Fire In The Water Chapter Fourteen

Bella

Somehow, we’d fallen asleep, and I woke to the gray haze of either dusk or dawn. Knowing Ward would be startled to realize how much time had passed, I debated waking him or letting him sleep. Something told me he’d rather know so he could worry and plan for what came next.

It was my bladder that woke me, so while I was in the bathroom, I made sure to swish around some mouthwash. After all, if I couldn't wake my sexy sleeping man by climbing back in bed with him, then there was no reason to disturb his sleep at all.

His eyes popped open the second the bed dipped beneath me. “What time is it?”

His voice rasped over the roughness of deep slumber, and I responded by cuddling against him. “It’s nearly five in the morning.”

“God, I didn't mean to fall asleep.” Yet, his arms wound around me in a tight embrace. 

“I told you, Mama and Jason will take good care of Heidi and Charlie.”

“I wondered where the little furry guy had gotten off to.”

“Like any other child, he enjoys occasional visits with his grandparents.”

That made him chuckle, and I enjoyed the movement of it. “Why do you smell wrong?”

“Wrong?” I took a sniff, but couldn't figure out what he meant. “I’m not dirty or anything.”

He laughed harder, jostling us both. “No, not like you need to shower. You smell like mint.”

“Oh, well, you know.” Surely, I didn't need to spell out that I didn't want to have gross morning breath.

“You’re supposed to smell like cinnamon.” Gently tugging my hair, Ward tilted my head until he could snake his tongue along my throat.

There was nothing coherent in my head to answer him with, so I didn't bother trying. He molded his hands over my ass, running them up my back and into my hair again. I’d ended up mostly sprawled over him, and I used that advantage to kiss his face. Slowly, I shifted my hips until he and I were aligned, and I pressed my mouth over his jaw and along his cheek to search out his lips. In the dark, there wasn't much of him I could clearly make out other than the outline of his body.

But I didn't need to physically see him. Each of his attributes was etched into my brain, from his searing green eyes to his sharp bone structure. The tiniest bit of scruff scraped over my skin as he nibbled along my throat. A moan built in my chest until I couldn't hold it back, and he answered with a groan in my ear. The breath he exhaled tickled my eardrum, and I shivered. 

Wishing I’d been smart enough to remove my jeans at the very least before coming back to the bed, I found his seeking hand and pressed it to my core. His groans grew louder, and I felt heat build and spread along my limbs. Ward’s mouth was everywhere he could reach, warm breath gliding along the skin of my throat and cheeks. Our mouths met, and my senses grew sharper. His musky taste, his tongue slipping along mine, and the heavy thud of his heart beneath my breasts. Just along his collarbone, the scent of his soap lingered as I licked and sucked his flesh into my mouth. Needing his mouth again, I ground against his palm as he pressed it into me and kissed him as if my life depended on sharing his allotment of oxygen.

His ragged breathing and questing fingers awakened what was left of my brain cells, and I realized we were seconds from fucking each other in the dark.

“Ward,” I moaned. “Don't stop.”

Deftly, he unfastened my jeans and pushed them past my hips. Wiggling, I shoved them off and whimpered loudly as his long fingers found my heated flesh. Pushing my panties out of the way, he teased and flicked and stroked my pussy, my ass, and my inner thighs. I heard the sound of my wetness on his fingers, and it only drove me higher.

“Fuck, Bella.”

There was nothing in my thoughts. No worries, no expectations. I was a ball of need and pleasure, my veins pulsing with desire. Thumb on my clit and fingers inside me, Ward brought me to the brink of something I’d never experienced quite the same way before.

And then he pushed me over, our bodies colliding in a wave of exquisite fulfillment. Muscles locked around his hand, my mouth fused to his, I cried out as my orgasm took over.

“My God,” I mumbled, and nuzzled into his neck.

He moved, his hands roaming over my shirt. I couldn't believe I hadn't even bothered to take it off, but I figured I should remedy that situation quickly. Tugging it over my head and throwing it on the floor, I joined him wearing nothing but a bra and terribly wet panties. Feeling how hard he was against my leg, I reached out to stroke Ward’s cock.

He covered my hand with his. “Bella, please don’t.”

Freezing in place, I tried to order my thoughts. We hadn't rushed into this. He wanted me; he’d admitted as much plenty of times. Clearly, he was good at sex, considering the way he’d reduced me to a puddle just a few seconds ago.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him softly.

Rolling, he pulled my semi-naked body into the little spoon position. I felt him, still insistently hard on my back.

“Nothing's wrong.”

And yet, he fell silent, merely dragging his fingertips up and down my arm.

“Ward.” Licking my lips, I tried again. “Please talk to me.”

“I’m trying to figure out how to not fuck this up, that’s all.”

“Baby, you can’t.”

But he interrupted me, kissing the top of my shoulder. “I want you so bad it scares me.”

That was something I could try to make sense out of. “Why does it scare you?”

“We’ve seen what can happen in an instant. I know we’ve already passed the point where we won’t get hurt.” Ward’s breath stuttered, blowing tendrils of hair against my earlobe. “But once we’ve taken this final step . . .”

