Kissing Fire

by A. M. Hargrove

  Chapter 13

  Avery

  I’d suspected something had been going on between the three of them, but it wasn’t this. I wouldn’t have known Caroline was Terri. Now that Preston had told me, I could see the resemblance in the two women. Not necessarily in their appearance, but in their mannerisms. Preston agreed. We talked about that for a little while when he suggested we get some of the chili he’d made for dinner.

  I followed him into the kitchen and he’d already set two places at the counter in there while he’d been cooking. He filled a couple of bowls and we sat side by side eating our dinner.

  The chicken chili was delicious. “This is excellent! Where’d you learn to cook?”

  He laughed and said, “Avery, I’m thirty five. If I wanted to eat, I had to cook.”

  “I realize that Preston, but I can’t even cook chili this good.”

  “Avery, there are probably a lot of things you can’t do as well as I can.”

  Was that a challenge because I loved a good challenge?

  “Oh really Preston? Like what?”

  “Avery, I make the very best chateaubriand you’ve ever put in your mouth.”

  “Is that a fact?”

  “It is indeed.”

  “Well then, you’re going to have to prove that to me,” I challenged.

  “Oh, I intend to.”

  “Do you now?”

  “Yes Avery, I most certainly do.”

  “What else can you do?”

  “Let's see." He tilted his head, gave me a half grin and announced, "Well, I am an expert marksman.”

  “Is that so? Would you care to demonstrate that?”

  “Most definitely. I also plan to teach you how to shoot.”

  "I see. Will you be using your extra large gun?"

  He raised his brows and then gave me a cheeky grin. "Only if you ask very nicely."

  I bit my lip and tried not to laugh. “So Preston, do you have any other exceptional talents you wish to share with me?”

  “Yes, but I don’t care to tell you what they are right now.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Avery, they involve a very personal and intimate nature and one simply does not boast about those things.”

  Holy cow! Did he really just say what I think he said? Preston Mitchell was getting downright playful!

  I looked closely at him and saw his lips twitching ever so slightly. Then I felt my face getting warm. No, scratch that. It was getting extremely hot. I tried to look nonchalant, like it wasn’t bothering me, but when I looked up at him, our eyes locked and suddenly, I felt this charge hit my body. Maybe it hit the entire room, because the twitching in his lips stopped and the gold in his eyes intensified. Then his head slanted and his lips were on mine, soft at first, but later, not so much. His tongue ran across my lips and was soon tangling with mine, sending shock waves all the way to my toes. We were still sitting at the counter but some way my legs ended up over his, tucked nicely around his waist, as he continued to tease my mouth with his lips and tongue.

  “Oh Avery, Avery. You’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever known,” he whispered against my lips. He rested his forehead against mine and we sat together like that for a moment. I could’ve stayed that way forever. What I really wanted to do was feel his warm naked skin under the palms of my hands, but I was done pushing it with him. This may take a while and for him I would be willing to wait until it was the perfect time.

  “Are you okay?” he wanted to know.

  “Oh yeah. I’m really good,” as I let out a tiny laugh. "But you left out one very exceptional talent."

  "I did?"

  “Yeah?”

  "Which one is that?"

  "Kissing."

  His lips caught mine again and he proved my point, as he left me lightheaded and breathless. We broke apart because of our damn requirement for air. Damn that bodily need! I stroked his face and then brushed my fingers lightly across his cheeks.

  “Preston, can I touch you?”

  He looked into my eyes, searching for something.

  “Avery, you can always touch me. You don’t have to ask.”

  “But I thought...well, you know earlier when I...”

  “You caught me by surprise. If I know you’re here, it’s all good.” He brushed his hand through my hair, letting his fingers glide through. “You have the softest hair.”

  He made me smile. He was always saying the nicest things to me. I ran my hand along his arm, from shoulder to wrist. He was hard and muscular. I knew he was well formed, perfect actually. I wanted to feel his skin so badly it was hard not to pull his shirt off. My hand slid to his neck and I cupped it as I leaned into him, pressing my head next to his heart. It was thrumming against my ear and its rhythm gave me comfort. His arms held me tightly to him and we sat together like that, unmoving, for quite some time.

  I eventually lifted my head and told him, “Someday Preston, I’m going to make love to you with my whole body.” His eyes widened, but I didn’t give him a chance to respond, I unhooked my legs from around his waist and I stood and cleared our dishes, putting them in the dishwasher. He sat there and watched me. When I was finished putting everything away, I walked up to him and held his face in my hands, kissed him on the lips and then said, “I’m really sleepy so I’m going to bed. Goodnight Preston. Thank you for a lovely dinner.”

  Turning away from him, I headed up the stairs. His eyes were on me the whole way as I high fived myself the entire march up the steps.

  As I lay in bed, I couldn’t get my mind off of everything we had discussed. Preston had been through so much how could I not admire him for everything he had done? He’d given up his life for his job. It pissed me off in that it had destroyed his family, but those people he worked for let it all happen. They saw his life unraveling and had done nothing about it. What kind of people did stuff like that? Were they so focused on their own goals that they missed what was happening to their people’s lives? That was scary above all.

