Page 89 of Renegade

Goddamn, I could wake up to that face for the rest of my life.

She cupped my cheek. “Are you okay? You just got really pale.”

I nodded, “Yeah. Low blood sugar or some shit. Come on.” I helped her out of the truck and carried her around to the bed. “Happy Birthday!”

Lauren paused to take it all in and then she began laughing wildly. “Oh my god! A bonfire?” She thrust her arms up in victory and then fell back against the blankets. “I’ve never been to a bonfire before.”

It wasn’t much. I’d spent maybe ten dollars total on her, but she was reacting as if I’d dropped ten thousand. The problem was I didn’t know what she liked, so I had no fucking clue what to buy her. “You like it?”

She nodded with glowing eyes, her cheeks flushed from the fire. “This is the best birthday ever.”

I could’ve beaten my chest at that comment. I’d fucking done it.

I climbed up beside her and reached for the wine I’d stashed among the blankets. I poured us both a red Solo cup full and held mine up. “A toast. To the birthday girl, who is going to need a shitload of caffeine to survive the day.”

Lauren grinned and punched my arm playfully before taking a drink. We sat and stared into the flames, yet it wasn’t awkward. We just didn’t need words to fill in the silence. She had one leg crossed over the other and a content smile played on her lips. When she bent down to grab her Solo cup, her hair fell across her eye and she easily tucked it back behind her ear.

I loved her.

I’d known it for a while, but watching her like this just sealed the deal. I knew that I could search the entire fucking world and I’d never find anyone who made me feel like she did.

I still felt like a pussy over the whole thing, but someday…someday I’d tell her what she meant to me. She saw me watching her and immediately sat up to pull her PJ bottoms off. It was what we did when I showed up late at night and while my cock was ready for her, it didn’t feel right.

I pulled her into my arms, balancing my cup between my legs. “Whoa there, Red. Slow down. That’s not what tonight is about.”

She pursed her lips and then cupped me through my jeans. “You sure about that, Tex?”

Jesus. I’d created a monster.

I resisted the groan that was on my lips and nodded. “Yeah. Just lay with me.”

She nestled up against me, one leg thrown over mine and we stared up at the stars. Feeling the need to impress her, I began pointing out the various constellations Grey had taught me as a kid. “You see that one? It looks like a head on a winding tail. That’s Aquarius, the son of the king of Troy. Zeus wanted to fuck him, so he turned into an eagle and whisked him away to serve as cupbearer to the gods—which is probably a euphemism.”

She smiled and watched my hands, fascinated, as she traced along my tattoos. “What’s that one?” She pointed north of Aquarius.

“That would be Pegasus. Poseidon fucked Medusa and she gave birth to Pegasus. Pretty sure I would’ve asked for a paternity test if I were Poseidon. The hero, Bellerophon, tamed him and rode him to defeat the chimera. Then Zeus turned him into a fucking constellation; probably because Pegasus turned him down. Zeus was a freak like that.” I was basing most of this off of stories Grey told me when I was seven or eight, so the details had gotten a little fuzzy.

She giggled. “I love you, Mike.”

I went silent, trying to determine if it was the right time to confess that I felt the same.

Sensing my hesitation, she added, “You don’t have to say it back. I just wanted you to know that. No one’s ever gone to this much trouble for my birthday and I—”

I rolled onto my side and faced her. It was right there, but no matter how artfully my brain arranged them, my mouth couldn’t form the words.

Instead, I did what I knew. I wrapped my right hand up in her hair and grazed my teeth against the point where her jawline and ear met. In the light of the bonfire, her skin went from pink to red, and her back arched up off the blanket. Amid quiet moans, I inched my way down toward her mouth. She surprised me by tilting her face up, forcing my mouth to hers. And there it was—the jolt of attraction that sent my brain into a sexual frenzy.

Kissing her was the culmination of every wet dream I’d ever had.

Lauren must’ve felt the same way because her hands suddenly had a mind of their own. Her hips arched up, seeking mine, and I went into a pushup position as I moved over her. I took her hands in one of mine and pinned them over her head as our mouths collided roughly over and over again.

She sighed contentedly and her eyelids fluttered open. “Mike, can we have sex now?”

Her pleading tone brought a cocky grin to my face. “What’s the matter, Darlin’? All that Zeus talk got you hot and bothered?”

She took the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. My brain short-circuited again and instinct took over.

Lauren

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