Page 58 of Found Through Fire

Grey looks confused that I spoke to him first, but recovers and looks down at his plate, cutting up his lasagna as he replies in a rough tone, “Besides this, working out and target practice. Maybe read a book or two.” I’m shocked that he actually gave me a straight answer, but I keep it going. It’s possible that he sees that it would be easier if we were civil.

“What kind of books?” I ask in a casual tone. I look down at my own plate. Maybe if there is no eye contact, he won’t get scared and turn into a giant asshole again. I think I saw something like that on the nature channel, or Dateline. I can’t remember.

“Mostly biographies,” he grunts out. It’s only two words, but a good number of syllables! I’m kicking ass at this “being pleasant” thing. I don’t want to push it, so I just leave him to eat. The rest of dinner is more small talk with Knox, and when they finish their two helpings, they both help me clean up the kitchen. When we finish, I ask both of them if they want a tour. Knox agrees, but Grey grunts that he already saw everything when they cleared the house the other day and walks to his room with his signature, “Thanks for the food.”

I look at Knox and ask, “So, you already know the bottom level pretty much. Want to see the garage?”

“Sure,” he says as he takes my hand, intertwining our fingers. I tense for a moment from shock, but then decide to go with it. I have no idea if he is serious about wanting to be with me. He could think this is going to be casual, but too bad for him, I am way past the point in my life that I would think about doing casual. We will have to talk about that before this goes further.

I lead him to the garage and open the side door. Stepping in, I turn on the lights, and he lets out a low whistle. He walks over to where my bike is, looking her over, and says, “Did you do the work on her?”

“Yup, I only really take her out for close jobs. If I am riding around town, I go for my baby,” I say as I walk up to my car and lean against her, crossing my legs in front of me so I can wait while he looks around. When he’s done checking out my little garage-workshop, he saunters over to me and gives my crossed feet a light tap with his boot. I uncross them, thinking that he is ready to see the rest of the house, but instead, he wedges himself between them to stand in front of me. The height difference is even bigger now that I’m leaning against the car.

He bends down and cups my cheeks in his hands, lowering his face to mine, turning his head slightly, his lips hovering over mine. He pauses, and the tension is so suffocating, I’m having a hard time taking a full breath. I realize that he is waiting for me to go the rest of the way or back up, giving me the choice.

After a half a second of thought, I go for it. I lean in the rest of the way until our lips collide. It starts off slow and sensual, but starts to build into hard and passionate. I feel his tongue nudge my lips, asking for entrance. I have absolutely no fucking idea what I am doing, but I decide to open my mouth and let him deepen the kiss. Next thing I know, my arms are wrapped around his neck, and he is grabbing me by the ass, lifting me up until my legs wrap around his waist.

I’m not sure how long we are like this, but he eventually ends the kiss and leans his forehead against mine. We are both breathing hard as he says, “I think we should end the tour now. I don’t think you are ready for anything more tonight.”

I think about it, waiting for my racing heart and breathing to slow down, and realize he is right. I give a small nod and release my legs from around his waist as he lowers me down,but keeps his hands securely on my ass. When my feet hit the floor, I realize what just happened, and I feel the blush creeping up my face as I look at the ground. I’m not freaking out that it happened, but I’m embarrassed about how I pretty much jumped on him the first chance that I got. Does that make me like one of the club girls? Does he think about me that way now?

When he sees me looking at the ground, he cups my face in his hands again, making me look up at him and says, “No. Whatever you’re thinking, stop. That didn’t have to change anything that you don’t want to. We are taking it slow. I don’t want you to regret or feel weird about anything that happens between us, okay?” he says in a soft, but serious voice. Looking into his dark eyes, I can see that he means it.

I smile at him, nodding again because apparently, I can’t form words anymore.

He bends down and gives me one more soft, quick kiss, and we start walking back to the house. I turn off the lights and lock the doors as we pass them, and he watches me do it, probably to double check that they are locked.

He then takes my hand again, walks me to my bedroom door, kisses me lightly on the forehead, and says, “Goodnight.”

