Page 63 of Reckless
“It’s going to take a delicate conversation, and we’ll have to figure out the best way to have it. I’m not saying it won’t be”—awkward. Brutal. A carte-blanche invitation for the man to kick my ass—“difficult at first,” he managed past his tightening vocal cords. “But like you said, we’re adults. This isn’t just some one-night stand.”
Zoe’s hair slid over her shoulders as she nodded in agreement, and Christ almighty, she was stunning, standing there in his kitchen with flour smudged on her face and his name spilling past her lips. “I know, and I want this, too.”
The words bolted all the way through him with uncut goodness, until she followed them with, “But I’m scared. I know that being a firefighter isn’t just what you are, it’s who you are. I do. It’s just…God, Alex. What if you get hurt?” The unspokenor worsehung in her tone, and even though he wanted to reassure her, his no-bullshit demeanor didn’t take a sabbatical just because the topic of conversation got a little dicey.
“I might,” he said, dropping his chin to bring his gaze completely level with hers. “My job is an all or nothing proposition, and I can’t promise you I’ll never get hurt doing it. But you can’t sink yourself inwhat if. At some point, you’ve got to trust. You’ve got to take the leap.”
Alex leaned all the way in, so close that he could feel Zoe’s breath hitch beneath the tissue-thin cotton of her shirt. But he was all-in, all the time, and as reckless as it was, he couldn’t think of a stronger, sweeter thing to put everything on the line for than this woman.
“So, tell me, Zoe. Do you trust me enough to take the risk?”
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“Yes.”
The word collapsed past Zoe’s lips in a whisper, although it rattled her pulse as if she’d launched it on a scream. The thought of Alex going back to the firehouse—and all the risks that went with it—still scared her to death. But when he looked at her with that Caribbean blue stare and told her in his own wide-open, utterly confident way that he wanted to be with her, she couldn’t ignore the truth.
He’d had her back, and he’d never faltered. Alex had been there every step of the way, making her believe in not only mending the fences of her past and really living the moments right in front of her, but in wanting more. In wanting him.
Zoe didn’t just trust Alex with her past and her kitchen. She trusted him with her heart. And she wanted him enough to take the ultimate risk.
“Yes,” she whispered again, pressing up to her toes to taste the surprise on Alex’s mouth. “I trust you. I want this, Alex. I wantyou.”
His shock turned to a look of pure desire, and he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her tight against the frame of his body. “If you want me, I’ve got you, baby. C’mere.”
He dipped his mouth to meet hers, returning her quick kiss with one that lingered. Cupping the back of her neck with hot fingers, he coaxed her lips apart with a sweep of his tongue. Alex explored her mouth with slow, lazy strokes. Sparks flared, low and dangerous in Zoe’s belly, as one palm slid to the back of her head to knot in her hair, while the other found the curve of her chin. He swept the pad of his finger over her lower lip, working the skin back and forth with just the hint of a touch.
“Oh.” The moan was all Zoe could manage past the tingling heat of Alex’s movements. Oh, God, she’d never known such a tiny spot on her lip could be such an absolute turn-on. She parted her mouth to allow him better access, but he kept his finger where it was, stroking her slowly.
“You like that.” The rumble of his voice raked over her, turning her nipples to hard, achy peaks behind her bra. She darted her tongue over his finger in reply, and the rumble became a growl.
“I’m going to touch you here until you scream,” he said, nipping at her upper lip with just enough pressure to make her cry out with want before soothing the pleasure/pain with a soft, open-mouthed kiss. “Then I’m going to find all the other places that make you wet.” Alex swept his finger harder against her lower lip, the friction sending sparks between her thighs.
The sparks nearly combusted when he pulled back to pin her with a glittering blue stare full of promise.
“And then I’m going to touch every one of them until you scream all over again.”
Shifting his weight over the ceramic kitchen tiles, Alex guided Zoe away from the counter, the distance creating just enough space for the leverage he needed to drop his hands over her hips and lift her feet off the floor. His shoulders flexed and squeezed beneath her fingertips, and she wrapped her legs around the corded muscles of his waist. The move put the seam of her body in perfect contact with his cock, pulling a moan from her chest as she moved her hips over his in a fast, demanding thrust.
“Jesus, woman.” Alex’s steps became less steady as he crossed the threshold to the main living space. “Are you trying to wreck me?”
“Maybe,” Zoe countered, her grin getting lost somewhere between his neck and his shoulder as she strung a line of kisses between the two.
But Alex stuttered to a halt halfway across the living room. “I mean it, you know.”
“Mean what?” Confusion ribboned past the want in her veins.
He gently lowered her to the carpet, his glittering blue stare never leaving hers. “Everything about you just wrecks me.” He paused to kiss her, both punishing and sweet. “Your hot little sighs when I touch you. The way you look so fierce one minute, then so open and honest in the next. You’re just…so fucking beautiful.”
Zoe had heard the word countless times in her life—had even heard people say it about her on occasion. But never, ever, in her twenty-seven years, hadbeautifulsounded brand new, like a word that belonged only to her and one other person.
Until now.
“Alex,” she whispered, arching against him from hips to chest. Her heart pounded so hard she knew he had to feel it, too, but Zoe didn’t care. He lowered his lips to hers, but he didn’t push. He simply kissed her, soft and slow, and oh, God, she was going to die right here on this spot, in his arms.
Zoe pulled back, but only far enough to keep their gazes connected. “I know how much you want me, because I feel it, too. I wantyou,Alex. Please.”
In a flash of fast movements, they moved up the stairs, anticipation building with every touch and kiss. When they reached the threshold of Alex’s bedroom, he stopped, pulling her close.
