Page 81 of The Candlemaker

His hot stare roamed my face, marking it with goose bumps wherever it touched.

“Tell me.”

Chandler let out a pained groan like he couldn’t hold himself back any longer. And then his touch was there, his hands framing the sides of my face and holding it up to his as he murmured, “Having you haunt me for the rest of my life.”

I sucked in a breath and shivered. It could be nothing. A joke. A tease. But what if it meant more? What if it meant everything?

I shouldn’t have risked it. Shouldn’t have inched closer to the deep end of vulnerability. But I didn’t know how to be cautious. Not even when it risked my own heart.

“Then don’t give me a reason to,” I said softly.Don’t walk away. Don’t leave. Don’t let this be just one more night.

His jaw muscles popped under my fingers, and then his mouth came for mine.

The spark of our lips connecting turned into an inferno in a nanosecond.

We kissed knowing the night had an expiration, like the fuse of a bomb drawing short or the wick of a candle melting low. Our time locked in this moment was going to end, but while we were here, we were going to burn and burn and burn until there was nothing left.

Our tongues tangled, the kiss scorching my mouth and then singing along every nerve to the end of my fingers and the tips of my toes. I didn’t just want one last night, I wanted one unforgettable night. One I could go back to when my business wasn’t enough. When I decided I wanted more from life. One that wouldn’t haunt me but humble me for ever thinking a connection like this could be everlasting.

Chandler growled and pulled me closer, his teeth biting my lip and then my jaw and then my neck. The thud of my pulsefed the pull of his mouth, where he sucked on my skin until he bruised me.

I whimpered, wanting every possible mark he could leave on me.

“What are you doing to me, Frankie?” he rasped, rocking his hips—his erection against my stomach.

My breath caught. It wasn’t what I was doing to him, it was what Iwantedto do to him.

Two nights. One for my vulnerability. One for his.

I tugged on his hair, pulling his head away from my neck until our eyes locked.

“I want to burn you,” I murmured, my voice sultry and hoarse.

His body jerked, and then I felt his hand slide up my side, along my arm, and then take my wrist in an imprisoning grip. With his jaw pulsing, he dragged my hand down his torso to his waist. My lips parted with a swift inhale when he pressed his cock into my fingers, the thick length hard and straining to my touch.

“You already do, my little flame,” he rumbled, and my pulse tripped.Hislittle flame.“Fuck,” he breathed heavy when my fingers started to squeeze and massage him.

“You know what I mean,” I murmured, licking my bottom lip.He hesitated for a beat, his stare tumultuous. “I want you to trust me.”

The hot whoosh of his breath was the only warning I had before his mouth crashed to mine. Once again, our flame went from kindling to wildfire in a blink.

The door banged as we shoved through it and then banged again when he kicked it hard to shut.

Tonight, our clothes fell into a trail of shadows behind us. Shoes kicked off. Clothes pulled from limbs.Everything disappeared into the darkness of the room as we stumbled toward the mattress.

His mouth was everywhere. A brand of lips and teeth and tongue on my jawline and then down my neck. I tipped my head back, gasping, and he lifted me into his arms, making my chest the target of his mouth.

He set his lips and tongue to one of my breasts, licking and sucking and swirling until my head spun and my limbs went weak. I clutched his head, holding tight as he lowered us to the bed, my wet core settling right on top of his hard length.

“You taste so damn good,” he growled and sucked hard on my nipple, sparks of pleasure ricocheting through me.

Even though my limbs felt like Jell-O, somehow my hips managed to rock against him, grinding my slick pussy along his cock.

“Chandler,” I groaned as he devoured me—marked me with the delicious bite of his mouth.

Everywhere he touched—everywhere he kissed—turned to fire. There was no other way to explain it. Nothing but scorching heat that physically altered me. It stripped away all my walls and changed my chemical makeup, and it was too late that I realized this night would destroy me. Irrevocably.

Because of him, I would never be the same.

---