“Yes. Good.”
“Plus, I owe you some shower time, if you’re interested, but I don’t want you to feel pressured.” He laughed.
“I’m very interested, yes,” Sabrina said formally and cleared her throat again. Memories of the morning tingled through her as she listened to Jake’s voice. She was becoming a licentious woman. She smiled again at the vision of wrapping herself in Jake’s arms.
“Excellent.” He gave her directions to his apartment along with his phone number in a low sexy voice. “See you at seven…or sooner if you can make it. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Great. Talk to you later.” She hung up to his amused laughter still ringing her bell, making her shift in her chair. She could practically climax just listening to him speak.
Murphy watched her as she hung up the phone. He grinned like he knew something. She threw a paperclip at him and gave him a keep-your-mouth-shut look. It wasn’t because she was ashamed of Jake or anything. She simply didn’t want it to be public knowledge when it didn’t work out. Ultimately, Jake was a temporary situation for her. Her life plan didn’t include a permanent relationship. It couldn’t.
The less people that knew she was seeing him, the better, especially her family in the bomb squad and sheriff’s department. Oh, yeah, and if no more firemen found out, that would be good, too. Which she knew was foolish and unrealistic. The grapevine would be working overtime because she hadn’t cut Jake down to size for asking her out. Instead, she’d taken him home and had had her wicked way with him. She closed her eyes a moment to relive the wickedness, and followed Murphy to the room with the corkboard for the bomb investigation.
They spent the rest of the afternoon focused on the case. Hennessey joined them later to inform them a new member would be joining their team. A liaison from the FBI was on the way over with some of the evidence collected from both sites.
Two hours later, the newest member of their investigation team, fresh from the local FBI office, entered the bomb squad office bringing the evidence from the site along with the aforementioned letter encased in a plastic Ziploc bag.
Sabrina almost swallowed her tongue when she saw him. She had to do a double take.
He walked up stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Agent Brian Donovan. Chief Cochran requested I work with you on this case.”
Brian Donovan looked like an older version of Jake. Because he was, after all, as it turned out, Jake’s older brother.
Great!
How long before everyone in town knew about her secret with Jake?
Chapter Six
Sabrina stood before Jake’s second story apartment door without the slightest shred of nerve to knock. His building was shaped like a big, square donut. The hallways lining the center courtyard on each of four floors were open to the outside, reminding her of a large motel.
She inhaled the pungent fragrance of lilacs coming from the bushes below, next to the cement stairway she’d just traversed. She heard evening noises from around the apartment complex—televisions turned up too loud mixed with the heart-thumping rock music, also turned up too loud. In the background, the chattering voices of children at play added to the sounds of the evening. The sounds of life she usually never noticed. Just standing at Jake’s door made her a different person.
It was late spring, but the impending summer temperatures already spiked the thermometers to new records. Bugs buzzed around the lamps hanging in the corridor where she waited trying to make up her mind…to either knock on Jake’s door or run like the very Devil chased her.
The man she wanted with every fiber of her still-trembling being was on the other side of that door. She was about to be working all day, every day with Brian, his older brother, for an undetermined length of time. She’d be lucky if she weren’t a drooling idiot by the end of each day.
Brian Donovan was very nice. While his voice didn’t melt her bones into puddles, looking at him made her think of Jake. Thinking of Jake made her…an idiot. Brian didn’t know who she was to his brother, Jake…yet, but it wouldn’t take long for him to figure it out. Murphy’s not-so-subtle, amused smile every five seconds didn’t help. Murphy hadn’t given her relationship with Jake away, but she knew it was only a matter of time.
She knew tonight’s dinner was merely an excuse to continue the early morning sexual activities she’d discovered with a man who gave her the most exquisite pleasure she’d ever experienced. She wanted more from Jake. She didn’t know herself how much more. Working with a member of Jake’s family every day changed things dramatically in her eyes.
