Chapter 13 Kincaid
Chapter Thirteen
Kincaid
The space in my truck felt loaded, weighted with a charge. The fuse of chemistry burning between us had been lit the moment we left the fundraiser, and the flame was racing fast.
Tori. It was that simple.
When we pulled up to her place, I asked, “Can I walk you up?”
She nodded, and I followed her to the steps. Just as we reached the door, a soft bark came from inside.
“Oh, I have to let Bella out,” she said quickly.
“Of course.”
Her sweet dog came out, circling Tori with obvious joy before circling me and giving me a sniff of approval.
“Nothing like the love of a dog,” I said dryly.
Tori’s smile was wide as she looked up at me while walking alongside Bella by the edge of the trees. “She’s my best friend. Have you ever had a dog?” she asked.
I nodded. “I have. Growing up, but haven’t had one since then. But I think about getting another one,” I added.
“Well…” Her tone turned teasing. “You'd better watch out for Tiffany, then.”
“Tiffany?” I echoed, raising a brow.
“She’s married to Wes. She’s the office manager at the vet clinic, and she’s always trying to get me to adopt another dog.”
“She sounds persistent.” I chuckled.
“She is,” Tori laughed. “Wes’s mom runs the animal shelter, and between them, they’re always looking for homes for rescues.”
“Ah, I know Tiffany. Wes is a good guy.”
“Yeah. Tiffany even tried to get me to take a cat once.”
“Peaches is our station cat,” I commented.
“I’m all for pets,” Tori said.
“Oh, same. I love animals,” I admitted. “But I’m a hotshot firefighter. When I’m gone for the summer, that’s a long stretch.”
“I’ll take care of any pet you get when you’re gone,” she offered.
“Really?” I turned toward her.
“Of course. That’s an easy yes.”
“I didn’t even ask,” I pointed out.
“No,” she said, grinning. “But I’m offering. Hypothetically, if you did ask, the answer would be yes.”
After Bella did her business, she immediately trotted back up the stairs and onto the small porch. When Tori gestured for me to come in, I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t want the night to end. Not just yet.
As I stepped inside, my mind flicked, just briefly, to everyone who had warned me to be good to Tori.
As if I’d be anything else. Still, it struck me, standing there in her quiet space, how different this felt.
How much more than I could’ve ever expected.
Even though we’d only had two kisses, it already felt like more.
Bella curled up on a dog bed in the living room, directly in front of a small wood stove.
“She likes the heat,” Tori said with a smile, shrugging off her jacket.
“Well, of course she does. It’s warm. Even though it’s technically spring…” I glanced at the frost along the edge of the window. “It’s still Alaska.”
Tori hung her jacket on the hook by the door and turned to face me. Several beats passed in silence. A long pause stretched between us, brimming with everything unspoken and the embers of need burning low.
“Should I go?” I asked quietly.
“I don’t want you to,” she said, her cheeks flushing as she spoke.
“I don’t want to leave,” I added, my voice low in the quiet.
A soft snore from Bella floated through the room, and Tori’s smile turned sheepish. “She snores.”
I simply nodded. With a quiet motion, she bent to remove her boots.
When she straightened, she took a step closer, her hands lifting to my shoulders.
Her fingers curled lightly as she eased my jacket down, brushing it down my arms. I shrugged out of it, hanging it beside hers before turning back to face her.
“Here’s the thing,” I said, reaching for one of her hands.
Somehow, just touching her quieted the usual doubts that ricocheted around my brain. “I like you.”
Tori blinked up at me, then cleared her throat. “That’s handy,” she said softly. “I like you too.”
My lips curved into a smile. There was an intimacy building between us—something bracing and electric that made me feel alive in a way I hadn’t in years. Instead of thinking too hard, I stepped closer. I let go of her hand and raised mine to lightly palm her cheek.
“I’m going to kiss you again,” I whispered against her lips.
I loved that I could feel the curve of her smile when she murmured, “Please do.”
I let myself savor the moment—the soft give of her lips underneath mine, the sweet taste of her, the way she sighed into the kiss like she was giving in to gravity. She arched against me, her tongue dancing with mine, her body all curves and strength.
When we broke apart, my restraint was a paper-thin wall holding back a flood. Lust frayed the edges, demanding more. I scrambled for purchase inside.
Not because I didn’t want her, but because I did.
Too much, too fast, and I didn’t want to fuck it up.
This wasn’t something I usually thought too hard about.
And yet, tangled somewhere deep in me were the faded scars of absence, of growing up without a father.
Of watching my mother carry it all alone. I didn’t want to be that man to anyone.
I was scrambling to find my balance here. It wasn’t that I’d never felt pure, hot want before. It was that this didn’t just feel like lust. It felt like a riptide, and I was caught in its rush and force.
Tori’s eyes were wide and her pupils dark. Her lips were kiss-swollen and her cheeks flushed. I opened my mouth to say something—hell if I knew what—when her palm pressed lightly to my chest.
“Are you about to tell me we should slow down?” she asked.
