Jase stared at me like I was a stranger. “How in the hell do you know? Wait, are you and Janey serious?”
I frowned and took a long pull from my beer. Mostly to stall. I had no clue what Janey and I were, but serious wasn’t it. “I know because I know women, even a woman like Bo. Being pregnant sucks. She’s bloated, it’s hard to move around like she used to, and that kid is probably rolling over on her bladder, and you want her to decide monkeys or elves? Come on, man.”
“Shit.” Jase stared at Bo for a long time, his mind whirling with so many thoughts I was sure steam would come out of his ears any moment now. “You’re right. Thanks man, but I gotta go.”
“Go.”
Jase took off, but before he made his way to Bo, Janey beat him there, wrapping arms around a very pregnant Bo, who reluctantly accepted the affectionate greeting. She was unguarded with Bo. Totally free and open, a big genuine smile on her face as they talked and laughed the way women do. Bo whispered something to Janey and glanced my way before she let Jase pull her away.
I waited for a second, wondering if she would turn to look at me. When she didn’t, I stepped back from my perch against the railing and went after her. She was at the edge of the lake, watching the way the setting sun splashed colors across the light. “I’ll bet you’re wishing you had your camera right about now.”
She was startled, but only for a moment. “You’re right about that. But Bo made me promise under threat of bodily harm, so I left it at home.”
She still hadn’t turned to look at me, but I realized it wasn’t about me, this was all Janey. She was naked without her camera, unsure of herself. It was adorable. “Want to borrow my phone and snap a few shots? I promise not to tell. And if you use my phone rather than yours, Bo can’t technically blame you right?”
Janey licked her lips and sent me a grateful smile. “No, but thanks for the offer.”
“Did you eat? Bo caught plenty of fish this morning.”
“So I heard.” There was amusement in her voice and a small smile on her face as she watched the last rays of sun kiss the water before disappearing to the other side of the world. “I’ll get some food when it’s less crowded.”
I barked out a laugh. “When there are fewer people…at a party?”
“Exactly,” she said, a small smile pulling her lips up at the corner. “This is such a great view,” she said wistfully.
“The offer stands for my phone.” I smiled when she held her hand out and wiggled her fingers in the universal sign for gimme. “What do you say?”
“Hand it over. Please.” When I dropped the phone in her hand, Janey rewarded me with a beaming smile that had me stepping closer. “Thanks.” That one word came out a breathless whisper.
“Anytime.” She snapped a few shots, crouching low to capture a few more. She stood and scanned the images with a faint smile. “Can I see?” Instead of waiting for her to answer, I stepped behind Janey and stared at the phone over her shoulder. “Is that a filter?”
“It is. I think it makes the colors really pop. What do you think?”
“Pretty,” I grunted, distracted by the mix of her flowery scent with the earthy outdoor scent that surrounded us. My eyes started to close and I leaned in closer, eager to taste that strip of skin between her neck and her shoulder. “Janey,” I growled.
“I think we should keep sleeping together.” She blurted the words out so quickly, so out of the blue I took a step back to make sure I’d heard her right. “Or…not.”
“Wait, what did you say?”
Janey rolled her eyes. “You didn’t hear me?”
“I think I did, but when a woman says something like that, a man’s gotta be sure. Right?”
“I said, I think we should keep sleeping together. Only sleeping together.”
Part of me wanted to be offended by her words, while the other part called me an idiot and reminded me that no red blooded male turned down sex with a gorgeous woman, especially when he couldn’t stop thinking about said woman. But still, I had question. “Why me?”
“Fishing for compliments, Rafe?”
“Not even a little bit honey, but I want to hear why you want me.” I wasn’t in the habit of turning down what I knew would be good sex, but Janey was a virgin until recently, casual hookups seemed like they were a ways off for her.
She snorted out a laugh. “You took my virginity, why do you think?”
I turned to her, my arms folded and my expression serious because my next question was serious. The answer mattered. “That’s the only reason?”
