Page 42 of Smokin' Situation

He was standing with his forearm braced on the tiles, his other palm gripping the solid length of his cock. Heat rose to my cheeks at the thought I’d interrupted him, but then I noticed his arm wasn’t moving.

My bare feet were silent on the wooden floor, my body drawn to his like a magnet. He didn’t move when I slipped into the shower behind him, laying my cheek against his back and wrapping my arms around his chest.

His skin still smelled of fire, like smoke and destruction, but if the firebreak he’d worked on half the day worked to halt what we’d already lost, maybe it could be the smell of rebirth.

We’d learned enough about ecology in high school science, and I knew not only the fictional phoenix rose from the ashes. The growth after a fire could be a rebirth for the forest. A new chance for life to flourish.

Maybe that’s what this fire represented for both of us, a way to start anew.

His warm hand covered mine, and I kissed the center of his back, just savoring this innocent moment of connection between two people who had felt lost in their lives. Maybe his appearance in Sage Springs was a divine intervention of some sort. For both of us.

“Are you okay?” I whispered into his skin, and he shuddered, inhaling a shaky breath.

“I am now.” His voice was rough—raspy and tired. “I missed you.”

“Do you think the break will help? Are we safe here?”

He turned, cupping the sides of my jaw with his large, warm, calloused hands, rubbing the pads of his thumbs across my cheekbones. “I promise I’ll keep you safe, Rhey, wherever we end up. But I don’t want to talk about the fire. I just want to lose myself in you.”

Closing the distance, his upper lip nestled between mine, caressing my mouth softly. Lingering at an almost drowsy pace, he kept the kiss slow and sensual, dipping in further with each pass of his lips.

My head swam, his presence entirely intoxicating, but I didn’t push further, enjoying his closeness. It’d been a long time since I just enjoyed kissing someone without rushing through it. Not wanting to bring anyone else into this time together, I pushed the thoughts of men who’d come before him out of my mind and concentrated on how he made me feel.

Tripp spun me away from where I stood inside the shower door, pinning my back against the cold tiles, and I gasped at the sensation. I tipped my head backward as his palm dragged down my overheated skin, cupping my neck firmly while lips and teeth nipped at my lobe, his pants heavy in my ear.

“You have no idea what you do to me. How much I crave you.”

While he’d given me the freedom to lead in the cabin, he was clearly taking it back, holding me possessively and using his hips to trap me in place, completely helpless to the way he was owning my body.

His hips rocked forward as he reclaimed my lips, kissing me roughly.

“I need to be inside you,” he growled, his throbbing cock trapped between us, a heavy reminder of his attraction to me against my stomach.

“Here,” I gasped, bringing my thigh up to wrap around his waist. “Now.”

“Fuck, baby. I—” he broke off, his groan reverberating off the tile. “You know I want you, but I don’t…”

“Bare. I want nothing between us this time.” Slowly drawing back to look at my face, he searched my eyes, a crease between his eyebrows. “I get the shot. It’s safe.”

His jaw clenched, something almost feral flickering in those deep blue eyes before he dragged his palm down the center of my chest, lingering between my breasts before he trailed it lower, his fingertips easily sliding to where I was warm and aching for his touch.

He teased me, circling where I was desperate for him, but still holding back. “Are you sure? We don’t have to have sex. There are plenty of ways for me to make you come that don’t involve my cock.”

“I know,” I whispered, pressing my hand above where his heart thumped steadily. Slowly, I slid it upward, my fingers lingering on the rough skin of his scar before I grasped the hair at the back of his head, gripping it firmly between my fingers. “But right now, I need you to fuck me. Show me how much you need me.”

“Rhey.” My name was a feral growl in his throat, but that was all the permission he needed, his large palms grasping the backs of my thighs and lifting, my back sliding up the tiles effortlessly.

He pressed forward as he reached for one of my hands. Interlocking our fingers, he pinned it to the tile above my head. Strong hips supported my weight as he reached between us, lining himself up and teasingly pressing the head to my clit before he dragged it lower. “Is this where you need me, pretty girl?”

“God, yes,” I panted, fighting to keep my eyes open and focused on him.

“Do you need me to make you come?” He was watching me with a glint in his eyes, enjoying teasing me when I just needed to be connected to him.

Well, two could play that game. Lowering my voice to a throaty whisper, I looked up at him from beneath my wet eyelashes. “Be a good boy and make me scream your name.”

“Fuck.” The word was low and drawn out as his hips shifted, his bare cock sliding inside me. “Oh, fuck. You’re so fucking warm. God damn. I’m not sure how long I’m gonna last this way.”

“Then I guess you’d better concentrate.”

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