Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“That went up quicker than I expected,” I announced, blowing out a breath.
After exiting Bellamy House, I’d been ferried across the road to the neighbouring paddock where June and Dax were waiting.
We’d climbed into the tray of Dax’s ute, just like the time he and I had done surveillance in the same location.
Except this time, instead of the house looming over us, it was crumbling in front of our eyes.
Now all that remained were the back and side walls of the lower level, and the blackened skeleton of the framing.
It looked like the dark bones of something long dead—finally exposed.
The house that had masqueraded as a place of care was revealed for what it truly was.
The next step was to bulldoze and dispose of the remains, though that wouldn’t happen for weeks.
There was more training scheduled first, more teams coming in to investigate and determine the cause of the flames.
“Hell of a show,” Dax replied, his legs dangling off the edge of the ute and his arms folded against the cold. “You were a hell of a show.” He smiled, looking back at me where I sat leaned against the cab window wrapped in his two wool blankets.
I took my eyes off the remains of the house and met his gaze. “You think?”
He nodded. “Did I tell you how much I enjoyed your outfit?”
I chuckled, looking down at the red fabric doing precisely nothing to shield me from the early morning chill. “Oh yeah? I think some of the cadets might’ve disagreed. And Mayor Akari. And Denis.”
“What do they know? And I definitely wasn’t the only one enjoying it.”
I waggled my eyebrows and shuffled over to sit beside him, our legs swinging together off the tray. “Well, they’ve got good taste—what can I say?” I laughed. “The mayor does too.”
“You think so?” he chuckled.
“I do.”
Noticing the cool box for the first time, I opened it to find it full of beer. I wanted a magic bag like that—except one that produced money and lip balm on command.
I twisted the caps off two bottles and handed one to Dax.
He raised his in a toast. “To new beginnings.”
I smiled, clinking mine against his. “And trying something new.”
Our eyes locked for a few moments before I couldn’t handle the sensations building in my body.
A quick peek at Dax’s digital watch told me it was after 4 a.m. We were long since the last people here. June had left as soon as she was sure the house wouldn’t survive the blaze. Most others had left at eleven when the main event had wound down.
I couldn’t go. Not yet. I wanted to see the sun rise on its bones.
“Hey isn’t your shift finished?” I asked, bumping his shoulder.
Dax glanced at his wrist. “Four hours ago.”
“What? You stayed all this time?”
“I told you I’d be here after,” he said with a shrug.
Our eyes connected, and he reached forward to stroke his thumb across the dimple on my left cheek.
“Perfect,” he whispered.
Warmth oozed into my belly, and our bodies leaned into one another like magnets. But before I gave in to it, I had a pesky bit of conscience I needed to clear.
“Dax, I…” I hesitated, nibbling my bottom lip. “I sort of kissed someone the other day. I’m not even sure why I’m telling you except…”
His eyes held mine as I fumbled for words.
“I just want to be honest. I want to start this...” I cleared my throat. “Whatever this is… the right way.”
His mouth twitched. “Are you planning on doing it again?”
I shook my head.
“Good,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Now let’s go back to that bit about starting something.” His mouth was curving, and it reminded me of the day we met. Except this time it lit up his whole damn face.
I leaned in, and before any awkwardness could overcome me, he filled the space between us as our lips pressed together, softly at first, then deeper. Fuller. Like every unspoken emotion from the past couple of months was being laid on the table.
My hand framed his jaw, tangling in his hair as his hand dropped down my body to my waist. That glorious spot on my waist. Pulling our bodies closer together as our tongues danced around each other.
A sigh escaped my lips between kisses, and I pushed him flat onto the tray as my legs straddled either side of his hips.
Dax held me with his arm for a moment, taking the beer from my hand and stacking both of ours beside the cool box.
Sliding his large hand behind the small of my back and squeezing me to him, he flipped us over so that it was his body that lay over mine.
My lips curved into a smile, and in any other scenario I would have flipped us again to take control back, but it didn’t feel necessary with him.
Dax’s lips moved to my earlobe, which he sucked into his mouth making glorious promises of ecstasy with his tongue. Had I ever found that mouth annoying? Impossible.
