Frontier Inferno (5 page)

He chuckled. “I came in here to pack, but that works, too.”

Shit, really?
  “After the way you kissed me senseless in the living room, what else am I supposed to think?”

“First,” he strode to a closet in the corner of the room and dragged out a duffel, “I kissed you because you were irresistible.” Opening a dresser, he pulled out piles of clothes and filled the bag. “Second, if I thought I could do you justice in the short amount of time we have, and that you’d say yes, I’d fling you on the giant mattress in two seconds.” Making another foray to the closet, he selected another bag, one that clanked, and set it on the floor next to the first. “Third, I’m all packed.”

Still lingering in the doorway, she took in the man before her, standing by his luggage, all ready to go away and fight wildfires. Face danger. How did firefighters’ wives survive the worry while their men were putting themselves in harm’s way? For a second, she pictured herself as one of those women….

Then she shook it off. She wasn’t a fireman’s wife, fiancée, or even girlfriend. But she was more drawn to Chris than she’d ever been to any man before.

But they had this afternoon.

And she wouldn’t blow that.

Lifting her arms, she allowed a slow smile to cross her face. “I will let you fling me, trusting you will do me justice, if you answer one question….”

He stayed in place, but his body seemed to tense with expectation. “And that is?”

“Why do you live in the Seven Dwarfs’ cottage?”

In two strides he arrived at her side. “Because I would have done anything to keep Billy’s mother from abandoning him.” Anger at the selfishness of the woman washed over Heather, but she forced it down. Chris continued, “It was her ‘dream home,’ but she left before it was completed. I couldn’t do anything but try to make the inside more to Billy’s and my taste.”

How stupid would a woman have to be to leave that beautiful boy behind? Or the father. Handsome, brave, charming? What more could anyone want? A home, a family….

How stupid are you to be gone when he returns?

She’d never met a man like Chris before. “Okay, take me, I’m yours!” The cheer in her voice was forced, but her whoop when he tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry was not. Her chin bobbed against his back and then he did fling her on the bed, leaving her bouncing and giggling like the carefree teenager she’d never really been. They had this one time together, and she would make memories for a lifetime.

He dropped beside her and shared her laughter for a long moment, but the heat in his gaze singed her to her very soul. Was the ocean off Australia the same color as the Mediterranean? How could blue carry such fire?

“Heather, are you sure?” His accent killed her, rolled over her, and weakened her knees. Luckily, she was lying down.

“Don’t talk.” Reaching up, she drew him closer to whisper. “We don’t have very much time.”

He drew a sharp intake of breath and gathered her into his arms, across his lap, the sharp bulge of his erection digging into her hip. His lips brushed hers, softly, tentatively, a question she answered by clasping the back of his head, his short hair tickling her palm.

She parted her lips and welcomed him to deepen their contact. Two hours? Two years wouldn’t be enough to get to know his body. He hugged her tighter, her breasts flattened against his hard chest. Linking her fingers behind his neck, she hung on for dear life. When had a kiss been so all-encompassing?

Never.

How had she come so close to…to…she shoved the image of the mistake she’d almost made out of her mind and sat up straight, grasping the hem of her T-shirt. She wanted nothing between them.

He broke the kiss. “Let me.” Prying her grip loose, he pulled her top over her head and tossed it aside. “Oh, so sweet.” Liquid heat pooled between her legs. He drew his tongue along the top edge of the bra. “You smell like summer.” Chris flicked his thumb at the closure and her breasts spilled free. “Heather,” he breathed.

Oh, God
.

He dipped his head and lapped a circle around one aching nipple and drew it into his mouth, sucking and licking, then bit down. Everything inside her clenched. Releasing him, she fell back, her head bouncing on the pillow. He moved to her other breast and brought her to the edge of orgasm by scraping his teeth over the hypersensitive skin. Drawing away, he flashed a lazy grin and rose.

While she lay watching through slitted lids, he tugged his T-shirt off and unbuttoned his jeans. Her mouth went dry. The man was a god. Every muscle in his upper body stood out in sharp definition, a stray beam of sunlight somehow cutting through the cloudy sky cutting outside the window, casting a diagonal strip of light from shoulder to waist and taking her attention to the six-pack indeed carved into his abdomen. His fingers lingered at his waistband, a question in his eyes.

