We Fall Like Ashes | Wildfire Series

Forty: Missed You

"I told you—"

"Not just physically," he clarified.

Beau cupped my face, and that was when I melted.

Physically.

It was such an irony in this conversation what Beau was able to do to me when he touched me. When anything physical came into play between us, it had the ability to break me down and turn me inside out.

What was it about us that made touch so impossible to resist? That tore down barriers before we even had a chance to fight them.

"I'm sorry, Beau," I breathed when he lowered his head to mine, knocking my forehead as our eyes fluttered shut. "I'm sorry for not telling you."

"I was worried," he groaned. "I was so worried that something would happen to you when I wasn't around to help. Please, can I help you with this? I want to help you."

"Everything is fine, Beau." That was a lie, and we both knew it, so I pivoted the conversation. "How are you?"

He sighed before pulling away to kick off his shoes and throw his shirt over his head in a surprising move. I appreciated how his muscles shifted and moved as he wrestled with yanking his shirt off, and my fingers itched to touch him. I needed us to be touching again.

"To be honest, I had a crap weekend. My brother showed up, and shit's weird with him and my parents." He wrapped an arm around me, pulling me down onto the bed. "I was already in a crappy mood when Bren texted me, and now all I want is to hold you."

I sucked in, too surprised to even really say anything. Beau had only ever mentioned good things about his family, and he barely spoke about his brother. I circled my arms around him, drawing us closer together so that, at the very least, I could give him what he wanted. We faced each other, side by side on the bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked into the crook of his neck. "The stuff with your brother and your parents?"

He ran a hand down my back before slipping it beneath my shirt. "My parents cut him off a while ago, so he asks me for money. It's not really a big deal. It's just annoying."

His tone made it easy to tell that he didn't really want to talk about it and that, yeah, it probably was more of a big deal than he wanted to let on. But I didn't press it much further. Especially because Beau had unsnapped my bra while we were talking, and now both my shirt and bra were being tossed to the floor. Lips pressed against the side of my neck. His hand cupped one of my breasts with an appreciative squeeze. And talking....Well, I didn't know how to do it right now.

"Fuck, I missed you," he murmured, trailing lower on my body with his kisses. "Tell me if you want me to stop. Otherwise, I think I need to reacquaint myself with every inch of you."

"It was only two nights, Beau," I said with a breathless laugh.

"Are you telling me to stop?"

"Definitely not."

"Then quit it with the technicalities, will ya?"

Gladly. If I were honest with myself, two nights felt long to me, too.

Beau's mouth didn't waste any time finding my breasts, and I gasped as his tongue toyed with a nipple, one after the other. I moaned softly, closing my eyes as he worked silently to taste every inch of me, seeming to not want or be able to talk, either.

By the time he pushed my sweatpants off and nestled his head between my legs, I was all but panting. If he pulled away right now, I was confident I would scream. Because the way I needed Beau right now was beyond words. A new level of desperation.