Tomorrow she would go back to work and face Brian with whatever additional decadent knowledge she learned and participated in with Jake tonight. Talk about public knowledge. She’d be wearing her satisfaction on her face for the world to see. Or she could slink away and stand Jake up. No, she couldn’t do that either.
What to do?
Sabrina leaned on the stucco wall next to Jake’s apartment door, trying to decide what her options were. All she was risking was the public humiliation of the bomb squad and the entire Sheriff’s department finding out she was getting laid. That wasn’t so bad, was it? Or she could go home alone. Her libido kicked her in the gut, forcing her lower body to tighten with lust and quickly rule out that foolish notion as an option.
Sabrina couldn’t leave. She wanted Jake too much. She needed to be in his arms one more time, so she took a big breath and straightened up to knock on his door. Before she raised her hand, she heard the impatient steps of someone in a hurry coming up the stairwell next to Jake’s door. Sabrina looked up as a young girl of perhaps twenty rounded the corner and skidded to a stop before her. Sabrina thought she looked familiar but couldn’t place her.
“Ohmigosh.” The young woman put a hand to her chest. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” Sabrina moved away from the door. She debated over knocking at all as the girl stepped right up to Jake’s door and rang the doorbell over and over.
The door opened quickly as if Jake had waited by it for Sabrina’s arrival. She saw his mischievous smile in place when he said, “Impatient, aren’t you?”
He saw the young girl first before he glanced at what had to be Sabrina’s doe-in-the-headlights gaze. She hadn’t decided whether to stay or not but figured the decision was not hers to make any longer.
“Jake. I need my truck keys,” the young girl said impatiently. Sabrina watched as the girl followed Jake’s gaze, which was not focused on her, but on Sabrina. “Are you here to see Jake, too?” she asked innocently, looking at the heated stare that was surely obvious between them.
Sabrina smiled, realizing quickly this must be Jake’s sister with the monster truck she’d ridden in the night before. She decided the jig was up. “Guess so.”
Jake ushered the two of them in, grabbing Sabrina’s keys and wallet from her as though he knew she might bolt given half the chance. He placed them gently on the table next to his front door and picked up the pink heart key ring she’d seen the night before.
And this morning.
“Here you go. Thanks for the loaner.” Jake handed her the keys.
“Sure, any time,” she said absently, studying Sabrina.
“See you later, Colleen,” Jake said, while his sister simultaneously blurted out, “So, where did you two meet?”
No one said anything. Sabrina looked at Jake with wide eyes. Colleen looked at Jake with speculative ones. Jake winked at Sabrina, put his arm around Colleen, and ushered her out the door. “Bye, Colleen.”
“Wait! You’re coming to dinner at the house tomorrow night, right?” she asked, twirling out of his grasping hands, grabbing the frame as she centered herself in Jake’s doorway.
“I don’t know, yet. I may have other plans.”
“But you have to, Jake! I know you’re not working until midnight, and everyone will be there.” Colleen stepped back inside the apartment. “Sabrina, you’re welcome, too, okay? It’ll be fun.”
Sabrina’s eyes wid
ened in panic. The thought of meeting the rest of Jake’s family scared the crap out of her. She looked down at her keys and wallet, trying to calculate the chance of being able to snag them and get away. Jake grabbed Colleen’s shoulders again and pushed her out the door. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay, Jake. No need to get physical,” Colleen said. She managed a, “Nice meeting you, Sabrina. Hope to see you tomorrow night…” before Jake shut the door and locked it.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned and leaned his back against it. “So, did you have a busy day?” His eyes danced with merriment.
“Jake…” Surely he heard the uncertainty clouding her tone. “I don’t know if I can…”
He launched off the door, wrapped his arms firmly around her and locked his lips to hers in a passionate kiss before the count of one. He teased her with his tongue until she opened up. It took about a nanosecond.
