Tessa Adams: Flamebound

Wrapping an arm around my waist.

Pulling me back against him with less finesse than he’s ever shown before.

Thrusting into me from behind.

It’s primitive and possessive and perfect—so perfect that I climax again within seconds. Declan groans, his hands clamping down on my hips to hold me in place as he moves slow and deep inside me. Over and over and over again.

Eventually I cry out. My body is on fire, every nerve ending I have alight with so much pleasure that I can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t function. There are no boundaries, no lines, nothing that tells me where I stop and he begins. It’s exhilarating and terrifying and absolutely unstoppable.

His power rises up, calls to mine, and I couldn’t stop my magic from answering even if I wanted to. My power flashes out of me, slams into his in a mingling so intense that I feel it in my soul.

Declan gasps, his hands tightening on my hips as if he needs to anchor himself, and I know he feels it, too. Desperate, delirious, but determined to take him over the edge with me this time, I reach back, grab onto the firm muscles of his ass and pull him forward, hard, so that he slams—fast and deep—inside me.

He curses, then lets go in a potent flash of light and love. He pours himself into me and it sends me into one last climax, this one more powerful than those that came before because he’s with me every step of the way.

When it’s over, Declan sags against me. His chest pressed to my back. His face resting against my shoulder. His body wrapped around mine.

I love it. Love the way he surrounds me, the way I feel him in every cell, every molecule of my body. Love even more the intimacy of being held so closely by the man I know I’m falling for.

I don’t move, afraid to break the spell, and for long seconds neither does he. But eventually our skin grows sticky with dried sweat and the first fingers of dawn begin to creep through the wide, uncurtained picture window that makes up one whole wall of this place.

“I need to get to work.” I should have left already. I was tired last night, and eager to see Declan, so I left without prepping the dough for the snickerdoodle cookies. It needs to be done soon or there will be a lot of disappointed customers this morning. The cookies are one of my biggest sellers.

“I know.” He presses a soft kiss between my shoulder blades. “I’m sorry. You said you wanted to talk.”

He helps me up and for a moment, just a moment, I get another glimpse of the vulnerability in his eyes. It’s such an unfamiliar look for him that, like before, it takes me a moment to realize what it is. When I do, my heart melts just a little more. So often I feel like I’m the only one blundering around without a clue. Like Declan has all the answers to this mysterious connection we share while I don’t have an inkling. It’s nice to know that, steep as the learning curve is for me, I’m not in this alone.

“It’s fine,” I tell him as I head for the shower. “We can talk later.”

I pretend, even to myself, that I’m not relieved at the reprieve. But I am. The last thing I want to do right now is fight with Declan, but I know that it’s brewing. That it’s just a matter of time before we have a knock-down-drag-out over the ACW.

He follows me down the hall to his bedroom, which is empty save the huge bed in the center of the room. The messed-up sheets and bloodred comforter pooled on the floor are testament to the fact that Declan and I didn’t get much sleep last night. Not that I care. Being loved by him is worth any sleep I might lose out on.

“Are you sure? We can talk in the shower.” The vulnerability is gone, replaced by a wicked gleam I know all too well.

I slap a hand on his chest, shove him away when he would have reached for me. “Dude, I know what your definition of shower is and it has very little to do with actually getting clean. I’m late. Plus, Austin’s in the middle of a drought—”

“Which is why showering together is such a brilliant idea. We should do our part to conserve.”

I snort. “Yeah, right. There’s not enough water in the state for the games you like to play. You’re on your own.” I close the door on him, then lean back against it for a second to give my legs a chance to steady. As I do, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My skin is flushed, my eyes dancing, and there’s a huge smile on my face.

It’s a good look for me—beats the hell out of the bruised and battered one I was sporting for a while. Not that I don’t still have bruises. I do, but thanks to time and Declan’s ministrations, they’ve faded to almost nothing.

I don’t look at them, don’t bring the darkness into this one perfect moment. Being with Declan makes me happy, something I couldn’t have imagined saying even two weeks ago. But he does. He makes me really, really happy and that’s enough for now. Whatever this is between us, while intense and over the top, feels good and right—especially since the rest of my life is pretty much a disaster right now.

But I know it won’t last. Not Declan, but the joy bubbling up inside me. It can’t, not with the darkness that lives inside both of us. Not with the twisted maze of lies and danger that stretches before us. Between us.

I flip on the shower, brush my teeth as I wait for the water to warm. Tell myself that I need to enjoy every moment we have together before the evil intrudes. After all, these stolen days in Declan’s arms are more than I ever thought I’d get when I was lying on that stage waiting to die. As long as I have him beside me, I can handle whatever comes next.

With that thought firmly in mind, I make my way toward the shower. But before I can set foot inside it, Declan is there—warm and naked, and suddenly I want nothing more than to crawl back into bed with all six and a half feet of him. And when he wraps his arms around me from behind, pulls me against his broad, hard chest, I can’t do anything but melt.

At least until he puts his mouth to my ear and murmurs, “Let’s talk. Is everything okay?”

The warmth leaves me in a rush. We need to have this conversation—I know we do. But I don’t want to do it now. Not when I’m still loose and sated from our incredible lovemaking. And not when I want to savor the sweetness and the joy that springs up so unexpectedly between us for just a few minutes.

I’m not a coward, though, and I can’t walk away from this conversation. I let Declan distract me earlier, just as I have every day since I’ve been out of the hospital. But that stops now. I need answers and he’s the only one who can give them to me.

“What—” My voice breaks, so I clear my throat. Take a breath. Then try again. “What are you planning on doing?”

“I need to make some phone calls, deal with the wrap-up of the tour. Usually all that’s done a week after the tour finishes, but I’ve been a little busy the last few days.”

Taking care of me. That’s not what he said, but it’s what he meant. My cheeks flush with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take you away—”

“Don’t,” he tells me, right before he bends down and takes my mouth in a searing kiss. “Don’t you dare apologize for what those bastards did to you.”

“I’m not apologizing for that . But I am sorry I’ve taken up so much of your time when you need to be doing other stuff.”

He stares at me for long seconds. “You just don’t get it, do you? Even after everything we’ve been through, you don’t understand how much you mean to me.”

I don’t. But I know how much he matters to me, and the thought of anything happening to him because of me, because of our relationship, cuts like a knife.