Page 70 of Fool Me

I give her some of my weight, letting her feel all the not-so-nice things I want to do with her. Her palms flatten against my chest like she’s not sure whether to push me away or pull me closer. I grit my teeth knowing I shouldn’t have escalated this without asking. “You okay?”

“Uh, huh,” she mumbles, her hands smoothing up and around until they are locked behind my neck, cementing her consent and our positions. “Very okay.”

“Don’t mistake my respect for you as me being some fumbling boy. Remember, retribution was part of my motivation to help you with this plan. My brother and I are different at the core, but that doesn’t make me a saint.”

“No, it doesn’t,” she says with a flare of confidence that I expect from her. “What are you doing, Atlas?”

Not Doc, not City Boy, not some other nickname that she uses to keep distance between us because this is supposed to be fake.

“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly.

What started off as playful feels anything but. I can’t stop thinking about her and it’s not just because her beauty makes my chest ache every time I see her. The way I want her has nothing to do with my brother or our reasons for starting this. It’s because, in the last month, she’s become my closest friend.

Without her steady presence, I think I’d still be stuck on what everyone else thinks about me—still stuck in the past and on a revenge that is pointless. What I want hasn’t changed, but Harlowe’s helped me see I can be the vet that Timberline Peak needs no matter what people think. She’s shown me that I don’tneed anyone’s approval to live my life here. They can talk. I don’t care.

All I care about is what she thinks about me.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

HARLOWE

“Can I kiss you?” His voice is low, steady, sure of what he’s asking. There’s no audience, no pretense. Just us.

Knowing my answer has the power to shift our entire dynamic changes nothing. I want him for me, just because he’s him. Deep down, I need to know if our chemistry can withstand normal circumstances, or if the unending need I feel for him is manufactured by the thrill of what we’re doing.

In my heart, I think I already know the answer, but my practical brain needs certainty. Now that I’m positive he won’t bail and back away, I let my hand wander from the hold I had on him. The dim light from the TV makes his amber eyes glow, combined with the rough stubble of his beard under my fingers, he looks and feels a little dangerous. Like what he’s been telling me all along about not being the “good brother” might be true, because if the way he’s watching me is anything to go by, he looks like he’s about to devour me whole.

And I’m ready to sate his hunger. “Without a doubt, yes,” I breathe.

He doesn’t go straight for my mouth like I thought he would. His lips tip in a smile before he drops them to my neck. “Been dreaming about this for weeks.”

I hum because that magic he’s working as he kisses and scrapes along my neck has rendered me speechless. My fingers slide upward until they tangle with a mess of thick brown strands and I hold him to me.

“My god, do you even know how badly you make me want to just take from you? I want to be greedy with this mouth, your body, your mind, all of it. One look at you and I forget everything else.”

“Do it. You can have all of me,” I say breathlessly as he continues to suck and soothe then lick at my neck.

His kisses ascend, climbing higher until they reach my jaw, nipping at the skin there. I suck in a sharp breath of surprise. I expected him to be gentle, but this is so much better.

“Fuck me, Harlowe. I think I’ve completely lost it.” There’s a charged turbulence between us that makes the air heavy, like the crackling energy right before a storm. It vibrates all around us as he lifts, looking at me, his chest heaving and bumping against mine.

“Please kiss me, Altas,” I say. It’s the spark that ignites the forest after a lightning strike. He dips his head and I hold my breath.

I almost miss the distinct and untimely sound of my phone going off. It’s the tone for our SARalert system, effectively ending my night. Atlas drops his forehead to mine, understanding the need to check the alert. I mutter a curse as I lift my hips, fishing my phone from my back pocket.

“It’s okay,” he says, almost to himself. Like he knows that this is just a temporary pause. This is the job for both of us. We put the work first because, when we get that call, everything else waits. Even when the timing is god-awful.

The SARalert notification lights up my screen with a message from dispatch. “Shit,” I whisper, reading the brief message. Myhand presses against Atlas’s chest, urging him back, and he immediately complies.

“Harlowe, what’s wrong?”

“A minor camper, age seven, fell into a ravine. She’s unresponsive and her dad was injured trying to get down to her. I’ve got to go.” I’m already moving toward the door, calling for Echo to follow, as I shove my feet into my sandals. My go bag is in Phantom, but I’ll change when I get to the meeting point and know more about our plan of attack. Atlas’s heavy footsteps follow me. Fingers wrap around my wrist.

Lines of worry etch into his brow. “Be careful.” He swallows before he steps forward, his lips pressing against my forehead. “Please.”

I take one second to let my eyes fall close and brush my hand against his cheek. “I will, promise.”

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