Page 51 of Burn With Me

A rosy hue graces her entire face as her lips part slightly, eyes drifting to my mouth. Just when I think she’s about to let me kiss her, something runs straight into me and wraps its tiny arms around my legs. Shocked, I look down to see a little boy staring up at me. He unwinds his arms and holds them out, silently asking to be picked up.

My first thought should be to look around for his mother or father. Instead, I find myself letting go of Ginny to lift him. “Well, who do we have here?”

Setting him on my hip, I look back at Ginny to see her trying to hold back a laugh. “This is Geoffrey. He doesn’t speak much,” she informs me.

“Ah, a man of few words. Some of the most powerful men I’ve ever met are that way, too,” I speak to the boy, who continues to stare at me.

His hands pat my cheeks as he opens his mouth to make aclucking noise with his tongue. My eyes find Ginny’s as he continues. She’s watching the interaction with something I can’t quite interpret in her eyes. Geoffrey pulls on my cheeks, strong for such a little guy, and I bend my head in compliance as he rests his forehead on mine, his big brown orbs staring into my soul.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Geoffrey, you can’t just run away like that!” a female voice breaks the spell.

Suddenly, he’s being pulled out of my arms, and I find myself agitated. “He’s no trouble, ma'am.”

“He loves Ginny. I’ve never seen him take to a stranger before, though. You must have some sort of kid superpower,” the lady jokes before throwing a smile at Ginny and walking away without another word.

As I watch them go, Geoffrey observing me over his mother’s shoulder, Ginny steps into me and palms my cheek, guiding my gaze down to her. “That was extremely hot,” she says before pressing up on her tiptoes to lay a gentle kiss against my lips.

“Oh, do dad bods get you going, Red? Or is it the image of me with a kid?” I whisper into her ear as I scan the crowd of kids and parents. It seems as though the event is far from over, but I wonder if I can get away with whisking Ginny off to her office for a little action.

As if she knows exactly where my thoughts are heading, she smirks up at me. “Maybe if you’re good, I’ll go home with you.”

“Can I chain you up so you can’t leave again?”

I’m expecting a hard no. What I get is a coy little smirk and a shrug of her shoulder. “Sounds like it could be fun.”

“Fuck, you’re going to kill me.”

Spiders’ nests. Being stuck outside in a winter storm. The market crashing.

Thinking of anything that will chase away the erection that is straining against my pants, I hold her to me so that her body shields it from everyone else in the room. The last thingI need is a headline saying something about getting hard at a children’s event.

Ginny just giggles.

Hours later, we’re sitting across from each other at one of the long tables set up for people to sit and eat at. Most of the families have gone home with their sleepy children, arms loaded with bags full of stuffed animal prizes and candy.

“So you thought of this whole thing on your own? What made you do that?” I’m ready to leave with her, but she wants to stay until everything is cleaned up. If I hadn’t forced her to sit for a moment, she’d still be running around like we’ve done for the past few hours.

From operating games to helping pass out prizes, even going as far as to cut a kid’s food up for him, I’ve been Ginny’s obedient sidekick for the better part of the afternoon.

I’ve enjoyed her bossing me around—more than I thought I ever would enjoy taking orders from a woman. It gives me an idea for our weekend ahead at the club, but then I remember my uncle said he needs me in California this weekend.

“I don’t know, really. It just kinda came to me. A lot of these families are low-income and could never afford to bring their kids to the fair. As far back as I can remember, my mom took me every year until she died.”

Her eyes turn glossy as she goes somewhere in her mind, playing memories of happier times. There’s a small part of me that’s jealous. She at least had time with her mother.

But her mother didn’t choose to leave her.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I murmur, reaching across the table to grab her hand.

“Sorry to interrupt—we just wanted to say thank you again for today, Ginny. It was really wonderful.” Geoffrey’smother appears behind her. She’s holding the little boy, who is holding an overflowing tray of nacho chips and cheese. There are two more kids behind her, shyly peeking from behind her legs.

“Of course! I’m so glad you guys had fun!” Ginny gushes, the sad moment forgotten.

Geoffrey’s mom reaches out a hand toward me. “Thank you again, as well. For being kind to him when he grabbed you earlier.”

“It was no problem at all, really.” I extend a hand to shake hers, and as I do, Geoffrey tosses the nacho tray in the air to reach for me.

Chips and cheese go flying, landing directly on top of Ginny’s head.

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