Page 41 of Wild Fire

“Do you want me to leave?” he asks carefully.

“No,” I say without question.

“Hmmm,” he hums quietly.

“Are you going to? Leave?” I ask, my voice shaking. I glance at him, fear and panic swelling like a hurricane.

“No,” he says as he takes two steps towards me, and I feel like a bomb waiting to go off.

“May I touch you?” he asks, and I think it’s the softest sound I’ve ever heard.

There’s a sweetness to his voice that I’ve never heard before and mixed with his gravely rasp, it’s strangely comforting. I like it more than I should.

“Yes,” I say without question, without thought.

AJ grabs my wrist gently and pulls me close, wrapping his arms around me and I fall into him without a second thought. I bury my head against his chest and the tears come like rain.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asks, his voice so soothing and warm, I think I could die here, like this.

I shake my head. “No,” I cry. “Please, don’t let go.”

AJ hums again, his hands rubbing soothing lines up and down my back.

“I won’t,” he whispers. “Not until you tell me to, okay?”

When the tears stop, I feel better. Like I can breathe again, and I let out a low sigh of relief.

I break away from him, but keep my hands on his hips. I look up at him, noting the glimmer in his eyes, as if he too was crying. But that’s crazy, right?

“Feel better?” he asks, reaching to wipe my cheeks. It’s so different from the last time he touched me.

It feels almost… intimate.

I nod. “I think so.”

“Good,” he says, pulling back from me.

“What was that?” I ask, blinking.

“What did you—”

“I just gave you what you needed,” he says carefully.

“Why?” I ask as I settle next to him against the truck. AJ lets out a low breath.

“Because I know what it’s like,” he says softly.

“Is that your kink?” I sarcastically drawl. “Violence?”

He chuckles. “Not quite.”

I run a hand over my face. “But that is a kink, isn’t it?”

He laughs. “Yup.”

“Maybe that’s mine,” I gripe.

“Nope,” he says carefully. “It’s not.”