Page 37 of Flirting With Fire
“I never asked for that,” I huffed.
“I know, sweetheart.” Meyer smiled as he tucked a bit of my unruly hair behind my ear. “But I couldn’t help myself.”
I fought to keep my attention on dragging the truth out of him instead of aching for another endearment. “And benching me? You used your position as captain of the football team to keep me from playing in almost every game.”
“Yup.” He shrugged. “I couldn’t take the chance you’d get hurt.”
I was back to being irritated. “Thanks,Mom. Didn’t have much faith in me, huh?”
“Dex…” Meyer shook his head as if I was the one being irritating. Perhaps I was. But that still didn’t mean I wasn’tpissed off. “Do you recollect what you looked like when you were a freshman? All gangly limbs and skinny frame, every bone in your body waiting to be snapped in two by the hulking beasts on the opposing teams. I used to lie awake at night coming up with excuses to keep you off the field.” He pressed his lips together. “To keep you safe.”
My jaw was hanging open, so I snapped it shut with a clacking of teeth. “For real? You’re serious?”
He smiled at me in a way he never had before. “Very. I never meant to make you feel bad, Dex. But not only couldn’t I risk hurting you physically, I couldn’t trust myself to get too close, either.”
“What about now?” I blurted. “None of those reasons apply anymore.”
This time, his mouth stretched into a grin, and without thinking, I grabbed his face between my palms and kissed him the way I’d always fantasized I could. I took his mouth over and over as we fought for dominance over the exchange, Meyer clutching my shoulders as he shoved his tongue past the seam of my lips, tasting me again and again.
I grabbed his biceps, and he grasped my waist, yanking me closer. I could barely breathe, but I refused to stop. I needed this moment, needed to feel the press of his solid frame against mine, his strength and warmth grounding me. I had to be sure it was really happening and that I wasn’t hallucinating after all.
We both froze, the kiss abruptly ending as dust and pebbles started shaking loose near the blocked entrance. Meyer clutched my arms, and I tensed.
“Is it going to collapse?” I was likely giving voice to his own thoughts.
The notification on his phone sounded, and he released me to retrieve his cell from his pocket. Meyer let out a whoop.
“They’re here.” He smiled, rubbing his thumb along my cheek. Meyer glanced down at his phone as another ding sounded. “Holy cow. Wildie is all right. He got out of the mine before we even got here.”
I let out a long breath, my body shaking from all the adrenaline coursing through me. We were being rescued, Wildie was okay, and Meyer should definitely win awards for his kissing skills.
“So,” I said. “Whaddya say we pick up where we left off after this?”
Chapter Eleven
Meyer
Ihummed, pretending to think about the idea. Dex rolled his eyes and thumped me— hard—on the bicep.
“Ow! What the heck! That hurt!” I glared at him as I rubbed my arm. That skinny kid wasn’t skinny any longer. He had solid muscles. And I wanted to feel themallover. Hands or tongue, I wasn’t fussy. I was a visceral kind of guy.
“You deserved that,” he insisted. Then he cupped my neck and drew me closer for another kiss. “That’s to keep you warm and waiting for me.”
I licked my lips, tasting the sweetness of his mouth and the buttermilk bar. “Maybe I can ask our rescuers to come back later?”
“You want to ask them to hold on while we get down and dirty?”
Well, when he put it like that…
But the ground shook again, and more stones jostled loose and fell. Dex yelped, and I tugged him closer to me, hoping they weren’t going to bring the cavern down on our heads.
“Are you hurt?” I demanded when everything seemed to settle, shining the flashlight on his face. I saw a trickle of blood from the edge of his hairline. “You’re bleeding.”
“Am I?” Dex touched his forehead, then looked at the red on his fingers. “A small stone clipped me. It took me by surprise.”
It was just a graze, and I wiped away the blood with my thumb. “You’re fine, but we’ll get it checked when we’re out of here.
Then I sent a message to the chief, warning him of the danger to us. If they got too enthusiastic, the whole cave could come down on top of us. The screen flashed with a thumbs up.
