Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
brINLEY
It took all of five minutes for that energy to enclose behind me. A blanket of red-hot severity engulfing me where I leaned forward at the desk, flipping the lid on the laptop and pressing it on.
There was no question that it was Silas who came to stand just inside the door between the office and shop.
I could feel him standing there with his sinewy arms crossed over his chest.
Oozing that special brand of volatility.
An inferno of irritation and barely tapped lust.
He would have beaten me there had Brody not given me a ride over in his truck.
I guess Silas had taken my response as a challenge.
A duel.
Or maybe I’d just delivered it as one.
Maybe I wanted to fight it out with this temperamental, infuriating man because there was something about doing it that exposed the remnants of who I used to be.
Something about it that made me feel real and raw and important.
The first time in years that I wasn’t the only one fighting for myself.
Some might call it counterproductive.
A contradiction.
I figured anything that made me feel this alive should be considered therapy.
The one thing I knew for sure as I stood there facing away from him was every hair on my body stood on end.
My body hewn in anticipation.
Shivers raced far and fast, and my heart catapulted into warp speed.
I could feel him lingering behind me, the searing severity of his gaze making a slow path down my backside.
There wasn’t a casual thing about it.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” he grunted. “Wildfire, doing your best to do me in.”
I bent over a little farther, hoping to give him a little peep show of my bottom.
This morning, I’d suited up in my favorite denim dress, the top fitted and the short skirt flowy, hemmed in a matching denim ruffle.
Nude heels to match.
It always made me feel powerful.
Powerful when my control was slipping.
I had none of it then when I straightened and began to slowly turn in his direction, bracing myself to look at him.
I didn’t know why I bothered. I already knew I was going to get swept away by the undertow.
A riptide at my feet.
My knees knocked the second I caught sight of Silas standing in the same spot where he always stood glowering at me.
Though now I recognized that glowering for what it was.
Pure, unfiltered want.
Okay, fine. There was a little hate there, too. I wasn’t a total fool.
Hate that he wanted me so badly. It was the type of hate that I completely understood because I felt a bit of it, myself.
No question, both our spirits were a bit peeved over the fact that one single person could affect us this way.
We were opposites, me playing it safe and him living on the edge.
We sure as hell didn’t match.
Natural born enemies.
Neither of us could really fit into the other’s life, even if we wanted to.
I felt all of it as sure as I felt the tremor rock through me as I took him in.
He wore jeans and a tight white tee and his cut over the top. Worn motorcycle boots on his feet.
All his harsh, serrated edges were honed in the morning light. Eyes gold-edged daggers that cut me right down the middle.
Too violently beautiful to be real.
Okay, maybe I was off base with this dangerous game I was playing.
Because right then, he actually looked mad.
Really freaking mad.
“Told you I didn’t want you down here by yourself.” Silas gritted it, his jaw clenched. Every muscle in his rigid body fired with severity.
“And I told you I’m not going to allow some creep to force me back into a corner.” I flung my hand in the direction of the door.
Didn’t he get it after what I told him last night?
Besides, I was surrounded by an army. There had been at least four men posted along the front perimeter when Brody had dropped me off, and those were just the ones who were visible.
I had a suspicion the entire club was on duty.
He winced, then that anger was making a resurgence when he stepped forward.
His presence slammed me like a landslide.
I lifted my chin against it. Or maybe I was only lifting it toward it. A masochist who wanted to feel the brunt force of his impact.
“So what? You plan to run headlong into danger for the sake of proving a point? Is that what you want?” He basically sneered it.
“Apparently, since I keep putting myself directly in front of you.”
I guess there was no reason to beat around the bush. We both already knew what he was going to do to me, and I couldn’t seem to do anything but beg him for it.
Silas chuckled a wry, self-deprecating sound.
“I think it’s me who’s standing in the front row of the firing squad, Brinley.
Me who’s gonna get burned because I can’t fuckin’ think straight when it comes to you.
Driving me out of my mind. Pushing me through every boundary that I’ve ever set.
Making me want things I can never have.”
My heart took that opportune time to flip in my chest, liking the sound of that far too much.
I gripped onto the desk behind me like it could keep me standing. Keep me on my feet so I wouldn’t go crawling for him.
