Burning Ambition

by Amy Knupp

  SO THAT WAS HOW IT WAS then.

  There was something between them. Something special, beyond man parts and woman parts and biology.

  Joe had been with enough women to know that sex with Faith Peligni was nothing short of incredible. Wow was an understatement.

  And that was not good news.

  Maybe it’d just been too long for him. He’d quit the meaningless, short-term affairs a few years back, when he got promoted to captain. He was usually too wrapped up in his job or working too much overtime to expend the energy. Maybe he needed to get back to meeting people, taking women out. To give him perspective.

  Or maybe he only wanted Faith.

  Well, he had her right now, and that was all he could have. He intended to enjoy every second with her in his arms.

  Joe stroked her silky hair slowly, over and over, taking in her scent, light, floral…Faith. When her breathing deepened with the rhythm of sleep, he finally closed his eyes, smiling to himself. Though he was more content than he’d been in months—maybe years—and completely sated, he’d been determined to stay awake.

  The last thing he needed was to give this beautiful woman another reason to call him “old man.”

  BROAD FREAKING DAYLIGHT.

  Faith had left her car parked in front of Joe’s house for anyone to see…in broad daylight.

  She opened her eyes instantly at the realization. Checked the clock on the nightstand. Fabulous. She’d been here for over three hours. There was no acceptable way to explain that—except to say she’d been having the most amazing sex of her life, of course.

  Joe’s arm was slung protectively—possessively?—over her abdomen, so there was no way she could dart off without him noticing. But she had to get out of here.

  Panic clawed at her, made it hard to get any air in as she imagined one of the guys at work commenting on her “career aspirations.” It didn’t matter that the chance of anyone she knew driving by—and knowing this was Joe’s house—was slim to none. Lying there, she was convinced the whole world would be aware of her slipup. As if she’d hired a skywriter to broadcast the news.

  She studied Joe to gauge how deeply he was sleeping. Even in her panic, his handsome face had an effect on her. She considered how easy it would be to slide back under his arm and wake him up with her lips all over his body. The images softened her. Weakened her—for a good ten seconds.

  Faith wrapped her hand around his arm to see if he reacted. He didn’t. She lifted his arm and slowly worked her way out from under him. It’d be much easier to escape quickly if she didn’t have to explain to him what her rush was about. She shouldn’t have to tell him, anyway. There was no question this was a mistake.

  He slumbered on, breathing deeply enough that she could hear him as she gathered her underwear and pants from the floor. She put them on as she walked downstairs to the living room, picking up her T-shirt, bra and shoes there and dressing quickly. At the door, she stopped and straightened her clothes. Looked around for a mirror. The only one she could find was in the hall bathroom. She ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to not look as if she’d just been thoroughly ravished. It didn’t do much good, but her purse—with her brush and makeup inside—was in the car.

  Screw it. She had to get out of here.

  Before opening the door, she looked out the side window. Then the peephole. The other window at the front of the house. For what, she didn’t know. She was acting like a sneaky teenager. Without a glance back, she opened the door, squinting against the blinding, late afternoon sunlight, and made her way toward the car, trying for all the world to look as if she’d just had a cup of coffee and a work meeting with her captain instead of…the truth.

  An old Buick drove by as she walked down the driveway. Once she was in her car, she spotted an elderly couple strolling along the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. Probably Joe’s next-door neighbors. The kind he would chat with as he watered his flower bed—if he had one.

  She started the engine and, with no idea where she was going or who she could stay with, got the hell off Blue Fin Boulevard.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “DID YOU MISS ME?” Faith asked flippantly after she shut the door to Joe’s office.

  He’d missed her like goddamn crazy. In his arms, in his bed, even just talking to her about things like the best way to coil a hose or how many miles on the treadmill made a good day’s workout.

  It had been a week since she’d crept out of his house like a criminal, and they hadn’t spoken since, beyond the bare minimum necessary to work together. He’d seen her plenty in that time, but being closed in the office with her created an intimacy that had his blood pulsing with need within seconds. He gritted his teeth against memories of her in his arms and forced his focus back to the items in his hands.

  “Tell me this is a misprint,” he said, tossing the program for the next evening’s auction to the edge of his desk nearest her. It was turned to the third page of items up for bid. Items and people.

  “What?” She frowned, leaning forward.

  “You. Being auctioned off.”

  “Oh.” Her tone was suddenly less concerned. More defensive. “Yeah. It’s for a good cause. I believe you’ve heard of the San Amaro Island Burn Foundation?”

  “Don’t be like that, Faith.” She knew damn well his mother had been one of the founders.

  “Don’t think,” she said, glancing behind at the closed door and lowering her voice, “that just because of…what happened, you can tell me what to do outside of this job.”

  “This isn’t the place to discuss what happened, though it would be nice to have that conversation sometime.”

  Her bravado faltered. Only for a second. “There’s nothing to discuss, Joe. Nothing changed, right? Still an impossible situation.”