I gasped as my jaw tingled with his kisses that flowed over my throat. My legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer to me, and I thanked the universe again for his sweatpants. They allowed me to feel the length of his erection beneath them as I pulled him closer to me.
One of Dax’s hands slid beneath the top of my dress, and I felt its slight tremble. Remembering what he'd overcome only made me want him more. He pulled one of breasts out, and a moan of anticipation escaped me as I felt his hot mouth envelope it and his tongue slid over my firm nipple.
I found an appreciation for the smoothness of his office hands as he massaged the other one, and I tipped my head back at the tingling pleasure as pressure built low in my pelvis.
My hands wanted to explore his body. All of it.
All the places I’d fantasised about since the day I’d seen him walk into Steamy Sips.
My fingers found the bottom of his t-shirt, and he groaned as they trickled down his stomach, counting one, two, three, four, five, six abs before tracing past his belly button to follow the line of hair.
“Are you open to getting a DNA test done?” I panted, not allowing my hand to stray where it wanted to.
“Excuse me?” Dax paused, looking down at me.
I tried not to groan at how erotic this was—my breast bare in the moonlight, next to his mouth.
“Like one of those ancestry things people do,” I explained. “So I know we’re not related.”
He snorted. “No need.”
“Oh?”
“My whole family did one a few years ago, before my gran’s eightieth. She was big into the family tree thing.”
He rested his chin on his hands—still on my boobs, keeping them warm—and I tried not to overthink whatever double chin angle he was getting.
“She mapped out both sides of our family back to the fifteenth century,” he continued. “In this case, I’m not sorry to say—you didn’t make the list.”
“Oh,” I breathed, relieved.
I hadn’t told Dax everything I’d uncovered over the past few weeks. But I would. When I was ready. And I got the sense that he was okay waiting.
He was an in-the-moment kind of guy.
And I was very here for that.
“So, we’re definitely not related?” I asked, flicking a strand of brown hair off my face.
“We’re not related,” he nodded, brown eyes full of mischief as he traced a fingertip around my nipple, causing my back to arch.
“Well, in that case,” I grinned, pulling his face up to mine as he laughed into our kiss.
My phone started vibrating somewhere within the folds of my dress, and I groaned. Last time I left that bloody thing on my body, I swear.
“Ignore it,” Dax whispered, grinding his pelvis against mine, and my breath caught in my throat.
The warmth in my pelvis threatened to engulf us both.
My phone continued to vibrate as Dax wriggled his way down my body, pushing up the skirt of my dress as he slid his hands up my thigh. His mouth pressed kisses as he moved.
He kissed my hip bone and then grazed his lips across my white underwear as he moved to skim the other side. Could a person explode with desire? Because I was pretty sure I was going to.
He licked softly along my bikini line, and I filled my hands with his hair, guiding his face closer to my core. Thank God I’d worn underwear without holes tonight. His chuckle vibrated against me, sending a ripple over every sensitive inch.
He looped a finger into the waistband and gently pulled the fabric aside. A low rumble formed in his chest.
“Beautiful,” he rasped, before devouring me with his tongue, coaxing a whimper from my throat.
I tried to ignore my phone that was vibrating again as I rocked my pelvis beneath Dax’s face, my thighs dropping wider. Damn it, Rick—pick another time for your anxiety. I didn’t need to check to know it was him.
The pressure had me right on the edge already, and Dax picked that moment between my shallow breaths to slow the movements of his tongue.
Every stroke became slow and firm. My back arched again as he slid a finger inside me, moving it as agonisingly slow as his tongue.
As his strokes slid deeper inside, he sucked my core into his mouth and my body convulsed with pleasure.
My toes curled, as did my fingers in his hair, as everything else in the world disappeared.
It was Dax and me and the moon. Everything inside me released with the pulsing waves as I moaned and rocked against him. He held my thighs open as they tried to collapse around him, and he continued his soft movements, much smaller now as my body shuddered against him.
"God, you turn me on," he groaned, kissing my thighs.
I stretched my hands above my head as Dax rearranged the blankets and moved to lie beside me. His eyes still danced with pleasure, and I longed to return the favour, but my phone vibrated again. I reached for it with an exaggerated groan.
“Incapacitated,” I snapped into the speaker, before hanging up. He’d get the message. No clam-jamming allowed.
