Page 76 of Wildfire
She’s not hard to please like this. Kissing, pressure, consistency, and the most important thing, telling her how incredible she is. I’m addicted to the way she clings to me as her body rocks against my hand, and when I feel her tighten and pulse around my fingers, I crash my mouth into hers, absorbing the sound of her chanting my name.
This is my favorite part, when she’s satisfied and clingy, trying to get as much of her skin on mine as possible. I carefully remove my hand, pulling her close to me as she sags against my body.
“I’m going to put myself in danger more often,” she laughs.
“I can’t lie, I was motivated by jealousy, not chivalry. Why didn’t you tell me Clay tried to kiss you?”
“Because I thought Xander told you. You came to my cabin and said you were jealous,” she says, frowning.
“Yeah… that was about something far more petty than a kiss.”
“Never had you down as the possessive type.” There’s nothing hurt or sad in her tone. “It’s always the ones you least suspect.”
“You get that way when you know how fucking special someone is. How they have no goddamn idea how much brighter they make everything. You’re like sunlight, Rory. I want to bask in everything you have. And I absolutely don’t want to share that with Clay. Not even for a minute.”
Her body stiffens as she leans back, putting distance between us. “I’m not those things.”
I hate that she doesn’t see it. “You are.”
“I don’t want to be sunlight, Russ.” She shakes her head adamantly. “If you stand in the sun for too long, you get burned. I don’t want to be another person who burns you. Let me be moonlight.”
The look of vulnerability on her face steals my breath away. “What if we get caught in the rain? You don’t get rainbows at night.”
“You don’t need rainbows when you have the northern lights,” she says softly. “And last time we got caught in the rain we did just fine. Incredible, in fact.”
I want to say something sweet and funny, but looking at her scrambles every thought in my head. Nothing seems good enough. Nothing quite tells her how mesmerized I am by her. “If you’re moonlight, does that make me the sea?”
I’m cringing at myself as she leans in and kisses me. Slow, soft, meaningful. She doesn’t laugh at my terrible attempt to be sweet. “You want me to talk about sharks again, don’t you.”
Just like that, the tender moment slips away as we both begin to laugh, but I don’t mind. “We should probably head back before someone comes looking for us.”
Scooping the chairs under my arm, we walk hand in hand towardthe door. Rory turns the lights off as I pull the door open, and that’s when Jenna appears.
My voice hasn’t cracked since I was fifteen years old, but it does now. “Jenna, hi!” I clear my throat a few times. “Sorry, dusty in here.”
“I wanted to check that you weren’t lost, you’ve been forever. Where’s Aurora?”
There’s a split second where we have to telepathically decide which avenue to take.
Or more accurately, which lie to tell.
Thankfully, Aurora steps out from behind the door and huffs. “Maybe if the storage in this place was labeled or made any freaking sense we wouldn’t have to check everywhere for some chairs.”
“Okay, attitude,” Jenna snaps, and it reminds me how like siblings these two are. “Sorry for caring about your well-being. What a terrible boss I am.”
If Jenna suspects anything, she doesn’t let it show as we all walk back toward the kids. After grabbing an extra chair for her and some paper for Rory, I position them in a line in a shaded spot where we can watch all the different groups practicing.
I shouldn’t feel this on edge considering we didn’t get caught doing anything, and sitting here together isn’t illegal, but taking into account I can smell Aurora on the hand I’m leaning against while Jenna asks me about college, it feels pretty illegal.
Chapter Twenty-FiveRUSS
YOU KNOW WHEN YOU FEELlike everyone is staring at you while you’re doing something but you tell yourself it’s your imagination?
That. Except I look up from my breakfast plate and everyoneisstaring at me.
“What?” I mumble with my mouth full of scrambled egg.
Aurora looks ready to start a fight, but she was perfectly content an hour ago when I managed to find us a private spot for two minutes and press her against a very large and discreet tree to make out.
