That broke somethin’ in me. I closed the last inch between us, my hand slidin’ up her spine, the other threadin’ into her hair.
“You think I don’t feel the same?” I whispered against her lips. “You think I don’t wake up at night pissed at myself for wantin’ you like this?”
Her breath ghosted over my mouth, shaky and warm. “Then why—”
I cut her off with a kiss.
Not gentle. Not soft.
A collision. Heat and ache and all the twisted emotion between us finally snappin’ loose.
She kissed me back like she’d been drownin’ and I was the only air left in the world. And when she moaned into my mouth, hands fisting in my cut, I knew whatever line we’d been walkin’ just shattered beneath us.
The kiss deepened, turned hungry fast, her fingers draggin’ down my chest, catchin’ in the hem of my shirt like she needed somethin’ to anchor herself to. I didn’t give her time to second-guess it. Didn’t give myself the chance either.
My hands gripped her hips, walked her back until her spine met the rough bark of a pine. She gasped as her back hit it, the sound swallowed by my mouth as I kissed her again, deeper this time, slower, but no less desperate.
She made a sound in her throat that wrecked me—somethin’ soft and wanting—and I felt her body press up, seeking more contact, more friction, more of me.
“You sure about this?” I murmured against her skin, my lips brushin’ down the side of her neck, slow and heated. “Because if I don’t stop now, I’m not gonna.”
She didn’t answer at first. Just arched into me, her breath warm in my ear as her hands slid beneath my shirt, palms flat against my stomach.
“Do Ifeelunsure?” she whispered, her voice breathless, shakin’.
That was all it took.
I claimed her mouth again, rougher this time, all heat and hunger and days of frustration burnin’ through me. Her legs parted without hesitation, and I stepped between them, one hand slidin’ beneath the hem of her shirt to feel the soft, bare skin of her waist.
She trembled when I touched her—whether from nerves or want, I didn’t know, didn’t care. My thumb stroked slow circles just beneath the line of her ribs, and when she moaned again—quiet but wrecked—I bit down gently on her bottom lip before releasin’ it.
“You don’t know what you do to me,” I muttered, forehead pressed to hers. “You think this is just lust?”
“I pray it isn’t,” she said, breathless.
My hands slid up, dragged her shirt with them, barin’ her inch by inch to the cooling night air and my heat. She raised her arms without a word, and I pulled the shirt over her head, lettin’ it drop to the forest floor.
Moonlight kissed her skin—pale, smooth, perfect—and I took a second just to look, to drink her in.
She reached for me next, yankin’ at my cut and t-shirt, until I let her pull them off, her hands skimmin’ up my chest like she’d been starving for this touch, for me.
Our mouths met again—hot, open, unrestrained—as I pressed her back to the tree and let my hands roam. Her nails scraped lightly down my back, draggin’ a groan from deep in my throat. I kissed down her neck, across her collarbone, tastin’ the salt of her skin, the heat of her pulse, the way she gasped when my mouth brushed lower.
There was nothing gentle left in me—just need. And her.
And the feel of her body against mine in the dark.
The forest seemed to vanish around us, no wind, no night sounds, only the press of breath and heat and skin.
I dragged my mouth down her chest, bitin’ just enough to make her squirm beneath me, just enough to leave a mark. Her fingers tangled in my hair, holding me there like she didn’t want to let go—or maybe couldn’t.
“You feel this?” I murmured against her neck, my voice soft, dangerous. “This is what you do to me.”
Her only answer was a sharp intake of breath when my hand slid beneath the waistband of her shorts, knuckles grazin’ soft, sensitive heat. Her thighs tensed around my wrist, but she didn’t stop me, only let her head fall back against the tree, lips parted, chest heaving.
I kissed her throat, her jaw, then caught her mouth again—open, frantic. She was already so close to breakin’ and I hadn’t even undone a single button.
Her hands tore at my belt with tremblin’ fingers, desperate, impatient. I grabbed her wrists, pinned them above her head against the tree with one hand.
