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“Merri, my love,” he says, his voice rough with emotion, “I’m sorry if my leaving hurt you. That was not my intention. I was unsure how much last night changed things between us and didn’t want to pressure you if you still needed time.”
I swallow hard, my fingers trembling as they brush against his chest. “You still show too much restraint. Didn’t you swear to make me fall for you over and over again?”
In answer, he closes the distance between us, capturing my lips in a searing, passionate kiss that ignites the fire within me with a hunger that can’t be denied.
Our tongues curl together, and the kiss deepens, our bodies pressed together as much as the seatbelts and the center console will allow.
Heat surges through me, rising toward the surface. I still hold much of the fire I took from Darius and Marc last night, and it craves to awaken, to meet Darius’s fire with my own.
When he pulls away, the sound of our ragged breaths fill the car, and my lips sting from the intensity of his kiss.
Darius’s gaze meets mine, holding the same uncertainty that plagued me all morning. “I’m still willing to wait for you to fall for me again. But right now, all I want is to cleave to your side, to make a nuisance of myself with my desires.”
My heart pounds, the fires inside still surging with desire. “Maybe cleaving to me is a bit much, at least in public.” I lick my lips, taste him there, and shiver. “But don’t be so distant. I want to continue to explore this new relationship.”
Nodding, he pulls me back in for a tender kiss that promises more once we’re home again.
Tension fills the air when he pulls back onto the road, but it’s a different kind now, a promise of what’s to come later. When Darius reaches for my hand, I weave our fingers together.
Up ahead, traffic cones narrow the road down to one lane, and a man with a sign waves for us to continue forward slowly.
At a gap in the cones, Darius steers his car over to the side of the road and parks near our van. Several JTFPI squad cars line the road, and an officer peers our way, recognizes us, and waves before pointing toward the forest.
We climb out and walk across the narrow swatch of damp grass, then step into the woods.
“What kind of equipment do you think Sharpe got to use?” I ask, my voice hushed amid the densely packed trees. The branches that form a dark canopy block most of the morning light. “It can’t have been anything big.”
“I’m not sure.” Darius’s hand on my elbow pulls me around a large root sticking up from the ground and lingers there. “We’ll see soon enough.”
As we walk, a sense of being watched itches between my shoulder blades, but when I look back, the forest is quiet behind us, without even the sound of birds in the trees. It’s eerie, and I take a step closer to Darius.
Conversation comes from up ahead, and I spot Sharpe’s people through the trees. A dozen paces more, and we join the crowd.
Johannsson, O’Hara, Troy, and Mayn stand with Sharpe, Flint, and Marc around an odd machine with a giant chainsaw attached to the front, while several new faces hover farther back. O’Hara and Troy wear backpacks with fuel nozzles poking up over their shoulders, and they hold flamethrowers pointed at the ground.
Everyone wears protective gear, with clear goggles shielding their eyes. A man in a construction uniform stands at the controls to the chainsaw machine, ready to start the machine.
Flags mark the perimeter of the hole Darius and I had climbed out of last night, and the chainsaw points toward the center.
Sharpe glances over and nods in greeting. “Glad you guys made it. We’re about to start.”
Marc walks over to us and passes out earmuffs and goggles, his eyes lit with excitement. “He’s going to let me try that thing out.”
“Just be careful,” Darius and I say at the same time, then grin at each other.
Marc puts on his earmuffs, then shakes his head and points to one ear, pretending he didn’t hear us.
I can already see one of these machines appearing in our garage.
Darius and I put on our protective gear as the machine roars to life, the blades spinning faster and faster. A shiver goes down my spine, and that sensation of being watched raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
I try to will my pulse to stop racing, but it’s hard not to be on edge after what happened here last night.
Darius’s arm brushes against mine, and the subtle gesture sends a jolt of fire through me.
Dirt and rocks kick up in all directions as the blade cuts into the ground, chewing through it with ease.
The scent of damp earth and sap fills the air, and the ground vibrates beneath my feet as the chainsaw digs deeper.
