Modern Fairy Tale: Twelve Books of Breathtaking Romance

by Kristen Proby

  I was drenched, nearly quivering with need for him. He closed his teeth over a nipple, the sharp sensation sending an arrow of pleasure through me. I cried out, arching into him.

  “My God, Maisie,” he muttered, the feel of his breath on my skin sending shivers chasing in its wake.

  He lifted his head, dragging his fingers back and forth over my panties, every pass making the ache there grow.

  “You’re so wet,” he said, his voice almost reverent.

  I flexed into him when he pushed my panties aside and sank a finger in my channel. I almost came right then. That’s how close I was. Everything tightened inside.

  My hips bucked against him. “Beck, please…”

  My plea disappeared in the long moan that came when he added another finger and started stroking, slowly fucking me with his fingers. It wasn’t enough though. I needed more. I reached for his cock, sliding my palm around it. In a flash, he drew back, fumbling in his pocket. He flung his wallet aside as he snagged a condom.

  I wasn’t prone to praying, but I thanked God right then he was quick and smooth. He had that condom on inside of a second. I curled my legs around his hips, my breath coming in ragged heaves. He held still, the tip of his cock resting in my entrance. My pussy clenched. I was near frantic to have him inside of me. I needed the stretch, to feel full, and I needed it now.

  “Maisie.”

  My name fell into the quiet. I looked up to find his intent gaze waiting for me.

  I swallowed, my chest suddenly tight. I couldn’t say what I’d expected because I sure as hell never expected this to happen, but I certainly didn’t expect the feeling between us. Oh, most of this was driven by the rampaging desire between us, but underneath it ran a sense of connection, of intimacy. I wanted to look away because it startled me, but I couldn’t.

  “Yes?”

  “I suppose it might be too late, but I have to ask if you’re sure about this.”

  Oh hell. I felt even more closely linked to him the second his words sank in. He just had to go and be all respectful. Well, as respectful as a man can be when we’d been making out as if our lives depended on it. He was there, his cock rock hard and kissing the heat of my core, but I knew he’d stop if I asked. Which only made me want him even more.

  “Yes, God yes,” I managed with a jerky nod.

  He was still for another few beats, his dark green gaze searching mine. Never breaking eye contact, in one swift surge he filled me. The relief was so great, I cried out. It was a tight fit, the delicious stretch of his cock so intense, I almost came from that alone.

  He held still for a beat before easing his hand out of my hair and sliding both hands down to grip my hips. He began to move, a slow, steady rhythm of strokes into me. I was restless and frantic, chasing after the sweet release I’d been so close to the moment he’d touched me. His strokes were measured and controlled, while I wanted wild and reckless. I curled my legs around his hips, nipped along his neck, savoring the salty tang of his skin, and rocked into him.

  I was ablaze inside, pleasure coiling tighter and tighter. Our skin was damp, slapping together with every thrust of his hips. I loved the way his fingers dug into my skin, I craved the rough touch, anything to push me higher and higher. The crescendo of pleasure rose higher and higher until I distantly heard my voice murmuring his name in between moans and rough gasps. He reached between us, pressing his thumb against my clit, so slippery wet with my need.

  Just that subtle pressure and the crescendo reached its peak, pleasure roaring through me so hard and fast, it was dizzying.

  My channel throbbed around him as I tried to catch my breath. I felt him go rigid and sink deeply, his cock pulsing inside of me. His head fell against my shoulder, his breath gusting against my skin.

  We remained like that—him standing in the cradle of my hips, his head bowed against me—for long moments with nothing but the sound of our breath gradually slowing in the room. I eventually dragged my eyes open, consciousness filtering in. One hand was laced in his hair, the other curled around his waist. I was holding on as if I never wanted to let go. I wasn’t sure I did. So much for fantasy being better than reality.

  Fantasy – 0.

  Reality – 1.

  Chapter Twelve

  Beck

  I held the fire hose and aimed it at the giant brush fire in the field behind the station. The water came out in a strong gush, hitting the flames flashing high. Somehow I’d ended up volunteering to do the annual training day we held for high school students. Normally, I helped out, but I didn’t usually run the whole damn thing. We’d been in the middle of our weekly station meeting when the topic came up. Maisie had been sitting beside Chief Masters and ended up looking my way right when he asked who might want to run it this year since he’d be out of town.

