Page 80 of Wrecked

He’s nodding, but a flicker in the amber glow of the fire must catch his eye because he looks my way, and I’m completely done.

Gorgeous glasslike onyxes reflect the heat of the flame, and all I see is fire in his eyes.

Because his eyes are looking at me.

The world stops with that one gesture, and I cannot turn away because the hold he has on my soul right now has my feet feeling like lead and my body frozen in time.

His lips part slightly, and his shoulders rise.

His fingers spread out, as if his hands are longing to touch.

He skims his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, his mouth begging to taste.

His chest lets out a shaky breath, needing to be restrained.

Like two ends of a magnet, our souls are being drawn toward one another. I am the negative, and he is the positive.

He is everything good and right in the world, and he is pulling my wicked ways toward him, ready to be reconciled under the holiness of his heated stare.

My chest quivers. I exhale just to let out the pure need I have in my body for the man across the flames. Maybe it’s the turn of events over the last few weeks, maybe it’s the nightfall or the fire or the booze, but a need I’ve never known travels through my body, sails through my blood, and lands inside my very core.

Every time I look at him, I feel like I’m being exorcised. I have to hold on to my body, for fear it will fly across the flames and into his arms.

I stand and rub my palm across my forehead. “I have to pee.”

As I scatter away from the fire, Suzanne calls out, “Don’t go too far.”

I wave a hand in the air and walk into the woods. Away from Suzanne and her reminders of what’s at stake, away from Jessica who is here with Adam and is absolutely crazy about him, and away from the most insatiable need I have ever been given by a man in my entire life.

I walk far into the woods until I barely see the orange glow from the flames. In the pitch-black of night, I place my hand on a tree. My hand skims the bark. The rough, cool edges ground me. I inhale the scent of moss and dew and try to calm my body to a place where it needs to be. Away from the one man I shouldn’t want.

“Leah?”

For a brief moment, I wonder if I’m hallucinating.

I clench my eyes shut even though I can’t see a thing in front of me. When I open them, it’s still black, but the air is saturated in white noise.

“Leah?” Adam’s voice is soft yet more demanding now.

I can’t see him, but I can feel him.

He’s close.

So close.

“I’m right here,” I say through shaky breaths.

Heat. I feel heat. It’s radiating off him, so hot that I turn my body until it’s directly in its path.

“I know where you are,” he says in that sensual voice. “I need you to tell me I can be there, too.”

I bow my head down and breathe, “I wish I could.”

I hear his heavy pants, deep and long. Leaves crunch under his feet as he draws near, searching for me. The pads of his fingertips brush the outsides of my arms, and the simple touch sets my body aflame. As soon as the skin makes contact, he lets go. The loss of his touch is devastating.

“Adam, what are you doing here?”

“You shouldn’t be in the woods alone. It’s too dark and dangerous.”