Dax leaned on one elbow, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I interlaced our fingers, still high on the aftershocks pulsing through my body. He shook the phone from my hand and kissed my wrist softly.
I was used to sex being fast, hard, and usually with someone I hoped never to see again.
Dax’s kisses were slow, deliberate, and searching.
The way he looked at me as I tugged his sweatpants and boxer briefs down in one motion made me think this was something different.
And while the thought terrified me to my core, the overwhelming desire to see this through with him filled every cell within me. Even the afraid ones.
“Dax?” I whispered into his lips as I tugged my hand up and down his hard length, enjoying the way his breath shook out with each stroke.
“Mmm?” he groaned, breathing his next growl into my mouth between kisses.
“I don’t want this to be a one-time thing,” I whispered, grateful he couldn’t see the flush of my cheeks in the darkness.
His eyes flashed open as he pressed his forehead to mine, cupping my jaw with his hand. “Baby, this was never going to be a one-time thing. I’m glad you finally figured that out.”
With that, I was pulling him on top of me, tugging my dress above my waist as he slid my knickers down and reached for a condom from his wallet. I guided him to me, but he hovered at my entrance, flashing that devastating smile.
“One day soon,” he whispered, “you’re going to believe me when I say you’re perfect.”
I snorted. “You don’t know everything about me yet.”
“Ry, we’re all so much more than our secrets,” he whispered, allowing the very tip of his erection inside me. I groaned at the contact, as my eyes fluttered shut.
“Open your eyes,” he growled, one palm cradling my cheek. I looked at him, desperate to have him inside me.
“I want you here with me,” he said, his forehead resting against mine. “Right here.”
“I’m here,” I whispered—and I was. I wasn’t numbing myself, wasn’t disappearing into fantasy. I was right here with Dax Holmes, feeling an awful lot like one half of a couple.
“Good,” he growled into my ear as he ploughed his entire length deep inside me.
I sucked in a breath, adjusting to the sensation of him filling my walls as he took long thrusts, nearly coming all the way out with each slow stroke.
I pulled one of my knees up to allow him to get a deeper angle, and he grunted with the sensation.
“I’m not going to last very long,” I moaned, realising how close I was to the edge of an orgasm again as I rocked against him. This man. It wasn’t just about the sex; it was this man that had my insides turning into fireworks.
Dax’s deep voice chuckled low in my ear as he pressed deeper inside me, my walls already beginning to flutter against him.
“Honey, I’ve been wanting to make you come since you threatened to murder me in a wood chipper. We’ve got forever to enjoy it.”
His lips sucked rough kisses along my neck as he thrust deeper inside me again. My back arched, and I pulled myself to him, our bodies moving together as I hugged him close.
“Forever?” I moaned out a breath and enjoyed the way Dax growled at the sound.
“Got a problem with that?” he asked, reaching a hand behind me, rubbing a finger around the entrance of my ass, pressing it against the sensitive skin and undoing any control I had left.
I shook my head as the walls of my world began closing in around me. Dax groaned, increasing his pace as he felt my muscles pull tightly around him.
“Riley—” he grunted.
“Come for me,” I whispered as I hugged him closer than I’d ever hugged another human, shuddering through my own orgasm.
Everything in Dax clenched me tighter, moved harder against me until he began to jolt forward too.
I rocked my hips against his, milking his orgasm as he groaned and a fresh wave of ecstasy hit me.
Was this what sex with someone you really cared about felt like?
We moved together, as close as any two humans could be, until gradually the waves passed and Dax chuckled, his body still curved over mine and his head lolling at my ear. He raised his head to look at me again before peppering kisses across my eyebrows.
“If you keep doing that, we’ll have to do this all over again,” I teased, pulling his lips down to mine.
“Promise?” he mumbled, still inside me. I wiggled beneath him, and he groaned again.
“What do you think you’ll do with the place now?” he asked a while later, his arms still wrapped around me, the early light colouring the horizon.
“Do you know Mark Arjay from Sotheby’s?”
“The flashy fella? Yeah, I do.”
“He reckons the council will be keen to buy the land back, since most of the street is theirs. He’s eyeing a nice commission if they agree to my clause.”
“You and your clauses,” Dax chuckled. “What is it this time?”
I smiled, watching the sky blush. “A memorial.”