With need lashing at me like a whip, I positioned my cock at her entrance and sank inside in one swift surge. She was so wet, I slid in easily. She gasped a little and her eyes fell closed.
I didn’t know why, but I needed her to look at me.
“Maisie.”
Her liquid brown eyes opened. Once her gaze locked to mine, she didn’t look away. I was so close to the edge, it’s a miracle I hadn’t come the second I sank into her creamy, tight clench. I held still for a beat and then began to move. With her legs curled around my hips, we rocked together. With her breath coming in rough, breathy pants, her eyes caught with mine, heat twisted at the base of my spine and my balls tightened.
I wanted her to fly with me. I started to reach between us, but she beat me to it. I was already out of my mind and driven by nothing other than the hottest, wildest need I’d ever experienced. The sight of her fingers circling over her plump and swollen clit snapped the thread of my control. My release hit me so hard, my knees buckled. I pounded inside of her so hard, I saw stars. I fell forward, catching her in my arms as I did.
The metal of the truck bed echoed with the force of my weight collapsing atop her. My head landed in the sweet curve of her neck. As I tried to catch my breath, her scent seeped into me. I felt her pulse kicking against my cheek. I lay still, absorbing the feel of her relaxed in my arms and thought to myself I could’ve stayed right there forever.
Chapter Fifteen
Maisie
I skipped over a puddle and pushed through the door into Firehouse Café, the bell above jingling as I stepped through. I paused and glanced around. The place was packed. For the locals, good food and coffee were always here, so it was a central social gathering spot. In the summers, the place practically hummed with the addition of tourists. Throw in a rainy day and the tourists who would usually be outside hiking, biking, fishing, hunting or more were looking for somewhere dry to be.
Smack in the middle of Willow Brook on Main Street, Firehouse Café was housed in the town’s original fire station. The tall square building had been renovated with the old garage turned into the seating area for dining and an open style bakery and kitchen towards the back. The fire pole in the center of the room was painted brightly with fireweed flowers, in addition to bright colors and artwork throughout the café creating a whimsical and inviting space. The dining area was scattered with square wooden tables with a dining counter enclosing the mostly open kitchen and bakery toward the back.
I threaded through a cluster of tourists by the entrance and got in line. I’d been running late this morning and had forgotten to grab my lunch on the way out. I was starving, and I could seriously use some coffee. I’d had two nights of restless sleep. I couldn’t get Beck out of my mind—day or night. Ever since our interlude in the garage, he’d taken up permanent residence in my mind and body. I almost laughed aloud. I’d now had the best sex of my life—twice—in a fire station, which also happened to be where I worked. That’s how out of control I was with him. Nothing could hold me back once he touched me.
“What’s so funny?”
I glanced behind me to find Lucy Caldwell sidling into line. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a slapdash ponytail and was as damp as mine was. Along with forgetting my lunch, I’d forgotten my raincoat this morning too.
I couldn’t exactly tell her what I’d been thinking about, namely the fact I’d been pondering my sexual escapades with Beck at the fire station. God help me. So, I shrugged. “Oh nothing much. How are you?” I asked quickly, skipping right along.
“Starving. You?”
“Ditto.”
Lucy’s bright blue eyes caught mine. “Care to join me? We’ll be fighting for a table as it is.”
“Sure,” I said.
It was a small thing really, but I wasn’t used to it. My entire life before Willow Brook had consisted of bouncing from one town to the next. As such, making friends beyond the superficial hadn’t been too easy. By the time I’d moved away from my dad, I was so busy scrambling to make ends meet and get myself through college, I hadn’t had much time for socializing. Willow Brook was a welcoming place, yet I was still getting used to the fact I was here for more than a temporary stay. Susannah had only been nagging me about getting out and about more for about a year.
“Hey, hey Lucy,” a man’s voice said.
I glanced over to see Levi Phillips approaching. Levi was another firefighter. He worked on Cade’s crew and also had plenty of women drooling over him. With his dark blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and the firefighter requisite body-to-die-for, he was certainly easy on the eyes. As usual, I felt nothing when I looked at him. Only Beck got to me.
