“Em,please,” I choke out her name as my hands tighten around her throat. I’m certain that my expression is blank and lacking any of the emotions that are tearing my heart apart right now, yet hot tears streak down my cheeks.
Don’t let me do this again.
Her eyes narrow with sympathy before lifting her hand. For a moment I think she’ll caress my cheek, tell me something endearing, or even slap me. But she surpasses all that by brushing two fingers over my lower lip and shoving them into my mouth.
My brows raise with surprise.What the fuck are you doing, Em?But it’s working, I can feel the confusion and intimacy of her touch shifting the craving into different energy.
Emery hooks her fingers around my lower set of teeth and pulls down hard. A gasp escapes me as she brings me to my knees in one swift motion.
Pebbles stick to the palms of my hands and dig into my knees, but my focus is solely on her. She’s never been so forceful, and I swear to God it makes all the blood flow straight to my cock.
She must see the way my throat bobs as I swallow the excitement of what she could possibly have in mind for me.
“No more fear, Cameron. It won’t work anymore.” She speaks in a dark tone that sends chills tingling across my skin. I study her grave expression, realizing that maybe fear is all I ever wanted from people all along. That look of distrust and unknowing. Without the fear, it’s almost like it defuses the urge altogether.
Emery pulls her fingers from my mouth slowly, moving to brush back tendrils of my hair that had fallen over my forehead in my moment of disarray. I press my lips to the tender side of her wrist.
“Better?” she murmurs softly.
“Yeah, I’m still adjusting back to the pills after the break in doses. I should be back to normal in a day or two. It’s not nearly as bad as it used to be,” I promise her.
“Good. I’ll make sure to stick close to you then.” Emery nudges me playfully.
I don’t deserve this amazing woman.
I nod, into her hand, nipping at her thumb. A cheeky smile crosses her lips as her eyes dip down to my tented pants.
“Someonelikes being pushed around,” she says in that commanding voice I didn’t know I enjoyed so much. My dick throbs eagerly, and I have to suppress a groan.
“Don’t tease what you cannot tame, love,” I mutter. It comes out breathy, making a flicker of amusement flash through her eyes.
“You don’t think I can tame a feral thing like you?” She turns her back to me and starts walking away. I scramble to my feet to chase after her.
Emery glances over her shoulder, eyes piercing through me and spiking my heart rate. She lifts her hand up beside her face and motions her index finger suggestively for me to pursue her.
I swallow dryly as my dick throbs with the need to be inside her.
God, I bet she has no clue what she really does to me.
She casts a wink at me before breaking into a sprint toward the silver birch trees surrounding the fields circling the airplane hangar. I grin, licking my lips as I run after her. Her short hair dances in the wind behind her, and she lets out the cutest giggle as I gain on her.
Only she could take my mind from all the fucked-up shit in my life. Only she could make this smile hurt the way it does. I’ve never laughed the way I do with her. Never breathed as peacefully.
That’s what we do, isn’t it? She and I thrive in the worst of things. Like English primroses, blooming in the dead of winter when we’ve never known the warmth of the sun. Forcing our minds to focus on what little we do have, each other.
The branches snap and whack at us relentlessly as we crash through the heavy brush. I finally catch her, wrapping my hand around her wrist. She lets out a shrill and laughs as my chest collides with her back and we tumble to the ground.
The air stills and the leaves settle as the scent of birch consumes us. We’re both streaked with small cuts, our uniforms taking the most of it.
I roll us over so that she’s perched on my chest. Emery’s hair falls around my face, haloing her innocent expression as she stares down at me. My breaths slow as I take her in, mesmerized and stunned by how much each second with her means to me.
“This entire forest smells like you,” she murmurs as she brings her lips down to mine and softly brushes them together in an almost kiss.
The corners of my lips turn up as I try not to lean in and steal a kiss from her. “There’s no scent in the world that could match yours.” Her eyes flicker with all the colors of a burning sunset, her smile could ruin entire empires alone.
She parts her lips to say more, but I close the distance between us. Our hearts connect as our lips meet. “Thank you for saving me,” I whisper.
Emery presses her forehead to mine and rubs her nose over mine. “Someone has to.” I grin and she quickly kisses it away, deepening it with her tongue and earning her a low groan from the pit of my chest.