She nodded, wanting him to hurry, but not wanting to miss anything. Making memories…this one day of her life, she wanted to remember forever. Tears blurred her vision at his masculine beauty, but more than that—they were for the man who put his child first. Who lived in a gingerbread-adorned log cabin instead of a house he would have preferred…because he’d tried to keep Billy’s mom in his son’s world. A man who risked his life every day to protect others. A real hero in every sense of the word.

All that and sex on a stick, too.

Leaving would suck, big-time.

Chris bent to unlace his work boots, toed them off, and followed them with his socks. Shoving his jeans over his hips, he kicked them aside. His eyes never left the woman lying on the bed, her focus now on the bulge tenting his boxer briefs. He left them in place for the moment and instead eased Heather’s jeans off. Her shoes were on the floor, at some point discarded, but he removed the socks from her feet, giving her toes a squeeze. Her pale skin glowed in the low light. Despite time flying by, he wouldn’t be rushed. Digging his fingers into her arches, Chris smiled at her groan. He carried tension in his feet as well. Maybe next time she’d return the favor.

Pressing a kiss on her instep, he followed his hands with his lips, up her trim calves, over shapely, rounded thighs. The musky scent of her arousal went to his head and breathed her in. His cock twitched but he sent it a silent message to behave.

But there’d be plenty of time—well, some time—to ease his suffering. Nuzzling her inner thigh, he nearly lost his mind. Her lace thong was soaked through and clung to her womanly places. He bit down on the soft skin at the crease where her leg met her torso, and she jumped.

“That’s going to leave a mark,” she squeaked.

“I
want
to leave my mark on you, sweetheart,” he said, nipping again then soothing with the flat of his tongue. “I want you to remember our first time.”

She made a strangled sound and he lifted his head to search her face. Her cheeks were flushed but her big green eyes stood out. What had made her sad…upset? Frantic to calm her…to make her happy at any cost, he reached for her cheek.

“We don’t have to do this. I thought you wanted to, but you say the word and we’ll go over to Andie’s—”

“No.” Determination laced the word. “I want this, you…please don’t stop. Please…make love to me, Chris.”

“There’s nothing I want more.” Tearing the lace away with his teeth, he buried his face in the sweet heat of Heather’s pussy. A groan emerged from deep in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her hips, holding her in place and nibbling his way past the outer lips to her clit. She made incoherent noises and thrashed, almost jerking free, but he tightened his hold.

Her pleasure first, he reminded his eager dick.
Then ours
. Her satin thighs lay against the sides of his head, shutting out everything but the world between her legs. He lapped around her clit.

She arched and shuddered. “Chris, oh, oh, I….” He kept up the pressure, licking her until she went limp, then pushed up on his arms to look up the line of her body toward her face. She reached for him. “Please, I want you inside me.”

He wanted that, too, wanted inside her more than he’d wanted anything he could ever remember. Chris leaned toward the bedside table and fumbled with the drawer. It had been a while since he’d needed them, but the strip of condoms still lay inside, waiting for the time when he rejoined the living, the loving. Ripping one free of the strip, he tore it open and rolled the latex over his cock.

Heather watched from the nest of pillows and quilts, her legs parted, ready for him. And he was ready for her. Urging her thighs wider, he took his place between them and smiled down at her, bent to kiss her belly, her hip bones, her mound. Her taste lingered on his lips and he hesitated there, hungry for her again, even while his cock throbbed in protest at the delay.

But she grabbed his ears and tugged. “Come on, fireman. There’s a blaze that needs putting out.”

He chuckled, distracted for a second. “That was so bad.”

She laughed and rocked her hips toward him. “Whatever it takes. Don’t you want to…?”

“So much it hurts.” Pressing the head to her opening, he drove inside, sliding on the sweet cream that flowed at his touch. When had a woman ever been so responsive? So willing? So…tight. He held back a little, not wanting to hurt her, but she released his ears and drew him down to her kiss while her legs tightened around his buttocks, feet digging in, urging him.

