The Fire We Started | Wildfire Series Book 2

ONE

She relaxed into my arms, her head tipping back to rest on my good shoulder. The curve of her naked back molded to my bare chest, and I loved it. So I pulled her even closer.

Her breath hit the curve of my jaw as she murmured, "I've just never felt so..."

"Free?"

Madie made a little humming noise in the back of her throat. "Free."

"Can I join your moment?" I asked, bringing my gaze to the ocean before us. The waves rolled steadily onto the beach. The last few weeks here with Madie had brought me a level of peace and comfort I didn't realize I could even have. But the experiences of this month were nothing compared to today. Because today Quinton Reid was done haunting us.

She was fucking free.

"Of course." Madie's low voice brought me out of my head again. "You make me feel free, too," she said, even as I trapped her closer to my chest.

"Good."

I could hear her smile as she said, "Even though I'm yours—"

"Fuck yeah, you are," I mumbled, dropping a kiss onto her head.

"—I still feel like I belong to myself. It's...new to me, Bren."

I dropped my head lower and moved gingery hair out of the way so I could brush my lips over the sun-kissed skin on her shoulder. "It's because I love you for who you are. And I always will."

"I—" Madie started to say something back, but her voice drifted as I began to trail my fingers up her stomach. There was only so long that I could keep from touching her when she was naked and in my arms.

I traced designs over soft skin, loving it. And then I circled her breasts, running the tips of my fingers everywhere except for where she wanted it most. Madie whined my name. Her chest rose and fell heavily beneath my hands.

But when I didn't give her what she wanted, she moved out of my grasp. Madie put her palms flat on the table before her and let them slowly slide forward. Soon, her body was flush with the wooden surface, her back exposed to me. The kitchen table was sleek with a dark finish, and her beautiful skin and that mix of golden-auburn hair stood out against it.

Hell, it didn't matter where she was. It didn't matter what her surroundings were or who she was with. It didn't matter if she was naked or wearing sweats. She fucking always stood out.

My hands smoothed onto her back, spreading over the bare flesh. I followed the curve of her spine all the way down. And when I reached her ass, Madie lifted it up, brushing purposefully against my hard-on.

There was no way it wasn't purposeful.

And then she looked at me over her shoulder, raising a brow. I gaped back, admiring her splayed out on the kitchen table.

Madie pushed herself up, extending her arms straight. A husky chuckle slipped through her lips, and it did things to me. She was still peeking at me with mischief in her eye when she asked, "Sorry, did you want to do it?"

"Do what?" My brain was a mess. She was so gorgeous, and I still couldn't believe that I was standing here, alive.

"Bend me over the table." She smiled a smile that I felt in my dick. "You told me you were going to."

I finally made the connection. Last night, flinging cue sticks and flirting across the pool table...that was like a distant memory. Everything before Quinton and that gun and Madie's screams—all of that was in a different lifetime.

I hadn't thought that anything could be the same now. I hadn't thought that we could go back to the simplicity of that moment when it was just me and her and hot gazes and the frivolous love that we hadn't named yet.