Her voice, low, raspy, and frayed with heat, cracked through me like lightning across a summer sky.
I let out a shaky laugh, answering honestly. “I don’t know what I was about to say.”
For the first time, uncertainty flickered in her eyes. She blinked up at me before lifting her chin, almost defensively.
“Why did you ask that?” I prompted gently.
Her teeth lightly caught her bottom lip, and I was abruptly aware of the swollen, hard length of my cock. “I’m not sure. All I know is I don’t want to stop.”
Only Tori had this effect on me. Every time I thought maybe I had my balance with her, she kicked my feet out from under me. It was a kind of chaos, and yet it felt so fucking good. “I don’t want to stop,” I said honestly.
“Good.” I could feel the heat of her palm just over my heart as its beat raced along.
“I don’t want you to think this is just about sex,” I added.
Uncertainty flickered in her eyes again, and I felt the sting of her pain on my own heart. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly that. I like you, Tori.”
Tori’s hand twisted a little bit on my chest, and she shifted on her feet. She was quiet for several long beats before she nodded. “I like you.” She cleared her throat. “And it’s not just about sex. Not for me.”
Her palm stretched open across my heart again, sliding up, her fingers dipping into the very spot where she had dropped a kiss earlier. Everywhere she touched felt like flames on my skin. Her hand slid up further, curling around my nape and tugging me down slightly.
It was the easiest thing in the world to tumble into another kiss, to claim her mouth again, to savor the way she felt.
The kiss once again started slow, yet it rapidly escalated.
Our teeth clanked. It was messy and wild until we broke apart once again, the sound of our breath heaving in the air around us.
We were plastered together. The evidence of my arousal pressed just above the cradle of Tori’s hips.
She swallowed before glancing over her shoulder.
I followed her gaze to see that Bella was still sound asleep, still snoring.
“Come here,” she said, stepping away and catching one of my hands in hers.
Alaska was filled with small houses like Tori’s.
Her entrance led into an open living room, kitchen, and dining area with a tall, peaked ceiling.
There was a small balcony railing up above, and she led me over to the stairs that were off to one side.
With every step I took, I could feel the drumbeat of my heart thumping faster and faster, picking up its pace.
We crested the top of the stairs, which had a small open area with some bookshelves and a pair of chairs.
Although it was mostly dark out, I could see that the view would be beautiful with just the outline of the mountains and the moon shining above them outside the windows. Tori led me through a doorway into her bedroom with a bed against the wall topped with big, fluffy pillows and a quilt.
She stopped at the foot of the bed before turning to face me. Once again, she looked a little uncertain. I wanted to know all the answers, to understand her.
“This is my bedroom,” she announced. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, a little giggle slipping out, the sound itself spinning around my heart.
“Is it now?” I teased lightly.
She giggled again, and I loved the pink flush on her cheeks. “I always leave a lamp on.” She gestured to the lamp that was, in fact, turned on over beside the bed on the nightstand.
“So let’s have this conversation first,” she announced.
“What conversation?”
“Birth control,” she said flatly.
“I have a condom,” I said, because I always did.
Not that I got all that much action, especially not since I’d been helping take care of my mom, but old habits die hard and all that.
My mom had been a stickler about that and had sat me down to give me a whole lecture about birth control and STDs and safety and protection and health and so on.
Since I’d been a teenager at the time, awkward didn’t even come close to capturing how I’d felt, but I’d taken every word she said to heart.
Tori took a quick breath as she nodded. “Okay. It’s um..” She twisted her hands together in front of her before clearing her throat. “Not a big thing, I guess, but I do get checked every year just to be safe. And, it’s been, well, a while,” she added.
“We have to get checked at our annual physical. It’s protocol. I guess it makes it easier,” I said with a shrug.
“Okay.” Her shoulders rose with a breath.
“It’s been a while for me too,” I added, because it only seemed fair since she was being vulnerable.
Her brows rose, her gaze sharp and skeptical. “I don’t believe you.”
I shrugged. “Believe it. Tori, I’m a hotshot firefighter. I just moved here a little while ago, and I live with my mom because I help take care of her, because she has health issues.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tori cut in.
“No need to be sorry. She’s okay. She just needs a little help, and I’m happy to do it. That wasn’t really something I had to think about. All this to say, I don’t have much time.”
She angled her head to the side. “You’re a good man, Kincaid. Do you need to let your mom know where you are?”
“Now?” A startled laugh sputtered out of me.
“No, I don’t. She knows I’m at the fundraiser and that’s enough.
She’ll watch her favorite shows on her TV in her bedroom in the in-law apartment that she stays in.
It’s built off the side of the main house because that’s what she wanted, and she won’t worry about where I am because that’s not her style. ”
“Oh, oh,” Tori said. I could practically see her brain trying to sort all of these details into her mental idea of me.
“Are we done with this conversation?” I asked after silence fell again and began to stretch.
She nodded quickly. “Yes, we are.”
“Now, where were we?” I murmured.