Page 47 of Into the Fire
“You’re tense,” she whispered, her voice breathy.
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t stop her either.
She shifted, straddling fully across his lap. Her hands returned to his chest, palms splaying against him now and running over his shoulders, kneading and massaging to try to relieve some of his stress with each pass. Her mouth followed, pressing slow, gentle kisses along his throat, his jaw, his collarbone. Her breath fanned across the side of his neck as her hands moved down again, this time over his stomach, down to the waistband of his gray sweats.
Levi groaned softly, the sound catching in his throat. One arm came around her waist, and he pulled her closer, tighter—like he needed to feel every part of her against him.
“You keep touchin’ me like that,” he muttered, his voice low and rough, the kind of warning that felt more like a promise. “And I’m gonnaforget I’m supposed to be tired.”
Emery smiled against his neck, her lips grazing his warm, stubbled skin just below his jaw. She could feel the tension in his body change, turning molten.
Levi’s mouth found hers in the next second, the kiss slow but deep. His tongue swept against hers with the lazy confidence that sent a shiver down her spine.
The couch creaked beneath them as he shifted, his hands roaming more freely now, gripping her hips and rocking her against him.
Tangled together in the still, quiet room, Emery pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. They were dark, focused, and full of something that made her pulse skip.
“Still think you’re gonna fall asleep on me?” she whispered.
Levi gave her a wicked grin. “Nah, baby… sleep isn't even on the table anymore.”
His arms tightened around her, his hand sliding up the curve of her back with slow, unhurried pressure. Emery’s breath hitched as he lifted his hips and rolled slightly,shifting her beneath him, the weight of his body pressing into hers just enough to make her gasp softly.
Her fingers curled into the hem of his shirt, tugging it higher, letting her palms slide over the muscled stretch of his stomach.
That ignited something in him. His mouth crashed down on hers—no hesitation, no holding back. The kiss was deep and consuming, one hand firm behind her neck while the other slid down her thigh, pulling it up to wrap around his waist, gripping her like he needed her to stay right there under him.
She arched into him, hands exploring the long planes of his back. His lips trailed to her throat, nipping gently at the spot that made her pulse race.
“God, Em,” he groaned against her skin. “How are you real? You feel like something I dreamed up.”
She tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled his mouth back to hers, whispering between kisses. “I’ve never felt more real than I do with you.”
His eyes locked onto hers, heated and fierce, as if he wanted to pour everythinginto this moment. Intentionally, his hands moving with purpose, exploring, claiming, reminding her that she was his, here and now, in every imaginable way. Levi’s hands slipped beneath her shirt and under her back, sliding up the length of her spine with a gentle drag that made her arch into him, her breath catching against his mouth. The fabric bunched as he pushed it higher, breaking the kiss only long enough to lift her and pull it over her head before tossing it aside.
His eyes dancing as they swept over her, his gaze was slow and reverent. “You’re so damn beautiful, I can’t believe I get to have you like this,” he said, voice rough and full of heat.
Emery didn’t answer; she just reached for him, tugging at his shirt with hurried hands, desperate to feel his skin against her own. He reached behind his head, grabbed his shirt by the collar, and in one easy motion, it was gone. Her palms roamed over his chest, his shoulders, his sides—like she wanted to commit to memory every inch of him.
He groaned as she pulledhim down to her again, their bodies fitting perfectly. His hand trailed down her side, fingers dipping beneath the waistband of her shorts with a teasing slowness that made her hips lift toward him involuntarily.
Her head tipped back as he kissed down the column of her throat, across her collarbone, and lower still. His hands moved with purpose now, peeling away the last of the fabric between them.
“Levi,” she gasped, her voice barely more than a breath, full of want.
He met her eyes then, hovering just above her, both of them flushed and breathless. “Tell me what you want,” he whispered. “Tell me you want me.”
She framed his face, her thumb brushing his cheek. “I need you,” she said, voice steady. “I need you now.”
He pulled back and looked at her beneath him. “Let’s go upstairs. I don’t have a condom down here.”
She didn’t want to wait. “I’m on birth control, and I’m clean. I’m good without it, if you are?”
“I’m absolutely good without,”he offered, fisting his cock and giving it a couple of firm strokes, loving the way she watched. “I’m gonna give this to you, but first, I wanna taste you.” He lowered himself to kiss along her hip and across the soft skin of her belly until he made his way between her thighs.
“Levi—” she begged, squirming beneath him and raising her hips, unable to wait any longer. He gave a chuckle that turned into a deep hum as his tongue expertly parted her lips, guiding her knees and opening her further as he directed her legs to rest over his shoulders.
“Holy fuck.” Emery’s thoughts spun. She knew the man had perfect lips, and knew he could kiss, but damn, his tongue… she hissed as he inserted two fingers inside her, never breaking pace with the way he ate her, like a man who’d just been served his last meal. It’d been less than sixty seconds, and she was about to come undone.
