3. Warner #2
It’s only grown since then, her distant stare blazing with longing while I’ve avoided her. Even with Tom gone and the full weight of Sabre’s power unleashed to search for him, I’m constantly aware of her. She’s a huge distraction.
“You can’t stop yourself.” I sigh around my tight throat. “Can you?”
“I need this nightmare to end,” she admits. “Even if only for a moment.”
“It will end, Em. It’ll end when we bring Tom home.”
“And when will that be?”
My throat constricts. God, how I want to comfort her. I need to fix this. But I can’t lie to Ember; she deserves far better than that. Until Tom is within my grasp, I won’t risk breaking her trust.
“You can’t answer because you don’t know when it will end. We’re up against an army, and my brother…” Her voice catches, filling me with heartache. “He’s caught in the middle of the war.”
“I know, love.”
“Then for one solitary second… Please, Warner. Don’t think. Just make it all stop. Make me forget. Take it all away from me.”
Her heartfelt begging pulls at my internal organs and twists them into an excruciating knot. God, she is my fatal weakness. Everything about Ember invites me to get on my knees and give her whatever the hell she wants or needs to endure this mess.
“I have to go,” I spit the awful words out.
“You’re the one who told me to show you that I want this,” Ember hisses. “How much I want us. I thought I did that in the ring.”
“But that was before.”
“Before what? My brother got kidnapped?”
Gut lurching, I try to avoid her attentive stare. “Yes.”
“So what changed?”
“It’s my job to keep a level head so I can find him.”
“I’m not stopping you!” she snaps in pure aggravation.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I can’t keep a level head when you’re around. Fuck, I can’t even think straight when you’re in the bloody room. All I want is to grab hold of you and never let go again.”
Ember braces her hands on my shoulders, frenzied eyes attacking me like she wants to rip the skin from my bones to burrow inside my carcass. Fuck, I’d let her. Anything to wipe that pained expression away.
Then the thought of what her brother would say creeps back in, and it’s like being stabbed in the chest with the knife of reality all over again. The constant mental back and forth is wearing me to the bone.
“Fact is, I shouldn’t be in this bed with my best friend’s baby sister. It’s my job to protect you. To protect everyone. And I’m failing.”
“You can’t shoulder the burden for everyone,” she argues. “If you’d just let me in?—”
“Like you do?”
She visibly winces. “That isn’t fair.”
“But it’s true. This is my job, Em. I’m the team leader. When people get hurt on my watch, it’s my responsibility to make it right. I can’t be selfish.”
“What if I’m giving you permission to be selfish for a second?”
It takes effort not to look at her inviting thighs, the tank top riding up to barely cover her full chest. Further evidence to my point. If only my twitching cock would get on board with my moral stance and behave.
“You’re killing yourself to fulfil this duty, and I admire you for that, but this hero act is old.”
“Em…”
“No. You deserve to be selfish too.”
“Ember, please. I need to go.”
When her hips jerk, I feel the molten heat pooling between her thighs press against my crotch. She’s moved to position herself right above my rapidly swelling dick. I highly doubt that’s accidental.
“Ember,” I bleat again.
“I want to forget,” she murmurs. “Don’t you want that too? Even for a second?”
“We can’t, and you know it. Stop this.”
“Then make me. You could if you wanted to.”
Ember shifts again, deliberately rubbing herself against me. Heat spikes deep within my cavities, creating a slow burn. The tantalisation of her body pressed on mine is too enticing to resist.
Pressure strains against my sweatpants, screaming out for relief after months of this agonising tease. Scrap that, years. It’s been fucking years, and I’m still denying myself the release that I so desperately need.
How good would it feel to give in? To give Ember exactly what her filthy mouth is begging me for? I could do it. She’s right—I’m the only one stopping this. If I so desired, I could have her crying my name nine ways to Sunday while my teammates listen to me take her.
My dick spasms at the thought.
Yes. I definitely desire that.
“Unless… you don’t want me?” Her teeth pierce her bottom lip.
“Fucking hell, love.” I pinch her pink, swollen lip between my fingers to free it. “You know I do. I think I’ve made that pretty bloody clear.”
“Then why are you pushing me away?”
“Em… I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“From whom? From you?”
Fingers tightening on my shoulders, she rotates her hips, dragging her tempting heat over my sweatpants again. My head spins from how quickly she’s flipped this entire situation and brought me to my knees.
