Scorch

by Dani Collins

  “I honestly don’t mind. I’m in no hurry.”

  “No?” He cast a skeptical eye around the room. Glanced back at her bare hand where she clutched the waistband of the jeans. Why did that feel so significant?

  “This had to happen. I felt up to it, so I did it.” She sounded resolved. Reconciled. She folded the jeans lengthwise.

  He accepted that with a nod. “And you need to go through all these steps, I guess.” He gave his hair a muss with his fingers. “But you don’t need some bum holding you back when you’re ready for whatever comes next.”

  “Since when are you a bum?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “No, I don’t. How is it your fault that someone else’s financing fell through? That’s just bad luck.”

  “That rubbed off on you.”

  “Still not your fault.”

  He had to give her a closed-lip smile over that one. So cute. So naïve. “Something else will go wrong. It always does.”

  “Come on. Don’t think like that. You bought the house with Tori just fine without any issues, right?”

  “And she kicked me out of it!”

  “I call bullshit on that one.” She pointed a finger at him. “You told me yourself that you told her to stay in it because the season was starting. Don’t act like that was life kicking your can.”

  “Getting divorced isn’t a kick in the ass from life?”

  “Divorce is a lot of things, but it isn’t bad luck. My parents got divorced for pretty much the same reason you did. Dad hated mom working shifts and wanted more kids, but she wasn’t up for it. They didn’t like doing the same things and fought all the time about stupid stuff. Underneath it all, they were just too different to live together. That’s not bad luck. Misjudgment, maybe, but we’re all capable of fooling ourselves when it comes to love.” She set her chin, brow flinching, gaze sliding into a corner.

  “Which is why I’m going to stop fooling myself. Nothing ever works out the way I expect it to so why bother trying.”

  “Are you serious? Why be here at all, then? On earth? Alive? Why bother eating? Why bother breathing? Is that why you drop out of airplanes into a fire? To save the world for other people? Look around you. Life is short enough without giving up before your time.”

  So much passion. So much willingness to risk.

  He fought letting her fervor affect him, kept his face stony even when she gave him that same wounded look from yesterday. She hadn’t been battered the way he had, though. She didn’t know.

  “I don’t get what I want.” He was driven to impress on her. “Shit always happens. You want a laundry list, I’ll give you one, but this is just the latest T-shirt on the line.”

  “Yeah, well I’m trying to give you what you want.” She kept her back stiff and chin up, like a little mouse squeaking at a lion who was stepping on her tail. “You can’t say it’s bad luck if you’re refusing to accept it.”

  He did it. He let her push him past good sense and let her see what was in him. He gave her the eyeful of masculine hunger that gripped him. Looked over every inch of that tight body as if he had a right to, paused on the sharp points of her nipples, entertained the idea they were hardening for him. He noted where the pulse in her neck fluttered, watched her lick her lips and leave them parted, then met her startled, nervous gaze.

  “Are you?” he asked dangerously. “Offering what I want?”

  It was an aggressive move, but the way she was wearing at him was a friction he couldn’t bear. She needed to know he had limits.

  *

  Jacqui jolted under a rush of adrenaline. Seeing the depth of lust in Vin was intimidating. He wanted her.

  She became very aware of her limited experience and her belly tightened. Her entire nervous system began firing, toes curling into the carpet so she could dig in and run.

  If she’d learned nothing else from the last few months, however, it was that life was for the living. It was very short. Everyone would make mistakes, but dropping out and hiding in Florida had accomplished nothing. She could play it safe and merely exist, or she could take a risk, leap into the unknown, and maybe find a moment of happiness.

  She set her shoulders, let go of the jeans she held, and met Vin’s hard stare. “Try me.”

  *

  His gut tightened and the vague tingle at the tops of his thighs became more intent.

  “You are playing with fire.” He warned. “And you are not trained.”

  She came to him. She closed the few feet between them and lifted that chin even higher so she held his are-you-fucking-serious stare with an I-so-am one of her own.