  And that was the bitch of it. She was right. The bigger question was why was he hanging on to it? Why was he letting it get to him that she treated him like everyone else? That was the way he wanted it. Needed it.

  “Did you really think about volunteering yourself for the auction, Faith? You work so hard to earn people’s respect as a female firefighter and—”

  “You think just because someone can bid on a date with me that I won’t be taken seriously.”

  “It’s a good possibility. Am I wrong?”

  “Yes,” she said. “You know this auction as well as I do. They do it every year. The bachelor-bachelorette bit is only a small part, but it brings in huge money. And what better way to say ‘hey, look, there’s a new game in town. Girls can be firefighters, too.’”

  He felt the tic in his jaw as he studied her. He could just imagine all the jackasses who would jump at the chance to take out a woman like Faith. Plenty of them had money and could spend big bucks. She wasn’t a piece of meat, and he hated the idea that the wrong person could win the bid for her time.

  She lifted her chin and walked closer to the desk that stood between them, grinning. “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

  Of course, she’d hit on the truth. But hell if he was going to admit it.

  “Just don’t want the department to become a meat market. What if one of your coworkers bids on you?”

  The way her eyes darted to the side told him she hadn’t considered that possibility.

  “Starting bid is a hundred dollars. No one around here can afford that.”

  “You’d be surprised what these boys might save their pennies for.”

  She straightened. “It’s only a date. I’ll be fine no matter who wins. My biggest worry is whether anyone will bid.”

  Joe laughed. “Oh, they will.” As much as he wished he could prevent the whole thing, she wouldn’t lack for bidders. In fact, personal issues aside, it was a genius fundraising move. Ten firefighters up for auction, and what man wouldn’t empty his bank account to get the one woman? The knockout, kick-ass woman with cool blue eyes and a killer body.

  “I think you might be biased,” she whispered. “But t
hanks for the vote of confidence. Come to think of it, maybe if no one else bids, you could save me from eternal humiliation.”

  “People will bid, Faith. They’ll pay plenty to go out with you.”

  “But…” She perched on the arm of the chair, propping one foot up on the seat, and even though she wore unsexy navy-blue uniform pants, he had no trouble imagining—remembering—what that leg looked like bare. “Suppose no one does. And it’s all quiet in the room. Uncomfortable. You’d throw one out there, wouldn’t you?” She tilted her head just so and had a tantalizing, flirty look in her eyes.

  “You know I couldn’t do that.” Thank God he was certain that wouldn’t happen, because it would kill him not to.

  “Would you want to?”

  Damn, he wanted her again. Still. He walked around the desk and stopped three inches from her. “You know exactly what I want to do,” he said in a quiet, husky voice.

  Faith’s gaze dipped to his lips, then her long lashes lifted again and she met his eyes.

  “And I know how you do it, too. Very well.”

  His pulse was already going double time and other parts of him responded to her now, too.

  A knock sounded on the door, and it opened before Joe could react. Faith whirled around guiltily as they both faced the fire chief.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “WANTED TO GET YOUR opinion of some… Oh. Hey, princess,” Chief Peligni said.

  Joe’s heart hammered and he thanked God he hadn’t actually been touching Faith—yet.

  “I was just leaving,” she said curtly, giving Joe the impression that she and her father were still at odds. “Wait, Faith.”

  She stopped at the chief’s plea. Waited for him to go on.

  “Are you doing okay?”

  “I’m fine, Dad.”

  “You can come home anytime, you know.” He glanced at Joe uncomfortably, and Joe wished he was somewhere else. Anywhere else, so he didn’t have to watch the chief grovel.

  “I’m staying with Nadia for a while,” Faith said. “But I’m looking for my own place.”

  “I’m sorry, Faith. I’m working on things. Making some changes.”

  Joe could tell the chief’s words had an effect on Faith. Her posture relaxed slightly and her face softened into something less than anger. “I hope so, Dad. I need to go help Penn with lunch.”

  Chief Peligni watched Faith walk out, and Joe did everything in his power not to.

  “It sucks to let down the people you care about,” the chief said quietly, almost to himself.

  The words made Joe break out into a sweat beneath his uniform. If sleeping with the chief’s daughter wasn’t letting him down…

  He strode back behind his desk. Coughed uneasily. “Do you know about the auction thing? With your daughter?”

  Tony Peligni, who was still looking out the door after Faith, turned around and sighed. “The bachelorette thing? Yeah. She and I discussed that when she decided to participate.”

  “I’m sorry. I had no idea she was considering it. I would have tried to convince her otherwise if I had.”

  “It wouldn’t have done any good, Joe. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

  Joe tried to hide a grin, because he had a very good grasp of Faith’s stubbornness.

  “Faith will do whatever she damn well pleases,” the chief continued. “Oh, she’ll make nice about it and act like she listens to your arguments, but then if she wants to do something, you might as well stand back and watch her do it. She doesn’t worry much about what anyone else thinks once her mind is made up.”

