Page 33 of Smoke

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered, planting kisses on my cheeks, along my jaw. Healing me.

“You could never hurt me,” I whispered as I closed my eyes and let my head fall back in abandon.

His arms slid around my waist and held me fast while he explored the sensitive skin of my throat—his chuckle vibrated there.

“I wouldn’t bet on it, if I were you.” The grip around my waist tightened, like a warning. “I would never want to hurt you. Let’s put it that way. I’d never hurt you on purpose, and I’ll do everything I can to be sure I never do it accidentally.”

I kissed him with a smile—it was bliss, perfection, exactly the way we were meant to be. In each other’s arms, touching and smiling and kissing, just us. Our little world.

“I trust you.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.”

“The dragon.”

He nodded. “Mm-hm.”

“You seem pretty well in control right now.” In my heart of hearts, I wouldn’t have minded if he let go a little. I wanted to see how far he could take me. Take us.

He winced. “I’m holding on by the skin of my teeth.”

And something flashed behind his eyes, something I had never seen before. The dragon was in there, seething, straining to be free.

My breath caught. Goosebumps covered my skin.

He was only keeping the dragon at bay for my sake. I wondered what would happen if he let it have what it wanted…

A knock on the door put those thoughts on hold, and Smoke groaned. “I’ve been waiting weeks for this…”

I chuckled. “We can wait a little while longer, right?”

The knock turned into a bang.

That got my attention.

Smoke’s, too. He sat me on the bed and motioned for me to stay put.

“Yes?” he called out, deep and gruff.

“Housekeeping.”

Only it wasn’t housekeeping. I recognized the deep, angry voice.

Smoke closed his eyes and sighed, tilting his head back.

“Son of a bitch, how did you find us?” He swung the door open to reveal Pierce’s furious glare.

Gate was behind him.

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” Pierce growled.

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