Page 28 of Wild Fixation
“It’s my job.”
He smiles at the repeated deflection. The excuse feels flimsier every time I use it. Jacob takes a tentative step closer, his hands landing lightly on my shirt. He clings to me like he’s trying to hold me in place, but I’m not sure my legs would work right now even if I wanted to bolt. The entire world is gone, the full force of Jacob’s brilliance and warmth focused only on me. There’s no one to impress, no camera to pose for, no crowd to appease. There’s only me, yet he still wears that smile that lures me in like a beacon.
His lips part as though he might speak again, and that’s when I fall.
He’ll thank me again, I’ll deny it again, but what does it matter when we’re here like this? What does anything matter when I can wrap my arms around him, and Jacob will shudder in delight at my touch?
The whole world is searching for the man in my arms, but right now, he’s only mine. He’s the shining prince they all want. I’m the knight meant to protect him. And for this one perfect moment, we’re truly alone.
Jacob’s hands curl tighter in my shirt as my self-control shatters and I bend down to meet the laughing curl of his mouth.
Chapter Fifteen
Jacob
I HOLD SETH AS tightly as I dare. Because this time, when his lips finally meet mine, I’m not letting him slip away.
I nearly lose my resolve when his mouth presses firmly against mine. The kiss sucks the breath from my lungs, and suddenly I’m holding on not to keep him in place but to keep myself upright. As though sensing this, Seth slides a hand around my waist, steadying me with firm pressure at the small of my back.
My body blazes.
He isn’t breaking the kiss. He isn’t pulling away. I shut my eyes and drink him in, savoring the taste of his mouth, the scratch of his beard against my skin, that hand on my back. It’s warm, even through my clothing, and I unconsciously tilt my hips forward looking for more.
At last, we part, but Seth doesn’t run away. He stays there holding me, lips parted, eyes flickering back and forth over my face. I untangle my fingers from his shirt and throw my arms around his neck.
“Take me to bed,” I say. “Please, Seth.”
His beat of hesitation coils through me like a fist squeezing my insides. The anticipation borders on unbearable now that I’ve got him in my arms at last.
“This is wrong,” he says. “I’m your bodyguard.”
“I don’t care.”
“I can’t protect you if I’m … compromised. Involved. I won’t be able to make rational decisions in the moment. I’ll be biased.”
I card my fingers through his hair. “You’re already biased, Seth.”
His throat bobs. His eyes keep flickering, like he’s scanning a room for threats and exits. The only threat here is his stubborn self-denial. Slowly, fissures crack his stony expression, offering me a peek at the uncertainty lurking beneath the stoic surface.
“I am,” he says, quiet, like he’s admitting it to himself for the first time.
The dam breaks. He slams his mouth against mine. I murmur in surprise and delight, but I barely get a moment to kiss him back before his hands are under my thighs, hiking me onto his waist. I wrap my legs around him, hooking my ankles together as he carries me to the bed. His powerful arms make me feel as light as air. He could hold me this way for days and never get tired. My whole body thrills at the idea, my cock straining inside jeans that are suddenly way too tight.
His arms flex, muscle bulging, as he sets me gingerly on his bed, like he’s afraid I might break. He braces himself over me, and I snatch at his shirt, pulling him roughly to my mouth. He may want to treat me like glass, but he’s wrong. I don’t care how much bigger than me he is. I’m more than capable of taking what I want.
A low groan rumbles through him as I lick my way into his mouth. His hips lower, and then I’m the one gasping as the hard, thick ridge of his cock presses against me through our clothes. Oh, he is definitely not keeping that from me, not anymore. Even dry humping fully clothed is providing my whirling imagination with images of his cock filling all sorts of other places.
I shove him away, but only so I can drag off that stupid black T-shirt he’s always wearing. I stop there, however, my brain grinding to a halt. That shirt of his always did cling to his body, painting a vivid picture of what lay beneath, but it’s one thing to get a suggestion and quite another to have the whole thing in front of me.
“What?” he says, and I realize I’ve been staring for way too long.
I shake myself, but my mouth went dry at the sight of the bulging muscle corded across his shoulders, the firm, hard swell of his pecs, the hair furring his chest and trailing down into his pants. It is simply so muchman, and even as I swallow and attempt to recover, I flounder trying to put it all into words.
“Is something wrong?” he says.
“No,” I say quickly. “No, God, no. Not at all. You are…”
I trail off, lost for words at the feast before me, and I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. I go for his pants, but Seth takes my wrists and moves my arms above me, forcing me to look up into his eyes.
