Through the Fire (Daughter of Fire, #1)(12)

He continued to rock us in a slow circle. “I did think about. I still do.”

“Did you go?” I asked. “To prom, I mean?”

He shook his head. “Lou did though. You’d have thought it was her wedding the way she carried on about finding the perfect dress.”

I didn’t want to talk about his sister; it just made me think of the danger his family posed to me and made the heat of my body spike for all the wrong reasons. “Why didn’t you go?” I asked to change the subject.

Looking down at me solemnly, he shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t have a date.”

I laid my head against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. “What do you think about? I mean, when you think about our prom?”

He hummed softly, the sound vibrating through my cheek. “What it would have been like walking in with the prettiest girl in the school.”

Lifting my head off his chest, I raised my eyebrow at him skeptically.

“It’s true,” he said with a chuckle. “I often wonder what the rest of high school would have been like if you hadn’t disappeared. Don’t you? I mean, if you hadn’t been what you are, or I hadn’t been who I am . . .”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Would I have stayed if I’d thought there was a chance he might feel this way about me? It didn’t really matter because one thing was clear—if I wasn’t something other, we might have had that normal high school experience he’d dreamt about.

“It’s me who should be sorry. If I hadn’t reacted the way I did . . .” he trailed off, and for a moment the rhythm of our slow dance stopped. “Maybe things would have been different.”

“Maybe, but we’ve got this second chance now. There’s no point agonizing over the past.”

“You’re right,” he said, tracing my jaw with his fingers before rubbing his thumb along my cheekbone. “You know what the worst thing is?”

“What’s that?” I murmured as my eyes fell closed to enjoy the tenderness of his touch.

“That I have to bring you on a date somewhere like this,” he waved his hand around the small office space.

“I like it here,” I said. “It’s quiet.”

He chuckled. “I know, but Evie,” he placed his finger on my chin and guided my gaze to his, “I’m with the most beautiful girl in the world—I wish I could show her off a little.”

My stomach fluttered at his words and the loving attention in his gaze that matched them. “You were right,” I murmured. “You are dangerous to me.”

He frowned in confusion.

“Dangerous to my self-control.” Reaching my hand up to grasp a fistful of his hair, I guided his mouth to mine and demonstrated exactly how dangerous his words were.

Breathless and with lips that were both full and fulfilled, I pulled away from his embrace with a smile. “I never expected it to be like this,” I murmured.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, so perfect. This whole day has just been so far from anything I’ve ever experienced. I feel like it’s all just a dream, and I’ll wake up in a moment and this feeling that I have here in the pit of my stomach will be gone.”

His lips stretched into a wicked grin. “Where was that feeling?” he asked. “Here?” He pressed his palm against the bottom of my ribcage. “Or here?” He splayed his fingers down over my stomach. Then he pressed his whole body against mine, trapping his hand between us before sliding it down into the waistband of my jeans. “Or here?” he breathed against the inflamed skin of my neck while his fingers grazed against the top of my panties.

“Oh god,” I murmured in response to the sharp spike of pleasure that coursed through my body the instant his fingers had brushed against my bare skin. “I want you, so badly.”

“I can’t lie, I want you too,” he growled against my ear before nibbling my earlobe. “But not like this. Not here. I want our first time to be something more special than anything I can offer you here. I promise it will be worth it.”

I whimpered as he stroked his fingers back and forth across my skin.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t make you feel good, exactly like I’ve dreamed of doing for years.”

Even though I didn’t think it was possible for the fire smoldering in the pit of my stomach to rage any hotter, his words added tinder to the flame and made my whole body burn in the most delicious way.

His fingers continued on their downward path until they were rubbing against the outside of my panties. The moment he crossed the most sensitive parts of my body, he pushed his mouth against mine and continued his frenzied assault from earlier. The combination of his uninhibited kisses and the relentless rhythm of his fingers left me in a state of perfect bliss. Every sense seemed heightened, and Clay controlled each one. I saw only him. Heard only his breathless declarations murmured against my wanting mouth. Tasted only the perfection of our mingling tongues. Experienced his touch through every part of my body.

Allowing my eyes to drift shut to better enjoy the pleasure of the moment that stole over my whole body, I wrapped an arm around his shoulder to support myself. His gaze burned a path along my body. My lips parted as all the heat in my body rushed toward the place where his fingers continued to stroke against me. I cried out as the sensations grew too strong to contain.