Chapter Eight
Her cat was stuck in the tree.
The message glared at her when she turned her cell phone on as she got in her car. She jammed the key into the ignition, wanting desperately to believe him but knowing the risks and feeling duped nonetheless.
As she turned on the car her phone flashed again.
She glanced at it and did a double take. Meow—I really was in a tree. -Tiger.
She fought back a silly grin with no success. She wanted to be angry, to curse him, but the text cracked her up. She grabbed the phone and called him back as she drove. Maybe Diane was right.
“Is anything on fire?”
“Nothing but my muscles and they’re burning from working out hard,” he said.
She laughed. “Are you at the gym?”
“Just finished,” he said, and he sounded weary. “But now I’m home and about to crash. Long day. Long shift. Twenty-four hour shifts do that to you.”
“I can imagine. So the cat was in a tree? For real?” she asked, her voice still laced with skepticism. But it was a skepticism she wanted to shed.
“Swear on my life.”
“You know that’s the classic fireman cliché.”
“But it’s true.”
She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see her as she drove. “Look, I know this is no-strings-attached, but I need to know for sure that you aren’t messing around with anyone else this week.”
“I’m not, I promise,” he said, and she could hear the earnestness in his tone, but she could also feel it, as if she were holding it in her grasp. “I wouldn’t do that. I swear on my men, on all my guys at the firehouse. I swear on the way I’d protect them and run into burning houses to save a kid, a family, a dog, even a cat, that I was only there on a work call.”
“You swear?” she asked, her voice trembling. At some point she was going to have to decide whether to let go of her fears. But she knew the word of the fireman was a true one.
“I swear. She had a bottle of wine, and she tried to get me to stay, but I left. I’m not interested in her. I am only interested in the gorgeous, smart, fiery woman I bought a book of poems for. Besides, you have to know me well enough by now to know that I’m not that kind of a guy. When I’m with a woman I’m with that woman, and you might have declared this ‘no-strings attached’ and that’s fine for now, but my string is only attached to you.”
Her heart thumped wildly, and she gripped the steering wheel so she could focus on the road. The sentiment was so sweet that it made her long for him. Besides, the truth was she did know him. And while he’d had a long line of ladies, maybe she’d been judging him simply for being lucky in love. She’d assumed that meant he strayed. But you could be lucky in love and be faithful. She decided right then and there to let go of all her lingering jealousy. She might not ever want more from him, but she wanted this thing they had—this fling—to be just between them. And part of that meant she needed to say good-bye to her worries about other women. Because they were just that—her worries. Nothing more.
“I do know you. I’m going to believe you.”
“Good. You should,” he said and yawned.
“Hard shift?”
“Yeah, there were a few car accidents we had to tend to.”
“Anyone hurt badly?”
“Rushed a family over to the hospital but it was all minor bumps and bruises.”
“That’s scary but I’m glad it was okay.”
“Me too,” he said, taking another yawn. “Hey, was that our first fight as friends with benefits?”
She stopped at a light. “I think so.”
“I like how it resolved.”
“Me too.” She paused and her mind rolled through an idea. Playfulness slinked back into her voice as she asked, “How tired are you?”
“I’m never too tired for that, if you’re saying what I think you’re saying.”
…
Ten minutes later, he opened the door and Jamie stood on his porch, the moonlight illuminating her. The faint glow of the half-light made her even prettier, her blond hair streaming down her back and over her shoulders. He was about to make a wisecrack about late-night visitors, but she pressed her lips against his in the sweetest kiss anyone had ever given him. In seconds, she’d disarmed him, and a groan escaped his throat. She brushed her lips lightly against his, kissing so softly it was as if she were barely there. But that’s what made her kiss so enticing; it was a promise of more.
They stood like that kissing—only kissing—for minutes, and soon he threaded his hands into her hair, savoring the soft feel of the strands on his rough fingers.
“Hi,” he said when she broke the kiss.
“Hi. I have a late-night delivery for you,” she said, and trailed her hands down his shirt. His breath caught in his throat as her fingers danced across his stomach, and she smiled as she traced the outline of his abs. He grabbed her arms gently but firmly, and pulled her into the house.
“Whatever delivery you have for me I don’t need the neighbors seeing,” he said.
