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TWENTY

Blaze

Desire unleashes in a single moment. Ember’s fingers tangle in my hair as I walk her backward until her back meets the wall. The impact draws a whimper from her throat that ignites something primal in my chest.

I pin her to the wall, caging her in, a promise of power held in check. Our heated gazes lock. The light from the hallway casts a soft glow over her delicate features, highlighting the swell of her parted lips and the rapid flutter of her pulse at her throat.

Slowly, torturing us both with the sensual buildup, I trail a fingertip along her collarbone, down the dip between her breasts, feeling the tremor that ripples through her at my featherlight touch. Her eyes darken, lips parting on a needy sigh.

“Why do you affect me like this?” I murmur, my voice rough with barely restrained hunger. “I want you so fucking much.”

I claim her mouth in a searing kiss, swallowing her breathy moan as she arches into my hardness. My tongue delves deep, flicking and teasing as I grind my hips against hers, letting her feel every rigid inch of my arousal. Ember whimpers and writhes against the wall, her nails scrabbling for purchase on my forearms.

Dragging my lips along her jaw, I nip at the shell of her ear before soothing the sting with my tongue.

“I need to be inside you,” I rasp against her skin. “I need to feel every inch of your perfect body trembling and clenching around me as I make you mine.”

Her lips are swollen, cheeks flushed, eyes heavy-lidded but bright with need. Seeing her like this—wanting, trusting, surrendering—steals my breath. Every muscle in my body is strung tight, holding back, waiting for her word.

“Last chance to back out.” My voice comes out rough, almost pleading. “Tell me to stop, and I will.”

Her breath catches, and a flicker of something fierce and beautiful sparks in her eyes. She tilts her head just enough that her lips brush against my jaw, a featherlight touch that sends a shiver straight through me.

“No,” she whispers.

I search her eyes, needing more, needing everything. “No, you don’t want me to stop? Or no, you want me to stop? Which one is it?”

A smile curves her lips, slow, wicked. Her hands slide up my chest, fingers splaying wide as she pushes against me, just enough to let me feel her strength. She leans in, her lips ghosting over mine, her voice a breath against my skin.

“Don’t you dare stop.”

The words hang between us, electric, and my heart slams hard against my ribs. I press my forehead against hers, fighting for control, for the last shred of restraint.

“If I start this…” I murmur, my hands trembling slightly where they rest against the wall.

“I trust you to finish it,” she says, her voice steady, unflinching. Her thumb traces my bottom lip, her eyes locked on mine, dark and open and full of all the things she can’t say out loud.

Slowly, she pulls my hand away from the wall and presses it against her chest, right over her heart. Her pulse is a wild rhythm beneath my palm, matching the frantic beat of my own.

“Feel that?” she breathes. “It’s yours.”

A groan slips from my throat, and I lean in, pressing her back against the wall, my body enveloping hers, the difference in our size unmistakable. My forehead rests against hers, our breaths mingling, and I let myself feel all of her, the warmth of her skin, the way she arches into me, inviting, needing. The last of my hesitation crumbles under the weight of her words, touch, and trust.

“Mine,” I whisper, and her eyes shine with something beyond desire—something raw, something real.

I take off my shirt, Ember helping, and it lands on the floor in a forgotten heap. Ember explores my chest with greedy hands, nails raking over scars and sinew, stoking the fire blazing in my blood. Reaching for her shirt—my shirt, the one I gave her—I hastily drag the fabric over her head, barely registering the flash of her dusky nipples before I’m buried face-first in the valley of her breasts.

Smooth, supple flesh gives way beneath my greedy hands as I palm the generous mounds, kneading and caressing until she’s panting and arching into my touch. Leaning down, I drag the flat of my tongue over one pebbled peak before sucking it into my mouth.

Ember mewls, fingers clutching the back of my head as I lave attention on her sensitive tips, lavishing them with licks and nips until she’s writhing shamelessly against the wall.

“That’s it, baby,” I growl against her slick skin, pinching and rolling her neglected nipple between my fingers. “Let me hear you. I want the whole fucking world to know who you belong to.”

Her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me back to her, and as our lips meet again, there’s no space left for doubt, no room for anything but us. For her consent, her need, and my promise to give her everything she asks for and more.

Those words—that trust—hit harder than any physical touch. This isn’t desire. This is something deeper and far more dangerous. Something that could break us both if we’re not careful.

I’m past caring about careful. Every kiss, every touch, every soft sound she makes writes itself onto my soul.

Her touch brands me, claims me.

