Where We Found Our Home (Lost & Found, #1)

by Natasha Bishop

Okay. I need a snack. Because even my inner voice is being an asshole now.

If I tell them everything, they’ll crowd around me and never let me out of their sight. And they’ll be rewarded for their efforts with a bullet between the eyes or some other brutal death.

I live on the sixth floor, but I’ll take the elevator to the seventh floor and walk down a flight. Yeah, I’m that paranoid.

control the outcome. I need this control. I’m clinging to it with every fiber of my being.

Oh, boy. You know your love life is sad when your five-year-old niece is trying to play matchmaker.

I can see she has a full sleeve tattoo on her left arm, but I can’t tell what the images are. They’re bright and colorful, though, and I want to trace them with my tongue. What the fuck, Linc?

“Linky, you gotta help her!” I’m already at the door on my way to try to help. Hopefully I won’t be too late. Again.

This is my favorite part of the game. The part where you think you’re free of me and you build up that happiness again only for me to rip it away piece by piece. You’ll never be free of me, doll.

“Well, you decided you wanted to be a firefighter when you were five years old and never gave up on that dream until you became the Fire Lieutenant sitting in front of me. That’s a man who knows what he wants and doesn’t need to put on airs about it. You don’t crave attention, but you can capture the focus of a room easily. You’re comfortable with yourself, and you’re a simple man who enjoys simple pleasures. Enough said.”

Fuck. Everything in me wants to say yes. I want to go on a date with him. I want more than a date. I want him to touch me…everywhere. But there’s only so much recklessness I can allow. It’s one thing to hang out with him as a friend and exchange flirty banter, but crossing that line puts him in more danger. I take a deep breath and give him the only answer I can. “No.”

Ciara is a beautiful person inside and out. The world would be knocked on its ass if she allowed one hundred percent of her essence to shine through. I want to be the one to coax that beauty out of its cage.

“Oh, I think I can.” Especially when you talk about orgasms in your mouth and my dick is fighting against the seams of my jeans.

I bet when you took that picture you never imagined you’d go on to ruin my life one day. So selfish.

And look at you. You look uncomfortable. Your brow is furrowed. Your face is turned up in a scowl. You’re shivering. Is it me you’re dreaming about? You can’t even escape me when you sleep. How fitting.

Except to Lincoln’s house. I don’t want to step foot inside the place where that hunk of man gets naked every night. Nope. No, thank you.

He cannot save you from me, doll. You’re my toy to play with. I don’t share.

All that’s missing is my Angel.

There’s nothing gentle about this kiss. It’s almost punishing, and it’s gloriously painful.

“Tell me no, Angel. Tell me to stop, and I’ll leave right now. We can forget it ever happened or we can slow it down. But if you tell me yes—if you tell me you want me—I’m going to carry you to your bedroom and worship your body from head to toe until you scream my name and then I’m going to bury myself so deep inside you, you’ll still feel me there tomorrow.”

“Show me.” “What?” “Show me the routine. I’ll do it with you.” “You’re serious?” He glares at me like he can’t believe I would ask him such a thing. “Angel. Nothing is more important to me than your safety. If you need this to feel comfortable, let me give it to you. I wanna be the only thought on your brain when I sink inside you.”

“Believe me, Ci. I’ve seen your thighs, and there’s nothing I want more than to have them on both sides of my ears.” “I might suffocate you!”

“If I die between your thighs, I’d die a happy man. Put it on my headstone: he died worshipping a goddess.”

“Come for me, Ciara.” This is not a request. This is a demand by a man on a mission, and my soul wants to give him his every desire.

“Can I help with anything?” He shakes his head, pointing to the chair he’s already pulled out for me. “You can sit that pretty ass down and let me serve you.”

“Look at me when you come on my hand, Ciara.” Oh my God. I shatter and slouch into his chest. He sucks his fingers into his mouth, and if I wasn’t already spent I’d come again.

“You had me for breakfast. I’m having you for dinner. Now hush.” Ma’am yes ma’am. In the next moment her mouth is on me, and all coherent thought leaves me.

Nope. I’m not done with my meal. I look up, and her eyes are shut so tight. I slap her ass, and her eyes fly open as she whimpers and looks down at me. I wink at her. “Give it to me first.” I want her first orgasm from my mouth and her second, third, and fourth from my cock. I push deeper until she shatters, and her taste coats my tongue.

And that right there is what changes this conversation from my telling him out of obligation for his well-being to my telling him because I trust him more than anyone else in this world and I know he’ll catch me when I fall.

If I see that motherfucker, I’ll kill him myself. I think back to the day I was trapped in the fire, and I know now that was my real first introduction to Eddie. Those scarred hands. As soon as she mentioned them, I knew. He’s been here much longer than Ciara thought. Fuck. I should’ve told her. If we’re going to deal with this together, we need to be on the same page.

Did you enjoy the drink I sent you, doll? I know tequila and pineapple juice is your favorite. I know everything about you.

I thought it would be selfish of me to ask for love and acceptance when what I was going through could threaten to bring them all down with me. But the real selfishness is cutting off the ones who have always loved me unconditionally and leaving them to figure out why.

“And who’s going to protect you?” “You.” She freezes. “You have me and I have you. That’s how this works. Don’t freak out on me now. Okay?”

“I love you. I think loving you was inevitable. I didn’t want it to be, but my soul recognized its match in you the moment you jumped in front of that car.

“I’m not telling you this so you’ll say it back. It’s okay if you’re not there with me. I know life is complicated right now, and you may not be ready to hear this but I don’t want to go another day without telling you how I feel. Your courage feeds the piece of me that’s been hiding beneath the ashes of my life. Your selflessness calls out to my soul that’s been drifting away so slowly I didn’t even recognize it at first. I feel like myself again with you. You set me free, Angel. So I don’t care if you’re never ready to say the words back to me. I will always be yours.”

I drift off to sleep in his arms and dream of a future where life is fair and two people who are meant to be together can actually keep each other.

“Besides, who’s going to eat my flats if you leave?”

“For loving me when I didn’t love myself enough.