Levi’s gaze shifted to me. “Hey Maisie. Lunch break?”
I nodded. “You got it. Forgot to bring mine today.”
The line inched forward, and Levi paused beside us as he took a long swallow from his cup of coffee. He appeared to be on his way out.
He hooked a hand in his pocket, his eyes flicking back to Lucy. When I glanced her way, she looked cranky.
“Did you forget how to say hello?” Levi asked, a slow grin curling his lips.
Lucy huffed a little. I wondered what her deal was.
“Hi Levi. How are you?” she asked, her tone cool.
Levi caught my eyes and winked.
“I’m right as rain. You?”
Lucy crossed her arms. “Fine. If you don’t mind, Maisie and I were having lunch.”
Our casual decision to eat together was suddenly a lunch date. Okay. I could go with that. I might not know what was going on, but if Lucy needed back up from me, she had it.
Levi arched a brow, his grin expanding. He simply shrugged. “Okay ladies. Have a nice lunch.”
Lucy turned to face forward. I caught Levi’s eyes, feeling a little bad about her blunt dismissal of him. Levi was a nice guy. He was always offering to help whenever anyone needed help with something around the station. I’d heard from the crew he was steady as a rock out in the field no matter how dicey things got.
Levi didn’t appear to feel bad. He winked at me and shrugged. “Lucy doesn’t appreciate being told she’s gorgeous. That’s my offense,” he offered in explanation.
Lucy’s breath hissed, and she spun back to him. She started to say something and then snapped her mouth shut. After a beat, she said coolly, “Have a nice afternoon, Levi.”
He chuckled and kept on walking, pushing through the door, the bell punctuating his departure with a cheery jingle. We finally reached the front of the line. I was wondering just why Lucy was so annoyed with Levi, but it was time to order food.
Janet James greeted us with a wide smile. “Hey girls, what’ll it be today?”
Janet was the owner of Firehouse Café. She was almost always here. She’d been a good friend of Gram’s. I remembered her stopping by Gram’s house when I would visit when I was little. With her warm brown eyes, ready smile and motherly manner, she was easy to be around. She’d gone out of her way to welcome me when I came to see Gram before she passed away. She was also the one who’d dragged me down to meet with Gram’s attorney. Without her, I might have left town already had it not been for the fact I was flat broke at the time.
“I need coffee as dark as you can make it for starters,” I said.
Janet laughed. “Will a double shot in the dark do?”
“Perfect.”
Oddly, I was a bit of a coffee snob—a side effect of working at a coffee shop in trendy San Francisco. Firehouse Café had damn good coffee, and Janet knew what I liked. Two shots of espresso added to her house coffee might jolt my sleep-deprived brain.
“Lucy?” Janet asked.
“I’ll take the same,” Lucy replied quickly.
“Got it,” Janet said as she spun away. “Go find a table. I’ll bring your coffee over in a few and take the rest of your order then.”
As luck would have it, a couple was leaving from a corner table. Lucy practically ran over there to snag it. I slippe
d into the chair across from her as she plunked down with a sigh.
“Levi Phillips annoys the hell out of me,” she announced.
“Kinda hard not to notice.”
I didn’t know her all that well yet, but since she was so direct about it, I figured it was safe for me to share my rather obvious observation.
Lucy tugged the elastic out of her hair and sifted her fingers through the damp locks. I wasn’t going to comment, but Levi was right. She was beautiful. Her bright blonde hair fell in messy, damp waves around her shoulders. With her creamy skin, bright blue eyes and fine features, she was breathtaking. She was dressed in her usual construction gear with battered jeans streaked with dirt, a loose t-shirt, and leather work boots.
Lucy snapped the elastic on her wrist and met my eyes with a rueful grin. “Right. I guess I let him get to me.”
“What’s so annoying about him?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“He keeps trying to get me to go out to dinner with him,” Lucy said, her cheeks flushing slightly.
