Page 239 of Forged in the Fire
BRINLEY
“Brinley.”That time when he murmured my name it was in surrender. A complete giving that surged through him, so distinct I felt his body bow.
It was directly followed by a hammering of possession that seeped from his hands and into my bloodstream as he dragged me the rest of the way against him.
Walls toppled as he crushed his mouth against mine.
It was a dizzying assault that spun me into a jumble of need and relief and joy.
This kiss?
It was desperate and freed.
Wild and untamed and really freaking messy.
Almost as messy as this situation, I was sure, but those were the little details that didn’t matter much right then.
His kiss was close to aggressive in its demand, the muscles in his big body flexing in their need to get me closer.
But there was a smile behind that kiss, both of ours, I thought. A dancing light licking against the darkness that surrounded us.
My heart pressed so full against my chest that I couldn’t breathe. I could only feel, given over to the perfect delirium that thudded through my veins.
Silas choked a laugh into the kiss, and a big palm settled on the side of my head so he could angle me just right as he alternated between kissing me deeper and mumbling, “Is this real, baby? Is this real?”
“It’s real,” I whispered back. “It’s the realest thing I’ve ever felt.”
“How’d we get here?” His arms curled around my waist, and he spun us, lifting me a fraction off my feet.
His hold soft and tumultuous.
“Because it’s where we’re supposed to be.”
I had to believe I was brought here for a reason. That I’d been called. That maybe Dereck had been, too. An unknowing partner commissioned to bring me home.
A euphoric giggle rolled up my throat.
It was really difficult to process it, to fully grasp it, my mind spinning with the truth that this was what I wanted.
After I’d chosen to be alone for so long, thinking that hedge I’d surrounded myself was better. That I was stronger that way when I’d never been so certain or powerful right then.
Silas grinned beneath the manic kiss. “What are you laughing about, Little Wildfire?”
My palms skimmed down the rough stubble on his cheeks. Sensation zinged up my arms and streaked through my insides. “That I get this.”
Without breaking the kiss, he lifted me fully from the ground and began to carry me back through the woods.
He released garbled words against my lips. “You get all of this. All of me. I don’t think there was a chance I could have let you leave.”
A needy moan rose in my throat, and my fingers dove into the soft locks of his hair as he kissed me senseless.
He never broke that kiss as he carried me beneath the branches that whisked and rippled above us and to the front door of his house.
He slowed the kiss a fraction as he fumbled around behind me and opened the door with one hand then quietly latched and locked it behind us.
The energy magnified even more as he slowly climbed the stairs, his kiss verging on adoring as he held me with my feet dangling below me into the dusky glow of his room.
The scantest light babbled in from the window and cast the space in a glittery warmth.
