Ignite (Explosive) (32 page)

“Ready to get going?” I ask her, checking my watch again.

Raising an eyebrow at me, she looks at me suspiciously. “Impatient? Where are we going anyways?”

I simply grin and tell her, “You’ll see soon enough. Grab a jacket just in case. It’s gotten a little cool this week.”

Heading down the hallway, she gets her jacket and purse, and we lock up the house. Fifteen minutes later, we’re crossing over the bridge as I drive towards the riverbank. Her eyes widen as I pull up in front of a large riverboat. We get out of the car, and she looks back at me.

“What’s all this?” she asks.

Clearing my throat, I answer her. “It’s a Fall Color Sightseeing Cruise. I figured this would be a good way to finish off all the exploring we’ve been doing. Plus, it’s supposed to be romantic, with all the leaves changing color and stuff.”

She walks towards me until she’s standing right in front of me. Stretching up on her tiptoes, she places a soft kiss on my lips.

“That sounds like a great idea. I’ve never actually been on the Ohio River, so it’ll be neat to see the city from a different perspective. How’d you hear about this?”

I smile sheepishly at her. “I may have Googled romantic things to do in Cincinnati.”

She laughs as we walk to check in for the cruise. We get onto the boat and find seats. With my arm around her, she settles into me, leaning her head against my chest.

“This reminds me of the cruise we went on in Destin. Only this time it’s sixty degrees and I doubt we’re going to be seeing any dolphins,” she comments as the boat leaves the port.

“That, and you’re not sitting two feet away from me this time,” I say, squeezing her bare shoulder for emphasis, leaving my thumb there to lazily caress her skin.

We spend the next hour and a half taking in the oranges, yellows, and reds that highlight the shore of Cincinnati. She points out various buildings to me while I steal kisses from her here and there. All too soon we’re back to the riverbank just as the sun is beginning to set. As we climb into the car, she beams at me.

“Thank you, Jace. That was so much fun and something I’d have never thought to do.”

Happy that she didn’t think it was lame, I respond. “I’m two for two on cruises. I guess we’ll always have to make sure there’s water around so I know how to plan a date, since I seem to suck at the originality factor.”

She laughs, and we fall into a comfortable silence as I link our fingers together, heading back to the Ohio side of the river. I use the GPS to navigate towards the Mt. Adams neighborhood, and her eyes light up when she realizes where we’re going.

“I love The Blind Lemon. Brady introduced me to it a few months ago, and we try to come at least once a month,” she says excitedly.

I give her a wink before admitting, “Yeah, he may have been the one who suggested it.”

After parking, I grab her hand and lead her towards the bar. We decide to sit on the garden patio at a table near the fire pit. There’s one lone guy playing the guitar and singing a Jack Johnson cover. Now that the sun has gone down, it’s an extremely romantic setting. After getting our drinks, I take her hand from across the table, and she looks at me sweetly.

“I just wanted to say that these have been two of the best weeks I’ve had in a really long time, Alexa. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I really wasn’t, but I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than when I’m with you.”

She starts to speak, but I hold my hand up so I can continue.

“I hate that I’m leaving tomorrow. It’s only been a short time, but you’ve got me so wrapped up in you that something as simple as sleeping alone without you curled into me is going to be nearly impossible. The only thing that’s making this even remotely okay is knowing that in three weeks, if I want to see you, all I have to do is hop in my car and I’ll be able to sweep you off your feet it just a matter of hours.”

She smiles into her drink, looking pleased at the thought. She looks up at me, and I finally allow her to respond.

“I can’t say I had any expectations, since I had no idea you were coming. Again, props for the amazing surprise,” she says, raising her glass up at me. “When I saw you standing there in the stadium, I was frozen, not really believing what I was seeing. Those first few days I kept thinking I was going to wake up and have this all be a dream. Even looking at you sitting across from me now seems surreal, but then it seems so right at the same time. Does that make sense?”

Rubbing the back of her hand with my thumb, I nod in agreement. “I think I know what you mean. It all seems new because we didn’t have this type of relationship, but then it feels completely natural, like it’s always been meant to be this way?”

