Chapter Fourteen #2
She stared at him but then laughed, feeling the anxiety drain out of her as she did so. Apparently, the way to figuratively slap Kieran out of his hysterics was to indulge in some of her own. Good to know.
“You still haven’t convinced me.”
She squinted at him, thrown off guard by the ninety-degree turn in conversation. “Convince you about what?”
“That you…love me.” He gave the word love an upward inflection, as if questioning its very existence.
“I don’t have to convince you,” she huffed. “It’s not a debate. I love you, which means the love rays radiate from me onto you, and you just stand there and absorb them. It’s like the sun—if you’re around me, there’s no hiding from me or my love beams.”
“Nope.” His chin was set at a very obstinate angle, and Charlie was annoyed that she found it adorable, rather than obnoxious. No wonder her condition was called lovesickness. “Because I don’t believe you.”
Okay, maybe not so adorable. “Your lack of belief doesn’t change an actual fact.
I’m not freaking Tinker Bell.” She was starting to get annoyed.
This wasn’t how she imagined her proclamation of love going—not that she’d ever really thought about how a proclamation of love would go, but still.
“My love for you exists. It’s a real thing.
Nothing you can do about it.” She finished off just a bit smugly, enjoying the way his jaw muscle worked.
“No way. It’s impossible.” His fingers squeezed the steering wheel, his knuckles going pale with strain.
This time, she couldn’t help throwing both hands into the air. He was that infuriating. “Why is it impossible?”
“Because no one has ever loved me!” he roared.
Charlie blinked at him, letting his words settle into her brain before she spoke. She started to ask about his mom—surely his mom loved him, even if his dad was a sentient trash fire—but then she stopped. She of all people knew how disappointing parents could be. “So?”
He stared at her until she waved toward the windshield at the curvy mountain road he was currently supposed to be navigating.
“You might want to pull over before you drive us off the cliff and we both die a fiery death, which would be a tragic waste of a nice truck.” She patted the dash.
Muttering something that sounded like a long and creative series of swears, he jerked the wheel to the right. Instead of just pulling over onto the narrow shoulder, he turned off the road completely.
“Is this an actual surface you’re supposed to be driving on?” Charlie asked doubtfully as the truck lurched over rough ground.
“Yeah, there was a road sign.”
“Hmm.” Charlie didn’t doubt him, but she did question Field County’s Road and Bridges Department’s judgment.
The “road” they were on was barely a two-track trail, scattered with rocks and scruffy vegetation.
They followed the twisting path through the trees until even the faint tracks ended, and Kieran put the truck into park and turned off the engine. “So…apparently a dead-end road then?”
“The road doesn’t matter,” he grumped, turning to face her. “We need to finish discussing this love thing.”
“Arguing,” Charlie corrected, “and there’s nothing to discuss.
The bargaining stage is over, and you need to just accept that I love you and move on.
There. Argument over. Are you going to be able to turn around, or will you have to back all the way to the highway?
” She eyed the evergreens clustered around them.
“You don’t,” he insisted, making Charlie sigh loudly as she refocused on him. “I’m not someone that people love.”
“You are,” she said with forced patience. Things were easier when people just accepted she was right immediately. “You, Kieran Sullivan Byrne, are a lovable person.”
“No, I’m not.” Despite the stubborn reply, there was an almost frantic intensity to the way he stared at her, as if he was desperate for her to convince him that he was wrong. Luckily for him, she was happy to do just that.
“What are you even talking about?” She didn’t realize that she could roll her eyes so hard without them getting stuck looking at her brain. “You’re ridiculously lovable. You’re loyal and smart and brave, not to mention this.” She swept a hand down, gesturing from the top of his head to his feet.
“What?” He glanced down at himself and then back at her, confused as if he didn’t own a mirror.
Apparently, she was going to have to spell it out. “You, Firefighter Byrne, are very nice to look at. That’s not a condition of love or anything, but it’s definitely a bonus.”
He scoffed. “Please, it’s not like I look like Ian or anything.”
