Page 49 of Wild Fire

There’s no argument.

“Okay,” I say with a shrug.

I slide my hands into my pockets and head down the street. AJ flanks my side, keeping with my pace, and neither of us say a word; that silence between us building into a heavy lull.

When we get to my block, to the streetlight, we stop.

I move a little closer, stealing a glance at AJ’s dark, shadowed gaze. Underneath these lights, he looks different; older, maybe.

The words come without warning.

“How old are you?”

AJ smirks. “Why, do you have a Daddy kink I don’t know about?”

I laugh. Really fucking laugh.

“I don’t think so.” And then I see the stern, almost serious look on his face.

“Wait, is that your—”

“No. Not quite,” he says, taking a step closer. The crickets chirp as the wind whistles, and despite how chilly it is out here, all I feel in this space between us is heat.

“Forty-one,” he says carefully.

I raise an eyebrow. “Wow, you look great for forty-one then, because I thought you were like… thirty.”

He laughs a deep, full-bodied belly laugh, and within seconds, I can’t help but laugh too.

“Wow… you really know how to stroke a man’s ego. Shit.”

I blush because his words make me think back to our pool game, his stance behind me as he pressed his dick against my ass while trying to teach me how to shoot.

The words fall out of me without a second thought, and the minute I say them, I know I’m well and truly fucked, because there’s no way I’m going to forget them.

“That’s not all I’m good at stroking.”

AJ’s eyes alight with interest, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink that makes my stomach flip and I can’t help but grin.

“Yes, well, that may be true, but your aim could use some work,” he says and I let out a low laugh, feeling the tension dissipate between us.

I like him like this. Relaxed. Sexy. Playful.

I want more of this AJ.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him back to my room, but I’ve never done anything like that before. Made the first move.

But I want to. I just… don’t know how.

I take a deep breath and count to six, and take another step forward. I settle my stance, placing one hand against his chest. My gaze drifts up to his, holding it steady.

AJ looks at me with shadowed eyes as he bites his lip.

It’s a strange sight, because it feels so unlike him.

AJ is unlike anyone else I’ve ever met.

It’s maddening how this man can make me so flustered, so aggressive, and yet so…