15. Kira
15
KIRA
I ’ve always loved lightning.
Something about the violence, the burst of light in the sky, the roar, and the rain slamming into the window eased the wildness in me that only screaming in my garage did.
Which is weird.
Most of the time, I was—and am—jumpy. Afraid. That goes back to Bryce again, because when I was Kira Matheson, I was quiet, a little shy, but not jumpy.
The signed divorce form injected me with this burst of nervous excitement. I’ve lost count of how many times now I’ve checked to make sure it really is Bryce’s signature on it, and that I hadn’t just dreamed it up.
For the first time in the longest time, I’m excited about the future. I don’t know what it looks like, but there was no way I could go to sleep now that I’m free. Bryce isn’t dragging me back to Missouri. He’s letting me go.
Today is a miracle day I never believed would ever come. I intend to savor it for as long as possible.
The lightning drove me downstairs before I could change for bed. I was sitting on the porch steps, watching the light and listening to the rain, when Dom stepped out from the forest.
He told me to go, so why the hell aren’t I moving?
All I can do is stand on the porch as Dom, this naked perfect specimen of a man, stalks toward me with combustible levels of heat in the velvety brown eyes I spent more nights than I should have wishing I could drown in.
But this is no dream.
He’s here.
I’m here.
When Dom stepped out of the forest, all thoughts in my head emptied in a split second. It’s a miracle my legs supported me when I’d shoved myself to my feet.
But I can’t make myself walk away from him.
He stops at the bottom of the porch while I’m near the top, his heated stare holding me in place.
Droplets of rain cling to every inch of his powerful body. He was getting hard when he emerged from the forest. When he stops in front of me, I curl my fingers into a tighter ball, so I’m not tempted to touch him. His clothes are somewhere back there. I’d look, but that would mean I’d have to take my eyes off Dom, and I can’t do that.
He’s breathing hard as he takes the first step up the porch. "Go, Kira... if I touch you." He raises his right hand, and the tips of his fingers almost brush my cheek.
“What were you doing out there?” My whisper is barely audible with the violence of the storm ramping up.
Somehow, he hears me. “Running.”
“Why?” I breathe.
“I can’t get you out of my thoughts.”
Honestly, running naked in the middle of the storm sounds crazy. It has to be freezing cold. A part of me wonders if this is distraction through discomfort, or something he learned in the Marines.
“Because you’re a Marine?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “This is something else.”
In Missouri, he spent two months dodging me, then he joined the Marines. Yet, the moment I’ve arrived in Wylder, he’s bent over backwards giving me everything I might need and want.
“Did you mean what you said before? That you joined the Marines because of me?”
He nods, takes a deep breath and releases it. “For purely selfish reasons. I wanted something that was not mine to have. Except that thing was not a thing, but a person. A woman I wanted the first time I saw her.”
The memory of our first meeting slams into me.
I’m stepping out of Bryce’s car, cradling Aaron’s favorite macaroni salad. My eyes connect with Dom’s and his hand tightens around his bottle of beer.
Bryce offers Dom his hand, but Dom doesn’t seem to notice. He’s too busy staring at me. Then he wrenches his gaze away and takes the first opportunity to leave.
“Me?”
Dom said it before, and I refused to believe he would want someone like me. That years later, he still wants me.
He slowly nods.
He couldn’t get away from me in town.
So he went to war.
And I sent him care packages every month thinking I was helping. Instead, all I was doing was reminding him of me when he was trying to forget me.
"In Missouri, when I first met you, I wanted you.” What I’m about to admit isn’t right, but it’s the truth. “I told myself I was sending you the care packages because I didn’t want you to have nothing to open, but that isn’t why I sent them. My reasons were selfish. I wanted you. Not Bryce."
His eyes slam shut and a hard tremble shakes his body.
Concerned, I take a step toward him. "Dom?"
He wrenches his eyes open. Anguish fills them.
I ask a question I think I already know the answer to. "If I hadn't married Bryce, Would I have been with you all this time?"
After the longest second in the world, he nods. “Yes.”
I drop my head, hiding the tears I want to shed.
"Kira?"
I lift my chin.
His hand is still there, hovering between us.
I take a step down the porch and the tips of his fingers brush my cheek. He swallows hard, Adam’s apple bobbing.
“I don’t want to go inside.”
“You don’t?”
I shake my head and take another step down. We’re as close as we can be without standing on the same step. There’s no way we could do that with what’s nudging my lower belly.
“Kira…” he breathes, sounding tortured. “I can’t walk away from you this time.”
“So don’t.”
He never looks away as he wraps his arms around me and lifts me as if I’m a feather pillow. There’s not the slightest hint of strain on his face. “Wrap your legs around me.”
“And then?” I bite off a moan when the action brings my core flush against his cock.
His eyes dip to my mouth. “I make love to you.”
“Oh?”