Sabrina clung to his tall frame as he devoured her mouth. He twisted them around to press her back against a wall in the entryway. Sabrina’s shoulder blades pressed into the wall. She pushed her body into his as his hands slid down her back and over her butt, cupping each cheek and squeezing gently. He pulled her hips up and into his fully firmed cock. Looping an ankle behind his knee she rubbed her mound up and down against him. He groaned once and broke the kiss to press his mouth to her ear.
“I haven’t been able to think of anything all day but how to get you naked in the fastest time possible once you came through this door,” he whispered urgently. His lips moved sensuously to her ear. He took the lobe between his lips and bit down lightly.
“So, what did you come up with?” she asked breathlessly.
“Throwing you up against my front door was as far as I could get without getting an erection too painful to continue.”
Her throaty laughter at his remark surprised Sabrina. She had been thinking much the same thing until his brother had shown up at work. Okay, afterwards, too. Jake’s doorbell rang at that moment and made them both jump.
“Shit. That better be the food and not my sister.”
Sabrina reluctantly disengaged herself from Jake and put her foot back on the floor, hiding behind the door as he opened it. She vibrated with longing from their embrace. Luckily for his sister, it was the food.
Jake took her hand and led her down the entryway hall and into his galley kitchen. At the far end of the narrow space, next to a screened sliding door that opened to the balcony, was a small table. Sitting in the center of the table was a slender vase full of fresh flowers. Soft jazzy music coming from somewhere in the apartment.
“How do you know what I like to eat?” Sabrina asked, staring at the stapled paper bag he held.
“I read your mind and knew you loved not only hot and sour soup, but your favorite entree is kung pao chicken because it is one of the spiciest dishes on the menu.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “How could you possibly know that? Did you call Murphy?”
“Nope.”
She stared at him, unconvinced, yet wondering if he could read her mind. She had no doubt about his skills in bed with regard to reading her mind.
He smiled mischievously. “Okay, so I snuck a look at the Chinese food menu you had stuck on your refrigerator last night, and it was there circled for me. Thanks.”
“Whew. I was worried I might have to guard my thoughts around you.”
“You never have to guard your thoughts around me, babe.”
Oh, yes, I do.
“I met someone interesting today,” Sabrina said as they sat down to eat. “Do you already know who it is, or do you need to read my mind again?”
Jake grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips first before placing it on his forehead. He hummed.
She laughed.
“Sorry. Too much sexual interference. You’re going to have to tell me.”
“Agent Brian Donovan. I’ll be working the city hall building and Old Town Hotel investigations with him.”
“Coincidentally enough, I have an older brother by the name of Brian Donovan. He sometimes works in fire and bombing investigations for the local FBI office.”
“It was too hard to work with him and not think about you all day, so I just thought about you all day. Murphy enjoyed himself, though, so the day wasn’t a complete loss.” She smiled. “Is that going to be weird for you?”
“Not me. How about you?”
“Don’t know yet. My actions with you are already planted firmly in the outer limits of my reality.”
“Why?”
“I don’t date.”
“Sure you do.” He pointed a chopstick at her, then at himself. “See, this is a date, and you’re doing just great.”
“I’ve worked for the Sheriff’s Department for several years without falling for a single deputy, policeman, patrolman, detective, bomb tech, bomb suspect, any other criminal, public defender, or, and most especially, fireman.” He gave her a huge heart-melting grin when she finished her rant.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked indignantly. He was not taking her seriously at all.
“You’re dating me, and you’re falling for me. What’s not to smile about?”
“You have selective hearing.” She pointed her chopstick at him.
“I’m falling for you, too, Sabrina. We’re lucky to have found each other. Let’s just see where it takes us, okay?”
Sabrina sighed. She didn’t think it would be that simple.
Jake got up from his chair and knelt next to hers. He put his arms around her, pulled her head onto his shoulder, and whispered, “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. I promise.”
After dinner, he led her around his place. It was a clean, uncluttered space, much like hers. They lived similar lives. The almost empty one. Maybe that was why they were drawn to each other.
