The Men On Fire: A Complete Romance Series (3-Book Box Set)

by Samantha Christy

  “I never want to forget him,” I say. “I know it’s silly and maybe even a little paranoid of me to want to record so many things, but the doctors really scared me when they told me how careful I needed to be, especially the first year after my accident. They said if I got another head injury, even a small one, it could be catastrophic. And then after what happened to him yesterday.” Denver catches me watching him and gives me a wink. “I just … I just love him so much.”

  Aspen wraps an arm around me. “We’re going to be sisters one day.”

  I’m surprised by her presumption.

  “Oh, please,” she says, laughing at my expression. “Everyone can see my brother is head-over-heels for you. The two of you are perfect for each other.”

  I see Denver pinch the bridge of his nose, and I wonder if his head is hurting.

  “I think Denver and I should head on up,” I say. “He’s under doctor’s orders to get a lot of rest.”

  Aspen stands up with me. “I’m glad you’re here for him. And I want you to know you can stay as long as you like.”

  “Thank you.”

  I give her a hug and then convince Denver to call it a night.

  When we get to our bedroom, he sits on the bed and looks up at me while I take off my jewelry. I walk over to him and he pulls me into his arms as I gaze down on him.

  “I’m not all that tired,” he says. “I’ve done nothing but sleep for the past thirty-six hours, you know.”

  “You want to play cards?” I ask. “Go Fish maybe?”

  He shakes his head.

  “How about I put on some music? I hear the Beach Boys are good for healing TBIs.”

  He laughs. “I heard that, too. But no, that’s not what I was thinking,” he says with a sultry grin.

  I raise an eyebrow. “You’re not serious. Denver, the doctor said you need to rest.”

  “He said after the first twenty-four hours I could start easing back into my daily activities.” He shimmies against my leg and I can feel him getting hard. “You are definitely one of my favorite daily activities.”

  I look at the bed, longing to be with him, but not wanting to hurt him. “I don’t know.”

  “Listen,” he says. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll just lie back and take it easy and let you have your way with me.”

  A slow smile creeps up my face at the thought of it.

  “God, I love your smile,” he says.

  I reach around him and pull off his shirt. Then I kiss him passionately. How I missed having him in my arms last night. He doesn’t know it, but at the hospital last night, I crawled in bed next to him just to have him near me. I couldn’t stand being in the same room with him and not touching him. I only went back to the cot after a nurse kicked me out.

  After only weeks of being together, I’m already finding it hard to sleep alone when he’s on shift. When he’s not in my bed, it’s like a piece of me is missing.

  He tries to remove my shirt. “Nope,” I say, stopping him. “You’re not doing any of the work here.”

  He scoots back on the bed and lays his head on a pillow. “Are you saying I just get to sit back and watch?”

  I start unbuttoning my blouse. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “Damn … this is definitely something we should record.”

  I blush. “You want to record us having sex?”

  “Well, I was talking about the strip-tease I thought you were going to do, but, yeah, sure—why not?”

  “I’m not making a sex tape with you, Denver.”

  He looks up at me with innocent Bambi eyes.

  I can’t believe I’m even contemplating it. But a little voice in the back of my head is telling me to do it—so I’ll never forget.

  I shake my head at myself, not quite believing what I’m about to say.

  “Okay, fine, but if I look all awkward and jiggly, I’m deleting it.”

  “Sweetheart, you’re never awkward or jiggly. You’re perfect.”

  I think about the limp I still have and then I reach up and run a finger across the scar on my neck, grateful that I have a man who accepts me with all my faults.

  I remove his pants and then quickly set my phone up against the mirror on the dresser, not really caring all that much if the bed is perfectly centered in the frame. Then I step off to the side, purposefully taking myself out of the picture as I remove my clothing in a dreadful attempt at a strip-tease.

  I’m all too aware that in a minute, I’ll be part of the recording. Denver, on the other hand, looks like he forgets all about it as soon as my top hits the floor. His thick penis stands at full attention as if it’s watching me with eyes of its own.

  Once I’m completely naked, and thoroughly embarrassed, I crawl onto the bed and straddle him. His hands cup my breasts as his erection dances beneath me. He tries to sit up, but I gently push him back. “Lie down, firefighter—this one’s on me.”

  I lean over him, putting one of my breasts to his lips. He takes my nipple into his mouth and I moan at the sensation. He grabs my hips and moves me back and forth, causing more delicious friction between us. He works his fingers underneath me, toying with my clit. Then he slips a finger inside me.

  “God, Sara. You are so wet.”

  His sexy words have me reeling. I can’t wait another minute to feel him inside me. I hastily grab a condom from the nightstand and put it on him, thinking I do it so expertly I’ve probably done it before, but never any time that I can recall. I momentarily get distracted by a past I can’t remember. But then I focus on Denver and know none of that matters.

  As I sink down onto him, his eyes lock with mine. We move together in perfect symphony, making love to each other with our eyes as well as our bodies. We don’t need words to express how we feel about each other. We never have.

  When I feel myself getting close, I sit up and ride him faster, needing that little something extra to push me over. Denver knows what I need. He puts a finger on my clit, circling it around and around until my insides coil tightly and I spasm around him.