Taking another sip of her drink, she lets the thought roll around in her head. “Yeah, exactly like that. And I think that’s what scares me, Jace. These two weeks have been pretty much perfect, and I’m becoming addicted to you, to your presence. Every single day I found myself watching the clock in my office, counting down the minutes until I could race home to see you. Mostly to see what you were cooking for me, but to see you, too.”

I’m up on my feet in a flash and find myself behind her only a moment later. Leaning down, my lips brush her ear. I gently bite down before speaking.

“Didn’t you learn your lesson from the last time you mocked my skills in the kitchen?” I whisper lowly before standing up and walking towards the bathroom, giving her a few moments to stew on my comment.

When I rejoin her at the table, she’s finished her drink and looks across the table at me. I can see the desire taking hold in her eyes, and my cock hardens against my jeans knowing that my words affected her. With one gulp I down my drink.

“Ready to go?” I ask, knowing there’s one more thing we have to do tonight.

“Sure. I love it here, I love being here with you, but I wouldn’t mind somewhere with a little more privacy,” she says as her stomach growls. “And probably a little more food.”

I laugh, signaling the waiter for our check. “Yeah, sorry about that. Brady failed to mention that this was strictly a drinking bar. We’ll grab something on the way to our next destination.”

I pay the check and we go to leave. She’s quiet on the drive, looking out the window for the most part. I have no doubt that she’s going over our admissions from the bar, and I can’t lie and say that I’m not doing the same thing. She’s addicted to me? I smile to myself as I take her hand in mine and continue driving. It’s not long before I’m parking the car and she turns to me, looking confused.

“This is your next surprise?” she asks with a funny look on her face. I grin and exit the car, waiting for her to do the same.

I follow
him out of the car and up the steps to my front porch. Glancing down at my phone, I see that it’s still relatively early. We head inside and he directs me to the couch where he removes my coat and then my boots, telling me to get comfortable.

“When I said privacy, I didn’t mean we had to come home, Jace,” I tell him, not missing the fact that I just implied that this is his home, too.

He grins knowingly as he leans down to plant a kiss on my lips. “You mean you weren’t hinting that you wanted me to drag you home so you could have your wicked way with me?”

I pull him down onto the couch so that he falls on top of me. As I grip the sweater he’s wearing, the smell of his cologne surrounds me, and I take a moment to breathe him in, knowing I only have a short time left.

“That wasn’t my intention actually, but that doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea,” I say with a trace of desire in my voice.

He gives me one more quick kiss before lifting up off of me. “Sorry but you’re just going to have to wait to get a piece of me. I planned on coming back here, just not quite so early. I’m going to go whip up something quick, so you sit here and enjoy the reason I brought you back.”

“Jace, seriously. I can cook, you know,” I say, starting to rise up from the couch.

He braces my shoulders and gently pushes me back down. “It’s our last night, babe. I’m cooking for my girl.”

With that, he picks up the remote and turns on Fox Sports Ohio. The Reds pre-game is on, and my heart flutters, knowing why he had us come home.

I look up at him and he’s staring at me with a tenderness in his eyes that threatens to reduce me to a melted pool of pure lust, desire, and if I can admit it to myself, love. Shaking the thought out of my head, I know there’s no way that I’m ready for that after two weeks and the three days at the reunion.

“I cannot believe I completely forgot that the playoffs start tonight! It would’ve sucked if I’d missed it,” I tell him, throwing a pillow at him. “See what you do? My brain is a big jumbly mess with you around. I don’t know how, but with you here, my world has shifted. Things I usually love have taken a back seat, because I’m trying my hardest to soak in every single moment spent with you, so nothing else matters.”

Heat fills his eyes at my words, and I know I’m probably saying way too much when I’m still on the fence about this whole no-labels thing. I know it’s silly. But things are going to change when he leaves tomorrow. We’ve had two solid weeks of being with each other day and night. Yeah, he’s only going to be a few hours away, but it’s not like we’re going to be able to drop everything every single weekend to visit each other. Am I ready to be in a relationship with Jace, knowing that it’s going to be long distance? Not to mention the fact that he’s leaving for Afghanistan in a little less than six months. I push that thought from my mind, because it’s not something I want to even consider tonight.