“For once, just stop thinking. Stop obsessing. Stop worrying about everyone and everything but yourself. Take what you want from me.”
Heart thudding unevenly, I push out a short breath. “I don’t remember the last time I did that.”
“I’m guessing never.”
Roughly grinding down on my dick, she studies my face in the din. An involuntary gasp breaks past my lips, rewarding her efforts. I’m harder than fucking steel at the feel of her pressed against my trapped cock.
Sure, watching Ember work herself over for me was quite literally the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. And sure, I came twice in the shower afterwards as I angrily fucked my hand to the memory of her coming apart. But I haven’t touched her like I really want to.
I can push her aside right now. Climb out of this bed. Flee the room and lock myself away someplace where her temptation can’t reach me. She’s off-limits. Forbidden. And far too good for me.
But when she finds the hem of her tank top then quickly tugs it over her head, my protests die a sudden death. Distant city lights illuminate Ember’s generous round tits, two rosy buds forming diamonds that beckon to be licked, bitten and sucked.
“See me.” She drags a single fingertip along the canyon between her breasts. “Look how you make me feel.”
My breathing has shortened to rasps, full of want and need. Nothing but cotton holds me back from feeling her skin flush on mine, and for the life of me, I’m forgetting why I fought so hard against taking her in the first place.
“Dammit, love. I can’t ever have you.”
“You already do,” Ember whines. “However the hell you want me, I’m yours. All you have to do is take the risk.”
Every single inch of her body is ethereal perfection. The years haven’t dulled the beauty that first entranced me when we were little more than children dancing around the edges of something more. Now she’s a temptress dipped in sin and offering her goddamn soul to me.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I growl out.
“I told you. I want more. I want to be yours. I want to be shared. I want everything and more still. So why won’t you give it to me?”
With each needy whine, she grabs handfuls of her tits and squeezes. Perfect pink skin slides between her fingers, my cock stiffening further as I watch her tweak her hard nipples until she breathily moans. That small sound lands straight between my legs.
This godforsaken woman.
All the desire I’ve held at arm’s length since she first made those declarations hits me in a tidal impact, blasting apart the walls I’ve tried to erect.
The destruction fills my ears as I stare up at my precious astronaut, now a filthy little angel grinding on my cock like it’s her personal plaything.
You know what? I’d be her plaything. Send me to hell, I’d be anything she wants me to be. If it didn’t threaten my career, my focus and my entire friendship with her brother, I’d have thrown her against the wall and fucked her senseless months ago.
She has no idea how rough I can be.
Lord forgive me, I’m gonna show her.
Hands clasping her beckoning hips, I dance my fingers up her body until I can grasp her hair. Ember gasps as I use the tight grip to bend her spine, bringing her flat against my chest, parted lips within reach.
My mouth brushes along her throat, over the pounding betrayal of her pulse point to her curved, oval jawline. I deliver a series of wet kisses and tiny bites, needing to taste every inch of her.
“You’re going to be the absolute death of me, Ember. I’m trying to hold it together and be a good man. But that’s hard to do when you’re a walking sin determined to ruin my life.”
Writhing on my length, Ember lets me trail a blazing path across her skin. Her little pants hold the power to smash apart my resolve. I want to hear the sounds she’ll make when I sink inside her sweet, perfect cunt.
My teeth cut into her skin, allowing me to suck the delicate flesh at her throat between my lips. Her surprised moan compels me to bite and suck harder, needing to hear more of her mewls.
Tugging on her hair, I move my lips over to her open mouth. “Is this what you want? You want me to claim you as my own?”
“Yes. I do.”
“You want me to shred every last childhood memory we’ve shared by doing exactly what I want to your body? Even if it kills our friendship?”
Hips swirling again, she grinds harder on my cock, seeking added friction. My balls tighten and clamp, screaming out for relief. I can’t stop my hips from rising to push into her, eliciting a breathy sigh.
“Yes,” she moans. “Ruin it.”
“You want me to show you exactly what I’ve dreamed of doing to you since those gorgeous curves and round tits showed up on your body?”
“Fuck, Warner. Please… anything. I want it all.”
“Even though I know you’re drawing my two teammates into your little web more with each passing day?” I challenge her.
“Yes!”
“You’re such a greedy girl, love.”
“Please kiss me. Touch me. Give me anything.”
“A greedy girl who knows how to beg.”