’m sure as fuck not going to deny what I feel and want just because it may turn out to be shit.”

Except if it turned out to be shit, we had to face each other every day, and if it turned out to be shit, how would we really move past that a second time? How could I?

Taking a deep breath, Brock rose from my couch and approached me. I eyed him warily as he walked around the coffee table and stopped in front of me. Before I knew what he was doing, he cupped my cheeks in his large hands and tipped my head back.

“Walking out of this apartment is not what I want to be doing.” He lowered his mouth, stopping a hairsbreadth from mine. “What I want to be doing is taking you back to the bedroom, stripping you bare, and fucking every single doubt from your mind.”

Ohgoodness.

“But I get it. You’ve got to wrap your head around the way things are now,” he went on. “I’m going to give you that time. All right?”

“Okay,” I whispered back, because what else was I supposed to say? His mouth was so close to mine, and I was absolutely thrown through a loop.

Then Brock kissed me.

Really kissed me.

His mouth came down and his lips moved against mine like he was committing the feel of them to memory. My arms unfolded and somehow my hands were back to his chest. He nipped slightly at my lower lip, startling me. I gasped, and then his tongue slipped through the seam of my mouth.

Nowthiswas a kiss.

Hot. Hard. Wet. His tongue slipped over mine, and he didn’t so much kiss me as he did devour me. The scratch of his beard and the softness of his lips, the prick and satin, was such a heady mixture, dragging a throaty moan out of me.

“Fuck,” he groaned, lifting his mouth. “That sound.”

I couldn’t speak. I opened my eyes and gazed up at him dazedly. I was officially going to count that as our first kiss. Yep. Sounded good.

Brock held my gaze and then he let go of me. “Hardest thing I’m about to do is walk out of here,” he murmured. “Dream of me tonight.”

Then he was gone, walking out of my apartment and closing the door behind him, and I was left standing in the center of my living room, my lips tingling from his kiss and my body a riot of unfulfilled desires.

Go after him.

I started to but stopped, because I . . . I was scared. Truly terrified by what was happening, because I had lived for so long no longer hoping Brock would wake up interested in me, and now he was. On what level and how deep, I had no idea. I wasn’t sure even he knew, but I wanted him—wanted him more than I ever wanted anyone, because I’dalwayswanted him and he hadneverwanted me.

Until now.

And what terrified me was the knowledge that if I fell for him again, I would fall deep, and I’d never recover. If I loved him again, I’d be lost forever.

Chapter 22

Sleep had not come easily Saturday night. Not with my body wishing it was still pinned between Brock’s hard body and the wall. My mind would not shut down.

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