The door was swinging shut as she claimed his mouth again. She kissed harder this time, sliding her tongue across his, searching his mouth as she laced her fingers through his. It was as if she were claiming him, and he wanted that.
“I’m sorry I was worried about Melody,” she said as she pulled away.
“Don’t even think twice about it. I kind of like how you want me all to yourself,” he said, running his finger along her cheek.
“I do. And I want to do something for you.”
He quirked an eyebrow in question.
“You’ve had a long shift. You work hard. And I want you to sleep well.”
“What do you have in mind?” he said, but whatever it was he was sure he’d like it, judging from the way hot tension started to roll through his veins, especially when she wedged herself between his legs, rubbing against his erection. He grabbed her hips, tugging her closer.
She looped her hands around his waist. “You have the sexiest back,” she said, and before he could respond, she’d dipped her hands below the waistband of his shorts, touching his bare ass. “Have I told you how much I love that you go commando?”
“You have not. Feel free to tell me now.”
“It is so hot,” she said, cupping his cheeks and squeezing. “You might have the best butt in the world.”
“Ass. You can call it an ass,” he teased, getting a kick out of how she still couldn’t bring herself to swear.
“Butt,” she said playfully, as she inched his shorts down to the ground.
She stood up and tugged off his shirt. She brushed her chest against him, sending a sharp hot jolt down his body. “Nice ass,” she said, like it was the most forbidden thing she’d ever breathed.
“Very good,” he said, and traced his finger across her lips. “I knew you had a dirty side. Now can I get you to say ‘f*ck me, Smith?’”
“No,” she said, shaking her head coyly. “Because that’s not what we’re doing. I have something else in mind.” She brought her lips to his ear and whispered hotly, “I want your cock in my mouth.”
For a second he was simply shocked. Then his body raced with desire, and he nearly burst inside as the naughty words from the woman he wanted rang in his head. “You do have it in you to be a dirty talker,” he said appreciatively.
“Maybe you’re growing on me,” she said, as she wrapped a hand around him, and in an instant the talking ceased.
He couldn’t speak. He could only curse—and groan—as she stroked him from the base all the way to the head, and he watched her the whole time. Her eyes were intense and full of lust. The look on her face was one he’d take a mental picture of to recall later. To have her touching him like this, like she wanted him this badly, was all he could ask for.
She dropped to her knees and kissed him.
Another moan escaped him as she surrounded him with her warm, wet mouth. The way she took him was both sweet and scorchingly hot at the same time. She looked like a goddess—his goddess—with her flowing blond hair, and that beautiful face, and those red lips locked tight as her tongue explored every inch of him.
He twined his hands into her hair. She moved faster, sucking him hard, and he could feel himself nearing the edge, electricity crackling through his veins.
He somehow found the Herculean strength to gently, but insistently, pull her away.
“What? You don’t like it?”
He pulled her up, leveling her with his eyes. “I love it. I love watching you suck me off, Jamie. And I want nothing more than to f*ck those pretty little lips of yours.”
“So do it,” she said in a sexy purr that sent his blood racing faster.
“I want to be inside you—” he started to say.
She shook her head and pressed her finger against his lips. “This is for you. I want to do this for you.”
Before he could protest or try to take her the way he wanted, he let her give instead as she returned her lips to him. The temperature in his body rose precipitously as she sucked harder, taking him deeper. He grappled at her hair, grabbing hard and groaning as she worked her tongue and lips over him. Pleasure forked through his body. He took a deep, fueling breath, but soon his breathing grew stilted and his hips jerked as she sent him over the edge.
His shoulders shook from the aftershocks. When she stood up, wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, he tugged her in close. “Wow.”
“I think that’s the quietest you’ve even been.”
“You took me by surprise,” he said, petting her hair softly.
“Good. Now go get some rest,” she said, then kissed him quickly on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Spend the night?” he asked, his voice rising a touch with hopefulness.
She shook her head. “Another time.”
But time was running out, and soon their week would be over.
She left, the door falling shut behind her. As he drifted off, he was left completely satisfied but also thoroughly vexed, wondering if she would ever spend the night, and hoping to hell she would want more than just these benefits someday very soon.