  “Sara … unnnnngh,” he murmurs as he explodes inside me.

  I still myself on him as we finish our orgasms in tandem. Then I collapse down onto his chest, only now remembering his injury. I look up and carefully touch his head. “Are you okay?”

  “You’re here.” He brushes a sweaty piece of hair from my forehead. “I’m more than okay when I’m with you,” he says. “In fact, I’ve never been better.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief even though I know that’s not true.

  He frames my face with his hands, running his thumbs along my lips. “Move in with me,” he says.

  I cock my head to the side. “I already live with you—kind of.”

  “Move in with me permanently. Let’s get a place together.”

  “Is that the head injury talking?” I say jokingly. “Are you even going to remember this conversation tomorrow?”

  He nods to the dresser. “If I don’t, you can show me the proof.”

  I quickly sit up and cover my face with my hands. I had all but forgotten about the video as soon as I climbed into bed and saw the way he was looking at me. “Oh, God. I can’t believe we did that.”

  I get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom.

  “What do you say, Sara?” he calls out after me. “Will you move in with me?”

  I turn around to see him holding my phone, pointing it in my direction. I quickly hide my nakedness behind the bathroom door. Then I peek my head out. “Only if you delete that video,” I say, knowing I’d have said yes, anyway.

  “Done,” he says, getting back into bed. “Right after I watch it.”

  When I emerge from the bathroom, he’s looking at my phone, disappointed. “Damn,” he says. “You can’t even see anything.”

  I turn off the lights and join him in bed. He hands me the phone and I replay the video, watching intently. The recording only captured the headboard along with our faces. You can’t
even see my breast when he was fondling me with his mouth because his hand is covering me from the side.

  But I realize this is the most precious video we ever could have taken. Because what you do see is pure adoration. Our love for each other bleeds from the screen.

  “That’s not true,” I say, tears filling my eyes as I watch the way he looks at me in the video. “You can see everything.”

  “Girls,” he mumbles as he kisses my cheek and turns over on his pillow.

  It doesn’t take Denver long to fall asleep. The doctor told us he would sleep a lot the first few days.

  I lie next to him, counting my lucky stars that we both escaped death. And I pray it’s as close to it as we come for a long, long time.

  I watch the video a few more times, getting an idea for a painting. I stare at the ceiling, painting in my head. I know it won’t be long before I have the itch to go into the basement and get started. But before I get out of bed, Denver talks in his sleep.

  “Joey,” he calls out in a pained whisper.

  Even in the darkness, I see the anguish on his face. I wonder if he’s dreaming about the fire.

  I snuggle in next to him and put my head on his chest. This stirs him enough to pull him from his dream. He wraps an arm around me and falls back to sleep just as Kokomo wedges his way between us.

  I decide my painting will have to wait.

  I’m exactly where I need to be.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  The holidays with Denver were just as magical as I thought they’d be. Especially when Sawyer flew us to Hawaii to celebrate Christmas. I’d been there before. Several times, apparently. But to me—it was the first time. Everything with Denver feels like the first time.

  I lie in bed, watching the steady rhythmic rise and fall of his chest as he sleeps. He went back to work on Engine 319 a few weeks ago. Every time he goes in for a shift, he takes a piece of my heart with him. And every time he comes home, I’m even more grateful to have him next to me.

  He stirs and his eyes flutter open. He pulls me to him. “You didn’t sleep very well,” he says. “You tossed and turned all night. Are you nervous about today?”

  I nod into his shoulder. “I didn’t think I would be. I mean, according to everyone else, I’ve done plenty of showings before.”

  “You have nothing to be nervous about, sweetheart. You’re going to be a huge hit.”

  “But what if people don’t like my paintings? They’re different from before. More personal.”

  He rubs a hand along my arm. “More personal to you. That makes them even better than before.”

  “I think you’re a bit biased,” I say.

  He flips me onto my back and climbs on top of me. “Care to make a wager?”

  “You want to bet on whether or not my showing is a huge flop?”

  “Your showing will be a smashing success,” he says. “That’s why I want to bet on it. I’m a sure winner.”

  “And what did you have in mind?”

  “You know that thing we did last week in bed?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

  I blush at the memory before pulling a pillow over my head.

  He slowly removes it and then leans down for a kiss. “I want you every way I can have you,” he says against my lips.

  “Oh, you have me,” I say, shimmying my body beneath him. “You definitely have me.”

  He brushes my hair back and cups the sides of my face. “I’ve never heard better words spoken.”

  I can feel his hardness on my leg and my body starts to tingle. Morning sex has become one of my favorite things. But then he jumps out of bed.

  “Where are you going?” I ask longingly.

  He laughs at the pouty look on my face. “We’ve got a big day, sweetheart. We have to get ready for your debut.” He nods back to the bed. “Don’t worry, we’ll give it a good workout later when I collect my winnings.”

  I roll my eyes at him, knowing I’d do anything he wants, even if he didn’t win the bet. I’m putty in his hands and I’m pretty sure he knows it.

