All Consuming (Brotherhood by Fire #3) -Jaci Burton Page 0,20

promise you that I hold down a job, I don’t have nefarious intentions and I’m a really nice guy. Which you should already know.”

He took a chance and stepped into her personal space, testing the waters. She didn’t skirt out of the way, instead tilted her head back while laying her palm on his chest.

“You broke my heart in high school,” she said, her voice lowering to almost a whisper, as if she was afraid to say the words out loud.

“I left for college. And we both made the decision to break up.”

“True. But that was the part that broke my heart.”

Now it was his heart that squeezed as he remembered that day when he packed up his car, Hannah standing there with tears streaming down her face. Neither one of them wanted to leave the other, but it was something he’d had to do, and he knew Hannah couldn’t come with him. It had been his idea to break up. Not because he wanted to date other girls at college, but because he’d wanted her to be free.

Who knows what would have happened if they hadn’t split up.

He cupped her hand between both of his. “That was a long time ago.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry about the breakup.”

She pressed into his chest with her hand, making his heart kick up a fast beat. “It’s okay. Waiting around for you would have been worse. We did the right thing.”

“Did we?” He rubbed his thumb across her hand, absorbing the soft feel of her skin. “I always wondered about that. I missed you after I left.”

“Did you?”

Now his breathing hitched and he moved in even closer.

“Yes. A lot. I felt lost without you. If it makes you feel better, I didn’t date anyone for the first couple of years in college.”

Her lips curved. “I find that hard to believe. You’re kind of a catch, Donovan.”

“So are you, McKenzie. Clark. Whatever you want to call yourself now.”

Her lips curved. She pulled her hand away, raised up on her toes and curled her hand around the nape of his neck, drawing his face toward hers.

“Hannah works. Now shut up and kiss me.”

He didn’t need more invitation than that.

Their lips met. The contact was an explosion of heat, like flames licking all around him, but in the best way. Her body was warm and soft, and she moved into him, sliding her hand along his chest, making his heart pump faster.

Her lips moved under his, slow and deliberate, as if they had all the time in the world to explore this lazy kiss. But he wanted to dive in and get lost in her, so he pressed in, slid his tongue between her lips, and she moaned.

Oh yeah. Now they were getting somewhere.

Until she pushed on his chest. He broke the kiss and took a step back.

“I’m sorry,” she said, licking her lips. “I . . . can’t. Not yet.”

He nodded, giving her more space. “It’s okay. We’ve got time.”

“I need to go.”

He took a couple of deep breaths to clear his head, then walked outside with her to her car.

She turned to face him with a smile. “I had a good time.”

“Me, too. We should do this again.”

Her lips curved. “Yes, we should.”

She started to lean in again, then stopped. Instead, she opened her car door. “See you, Kal.”

“Later, Hannah.”

After she drove away, he went inside and locked the door, then fixed himself a glass of water and went upstairs to his room. He got ready for bed and climbed in but couldn’t sleep.

How could he when he could still taste Hannah on his lips, when her scent still lingered in a room she hadn’t even been in?

Okay, so he still felt it for Hannah. But he was going to have to pump the brakes a bit and take things slow with her.

Because he wanted her back in his life again—only this wasn’t high school Hannah. This was adult Hannah who had a kid.

And she was worth taking on the slow ride.

CHAPTER 7

“AND THEN AFTER THE MOVIE WE ALL MET UP AT OUR house to have cake to celebrate James’s birthday. Only his sister said we should have gone to her house because she has that big newly renovated kitchen. She said that way all the extended family could be there. Which really meant so she could show off her new shiny things to everyone and brag about her rich lawyer husband. So she was mad about it and refused to come. But his mom and