“No.” Her cheeks turned pink and then pinker still, even under the growing duskiness of twilight.
“Well?” I took one more step forward until I could feel cool puffs of air from her shallow breaths.
“You’re really gonna make me say it?” She was so cute when she whined.
“Damn right, sweetheart.” There was no way I would let her off the hook so easily, not yet anyway. “Come on Janey, I need to hear it.”
Janey nodded more to herself than to me before she inhaled and exhaled twice, working hard to get her emotions under control. “Fine. The truth is that we have good chemistry together. Don’t you agree?”
“I do.” It was more than good chemistry, but that wasn’t the point.
“Then you get it.” There was relief in her voice and a small smile touched her lips.
“Say it Janey.”
She notched her chin up defiantly and licked her lips. “No.”
I took a step closer and leaned in so we were eye to eye. “Say it.”
“Or what?”
Another smile, a wicked one this time, touched my lips and I leaned in a little more to whisper in her ear. “Or I’ll be forced to strip you naked and torture you until I heard the words I’m waiting to hear.” I heard the gasp she let out when she looked up at me, pupils dilated.
Janey’s lips curled into the barest hint of a challenging smile. “Yeah? Think you can go around issuing threats to me, do you? Prove it.”
My jaws clenched hard at her words, and I clasped her hand so we were palm to palm, and guided her off Bo’s property to the small parking area near the main road. “Last chance to back out Janey.”
She smiled through her nerves and it only made me like her more. “See you soon, Rafe.”
I pulled her towards me until we were chest to chest, and I smiled one more time before pressing my lips to hers in a slow, fiery kiss that would certainly show her how excited I was about having her again.
“Not soon enough,” I growled and took a step back, and then another and another until I stood beside my car. I got in, hit the gas and made my way to Janey’s as quickly as I could.
Janey
“I don’t know what it is about pizza that makes it taste so delicious cold, but I hope I’m never too old or too mature to enjoy cold pizza.” As far as I was concerned, cold pizza was an American delicacy, and when it came after hours of hot, sweaty sex and multiple orgasms, well I was pretty damn sure it counted as one of the world’s greatest wonders.
Rafe smiled up at me from his spot on my bed, flat on his back with his fingers locked behind his head, bulging biceps and pecs on full display. “Listening to you talk about cold pizza, naked and glowing, is slowly turning me into a fan.”
I reached over with a frown, aiming for the half slice in his hand when Rafe snatched it away at the last minute. “If you’re not a fan, I insist on saving it for someone who is.” The scowl he sent my way made it impossible to keep a straight face and I burst out laughing, half collapsing on his chest. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he grunted. “Now I’m half tempted to give you the pizza.”
“Only half?”
He shrugged. “You did such a good job selling me on cold pizza, now I’m gonna need a good reason.”
I shook my head and rolled off Rafe’s big, hard body. Reluctantly. “Luckily for me you bought enough pizza to feed six other people, which makes me wonder how m
uch after sex food do you normally need?” It wasn’t a question I was all that keen to have answered, unless the answer was a ridiculous amount of times.
“No one wears me out like you do, Janey. All those commands,” he said, his blue eyes filled with mischief. “No, Rafe, stop. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop,” he said in a breathless feminine voice.
His imitation was so awful it was laughable and that’s what I did. “I didn’t hear any complaints.”
“And you won’t. I love a vocal woman, especially when she has a filthy mouth.”
I slammed my eyes shut against his teasing words, knowing they were true but somehow still feeling embarrassed by them. “That’s not me.”
“The fact that you think that, only makes me want to prove to you, over and over, just how much it is you.” The look he sent me was scorching hot and I didn’t know how to respond to that, so of course I did it badly.
Awkwardly.
