Page 35 of Craving the Edge

The world outside muted. The buffer of Fighter’s Edge was gone. Now there was just a confined space charged with the hum of his proximity. My heart started a slow, heavy thud against my ribs.

Declan circled the front of the car and got into the driver’s seat, closing his own door with a solid thunk. He didn’t turn the key.

The quiet pressed in on me, amplifying the frantic thrum of my pulse. All the carefully constructed walls I’d spent my entire life building crumbled into dust.

“I don’t know what to do,” I blurted.

“I can help you find him,” Declan said. “Whatever trouble he’s in, I can help you fix it.”

I shook my head, turning to face him in the dim cabin light. “That’s not what I mean.” A knot of fear tightened in my gut. “I’ve never let myself…want anyone before.”

His breath caught. “Do you… Do you want me?”

There was no point lying. Not to him, and not to myself. I nodded.

“Char…”

He reached across the console, cupping my cheek, his thumb brushing just below my eye. His skin was warm, the calluses on his fingers rough. I didn’t pull away. I leaned into his touch, my exhaustion finally allowing my heart to win the stupid war against my head.

Declan closed the small distance between us. His mouth met mine, a soft, questioning pressure that was nothing like the kiss we’d shared in the office. It was gentle and devouring all at once. I met it with a desperate intensity that came from a place I hadn’t known existed. A raw hunger filled me as my fingers tangled in the thick fabric of his hoodie, pulling him closer.

His other hand buried into my hair, tilting my head back as the kiss deepened, his tongue twining with mine. His hands slid from my hair, down my neck, his thumbs tracing the line of my collarbone before gliding lower to gently cup my breasts over my jumper. A low sound escaped my throat and his hands settled firmly on my waist, pulling me flush against the centre console. I wrapped my arms around his neck, digging my fingers into his shoulders, trying to press my body into his until there was no space left.

His taste, the sounds he made, it obliterated everything until it was all I could think about. I began and ended in this moment, aching, burning, and desperate for more.

I twisted, trying to bridge the gap between us, but the centre console of the Audi dug into my hip, a frustrating wall I couldn’t cross. He pulled me closer, one hand tangling in my hair, the other sliding under my jumper to press against the bare skin of my waist. His touch was electric. I arched against him, my body a live wire, but it was no use.

A gasp for air tore from my lungs as I broke the kiss, leaning back hard against the passenger seat. My breath came in ragged bursts, my lips swollen and wet. My entire body hummed with a frantic energy that had nowhere to go.

I looked at Declan. He just watched me, his own breathing heavy, his green eyes dark with an intensity that burned right through me. There was no mistaking the look on his face. He wanted me, and not just for a quick fumble in his car. It was an absolute statement that left me nowhere to hide.

“This isn’t just some shitty affair in a back-alley gym,” he growled. “You’re not some distraction.”

His words hung in the charged silence of the cabin.

“I can’t explain it,” he continued, his gaze unwavering. “But whatever this is…it’s not something I’ve ever felt before. The things I want to do to you… The things I want to share with you…”

His voice trailed off, but the images his words conjured were shockingly vivid. I squeezed my thighs together, a dull ache starting between them. My mind, a traitor to my every instinct for self-preservation, immediately supplied the fantasy. Him, in my bed, stripping away the layers of bullshit until all that was left was us. His hands, his mouth, exploring every part of me. His tongue on my clit. His fingers inside me, his cock ramming into me over and over until all I felt was pleasure… Until we felt it together.

“I’ll take you home.” He didn’t move. “But I’m not coming inside. Not until you want me there.”

He was giving me an out. He was setting a boundary, a line in the sand that I could choose to cross or not.

A large part of me, the part slick and aching between my legs, wanted to tell him to forget the boundaries. It wanted to climb over the console, straddle his lap, and fuck him right there in the front seat of his stupidly expensive car.

But the other part, the practical Char that’d kept me safe, whispered the truth. This man, with his blinding fame and his high-stakes career, was a ticking bomb. He’d be in Sydney for his fight soon. Then it would be Tokyo…and somewhere else after that. He’d leave. Of course he’d leave. They always did.

His world was not my world. Mine was a precarious job and a dodgy boss. His was press conferences and multi-million dollar fight cards. The two didn’t mix and I’d be the one left picking up the pieces.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

The words were barely audible, but he heard them. His gaze held mine for a second longer before he pressed the push button ignition. The engine purred to life.

He put the car into gear and pulled away, the darkened gym disappearing in the side mirror.

CHAPTER 13

DECLAN