Page 36 of Playing with Trouble

I tipped my head curiously.“Used to what?”

“You just…” she shrugged, her eyes darting away.“Seeing me and knowing what I need.”

While I tried to digestthatstatement, she took a closer look at the photos on the wall.“I love that you all grew up in this house,” she said, changing the subject as she studied one certain picture a bit longer then glanced at me and made a face.“What even is this photo?This suit looks terrible on you.”

I could hear the laughter in her voice and I groaned, completely agreeing with her.“Senior prom.I’ve been begging mom to take that one down for years, but she refuses.I think she leaves it up just to torture me.”

“Well, despite that dark blue velvet suit, you do look cute.”Violet looked at another photo, her teasing smile softening into something more thoughtful.“And look at you, so handsome in your military uniform.How long did you serve?”

“Eight years.I wanted to be like my father, but I realized pretty quickly I didn’t want it to be my whole career so… I ended up in security.”

She moved on to another framed picture, this one of my parents on a recent trip to Hawaii, complete with flowered shirts and leis, before glancing at me again, the look in her eyes reserved now.“So, everyone seemed happy that you’d found someone.I feel bad for lying to them.”

The guilt in her voice surprised me.I would have expected indifference, not that note of regret I heard and I grimaced.“Yeah, I didn’t realize they’d be quite so enthusiastic.That’s on me.I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s all right.”She waved it off, though the crease between her brows told me it wasn’t fine.“Just makes me wonder…the way they talked, it’s like they expected you to settle down a long time ago.Why haven’t you?I mean…” Violet gestured up and down at me.“You’re a catch.Although if you tell anyone I said that, they’ll never find your body.I know where they bury people out in the desert.”

Her mock threat made me chuckle, but underneath, her question hit something more personal.“I watched my mom practically raise us on her own while Dad was away on duty.It was brutal on her.Not only was she alone a lot and without a partner to help out, but I knew she constantly worried about him coming home after being deployed to some war torn country.It was stressful on her, being a military wife, and I didn’t want to ever put someone through that.”

“You’re not in the military anymore,” Violet pointed out softly.“Working security is a risk, sure, but it’s not as dangerous as active military or being in a war zone.”

“True.”I hesitated, then shrugged.“Like I said before, I don’t want to be pushed into a relationship.If I’m with someone, I want it to happen naturally and be real.The kind of chemistry you can feel down to your bones.”

And damn if I wasn’t already feeling that with her.The spark that never seemed to burn out no matter how much we sometimes clashed, the pull that made me notice every shift in her expression, every unguarded moment she tried to hide.It was more than attraction, more than heat and that brat/dom dynamic.It was the kind of undeniable connection I’d spent the last few years searching for.

Her laugh was soft, but didn’t quite reach her eyes.“Well, here’s hoping you find her soon.Because your family is going to be really annoyed with you when you break the news that we split up.”

“Annoyed withme?”I asked, arching a brow.“Who says they won’t be annoyed withyou?”

“Because clearly they adore me,” she said without missing a beat, flashing me a cheeky grin.“Obviously, the breakup would be your fault, not mine.”

I grinned at her logic.“Unfortunately, there’s one big, massive flaw in your argument.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, drawing my gaze to her breasts nearly pushing out of her bikini top.“Oh yeah?And what’s that?”

I lifted my eyes back to hers, my tone serious as I replied, “If I liked a woman enough to bring her home, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to let her go.”

She looked momentarily startled.For once, she didn’t have a comeback ready.And in that beat of silence I saw something vulnerable in her eyes.A longing that vanished much too quickly as she regained her composure.

Even knowing I was dealing with a woman who was skittish as hell when it came to trusting a man beyond something sexual, I stepped closer and decided to push, just a little more, and see what happened.“You know, I have found some pretty great chemistry, right here between us.”

Something akin to desire flickered across her features before she managed to hide it behind a roll of her eyes.“Please, Ford, you’re not that special,” she said, striving for a flippant tone.“Everyonethinks they’ve got chemistry with me.”

I should have let it go.Should have laughed it off the way she wanted, but all I could think about was how close she was, how the air between us practically crackled with everything she was trying to deny.

Then, it happened.One second we were staring each other down and the next I was closing the distance, my hands finding her face, her body tilting into mine.No hesitation.No second thoughts.Just heat and inevitability as our mouths crashed together in a hot, deep kiss that felt like it had been waiting to happen all damn day.

It hit me like a jolt that I’d never kissed her before, that this was the first time I’d tasted her lips, and I couldn’t believe I’d deprived myself of this particular pleasure.

Violet gasped, the sound caught between shock and surrender, and then she melted into it,into me, as I kissed her.I guided her arms up around my neck, then slid one hand into her hair and grabbed her ass with the other, pulling her flush against me until there wasn’t an inch of space left between us.

She clung to me, chest pressed tight to mine, her mouth hot and insistent as she tried to control the kiss, make it more fierce, to turn it into a battle of wills.But I refused to give her that out.I gripped my fingers in her hair and angled her head, slowing things down on purpose, making her feel every stroke of my tongue against hers.

This wasn’t a scene.This wasn’t dominance or brat play.This was me kissing Violet because I wanted her, because I needed to know what it felt like when she stopped hiding behind the attitude and gave me something real.I’d been starving for this without even realizing it, and now that I had her mouth beneath mine I couldn’t get enough.

Her taste wrecked me, sweet and sharp all at once, like her.And the little, needy noises she made in the back of her throat made my cock ache.Every time she tried to fight for control, I slowed her down, dragged her deeper, refusing to let her turn this into anything but the truth between us.

For me, the truth was simple and undeniable.Kissing Violet Corbin was the most addictive thing I’d ever done and I wasn’t about to give her up to anyone else.