  With her liquid brown eyes on me, I’d inanely raised my hand. Truth was, I had no fucking idea what the chief had said at the moment. That’s all she had to do was look at me now, and my brain turned to mush. So here I was, helping a bunch of high school kids put out a giant fire. We had a field behind the station where we allowed controlled burns whenever locals needed to deal with extra brush and the conditions were safe. We put a call out for anyone to drop off what they wanted burned, and we burned it. We went over all the main points of fire safety and how to determine when conditions were safe to burn and the like. Then, we let the kids light the brush pile on fire.

  I actually enjoyed it for the most part, but ever since last week, I’d been nothing but distracted. Maisie had effectively blown my mind. I truly hadn’t expected her to go for it. I’d figured I’d tease and hoped I could talk her into getting nice and naughty with me. I sure as hell hadn’t expected her to fuck me senseless. A full week had passed, and she’d done a remarkable job of making sure she was never alone with me at the station. I tried texting and got polite replies, nothing more.

  Meanwhile, I was about out of my mind with need. I was so bad off, I’d stopped by Wildlands the other night. I’d figured if Maisie wasn’t going to let anything happen again, I’d best move on and get back into the swing of things. I was certain I’d see a woman, perhaps two or three, who were beautiful and down for nothing more than a good time. Yet, for the life of me, I couldn’t do it. I hadn’t the slightest interest. I wanted Maisie. No, I needed Maisie. She’d nearly ruined me for anyone else, and I had no fucking idea what to do about it.

  I focused my attention back on the fire. Four teens had volunteered to help with this—three boys and a girl. I scanned the firebreak around the burning brush pile. We had a good twenty feet of wet ground around it. The wind was low today, as such it was a remarkably safe time to burn. I saw the girl struggling a little to manage her grip on the fire hose. I turned mine off and circled over to her.

  “Need a little help?”

  The girl adjusted her baseball cap with one hand and glanced my way, promptly sending a spray of water on the guy nearby.

  “Hey! Watch out, Hailey,” the guy said.

  Hailey flicked her eyes from me to him, her gaze narrowing. “Oh shut up. It was an accident. You already soaked me, Danny,” she said, gesturing to her water splattered jeans.

  Danny rolled his eyes and shrugged. Danny was lanky, his arms and legs ahead of the rest of him. “I was just joking,” he countered.

  Hailey’s cheeks flushed. For a flash, she reminded me of Maisie. She had that same prickly exterior, yet she was pretty with her honey-blonde hair and wide brown eyes. I’d bet Danny liked her and, being as idiotic as most teen guys were, he thought spraying her with water would somehow be amusing to her. Definitely not.

  Hailey dropped her hand and wrestled the fire hose back toward the fire itself.

  “Fine, well I didn’t mean to get you wet,” she huffed toward Danny.

  I caught Danny’s eyes and offered a mildly sympathetic shrug before turning back to Hailey.

  “Hold it like this,” I said, gesturing to where she should place her hands and for
her to use her hips to help her steady it.

  Hailey watched me and promptly did as I said. She looked surprised after a moment. “Oh, that’s much better.”

  “Yeah, when it comes to putting out fires, we need all the water pressure we can get. You get used to it. Plus, putting out fires by hand like this doesn’t happen too often. Usually, we get hoses positioned and let the stands do the work for us.”

  Hailey chewed on her bottom lip. I glanced Danny’s way and noticed he was still watching her. I didn’t imagine Hailey would be an easy girl to like in high school. In this brief interaction, it was clear she was strong-willed and didn’t care too much for unwanted attention.

  “I came today because this is what I want to do,” she said when I glanced back to her.

  “You want to be a firefighter?”

  She nodded firmly, her gaze determined. “Uh huh. And not just a firefighter, but a hotshot firefighter.

  “Ah, well, seeing as that’s what I do, I’d say it’s a good goal.”

  “Hailey, are you out of your mind?”

