Free Rekindle by Morgan Nicole, Murphy Rae

her face and crash my mouth to hers. She gasps, opening her mouth for my tongue to enter.
    This kiss is nothing like the last. This kiss is filled with desire. Filled with sorrow from years stripped away. Filled with hope of what’s to come. It blows my mind that so many emotions can be behind one kiss. I feel her fingers digging into my shoulders and I lift her up.
    “Wrap your legs around my waist,” I say before assaulting her mouth again. I have a thirst, and she’s the only thing that can quench it. She wastes no time wrapping herself around me. I have no intention of taking things further, but I need to feel her warmth, if only just for this one intimate moment. I carry her to her room, our lips never breaking. I set her down on the bed. Pulling away is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I need to prove to her that I only want to care for her, to make sure she’s okay. She looks at me, bewildered, her lips swollen from our kiss. I bend down and remove her shoes and kiss each foot. I take them over to her closet and drop them in. Her dresser is there, so I open the drawers, searching for what I’m looking for. I find an oversized tee, no doubt for sleeping in, and I take it over to the bed.
    “Let me do this for you, M&M. Just, I need to make sure you’re taken care of before I leave, okay?”
    She nods her head and sits there in silence. I begin unbuttoning her jeans and slide them slowly off, letting my fingers glide down her silky skin. She gasps but I keep going. My fingers grab her shirt, and I ever so gently pull it over her head, never breaking eye contact. Both of us are breathing erratically at this moment, and I unclasp her bra, letting it fall, but I make it a point to never look. I keep my eyes trained on her beautiful gray eyes. In this moment, our eyes are saying so much more than words could. I pull her tee over her head and pull her blanket over her. Still, no words are spoken. No words have to be spoken. She sits up and her lips connect with mine. This is a soft kiss, gentle, and it’s exactly how I want to end our night. She pulls away and I kiss her forehead.
    “Goodnight, beautiful. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
    “Goodnight, McCoy,” she tells me, pure contentment in her voice.
    I slip out her door and ease it shut, then see Cam sitting on the couch, grinning.
    “You know these walls are thin, right?” she asks.
    “Yeah, about that. Nothing happened, Cam. I swear, she means more to me than that.”
    “Yeah, dude, I know. I heard you. I just want to say thank you. You seem like a good man, and Em acts so much happier now. She’s always been happy, but there’s always been this missing piece. Hopefully you are her piece, Rhett. Take care of our girl, buddy, or I’ll rip your balls off.”
    “I would never hurt her intentionally. You have my word,” I tell her, serious as hell.
    “I know,” she says, getting up and heading for her room.
    I think I just got Cam’s blessing. I head out the door with the biggest smile ever on my face and a feeling of pure joy.
     

 
    Chapter Twelve
     
    Emma Grace
     
    “Letting the guy take you to bed the first night! That is so unlike you, miss thing!” Cam pokes at me as she joins me on the couch for some midmorning coffee.
    I love Saturdays for the mere fact that I can sleep in as late as I want. This morning, I woke up at the crack of eleven after the most relaxing sleep I’ve had in a while. I’m sure it had something to do with the beyond spectacular date I had last night.
    “Nothing happened. Well, that’s not true. Something happened. Just not what you are thinking.” I curl up in one of our Adirondack chairs and wait for the inquisition that I know is coming.
    “I know that. I was on the couch when he left. We had a little chat.”
    “Shit. Cam, I have no freaking clue what I’m doing here. I mean, let’s be real. I haven’t seen the guy since I was eleven. We’ve been back in each other’s lives for a week. He’s