Her opinion changed shortly. He didn’t have an empty life.
As they entered the living room, she noticed an inordinate amount of family pictures everywhere. She saw both Colleen and Brian in several, along with quite a few people obviously related to him or them.
“How many kids are in your family anyway?”
“Six.”
“Wow. That’s a lot.”
“Not according to my Dad. If it had been up to him and not my Mom’s doctor, I’d probably be one of a dozen.”
“I’ll bet being in a big family is…wonderful.” Sabrina forgot to hide her wistful tone.
“Occasionally, but usually it’s a big pain in the ass. There’s no privacy, not even when you move out. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. Tomorrow, for instance, I’ll have to bring you along to the house for dinner or face a firing squad.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready to meet your family yet.” Panic rose in her.
“Okay, but you’ve already met almost half of them. It’s only a matter of time.”
Sabrina glanced at him once then back at the photo. “Is it?”
“I told you I was looking for a long-term sex slave.”
“I wasn’t looking for anyone at all.”
“Shouldn’t have tackled me at the old city hall building site then. It’s your own fault you’re stuck with me.” He closed the short distance between them. Predatory-like.
“But…”
“What are you afraid of, Sabrina? I’d never hurt you,” he said, his voice lowered to a whispered plea.
The pain came thickly in her voice. “You wouldn’t mean to.”
Sabrina closed her eyes as Jake tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He wasn’t her evil ex-boyfriend Harry. She knew that. It wasn’t fair to put him anywhere near that category until she at least told him what made Harry leave.
Jake kissed her forehead tenderly, as if she might break if he went too fast or too hard. “I get it. Someone hurt you, but it wasn’t me. Give me a chance,” he whispered.
Sabrina had been devastated…no, humiliated, before. She never wanted to feel pain like that again. So
she didn’t date. Until Jake. She was fooling herself that she wasn’t already getting attached to him. If they started a permanent relationship, she’d be obligated to tell him another big secret. The secret that had made Harry dump her like so much garbage. The pain of losing Jake would surely kill her.
What if she never saw his lustful gaze directed at her again? On the other hand, maybe her other secret wouldn’t be important to him. Maybe he wouldn’t think of her as damaged goods. A big maybe.
Take a chance on him, whispered the longing voice in her head, the girly, emotional voice brimming with hope, the one she always kept stuffed down in order to bear the painful secret she hid.
How long had it been since she’d been brimming with hope? More than five years ago, now. Before she was hired on at the bomb squad. Before Harry had broken her spirit. Her traitorous memory zoomed back to that last day with Harry. The memory of watching him walk down that hallway and out the front door of their apartment, regret pasted harshly on his angry face. The memory haunted her.
Inevitably, that memory was quickly replaced with another worse one. The sterile voice expressing the most hated words she’d ever endured.
“…I’m sorry, but it is unlikely you will ever conceive children of your own. You two should look into adoption or foster care…” Her life had forever changed direction.
“Hey, Earth to bomb technician.” Jake smiled tenderly.
“What?” Sabrina knew she had to stop these melancholy time trances.
“You going to give me a chance, or do I have to talk you into it?”
She put the difficult memory away for later and smiled. “Depends on how you plan to convince me.”
Jake’s laughed from down in his throat. His gaze raked her with a diabolical sexual edge that left her no doubt as to what he would do to convince her, but he just said, “I think you know.”
“I’ll give you a chance, but feel free to persuade me anyway. You know, just to make sure.”
* * * *
Jake grabbed Sabrina against his body in a ferocious bear hug. He planted his lips on hers fiercely for his first inducement. They spoke no words as they danced slowly to his bedroom, stopping briefly at the loveseat to loosen some clothing and fondle each other, stoking the excitement already burning between them. Her hand rubbed sensuously up and down his already granite-hard cock through his jeans as he cupped her lace-covered breasts under her shirt, squeezing the mounds.
Blonde Bomb Tech Page 9