His heart thumped against my back, and I felt goosebumps rise along my skin. I already loved him, and that wouldn't change. And yes, I’d tried to accept that my heart might get trampled or possibly broken. Not by Ward. Not the man who had every opportunity to fuck me carelessly and hadn’t. But by the circumstances in which we found ourselves. 

I’d promised to stay by his side as long as he remained honest with me, and I would keep my word. So I figured he might need to hear that from me instead of assuming the worst.

“Listen, baby.” At my words, he shifted along my back, curling his arm beneath me until I felt cocooned in his love. “I know what the consequences of loving you are.”

“Do you?” His voice came out harshly, but I understood his need to ensure my safety.

“Yes,” I insisted. “I love you.”

A tremble ran through him. “Nobody has said that to me since Beth helped me get out of prison. Nobody ever said it before her, either, except in the brief time before my parents disowned me.”

That was fucking enraging, and made me hate his parents so much. There was no room in my bed for those emotions, so I shoved them off to the side with a fierceness I didn't even know I possessed. With every single cell in my body, I vowed to show him and tell him so he never had to doubt it.

With that in mind, I untangled our bodies and stood. Finding the candle and matches on my dresser, I lit a match and set the wick aflame. Turning to see him watching me, I peeled the straps of my bra down my arms. Letting it fall to the floor, I dragged my panties down until they joined the rest of my clothes.

Sitting up, Ward wiped his thumb across his mouth. The hint of candlelight flickered in his eyes, and I knew why I’d waited so long to bring a man into my bed.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Ward. Waiting for you to come along and disrupt the monotony I called a life.” 

Moving forward, I climbed on the bed behind him and pushed his shirt up and off his head. Gasping at the sight of a full tattoo covering his muscular back, I trailed my fingertips over the black ink.

“It’s so easily identifiable,” he rasped.

So he would have kept it covered at all costs. My emotions swelled inside me; one more secret revealed for me alone.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

Tentatively, I outlined the curves of a skull, following the lines until they blended into the woman he kissed. The bony fingers cupped her jaw, and I swallowed at the sight of a tear dripping down her face. What must he have been thinking when he chose something so telling?

Replacing my fingers with my mouth, I touched every inch of exposed skin I could reach. Wrapping my arms around him until my breasts pressed against him, I saw the way his hands fisted in his lap.

“Touch me,” I begged.

Ward rose, and I sat with my hands in my lap as he shoved his pants off. Answering my request, he pressed me back to the bed and put his hands on me everywhere. The backs of my knees as he spread me wide, my ankles as he propped them on his shoulders. My breasts as he leaned down, molding them into his palms as I squirmed. Pinching my nipples and rolling them between thumb and forefinger, he did exactly as I’d asked. Bucking up into him, urging him to give me more, I met his gaze and grasped his head to bring his mouth to mine.

“Cover me—fill me—please.”

I didn't recognize my own voice as I begged him, as he swallowed my cries when he finally entered me. Thrusting to the hilt, burying his full length inside my body and stopping, Ward bit my bottom lip, sucking it into his mouth and alternating with the top lip. Fire had broken out, engulfing me in its tender caress as it licked up my spine. 

And all I could do was ask for more.

It consumed me, becoming all I knew. Him and me and nothing else, no thoughts or future worries or pets or expectations. Nothing more than the base of our humanity, more than happy to let it take over. Rocking my hips in rhythm with his movements, my back arched and my body slicked with sweat, I rose to meet him time and again. Here, Ward took control, no longer shy and uncertain. My blood boiled over, an explosion of exquisite colors shining behind my eyelids. Red and gold, orange and pink, like the sunset creating fire in the water, heat engulfed me until I shattered in his arms.

Though I quaked beneath him, Ward didn't stop. Braced above me, moving rapidly now to chase his release, he became sexier than I could ever remember seeing him before. His muscles strained and flexed, driving me further into the bed until he finally snapped his hips one last time and stilled over me.

Reaching for him, I pulled him down so he would cover me and not run away. His weight was welcome on my boneless body, and I crossed my legs around his waist to drive my point home.

“You are so much more than how you see yourself, Ward. You’re worthy of love and every good thing life can give you.”

His breath tickled my ear. “I never meant to fall for you, Bella, but I was buried beneath your divinity. You are my motherfucking salvation.”

Oh, God, my feelings would drown me soon. “Then why did you fight against it so hard?”

It seemed it was easier to say difficult things out loud in the dark. “Because when I first met you, I saw inevitability in your eyes. All I wanted was to save you from me, from my circumstances. Knowing we’d end up together frightened me more than hearing the guilty verdict said out loud at my trial.”

My heart squeezed behind my ribcage, and I hugged him closer.

“I love you.” Finally rolling off me, Ward picked up my hand and kissed the inside of my wrist. “I knew from the first time I saw you framed in the doorway with all those books at your back. I knew I would never have the strength to walk away from you, and that terrifies me.”

“Then I’ll make sure you never have to.” Blinking slowly, I said, “No matter what happens, we’ll face it together.”

“I can’t believe I had to cross the country to find everything I didn't know I needed.”

Neither could I, but I knew we would hold onto it now. We would hold onto it forever.