Page 48 of Where We Burn


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“I’m good. I’m… yeah, I’m fine.” She hesitates, glancing up at me. “Was Callan okay?”

I guide her deeper into the woodland, to a place where nobody but me ever goes. It’s all fenced off, locked behind gates that require keys I keep on my ring, and right now, I’m taking her where I know we’ll be completely alone, where no one can interrupt what needs to happen between us.

“Pretty sure he wanted to knock me on my ass for sending Travis down there, but he understands why I did.”

It’s breathtaking out here. Everything’s draped in this pristine white that should make me want to protect it. Instead, all I can thinkabout is how perfect it’ll be when I ruin it. When I drag Piper down with me, straight into the darkness I’ve been fighting.

I’ve thought about this moment over and over again, turned it inside out, and played every possible version of it in my head. And still, nothing is going to stop me. Not the consequences. Not the mess we’ll leave in our wake. Not the fact that I know exactly what it means when I finally take what should’ve always been mine.

“I’ve been meaning to thank you, Christian.” I pause in my tracks, turning to face her as snow drifts lazily around us. “The way you handled everything the other night. I’m not sure what I was expecting or what I thought would happen, but you made me feel safe in a situation that could’ve escalated. And you made Travis leave instead of me, which I know must’ve been hard…”

“Hey, the hardest thing was seeing you hurt like that.” Our eyes lock, and I’m struck by how impossibly green hers are against the winter backdrop. “Nobody—and I mean nobody—who’d raise a hand to a woman is welcome under my roof.”

“I hit him back. That makes me just as bad.”

“It was self-defense, Piper. There’s a difference.”

“I’m pretty sure I heard bones crack.” She leans back against a snow-dusted pine, and I find myself stepping closer, drawn into her orbit.

“He’s lucky it wasn’t his goddamn spine.”

She smiles, shaking her head as she turns away, but I can’t let her hide. My hand finds her cheek, and her eyes flutter closed as she leans into my touch. My thumb traces the mark I know lies beneath her makeup, hidden either for my benefit or hers. I can’t see it, but that doesn’t erase the truth of it.

“I’ve tried so hard not to want this.” Her whispered confession steals my breath.

“You think I haven’t? I’ve been walking around for months like I’m dying, Piper.” My gaze drops to her mouth. That perfect, parted mouth that’s so damn close I can feel her breath ghosting across my lips.

One step and she’s mine.

One heartbeat and nothing will ever be the same.

“I’ve tried so hard to be the better man, but I can’t… I can’t do it anymore.”

“Christian...” Her hand lifts slowly, fingers trembling as they trace along my jaw. “You were always the better man.”

Fuck it.

The last thread of restraint snaps, and I claim her lips, pouring months of want into a single kiss. She melts into me, her hands gripping my jacket and her nails digging in like she needs something to hold on to.

Each slow, teasing stroke of her tongue draws a growl from somewhere low in my throat. My fingers tangle in her hair, tilting her head back so I can take more, taste more, consume more… and she gives it all to me. Her body molds against mine, and my control is gone—shot to hell, burned to ash, and obliterated under the weight of this moment.

I press my body against hers, pinning her against the rough bark of the tree where the branches have made us a private little sanctuary. She pulls back with a gasp that turns into something darker, more primal, when she feels exactly how hard I am against her. No point hiding it, not when my cock is practically begging to be buried inside her.

I haven’t kissed a woman like this in years. Sure, I fooled around when I was younger, but then Travis came along, and that whole shit show was enough to make me lock everything down tight. But this girl has me wanting things I swore I’d never touch again. She has me acting like a goddamn animal, and fuck if I care anymore.

Too many clothes between us.

I didn’t exactly factor that in when I brought her up here, but when my hand slides down to her throat, she makes this sound—this desperate little whimper that has my dick throbbing against her.

“I shouldn’t have done that.” Her brows crease, and I feel her body go rigid. “No, fuck no… I mean out here.”

I lower my lips, dragging my tongue along the seam again before sucking her lower lip into my mouth.

“I want you naked and spread wide open for me, and I can’t have that right now.”

“Touch me.” She breathes the words against my mouth, and Christ, if I’m not about to answer them.

I keep my grip gentle but firm at her throat, holding her gaze, almost daring her to look away as my fingers slip beneath her sweater. Thank fuck her coat’s open, or that would’ve killed the moment. She flinches a little at the cold press of my hand, but a smile tugs at those kiss-swollen lips as I move it higher.