Page 13 of Hemlock Firestorm (Black Timber Peak Hotshots #3)

TEN

JO

The ache between my legs has become unbearable, his talented fingers stoking a fire that threatens to consume me.

I rock against his hand, fighting the dual urges to both surrender completely and run from the intensity of what I'm feeling.

This kind of passion —this soul-deep connection— it terrifies me even as it calls to something primal within me.

With trembling fingers, I hook my thumbs into my boy shorts, lifting my hips to shimmy them down my thighs. The cool night air kisses my heated flesh, making me shiver. Or maybe it's the way Cole's looking at me, like I'm something precious and wild all at once.

"Jo." His voice is rough, reverent, and it makes my heart clench. I don't deserve this kind of worship, this depth of feeling. But God help me, I can't stop myself from wanting it, needing it.

"Helped you with your senses," I remind him, trying to keep my voice steady as I tug at his boxers.

He lifts his hips, and I have to bite back a moan at the sight of him, hard and straining for me.

"Now I want to feel all of you." I wrap my hand around him, stroking slowly, marveling at the velvet-steel feel of him. "Every. Single. Inch."

His laugh turns into a groan that sends heat pooling between my legs. "Trying to kill me?"

"Oh no," I purr, positioning myself above him.

My thighs tremble with the effort of holding back, of not just sinking down and taking what I desperately want.

"I have much better plans for you." I lower myself just enough to let him feel my heat, my wetness, watching his pupils dilate. "Tell me what you feel now."

"Tease," he gasps, hands gripping my hips hard enough to bruise. But he plays along, voice growing huskier with each word. "Feels like heaven, like molten silk. So hot, so wet." His words dissolve into a groan as I finally take him in, inch by delicious inch.

He fills me perfectly, like my body was designed to take him specifically.

It's too much, too intense, too right. "And you," I manage, breath hitching as he settles deep inside me, "feel absolutely perfect.

" I roll my hips experimentally, savoring the way he tenses inside me, the way my body clenches around him greedily. "Like you were made for me."

His fingers dig into my flesh, and the slight pain grounds me, keeps me from floating away on the tide of sensation. "Starting to believe that myself." He thrusts up gently, making us both gasp. "The way you fit around me, how perfectly we align."

I begin to move in earnest, setting a rhythm that has us both panting.

Each rise and fall sends sparks of pleasure shooting through me, building a pressure that's almost frightening in its intensity.

"Been wanting this," I confess, the words spilling out before I can stop them, "wanting you.

Driving me crazy, watching you try to stay so controlled. "

"Not very controlled now," he groans, meeting each roll of my hips with perfect counterpoint. His hands slide up to cup my breasts, thumbs circling my nipples in time with our movements. The dual stimulation makes me whimper. "And how could I be, with you riding me like this?"

Something in me breaks at his words, at the raw need in his voice that matches my own. "That's the point," I gasp, grinding down harder. "Want you wild. Want you free." I lean down to capture his mouth, swallowing his moan as the angle changes, driving him deeper. "I just want you."

My words seem to break his carefully held restraint.

With a growl that sends heat flooding through me, he surges up, wrapping one arm around my waist while the other tangles in my hair.

Before I can process the movement, he's flipped us over, pressing me into the sleeping bag with the welcome weight of his body.

"You want me wild?" he breathes against my throat, punctuating the words with a deep thrust that makes me cry out. "Want me free?" Another thrust, harder this time. "Then take all of me."

He sets a pace that's just shy of punishing, each stroke hitting places inside me that make my vision blur. My nails rake down his back as I arch into him, meeting him thrust for thrust. The pressure builds higher, tighter, until I'm certain I'll shatter from it.

"Cole," I gasp, clinging to him as the pleasure spirals beyond my control. "Please."

"I've got you," he promises, sliding one hand between us to circle my clit. "Let go for me, Jo. Show me how beautiful you are when you fall apart."

I know he meant more than just my orgasm, but his words, combining with the relentless rhythm of his hips and the clever movements of his fingers, sends me over the edge.