  That crap that Preston had gone through in prison was insane. It was one thing to go through that because you were stupid enough to have committed the crime to begin with. But to go to prison because it’s part of your cover? Again, what kind of people let their employees do this kind of stuff?

  My stomach hurt just thinking about it all. But the most painful of it all was that Preston didn’t think he was worthy of anyone because of it. That was just bullshit too. I felt my blood boil when I thought about it.

  I got out of bed and started pacing about my room. It was all so damn unfair. He had done it all to help our country get rid of the drugs coming in, but the price he had paid was way more than he bargained for.

  Looking at the clock I saw it was one in the morning. I would never sleep now, as worked up as I was over this. There was only one thing I could do and I had to do it before I lost my nerve.

  I walked across the hall and opened Preston’s door. I didn’t want to startle him because I didn’t want to be put in a chokehold again.

  “Preston,” I called out in a quiet voice. “Are you sleeping?”

  “No, are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine. Can I get in bed with you?”

  “Um, wait a minute.” He threw back the covers and stood up. The moonlight was streaming in and I saw his perfect naked silhouette as he stood. I wanted to fly across the room and latch onto him tightly, but I didn’t. I grabbed the carpet with my toes and clenched them as tightly as I could and fisted my hands too. I’m sure my nails cut my palms because it sure felt like it. He turned around and said, “I’m sorry. I sleep in the nude so I wanted to pull some boxers on.”

  “Oh.” I gulped. Just the thought. Mmm.

  “Come on in Avery.” He held the covers back and I climbed in his large bed.

  “Are you sure this is okay?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “I couldn’t sleep because I’ve been thinking.”

  “About what?”

 
“About what you said.”

  “Well, that’s a fairly broad subject since I said quite a bit about a lot of things.”

  “I’ve been thinking about you.”

  “I see.”

  “I disagree with you.”

  “Avery, you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  I’d been lying on my back staring at the ceiling, so I rolled to my side and lifted myself to my elbow so I could see him.

  “You said you were tainted and dirty. But I disagree.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “No, I don’t think you do. Preston, if that shit head Little Dickie had raped me, would you think any less of me?”

  “No! How can you even ask me that?”

  “Because you seem to think that I should think less of you because of what you’ve been through. It’s the same thing.”

  I was met with dead silence.

  After a bit he finally said, “No Avery it’s not. I’ve chosen to be with prostitutes.”

  “Well that’s because you don’t think you’re worthy of any other women. Am I right?”

  “Well, yeah, but...”

  “So, if you thought you deserved other women, you would never have chosen to be with prostitutes, correct?”

  “Well of course. But...”

  “No buts Preston. Just a yes or no will do.”

  “Avery, are you a lawyer?”

  “Very funny Preston. I’m trying to show you something here. You’re putting yourself in this position. Did you hear what I just said. YOU ARE putting yourself in this position. No one else is. I actually admire you for what you’ve done. I could kill the bastards who hurt you. Just like you said you could kill Little Dickie for trying to hurt me. But it’s the same damn thing. You have to get over this thing and take that stigma of feeling not worthy off of yourself, because you are worthy. I think you’re very worthy. I know everything about you and I’m not running away. I don’t think you’re tainted, dirty or filthy. It pains me to know how you were brutally hurt, but that’s it. I’m going to touch you now Preston. But that’s all I’m going to do. Just touch you. I’m not even going to kiss you. I just want to touch you.”

  And that’s what I did. I reached out my hand and my fingers started with his lips. They traced the outline of their fullness before they moved to his brows. I smoothed the creases between his eyes away as I massaged light circles with my thumb. Then I touched his cheeks and neck. He was uncommonly beautiful, with the glow of the moon forming shadows across his face. I wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but touching him seemed so much more important right now.

  Scooting next to him so that our bodies touched, I let the tips of my fingers slowly make their way all over his torso, moving from top to bottom. I could feel the raised surfaces of each scar as I tripped over them. I lingered on each one, memorizing each contour and trying to understand how much pain it must have caused him. My eyes pooled over with water as I continued my journey of getting to know Preston’s body. It seemed like when I ventured to the most sensitive areas of him, the more concentrated his scars became. The bastards knew where to hurt him the most and my heart broke for each time he was injured and the torture he had endured. A long time later, I lay my head over his stomach and hearing his heart beating against me, I drifted to sleep with my arms curled around him.

  ********

  The morning came all too soon and when I awoke, I was still wrapped around Preston like paper around a Christmas present.

  “Well, good morning there.” His voice was even huskier than usual, making me belly tighten.

  “Good morning back to you.” I didn’t want to look at his face yet. I wanted to inspect all of his tattoos that I couldn’t see from the night before. They were everywhere and sexy as hell. My face was right there, next to that fine sprinkling of hair that had me so enticed as it trailed right on down past the waistband of his boxers.

