Into the Fire (3 page)

“You were always a beer man,” she mentioned, holding the glass in one hand and her dirty clothing in the other.

So she did remember. There were times he saw her around town that he wondered. She had a way of looking at him that was so bland, so impersonal, it was like they’d never been lovers. In love.
Engaged
. He swallowed. Asking Ally to marry him had been a miscalculation at the least, a colossal mistake at the worst.

And the knowing way she was looking at him now spoke volumes. He wondered if she’d be surprised to learn that in the two months since he’d taken possession of the house, she was the first woman to set foot in it?

“Still am a beer man,” he answered. “Here, let me put those in a bag for you.”

He reached for her clothes, realizing too late that, while neatly folded, her panties and bra peeked out from beneath her shirt.

Funny. He didn’t usually find women’s underwear intimidating. And she wasn’t even wearing it…

Which made him realize that she couldn’t possibly be wearing anything beneath the pants and T-shirt he’d given her.

His body went hard.

“Chris? The bag?”

“Oh, right.” He took the clothes from her hands, went into the kitchen to grab a shopping bag from the broom closet and dumped them inside. He let out a breath. Maybe bringing her back here had been a mistake. But he’d seen the glazed look in her eyes and he knew how her parents could be. Suffocating. It all stemmed from losing their older daughter. They tended to be on the overprotective side. What Ally had needed was space to breathe, to get her balance again.

He counted to ten, reminded himself that she had broken up with him, and hoped that the embarrassment and pain would be enough to deflate the situation. He was wrong. And he couldn’t stand in the kitchen forever. He’d have to just hope she didn’t notice. Things were awkward enough.

He kept the bag in front of him and once he’d handed it over, he sat down on the sofa. “Come, sit, drink your wine,” he suggested. He picked up his glass of ice water.

She sat on the opposite side, not quite pressed up against the arm of the sofa but with the centre cushion separating them. It was the only place to sit in the room, and the distance between them was obvious.

“You look better. Smell better.” He angled her a teasing look, hoping to dispel the tension that had filled the room ever since she’d come out of the bathroom. His heart twisted a little at the sight of her puffy eyelids.

“I feel better. I had a minor meltdown in there.”

“I figured. You took quite a while.”

“I can’t believe it’s gone, you know? And Chester, and the kittens…” Her eyes filled with tears again. “It is…was…a no-euthanize shelter. It doesn’t seem fair that after all that, they’re gone anyway.” She sniffled.

“I’m sorry they didn’t all get out.”

She shook her head. “No, you were right. No one else should have gone in there. It was too dangerous. It was way smarter to open the cages and let them go. If you hadn’t helped not many would have gotten out alive. I know it’s lucky that we only lost a few. But it still hurts. They were so sweet.” She held out her hand. “This kitten, Marmalade, would curl right up in your hand and purr. She loved having her ears rubbed.”

She turned her blue eyes up to his. They were bright with moisture, wide with pain, and yet there was something behind them he didn’t expect. Determination. “I want to find out why this happened, Chris. Even if it’s something I did unknowingly. I have to know why.”

“The investigation will shed some light on that,” he reassured her. “And while you were in the shower, I called Dr. Swan. She assured me that all the animals are doing fine. And they’re keeping their eyes open for the one that’s missing.”

“Moose,” she said, her brow furrowing. “I’m not surprised he took off. He has some fear issues.”

“Well, she said a couple of the dogs had gone home with staff for the night, and the others are at the clinic.”

“Oh, that’s good news.” She sank back into the cushions, letting out a sigh of relief.

“She also said you can call her if you want to, but otherwise she’ll speak to you tomorrow. And that you’re not to worry about a thing.”

“I think I might possibly be too tired to call. Thank you for doing that. I really appreciate it.”

“I knew you’d want to know. Dr. Swan said to tell you to look after yourself. She sounded very worried about you.”

“Lindsay is a good woman who has been a fantastic friend of the shelter. I couldn’t do this without her. I’ll call first thing in the morning and see what’s to be done about the dogs. There are too many for her to keep for very long.”

Chris put down his glass and reached over to put his hand on her knee. “It’ll all work out, you’ll see.”

“I hope so.” She toyed with her glass. “It was a big job getting it going in the first place. Now it’s like starting all over.”

“What about insurance?”

She shrugged. “Insurance will cover some of the contents, I suppose. But the building wasn’t ours. We rented it. In fact, we were looking at relocating because the landlord wanted to raise the rent. As a charity, that’s a tough pill to swallow, you know?” She sighed. “We don’t have a choice now. But we’ve also lost all our equipment, cages, food…”

“Don’t think about it.” Chris could tell she was feeling overwhelmed again. “You can figure that out later. One thing at a time, and right now it’s looking after you. Making sure you’re okay.”

She looked at him so sweetly he nearly forgot the edge of bitterness he still felt when he thought about their breakup. It still hurt, knowing they’d been so close but that she’d been able to walk away so easily.

“I’m okay thanks to you. A lot of animals are okay thanks to you. You saved us today, Chris.”

He’d left his hand on her knee, and now she put her hand on top of his. It was warm and soft and without thinking he turned his over so his fingers were twined with hers. For all the hurt, he’d never hated her. It was impossible to stay angry with Ally. She was too kind of a person.

That kind nature was part of why her leaving had hurt so bad. It would have been easier to get over her if she’d been nastier, selfish, vindictive. But she was none of those things. She never had been.

“I was just doing my job,” he said. But he knew that wasn’t strictly true. For a second today it had been intensely personal. All he had to do was think about her wide, frightened eyes and he had the urge to pull her into his arms and protect her.

