Chapter 6
SIX
BECKETT
The truck coughs once, then goes dead silent.
I try again. Nothing but a hollow click click click click click .
“Great,” I mutter. “Just what I needed.”
Beside me, Willa tips her head, listening. “That doesn’t sound like the starter. Try the lights.”
I flip the switch. It’s dead.
“Battery,” she says without hesitation. “Just what I thought.”
I blink at her. “How do you?—”
“Don’t forget: My dad’s a mechanic.” She grins. “I’ve picked up a thing or two over the years.”
That tugs a reluctant smile from me. “We’ll need a jump. Maybe we should all your dad”
She nods, already pulling out her phone. When she hangs up, she sighs.
“He’s closing up the shop first. Said he’ll be about an hour.”
An hour. Alone. With Willa, who’s still flushed from that kiss at the lake, her lips kiss-swollen, her hair mussed from my hands.
I swallow hard. “I guess we wait.”
She turns toward me on the bench seat, eyes bright. “Or we could do something to pass the time.”
I arch a brow. “Like what? Play cards?”
“Nope.” She tucks one leg under her, facing me fully. “A game. Twenty questions.”
I groan. “I’m better at cards than talking games.”
“Too bad.” Her grin widens. “You get three vetoes. That’s it. Everything else you have to answer.”
The challenge in her voice hooks me. “Fine. But you go first.”
She juts out her bottom lip and taps her chin. “Okay. What’s your favorite season?”
“Fall. Obviously.”
“Oh really?” She tilts her head. “You could have fooled me.”
“Just because I said no to the bonfire at first doesn’t mean I hate fall.”
“But it doesn’t mean you love it.”
“I do love. I love… the air.”
“The air?”
I nod, my heart beat thundering under her intense stare. “It’s cool, sharp. Alive.” I shrug. “What’s yours?”
“Fall.” Her lips curve up. “Because I love that my parents met and fell in love at the bonfire. And every year, they’d tell me the story all over again.”
“Sounds like it was your very own fairytale.”
“Only better because it was a true story.” She gives a soft, sad laugh. “What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?”
I hesitate. Images flash through my head. Jumping out of planes into burning forests. Landing hard in smoke and chaos. Going into war zones created by man and nature.
But that’s not the answer I give.
“Coming home,” I say at last. “I didn’t know what I’d be without the job. Without the uniform.”
“You still have your badge.” Her smile softens. “And look at you now. Saving towns from rogue bonfires.”
I roll my eyes, but the warmth in my chest stays.
We trade more questions—Favorite color. Hers is teal, mine’s forest green.
Best meal: her mom’s pot roast, my grandma’s ham and beans.
First crush: she blushes, I smirk.
Each answer pulls us closer, until we’re leaning in without realizing it, our knees brushing, her hand resting on the seat between us.
Then she asks, “What do you notice first about a woman?”
The question hangs in the dim cab, heavy, daring. I could lie. I don’t.
“Her mouth,” I rasp. My eyes drop to hers. “The way she uses it. Smiles. Laughs. Says my name.”
Her breath catches.
“And what about me?” she whispers.
God help me. I reach out, trail my thumb over her lower lip. “Yours, Willa. Always yours.”
The air between us ignites. She leans forward, lips brushing mine, tentative but hungry. I kiss her back, deep and slow, tasting every sigh, every shiver.
My hand cups her jaw, then slides down, tracing the line of her throat. She tilts her head back, offering herself without hesitation. Reverence grips me—I want to map every inch of her, learn every sound she makes.
“You’re beautiful,” I murmur against her skin. “Do you know that?”
She shakes her head faintly, breath ragged.
“Then I’ll show you,” I vow.
My mouth trails down her neck, savoring the soft gasps she gives. My hand skims her side, over her curves, worshipful in every touch. She arches toward me, and the low sound she makes nearly undoes me.
“Beckett…” Her voice is pleading, breaking.
I pull back just enough to see her face—flushed, eyes dark, lips parted. My thumb strokes her cheek. “I want to learn you,” I say, voice rough. “Every place that makes you sigh. Every place that makes you beg. I want to give you everything.”
Her answer is a kiss that steals the rest of my words. She climbs into my lap, straddling me, and my hands grip her hips like I’ll never let go. The world outside the cab—dark forest, waiting rescue—fades to nothing.
All that exists is Willa.
And I’m going to spend every second I can proving to her exactly how much she matters.
Trailing kisses down her neck, I slide one hand up and under her top. I groan against her as my fingers trace the smooth skin up. I cup her breast through lace, and my cock presses painfully against my jeans.
Later, I promise it. Right now the only thing I care about is making Willa feel just how beautiful she is.
Just how badly I desire her.
Pulling back, I pull her top up and over, tossing it aside so I can press my lips to the curves of her breast.
“Perfect.” I kiss each globe. “Abso-fucking-lutely perfect.”
Wanting more, I make quick work of removing her bra. I growl as I feast my eyes—and then my lips—on all her glory.
Palming her breasts I massage them and take one nipple into my mouth. She keens as I suckle, bringing it deeper into my mouth. Letting her whimpers and moans guide me.
Her hips begin to move. Seemingly instinctively as I worship her.
I take the hint and slide one hand down her, fumbling open the fly on her jeans, and pushing my hand lower and lower. Until my fingers find her curls and then her.
“Oh…” She gasps as I press my index finger against her clit. “Oh, Beckett.”
I unlatch from one breast and move to the other, working my fingers and my palm against her core. Tempting her. Stroking her. Her hips move against me. In a motion as old as time. Telling me she wants this. Telling me she wants me.
“Beckett,” she cries out as I take her closer. Bringing her to the point of no return and beyond. “Beckett, Beckett, Beckett.”
My name has never sounded sweeter.
Her fingers dive into my hair, tugging on it until it nearly hurts. But I can’t be deterred from my mission.
She’s too close. I’m too close. And I won’t relent.
Then she freezes for a moment. She calls my name again, screaming it so it rings in my ears. I open my eyes and glance up at her face in time to see the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.
It’s the vision of her coming undone from my touch.
And it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.