I’d never have expected Lucy to get flustered over anything. She and Amelia were intimidating in their own right, what with holding their own in a male dominated field as the team that made up Kick A** Construction. After hearing her views on relationships last week over drinks and dinner, I was even more surprised. She’d reminded me of myself a bit—fairly certain worrying about relationships wasn’t worth the bother.
I considered how to reply. My thoughts were that if she didn’t feel anything for Levi, it probably shouldn’t be a bother that he asked her out for dinner. Her reaction wasn’t one of pure annoyance, as if he was pushing too hard. It was as if his attention made her too aware, and as a result, uncomfortable. My gut told me she was uncomfortable because she liked him. I didn’t consider myself particularly astute when it came to stuff like this, but I knew what I saw because it was awfully close to how I felt about Beck.
Major difference: he’d fucked me senseless. Twice.
He was all I could think about most of the time. I was slightly relieved to have my attention focused on someone else’s man problems.
“I suppose you don’t want to go to dinner with him,” I replied.
Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Not really.”
“Not really?”
Janet arrived at our table just then. She promptly handed us our coffees and pulled out her notepad. “Okay, what can I get you girls for lunch?”
“Give me whatever today’s special is,” Lucy said.
“Salmon burger and sweet potato fries?” Janet asked.
Lucy nodded firmly. “I’ll eat anything you make, but thanks for letting me know what it is.”
Janet chuckled and looked to me.
“I’ll take the same.”
“Well, that was easy,” Janet said with a small laugh as she slipped her notepad back in the front pocket of her apron.
“When you gonna break down and go out with Levi?” she asked, flicking her eyes to Lucy with a sly grin.
Lucy was mid-sip with her coffee and sputtered. I handed her a napkin and stayed quiet. It didn’t surprise me in the least Janet might nose her way in. Aside from Susannah, she was the closest friend I had around here. I chalked it up to her long friendship with Gram. She seemed to feel a sense of responsibility toward me. I’d already fended off plenty of questions from her about my non-existent personal life.
“Do you always eavesdrop?” Lucy asked. Her cheeks were bright pink as she glared at Janet.
Janet nodded. “Sure do. I can hear pretty much everything from anyone who’s in line. Levi’s been after you for months, and I don’t know why you’re putting him off. It’s obvious you like him.”
Lucy shook her head. “Relationships aren’t my thing, Janet. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
Janet merely shrugged. “Suit yourself. I think you’re wrong though.”
Her perceptive gaze bounced between Lucy and me. “You two are peas in a pod. Both all badass and all about being independent.”
Blessedly, someone called Janet’s name from the counter area. “Be back with your food in a bit,” she said as she spun away.
Lucy caught my eyes and shook her head. “Oh my God. I love Janet, but she is the nosiest person I know.”
“No argument from me there,” I said with a laugh.
I took a gulp of my coffee, savoring its rich, bitter flavor. “Well, I’m no expert, but if not really means something other than just no, there’s nothing wrong with dinner.”
As soon as I said that, I wondered what the hell I was doing. Who was I to give anyone advice on dating?
Lucy stared at me, her cheeks still a little pink. After a beat, she sighed and idly traced the edge of her coffee cup. “Look, no matter what, relationships aren’t my thing. Levi’s nice and all, but anything close to dating is inviting disaster for me. I figure he’ll eventually stop seeing me as some challenge he has to win and move on.”
Her words made my heart twist a little. I didn’t know her past and didn’t know who put the pain and darkness I saw in her eyes, but it made me sad. I had my own good reasons for believing the single life made the most sense to me, yet here I was ready to tell Lucy, a woman who was just barely a friend, that maybe she should expand her horizons. It was sad to think she was cutting off that possibility for herself.
“Maybe. Or maybe not. I know Levi a bit since I see him around the station all the time. He’s a pretty patient guy. Not that you’re asking, but he’s also nice. Like a few other guys, I know plenty of girls think he’s hot, but he’s not all cocky about it.”
