Page 8 of Spark
My answer sticks in my throat. Clearing it, I say, “Pretty much. My brother was killed in a fire when I was ten. I guess I’ve been trying to save him ever since.”
“Oh my God, Walker. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s been a long time.”
“Still. I know how it feels. It doesn’t ever really go away.”
“No, I guess it doesn’t.”
She turns then, fitting her head underneath my chin. Her free arm goes around my waist and I freeze for a second, unsure. Then, I realize she’s giving me a hug and I relax, accepting her feminine strength. I nuzzle my nose back into her hair and let the scent of her shampoo comfort me as much as her arms around me.
I’m not sure who reaches for who first, or maybe we do it at the same time. But somehow our lips find each other in the dark and tangle. There’s desperation there, on both our parts. A need to fill a mutual void. A craving for similarities. To know we’re not alone with our struggles. She tastes like the vanilla from the coffee, almost too sweet to handle, but I can’t stop going back for more. Her groan fills me up and all I want is to hear her do it again and again.
If we only have tonight, then I hope tonight lasts forever.
Avery sheds her clothes as fast as a fox and then makes quick work of mine, too. “Is this okay?” she asks when she reaches for my sweatpants and I choke out a hoarse, “Yes,” in response.
I wish there were light so I could get a better look at her. I wish there were more time so I could sample and savor every inch of her. But I’m driven by a desperation to be inside her that’s so acute, all I can do is jerk her against my chest and lift one leg over my hip. She reaches between us and positions me, then takes me inside in one smooth motion. Her gasp of pleasure fills the darkness around us as I drive into her obliterating heat.
This isn’t how I’d planned for tonight to go. If I was lucky enough to get her into bed, I planned to make it last, make her come at least twice before we got down to business, but I’ll be lucky if I don’t go off embarrassingly early at this point.
I try to slow down, try to reach between us to get my hands on her so I don’t completely ruin this before we’ve even started, but she pushes my hands away.
“No, don’t. You feel so good.”
“Baby, if I don’t help you out, this is going to be over before it starts.”
She writhes against me and her hands dig into my shoulders. “I don’t need any help. You’re doing just fine.”
At that, I give up trying to rein in any sort of control. My fingers bite into her hips and we come together like crashes of thunder in the middle of a storm. Wild and beautiful and unpredictable. She presses close to me like she’s trying to climb into my skin. I twist us both so she’s on her back. Her arms come around my shoulders, not letting me put any distance between us.
And that’s what does it for me, what sends me over the edge. I don’t know much about her, but in this moment all I know is she needs me. I couldn’t hold back even if I tried. She gasps at the sound of my release and I feel her clench around me a second later, like the physical act of bringing me to the brink is what she needed to get off. If I could come a second time, knowing that would have done it.
We’re quiet as our heartbeats slow and our breathing goes back to normal. I don’t want to get up, break the connection, but the orgasm has rendered me exhausted for the second time. She breathes deeply beneath me and I know she’s close to falling asleep again, too.
While I’m still conscious, I get up to clean us both up. She murmurs as I wipe away the remnants between her legs and get back into bed. As though we’ve been doing it for years, she settles back with her ass against my hips and once again the scent of her shampoo lulls me back to a dreamless sleep.
In the morning, I reach for her, but she’s gone.
Chapter 6
Avery
My hands go to his biceps to hold on the moment his lips touch mine. The world spins away. I forgot what it’s like to feel wanted by him. So many things happened in the months since I've seen him it’s easy to push away the memories. The only thing I haven’t been able to push away is when he stars in my dreams at night.
Now there's no forgetting the pressure of his lips. There's no washing away his addictive taste. His kiss burns away all my good reason and common sense. If I wasn’t hyper aware of every way he invades my senses, I would have said his kiss is another fevered dream.
When his tongue brushes mine it's like I've been stung all over. Nerves that had gone dormant buzz to life like the yellow jackets swarming around us. I make a needy noise in the back of my throat and it's that sound that brings me crashing back to rationality.
My hands are twin vices on his biceps, and I force myself to relax my grip, although very reluctantly. The heat we're generating between us rivals that of the steamy afternoon air. It's a good thing I won't have any hot water when we get home because a cold shower is exactly what I'll need.
“I've been thinking about doing that since the morning I woke up and you weren't there.” His rough voice is like honey in my ears.
Hot guilt washes over me. “I'm sorry about that. My grandma was having a moment and I had to leave in a hurry. Besides, I thought it would be easier without the awkward goodbyes.”
I make a move to put some space between us, but his hands on my waist tighten, keeping me close. “Would it be creepy of me to say I've thought about you probably more than is healthy while I was gone?”
It's not creepy, but it does hit me right in the heart. I clear my throat. “It's not creepy,” I manage to say. In fact, no one has ever said anything of the kind to me before and if I weren’t so panicked to have him here in the flesh after all this time, I’d think it was kind of sweet. In the past, what few short-lived relationships I’d cultivated had crashed and burned when they realized how much time I had to devote to Grandma Rosie.