Chapter Ten #3
My hand hovers above the handle, frozen as if I no longer control my own limbs.
I glance up at him, his gaze full of darkness, his chest rising and falling with heavy breath.
And then he moves. He opens the door, and before I can blink, he’s opening mine.
He looks up at me from where he stands on the sidewalk, his brown eyes glistening under the light from the truck.
Chill air kisses my skin and he lets out a low breath. Six seconds.
He offers me his hand, and something about it feels heavier than it should.
I want to take it, so why can’t I? Why can’t I move?
“Come on, Bright Eyes,” he says gently, waving his hand at me. “Let’s get you home.”
I carefully slide my hand in his and let him help me out of the truck. When I settle on the ground, he shuts the door, but I can’t seem to make my legs move. All I can do is stare at him.
Underneath the dim streetlights, he looks almost like a ghost, what with his black shirt and sweatpants and dark hair fading into the shadows like he himself is one.
Maybe he is.
I expect him to tell me goodbye. Have a nice life. Don’t get in any more fires. But all he says is, “What are you waiting for?”
His voice is barely a whisper, and his eyes keep searching mine for something, but I’m not sure what. All I know is my heart is racing and I don’t want him to stop looking at me.
I don’t want him to leave me. Not like this.
There’s a hundred things I could say to answer him. And every one would be a better answer than what I come up with.
“You,” I say quietly. “To tell me to go.”
He bites his lip, and I notice how tense his jaw is. How his fingers are twitching against his thigh.
“You could’ve gotten back in your car and driven off by now. So… why are you still here?”
AJ slides his hands in his back pockets, holding my gaze.
“What are you waiting for, Sir?” I ask, realizing how close we are. I don’t know when it happened, but the space between us that was there seconds ago…
It’s gone.
AJ’s face—his mouth—is inches away from mine, and I am acutely aware of how easy it would be to kiss him right now. Which I should not do.
By any means.
But something also tells me if I did, he wouldn’t stop me.
A low growl escapes his throat as his gaze settles on my mouth.
“You,” he says. “To walk away.”
His gaze holds mine in challenge, and I realize that’s exactly what this is.
A challenge. One I’m not sure I understand, but… that I want to understand, nonetheless.
“Can I ask you something?” I say, my voice low, soft, like his.
AJ nods, licking his lips. “You can ask me anything.”
“Will you tell me the truth?”
His lips turn up in the corner slightly, a ghost of a smile.
“Of course.”
He could lie to me, I know that. But something tells me he won’t. I should ask if we can start over. Forget about last night, and this morning and this car ride, and…
His tongue darts out to lick his lips and I swallow hard.
“Are you thinking about kissing me right now?” I ask, surprised by my own words because that’s not what I meant to say…
Oh, fuck.
Heat floods my cheeks as I realize my error, and before I can apologize and tell him I should definitely go before I embarrass myself further, one word renders me frozen in place.
“Yes.”
I did not expect that, and the shock must register on my face because his eyebrows furrow and he looks worried.
Scared, even.
“I’m sorry, I—”
My heart races, heavy in my chest as my breath catches.
He said yes.
He said he yes, he’s thinking about kissing me!
Holy shit!
I can’t help but smile because fuck, I want to kiss him, too.
“Then kiss me,” I say, my voice clear as a bell. “I won’t stop you.”
AJ lets out a low breath and closes his eyes as he hangs his head.
“It’s not that simple, Bright Eyes,” he says, his voice full of something I can’t quite place, but sounds an awful lot like guilt.
I lean up, just enough to capture his gaze, waiting for him to close the remaining inch like I know he wants to. Like I want him to.
His thumb brushes over my bottom lip slowly, reverently almost. His dark gaze holds mine like a hostage, and I can taste the salt from his skin as he gently coaxes open my mouth with his thumb.
It’s slow and gentle in touch, but there’s nothing gentle about the look in his eyes or the way my dick hardens when he pushes his thumb into my mouth.
Without thinking, I wrap my lips around his thumb and suck before I kiss it, closing my eyes as my tongue grazes over the pad of flesh and it’s like something inside me awakens; like a monster emerging from a cave.
I grab his wrist, tightening my grip as I push his thumb into my mouth more and start to suck, laving my tongue around him with a deep groan.
“Fuck,” AJ hisses and then he pushes me back against the side of his truck.
My back hits the passenger door with a hard thud, but I don’t stop because I can’t. I keep licking, sucking, kissing his thumb as I groan because it tastes good and his curses are like a praise I didn’t know I needed.
His breaths are labored, and he removes his thumb from my mouth, and I catch my breath as I stare up at eyes I don’t know, but somehow… I do.
AJ’s brown eyes are full of heat, and his expression is anything but soft.
And neither is his mouth, when he crushes it against my own.