Page 55 of Stuck with my Brother's Firefighter Besties

I walked toward him, closing the distance between us. “You don’t have to say anything. Just… be here with me.”

He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I’m here.”

I reached up, resting a hand on his chest. His heartbeat thudded beneath my palm, steady and strong, grounding me in a way I desperately needed.

“I’m still figuring all of this out,” I confessed. “But I know I feel something for you, Ryan. Something real.”

His eyes softened, and he covered my hand with his own. “You’re not alone in that.”

I tilted my head up, closing the gap between us. Our lips met in a kiss that was tender, unhurried. It wasn’t like the kisses we’d shared before, filled with heat and hunger.

This one was different. Gentle. Meaningful.

I let myself get lost in it, in him. His hands slid to my waist, pulling me closer, and I felt the tension in his body start to ease.

When we broke apart, I looked up at him, my fingers tracing the edge of his jaw. “Stay with me tonight.”

His eyes darkened, his breath hitching. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “I don’t want to be alone. And I don’t want you to be, either.”

He hesitated for a heartbeat, then nodded. “Okay.”

Ryan’s hand slid from my waist to the small of my back, his touch firm and steady. But his gaze—God, his gaze—was anything but steady. His green eyes burned with an intensity that sent a shiver racing down my spine.

I stepped closer, my hands finding their way to his chest, then sliding upward to his shoulders. His breath hitched, and I felt the muscles beneath my palms tense as if he were holding himself back.

“You don’t have to,” I whispered, barely able to hear my own words over the pounding of my heart.

His eyes searched mine, the tension in his jaw softening. “Don’t have to what?”

“Hesitate,” I said simply.

That was all it took.

He cupped my face with both hands, his thumbs brushing over my cheeks, and kissed me. This time, there was no holding back.

The tenderness from earlier morphed into something deeper, more consuming. His lips moved against mine with a hunger that made my knees weak, and I clung to him, letting him support my weight.

Ryan’s hands moved, sliding down my sides, his touch igniting a trail of heat wherever it landed. When his fingers splayed across my lower back, pulling me flush against him, I gasped into his mouth, and he took that as an invitation to deepen the kiss.

My hands found their way into his hair, tugging slightly, and he groaned… a deep, guttural sound that sent a fresh wave of heat through me.

The world outside ceased to exist. It was just us, tangled in each other, our breaths mingling as we lost ourselves in the moment.

“Lila,” he murmured against my lips, his voice rough with emotion. “Tell me if this is too much. If you want me to stop?—”

“I don’t want you to stop,” I cut him off, my fingers tugging at the hem of his shirt. “Not tonight.”

He didn’t need more encouragement. He pulled his shirt over his head in one swift motion, and I took a moment to marvel at him—the strong lines of his body, the way his skin glowed in the soft light.

But it was his eyes that held me captive, the way they looked at me like I was something precious, something worth fighting for.

Before I could answer him, his fingers edged my panties to one side, and he traced along my soaking wet slit. I gasped and bucked, my body already ready for him. It took every inch of my self-control not to wrap around him.

“You really like me?” I tossed my head back as he plunged a finger deep into me. “Oh fuck, you have no idea what you do to me too, Ryan.”

I was sure he didn’t need me to tell him that. He had to be well aware after everything that had happened between us. But he groaned in sheer ecstasy as I said those words, like they meant a lot to him.

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