  He held his ground, not just because she was laughably tiny and no real threat. He hadn’t fought in years, but he knew how. Backing down meant giving in and he wasn’t about to let her get away with this. But he was a teensy bit unnerved that she was acting this bold.

  Because she didn’t know what he wanted, deep down where he let it smolder under soil and ash, hidden even from himself most of the time. His soul was a bottomless pit that would never be filled. If she was offering sex to fill it, she’d better be prepared because he needed lots of it.

  Or back down. Now.

  She faltered briefly and his conscience pinched. Then she came further into his space with a decisive step and an invisible energy like the static before a lightning strike. It stoked the glow in his belly and made the ember in his groin burn hotter. Heat licked up to fill his expanding torso.

  Her hands touched his chest, scorching, making his pecs flex with pleasure so sharp it hurt. Her weight came against him as she went on tiptoe and her hand pressed the back of his head, asking him to come down to the lips she parted in invitation.

  Don’t. Off limits. Just friends. Vulnerable.

  But his senses were inundated by the feel of her, undeniably feminine despite the subtleness of her curves. She smelled like his shampoo again. Like him. His.

  He slid his hands under her ass and picked her up, liking the squeeze of her legs around his waist as he lifted her. Her arms snaked around his shoulders as she mashed her mouth to his.

  He staggered as the sensation of kissing her slammed into him, as though she’d thrown herself at him and knocked him off balance. The backs of his knees hit the edge of the mattress and he sat.

  Not this bed. He hitched himself off the side to slide to the floor.

  She folded her knees and straddled his lap as they reached the carpet, but they kept kissing. She was trying to devour him, almost frantic in the way she pulled at his lips with her own.

  “Slow down.” He ordered, breaking away to cup her head.

  Her mouth was pouted, her cheeks bright with color, her eyes so bright and glassy they made his sting.

  “I really want to kiss you,” she said on an anxious pant. “So bad.”

  A quake went through him. A collision of honor and deprivation. She needed this as much as he did.

  Nice rationalization, jack ass.

  But he couldn’t deny her.

  He tilted his head and drew her closer, kissing her the way he had wanted to kiss her for—Damn, he didn’t want to admit how long ago the seeds of this fantasy had been planted. Standing in this yard watching a truck pour concrete for the foundation of this house, maybe.

  He shook off the memory and embraced the now. Just once, just for a few minutes, he was going to immerse himself in the thing he’d been longing for. He was going to have it.

  And it was heaven. Her soft lips parted generously under his. Her moan vibrated in her throat. Her tongue met and played with his. Her hands stroked his shoulders under his sleeves as he luxuriated and ravaged, tried to be gentle, but was driven to be thorough.

  Once. He was only going to kiss her this once. He swore.

  Except her pelvis settled deeper into his lap.

  Nothing compared to the feel of a woman’s heat pressing against his aroused cock. It was a singular sensation and when it was Jacqui, and she rocked to heighten th
e stimulation for both of them, he couldn’t help but shudder and let out a growl of enjoyment.

  Her breasts rubbed his chest and little sobbing noises came out of her as she kissed him urgently, tilting her head the other way and kissed him again while rubbing like she was going to keep at it until they spontaneously combusted.

  He was gonna die if he didn’t have more of her.

  “Okay.” He drew back to rasp. “Let’s burn this out.”

  *

  Jacqui’s pulse was racing and she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t get enough air. Couldn’t get enough Vin.

  Vin. This was Vin she was sitting on, touching. His shoulders were smooth and hard, the scent on his skin dark and musky, the taste of his lips—

  “Mmm.” She moaned into his mouth, stroking her tongue along his. In the back of her mind, she knew she ought to think this through more, think about consequences. She should feel shy or awkward, but everything about this felt so damned good.

  She felt alive. Ecstatic and excited and expansive, like she was blooming. Flourishing.

  He stroked her throat and ran his other hand down to the small of her back, encouraging her to grind herself against him. Her whole body burned. She thought she might explode, she was so hot.

