Page 54 of After the Burn

“Shut up.” Then his mouth crashed into mine.

Months of tension and restraint snapped apart all at once.

It was hot, messy, and possessive in the best possible way.

I barely had time to gasp before Adrian deepened the kiss, his hand gripping my waist firmly as his lips pressed against mine with fierce urgency.

Without thinking, my hands caught on his shirt, dragging him closer when I really should’ve shoved him off.

That seemed to destroy the last thread of his control completely.

Adrian kissed like he did everything else: thoroughly, intensely, and with skill.

And God, I felt it everywhere.

As his teeth grazed my bottom lip, a wave of warmth surged through me, and his hand slid up my side with a slow, deliberate motion, cupping my breast like he was imprinting the exact way I fit against him.

“You drive me insane,” he murmured against my mouth before pressing his lips to mine again.

My head leaned back against the wall while his mouth drifted toward my throat.

Heat curled violently through my stomach.

“Adrian—”

His entire body reacted to his name leaving my lips.

“You followed us here with no thought to your safety,” he muttered roughly against my skin. “Do you have any idea what that did to me?”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer, drunk on the feel of his mouth against mine. Instead, my hands slid into his soft hair as he kissed me again, harder than before.

Adrian uttered a low, guttural sound that sent shivers through me and left my panties drenched. My knee slid instinctively to the side as he crowded closer, and there was no missing how affected he was.

God.

I lowered my hand to the bulge in his pants.

He grabbed my wrist. “None of that, baby.” His voice was barely above a whisper, more of a warning. “I won’t be able to stop.”

It’s as if he didn’t know me at all. The warning in his voice only intensified my desire.

I’d waited for this man for half my life. I knew there were things that needed to be said, and my feelings for Beck weren’t going to go away. But after everything—the infected, Ben, the fear I’d felt while waiting to hear from him and Beck—I needed this.

My hands stayed tangled in his hair as his body pressed harder against mine, pinning me between him and the wall in a way that should’ve felt dangerous.

Instead, it felt inevitable.

His mouth moved against mine more slowly now, deeper, each kiss dragging heat lower through my body until my pulse was pounding so hard I could barely think straight.

“Taryn,’ he murmured roughly against my mouth, like my name physically hurt him.

Then he bit my bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood.

“Don’t ever deny me again. You…are…mine.” He slid his hand into my hair, tilting my head back, then he licked and sucked my swollen lip, easing the sting from his bite.

Every place his mouth touched burned afterward.

The scrape of his teeth along my throat sent a sharp shiver through me.