Page 13 of Fire Me Up
And then she was gone, leaving us standing there staring at each other in stunned silence. Bacon continued to snore peacefully in his hammock.
“I’m going to kill her,” Gael finally said, his voice strained. “This is why I never tell her secrets.”
I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. My brain kept replaying Liv’s words.
Holy shit.
“So,” I shrugged, trying to appear casual while my heart hammered against my ribs. “Want to?”
Gael blinked. “Want to what?”
“Kiss.” I stepped closer, trying to shake off the nerves. My hands were trembling. Somehow I’d gone from casual hookupsand the Grindr grid to shaking like a teenager before his first kiss. What the actual fuck?
“You’d… be okay with that?” Gael asked.
“Sure.” I forced a laugh, trying to keep things light. “Consider it a public service.”
Gael didn’t laugh. Instead, he watched me, eyes bright with curiosity.
“Okay,” he said. “Because I know you’re kind, and I trust you.”
“I’m really not kind. But okay.” I took another step forward, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his body.
He glanced at the cat enclosure, and his left eyebrow shot up, challenging me.
“That doesn’t count as kind. I have ADHD, and sometimes when my brain latches onto a problem, I just sort of… run with it. It’s called hyperfocus.”
“Okay.” His lips twitched. “Hyperfocus. So you weren’t concerned about my cat having a good time.”
“Exactly. So, kiss?” I’d never discussed a kiss for this long in my life, and the more we stood there, staring into each other’s eyes, the more it felt inevitable. Like we didn’t have a choice.
He nodded, pupils blowing out as his eyes dropped to my lips.
I had to rise up on my tiptoes to reach his lips, which was both annoying and stupidly hot. His height, his broad shoulders, the sheer physical presence of him—it all sent a thrill through me that I tried to ignore. This was completely casual. Educational. A favor for a friend’s brother, who just needed to kiss a man and find out what it was like.
I pressed my lips against his in a quick, chaste kiss. Just a brief touch, soft and playful, before pulling back with a grin.
“See? Nothing scary about it. Now you can say you’ve kissed a guy.” I blinked, realizing that maybe I’d given away how much I’d overheard.
But instead of laughing or looking angry, Gael made a sound low in his throat—half growl, half groan—that shot straight to my dick. Before I could process what was happening, his good hand cupped the back of my neck, and he backed me against the nearest wall, cornering me with his big body.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “That wasn’t a real kiss.”
Then his mouth was on mine again, and holy shit, it was nothing like the first one. His lips were firm and insistent, his body pressing mine against the wall. For one dizzying moment, I let him take control, too shocked to do anything else. But then instinct kicked in, and I kissed him back, opening my mouth to him, my hands finding his waist.
He groaned again when our tongues met, the sound vibrating through me. I dug my fingers into his hips, pulling him closer. He tasted like coffee and cinnamon, and kissed like a man who’d been thinking about this for days. Maybe he had. The thought made me lightheaded.
“Fuck,” I gasped when we broke for air, but he didn’t let me finish whatever I was going to say, capturing my mouth again in a kiss that was even deeper, hungrier. Heat slicked through me; the scrape of his stubble against my cheek, the soft drag of his lower lip between mine, the damp, open-mouthed slide that turned my knees unreliable. He bracketed my hips; I fisted his T-shirt; we found a filthy rhythm and chased it.
I lost track of where we were, who might walk in. None of it mattered with Gael’s hands in my hair, his body pinning me to the wall, his heart pounding against mine. I slid my hands up under his shirt, feeling the hard muscle of his back, the heat of his skin. He made another of those sounds that drove me crazy, and I wanted more, wanted to hear what other noises I could pull from him.
He broke the kiss, moving to my neck, and I tilted my head back against the wall, giving him better access. His stubblescratched against my skin, a delicious friction that had me biting my lip to keep from moaning too loudly. He found the spot below my ear and sucked, slow and deliberate, until pleasure arrowed low and bright.
“Is this okay?” he asked against my throat.
“Fuck yes,” I managed, my voice embarrassingly breathless.
I pulled him back up for another kiss, taking control this time, showing him exactly what I liked. He was a fast learner, adapting to my rhythm, letting me guide him but meeting me with equal enthusiasm. His inexperience with men didn’t matter—he kissed like someone who knew exactly what he wanted, and right now, what he wanted was me.