  He was a really good kisser. She liked the way he came on strong, then backed off, then came on stronger. She dug her fingers into his short hair and did the same to him, kissed him hard, eased up, then went deep and passionate.

  He made a sound of approval and dug his fingers deeper into the cheeks of her butt.

  Satisfaction licked like a flame behind her breastbone. His hand slid from her throat to splay over her breast, giving her a nice solid plane with his palm to press her nipple into. His other hand cruised all over her butt, cupping and shaping, getting to know her.

  It felt really good. She arched, letting him know she liked the feel of him rubbing her cheek and wanted more of it.

  Two hands went to her backside, caressing and rolling her hips so she grew more and more turned on, rubbing up against that rock-hard shape between her legs.

  They kissed and gasped for air and kissed passionately again.

  “I want to touch you.” She breathed, pulling back so she could run her hand down the hollow of his slouched stomach to squeeze him through his shorts.

  His breath hissed in through his nose. He said a muted, “Yeah,” then, “Fuck, yeah,” as she burrowed beneath his waistband.

  He wasn’t wearing underwear. That was all him, hot and smooth and so hard. Damp on the tip, pulsing in her fist as she gripped him, catching back a groan as she lightly stroked the thick, hard shape of him.

  “Fuck, Jac, that feels really good. Are we really doing this?” He popped the button on her waistband.

  “Don’t you want to?”

  His answer was a push of his hand into her shorts that made the zipper splay. He cupped her through her underwear and she had a vague regret that she hadn’t known this was going to happen. She wore boring, white cotton things, but he didn’t seem to care.

  “You’re really wet. C’mere.” He jerked his chin, asking for her kiss as he pulled his hand out of her shorts, then pushed back in, this time under the cotton.

  She let out a sob of surprised excitement as his fingertip slid down her slippery cleft, parting her, grazed her clit then pushed to gently penetrate.

  She grasped at his finger with her inner muscles, tightened her fist on his shaft, pushed her tongue into his mouth as she kissed him and they stroked each other.

  It was incredible. Crazy sexy and incredibly arousing. She braced her free hand on his shoulder and he rubbed her nipple with his other hand and she thrust into his penetrating touch. He ate her mouth and kept his hand nice and steady for her and let her rock against the heel of his palm.

  Pretty soon she was almost there. She rubbed him harder under his shorts, wanting him with her.

  He pulled away from their kiss and lifted her shirt.

  “Give,” he said, staring at her beaded nipple.

  She was so close! He was still holding his hand firm against her, touching her hip with invitation for her to keep rocking.

  She threw off her shirt, braless under it, and pushed both hands against the mattress behind his head, arching as he ducked his head against her. He pulled his hand almost out of her shorts, making her choke out a noise of protest, but he went back in, two fingers pushing inside her, working deep, increasing the sensations as he opened his hot mouth over her nipple and sucked hard.

  “Vin!” She closed her arms over his head and rocked herself into his hand. It was selfish and earthy and she was so turned on. “Oh, please, oh—Oh!”

  She came hard with a shudder and a string of noises louder than any she’d ever made in her life. It was embarrassing except not. She honestly didn’t care because her entire body was clenched in such a delicious fist of pleasure, contractions racking through her in glorious waves.

  He kept sucking her nipple and gentled his hand. She tightened her muscles in protest as he eased out to softly caress her, keeping her floating, wringing out every last pulse of pleasure from her climax while he tongued her nipple.

  Then he turned his head to flick her other nipple before he tipped back his head against the edge of mattress. His blue eyes glowed from behind the sooty line of his narrow lashes, hot as the center of a flame.

  “That was really hot.” He was smiling faintly, flushed and intent, so sexy-looking she thought she’d die right there, utterly manstruck.

  She sank onto him, kissing him with deep gratitude. Adoration. She folded her arms across his shoulders, behind his neck, and put everything she had into telling him with her kiss how good that had been for her.

