Page 111 of The Fire We Crave

Smoke takes my hand and leads me farther into the corner of the clubhouse, where the pool table goes unused. He lifts me onto the green baize, so my back is to the few people who could see us where we are. “Finish your sentence,” Smoke instructs.

When he talks to me like that, I find it hard to do anything but. Especially when he just seated me on the place of my fantasies.

“Doesn’t it bother you that I liked it?”

He runs a knuckle down my cheek. “Sugar. What part of ‘whatever you need’ don’t you get? You and me, we aren’t like everyone else. We like the edge. We aren’t gonna have kids, or enjoy vanilla sex once a week if we’re lucky. We’re gonna enjoy all this. And we’re gonna trust my brothers. You think Ember and Raven are missing by accident? Your friends aren’t here because I asked my brothers to make sure they weren’t. And no one will ever tell them what happened after they left unless you want to.”

I feel that same clenching in my core. “And what’s that?”

“Your fantasy.” He taps the end of my nose with his finger. “Trust me. What’s your safe word, sugar?”

My throat is dry, and I have to swallow hard to answer. “Red.”

He slides his hands up my thighs and loops his fingers over the waistband of my panties. “And who’s your Dom?”

I smile at this. “You are.”

“And do you trust me to give you what you need right now?” I see the raw desire for me in his eyes. But I also see something more. Pride. That maybe because of who I am, just as I am, I’m enough for him.

Maybe even more than enough for him.

I glance over my shoulder. No one is watching us right now. At least, not directly or intently. But the mood in the room has shifted and changed into something…intense. And only male members of the club and club girls seem to remain.

“Did you plan this?” I ask.

“Not really. But the brothers know me well enough.”

“Is this something you’ve done often?” The thought puts a tiny nick in my blossoming confidence.

“Look at me, Quinn.”

I do as he says.

“Never with anyone who mattered. Never with someone I wanted to do it again and again and again with. Never with someone I could see a future with. Never with someone it meant more than just a quick fuck with. Never with someone who needed it. Never with someone I wanted to trust me at the most visceral level. Never with you, Quinn. And that’s all I want.”

I slide my hand around the back of his neck and tug his lips to me. “I trust you,” I whisper before we meet in a tender kiss.

His hands fist the elastic of my panties, pulling them tight against me, and I roll my hips on the contact.

“You’re gonna fucking kill me, sugar. Lift your hips.”

I do as he says, and he tugs my underwear down my legs.

“This pussy is mine. These panties are mine. You’re mine, Quinn. Every single thing about you is mine.”

I think about all the books I’ve read, how many scenes I’ve read where the man says things like this to his woman. “I love when you talk that way, Smoke.”

“Good, because we’re not leaving this pool table until you believe everything I said tonight.”

“I’ll believe it quickly,” I say, glancing over my shoulder again.

Catfish catches my eye and winks. He’s smiling, not at all sexual. Like it’s just another day in the clubhouse.

Somehow, it makes me feel…safer.

Smoke grins. “I’ll decide whether you believe it or not. And I’m going to need some persuading.”

He grabs my feet and places them on the edge of the pool table so I’m wide open to him. But then, he takes a moment to fix the hem of my dress so I’m not revealing anything to anyone but him.

---