I close my door and lean against it, slowly sliding down until I’m sitting on the floor. What the fuck did I just get myself into?

CHAPTER 23

FLAME

Iclose the door behind me and lean against it, feeling the smirk slowly grow into a smile. I didn’t know how the first night was going to go, especially after the asshole got here. He was okay at dinner; he didn’t spew his normal bullshit to my little Fox that made me want to beat the shit out of him, so that helped.

It felt like I had lead in my stomach when she brought up me being a slut. I can tell that she doesn’t have a lot of experience with men. Would she be disgusted and run away, clutching her pearls if she knew that I’ve fucked a large portion of this town’s female population? I wasn’t going to let her in on how fuckin’ obsessed I am with her on my first night here, but it was my only option.

I grab my backpack that I threw on the bed and start getting changed for the night. Sliding between the cool sheets, I wait for sleep to come to me. My mind won’t turn off, knowing that Willow is only a few doors down. I lay there, thinking about how I’m going to approach the situation, and the only thing I can think of is to have a talk with her. I feel like an ass since I’ve had this conversation with multiple people before her.

When I realized that she was not picking up on my intentions, I decided to up my game and start following through with the thoughts in my head. With her inexperience, I am trying to hold back, but also make sure that she knows what I am throwing down. I was worried that she would get skittish with the advances that I’ve been making, but I’ve noticed that if my little Fox wanted me to back off, she would have made that known. Probably in a painful way, but she would be direct.

The way she kissed me back surprised the shit out of me. She was just as into it as I was, and we could have gone further, but I decided to pull back. I don’t want her to regret anything between us, even if I am left with the worst case of blue balls that I have ever had. Thefirstcase of blue balls that I have ever had, if I’m honest. She is worth the discomfort. She is worth waiting years for, if that’s what she needs. As long as I am the one that gets to give her those first times. I’m not fuckin’ this up before it even starts.

At some point, I fade into sleep. I usually wake up early so I can get to the shop, but I want to draw out this morning before I have to leave Willow’s space. Deciding to see if she is up, I get out of bed and do something that I would never do at the clubhouse: walk around barefoot.

I leave my room in just my boxers, stop in the bathroom, and then walk to the kitchen. Of course, I can smell the coffee that I know is my girl’s weakness. I reach the opening to the kitchen, and the sight that greets me almost makes me swallow my fuckin’ tongue.

Willow is rubbing her eyes, looking half asleep. Her curly blonde mane is bigger than usual from sleep, giving it a just-fucked look that’s driving me crazy. She’s wearing an oversized T-shirt, and from what I can see, no bra. As my eyes devour the sight of her, I can see black underwear through her worn, white T-shirt. She is still facing the cabinet above the coffeepot,reaching up to grab a mug, standing on her toes, making her shirt lift up, giving me a nice, full view of her black lace underwear that has the bottom of her juicy ass peeking out. It’s the sexiest thing I have ever seen.

I have been around women walking around in next to nothin’ my entire life, but seeing Willow’s natural, just-rolled-out-of-bed, before-coffee look has me the most turned on I think I have ever been by just looking at someone.

She must have just noticed that I am here, because she turns to face me with the coffee cup from the cabinet in her hand. She gives me a small, sleepy smile, and I watch as her eyes rove over my body. Her cheeks turn the shade of pink that I am becoming more obsessed with by the day. When her gaze travels back up to my face and she realizes that I just watched her check me out, she ducks her head and reaches back up to the cabinet.

“Good morning. Do you want some coffee?” she asks, taking another cup down before I have a chance to answer her. She is embarrassed and trying to hide her beautiful face from me, and I’m not okay with that. I decide to ease her nerves a little.

Stepping into the kitchen, I stop behind her, trapping her between myself and the counter. I push my chest against her back, resting my hands on the cool granite on either side of her. Hearing that sharp intake of breath makes my mind go to places that would scare her. I know she can feel how turned on I am since my boxers are doing nothing to hide it.