Shock slammed me when he suddenly growled, “Turn around and bend over the desk.”
How it was possible for those words to send arousal careening through my body, I didn’t know.
But there it was.
Throbbing with every pulse of my blood. Heart running manic to carry it to every cell.
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip.
Normally, I’d be afraid and lash out.
Take it as a threat rather than a temptation.
Not with Silas Mercer.
I felt emboldened.
“Is that my punishment, King?” I drew his nickname out like spite, even though there was an avalanche of desire behind it.
It was a wonder the walls didn’t come crashing to the ground.
Cocking his head to the side, Silas stalked forward three steps, sending the floor undulating below his feet.
“No, Brinley. It’s my punishment.” He punched his chest right over his heart, and his words were jagged fragments of strained breath.
Harsh and hard.
“Touching you and knowing that it’s only temporary is my sheer and utter punishment. Nothing but a penalty knowing what a treasure you are. How beautiful you are. This fucking gorgeous body and this wild, untamed heart. How’s it you managed to get under my skin this way?”
My inhalation was strangled.
He took another step forward, and the scent of him smacked me in the face.
Cherries drenched in whiskey.
I had to be drunk.
“A sentence for this sin,” he continued.
“Taking this bit of you that I could never deserve. Taking it and knowing I will never get enough. And even with that bare taste, I know I’m still going to have the memory of you scored on my soul for the rest of my life.
I don’t know how you got there, but there’s going to be no getting you out. ”
I almost laughed. It was me who was going to be marked.
He angled in close, his mouth at my ear. “Now why don’t you be a good girl and actually listen to me for once and turn around and bend over the desk. Unless you want me to walk out that door because you know I will. It would be best if I did.”
He was giving me an out.
Asking for consent as he took a step back.
I heaved another tremulous breath and slowly fumbled around.
A shot of greed puffed from his nose.
“Bend over.”
It said a whole lot with the way I hastily complied. My fingers trying to find purchase on the smooth, slippery surface of the desk as I bent over the wood.
Cool air brushed up my backside, and the skirt of my dress rode so high that I felt it tickle over the juncture of my thighs and butt cheeks.
“You have any idea, Brinley? You have any idea what you’re doing to me? Walking around my house and sleeping in my bed?”
Silas remained three feet behind, though with the heat radiating off him, he might as well have been touching me.
In it, I felt like I was going to combust.
Waiting in the baited air that swirled and danced between us.
He finally did, his hand landing on the back of my thigh and riding all the way up until he was palming one cheek. “This ass. Sweet fucking torture.”
“Silas.” I couldn’t help but whimper it, and I squeezed my thighs together like it might be enough to quench the desire.
A bare touch of his hand and I was already shaking.
“You need it, Little Wildfire? You need me to send you soaring again?”
I rocked back as he kneaded my bottom. “Yes.”
“So eager.”
“You already know how much I need it. What I’ve been missing.”
“And what you’ve been missing is me.”
I knew he regretted saying it the second it slipped because he stilled for a beat, like he was silently beating himself back into the corner where he kept himself fettered.
It was painful the way I wanted to draw him out.
“Yes,” I said again, the single word a plea. “You’re exactly what I’ve been missing. What I didn’t know I needed.”
“I’m going to make sure you know it, Brinley. Going to make sure you feel me so deep there will be no erasing what I’ve done to you. I’m going to mark you as deep as you’re marking me.”
He swept his fingertips down the cleft of my ass.
I jolted back with a wheeze, and he edged closer, covering me in his shadow.
“Please, don’t tease me.”
His lips moved to the side of my neck as he shifted my underwear to the side. “Give me one good reason not to make you beg, Little Wildfire. Defying me the way you do.”
His voice was all grating and admonishment, but I could hear what else was in it.
His fear over me putting myself in a bad situation.
“I’m sorry.” I whimpered it, and I wanted to regret it. Take it back. But I meant it.
He and his men had run out to rescue me yesterday, stood in front of me when all of this was Dereck’s doing. They could have been injured or…
I choked off the thought, not even able to contemplate what kind of tragedy it could have been.
“Are you? Are you sorry for what you’re doing to me?”
He let his fingertips drag lightly through my folds.
A tease.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to punish me?”
“You’re right, this punishment is all on me,” he grunted.