Page 61 of Sterling Fight

“Are covered. What about yours? Did you step in anything?” Judd awkwardly lifts one ankle to inspect my foot but there isn’t enough light to see.

Lightning bolts through the sky again and I flinch, sharply turning my head toward the windows, where the lightning exposes the lake.

“Are you afraid of storms?”

“A little. I think it just caught me off guard.” I hadn’t been aware rain was rolling in. I’ve been so consumed with thoughts of Judd and spending time with him that I didn’t pay attention to the weather.

Lightning flashes vibrant and angry once more. I glance back at Judd who is watching me. He stands at the edge of my knees, my feet brushing his legs. He lifts one hand, digging his teeth into the edge of the tape near his wrist and pulls back, then uses his other hand to begin unwinding the long strip.

With one hand free, he uses the other to repeat the action, removing the protective strand around his knuckles. He tosses the spent tape on the counter beside me, then braces his arms on either side of my legs which spread a little allowing him to stand between my knees.

The entire scene is a bit barbaric and yet I’m completely turned on. The rip of that tape. The strength of his teeth. The sharp fling of the discarded equipment. Visions of him treating me in the same manner rush through my head. My shirt ripped down the center like in a historical romance. His teeth digging into the flesh of my neck, and then him pressing me to my back on this countertop.

My core is already thumping, the pulse pounding ridiculously hard.

Lightning strikes again. Then thunder rumbles. I flinch, all fantasy bopped out of my head.

“You’re safe here, firefly. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Why do you call me firefly?” I’ve never been a nickname girl and yet every time he calls me the term, something flutters in my belly, like a flock of the magical insects in flight.

“Seems fitting. You’re brightness in the dark.”

I swallow thickly. The summery bug only blinks once, like something mystical. A star on earth. Then its light is gone. “But for only a flash, like lightning.” Am I only a momentary spark for Judd?

“You seem to be some kind of anomaly. You even light up during the sunniest day.”

This man. His words. His actions. He’s so much and yet I cannot get enough of him. I’ve been toying with that snap-crackle-pop between us. Skirting a line when I can no longer know why I’ve drawn it.

I want him to kiss me. I want to be closer to him.

I also don’t want to hurt him, and I don’t want to be hurt by him.

Still, the energy swirling around us cannot be denied. Like the storm brewing outside, Judd and I are on the precipice of something explosive. The tension between us escalating from simmer to boil.

We stare at one another despite the blackness around us. As another ripple of lightning hits, illuminating Judd’s face. His eyes are a mixture of hesitation and desire. A crease in his brows expresses his internal conflict.

Another roar of thunder booms, but the hammering of my heart suddenly rings louder in my ears.

“When I was little, I was afraid of thunderstorms,” he tells me, his voice low, like speaking to a frightened child. “Stone taught me this trick. Count between the lightning’s strike and the thunder’s rumble to know the distance of the storm from wherever you are.”

I nod, keeping my eyes on his.

Lightning hits and we count, getting to eight before thunder grumbles.

“The storm is eight miles away,” Judd clarifies.

My brows lift, skeptical, as the storm feels like it’s over our heads, but I like that Judd is trying to soothe me when he’s admitted storms used to frighten him. Still, my heart hammers, echoing the pulse between my spread thighs.

“Your turn,” he says when the next current of lightning brightens the room.

My count only makes it to five.

The storm is coming closer. Our eyes lock together.

Another strike of lightning and the thunder sounds like it’s dancing with the bolt.

Judd ticks off. “One. Two. Three.”