Page 121 of Forged in the Fire
The gold flecks in his eyes ignited in a fit of need and something that looked decidedly close to dread.
“I’m not playing games, Brinley, but clearly, I am playing with fire. Barely even touching you, and I’ve crossed so many lines. Committed a thousand crimes.”
He had both hands planted on either side of my head, and I became painfully aware that he’d wound himself between my thighs. The weight of his cock pressed to that spot that had begun to ache and glow.
A fool, I arched toward him, and both my hands fisted in the sheet below like it could keep me from reaching out.
A skirmish between what I wanted and what I knew would destroy me clashed in the middle.
“Yet it’s me who’s going to get burned, isn’t it?” I choked out what I hoped sounded like an accusation. “You who’s going to toy with me? You who’s going to use me until you get what you want?”
He’d fully admitted it last night. I was a means. A tool. A pawn.
Nothing more.
I needed to remember it.
His chuckle was rough. Filled with biting disbelief. “Nah, baby, it’s you who can bring me to my knees. You who has me crawling with a flick of your fingers. You could ask anything of me, and I’d be helpless but to give it to you.”
He rocked against me once.
Fire lancinated up my spine.
On instinct, my hands shot out, and I gripped onto his waist. “Answers. Then give me answers.”
Darkness gathered, furrowing his brow into a stark, slashing V.
Both of us were stuck in that position.
Teetering on the edge of a bottomless chasm that churned below us. Threatening to set us off balance and toss us into its abyss.
“I just need you to trust me, Brinley,” he finally said.
“What if that’s not good enough for me?”
“It’s going to have to be. My only objective here is keeping you safe, and I won’t jeopardize that.” The words ground off his tongue.
A soft scoff ripped free. “Isn’t that what I’m in? Jeopardy?”
“Not with me standing in front of you.”
Another one of those gritted promises.
Stone toppling from his mouth as if it could build a new foundation.
Did I believe him? Trust him? How could I?
But there was something in the roil of his expression that made me see his truth.
“I don’t like being left in the dark.” It was close to a plea.
He almost smirked. But it was soft. “That’s because you’re always in control. Fighting for yourself. For your brother. The fierce lioness that you are. Going it alone because there’s no one there to have your back. But this time, you’re giving that fight to me.”
Fear and hope clattered around in my spirit. How could he know that about me? My throat was nearly closed off when I whispered, “And what if you fail me?”
That darkness flashed a hundredfold, and he curled his hands around my wrists and pressed them to the bed. He dipped down so close that I tasted the words.
“I won’t.”
