Page 38 of On Fire

“Just trying to get my footing here,” he says in my ear, his breath leaving a shiver to shoot down my left side. I hear him put the bottle in the sink.

Then he wraps an arm around my waist and glides his other hand to my throat, then slides it down to join his other hand, unbuckling my belt. He eases the suit pants and my underwear over an incredible erection. I drop a hand to help.

“I got this,” he says replacing my hand. Small, lightning-fast gasps fly from my lips as everything slides to the floor and my cock stands at attention. Next, his hands cup my ass, kneading cheeks and he’s talking in my ear again.

“Can I take you?” he asks, his hands moving again, rubbing my chest, stomach, down to my groin, and then back up again, applying pressure to muscles and areas I didn’t even remember were sensitive to touch, like the fingernails on nipples, hard pressure on the groin, or like that spot right at my base. My penis rises even higher.

“Yes,” I gasp.

As he comes around, he drops to his knees and looks up at me. Our gaze meets and I try to say something, something to let him know what this means to me. I start to let go, to help him to do something, but the boat rocks hard.

“Just keep hanging on there.” On his knees, with one arm cupped around my ass and a hand under my balls, he takes me into his mouth without hesitancy.

The beer, the movement of the water under us, the sheer muscle wrapped around my body, the fact that nothing like this has ever happened before, his mouth moving up and down my shaft all conspires to send me over the cliff almost immediately. I have to let go.

Sparks fly in my vision as I dig fingers into his hair, then grip his shoulders as I come, swift, sudden and way too soon, arching back, trying for the straps again, missing the second one, feeling him hold me up. Then there’s a final shudder and I am like putty.

Keller holds me while I let go of the one strap I managed to grab again and then the boat moves perpendicular to her sway and we both slide unceremoniously onto the built-in sofas again.

“Oh my God, Keller, what was that?” I’m lying against him, gasping, my muscles like jelly, trying to sit up. “I need to, I need to do you. I need—”

“I’m good,” he says. But he’s not. His erection looks painful against his jeans.

With the help of his solid push between my shoulder blades, I sit up. I make a move for the top button.

But he shakes his head. “This isn’t like you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours.”

I smile and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “Well. I agree with you on that. It’s not about back scratching.”

He laughs. And when that big barrel of a man laughs, laughs at something I’ve said, my heart feels suddenly light—lighter than it has in a long, long time.

I twist so I can meet him with a kiss when he rises to sit. We pull apart, but I leave my forehead touching his. He takes a thumb and runs it along my chin and over my top lip, pushing gently on my mouth before he removes his thumb and presses his lips to mine again.

With a large sigh, his body melts against me and I wrap a leg around him.

“It’s your turn, no matter what,” I say.

But we lay together like this for a long time.

Something breaks in my heart. Some chain placed there long ago, with links created by trauma, emotional abandonment, toxic parents, manipulative boyfriends, and who knows what else. It doesn’t really matter now. It’s all behind me and I’ve made peace with my past. Despite everything, I have loving relationships, I run a top security agency with my closest friend, I care about the people around me, and I protect the men and women who work for me.

But what is taking down this chain right now, what is making my eyes sting, what is allowing me to hold this man so tenderly, is the realization I’m falling in love.