Read Online Midnight Heat (Firework Girls #2) by J. L. White - Free Book Online Page A

to come right out with it.
    “Okay, okay. Tonight you’ve given me the fucking of a lifetime.”
    He smiled broadly and puffed up his chest, looking perfectly pleased with himself. “Fucking of a lifetime, huh?” He twirled a lock of my auburn hair around his fingers. “Don’t build me up too much or I’ll be doomed to spend the rest of our lives trying to top an impossible standard.”
    My heart started pounding against my chest so loud I knew he had to hear it. The rest of our lives?
    “So why did you think your parents were crazy?” I asked with a smile, trying to deflect what I felt building between us.
    “Did I tell you my parents were eighteen when they got married?”
    My ear caught on the word ‘married.’ I shook my head. “You said they’ve been together twenty years or something.”
    “Thirty. And they’ve been miserable for most of it, as far as I can tell.”
    I furrowed my brow. He wasn’t kidding.
    “Miserable,” he said nodding. “And I swore I would never end up like that. Who gets married when they’re eighteen? How can anyone think they’re not going to screw up a decision like that when they’re not even done growing up yet? It’s stupid. Almost as stupid as sticking it out for thirty years and hating the one person in the world you’re really, really supposed to love.”
    “I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard.” One of the things that comforted me after my mother’s death, was knowing how much my parents had loved each other. While somewhat recovered and relatively happy, six years after my mother’s death, my father still won’t date.
    “Eh. I’m pretty adaptable,” Grayson said. “You learn to get along on your own when you’re the last kid in a long line of kids. My parents were worn out and kinda checked out by the time I hit junior high. I made a lot of decisions for myself, and one of them was that I’d never get married young. I promised myself I wouldn’t marry before thirty.”
    “Thirty??”
    “My friends call it The Rule. They like to kinda mess with me about it. But did you know the human brain isn’t even done developing until you’re twenty-five? I figured thirty’s a safe cushion.”
    I shook my head again. “I’m twenty-three. I’ve got two years to go until I’m done developing.” I gave him a devilish grin.
    His eyes slid down to my breasts. “I think you’ve developed just fine, sweetheart.”
    “You’re almost twenty-five. Less than a year to go.”
    “Six until I’m thirty,” he said. I guess that sounds like he could’ve been giving me the brush off, like, “Don’t even think about it honey, I’m nowhere near thirty.”
    But he wasn’t. And I knew it.
    He looked deep into my eyes, placed his hand on my cheek, and leaned in until he was nearly kissing me. “I may have to make an exception.”
    He kissed me then, with my heart beating out of my chest. I don’t know where the hell my brain went, because it was definitely my heart in control at that moment. I kissed him back so deeply it was like my heart was saying yes to a question he hadn’t even asked.
    When he pulled back he leaned on his elbow again looking content and satisfied. “Are you hungry?”
    I nodded, too stunned by the moment to speak. My heart was still pounding. What was I getting into?
    “How about I take a quick shower, then I’ll make you my famous French toast.”
    “And bacon?” I asked, smiling back at him as if my head weren’t spinning.
    “Anything you want,” he said, giving me another peck before hopping to his feet.
    I rolled onto my stomach, watching his bare feet pad across the carpet to the doorway.
    He stopped and looked down at me with that crooked smile of his. “Feel free to join me in the shower,” he said, “if you have the strength.” He winked and left the room.
    In the five seconds that followed his departure from my presence, a cold wave of fear dropped over me.
    Right there on Grayson’s floor.
    Funny isn’t it? Just