With the pressure of his lips on mine, his declaration takes on a new dimension. This isn’t the man who I taunted while we trained. Back then, he kissed me like he wanted me to feel his self-control shattering.
Now his kiss feels more like a whispered acceptance. It’s the final plea of his broken resolve, begging me to carry his heart carefully because it can’t handle any more loss.
Sinking into his tight embrace, I fist his t-shirt and let instinct take over. For all his lectures, I melt at the slightest brush of Hyland’s lips, firm and attentive in their delivery.
His hot mouth moves on mine, lips pecking faster and faster until the assault escalates into a hard kiss that feels like it might crack my very lungs open just to steal my breath.
With every part of me screaming out for what I know I shouldn’t be allowed, I kiss him back. Tongue darting out.Lips parting. Teeth clashing. Passion rolls over me in one long, intense convulsion, far stronger than any seizure.
Grasping my hip, Hyland’s rough palm slides down to the back of my thigh. He lifts my leg to hook it up on his waist, sending pulses of heat down south where I can feel his muscles against my core.
The low, feral groan that pours from his throat mirrors my own hunger. My arms coil around his neck, lifting me higher so I can rock myself against his bulk, needing some relief from the building pressure.
His tongue wrestles with mine, searching out every hidden corner or part of me he’s yet to claim. It’s all-consuming. Overwhelming. Everywhere, Hyland stamps his touch and taste onto my mouth with utmost finality.
When we finally split apart on a mutual intake of breath, his neck cranes to rest our foreheads together for several serene seconds. All I can hear is my roaring heartbeat hammering in my ears.
“Ember?” He sounds reluctant.
“What now?”
“I think you should step back from the investigation.”
Shocked, I flinch away from him. “Wait, what?”
Hyland wears a pleading mask that does little to alleviate the sting of his words.
“You need to stop. Go home and rest.”
Blinking doesn’t reveal a new sight. He’s still staring at me with rounded eyes, making the most insane request I’ve ever heard. All after kissing the living daylights from my soul.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I blurt out.
“You’re driving yourself into an early grave right now. It has to stop.”
“I’m part of this team! I need to be here.”
“You need to take care of yourself,” Hyland refutes. “Let us do our jobs.”
“It’s my job too.”
“It doesn’t have to be. You need to slow down and take care of your health.”
Even though my lips still tingle with the remains of our kiss, I wrench myself from his arms like I’ve been burned. Frankly, tossing a vat of acid in my face would hurt less.
“Tom is my brother,” I say hotly. “I have every right to be here. You can’t freeze me out.”
“That isn’t what I’m doing.”
“You’re trying to control me!”
“I want to help you.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.”
“Ember…”
Hyland reaches for me again, but I’ve already inched farther away. The sweat that’s dried on my skin now feels like a tight, restrictive straitjacket, worsened by the falsehoods his tongue dares to offer.
