Chapter Twenty-Six Blaze
Chapter Twenty-Six
Blaze
Fire races through my veins as my words hang heavy between us. And I know that even if she says it, if she tells me to go, I won’t be able to walk out that door.
“I . . .” Her breath hitches, her blue eyes glittering with conflict. “I know I should. But I can’t.”
“Good, ’cause I’m not leaving.” Hot tingles dance over my skin.
I grab her around the waist and pull her close, devouring her lips with my own hungry ones.
My heart thrashes, my frenzied fingers tugging her robe open.
It pools on the floor at her feet. I slide my palm over her ass and squeeze, the pink fabric of her pajamas soft against my skin.
She pulls open my shirt, buttons flying into the air, then clattering onto the floor.
“So impatient,” I murmur against her mouth.
A choked mewl escapes when my fingers slip under her shorts and into her panties. Her head falls back against the wall, her back arching into me.
“Fuck, Savvie, you’re so wet for me.” I slip my fingers inside of her slick heat, and she clenches tight, riding them, pulling them deep. “Were you thinking about me? Did you want me to come here tonight? To fuck you again?”
“Yes,” she whimpers. “My God, yes.”
My fingers tangle in her hair, drawing her head back so I can assault her neck with my tongue. Her nipples pop through the pajama top, hard as glass, beckoning my lips, begging me to taste. I dip my head, capturing one in my mouth while I toy with the other one.
She pulls open my jeans, reaching into my boxer briefs.
Warmth floods me at her touch, her fingers gripping me tight, stroking me hard, making my ears explode with white noise.
I can’t think straight, the rush of anticipation flooding my mind, drowning out all of the reasons why this is a horrible idea.
But for now, I’ll take everything she is willing to give, because tomorrow . . . or the next day . . . or maybe the one after that . . . I will lose her.
Forever.
My breath hitches, cock throbbing with the need to be inside of her. “I need to fuck you, Savvie. Now.”
“So do it,” she breathes, her eyes half hooded, desire glimmering in the depths. “I’m yours, Blaze. I always will be.”
She speaks the words as if under a trance, and maybe if she wasn’t so lust-fogged, she might think the better of them. But they’re out there now, and fuck, they make me harder than steel.
I lift her into my arms, one arm snaked around her, the other pressed tight against her ass.
Once we’re at the top of the steps, I lower her to the floor, not breaking the kiss.
We slam into walls in the dark hallway, our mouths unable and unwilling to part.
Our tongues tangle and coil with heat and need as we strip each other bare.
The air is thick with the scent of sex and sweat and bad decisions.
Bad for her. Bad for me.
I squelch the thought, my body taking over for my mind, releasing me from all the silent protests.
Her breathless whisper is like a soothing balm.
“Fuck me, Blaze. Right here. Right now.”
I back her against the wall, a sharp hiss of breath escaping her lips. Then I grab one of her legs and lay it on my hip. My cock bobs at her slit before I drive into her, slick walls coating me in her warmth and need. Her choked cries pierce the silence as I bury myself inside her, balls deep.
Her nails lance my back, slicing into my flesh as my thrusts get harder and faster. A carnal fog consumes me, and suddenly, we’re back at Lover’s Bluff, fucking like two love- and lust-crazed teenagers without a care in the world outside of our private bubble.
I want so badly to be back in that bubble with her. And I’d do anything to keep it from popping.
“That sweet pussy is dripping for me. You didn’t come yet, did you, baby girl?” I mutter against her ear before capturing it between my teeth. “Because I didn’t say you were allowed to come yet.”
“No,” she rasps. “But I need to. Please, Blaze.”
“Please what?”
“Please make me come.”
I release her leg and back her into the bedroom, still inside of her. We collapse onto the bed, our bodies rocking against each other, skin pebbled with sweat. Her moans get louder and more insistent.
“Come now, baby,” I say. I drive deep and pull out slowly, tormentingly, agonizingly, to keep her writhing beneath me. “Lose yourself all over me.”
She screams. Her juices flow over me, drowning me in all she has to give. And I can’t hold back for another second. My brain short-circuits, and my body stills, the orgasm rumbling hard in my core right before I explode inside of her.
Seconds pass, our short, sharp breaths the only sounds in the otherwise still house. I collapse on the bed next to her, then fling an arm over my face.
