Chapter Fourteen #2
I swallow, hard, the words heavy on my tongue as I speak.
“What if I miss?”
“You won’t,” he says.
“But I always miss,” I say, my voice shaking because it’s taking way too much concentration to try and focus on anything but how his dick feels against my ass right now, and how his body molds to mine.
“What’s your favorite color?” he asks, moving the stick lightly across my knuckles.
It’s a strange sort of combination of gentle and firm that I can’t explain, but it feels good in a way that is beyond words.
I can smell his smokey-cedar scent mixed with the bitterness of beer, and the heat radiating off of him.
“B-blue,” I say, as he whispers in my ear.
“Do you trust me?” he asks.
Something about the way he asks feels different. It’s not so much a demand or even a question, but like a promise. A vow.
“Yes,” I say without hesitation. “Of course, I trust you.”
How could I not trust a man who pulled me from a burning building and saved my life? How could I not trust the man who stepped in to protect me?
“Hold tight.” He presses against my stomach. “Take a deep breath.”
I do as he says, and then let it out just like he says. “Aim for the blue.”
I set my gaze and position my stick, my heart in my throat.
“For every ball you score, I will make you come.”
My entire body flushes with heat, and I swear, my body moves of its own accord. I hear the snap and crack of the balls splitting, racing across the table.
Click.
Click.
Click.
I blink as AJ chuckles, smacking my ass lightly, and I stand up straighter, nearly dropping the pool stick. He pulls out not one, not two, but three striped balls.
“How…”
“Told you that you wouldn’t miss,” he says, grabbing his stick.
I watch with bated breath as he takes his stance, props his round ass out, squares his shoulders and sets his gaze on his target before he glances up at me.
Click.
I realize that as he stares at me, he’s already hit his target.
And scored a shot.
Jesus, that is so fucking hot.
He sets the pool stick down as I set my stance, square my shoulders, and choose the red, this time. It goes into the pocket easily.
AJ and I play two more games, of which he wins all three, but I can’t help but feel like I’ve still won, somehow.
“Well, this was fun,” I say as we exit Reed’s; the cool autumn air kissing my skin. AJ hunches his shoulders forward as he slides his hands in his jeans pockets.
There’s a weird tension between us, and my head feels dizzy, though I know it’s not the alcohol. I think it’s just him.
“I’ll walk you,” he says. The words are firm. Solid.
There’s no argument.
“Okay,” I say with a shrug.
I slide my hands into my pockets and head down the street. AJ flanks my side, keeping with my pace, and neither of us say a word; that silence between us building into a heavy lull.
When we get to my block, to the streetlight, we stop.
I move a little closer, stealing a glance at AJ’s dark, shadowed gaze. Underneath these lights, he looks different; older, maybe.
The words come without warning.
“How old are you?”
AJ smirks. “Why, do you have a Daddy kink I don’t know about?”
I laugh. Really fucking laugh.
“I don’t think so.” And then I see the stern, almost serious look on his face.
“Wait, is that your—”
“No. Not quite,” he says, taking a step closer. The crickets chirp as the wind whistles, and despite how chilly it is out here, all I feel in this space between us is heat.
“Forty-one,” he says carefully.
I raise an eyebrow. “Wow, you look great for forty-one then, because I thought you were like… thirty.”
He laughs a deep, full-bodied belly laugh, and within seconds, I can’t help but laugh too.
“Wow… you really know how to stroke a man’s ego. Shit.”
I blush because his words make me think back to our pool game, his stance behind me as he pressed his dick against my ass while trying to teach me how to shoot.
The words fall out of me without a second thought, and the minute I say them, I know I’m well and truly fucked, because there’s no way I’m going to forget them.
“That’s not all I’m good at stroking.”
AJ’s eyes alight with interest, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink that makes my stomach flip and I can’t help but grin.
“Yes, well, that may be true, but your aim could use some work,” he says and I let out a low laugh, feeling the tension dissipate between us.
I like him like this. Relaxed. Sexy. Playful.
I want more of this AJ.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him back to my room, but I’ve never done anything like that before. Made the first move.
But I want to. I just… don’t know how.
I take a deep breath and count to six, and take another step forward. I settle my stance, placing one hand against his chest. My gaze drifts up to his, holding it steady.
AJ looks at me with shadowed eyes as he bites his lip.
It’s a strange sight, because it feels so unlike him.
AJ is unlike anyone else I’ve ever met.
It’s maddening how this man can make me so flustered, so aggressive, and yet so…
Submissive.
The word awakens something inside me, like the moon awakens the sun.
A rush of confidence culminates inside of me as I realize that this infuriatingly sexy, bossy, dominant firefighter who drives me wild is standing before me, is capable of being submissive, too.
And that gives me the courage I thought I didn’t have.
I don’t think. I just do it.
I lean up and carefully graze my lips over his, and I kiss him.
AJ doesn’t hesitate or jump.
He doesn’t push me away or tell me to stop. His lips move slowly against mine and are just as soft as I remember, but somehow so much sweeter than I remember.
I settle my hands on his hips and pull him closer.
He stumbles a bit, but braces his hands on my shoulders and deepens our kiss, opening his mouth for me.
I slide my tongue into his mouth, pulling him against my body, needing to feel the weight of his body, his thick arousal, the heat of the fire our bodies make when we collide.
AJ breaks away, slowly, but he doesn’t move from my grasp.
“Good night, Nate,” he says, his voice warming me from the inside out.
“Good night, AJ,” I whisper, as he slowly backs away, leaving me on the sidewalk once again, hard, and wanting.
And I’ve never felt more alive.