  “You know something Preston?”

  “What’s that honey?”

  I finally raised my head and had to refrain from gasping. The man was a hundred and one ways to all kinds of sexy. His hair had that mussed up curled thing going, and his face was covered in the perfect amount of scruff. Half lidded golden eyes stared back at me as I swallowed a few times and then licked my lips.

  “God, you're a tease.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t possibly compete with you Avery. Not even close. Here you are all twisted around me like I don’t know what, and you’re undoubtedly the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. Your warm breath has been tickling my abs for well over an hour now as I’ve just laid here and watched you. Honey, you definitely win the tease award.”

  “Nope, no contest. You don’t have a bird’s eye view of all sorts of hot ink like I do. Preston, you are killing me here. These are amazing.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Um, hell yeah!”

  “Well, I’ll have to tell you what they mean someday then, won’t I?”

  I ran my hand across several and looked back at him. “I’d really like that.”

  He took my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “Come up here. You’re way too far away.”

  I scooted closer.

  He started kissing my cheeks, then my nose and then my lips.

  “What a perfect morning,” he said.

  “Couldn’t agree with you more.”

  After a little bit, we got up and headed down to make coffee and breakfast. I made omelets and toast. Preston raved about them, but they weren’t anything special. He was just being polite.

  “You up for a hike today?” he asked.

  “Oh yes!” But then I realized I didn’t have any hiking boots. “Oh no! I can’t.” My glum expression conveyed my feelings to him.

  “Why, what is it?”

  “No hiking boots.”

  “You have running shoes, don’t you?”

  “Well yeah, but...”

  “They’ll do for today. We’ll stick to the smoother trails. Tomorrow we’ll drive into town and get you set up with a pair. How does that sound?

  “Perfect,” I smiled, “if it’s not too much trouble.”

  We both got dressed and Preston got our gear ready. He had large CamelBaks with water reservoirs that he filled. Then he pulled together some trail mix and stuff for lunch and we struck out about an hour later. It was a perfect day with a clear blue sky and the temperature was in the sixties. We both had on light jackets but it wasn’t long before we had shed them. I tied mine around my waist and he stuffed his into his pack.

  As we hiked, I followed him and admired the view. Not of the mountains as one might think, but of Preston’s ass. He had a mighty fine ass. He reached up behind his head to grab and adjust his pack and his shirt slid up, exposing the waist of his shorts. That’s when I realized he was armed.

  “Preston, do you always carry a gun with you?”

  “Yeah, usually. Does that bother you?”

  “No, not particularly. I just now noticed it. Do you ever not carry one?”

  “Yeah,” he said smiling as he turned around. “When I’m laying in bed with a lovely woman draped over the top of me.”

  “I see,” I said, smiling in return. “Is that it?”

  “No. I don’t carry when I bathe.”

  So he was being a smart ass about this.

  “What about when you swim?”

  “Always when I swim.”

  “Really?” I didn’t know guns worked under water.

  “No, Avery, I was just kidding.”

  I slapped him on the stomach. He grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me close to him. Since I hadn’t been expecting him to do that, I stumbled into him and he caught me, letting me regain my balance again. Once I had, he held me by my hips and planted a kiss on my lips.

  “That’s all I’ve thought about since we’ve been hiking.”

  “Good.” I wanted him to think about me as much as I thought about him which was all the freakin’
time. He had wedged his way into my thoughts and I had intermittent visions of him. When I wasn’t imagining how he looked, I was thinking about things he’d said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just that. I think about you, so I only think it’s fair that you think about me.” I smiled sweetly at him.

  “When you smile like that, it’s deadly you know.”

  “Preston, you give me way too much credit.”

  “You don’t give yourself nearly enough credit.”

  I spun him around and gave him a gentle shove, forcing him to move along. Smiling, I began to hum a song to myself. A little while later, our walk had slowed and I saw his hand reaching back for mine, his fingers wiggling their silent invitation. My hand sought his and I felt its warmth as our fingers laced together. Neither of us spoke a word as we walked along, and even though my life had taken an unwanted turn, I’d never felt happier in all of my twenty eight years.

  Chapter 14

  Preston

  Sunshine was the first thing I thought of when Avery came to mind. She reminded me of the brightest rays of the sun. Seeing her swathed around me this morning was the most erotic thing I’d ever witnessed in my life. Her golden streaked caramel colored hair fanned across my body while her arms surrounded me as if she were protecting me from anything that got in her way. My heart had never felt so...so grateful for anyone. Her actions spoke volumes to me and the way she had tenderly touched me the night before was the most emotional experience of my life. Her fingertips had been so soft; it was as though she explored my body with reverence, if such a thing were even possible.

  “Preston? Are you in there?”

  She had asked me something but I was so deep, so deep in my thoughts of her, I hadn’t heard her. Stopping, I turned around and said, “What?”

  “I asked you if you were hungry or thirsty yet?”