Stoking the Fire (Salus Security #1) - Teodora Kostova Page 0,74

me, calming me and grounding me at the same time.

“What are you doing?” Alec’s still-sleepy voice drifts toward me, making me jump.

“I think it’s rather obvious,” I say, then lift one side of the blanket and gesture for Alec to come over.

He’s standing by the door, wearing only his boxers, his skin already raised with goosebumps.

“Come on,” I say impatiently.

He pads to the bench, sits next to me, and snuggles under the blanket. Looking at my coffee longingly, Alec reaches for the cup tentatively, giving me a chance to stop him. I don’t, more than happy to share my coffee with him.

His body warms under the blanket, and he serves as my very own human heater. I scoot closer and lay my head on his shoulder. The rain lets up a little, and I can see breaks in the gray clouds above, clear blue sky showing underneath.

“Do you know how to fish?” Alec asks.

“Um… No?”

“You’ve never been fishing?” He sounds genuinely surprised.

“No?”

He laughs, his shoulders shaking. “All right. Seems like the rain will stop soon and we’ll get another hot afternoon. How about we take the boat out again and I teach you how to fish?”

I prop my chin on his shoulder and gaze at him. “I’d love that.”

He kisses my nose before he drinks the rest of my coffee.

Soon, as Alec predicted, the clouds clear, and the sun’s high in the sky. The air feels stifling and humid, but out on the lake, the breeze picks up and make it bearable. Armed with two fishing rods in the boat, Alec steers us toward the far left side of the lake and hands me one of the rods. Thankfully, he’s already put the bait on.

“Now, just swing it as far as you can,” he instructs, while showing me how it’s done with his own fishing rod.

Alec’s line extends gracefully and then lands a few feet away, while it takes me several tries to achieve the same. But, eventually, both our lines are cast, and we sit back in the boat.

“How long do we have to wait?” I ask, eyes glued to the bobber in case it dips under the water.

Alec shrugs. “Until it bites.” He eyes me with a smirk. “Patience.”

I groan and lie back in the boat. “Wake me up when it bites.”

Alec moves and covers my body with his, the boat groaning with the sudden movement. “It’s not how it works, baby,” he murmurs, the words barely out of his mouth before he kisses me.

His lips coax mine open, his tongue playing with mine. We smile as we kiss, our teeth clashing, our lips missing their mark. It’s perfect.

“I’m starting to really like this fishing thing,” I say with a satisfied hum as Alec’s palm slides down my body and cups my dick through my shorts.

He rubs me through the thin fabric, and it isn’t long before I’m rock hard and arching under his hand, looking for more friction. His kisses deepen, his movements get bolder, his moans louder.

Too absorbed in the pleasure Alec’s hands and mouth are giving me, I barely notice when the rod moves next to my leg, but when it scratches my calf, the sensation pulls me out of the haze of lust.

“Fuck!” I shout, pushing Alec off me. He grunts, the boat shaking as I scramble to catch the fishing rod. “What do I do? What do I do!” I ask frantically, pulling on the rod as I watch the line get more and more taut.

“Hold tight!” Alec says as he maneuvers behind me, placing his hands on the lower end of the rod. “Start reeling it in.”

He shows me how to do that, then lets me go for it. The fish is uncooperative, thrashing under the surface of the water as I try to reel it back to the boat. Slowly, it comes closer and closer, my focus unwavering. When it gets as close to the boat as I can get it, Alec lets go of the rod, grabs a net, and scoops it out of the water.

“Oh my god, it’s huge!” I say with a gasp.

“That’s what all the boys say,” Alec says in a singsong voice.

When I aim a glare at him, he waggles his eyebrows and rolls his hips suggestively.

I ignore him, leaning closer to the fish struggling in the net. “What is it?”

“Largemouth bass.”

“I have no fucking idea what that means. Can we eat it?”

“We sure can.” His grin’s contagious, and soon we’re both laughing as we try