Page 34 of Ignite

But even when I tried pulling back—after all, she was a local and we hadn’t had the whole conversation about public displays of affection—she kept going. Her fingers massaged my ass cheeks in time with her hips grinding against mine. Each time she brushed against my erection, my chest clenched, and my knees buckled. Then her tongue got in on the action, tongue fucking me until I thought I’d never walk again.

Hell, kissing Rylee was the hottest thing I’d done fully clothed. She took us from zero to full-blown PDA in a nano-second and had a glazed look in her eyes that I didn’t want to decipher. Just once I didn’t want to ask questions when something good happened. Just once I wanted to go with the flow, and if that flow took Rylee to bed, then I’d finally have something to thank karma about.

I’d already fantasized about Rylee each night since the accident. I’d woken up to dreams of taking her over the bonnet of my broken little car, spreading her ass cheeks, and tonguing her until she begged for more.

Then there was the dream where I pinned her hard against the bowed metal of my ute, fitting her ass within the indentation and fucking her until I stopped thinking of her every time I drove through the traffic lights.

My favorite fantasy involved stripping her out of her work overalls and bending her over her workbench, except in my fantasy, she’d been wearing high heels, not work boots. Technically implausible? Yeah, but they were my fantasies.

Fantasy Rylee had nothing on kissing real-life Rylee.

She was sweet, she was pure. She was an animal; she was every enigma rolled into one and did I say she was tongue fucking the hell out of my mouth?

“About that room?” I groaned, releasing her lips but not her hips. Somehow during the kiss, my arms had linked around her waist, fingers linked and refused to let go.

“I guess …” She paused, the warm brown eyes flawless in their beauty, filling me with more crazy emotions. “I guess it might not be the worst mistake I’ve made with you.”

Her lips twitched, offering the first sign of a giggle.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What was the first?”

“Agreeing to fix your ute for free.”

“You mean,” I teased, “hitting me wasn’t your worst mistake?”

“It got me an introduction, didn’t it?”

“Sassy,” I mused, giving her ass a light slap.

Her eyes widened. “If you want to do more than that, cowboy, you better get me somewhere private.”

Holy shit.

Chapter 11

Fools Rush In

“Aremindertoallresidents as you prepare your bushfire evacuation plans. If your suburb is on a Watch and Act warning and you are packing your car ready to leave, remember to open the electric garage door. Firefighters saved houses on the edge of the Beringi National Park in the recent fire, but the car trapped inside the garage was lost, along with all photos, passports and other important documents. In other news …”

Ethan

On our way across the road to the hotel, I grabbed a takeaway bottle of wine, not caring about the color or label. Normally, I drank beer. I also knew Rylee drank beer—especially with my football players who treated her like their kid sister.

But tonight wasn’t the beer-drinking kind of night. Drinking beer out of her navel wouldn’t have the same finesse as a bottle of sparkling wine.

“Home, sweet home,” I announced, throwing open the door to my cheap room at the far end of the middle floor. I hadn’t paid extra to get views of the beach and after living in Sydney most of my life had figured I’d sleep through any street noise and traffic.

I could hardly have picked a worse scene for seduction. The double bed was draped with a paisley purple bedspread that I assumed had been in fashion for a nanosecond thirty years ago, a bar fridge, and not much else.

I’d barely shut the door behind us when Rylee cupped my face, pinning my lips to hers, kissing me until my knees buckled against the bed.

What the hell?

Where was the sweet Rylee from Meringa? Where was the little sister that had all my team wanting to protect?

Where did this wildcat come from and why was my first impulse to slow down and get her to talk? But my body decided to move to her beat. My heart raced in time with the pounding of her tongue. If she’d been hungry in the bar, her kisses were almost maniacal now.

She’d caught me off guard, bypassing any pleasantries or conversation. No breaking the ice or faux embarrassment about rushing out of the pub and into my room. The woman clawing at me was miles apart from the woman I knew back in Meringa. Her eyes were glazed over as if she had set the normal Rylee aside and unleashed her inner sexpot.

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