I trail kisses down her neck, breathing in the scent of her skin. She arches into me, one hand fisting in my hair while the other traces fire down my back. The taste of her skin is addictive—sweet and salty and something uniquely her.

“Blaze,” she breathes my name like a prayer, and something inside me breaks and reforms. “If this is what you call professional distance, I want more.” She gasps as my teeth graze her collarbone.

“To hell with professional.” I lift her, pinning her against the wall with my body. “I want you more than I want to be professional.”

All thoughts of duty and distance burn away in the heat between us.

There’s no going back now. No pretending this is anything but what it is—two people finding wholeness in each other’s broken places. Every touch, every kiss, every shared breath is a promise neither of us intended to make, but both of us will die to keep.

As she traces the scars and stories written on my skin, I realize how much I want this.

How much I want her.

Every complicated, dangerous, beautiful inch of her. Not just for tonight but for however long she’ll let me stay.

Professional boundaries be damned—none of it matters anymore. There’s only this. Only her.

Only us.

Her legs tighten around my waist, pulling me closer. Every point of contact burns, and every shared breath draws us deeper into this thing between us.

“I need to be inside you,” I grit out through clenched teeth, nearly feral with the primal drive to claim and conquer, to take what’s mine.

Her back arches against the wall, warmth radiating from where our bodies meet. The heat of her skin against mine sends shockwaves coursing through me, electric and intoxicating. Each gasp that escapes her lips ignites a firestorm of need.

Hunger swells within, primal and fierce, demanding to be fed. I lose myself in her—every fiery glance and every fleeting touch ignites memories of her courage and defiance.

“I’m going to fuck you so hard, you’ll never forget the feel of my cock splitting you open.” I murmur against her throat, feeling her pulse racing beneath my lips.

“Please,” Ember whimpers, rocking against me. “Stop teasing and show me.” Ember’s hips undulate, seeking friction. Her slick heat burns through the last of my restraint.

“That’s it, baby,” I growl against her slick skin, pinching and rolling her neglected nipple between my fingers. “Let me hear you. Tell me how much you want this.”

“So much,” Ember whimpers, squirming in my bruising grip. “Please, Blaze. I need you inside me. I want to be yours, only yours.”

“Careful what you wish for.” I hiss through clenched teeth, her husky plea stoking the flames of my desire. My hips surge forward in emphasis, grinding my rigid shaft against her soaked folds. Ember cries out, back bowing off the wall.

“If I fuck you…” I rasp, trailing biting kisses along her collarbone as I tug her thighs wider apart, opening her to me completely. Tearing her panties away, baring her dripping sex to my hungry gaze. “You’re. Mine.”

Each heartbeat is like a drum, urging me on. I grind my rigid shaft against her belly, letting her feel the extent of my hunger.

I nip at her racing pulse. “I’ll sink into your tight, wet heat and never leave.”

Her breath hitches, and she trembles.

“Is that what you want? For me to fuck you? Make you mine?”

“Yes,” Ember hisses, nails digging into my shoulders. “I’m yours, all yours, just please, I need to feel?—”

I cut her off with a brutal kiss, plunging my tongue past her parted lips to claim her mouth. Ember whimpers into the seam of my lips, surrendering to the plunder of my kiss. Tearing my mouth away, I palm her breasts roughly, pinching and tugging at her sensitive nipples until she’s writhing against me, head thrashing from side to side.

Dragging my lips down the column of her throat, I nip and suck at her racing pulse, marking her as mine. My hand drifts lower, fingers delving into her soaked folds to circle her aching bud. Ember cries out, hips bucking wildly into my touch.

“Do you feel that?” I work her ruthlessly, plunging two fingers deep into her clenching channel while teasing her swollen clit.

It stokes the fire, pulling me deeper into the inferno we’ve ignited. Her head tilts back against the wall. Her fingers curl into my shoulders, short nails biting into my skin.

I fish a condom out of the back pocket of my trousers. Inching them down my hips, freeing my cock. With a rip of foil, I roll the condom down my length.

“This what you want, baby?” I rasp against her slick skin, curling my fingers just so. “Want me to fill this pretty little pussy with my cock until you can’t remember your name?”

“Yes, please,” Ember sobs, shamelessly fucking herself on my hand, chasing her release. I bring her right to the brink before withdrawing completely, leaving her shuddering on the edge.

“Not yet,” I murmur darkly.

Each gasp and every touch pulls us further from the world outside, erasing any remnants of hesitation or fear. The room shrinks until it’s just us, a cocoon of shared warmth, breath, and pounding hearts. I need to feel all of her—beneath the bruises of the past, buried so deep within her.

