Page 67 of Wild Fire

“I’m scared I’m making a mistake. I’m scared I’m going to tell you all of this and it’s not going to matter. But the thing that scares me the most?”

He licks his lips as he leans his face up, his lips inches from mine.

“Is the thought of letting you go.”

I slide my hand up his chest, over his shoulder and rest it on his neck. His pulse races beneath my touch, his lips part, and his gaze is full of truth and determination and a vulnerability that is sharper than any knife.

“You’re right,” I say, my voice shaking. “I am scared.”

I ball his shirt in my fist as I tighten my grip on him, needing to anchor myself because I feel like I might crumble into a million pieces at any second.

“I’m scared because you make everything feel okay for me, too.”

Nate looks up at me.

“And I don’t want to lose that.” I swallow hard. “But I don’t know how to do this.” I point between us.

“I don’t know how to be what you need. I don’t know if I can change, I—”

“I don’t want you to change, August.” His voice is low, soft; yet somehow stronger than I’ve ever heard it.

My heart nearly stops as I realize what he’s said.

“That is your name, right?” he says with a faint smirk.

I nod. “It is.”

“I want you just like this,” Nate says, reaching for my jaw. He guides me down to his lips, but he doesn’t close the distance.

I look in his eyes, and the noise in my head quiets. I don’t think, the words just come. Freely. Easily.

“Then take me, Nathaniel.”

Nate leans up and kisses me, but this kiss isn’t like the others. It’s softer, sweeter. Nate kisses me slowly, setting the pace. I follow his lead, savoring the feel of his lips, of his warm, solid body as it presses against me.

When I break away, I find his gaze with my own.

“With pleasure,” he says, as he crushes his lips to mine once more and his kiss morphs into something much harsher, much more passionate. His mouth finds my neck as his hands find my hips.

I grasp his neck and force his face upward, crushing my mouth to his.

It’s a dance only we understand; this push and pull, this fire and ice. Because we are broken, but together we fit just right.

Together we’re whole.

“Your safe word is red, right?” he says as I pull at his hoodie to remove it.

“Yes,” I breathe as he goes in for my mouth again, shoving at my sweatpants.

“So, if you want me to stop, say red.”

It’s not a question. It’s an order.

The words come easily, and when I say them, I feel a deep sense of relief.

“Yes, Sir.”

Nate drops to the floor as he pulls my briefs down, freeing my cock, and I nearly gasp from the sight alone. Because Nate, on his knees, is a prettier picture than I could have ever imagined.