Up in Flames (Crash and Burn, Book Two) (A Military Romance) (8 page)

His fingers are gripping my hair, and suddenly he’s straddling my chest, pumping into my mouth. “God, you’re going to kill me,” he’s groaning. I suck him deeper, hollowing out my cheeks to draw him in, and I taste pre-come coating my tongue.

Cole looks down at me, between his thighs, his eyes intense and filled with something I can’t identify. “Lauren, I…” He thins his lips then withdraws himself from my mouth. His face is so serious I can’t help but wonder if something is wrong. My heart lurches.

“What is it?”

Cole rolls on the condom, slides down my body, and, with a fluid movement of pushing my thighs up and settling himself between my legs, he enters me. I gasp, our breaths mingling, our mouths inches from each other.

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” he tells me in a strangely vulnerable voice, pulling out then thrusting again. My channel clenches involuntarily around him. He’s resting on his forearms above me, and I angle myself to take him deeper. The head of his dick is stroking my G-spot, building that familiar warmth in me again. I came so hard before that I didn’t think this was possible.

I reach up with trembling fingers and cup his cheek, allow myself to really touch him. The high cheekbone, the dip underneath, the line of his jaw, his chin, his lower lip. Memorizing the way he feels to my fingers.

Cole thrusts into me, our grunts pouring into each other’s mouths. This isn’t fucking. There’s some kind of line between us right now that is small, almost invisible, but connected to our chests and tugging us closer. I feel it, in the way we can’t stop staring at each other. Like we’re really seeing each other for the first time, despite our rich history.

Cole is beautiful. And he’s sexy, yes, but despite his new looks and swagger, I still see the boy, the teen, the guy my heart has always been connected to. No one knows me the way he does. No one has been able to see me right to the bone, to the soul. And right now, he’s opened himself up and let me see him too.

My eyes start to burn a little and I blink it back. But the emotion swelling in my chest won’t be denied.

Cole’s body tenses over mine as his orgasm builds. Watching the pleasure and arousal flicker across his face, the way he dips to kiss me, his fingers stroking my hair…it’s pushing my own orgasm too. He rocks his pelvis against mine, his cock rubbing my inner walls.

“I want you to come,” I whisper. I touch his sweat-slicked back, reach down and grip his ass. “Please. I need it.”

“Anything for you, kitten,” he replies, and my heart catches on the tenderness in his eyes, his voice. He thrusts harder, his muscles tight, and I grip his sides with my knees and will him to spill into me.

My own second orgasm hits me out of nowhere, and I suck in a startled breath then moan low, shivering as my core explodes. I squeeze him so tight he can barely withdraw, and he yells, “Fuck, Lauren, yes!” and then stiffens over me. Our eyes are still locked on each other’s.

It might sound corny, but in that moment, I really feel like we are one person, as deep inside each other as possible. That invisible string connecting us grows a little thicker.

Cole exhales hard, then withdraws from inside me. I shiver at the sudden cool air hitting my bare skin. While he disposes of the condom, I tug the blanket down and hop under.

Strangely, I’m more vulnerable now than I was when he was balls deep inside me. I feel like something changed between us while we had sex, and it’s hard to not want to run away, to give myself time to sort it out…and maybe protect my heart in the process. But I fight that urge. The bigger part of me wants to hold him in my arms and feel him fall asleep against me.

Cole slides in beside me. We don’t say a word. Our bodies mold to each other’s, and our eyes drift closed, and I’m pulled into a heavy, satisfying sleep.

* * *

I
blink
the sleep from my eyes. Cole, still deep in slumber, has his arm draped possessively over me, the blanket pushed down to show his beautiful bare chest. Late morning sunlight is dappling across his skin, which glows with a nice tan. He’s fast asleep.

What woke me up? I feel unsettled, like I had a bad dream or something.

“Lauren,” a light voice is saying downstairs.

Like a splash of cold water on my face, I’m alert now. And I know what woke me—an all-too-familiar voice calling my name. My heart is a hammer, battering against my ribcage.
Shit, shit, shit.

I sit up and clutch the blanket to my bare chest. I can sense Cole wake up beside me too, but he doesn’t move a muscle. I’m too nervous to look over at him, my blood roaring through my veins. My fingers are like ice, clutching the blanket.

“Are you up, lazy bones?” my sister says in a teasing tone. “I have coffee and I’m coming up, so throw on some clothes.”

Heavy steps start up the staircase to my room.

And I know that it’s too late to stop my sister from seeing Cole in my bed.