Page 65 of The Burning
“What were you going to watch on that thing?” Karina pointed to my mini-projector.
It was a little bit bigger than my hand and I had gotten it on Amazon before my last field training. It came in handy when we were out in the middle of nowhere in Louisiana with no cell service and no Wi-Fi. I ended up being the hero with downloaded episodes ofBreaking Badthat we projected onto the side of the Humvee during our downtime.
I shrugged. “Not sure. I downloaded some episodes ofArrested Development.”
“Random.” Karina laughed a little and repositioned her body, perching herself a few feet closer to me.
“I needed some nostalgic comedy to balance my life out.”
“IsGame of Thronestoo full of murder and rape for you?” She raised her brows. I knew she meant it to be funny, but she, as always, was dead-on.
I nodded. “Actually, yeah. Yeah, it is.”
Even in the dim light of the rear of my truck, I could see the flush across her cheeks. She lifted her hands up, and the long sleeves of the hoodie fell down a bit.
“I’m sorry—I was joking, but it wasn’t funny. I didn’t mean to—” Her index finger slid over her thumbnail again and again, an anxious tic she had.
I reached over and put my hand on hers to calm them out of habit. She didn’t move away, sighing, and her hands remained under mine.
“It’s fine, really.”
Looking down at both of our hands, I smiled a bit. “Is this fine?” I asked her, clearly talking about the fact that we were touching for the first time in weeks, and it felt like years. Even though she had agreed to let bygones be bygones for the weekend, and I was slightly taking advantage of that, I wanted to make sure she was okay with me touching her. I was a fuckup when it came to Karina, but I respected her consent above all.
Karina nodded. “Do you think it will ever go away? Your memories, I mean. Will you always suffer?” Her voice was sad.
My first reaction was to laugh it off or downplay it because I didn’t want her pity, but there wasn’t any in her voice, only genuine worry. She was one of the only people who wasn’t blood-related to me who worried about me; my battle buddies did in their own way during deployment, but mostly to keep the body count down.
“Honestly, I think it will always be like this. Not being able to watch violent shows, play certain video games, see the fireworks on the Fourth of July, relax by a burning fire. I’ll likely never get a good night’s sleep, not without you, at least, and I—” The warmth of Karina’s mouth silenced mine.
The surprise of her sudden affection would have knocked me over if I hadn’t been sitting down. I let the undeniable physical pull between us completely take over. Wrapping both of my hands around her waist, I pulled her onto my lap as her hungry mouth tasted and teased mine. Every nerve in my body from my nose touching hers, to every vertebra of my spine as we lay back, to my hips pressed against hers, was wildly alert. I threaded my fingers through her hair, unclipping it, and felt her soft curls fall across my cheeks and neck. She began to rock her body slowly against the hardness of my cock. Confusion and longing wrapped around her name as our breaths became one. She brought her hands to my face, touching me as if to make sure I was really there. There was a slight tremor to her touch that excited me as she traced my jawline, and down the base of my throat. I gasped and she groaned, swallowing my sounds.
There was no way of knowing how far this would go; it was completely up to her. I kissed her with intention, knowing that I didn’t want to be soft if this really might be the last time, while thanking whatever god there was for gifting me this second chance. Karina’s hands reached under my T-shirt and she dug her fingernails into my skin.
“Touch me,” she whispered into my open mouth. “Kael, touch me.”
I gripped her ass with both palms as she started undressing herself. She lifted the hoodie off first, then her shirt and I kissed down her neck, across her chest as she pulled at my T-shirt to take it off. I pressed Karina’s soft body against me and used my upper body strength to flip us over gently, hovering above her as her mouth sucked at the bare skin on my shoulder. I wanted to tear the rest of the clothes off her body and bury myself in her. I had completely forgotten where the hell we were, who was around, or what fucking planet we were on.
Her thighs wrapped around my lower back, and she lifted her hips, whining and biting down on my skin. “Do you—” I began to ask her, but couldn’t finish the sentence because her hand reached into my sweats and gripped my cock. She moved slowly, pumping me while nodding.
“Can you close the back?” she asked me. I nodded, desperate to keep her hand on me, but knew we needed the privacy.
She was panting, pulling her jeans off as I lifted the latch on the back of my truck and tapped the lights off one by one. I glanced over to the campfire to make sure no one could see us. Not that I gave a fuck, but for her sake. I was only a few inches away from her body lying across the back of my truck bed when she grabbed a hold of me, her strength surprising me. Her hands were no longer unsure as she took my boxers down, pushing my pants out of the way. She was vibrant and needy, and it was making me dizzy in the best fucking way.
Karina hooked her finger through the dog tags dangling from my neck and pulled me to kiss her. Her panties were soaked, and I gently stroked my index finger across her, circling the pool of wetness through the thin cotton. Her hips jolted up and I pressed harder, keeping my finger steady, knowing it would make her even more frenzied. Once my fingertip was soaked with her need, I brought it to the small space between our mouths. Before I could taste her, she wrapped her lips around the tip of my finger and sucked gently. I almost came from the boldness of watching her taste herself.
I couldn’t wait a second longer, I yanked her panties down, pulling them off her thick thighs and tossed them aside. Her body was warm when it met mine and my cock twitched as it slid into her, and I held on to her back tightly as it arched with every movement I made. I wanted to fuck her slowly, to savor the whimpers and the feeling of filling her entire being, but it was hard to control myself with Karina. I rocked into her, pulling out, pushing back in, while gently pressing and circling her clit, knowing exactly how to make her come. She bit my shoulder again, this time harder, and I wrapped my hand in her hair, pulling as the pressure in our bodies built and built, losing balance and logic and everything in between as we both came, breathing and cursing one another’s names.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Karina
The rise and fall of my chest matched with Kael’s as he rested his head in the curve of my neck. His dog tags were cold, despite how warm his body was, and I could feel his heart pounding against my skin. I wasn’t sure how we’d got here, or if it was a horrible idea or not, but something had possessed me to kiss him, to touch him, and to go as far as to hook up with him . . . in the back of his truck of all places. I didn’t care that Elodie, my brother, and a group of all their friends were close by. I barely thought of them long enough to have Kael close the back of his truck. It was too soon to regret what had just happened and honestly, I hoped I never did. It felt so good, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, to be close to him.
As if on cue, he lifted his head up to look at me. It was dark, but his eyes were bright and gleaming. He rubbed his nose against mine and it made me laugh in a childlike way. I loved how free he made me feel, like it was okay to giggle and not worry about being quiet or reserved.
“That was uhm, unexpected?” He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose.
I nodded my head, agreeing with a matching smile.