  “We’re still going to see Joey today, aren’t we?” I ask. “I found the most adorable outfit yesterday when I was out shopping. Wait until you see it. It’s got a paint palette on the shirt and the pants have little paint splatters. And I got him another fire truck. Now, before you say anything, I know he has like five of them already, but this one has an actual working ladder and is approved for kids under three. I couldn’t resist.”

  Denver smiles. “You bet we can see him today. It wouldn’t be a Saturday if we didn’t.”

  For five weeks now, we’ve been visiting Joey at his foster home. We outfitted him with clothes and provided toys for him and the four other kids in the house.

  Joey has really taken to Denver, or ‘Uncle Den’ as I’ve started referring to him around Joey.

  Denver looks at the clock. “When does Davis have his people coming over to get the paintings?”

  “Oh, crap,” I say, realizing what time it is. “In about thirty minutes.”

  I get out of bed and falter a little when my left leg fails me. Denver runs over to steady me. He doesn’t mention the leg, he never draws attention to it, he just helps me like he always does—with a smile and a kiss. I think we both have come to realize I may always be like this. And he seems fine with it. In fact, he tells me often that he loves me exactly the way I am.

  “Do you think we’ll have time to stop by the new place today and check out the cabinets they put in yesterday?” he asks.

  “We should,” I say on the way to the bathroom. “Why don’t we just get ready early and then go right from Joey’s to the new apartment and then to the showing?”

  “It doesn’t sound like you’ve left any time to eat dinner,” he says.

  “Dinner? We can grab you a bite somewhere on the way, but I won’t be able to eat right before the show. I’m already in knots as it is. Plus, they’ll have some food at the gallery if I decide I can stomach it.”

  “And champagne,” he says.

  “Well, that’s good. I might need a lot of that to get through the night.”

  He laughs and shakes his head. “You’ll need it to toast all the sales you’re going to get.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up, Denver.”

  “Just stating the facts, sweetheart. Now get your pretty little ass in the shower.”

  A few hours later, after the gallery has picked up all of the paintings for tonight, we’re on our way to see Joey. But when we’re a block away, we hear a horrible sound of screeching tires and buckling metal. We turn around to see a car has barreled into the front steps of a row house, just thirty feet behind us.

  My heart slams into the front of my chest. Ninety seconds ago, Denver and I were walking in that exact spot.

  “Call nine-one-one!” Denver yells over his shoulder as he drops the bag he was carrying and runs in the direction of the car.

  My shaky fingers dial the numbers and then I tell the dispatcher what I see. She says help is on the way.

  While I’m glued to the sidewalk in sheer terror, what I see over the next few minutes is amazing. When you’re in love with a firefighter, you don’t get to see him work as you might if you were in love with a plumber or a contractor, or maybe even a doctor. My eyes track the swift and fluid way Denver takes control of the situation, dealing with both the onlookers and the person in the car.

  He pulls a man out of the car and starts doing CPR on him. Just as an ambulance pulls up, the man coughs and opens his eyes. The bystanders applaud. Denver stays with the man until the paramedics load him into the back of the ambulance.

  When the ambulance pulls away, Denver sits on the curb and takes some deep breaths. I walk over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He startles and looks up at me like he’s just now remembering I’m here.

  “That was amazing,” I say, sitting down next to him. “You saved that man, Denver. I’m sorry I just stood there like an imbecile. I froze. I couldn’t even get myself to
help you.”

  “It’s not your job to help,” he says. “Besides, you did help. You called nine-one-one.”

  I shake my head in awe. “I can’t believe you do stuff like that every day. You’re an incredible person, Denver Andrews. It’s hard to believe you ever had any trouble responding to car accidents. You handled that like a real professional.”

  He nods. “It took a long time for me to get there.”

  “Well, most of the best things in life are worth waiting for,” I say.

  He grabs my hand. “You can say that again.”

  I lean over and kiss him on the cheek.

  He helps me up and then looks at his pants. “Well, shit. The knees are all ripped.”

  “It’s not a problem. We can stop by the townhouse on the way to the gallery so you can change.”

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “I really don’t want to make us late, but I can’t show up looking like this.”

  “Are you kidding, Denver? You just saved a man’s life. I’ll be late for that any day of the week. Come on,” I say, pulling him in the direction of the foster home. “I can’t wait to tell Joey what his Uncle Den just did.”

  He furrows his brows at me. “Why do you call me that?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. You two get along so well it’s almost like you’re family.”

  He cocks his head to the side and studies me.

  “What?” I ask.

  He shakes off my question. “Nothing, let’s go. Joey is waiting.”

  When we get to the house, we watch all the kids open the new toys we brought with us. Then I sit back and appraise Denver as he interacts with Joey. I’ve never seen a man without children be so comfortable around a child. It makes me think of one of the paintings that will be on display tonight. It’s a surprise for Denver. He’s not seen it yet and I can’t wait to show it to him.

  Before we leave, Joey crawls up into my lap and looks up at me with his gorgeous blue eyes. I’m happy he’s finally taken to me. He didn’t have the instant connection with me that he had with Denver. But the way he’s looking at me right now—it’s like he knows me. It’s like he trusts me.