He’s leaning toward me when a bark of laughter from behind me makes me panic. Dom is naked. I’ve got my legs wrapped around his hips, and we are in full view of anyone who ventured out here. “I don’t want?—”
He’s already moving us to the side of the door. I have my back to the wood when the footsteps heading this way slow then veer away. Almost like the person knew we were out here and wanted to give us privacy.
Dom never takes his eyes off me as I wait for whoever it was to leave.
I have my palms resting on the tops of Dom’s shoulders for support, and he has his hands clasped around my waist. I don’t care that he’s wet all over, rain water soaking through the expensive clothes he bought for me.
Our lips touch, then cling, and I stop caring about anyone finding us out here at all.
When Dom moves, I don’t stop kissing him. He wraps an arm around my back as a door creaks open. Then it snicks shut again. And we’re going up. Dom must be dripping water all over the place. I shouldn’t still be kissing him in case we fall down the stairs, but neither of us breaks away.
When my back settles on a soft, familiar surface, I realize where we are. His room, and he just laid me down on his bed.
Behind him, the door is closed and the overhead light off, with the lamp on the bedside table, the only source of illumination. Shadows dance over his body, and he looks so strong, but also beautiful. There’s a softness in his gaze that makes it impossible to take my eyes off him.
Somehow, he wants me. I don’t know why someone as handsome and kind as Dom would want me, but I am eternally grateful that he does.
A soft smile lifts one corner of his mouth and I trace the curve with my finger.
“What are you thinking?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Just lucky to be here with you.”
“Not nearly as lucky as I feel, Kira.” His next kiss is brief, and he pulls away, straightening. “I need to get clean for you.”
I slowly sit up. “Do you?”
His eyes slide down my body, linger on my breasts, and he licks his lips. I feel the effect of that way down low, and his nostrils flare before he takes a deliberate step back. “I’ll be right back.”
“I don’t mind.” Sitting up, I glance down at my body. “My clothes are wet already.”
The material clings to my skin.
When Dom doesn’t respond, I peer up at him.
His eyes are hungry, but he makes no move toward me or even to leave. “I shouldn’t be doing this, Kira. You deserve someone else. Not me. I’m not the man you think I am.”
The agony in his voice does something to me. Makes me feel brave. Sex was something Bryce wanted. But this? With Dom?
I get to my feet and bridge the distance between us. “You are exactly the man I think you are.”
“Kira…”
I kiss his throat. A soft, light touch. It drags a groan from deep in his chest and he clasps my arms. Not to pull me away. He holds me there, his breathing ragged as I kiss him again, little sipping kisses over his throat, his jaw. But it isn’t enough.
“You are exactly the man I want.” I angle downward.
His hands tighten on me, though not hard enough to bruise. “Kira?”
“Yes?” I press a kiss on his pecs, another just below his nipple.
He groans, his touch loosening as I traverse every bit of damp skin I can.
When I’m on my knees in front of him, he’s breathing so hard, the veins in his neck popping out in sharp relief.
“You don’t have to do this,” he breathes.
I hold his gaze. “You think I’m doing this because I have to?” I kiss his tip, softly. “Since you stepped out of the forest, I wanted this.”
There isn’t one part of Dom I don’t want to touch. Or taste. I run my tongue over him, and then I draw him into my mouth, needing him to want me as much as I want him.
A muffled curse. Fingers clench in my hair and I look up as Dom’s head falls back, and he chokes out my name. “Kira! Fuck.”
I pull away, draw in a breath, hold it, and swallow him again.
His hand tightens to almost pain levels as he thrusts into my mouth, groaning my name. And then… Well, I’m not sure what happens next. I have no memory of seeing Dom move.
But I’m flat on the bed the next moment. Dom’s kiss is desperate, his hands dragging my panties down, and dress up. Frantic.
His mouth is on my throat. I feel the slight graze of his teeth, and I tilt my head back, offering it to him for more kisses. More grazes. More of whatever he’s doing that’s sending electric shockwaves through me.
“Dom,” I moan.
His hands grip my hips and he surges into me as his teeth bite down.
My back arches, a scream tears from my throat as suddenly, my body comes apart around him. I don’t know what did it. That bite. His sudden entry, or the way he stretches me like I’ve never been stretched before. My body is still rippling as he swipes his tongue over my throat and starts thrusting.
A desperate groan accompanies each heavy thrust, and I cling to him as we rock together, filling the room with the sound of our moans.
The pressure builds again between my thighs as I wrap my legs around his back, changing the angle. Dom pounds into me, slanting his mouth over mine in a hungry kiss as another climax crashes into me.
He swallows my scream as I buck against him.
Dom gives no sign this is even close to being over. He drives into me, his hands on my hips. It’s like he can’t get enough of this. And me.
I slump into the bed, struggling to breathe as he finally slows, long minutes later.
He’s still twitching, straining to go deeper as my eyes flutter closed and my head sinks onto the pillow.