“Did?” She quirked a brown eyebrow, smiling.
“Do,” I corrected my statement. “But that’s not why I’m nice. I like you, Mak. I like you more than any other woman I’ve ever spent time with. God, I sound like such a pussy saying those words, but I’m drawn to you.”
She moved her hand up my arm to my shoulder, giving me a closer look at her new ink. The words “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”werebarely visible in black ink on the underside of her forearm, hidden by the bandages. “I’m drawn to you too,” she whispered, like it was a secret neither one of us wanted to admit.
Using my weight, I pushed her onto her back, covering her upper body with mine. “I’m going to kiss you, Mak.”
“Okay,” she whispered, staring up at me with her green eyes flickering under the stars.
“I want to make love to you,” I replied, never having said those words to anyone else in my life. Sure, I’d wanted to fuck plenty of women in my time, but never anything tender and meaningful like I did with her in that moment.
“Out in the open?”
“Who’s around?” I asked, looking up and into the darkness. “I can’t see ten feet from us, and no one can see us either.”
She bit her lip and tilted her head, looking around the dark field. “That’s dangerous, Austin.”
“Darlin’, sometimes you need a little danger to remember how sweet life really is.”
Her face softened as I brushed a few hairs away from her cheek. “You’re going to break my heart, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Who says you’re not going to break mine?” I asked her before leaning in, placing my lips on hers.
Consequences be damned. I wanted her, and nothing else mattered in that moment. I’d rather have a little heartache than living with the regret of never being with her.
She moved her hands down my arms to my abs, sliding underneath my shirt. I flinched as her nails touched the edges of the protective bandage my brother had lectured me about keeping clean. She fisted the material of my shirt, pushing it up my back as I pulled my lips away from hers to allow her to remove it.
“You’re really pretty,” she whispered as her hungry eyes roamed down my chest.
“There’s nothing in this world more beautiful than you, Makenna.”
She smiled up at me, and our eyes locked. “You really know what to say to make a girl feel wanted.”
“I’ve never wanted anyone or anything more,” I admitted, gripping her hip with one hand as I took her lips again.
Her fingers found their way to the nape of my neck, her nails digging into my skin just enough to bite. I nipped at her plump lips, moaning every time she dipped her tongue into my mouth, circling mine.
I lowered my torso onto hers, immediately pulling back when pain radiated from my stomach. “Fuck,” I hissed, hating my dumb ass for the tattoo.
“Maybe we should wait,” she murmured against my lips. “Maybe we’re rushing this.”
I leaned forward, resting my forehead against hers. “I’ve never been good at waiting, Dynasty.”
“I don’t know if I can do this and then say goodbye to you, Austin. I’m not the type of girl that sleeps around. Giving myself to you is a big step, and I don’t want to ruin our friendship and whatever else this is or will be.”
I knew she was right, but my dick didn’t seem to agree. I rolled onto my back, pulling her with me and tucking her against me. “We can wait,” I said, sucking in a breath, trying to get my heart to stop pounding and my dick to calm down too.
“Are you mad?” she whispered into the darkness.
“For what?”
“Are you mad if we don’t have sex?”
I ran my fingers through her hair as it spilled down her back. “I could never be mad about something as important as this. Never.”
She placed her hand on my chest, tipping her head back to look at me. “Thank you.”
I kissed her forehead, letting my lips linger on her skin. “Thank you for coming home with me.”