  There was absolutely no reason she should still be aroused, he had satisfied her thoroughly, but as he opened his hands under her breasts, gently lifting them, and her tingling loins met that firm log trying to tear a hole in the front of his shorts, she wanted to feel him inside her.

  She wanted him to move on her and come with her.

  She moaned and wriggled in invitation, then rose onto her knees again. Her knees were stinging with friction against the carpet, but she didn’t care. She leaned away to open the night table drawer. The condoms were from the time between her going off the pill and seriously trying to get pregnant. She’d found them as she had cleaned up in here and hadn’t known what to do with them.

  Now she had a pretty good idea.

  As he recognized the box, Vin’s brows went up.

  “We’re really doing this?”

  “Unless you have somewhere you need to be?” She held his gaze as she took one out and tore it open with her teeth, trying to act as smooth and blasé about it as she imagined the most experienced women were.

  Then she sheepishly handed the little circle to him.

  “That’s as far as I go. I don’t know what to do next.”

  He choked out a laugh and took it from her. “Are you sure—?”

  She hooked her hands in the waistband of his shorts and backed down his legs, saying, “Lift.”

  He picked up his hips, allowing her to slither them down his thighs, to take them off and toss them aside.

  “I guess you are,” he drawled, eyelids still low, gaze fixed on her as he smoothed on the condom. Then he pulled off his shirt and rolled into a crawl, coming toward her much like a panther stalking prey.

  “Let’s finish getting you naked.”

  She caught her breath, suddenly finding herself overwhelmed by Vin’s powerful form, clutching at his shoulders as he loomed over her.

  If she had thought she had been in control of what had just happened between them, she knew better now. Unlike her, he was very experienced.

  And strong. And adept.

  The scratch of carpet was under her back before she knew it. He gently pressed her there and cleared her shorts past her knees in what seemed like one motion. He kissed her inner thigh, her stomach, braced himself above her and look
ed her over with a proud kind of admiration, like she was something that belonged to him.

  Her stomach fluttered and her inner muscles pinched in sexual excitement.

  “Vin.” She breathed in protest, shifting self-consciously. The way he stroked her inner thigh was nice, but it wasn’t the most modest position, especially when he nudged her legs open even more.

  “You’re so damned pretty, Jac.” He leaned to lick her nipple. “I can’t decide if I want to go down or get inside you.” He lightly traced the sensitive skin of her bikini line, then lifted to watch. “What do you like?”

  “Right now? Everything you do.” She pulled at his shoulders, wanting him to cover her, but he was solid. Way too strong to do anything he wasn’t ready to do. “Kiss me.”

  “So impatient.” He ran his lips down her neck, his clever hand smoothing and exploring, claiming her from thigh to waist to breast. “Where’s the fire, Jac? I think it’s here,” he said, lifting again to watch as he moved his hand back to her mound.

  She shut her eyes, shy, but the way he touched her felt really good. He gently parted and caressed, seeming to know exactly where to trace his fingertip so he was both soothing and inciting.

  Her breath hitched.

  “I seriously need a taste of that,” he said in a rasping voice.

  “Quit teasing.” She tried to roll into him again, but he flattened her without effort, big body sliding down, one hand catching behind her knee and pressing so she was completely open to him.

  “Who’s teasing?”

  He was. He brushed light kisses everywhere but there until she whimpered and lifted her hips, fingers in his hair and his name escaping on a frustrated moan. “Vin.”

  He growled out a noise and oh. This was definitely not his first rodeo. He was really good at that. She quit thinking about first times and fairness and daylight and let him pleasure her. He wasn’t in any hurry, didn’t move when she said, “You don’t have to.”

  He tantalized and she grew more and more aroused.

  She writhed.

  “Now you’re ready.” He rose to take a hard suck off each of her nipples. He was godlike, skin burnished bronze, face sharp and filled with lust. He kissed her with barely restrained passion. “I want to fuck you really deep and hard, Jac. Tell me if it’s too much.”