Page 90 of Chasing Shelter

“Showing you what you deserve.” He gazed up at me, his eyes a little wild. “Tell me I can show you.”

My heart hammered against my ribs, and my mouth went dry. But there were only two words on my tongue. “Show me.”

A fire lit in Trace’s dark green depths, making his eyes glow like emeralds. His hands dropped to my foot, pulling the shoe free. “Nothing but rainbows,” he rasped. “Magic. Just like you.”

My throat worked as I tried to swallow. “Trying to find that magic again.”

Trace’s expression softened as he removed my other shoe. “Never lost it. It’s been there all along. You’re just letting the world see it now.”

My heart did a ragged stutter-step. Each word he gave me was like a tiny explosion in my chest, pleasure and pain springing to life.

Trace’s hands slid up my legs, fingers trailing along the rainbow piping. “Killing me in this fucking outfit. Just like that schoolgirl skirt last night nearly gave me a coronary. Everything about you is meant to bring me to my knees, isn’t it?”

My mouth curved. “Good to know my fashion efforts aren’t wasted.”

Those dark green eyes sparked to life as Trace trailed his thumb over the seam of my leggings at the apex of my thighs. “Blaze, they are very much appreciated.”

I sucked in a breath, my head tipping back against the door. As Trace moved his thumb back and forth, teasing me through the spandex, sparks danced across my skin. “The way you move. Back arched. Chest heaving. Want to memorize every line and curve.”

“Trace,” I breathed.

“Not enough?” he rasped.

“No.” It wasn’t nearly enough. Because when it came to Trace, I wanted everything. It didn’t matter that the timing was all wrong or that there were a million different risks. There was something about him, about this moment. It made me feel like I could find that wildness and freedom again. Like I could find that magic.

“Gonna show you, Blaze. Everything you deserve.” Trace’s fingers hooked the band of my leggings, and he slowly began pulling them down, his thick knuckles grazing my thighs. A sound that resembled an animalistic growl lit the air. “No goddamned underwear?”

My head pressed harder against the wood of the door as a smile tipped my lips. “Can’t really wear ‘em with these.”

“Fucking hell. You’re gonna have to give me your training schedule because I can’t be in here when you are. Gonna have a hard-on while trying to spar.”

A laugh bubbled out of me and, God, it felt so good. Like a release of everything that had been swirling inside me. But the sounddied on my lips as Trace pulled my leggings off one foot and leaned in toward the apex of my thighs.

“Smell like heaven.” His lips and tongue trailed across my inner thigh. “Taste like sin.”

My lips parted as I struggled for breath. And then Trace was moving again, lifting one leg over his shoulder. The move had me bracing myself against the door, tipping my head down to see him. And something about the sight…the hold Trace had put himself in, made me feel more powerful than I ever had before.

“Trace,” I whispered.

“Need better access to worship my girl. Need to see all of her.”

My girl.Those two words swirled in my mind like the best compliment and kindest praise. After everything I’d been through, I would’ve thought themyin that statement would’ve gotten my back up. But it didn’t feel like a claim. It felt like…belonging. The best kind.

Trace’s tongue darted out, circling my clit. My back arched, head pressing into the door again as my breaths turned to ragged pants. Every swipe set off a series of tiny explosions under my skin—the kind that promised the shattering to come.

I reached out a hand to grab Trace’s shoulder, needing to ground myself. He slid two fingers inside me, and my jaw went slack at the delicious glide, the feel of him slowly stretching me, circling wider and wider.

My fingers pressed into Trace’s shoulder, my nails digging in. He hummed against that bundle of nerves, driving everything in me higher, winding the invisible cord inside me tighter as the sound vibrations moved through me.

Trace’s fingers swirled and twisted, curving as they dragged down my walls. I shuddered against him, against the door. The juxtaposition of Trace’s heat and the cool wood was like fire and ice in all the best ways.

He teased that most sensitive part of me, his tongue flicking against my clit. My legs started to tremble, and I knew I was barely holding on. Trace’s tongue circled as his fingers parted, stretching me. “Let go,” he growled against my sensitive flesh.

Some part of me realized I was scared. To break. To come apart and let loose everything I’d been holding so tightly to. The last slivers that meant some semblance of control.

“Ellie,” Trace murmured against me, his hand moving to my hip, fingers digging in. “I’ve got you. Let go.”

His lips closed around my clit, tongue swirling as his fingers pumped in and out of me. Everything in me trembled, a war of control and freedom. My nails dug into Trace’s shoulder as his words echoed in my head.“I’ve got you. Let go.”

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