“Now you know how I feel. And I know I’ll still feel that way when I’m hours away. We only spent three days together, but I was consumed by thoughts of you the whole time I was in Afghanistan. I could see your face, hear your voice, and on the best of days, I could smell that damned addicting coconut scent you’ve always worn. This is not going away when I do. So soak it all in, babe, as much as you need to, but know that I’ll always be around if you need a fix,” he says, ending with a joke to lighten the mood. He crosses the room and draws me up in his arms. He doesn’t kiss me. He just simply holds me in his embrace.

“So thankful that I’m getting a second chance, Alexa. So damned thankful.”

Pulling away, he strides out of the room, leaving me staring after him long after he’s gone, breathless, aroused, and more than terrified that I’m going to have to let him go again.

The rest
of the night goes by way too quickly. Throughout the game, we’re relatively silent, mostly just commenting on good plays or bad calls. I think we’re both just trying to savor this closeness for one last night. With his arm around me, he has his thumb rubbing my bare skin as I lean my head on his chest. Listening to his heartbeat, I close my eyes, trying to capture this perfect moment in order to store it in my memory bank for future use.

During the seventh-inning stretch, he momentarily leaves me on the couch and disappears down the hall. He comes back with two glasses and a bottle of red wine, pouring it before he sits back down. We talk a little bit more, and he tells me a little bit about the town he’s moving to and what type of apartment he’s going to be looking for. We stay away from any heavier topics. I think we’ve both had enough of that, and that’s the last thing we want to have hanging over our heads on our last night. To be honest, I’m also too scared to talk about it. Call me a coward, but I need time to know that this can work when we’re not in some weird honeymoon type phase. My mind needs reassurance that it’s not just a fluke after having spent so much time together after such a long separation.

As soon as the game ends, he slips out from under me to stand. As he looks down on me, I see that his face is filled more with longing than hunger, and my heart plummets, knowing that this is the last time he’ll be in my bed, at least for a while. He reaches a hand out and I place mine in it, allowing him to pull me off the couch. Leading me down the hall, he pulls me into the room where I’m greeted to an incredible sight. Apparently when he left the living room earlier, he went the bedroom to light candles. He walks over to the iHome on my dresser and presses play on the iPod he placed on it. A slow, sexy R&B song comes over the speakers, and Jace turns it down low, just loud enough to fill the silence but not enough to overpower the mood.

He turns back towards me but doesn’t move. His eyes darken as he slowly lays a trail from my jean-clad legs all the way up until he reaches my eyes. Within moments, he’s standing directly in front of me, and my gaze follows him as I can continue to watch him. He turns me around, pulling me closer to him. Bringing his hand up, he brushes the hair off of my bare shoulder, and I close my eyes as his fingers gently graze my skin. A second later, I feel him bend down as his lips make contact with my shoulder, where he plants a line of kisses leading all the way up to my neck, stopping at my ear.

“Have I told you how much I love your skin, Alexa? So soft, smooth, and inviting. As if every time I see a bare spot, it’s calling out to me, begging to be touched, to be kissed, to be devoured by my mouth.”

All I can manage is a slight whimper as his tongue slides back down my neck. His hands move under my shirt, where his fingers lie flat on my stomach. He gently presses into me, holding me still. I can feel how hard he already is.

“Do you feel that? I haven’t even begun to touch you the way that I want to, you haven’t laid a finger on me, and I’m already hard as a rock. All I even have to do is think about being with you and my body responds.”

He grips the hem of my sweater, pulling it over my head. His fingers move to my jeans where he unbuttons them. As he slips a finger inside of my panties, his head falls into the crook of my neck and he gently bites down on my skin.

“I can feel that I’m not the only one who’s anticipating this. God, baby, you’re so wet already, and I haven’t even begun to give you a preview of all the things I’m going to do to you tonight,” he says as he pushes the jeans down my legs so I can step out of them.

“When you look at me like you want to consume every part of me, I get so turned on that I can’t help getting wet,” I tell him, turning around to see his eyes darken at my admission.

