My dick really jams against my zipper. It’s because I’m stepping in close. The danger zone.
“Need another lift.”
She blinks up at me, her lips damp and lifted in a playful way, and I wonder for a beat if I’ve been played.
“Little girl,” I warn, wrapping one of the tendrils of her hair around my fingers, pulling her toward me with a gentle tug. “You’re playing with a dangerous weapon.”
“I’m tired of playing it safe all the time. Maybe a little danger would be good for me.”
She’s breathy, her color warm, her eyes scanning my expression. It takes every ounce of strength I have not to snatch her up and press her against the wall to positively ravish her.
“I’m on thin ice here, Liberty,” I rasp, close enough to breathe her exhales.
“Me too,” she whispers, licking her bottom lip. A shiver running through her.
My free hand settles on the wall above her head. “How is this game going to end, angel?”
“I don’t know…”
I’m terrified of what could happen.
Her hand rises slowly and she traces a single finger down the center of my chest stopping above my navel, pressing my T-shirt against the tense muscles there. “You tell me?”
I lean in.
She tips her chin up more to look at me and sends my heart into a complicated, completely abnormal rhythm.
“I’d like to fuck you, Liberty, but you deserve better than that.”
Her response isn’t verbal, but her breathing increases in depth and speed, and her eyes become dark, mostly pupil.
“I know you’ve had a rough go with men in the past,” I say in a quiet tone.
“A man,” she corrects. “Not men.”
For a second I process this. Is her fuckhead high school abuser the only man she’s ever been with?
“Has Justice taken care of him?”
“He’s in jail,” she says quickly, her gaze dropping from mine.
But I don’t let her go there, wherever that place is. I tip her chin up, holding her face in my palm. “That’s the past, sweetheart. Let’s leave it out of here. I’m not bringing my ghosts with me tonight.”
“Your girlfriend?”
I nod, tracing my thumb along her jaw. “It was my fault she died, and that’s one of the reasons I won’t cross the line with you, baby girl. You deserve?—”
“Happiness. Safety.” She plows right over my words.
How do I respond to that, because that’s exactly what I want to give Liberty.
“That’s right,” I reply hoarsely. “That’s all your brother wants for you too.”
“He’d lock me down for the rest of my life if he got his way.”
“No, he wouldn’t. He’d love to see you happy. He loves you fiercely, sweetheart.”
She blinks her eyes, starting to shine.
