Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(113)

She framed my face in her hands. “Dex. Look at me. Right at me. I’m safe. Okay?”

Those golden eyes broke through. “Hellion,” I croaked.

“That’s right. And I’m right here, okay?”

Vincent started spewing more bullshit, and my gaze moved to him.

Wylder cursed. “Get Dex to my office. I’ll get rid of the asshole.”

“Me,” Brae commanded. “Look at me. Right here.”

My gaze returned to her as if she owned it, owned me. Not in the way Vincent had spoken of, though. In a way that existed because I had given her that ownership. My body. My goddamned soul.

“That’s it. With me,” she praised.

Some part of me was aware of her guiding me to Wylder’s office. Shutting the door and locking it behind us. Though I wasn’t sure whether that was to keep me in or Vincent out.

Brae’s hands were on my face. She lifted my glasses off and set them on the desk. And then those hands were back. So soft compared to my stubbled jaw, my skin that felt so rough and undeserving.

“Don’t,” I rasped.

Pain streaked across her face—pain I put there. It only strengthened my resolve. Because that’s what I did. I inflicted hurt. Worse.

“Dex,” she whispered.

“Don’t touch me. You shouldn’t touch me.”

“Why?” The word was so gentle, searching for understanding.

“I can hurt people. I’ll hurt you. I have him in me, Brae. I have him in me.” Each word was barbed and ripped from my throat, leaving me in bloody shreds.

A wash of empathy spread over Brae’s face. She moved toward me, and I backed up, trying to ward her off, shield her, protect her. I hit the desk, nowhere else to go, and Brae was on me.

Those hands were back on my face, shaking me gently. “Dex. You aren’t him. You’re nothing like him. You use your power for good. You protect. You help. You never turn away, even though it would be so easy.”

“I wanted to kill him.” The words were a whisper. A dark secret.

Brae’s shoulders lifted and then fell. “So did I. You didn’t.”

“I could’ve.” She needed to know. To see.

“Yes. You could’ve. Which means the fact that you didn’t carries all the more weight.”

She didn’t understand. Didn’t see. “You shouldn’t be around me.”

“I get to decide that. And I can’t imagine anyone better to be around. Dex.” Brae’s voice hitched as if she were struggling with the words. “You gave me a family. You gave me one when I felt like I never really had that. You gave me a community.”

I shook my head. “You gave it to yourself.”

“Bullshit. You opened doors that were closed and locked. You gave my son someone to look up to. Someone to help him be proud of exactly who he is.”

More fear flooded me. “He needs to stay away from me, too.”

“No.” The word was so final it jolted me. Brae’s golden eyes flashed. “We’re not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her mouth met mine in a kiss that was more of an attack than anything else. Brae’s tongue lashed against mine, making me instantly react, battle—as if my body could say everything my words were failing to convey.

My hand dove into her hair, pulling the strands, fisting them. Brae moaned into my mouth, arching against me instead of pulling away. My dick strained for attention, pressing hard against the zipper of my jeans. She owned me, all right, down to my goddamned balls. Everything in me came alive at her touch, her sounds.

Fucking hell.

Brae nipped my bottom lip and then took the kiss deeper. I growled into her mouth in response and palmed her breast through the cotton of her sundress. Her nipple pebbled against my hand as if it were dying to get to me, as if she would meet me anywhere I went.

She was consuming me—her taste, her touch. It was all-consuming. Burning me alive and drowning me all at once.

My hand left that perfect breast, the one that filled my hand and just a little more. It dove under her dress, finding the barest lace covering everything I wanted, covering my heaven and torturous hell.

“This is all you wear under these dresses?” I growled against Brae’s lips.

She pulled back, golden eyes flashing in challenge. “If you had investigated before now, you would’ve known.”

My fingers wrapped around the delicate lace. And I let the fury free so she could see. I ripped the lace from her in one brutal tear. Her whole body bowed, but she didn’t break. My hellion met me in the fire. The inferno so dark that it terrified me.

But not her. Not Brae. She was right there.

Her fingers found the button of my jeans. They moved in jerky, staccato motions. Suddenly, my jeans were being shucked down my legs, and my cock was in her hand. She stroked me, up and down, squeezing gently toward the end of each thrust.

I groaned, my head tipping back, a bead of wetness bleeding from my tip. Even my goddamned dick bowed at her altar.

“Need you to let go, Dex. Let it all go. Pour it into me. Let me take it from you.”

My head jerked up, gaze colliding with hers as my fingers dug into her hip. “I can’t.” But I wanted to. So damn badly. Wanted to lose myself in nothing but her.

“You can.” Brae stroked harder, and I thrust into her fist as my fingers dipped between her thighs.