  Danny’s question came over my shoulder. Before I could say a word, Hailey’s eyes narrowed, all but shooting flames at Danny.

  “No! I’m not out of my mind. At least I have a goal,” she retorted.

  Danny stared at her and shook his head. “It’s crazy hard and not many women can even make it through training.” He caught my eyes. “It’s what I want to do too, but I keep telling her it’s harder for women.”

  Wow. This kid was giving a textbook lesson on how to piss a girl off.

  “Oh shut up, Danny! So what if it’s hard?”

  At that moment, Susannah Gilmore walked up. Susannah was the one and only female hotshot firefighter amongst the crews here. She wasn’t on my crew, but I knew her well enough to know she kicked ass out in the field.

  “Susannah, perfect timing,” I said by way of greeting.

  She paused beside me, her strawberry blonde hair tucked up under a baseball cap and her blue eyes twinkling. Susannah was quite pretty, yet there was no spark between us. We were friends and nothing more.

  “Why is that?” she asked.

  “Hailey and Danny both want to be hotshot firefighters. Danny doesn’t seem to think it’s a wise plan for Hailey,” I explained, throwing Danny to the wolves.

  I figured if he was ever going to figure out how not to piss Hailey off, it might as well be now.

  Susannah’s twinkle faded to a sharp look when she glanced Danny’s way. I left her to defend Hailey and meandered off. It crossed my mind that I probably wouldn’t like it so much if Maisie ever put herself in the kind of danger I did on a regular basis.

  Hours later, I wrapped a towel around my waist and snagged a cup of coffee on my way past the coffee pot to my locker. Willow Brook Fire & Rescue had landed a generous federal grant a few years ago, in large part due to the fact we housed three fully staffed hotshot crews that served wherever we were called in the United States. As such, that grant had given us a modernized, well-equipped station. Our showers were high end, and our locker room was spacious with plenty of room for our gear and a few changes of clothes. I tossed my towel in the hamper by the door as I passed by. I was the last person here this evening. Cade’s crew had taken a call to a fire on the outskirts of town. Anyone else left behind earlier had helped me put everything away after our volunteer day ended and then taken off.

  I swung the door to my locker open and had my briefs halfway up my hips when I heard a squeak. I spun around to see the back of Maisie. Her hips swung and her curly ponytail bounced as she all but ran away. Oh perfect. I had no idea she was still around.

  My cock was instantly hard. I yanked my briefs up and followed her.

  “No need to run, Maisie,” I called as I stepped through the open doorway into the wide hallway that led to the front.

  She came to an abrupt stop, but she didn’t turn to face me. Oh good. I could give her a little grief over it.

  I strolled toward her, not giving a damn that if she did bother to turn around, it was beyond obvious I was hard for her. I stopped when I was close enough to reach out and touch her. It was an act of pure will to keep myself from touching her, but I didn’t. I had a few cards to play, and I intended to play them well.

  “You’ve been avoiding me,” I said, my voice coming out gruffer than I meant.

  Hell, Maisie just snatched my control from me whenever she was near. It had been bad before, but now that I knew what it was like to be skin to skin with her… Well, it was safe to say my control was frayed to its breaking point.

  She spun around, her dark eyes flashing.

  Excellent. I loved it when she was flustered and annoyed with me.

  Only problem. Now my cock was so hard, it ached.

  “I have not!”

  Damn, she was glorious. Her hair was in a messy ponytail with wild curls escaping at will and her cheeks were flushed pink. She wore these stretchy black leggings and an oversized t-shirt that hung to her hips. Even with the t-shirt doing its damnedest to hide her assets, it was a losing battle. Her generous breasts pressed against the thin cotton.

  “I say you have,” I countered.

  She crossed her arms and huffed, actually huffed.

  “Why do you say that?”

  I lifted a hand, holding my forefinger up. “Until right now, you’ve managed never to be alone with me for an entire week.” I lifted another finger. “Your replies to my texts aren’t even related to what I say.” Another finger went up. “You won’t look me in the eye.” Another finger. “And, I say you’re trying to pretend like nothing happened.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and she snagged her bottom lip in her teeth, worrying it. Oh hell. She needed to stop that. I’d finally gotten the upper hand for a second. As much as it was possible for me to have the upper hand while I stood there in my briefs and nothing else with a raging hard-on for all the world to see. Thank fuck only Maisie was here to see it.