Standing there in nothing but my bra and panties, he places his hands on my shoulders and walks me towards the bed. I hear him undressing and I can’t help but turn around so I can watch. He spots me licking my lips as I take in each ripple of muscle, so he growls and stalks towards me. He pushes me back on the bed until I’m completely on my back, his hard body looming over mine. He presses a hard kiss to my lips before feathering the rest of my face with light ones.

“I’m planning on taking things nice and slow, but watching you lick your lips when you see my body is making it pretty damn hard. Tonight, I’m going to explore every single inch of your hot little body. I’m going to give you something to think about when you’re in bed late at night. After tonight, you’re going to crave my touch the way I crave your taste. When you think about me, when you remember the things I’m going to do to you, you’re going to be so hot, so on fire, and I’ll be the only one who can even come close to fighting the flames.”

If he keeps on talking, I’m afraid I’m going to get off when he gets two pumps in me, so I grab the back of his head and pull him in to shut him up.

He fills me with one thrust, and I wrap my legs around his waist, taking no time to begin rocking my hips in time with his. Wanting to be in control, I roll him over so I can straddle him. His hands grip my hips as he moves me up and down. Stilling my movements, I lean in and give him a hot kiss.

“Too late for that, Soldier. Not only do I already crave it, but when you’re not in my bed, I ache for it. And you already are the only one who could ever satisfy those cravings.”

His eyes fill with carnal desire, and I find myself on my back once again. He begins to make good on his promise, kissing me slow and gently as he proceeds to spend the rest of the night worshipping my body. I’ll be replaying this night over and over, just like he said.

The way that he makes me feel adored and desired is unlike any feeling I’ve ever had. My head and heart are wrestling with the idea of finally letting him all the way in. Either way, I know that Jace McAllister has ruined me for all others, and admitting it scares me to death.

I’m sitting
in the airport, waiting for my plane to take me back to New Mexico so I can pack up my apartment and finish up any last minute paperwork on post before heading out to Kentucky. My surprise trip to Ohio turned out amazingly, and I couldn’t be more excited to be closer to Alexa in just a few short weeks.

Leaving her this morning was brutal. She offered to come with me, but I had to turn in my rental car, so it didn’t make sense for us both to drive there. Truth be told, I didn’t know if I wanted to handle another airport goodbye. I know I played it off, but the last time we parted ways, it damn near gutted me. But back then I was uncertain about the future. If and when I’d see her again. This time, I have complete faith that things are going to work out, at least in some way. She gave me a look of disappointment when I told her not to worry about it, and she looked so cute there with her hair fanned out on her pillow. It took less than a second for me to have her clothes off so I could give her one last goodbye. Afterwards, when I gave her one last kiss, I was treated to a very flushed, very sexually sated Alexa. It was an image of her that will forever be burned in my mind. And one I probably shouldn’t think about when I’m in a public place.

Adjusting myself discretely, I pull out my phone to check my messages, knowing that my mom’s going to be calling soon, wanting to know how the trip went. I’m sure that she and Alexa’s mom have already had their little Facebook chats, plotting and planning our wedding and naming their potential grandchildren. Strangely, the thought makes me smile. I know it’s crazy. If you’re best friends and secretly in love with someone for three years and then spend ten years apart, can a few short weeks really make a difference? If Knox asked me that, I’d tell him he was insane. So I guess someone can call the nut house, because they need a new resident.

Here’s the thing about it. It wasn’t like we just went on a couple of dates. We spent a significant amount of time basically playing house, so you can’t expect me to not be thinking about the future.

The hardest part is going to be finding the patience to wait for her to figure out that she wants it, too. I know she does. I saw the way her eyes lit up every evening when she walked in from work. The first thing she did after taking off her heels was greet me with a sweet kiss as I asked how her day was. Sure, we were thrown into the situation because I was visiting, but now it’s going to be hard to take a step back from that. Seeing her only a few times a month is going to be torture, but I guess it’s better than nothing.

Even with only a couple of hours between us, I know I’m going to have my work cut out for me. I’m leaving in April, and I know she’s terrified. I understand her fears, I really do. But what I have to make her understand is that anyone can leave at any moment. I know my job is dangerous, but isn’t Ty’s death proof that it can happen to anyone? Not that I can say that to her. No, I just have to find a way to burrow into her heart so deeply that she has no choice but to love me back.