My release crashes through me like a tidal wave, making me cry out as my body tightens around him.

He follows me over moments later, my name a prayer on his lips as he pulses deep inside me.

We collapse together, his weight pressing me into the sleeping bag as we struggle to catch our breath. When he tries to move, to take his weight off me, I tighten my arms around him.

The night air cools the sweat on our skin as Cole shifts to my side, keeping one leg tangled with mine.

His heartbeat gradually slows under my palm where it rests against his chest, and I find myself counting the steady rhythm, using it to anchor myself in this moment of perfect peace despite my mind telling me I said too much, gave too much away.

"You're thinking too loud," he murmurs, fingers trailing lazy patterns along my spine. The touch is different now. Not meant to arouse, just to maintain connection, to remind us both that this is real.

I smile against his shoulder, pressing a soft kiss to the skin there.

"Just cataloging sensations." My hand drifts over his chest, feeling the various textures - smooth skin, rough scars, the light dusting of hair.

"The way your muscles twitch when I do this.

" I demonstrate, trailing my fingertips just below his ribs, and feel his slight shiver.

"Turnabout's fair play?" His voice holds a thread of amusement as his own explorations continue, mapping the dips and curves of my back, the slope of my hip.

"Mmm," I agree, letting my eyes drift closed. "Though I think you broke my ability to form coherent thoughts."

His chest rumbles with quiet laughter. "Glad I'm not the only one." His hand comes up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, the tender gesture making my heart clench. "You're gorgeous like this, you know. All soft and relaxed."

I feel heat rise to my cheeks, still unused to such open admiration. "You're not so bad yourself." I trace the line of his jaw, feeling the stubble there. "Especially when you finally let go."

He catches my hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss my palm before he curls my fingers around it. The action makes my belly flip. "Easier than I expected, with you." The admission is quiet, vulnerable. "Scary as hell, but easier."

"I know what you mean." I prop myself up on one elbow to look at him properly, drinking in the sight of him in the starlight. He’s relaxed in a way I've never seen before, guard completely down, completely at ease. "Worth it though?"

His free hand cups my cheek, thumb brushing over my bottom lip. "Beyond worth it." He draws me down for a kiss, soft and sweet and unhurried. When we part, he keeps me close, our foreheads touching. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being you."

I swallow against the emotion threatening to choke me. "Thank you for letting me." I settle back against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.

His arms tighten around me, and I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head. We lie there in comfortable silence, trading soft touches and softer kisses, neither of us willing to break this bubble of peace we've found.

As we lie tangled together, Cole's fingers tracing idle patterns on my skin, reality starts creeping back in.

The warmth of his touch, once comforting, now feels like a bittersweet reminder of what I stand to lose.

I wonder if I deserve this moment of peace.

Shit. The thought hits me like a punch to the gut, stealing my breath.

I had really screwed things up. Cole coming after me might destroy his career, and it was all because of me.

The weight of that realization settles over me, heavy and suffocating.

Would he hold this against me for the rest of his life?

The gentle rise and fall of his chest against my back suddenly feels like an accusation.

What had I done? Why did my choices seem to screw everyone around me?

It's like I'm cursed, leaving a trail of destruction in my wake.

The memory of the fire line flashes through my mind - the heat, the chaos, the consequences.

The weight of it all settles over me like a heavy blanket, threatening to crush me.

I close my eyes, trying to shut out the world, but the darkness only amplifies my thoughts.

The scent of smoke still lingers on my skin, a constant reminder of my mistakes.

Cole's fingers continue their gentle exploration, oblivious to the storm raging inside me.

How can he still touch me so tenderly when I've potentially ruined everything for him?

"They're going to crucify you for this." The words scrape out of my throat. "Going in without certification, without clearance?—"

"Let them." Cole's voice carries that edge of steel I heard when he pulled me from the burning snag. His fingers are still where they've been tracing my spine. "I made my choice. "