  “You promised not to say anything,” she finally said.

  “I haven’t said anything to anyone, and I won’t. But I sure as hell didn’t promise not to talk to you about it.”

  She kept her bottom lip caught in her teeth as she stared at me. Uncrossing her arms, she rested one hand on her hip. “There’s no need for us to talk about it.”

  Oh hell no. I wasn’t letting her pretend like there was nothing between us. Not with lust drumming inside of me, and the air around us nearly vibrating with the force of desire.

  “Well, we don’t have to talk. There are other ways to communicate,” I said slowly, dragging my words out.

  I could see the tight little points of her nipples through her shirt. My cock throbbed.

  Her cheeks went from pink to cherry red. I was close enough to see the jump of her pulse in her neck. It took all I had to keep from leaning over and dragging my tongue along the sensitive skin of her neck.

  “Beck…” She paused and took a deep breath. “Look, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for anything else to happen. We work together, and you’re sort of my boss. It was great and all…”

  She stopped and shook her head in frustration. “This is all fun and games for you. Like everything is. I need this job, and I don’t want it to get weird.”

  I stared at her. Rationally, I knew what she said made sense. I filed it away to ponder later. But I didn’t like it. I wanted her. Hell, I wanted her now more than I’d wanted her before.

  “It won’t get weird. It’s not weird now, is it?” I countered.

  Her teeth sank into her plump bottom lip again. For God’s sake. I couldn’t take it. I was trying to be a gentleman here and not just tackle her.

  “You need to stop that,” I said, my tone gruff and bordering on demanding.

  Her eyes narrowed again. “Stop what?” she asked, her tone quite clearly annoyed.

  “Biting your lip.”

  She stopped, if only because her mouth fell open.

  “What is wrong with you?�
� she asked, her tone exasperated.

  I decided to be entirely direct. No sense in dancing around my point.

  “I want to kiss you. You do that, and it makes me want to kiss you more. You gotta give me some credit for holding back here. It’s not like you can’t tell what I want.”

  Her breath drew in sharply.

  Good.

  She slowly closed her mouth, staring at me. I didn’t doubt she wanted me, but she was thinking. Way too hard. I needed to put a stop to that. I started to reach for her, but she stepped back.

  “Beck, I’m not going to be silly and act like it wouldn’t be fun to let things keep going with you. But it’s not a good idea, and you know it. I don’t want to be just another one of your fly-by flings. It’s just not who I am.” She paused, her gaze uncertain but determined.

  I don’t know what she meant to say next, but I jumped in to fill the gap and startled the hell out of myself.

  “Maisie, you know damn well I don’t think about you like that. You’re the furthest thing from a fling. If that’s what’s in the way, stop thinking like that.”

  Maisie stared at me. I scrambled for purchase in my mind. I couldn’t quite believe what I’d just said. As we stood there in the loaded quiet, I considered what to say next. My heart banged against my ribs, and a slight sense of panic tightened my chest and rose in my throat.

  “If I’m not a fling, what am I?” she asked.

  Excellent question. If only I had the answer.

  I appeared to be on a roll with being honest, so my next comment hewed to that track.

  “I don’t know.”

  Her chocolate brown eyes just kept staring at me, questioning, assessing and with a hint of confusion layered in their depths.

  I hadn’t planned any of this. All I knew was I wanted Maisie. That need had overridden my usual control. I hadn’t thought past what it might mean, the questions she might have, and the questions I now had. The only point of clarity was that I still wanted her. Fiercely. I shoved my own thoughts to the back of my mind because, honestly, I didn’t know what to do with them right now. I had genuinely expected that once would be enough. I’d get Maisie out of my system, and we’d move on as friends. Hell, I’d never had trouble staying friends with women I previously dated. Yet, no one I’d dated was quite like Maisie. No one got to me the way she did. And that was before I had a taste of what it was like to be with her.