She waved a hand. “Ian’s objectively attractive, sure.” His glower deepened, so she hurried to finish her thought. “You’re subjectively attractive.” He looked as if he wasn’t sure how to take that. “I like how you look. I really like how you look.”
“But I’m rude.” His stare didn’t change but continued begging her to convince him that he was wrong. In fact, his gaze grew even more intense. “I’m not nice. I’m angry.”
She felt her mouth curl up in a satisfied smile. “I know. I love all those things about you. They’re bonuses, not flaws. Everything about you works for me.”
He stared at her, apparently out of counterarguments, which was just fine with her. There were better things he could be doing with his mouth, especially here in the privacy of the trees on the dead-end road that really didn’t deserve being called a road.
“Convinced I love you yet?” she asked. His answer wouldn’t change how she felt, although she hoped it would erase that frantic panic she’d glimpsed in his eyes. No one should feel unlovable, especially someone like Kieran.
“No.” Despite his answer, she saw the conflict in his expression and grinned. She was already wearing down his resistance. “If you do love me, you have terrible judgment.”
“I have excellent judgment.” To prove that, she unbuckled both of their seat belts and climbed onto his lap, facing him. His hands settled on her hips, feeling so natural there that she couldn’t stop grinning. Despite all of his arguments, his body knew they belonged together.
Even as his fingers gently squeezed her hips, his eyebrows drew together.
When he opened his mouth as if to argue further, Charlie kissed him.
She was sick of talking. Ever since she’d first seen the surly firefighter at The Coffee Spot, she’d wanted him.
After falling in love with him, that want had grown to a desperate need.
Now that she had him underneath her, she wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away.
Just like his hands, his lips knew there were better things to do than to argue.
Humming with pleasure, Charlie deepened the kiss as she reached for the lever on the side of the seat.
With one yank, she dropped the seat back so it was almost horizontal.
His surprised grunt was muffled against her mouth, but then he was kissing her again, and nothing else mattered.
Kieran released her hips, but before she could feel aggrieved at the loss of his touch, he buried his fingers in her hair.
With both hands, he clutched her head tightly, holding her as close as he could physically manage.
That lurking, frantic need she’d seen in his gaze during their entire discussion—argument—about his lovableness was evident in the way his fingers clutched at her and his lips pressed almost desperately against hers.
As much as he’d protested that she couldn’t love him, she could feel how much he wanted to believe she could.
Her heart both broke and warmed at his silent confession, and she clutched him back, telling him over and over again how much she loved him with her lips and hands. As they frantically kissed—any technique thrown out the window, replaced by desperate need—she stroked his face and neck.
He groaned against her lips, and the vibrations shot through her entire body, leaving heat and oversensitized skin in their wake.
A tiny niggling thought wouldn’t let her be, and she somehow managed to wrench herself away just enough to speak. As she did, the fading evening light reminded her of something important. “We can’t do this out in public.”
“We’re not, unless you’re counting squirrels as the public.” He pulled her back into the kiss, but enough of her brain was not-mushified to remember that wasn’t why she’d pulled away.
“Wait—we need to get to Denver. We only have fourteen hours.”
He scowled. “Right.” His gaze flicked down to her mouth, and he leaned in, as if drawn to her against his will. “Just five more minutes.”
Just the warmth of his breath on her lips was enough for her to forget any objections. “Okay.”
Then his mouth was on hers again, and everything—her mom, the necklace, the treasure hunters, Barney Thompson—disappeared. The only two people that existed in the universe were Charlie and Kieran, and they were doing their best to merge into one being.
Charlie yanked at his shirt, almost desperate to feel his skin but not willing to stop kissing for a moment to concentrate on removing it.
With a grunt, Kieran helped her pull it up until his belly and most of his chest was exposed, and then did the same to her.
She didn’t even notice him unhooking her bra, but the cool air brushing the bare skin of her breasts told her he’d managed it.
With a nip to her bottom lip, he ended the kiss.
Before she could do more than pull in a breath to groan out a complaint, he’d latched onto her nipple.
A string from where his mouth touched buzzed all the way to her low belly, electrifying her skin.
She tightened her fingers in his short hair, unable to grip the handfuls she needed to hold him in place and never, ever let him get away.