“Holy fuck,” I say, barely able to hear my own words over the sound of my thundering heartbeat.
Savvie rolls into me, nestling into the crook of my arm, the spot she always loved.
“I guess it was good I didn’t send you away, hmm?” she asks.
I drop my arm around her shoulder. “I wouldn’t have left.”
Raising herself up on one elbow, she smirks at me. “Oh, so you’d have stayed anyway? Even if I told you I didn’t want you?”
I look at her. “I’d have known you were lying. That’s what we do, right? Call each other out on our bullshit?”
“Yeah.” She traces over the black ink covering my pec. “That’s what we do. Hey, when did you get this? It looks a little bit . . . sadistic, with all the barbs.”
I glance down at the image of the dove flying above an olive branch wrapped in barbed wire. “I got it overseas. It’s for my mom.”
Savannah’s brows furrow. “And the barbed wire means what, exactly?”
My eyes drop back to the tattoo. “All the danger she was surrounded by before she died. Things she didn’t know or realize. She’s the dove, and she’s flying because in death, she escaped it all.”
Savannah is quiet for a long minute. I can tell just by looking at her that she’s processing everything I just said. It’s more than anyone else in my life knows . . . except for my father. Not even Nash knows the full extent to which my dad jeopardized us all.
Mom died before any of it really came to a head, so she was at peace when she left this world. The barbed wire is my father, the evil that hovered around her until the day she passed.
“And your confrontation with your father at the hospital?” she finally asks. “Is that somehow related?”
“Yes.” And I wait to see if she’ll ask anything else. Part of me wants to finally let it out, but Savannah just stares at me like she knows better than to ask. So instead, she gently brushes her lips against the image like she knows the pain the memory causes me.
I hug her tighter, knowing that she’s too good for me but just not giving a fuck anymore.
Because I’m in love with this woman.
Hell, I never stopped loving her.
But if I tell her, then she’ll give up her life for a future with me. She’ll sacrifice everything because she’ll think love is enough, that it’s all we need to create a happily ever after.
It’s not.
So I keep my mouth shut and swallow down the words that will only make my next choice more devastating. I nod my head at the open laptop on the nightstand.
“Burnin’ the midnight oil?” I ask.
A smile plays at her lips. “Yes. I’ve been working on a business plan for Red Rock, and one of the streams of income will come from land rental for cattle grazing.
I have other plans, too, of course. But that is the most immediate one.
I managed to get a three-month sabbatical from my job, so I’ll have money coming in to prep the place for more cattle.
But I need the rental income to invest in other upgrades. ”
“You find anyone who’s interested in leasing the land?” I roll onto my side and prop myself up on my elbow.
“I did, actually. I have one renter who will have cattle delivered in a few weeks. Mikey, Randy, and Nash are working on some repairs to get things ready. I’m excited. This is the first step to making Red Rock profitable.”
“I’m proud of you. Your aunt would be too.” A swell of pride rises in my chest. I always knew she would do great things, and her talents on Red Rock would be a force.
Except there are too many people lurking and waiting for her to crumble.
Me included, while my head is held to the flame by my asshole keeper.
“Thanks.” She toys with the edge of the comforter. “Do you think you and Nash will ever find your way back? I mean, it’s crazy he’s held a grudge about our affair for so long. Seems so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, you know?”
“Yeah.”
Because Savvie still doesn’t know why it is against all odds that we’ll ever be friends again. Hell, he can barely look at me now, much less carry on a civil conversation.
So yeah. No shot in hell Nash will ever call me a friend again.
“Time heals all wounds, right?” I say.
Did it heal yours, Savvie?
I pull her close. She flings an arm over my chest, her head resting on my shoulder. It isn’t long before her breathing evens. I stroke the back of her head, the smooth, silky strands of hair between my fingers.
I want to stay here forever, holding her tight, protecting her from all of the sons of bitches out there looking to use or hurt her.
But instead, it’s me out in the pasture a couple of hours later, cracking one of the fence posts that was in need of repair so that the wood buckles and her cattle are free to escape from Red Rock.
Because what good is a cattle farm without cattle?
In the morning, when she calls me in a panic to help save the ranch from total and utter disaster, I’ll look at myself in the mirror and remind myself that the villain never gets the girl.
And let’s face it. I’m no hero.