“Why are you here? That’s a better question, don’t you think?”
“I know better than this.”
I reached up needing to touch him, but he took that hand too, holding them both prisoner. Being held in place with nowhere to go elicited a hunger in me that I didn’t yet understand. “Know better than what?”
“Than to be here.”
“Then go,” I offered.
That was all it took. He spun me around, backed me up against the truck, and had my arms pinned by my head so fast I lost my breath. Leaning in beside me until his mouth was by my ear, he rasped in an unsteady voice, “I can’t.”
I turned my head to face him and saw all of his turmoil, and finally, the full impact of his desire. “Then don’t.”
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
Life is full of ironies, because with him, I’d never felt more alive.
As I stood there, I could feel the pulse in her wrists beating beneath my fingers.
“Kiss me,” she pleaded, straining against my hold. “Just once. So I’ll know what it’s like.”
She didn’t need to beg; I’d made up my mind. The only question that remained was how I was going to stop once I started. Her lips parted, and as her tongue slipped out to moisten them, the time for waiting was over. I was drawn to her in a way I couldn’t describe.
Lowering my head, I slowly tasted her upper lip with the tip of my tongue. She didn’t move, not even to breathe, as I did it again. This time, as I was about to pull back, those soft, plump lips of hers closed around my tongue and sucked it inside her mouth.
I couldn’t help the groan that escaped me. It was as much from the sweet torture she’d put me through as it was from the searing arousal she was currently igniting.
When her mouth slipped away, I chased it with my own and pushed my tongue inside, taking what I wanted without any thought of the consequences. Slow disappeared as her body shifted, trying to get closer to mine, and I didn’t dare release her.
Addison’s mouth was sweet, and her body...it was fucking sinful.
I lifted my head, my harsh breathing now matching hers. Her nose brushed against mine as she softly touched my lip with her tongue. My hands tightened where they were.
Once is a mistake, I can play that off. But twice...can I really let this happen?
As she whispered, “Again,”—I knew the answer.
Releasing her, I trailed my fingers down her cheek and then cupped the side of her face before kissing her again. This time she was more than ready to reciprocate. She grabbed the side of my jacket and pulled me to her as I wrapped my arms around her waist, hauling her up against my body.
The moan that left her was raw, sexual, and made my cock harder than I thought possible. I cupped her ass and slammed her back against the truck. Her legs wrapped around my hips, and I ground my erection against her.
Heaven or hell? At this stage, it could have been either. I didn’t care.
Her fingers found their way into my hair, and she angled her head, pushing her tongue deeper inside my mouth. I felt her pull the tie free, causing my hair to fall down in a curtain around us.
For a moment, our mouths stopped moving, our tongues stopped tasting, and I held her there, trapped against the side of my truck. I took from her each breath she gave and returned it with one of my own.
“This is crazy. We can’t…I can’t be doing this. Not with you.”
I knew right then after only one taste, that if I couldn’t have her, there would be nobody else.
Trying to keep the connection, I ran my fingertips over the hard line of his jaw and then pushed his hair back behind his ears.
“You’re so sexy.”
He let out a self-derisive laugh and shook his head.
“What? You don’t think so?”
“I don’t think that you should think I’m sexy.”
I couldn’t help the thrill of satisfaction I got when he squeezed my ass and pushed against me. He closed his eyes as if he was trying to get himself under control.
“Well, this doesn’t help me to think otherwise.”
“Addison,” he growled. “You’re trouble.”
“And you’re hard. So I’m guessing you either like trouble, or you think I’m sexy too.”
Releasing me, Grayson ran his hands around the waist of my coat and then drew one of my long brown curls between his thumb and forefinger.
“I think…we shouldn’t be doing this.”
“But we did.”
He took a step back and agreed, “Yes. We did.”
Pushing away from the truck, I raised a hand and laid it flat on his jacket, over his heart.
“I want to do it again.”
Turning away from me, he shoved his fingers through his hair and scuffed a foot into the ground before asking the question I knew would come.
“Why don’t you tell me why we’re here?”
I could tell he was trying to move on and push aside what just happened. Maybe even convince himself that it had been a one-time deal.
I let him believe what he would in that moment and told him the truth.
“I’m here to see my brother.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes,” I confirmed as I made my way past him. “I’m here to see Daniel.”
Present…
Open.
Eyes—open.
I lie still amongst the flowers and listen for it, but it’s not there—there’s no tick, tick, tock. There’s nothing.
The dream is familiar. This is where I meet Daniel, but this detail…this silence is not familiar. Like a whisper on the wind, I hear Grayson as clearly as if I’m back in his classroom. “Bukowski once wrote, find what you love and let it kill you.”
Whipping my head around, I look for him.
Is he here? Did I somehow pull him into this dream?
I see nothing, and still, there’s no ticking of my watch.
Defeated, I lie back down in the fields of purple, and just before my eyes close, I hear, “I found you.”
My eyes snap open, and there it is.
It’s back, and he’s gone—tick, tick, tock.
Chapter Eleven
Past…
“Your brother?” I asked.
I turned as she walked over to the gates. After she pushed them open, Addison looked back to where I was standing rooted to the same spot.
“I don’t understand.”
“I know,” she simply replied. “You may want to park your truck inside, so no one reports it.”
Great, now she’s telling me the smart thing to do.
I cursed myself as I got in the truck and followed her down the drive to a small, empty lot. I sat for a minute watching her where she stood bathed in my headlights once more. Dressed as she was in her pure white coat, she resembled an angel. An angel I’d been kissing only minutes earlier. An angel I was thinking of in the most impure way possible.
Cutting the lights and darkening my view, I got out and came around to where she was standing.
“Do your parents know where you are?”
The mischievous smile she aimed my way let me know she was onto me, and there was no way she was going to let me forget what’d just happened. Not when she finally had me where she wanted me.