Soft moans melt into the air between us, layering the charged atmosphere with a heady sweetness. I taste her desire, the bitter-sweet sacrifice of trust, and it’s intoxicating. I break the kiss instantly, my breath ragged, searching her eyes.

“Blaze,” she gasps, her voice a sweet melody laced with urgency.

The way she says my name sends a thrill racing through me.

“Yes?” I bury my face against her neck, inhaling—her scent, a heady mix of lavender and something indefinably hers. Each breath pulls me deeper, grounding me in this moment where nothing matters but us.

“If you don’t fuck me now…”

A rush of adrenaline surges through my veins. With one brutal snap of my hips, I bury myself to the hilt in her soaked heat.

“Yes!” Ember screams, clutching at my shoulders as I immediately set a punishing pace, driving into her again and again. Angling to hit that perfect spot inside her, stoking the flames of her pleasure higher and hotter with every drag of my cock.

“That’s it, take it,” I grit out, pistoning into her dripping sex. “Fucking take it. You’re mine, Ember. Mine.”

The air crackles with heat—electric, alive. A wild pulse surges through my veins, each beat sharper, more vivid. Everything else blurs to gray, fading into the background.

Her fingers flex against my back, nails digging in as I shift, adjusting our bodies against the wall. My heart races and every powerful thrust pushes us closer to the edge.

Ember cries out, legs locking around my waist. I set a furious pace, my orgasm coiling tight in my gut as her molten heat undulates around me.

“I’m close,” I grind out, pistoning into her sopping sex.

Ember grips me tighter, urging me on, chasing her pleasure. Her eyes flutter shut, face slack with ecstasy as I hammer toward completion. Burying my face in her neck, I nip and suck at her racing pulse until I’m sure there’ll be marks adorning her flawless skin come morning.

“Come for me,” I command, angling to hit that perfect spot inside her.

Ember shatters with a wordless scream, convulsing violently around my length. The rhythmic spasming of her sheath sends me over the edge.

Crushed against my chest, Ember’s shuddery exhales flutter against my collarbone. My heart thunders in my ears, matching her frantic rhythm as we cling to each other, chest to chest, heart to heart.

I carry her back to the sofa. She nuzzles into my chest as I settle back into the cushions, cradling her close. Our limbs tangle languidly, bodies still humming with aftershocks of our explosive lovemaking.

Suddenly, Ember’s hand drifts down, curling around my flaccid length. I hiss at the sudden contact, hips jerking reflexively into her touch. Tracing the ridges and veins, she stokes me back to full hardness.

“Needy?” I can’t help but chuckle at her boldness.

“Very.”

“My cock is yours,” I rasp. “How do you want me to fuck you?”

Wordlessly, she straddles my lap. Eyes hazy with lust, I barely have time to sheathe myself with a fresh condom before she notches the head of my cock at her entrance.

Ember sinks down slowly, taking me inch by aching inch until I’m seated fully inside her silken heat.

Slick heat envelops my shaft as she starts to move. She lets out a throaty moan, eyes fluttering shut as her slick walls stretch and flutter around my girth.

Gently, Ember starts a sensual figure-eight rhythm, undulating her hips in decadent circles. Lost to the exquisite friction, I tilt her chin up, capturing her parted lips in a filthy, open-mouthed kiss. Our tongues dance, stroking and plunging in slick mimicry of our lovemaking.

Angling my head, I deepen the kiss, claiming every inch until she whimpers needily. Gripping her hips, I surge up violently, meeting Ember’s downward slam with a powerful thrust of my own. Bottoming out inside her, I piston ruthlessly, reveling in her keening cries as I rail her into oblivion.

“That’s it, gorgeous,” I groan, feeling her slick walls quiver around my plunging shaft. “Ride my cock.”

Ember obeys, bouncing atop me with wild abandon, tits bouncing tantalizingly close to my face.

Lost in the gravity of our joining, I tilt her chin up, capturing her lips in a deep, filthy kiss. Our tongues dance, caressing and delving, mirroring the movements of our bodies.

I break away with a groan, head falling back against the cushions, letting her take the lead. Ember’s pace quickens, breasts bouncing enticingly before my face.

“I’m close,” Ember mewls, fingernails raking down my pecs, scoring pink lines across my skin.

“ Mmm , ride me, baby.”

Gripping her hips bruisingly, I surge up once, twice more before burying myself to the hilt.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Ember cries, her head flung back as her orgasm crashes over her, back arching almost painfully.

Locking my arms around her waist, I hold Ember flush to my chest as we ride the waves of our climax together, bodies shuddering as we come down from our high.