“I’ll wait in here,” he said. “Smells good.”
“Thank you.” I went to the stove and grabbed the oven mitt while opening the door.
“What’re we having?”
I made the mistake of looking at him as I bent down, simultaneously reaching into the oven to pull the Prime Rib out, and the top of my hand hit the rack as I missed the pan. Hissing, I yanked my hand back.
I’d barely made it to a standing position when he grabbed my wrist and gently pulled me over to the kitchen sink. He turned on the tap and placed my hand under the cool water. He was examining my skin as though an alligator had tried to gnaw off my appendage versus just a small burn.
“It’s okay,” I said, patting his shoulder for lack of anything else to do. “I’m okay.”
“I’ll get it. Stay there. Keep that under the water.” He was over at the stove, pulling the meat out of the oven before I could argue.
I bit back a smile at his demands. They didn’t bother me at all because he was being commanding in a sweet way. Because he was worried that I’d hurt myself. I could tell by the way he was scowling. We may have only gone on a few dates, but I was already starting to be able to read his expressions, even if they mostly consisted of scowls, glares, and grim looks.
He set the pan down on top of the stove, tossed the oven mitt onto the counter, and came back over to me. “Feeling better?”
“Yes, thank you. It’s just a small burn.” I smiled up at him as I shut off the water. He looked like he wanted to argue, but I was already moving past him to save the rest of dinner before it burned on top of the stove. It only took about five more minutes of cutting the meat and plating everything before we were sitting next to each other at my dining room table.
“Oh! What happened?” I asked, leaning toward him and running a light touch over the dark bruise on his left forearm.
He looked down at it as if it was nothing more than an annoyance. His next words only confirmed that it was. “It’s nothing. Wasn’t fast enough to avoid a hit.”
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
His eyes locked onto me, reading the shock that was written on my face and he explained, “Training with my brothers. I wasn’t fast enough to avoid a punch and blocked it instead.”
“You guys must train hard…”
“We do.” He cut a bite of Prime Rib and put it in his mouth, then he froze and his eyes shut. Seeing the look on his face made my mouth go dry and completely distracted me from his injured arm. He groaned and my pulse leapt. Those pretty blue eyes opened, and he looked at me in surprise. “This is damn good.”
“Thank you.” It was all I could manage not to squeak the words out because now he was watching me like he wanted to eatme.Or maybe I was imagining things? The last time we'd been together he’d kissed me like he wanted me. I hoped my standoffishness hadn’t made him change his mind because I’d invited him over here to seduce him. Having made my mind up, I wanted to see where we could take things.
The original plan had been to wait until after dinner. Now I wasn’t so sure I wanted to. I searched his face, we were both quiet just watching one another. The words stuck in my throat. I wasn’t bold enough to tell him what I wanted, so I leaned over and kissed him.
His strong hand went to the back of my neck, keeping me in place as he deepened the kiss. He was always so damn demanding, and it made my heart pound. I wanted him to tell me what to do, to order me around, and make me his. That was what I liked in bed. But I wanted him to treat me well outside of it.
“Rae,” he groaned as he pulled back.
“Don’t stop,” I demanded.
His eyes narrowed as he searched my expression. “You’re sure?”
I nodded and bit my lip.
Instantly his hand returned to the back of my neck and he tugged me closer. Our lips were almost touching, and his warm breath fanned over my skin as he said, “I’m not going to stop unless you tell me to.”
He wasn’t going to hear those words from me. I closed the distance once more and pressed our mouths together. I didn’t get the chance to yelp as he dragged me out of my chair and sat me on his lap. The hard ridge of his cock pressed against me through his pants and I ground down.
“Rae,” he snarled as his mouth moved down my throat. “Fuck, you’re perfect.”
My hands were in his hair, pulling his mouth back up so I could kiss him again. We were both frantic and our kisses were wild. The sounds we were making should have embarrassed me, but I couldn’t think past what his lips and tongue were doing.
His large hand slid under my top and palmed my breast. The warmth of his touch was like a fire on my skin. Then his thumb was brushing over the hardened tip, making me whimper into his mouth. I broke the kiss and gasped, “Pyre.”
His arm went under my ass, holding my body against his as he stood up.
“The bedroom is-”