“I’m working on a new photo exhibit. It’s something different than what I usually do.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, my eyes went wide and I smacked both hands over my mouth, shocked and humiliated I shared so much when that was the exact opposite of my intention. “Disregard that please.” I couldn’t believe I shared all that with Rafe, the man who’d just given me three, possibly four mild blowing orgasms. “Sorry.”
His dark brows dipped into a low vee. “Why?”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “Talk to me like I’m an idiot.”
“Talking about our work and personal stuff, that’s not what this is. This,” I motioned between our naked bodies, is sex. Just sex.”
“We can also be friends,” he said simply, those dark blue eyes trying to hypnotize me into agreeing when that was the dumbest thing I could do. “Can’t we?”
I nodded absently because it felt rude to disagree and I wasn’t raised to be rude. “I guess, but we’ve never really been friends.”
“We never really had sex before either, until recently. Maybe it’s time we corrected our lack of friendship, don’t you think?”
Friends with Rafe. Could I do that? I’d heard rumors about women who could have sex with a man and then treat him like nothing but a friend. I’d never seen it up close, but maybe those women were real and not just the delusions of a room full of Hollywood writers. “Maybe it is, Rafe.” It wasn’t. It couldn’t be.
“Then I’ll share something work related with you, in the spirit of friendship.” His smile was dazzling as he linked his free hand with mine, his low voice deep and mesmerizing. “I really hate it when we can’t save a structure. When the combination and water and fire damage is so great that the building couldn’t be salvaged, it’s heartbreaking.”
Dammit. I shook my head from side to side and slammed my eyes shut. “Don’t tell me that! What’s wrong with you?”
He frowned, more confused than ever and I didn’t blame him because I was pretty damn confused too. I blamed it on the orgasms, it had my hormones all out of whack. “Why not? Afraid you might start to like me?”
“Damn straight I am!” I didn’t need to hide behind my emotions right now because I was very clear about what I didn’t want, not from Rafe.
He sat up quickly, letting the sheet fall without shame as he folded his arms once again and glared at me. “I’m not offended Janey. At all,” he said in a tone that indicated he was very much offended.
“Jeez Rafe, don’t go acting all butt hurt on me now!” I jumped from the bed and started to pace, aware that I was also completely naked and not really giving a damn, not when things were so serious.
“Butt hurt?”
“Focus, Rafe.” I rolled my eyes and stopped pacing, turning to him with a serious expression on my face. “You seem like the kind of guy who wants to be a confirmed bachelor and that’s not a judgment, just how I see things.”
“But?”
“But,” I sighed. “At some point I want to fall in love and get married, maybe even have a few kids and to do that, I can’t get hung up on someone who doesn’t want that too. Which means I can’t like you anymore than I like you now. Right in this moment. No! Wait! In the moment before you told me about the fire stuff. All right?”
Rafe shrugged, his mouth fixed into a half smile. “I can’t help it I’m a likable guy, Janey.”
I growled at him. It was a genuine growl and it wasn’t my finest moment, but it happened. I growled at Rafe like a wild animal. “Yes. You are. I like liking you. This much,” I told him. “Well this much from before,” I clarified again.
His lips twitched in amusement and I glared at him as I pointed a threatening finger in his direction. “What?”
“Don’t. Laugh.” My index finger was aimed at him like a weapon poised for detonation, which only increased the twitching.
“I’m not,” he insisted, raising both hands in the air to show he was no threat.
“Don’t,” I said when his shoulders started to shake.
“I wouldn’t. Ever,” he said, barely managing that last word before he erupted in a deep, contagious laugh. His laugh was great.
Really great, in fact.
And totally fucking annoying.
Rafe
Paperwork was the only reason I’d considered turning down becoming Fire Chief. But despite the fact that I spent more time in front of my computer or with a pen in my hand than I did out on the rig, fighting fires, I loved this gig. I didn’t get as much action as I used to, but now I got to shape future generations of firefighters, training them to do their best while minimizing the risk in a job that was inherently dangerous.