Her whimpers and sighs took him to the hilt, showed him her pleasure where words failed them both as he sank all the way in, then glided out almost to the tip, only to rock forward again and out, slowly, savoring the hot fist of her pussy. He wished he didn’t have a condom between them but that couldn’t be helped. For now.

In. Out. Faster and deeper. Could it be deeper? She panted and he lay over her, wanting to kiss her, wanting her to taste herself on his lips. Wanting every inch of their skin touching. “Heather, I’m so close.”

She moved in sync with him, as if they did this every day, and shrieked and clenched around his dick, the sudden pressure sucking the cum from his balls while he held her to him, tighter, ever tighter.

He dropped onto his elbows. And, despite the fact they had places to go and people to see, he stripped off the condom and tossed it into the wastebasket, spooned her, and fell into a deep, restful sleep.

A distant buzzing dragged Heather from a dream where she’d made love with Chris in the strangest little gingerbread house, on a marshmallow mattress, set atop licorice bedsprings. She yawned, stretched and rolled over and faced….

“Chris.” He stood beside the bed, phone in hand and she glanced down to find herself still clad in a shredded strip of black lace. Of course, he was naked, too, and, if appearances could be trusted, ready for another go. His cock bobbed against his belly in a glorious display of
glad to see ya
. The room was dim with encroaching night. She struggled to remember what time the sun set in Castle at this time of year. “Oh, my God.”

He held a finger to his lips and listened to whoever was on the other end of the line laughed. “Yeah, a little truck trouble. I know…but it’s a classic. Ha ha.” Another long silence and he winked at her. “We’re on our way. No, don’t come get us. I’m sure it won’t break down again.” He disconnected and laid the phone on the dresser, a broad grin creasing his face. “We’re late for dinner.”

She choked and jumped to her feet, the sad bit of lace falling to the floor. Wonderful, now she’d have to face a roomful of people commando. “What is it, eight o’clock?”

“Eight fifteen.”

“Oh, my God. They’re going to think we’ve been having sex all this time. After the way they laughed when we left…? I feel as if we were tricked into having it.” Gathering her scattered bra, shirt, and jeans from where they’d landed earlier, she piled them on the bed.

He chuckled. “Tricked? Well we can in all honesty say, if they ask, which they won’t, that we have not been having sex all this time.” His grin weakened her resolve. “We took a nap, too.”

She glared at him, hands on hips. “That’s not funny. You said you don’t even kiss on the first date.”

His grin broadened. “I can’t help it if a beautiful woman seduced me. I’m helpless in your clutches.”

“I need to get dressed.” She grabbed her bra then dropped it. “I can’t go without a shower. But I can’t…I can’t take the time, they already think I’m a tramp.”

Serious now, he approached and took her hands. “Sweetheart, nobody thinks you’re a tramp. No, I’m sure they don’t buy the broken truck thing since we could have walked there by now. But Andie likes you, and so does Paul. And Rex likes whoever they like.” Lifting her fingers to his lips, he pressed a kiss on each one. “And I like you a lot.” He led her toward a door she hadn’t noticed before. “While I’d rather keep your scent on me, you’re right. Let’s hop in the shower and rinse off before we go eat dinner. If it weren’t for Billy and the fact that I’m going away tomorrow, I’d figure out a way to cancel. But Andie’s been cooking all afternoon. We can’t disappoint her.”

She dug her heels in and stopped their forward motion, eyeing him with suspicion. “If
we
get in that shower, we’ll miss dinner and breakfast. I’ll go first, okay? You stay out here.” Slipping past him, she closed the door behind her and leaned against it, slowing her breathing. It had taken all her willpower to shut him out.

In a moment, she stood under the water in the stone-lined stall, rinsing away the telltale scents of their illicit afternoon. It would be hell to leave this man behind. Heather rubbed shampoo into her hair and stood under the spray.

She heard a muffled sound and paused.

The curtain slid aside and Chris met her surprised stare. “I brought you some towels.” He held up a pile of folded terry cloth but didn’t make a move to go. She swallowed hard.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Still, he stayed, one hand on the curtain, his eyes devouring every inch of her. Her pussy ached for him.

“If you want to come in here, you have to promise, no hanky-panky.” She stepped aside, and after dropping the towels on the floor, he joined her.