Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) by MacKenzie K. Paxton Page B

            Me:   What about John?  ;)
    Heather:  
I don’t share that kind of party.  Sorry.  Find your own.
    Me:  
LMAO.  Not what I meant.  I’ll be over when storms pass.  TTFN
    I turned the flashlight app back on
and went in search of the candles I know I have somewhere.  I have one that’s
just for decoration in the bathroom – I can use that if I need to.  What I
can’t find is the lighter.  I don’t even remember the last time I had matches,
so that’s a no go.  But I know we had one of those lighters for the grill at
our last place. 
    After searching for a while longer, I
am still without a lighter.  Standing in my living room considering my options,
I think of Jason.  I bet he has a lighter or matches.  That whole ‘always be
prepared’ thing is a military thing, right?  Or is that the boy scouts?  Eh.  I
start to send him a text and then figure I’ll just go knock on his door.
    Seconds after I knock on Jason’s
door, it opens. 
    “Bwahahaha – welcome to my dungeon…”
he says in his best vampire impersonation.  I was so surprised that I actually
snorted when I laughed at him.  He laughed with me and invited me inside.  He
had a camping lantern on his coffee table in the living room.  I switched off
my phone’s flashlight and tucked it into my pocket.
    “No Mia today?”
    “My friend Heather was watching her
for me so I could get some stuff done.  She’s keeping her until the storms move
through.”
    “That’s nice of her.” 
    There’s a not-quite-uncomfortable pause
before I realized he must be wondering why I’m here. 
    “It’s been so long since we’ve been
without power, I can’t find my lighter to light the candles.  I was hoping you
might have one….”
    “Sure.  Let me go grab you one.”  He
disappeared into what looked like a home office and came back a few minutes
later with a long handled lighter. 
    “Perfect.  Thanks!  I had a feeling
you’d know where yours was.” I moved toward the door to go.
    “Hang on.  Let me grab you a
flashlight so you don’t run down your phone like that.”  He headed into his
bedroom. 
    Without really thinking, I walked
toward his bedroom, too.  Curiosity is my only excuse.  He was going through a
drawer in his dresser and pulled out a flashlight at the same time that the
power came back on.
    I blinked hard at how bright the
lights seemed after being used to the dark.  Jason gave a short laugh.  The
sound of Taylor Swift’s newest song filled the room. 
    “Oh my gosh!  I am so sorry, Jason –
I had no idea my music was turned up that loud!” I felt so awful that he was
over here trying to work and I was being so loud.
    “Not a big deal, Emma.  Apartment
walls aren’t very sound proof.  It’s fine.”
    And then my brain started firing too
fast for me to keep up.  Because.  Thin walls.  His headboard shares a wall
with mine.  Moans at night.  Moans I assumed I heard only in my own head.  MY
moans that HE could probably hear.  Oh no.  No no no.  My eyes snapped to his
in panic. 
    And then he was just there.  His
hands framed my face and his mouth was on my mouth.  His hands tipped my head a
little and he lightly licked along the curve of my bottom lip.  I heard myself
whimper as I parted my lips.  His tongue swept inside and ran along in soft
skin on the inside of my bottom lip before he sucked it into his mouth and
nibbled on it.  Heat flooded my body.  I stood on my toes to reach him better
and my right hand clenched his bicep, hanging on for dear life.
    Every pulse in my body now throbbed
between my legs. 
    Jason slid a hand down my neck and shoulder, leaving a wake
of fire and ice in its path.  His hand moved down my back to my waist and pulled
me closer.  His erection was hard against my middle.  His hand flexed on my
lower back and his other hand moves to join it before they both slid lower,
cupping my bottom.
    I pulled my mouth from his and moaned
at the