I had to smile to myself at the thought that Rafe Montgomery, former wild child, was all right with a life that was less than thrilling.
“I wonder what put that big smile on your face. Or who.” Reese stood in the doorway of my office wearing a grin that was pure mischief, proving that I was far too lost in my own damn thoughts if I didn’t hear her approach.
“Not that I’m unhappy to see you, bestie, but what’re you doing here?” Reese barely left her restaurant, a fact for which my always hungry stomach was grateful, but it also meant she was up to something today for sure.
She arched a brow at me and lifted her left hand to reveal a big bag of food, with her logo emblazoned on the front. In just a few steps Reese was at my desk and dropping the bag on the edge, just an inch from the edge. “This is for you. From Janey.” The words came out sharp and pointed, lingering in the air as she waited for me to say more. “From Janey,” she repeated expectantly.
“I heard you the first time.” And it wasn’t like I was keeping secrets, though I wasn’t sure how Janey would feel about people knowing about us since she only wanted sex. Yeah, I was a hypocrite for being upset about something I’d done to countless women but dammit, a man could be complicated too. Speaking of complicated, I wondered what would make Janey do something so public.
“You’re gonna ask any questions about why I brought you food? Why Janey asked me? Why she’s sending you food in the first place?” Reese stared and then shrugged. “Fine, if you don’t, I have about a million questions,” she said and proved it by taking the seat in front of me and resting her chin in her hand. I reached for the bag and Reese snatched it away at the last second.
I frowned. “One bad review could be very bad for your new delivery business.”
Reese snorted a laugh and rolled her eyes. “This was a special favor. For a friend.”
I frowned. “You and Janey are friends?”
“I meant you, dummy!”
Oh. “Right. I knew that. So, what’s in the bag?” I could already smell the garlic and the barbecue sauce, both made my stomach growl in anticipation.
“So, you and Janey huh?”
“Nope,” I told her and reached for the bag again, a move she blocked me. Again.
“Really? Because she didn’t send Jackson lunch, or any of the other Hometown Heroes. What makes you so special?”
�
�My good looks, or haven’t you heard?”
My own best friend barked out a laugh so offensive I was tempted to check my reflection in the mirror. Almost. “Somehow, I don’t think your pretty boy features are what a woman like Janey is interested in, unless... Well, maybe so,” she agreed easily. Too easily. “Maybe I’m wrong,” she said and finally dropped the bag right in front of me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?’
Reese laughed again. “You are a little touchy today. I wonder why?”
I shrugged and opened the bag, finally. “Ribs and chicken? How did I get so lucky in the best friend department?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m a culinary genius, and you love putting my meat in your mouth.” I glared at her intentionally dirty words and pulled the container from the bag.
“You’re lucky I’m too hungry to risk you taking this back.”
“Good, I’ll settle for the story of you and Janey, Tulip’s unlikeliest couple.”
“We’re not a couple.”
“Not yet, or not ever?”
Wasn’t that the million dollar question? “I don’t know, honestly.” I gave Reese some of the details of how me and Janey came to be. “It was that damn dress. Or maybe it was Santa Fe.”
“Or maybe it was fate,” she added in a wistful voice.
“Being in love has made you a little annoying,” I told her, only half playing. I was happy to see Reese happy and in love, but I also missed her sarcasm and cynicism when it came to men and relationships.
“I know. Sometimes I catch myself being annoying and I roll my eyes at myself because, it’s wonderful and I wouldn’t change it for the world. And I now want it for you.”
“Reese, please. The woman only wants a sexual relationship with me, she’s not gonna fall in love with me.” And I wouldn’t fall in love with her, hell I wasn’t even sure I believed in love.
“Janey wants to use your body and toss you aside? I have to say, I’m both surprised and a little impressed by her.”
“Yeah, great, that’s just great” I grunted bitterly around a mouthful of Reese’s creamy Cole slaw.
That Hot Night: A Firefighter Romance Page 8
