Sticking to the Plan

Chapter 17

DISCLAIMER: Steam/Smut Ahead (FINALLY) - Proceed with caution or an open mind

Kaley knew the way Bam was looking at her. She'd seen a similar voracious hunger in his eyes the first night they'd met. She knew she was playing with fire; she couldn't deny the fact that she wanted to feel her whole body burn.

"Um....yeah. Good fire, girl." Bam didn't move, afraid to move away and make her feel rejected, but afraid that if he moved too much closer, his instincts would overhaul his senses.

"Thanks. I've built a few in my life." Kaley smirked. Some might call it cruel to toy with a man as she was, "It'd be a lot better if you were over here with me." She patted the smooth stone surface next to her.

Bam moved all at once; from stock still into a purposeful gait right to her.

Kaley felt her breath catch as Bam stalked towards her as if he were a predator honed in on his prey. When he reached her she felt her stomach flutter as she was lifted from the stone in a swift motion, the weight of her body effortless to him as he scooped her up in his arms. Her hands instinctively clasped together behind his neck.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were being a naughty girl, just to punish me." Bam's voice rumbled like distant, rolling thunder as his lips tugged into a smirk.

"Punish you?! Don't you think you've been punished enough." She tried her best not to squeal as he popped her in the air for a mere second to get a better grip on her form, "Shouldn't I be the one that's punished? You said it yourself...I'm a naughty girl..." Her smile fell to a suggestion of a grin as her teeth toyed with her lip.

They could have both, she thought.

They could have this night of deep conversation intermingled with carnal intimacy. She could listen to his truth in all it's blunt glory and seek his forgiveness righteously. If she happened to be naked at the time it didn't dilute it's validity, not in her mind at least.

Bam felt his resolve waning fast. Her warm body in his arms, the overt suggestiveness of her words, the fire, the way the grayed light from the windows lit her in such a pleasing way, all of these things plied at his restraint until it was crumbling.

The silence between them seemed to linger on too long, but his eyes never left hers as if seeking the answer to his conundrum would come from the flutter of her lashes as she blinked.

"Kaley..." He wanted her name to be gentle on his lips; he didn't want to seem lustfully motivated, "I can't...I can't help myself around you much longer."

"You want me?" She attempted to play her words off as a tease and not the imploring question that had lay heavily on her mind. Her brain still tumbled with the reality of their situation. She knew part of her was scared that he'd never crave her the way she did him. That he'd always hold some sort of resentment against her, maybe even rightfully so, but that would always drive a wedge between them. She hoped with all her being that his feelings for her were strong enough to overcome whatever resentment might still linger in him.

"Yes...I don't...I don't deserve you though. But I want...I need you." His words were genuine. He tried as much as he could to block out their last encounter. When he lost control of his temper, his frustration, his want. It had all combined to form a perfect union of destruction. He didn't want that to be what they were. If still, this wouldn't work out, he didn't want that to be the last sensual moment they shared.

"Joshua..." She stroked his face, she knew now why he was apologizing, what his guilt was for. She actually hadn't given it much thought in the last day, though it was so recent. She knew she should still be angry about what transpired. But she wasn't. She knew he wouldn't have forced her to stay. She knew she could have left at any time. She knew she should have.