Page 30 of Drilled

I nodded innocently and let a hand drift down his torso. I marvelled at the slick, soft skin over taut, hard muscle, the feeling of sweat and dust and the sounds every inch of exploration dragged from Dax’s chest against his will.

“Then be quiet,” I whispered back, letting my fingers trail along his Adonis belt. I rested my hand on his hip, pressing a thumb into the muscular dip of his flank where his obliques and abs met.

He held his breath.

“Can you do that for me?” I threw his words back at him, rubbing my thumb in slow circles before slipping my hand between his legs. He gasped, rolling his hips up instinctively and I only had a second to gloat about it before his hand shot out to grip my wrist.

Okay, play time was over.

Dax flipped our positions as easily as breathing, now wedging me between his body and the door. He took both of my hands in one of his and pinned them above my head.

“I don't think so, Counselor,” he said, voice low but deliberate. I squirmed in his grip, fully aware that he had a free hand while I was essentially rendered immobile in defense. And he seemed to relish the fact, a cocky smirk on his stupid lips that were still pink and swollen from the kiss. “This isn't a courtroom. You can run laps around the prosecution all day but you can't be in control forever.”

“Says who?” I said defiantly.

He gave me a knowing look, then raised my wrists even higher. I gasped as my heels raised off the floor of the pantry and I was suddenly very sure that if he wanted to, he could probably leave me suspended with my feet hovering off the ground altogether.

I knew this tactic. He was trying to lay out the terms in a way that left no room for me to argue with him anymore. If I wanted to do this with him, it would be on his terms or not at all.

I had a reply loaded up but then he buried his face in my neck and started to kiss me there and my knees buckled. Dax was wild and foolish maybe, but when he was intentional, he was thorough too.

And he made it very obvious he intended on reading my body like a map.

“Just admit it,” he grumbled against my skin, his tongue snaking out to taste me.

“Admit what?” I gritted out, fighting against my growing arousal.

Dax pulled back for a moment, looking at me with dark, intense eyes.

I was so far out of my comfort zone that I couldn't even see the demarcation line anymore.

“Admit that you want me,” he murmured, running a thumb over my bottom lip. “Tell me that you’ve been waiting for this for as long as I have.”

That was what he wanted? Dax was still smirking at me, but I could see an uneasiness behind that look. I wasn’t the only one teetering on the edge of just taking what I wanted and hoping I wouldn’t regret it after. That old temptation of overthinking reared its head and I instantly wrapped my leg around his waist, trying to bring his body closer to mine again so the feeling of it could block out everything else.

I didn’t want to think.

Dax let himself be pulled closer, his hips now adding leverage to my sprawl against the door.

“If you want that admission, you’re going to have to force it out of me,” I said. “And just know that if you try to push me, I’m going to push right back. You don’t scare me, Dax. Not your past or your bike or your fucking attitude.”

Dax’s smirk didn't just fade—it vanished. The unease I’d spotted behind his eyes flared into pure, unadulterated focus. My defiance was the spark to a powder keg, and both of us knew it.

“Is that a promise, Counselor?” he growled against my lips, his grip on my wrists tightening for a fraction of a second before he suddenly let go. I wrapped both of my legs around him now, my arms going around his neck.

“That’s a guarantee,” I assured him.

His hands didn't waste time. They slid down to the hem of my shirt, his rough, calloused palms making direct contact with the bare skin of my waist. The contrast was staggering. The biting chill of the pantry door against my spine and the radiating, unrefined heat of his body anchoring me flat against the wood had my head in a spiral.

I traced my fingers across his skin, let my nails rake across his shoulders and down his chest until he was the first to break. When he kissed me again, it was clear that the stalemate was over.

“You’re so fucking infuriating,” he groaned, nipping at the shell of my ear as his hands finally made their way to my breasts.

“Mutually,” I sighed. I rocked against him, trying to use my limited position to its full advantage. I dug my heels into the door behind me and pushed my weight forward and Dax tumbled back, knocking into the shelf.

Several cans toppled over and I flinched at the sound. I knew that Sy and Bear weren’t close enough to hear it provided they were still in the basement, but every single little noise felt amplified from inside this space.

"Quiet," Dax breathed, but there was a sudden, dark laugh caught in his throat. The noise didn't scare him, it wired him. He caught my hips and drove us forward again, pinning me back against the wood of the door with a sudden, heavy surge of momentum that completely stole the air from my lungs.