Page 44 of Trouble
“So?” There’s a sexy lilt to her voice. She doesn’t deny it. She’s his. The reminder is a knife to the chest.
I knew his feelings had moved beyond just physical attraction when he drove through the night to make sure she was okay, but I didn’t know precisely how she felt until now.
“So I don’t think he’d like it if I touched his girlfriend like that,” I say slowly, finally daring to look up into her eyes. It’s a mistake of epic fucking proportions, because if I’m not careful, I could get lost in them.
She grabs her phone and hands it to me. “Why don’t we ask him?”
CHAPTER 20
Melina
Declan stares at the phone,brows furrowed in intense scrutiny. The expression isn’t all that different from the one he usually wears when looking at a device. He hates phones. That much is clear. But with a heavy sigh, he takes it from my hand, and then, with a defeated huff, he turns his gaze to me again. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Hope does a jig through my veins. Holy shit. He isn’t saying no. He could simply play things off and insist on showing me how to tie knots. But if his trepidation is any indication, he understood my meaning completely when I asked him to show me, and now he’s considering how to ask Cade whether it’s okay that he fucks me.
Maybe I should feel bad about initiating this without talking to Cade first, but even though we haven’t known each other long, I’m certain he won’t be upset by it. In fact, I think he’ll be intrigued. Especially if Declan is the one asking. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cade wants this even more than I do.
And that’s saying a lot, because I really, really want this.
There’s a ruggedness to Declan right now, an almost dangerous quality. His olive skin tone tinged in soot, his scruff somehow wilder, his dark hair tousled, the ridges on his hands dark. I want to watch the sootand ash disappear down the drain as he stands beneath his shower head. I want him to put me on the counter and face me. And I want to see his cock jut out as he strokes himself.
My toes curl just thinking about it.
I don’t want it to be a onetime thing. I want to be the woman he comes home to after every fire.
Want him to lay all his burdens at my feet.
I want to be the person he trusts and fucks and loves. I can already tell that if he lets me in, he’d easily become mine.
The comfort I feel in his presence, the ease that washes over me when I’m even in his vicinity, isn’t a trauma response. I’m not latching on to the person who protected me. No, this desire is so much more than that.
But he’s still figuring out what this all means. He doesn’t know how Cade could have me and he could too. And he doesn’t understand what’s so perfectly clear to me. That these two men fit, with me and with each other. And none of us will be satisfied until we take this next step.
“Tell him exactly what you told me.”
He scowls.
“Not all of it. I just mean about the rope tying. And how it helps. If you want, I can tell him about my freak-out and how you’re trying to help me.”
He shakes his head. “No.” With a heavy breath, he studies the phone again. “I should do this.”
Yes. Yes, he really should. And I need to hear what he’ll say. Need to know what he’s asking for.
As expected, Declan doesn’t text Cade. He would never use such an impersonal source of communication to have this conversation. No, he pulls up Cade’s number and taps Call without another second of hesitation. It rings twice before Cade picks up.
“Hey, Trouble. We just finished practice. Did Dec agree to dinner tomorrow night, or is he still being grumpy?”
Declan scowls. “No, I’m not being grumpy, although you are right about one thing—your girl is trouble.” He glances up at me, and his scowl is replaced by something else.
His face softens. His eyes heat.
But at Cade’s laughter, he swallows audibly, and his expression goes carefully blank.
“Well, hello, Dec. Glad to see Mel convinced you to hang out.”
Declan clears his throat. “Not so sure you’ll still feel that way after I tell you why I’m calling.”
Tell, not ask. I love that.