I could not believe what I’d just said. First off, I wasn’t that close to Lucy. For all I knew, it would piss her off if I had anything to say about this. Just goes to show how underdeveloped my friendship skills were that I’d dive into this conversation at all. Here I was defending Levi who in many ways was so similar to Beck. Yet, he was one of the good guys. He might be hot and sexy and used to women falling all over him, but he wasn’t a jerk. Something told me he liked Lucy for more than her looks.
That train of thought took a corner that led straight to Beck. I couldn’t help but wonder if he really liked me, or if I was simply a challenge he needed to master. I shook the thought away. Not something I wanted to ponder just now. Or ever for that matter.
Lucy’s cheeks went even pinker, and her mouth twisted. “Oh God. I was hoping I’d found a kindred spirit.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I…”
She waved my apology away. “Don’t be sorry. Amelia’s like the poster child for happily-ever-after these days. She used to be plenty bitter, but now her and Cade patched things up so nicely, it’s almost nauseating to be around them. You’re right anyway. I shouldn’t let any of it get to me.”
Janet spun by our table, quickly delivering our plates. “More coffee?”
I drained mine and nodded. “When you get to it.”
She snagged my mug and kept moving.
Lucy and I settled in to eat. Conversation moved onto much easier territory. I left a while later after Lucy extracted a promise from me that I’d join her and Amelia at some girl’s weekly card game they hosted.
My mind kept spinning back to Beck. My thoughts were a boomerang when it came to him. A few things could draw my attention away, but it always snapped back. Even though the conversation with Lucy had been about her, my heart felt a little funny about it all. The sadness I felt surprised me. It shouldn’t. Why should I care she’d decided to wall herself off from any opportunity of a relationship? I supposed I did because it hit a little too close to home for me.
Chapter Sixteen
Beck
The sound of the helicopter blades rumbling through the air was oddly comforting. I leaned my head back against the seat with a sigh. I was bone tired and so was our entire crew. We’d been called out to a fire that just wouldn’t fucking die in central Alaska. Our crew had finished a two week rotation before we’d been relieved by one of the crews
from the Fairbanks area. We were in the midst of another dry summer, which was keeping hotshot crews all over the state busy. The spruce bark beetle had ravaged Alaska’s massive swaths of evergreen forest. The beetle had found its way here via lumber shipments from Asia. Since its arrival, it had stayed busy surviving off of Alaska’s bountiful spruce trees and leaving nothing but acre upon acre of dead trees in its wake. Hot, dry summers and that much fuel for fires meant they burned fast, spread easily, and were damn challenging to put out.
I rolled my head to the side and watched the landscape underneath us. When I was deep in the wilderness fighting fires, it was easy to forget we were on sacred ground. Alaska’s beauty was breathtaking. I watched the blackened sections of forest recede behind us. As we flew further south, the trees became thicker and greener and the Alaska Range unfolded ahead. Denali rose high in the sky, the pinnacle of the Alaska Range. Fluffy white clouds were arrayed around its peak.
My breath caught for a beat. It didn’t matter I’d been born and raised in Alaska and its natural beauty was a part of my everyday existence, it still blew me away sometimes. My grandfather, long since passed away, used to refer to the wilderness as God’s cathedral. He hadn’t been a particularly religious man, yet he’d hewed to the belief we must respect the ground on which we walked. I took a slow breath and watched the mountains as we flew above them. The thin ribbon of a river glittered under the sun’s rays. I scanned the horizon as I tracked the path of the river.
Willow Brook came into view, and Maisie, who’d been permanently parked in my brain for weeks, gave my heart a little nudge. When I was out working a fire, there wasn’t much time to ponder. The metaphor that the days were long was no metaphor for hotshot firefighters in Alaska. The sun was up around four in the morning in the more northern part of the state where we’d been and didn’t set fully until after midnight. A mere four hours at best was what constituted ‘night’ there during the summer. We’d worked dawn until dusk and collapsed every night. Only then, in those exhausted moments before I tumbled into dreamless sleep, did I have much time to think. What little thought I had saved up went to Maisie. I missed her. I’d never missed anyone when I was away.
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