He was suddenly aware that his thumb was stroking the soft skin at the top of her hand. And that she hadn’t pulled away.

“I was so scared,” she whispered. “I knew I had to try to get as many out as I could, but I could taste the smoke and hear the fire and I was terrified. And then you were there.” She slid over on to the cushion between them, turned and put her arms around his neck. “I was never so glad to see anyone in my life.”

“You’d never know it.” His voice came out all husky, and he swallowed, putting an arm around her back, trying to hold on to his composure. It was difficult when she was pressed against him, smelling like his shampoo, wearing his clothes. “You started barking orders.”

“Only because I saw you and I knew it would all be okay. I knew you’d make sure it was okay.”

It was the grandest statement of trust he’d ever heard. And certainly unexpected from her, who’d been so disapproving about his training to be a firefighter and had made no secret of her feelings. She’d hated the fact that he’d wanted to be a fireman. But he had no regrets. The only thing that had kept him sane for the first year after their breakup was how much he loved it. He still did, even if it was only as a part of a volunteer department. He could have gone somewhere else with a paid department, but he’d wanted to come back to the one place that was home for him. This way he got to have both the job and still stay in the valley. It was where he belonged.

She was pressed against him and he closed his eyes. He could feel her breasts against his chest, free from constraint inside the soft T-shirt. He turned his head slightly and his lips touched a wisp of hair just behind her ear. A breathy sigh fluttered against his neck and he felt his judgment weakening.

“Ally,” he whispered, meaning it as a caution, but instead it came out as a plea. Slowly, giving her lots of time to stop him, he slid his hand beneath the baggy T-shirt and grazed his fingers along the soft skin of her ribs until he cupped her breast in the valley between his thumb and forefinger.

He moved his thumb over the tip and found it hard and responsive.

He should stop right now. She’d been through something terrible and she was vulnerable. And nothing had changed between them, had it? And yet he didn’t withdraw. He couldn’t. The memories were too strong, too present. He knew every inch of her body. Three years hadn’t changed that. Her curves were familiar, like coming home. He cupped her breast fully in his hand, measuring the weight, marvelling at the softness, while he turned his head and trailed kisses along her jaw until he met her mouth. It had been too long without her.

Something exploded inside him at the first taste of her. That sense of familiarity, of sensual memory was ten times as strong when they kissed. She met his tongue with hers, stroke for stroke, and she arched her back, pressing her breast more firmly into his palm. The warning that pounded in his brain, the one that said this was a mistake, receded to a dull roar as she made a little sound of satisfaction that rippled through him.

He pushed her deeper into the cushions until they were sprawled over the sofa and her hip was digging in terribly close to his zipper. His mouth skidded off hers, sliding down her neck as he pushed the T-shirt up, up, baring her chest.

She was perfect, perfect and beautiful, just as she’d always been.

As he took the first sweet tip into his mouth a cry escaped her throat and she bucked against him. His erection was damned near painful now as he ran his tongue over her nipple. She gripped his hair, and a quick glance upward showed her head thrown back, eyes closed, lips open. She was completely and utterly his.

Her pelvis rocked against his hip and he was at once thankful that his sleep pants were too big for her. Even pulled tight, the drawstring provided little resistance as he rolled slightly to the left and slid his hand inside. She was hot, hot and wet and primed, and he slid a finger inside her, wondering how far they dare go before stopping. If they would stop.

Making love would probably be a disaster. The thought broke through the haze of passion clouding his brain. He would never want her to think he took complete advantage of her at this moment, so they’d forego that ultimate pleasure. He had enough control to stop, didn’t he? But as he licked at her breast once more, he set up a rhythm with his hand. It didn’t mean he couldn’t pleasure
her
. There was a different satisfaction to be gained, watching her come apart in his hands.

He bit her nipple lightly and let his thumb skim along her sensitive skin, the way he remembered she liked. He was rewarded with a succinct curse word followed by his name drawn out on a moan. He took a minute to strip the pants clear off her, gazing with appreciation at her long, slender legs and flat stomach.

Without the restriction of the pants, Ally’s knees dropped open and he slid his palm up the tender skin of her inner thigh.

“Please,” she whispered, and he started the rhythm again, all the while kissing his way from the hollow of her hip, past her navel, over her ribs. He paused to pay adequate attention to both breasts, then ran his tongue up the centre of her collarbone, along her neck, and finally captured her mouth.

He knelt beside her now, his knees on the floor as he kissed her. She planted her feet and rocked against his hand, small sounds vibrating against his mouth until she broke the kiss, threw her head back and pressed her pubis against his hand over and over and over as a cry was torn from her throat.

She was so beautiful in her abandon that he nearly came right in his jeans.

“Ally,” he said gently, moments later. Her chest still rose and fell with heavy breaths and her skin seemed to glow in the early evening light. Even after three years, after the disappointment and hurt and anger, he knew he had never truly gotten over her. All he could think of was how good it had been for a while and how much he’d missed her.

She slid up a bit and pulled down his T-shirt. But she was still naked from the waist down, and he quietly retrieved the sleep pants and gave them back to her.

“I don’t… I didn’t mean… Shit.” She pushed her feet into the pants and lifted her hips, slipping the material over until she was covered. Her hair, still slightly damp, stuck up in a few places where the friction of the sofa arm had messed it. Her cheeks were an adorable pink and she couldn’t meet his eyes.

It was right that they hadn’t gone all the way. It was a little harder for his body to accept his decision, but that would be remedied in time.

“Ally,” he said again, a little louder, and her hands paused while smoothing her hair.

She looked up at him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

The colour in her cheeks deepened. “Of course I’m all right. I just… This isn’t why I came here tonight.”

“I know that. I didn’t intend for it to happen either.”