  “I guess I’m surprised she doesn’t see this as a negative thing.” Joe should probably drop it, he knew, so that her father didn’t get suspicious and wonder why he was so concerned about it. But he couldn’t get over the idea of someone else taking Faith on a date. An honest-to-God, pick-her-up-at-the-door date. Something he could never do.

  The chief shook his head. “She insists it will bring positive attention to the fact that there’s a woman in the department. Between you and me, I think she’s dreading the date part, but she’s determined to make her point.”

  “Nothing you can do?” Joe asked.

  “I intend to be there and do everything in my power to make sure no one from the department dares to so much as think about bidding on her.”

  “Don’t want her dating one of us, huh?” Joe tried to make it sound like a joke, but he was testing the chief.

  “Hell, no. You and I both know this career takes a lot out of a man. I want better for her.”

  Joe fought to keep his face expressionless. None of this was news to him. He’d never had a prayer of making a relationship with Faith work.

  Hellfire, he didn’t even want to contemplate why he’d just thought the word relationship. He dragged his mind back to the conversation at hand, trying to think like Faith’s captain and not her lover.

  “I guess you have to give her credit for believing in something so strongly,” Joe said, wondering to himself if there was a cause he believed in enough to go against the opinions of the people he loved. He couldn’t imagine doing something that would upset his mother. Even before she was sick. Making his mom proud had always been high on his list of motivations, for better or worse.

  “Faith’s a special girl,” the chief said, looking hard at Joe, as if he suspected Joe might be too aware of that fact.

  “Of course. She’s your daughter, sir. Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

  AS THE CLEANUP after the auction went on around him, Joe heard scraps of conversation that claimed the evening was a roaring success.

  At the moment, he couldn’t care less.

  He tried to listen to the conversation he was supposedly part of, with the chief and an older couple who’d bid big bucks and won some artwork by Evan Drake’s wife.

  “It’s beautiful stuff,” Chief Peligni was saying. “Your donation will go a long way at the foundation. We’re glad you could join us tonight.”

  The four of them shook hands and said good-night. The couple moved one way into the exiting crowd, and Joe and the chief moved the other.

  The ballroom at one of the local hotels was fully decked out for the occasion, with marble columns and velvet curtains adding a touch of class. The small stage was decorated with deep red roses and other elegant floral arrangements Joe couldn’t identify. Round tables with ten chairs each made the room a maze.

  He was beyond ready to get the hell out of there and peel his dress uniform off. He’d had enough of this night.

  “Faith looked beautiful, didn’t she?” the chief said proudly as they slowly made their way toward the nearest door.

  Beautiful enough that Joe had spent a good portion of the auction hard as a damn chunk of granite. “She did. She’s a pretty girl.” He hoped like hell that was professional and nonchalant, because the storm that raged in him was anything but.

  “My glare at the guys apparently worked. Not one of them was dumb enough to place a bid on her.”

  “It climbed out of a firefighter’s budget pretty damn fast,” Joe said through clenched teeth.

  The chief smiled. “Sixty-two hundred dollars she made for the foundation. I’m going to have to check out the guy who won. Did you catch his name?”

  “Yeah,” Joe said as they cleared the last table. “I know his name and then some. Troy Vargas. He’s my stepbrother.”

  The chief stopped and faced Joe. “Is he all right?”

  It took everything Joe had to stand there and appear unaffected, as if he wasn’t ready to bash his stepbrother’s face in. “He’s okay.”

  “What’s he do?”

  “He’s a partner in my stepfather’s law firm in Corpus.”

  Chief Peligni looked at him thoughtfully, then nodded once, as if that would do. “There’s Nita,” he said, peering out over the crowd of people. “I’m going to go say hi.”

  “Have a good evening, Chief.”

  Joe stood to one side of the
crowded lobby, searching for Troy. Instead, he spotted Faith, and felt his temperature go up as if a match had been lit under his collar.

  She stood about twenty feet away, surrounded by her girlfriends and mother. Her father’s assessment that she looked beautiful tonight was a gross understatement.

  Her gown was dark purple and sequined, with thin straps holding it up. It hugged her body, clinging to her slender waist and curving outward with her sexy hips. A side slit revealed her legs when she walked. Her hair was pulled up in a fancy do that made Joe’s fingers itch to release it. She wore makeup, and though he was a big fan of her without it, she looked more gorgeous than he’d ever seen her. Teasing her cleavage was an antique-looking necklace with a large amethyst.

  A night with Faith would be worth every penny of the sixty-two hundred bucks Troy had forked over…and more.

  In his peripheral vision, Joe noticed the dark head of the man in question, tilting back in laughter. Bastard thought he was pretty slick. It figured that just as Joe was starting to see his stepbrothers as decent guys he might actually hang out with even without his mother, Troy would pull this. And of course, Joe couldn’t say a word. Not here, anyway.

  He turned his back on his stepbrother, not wanting to come face-to-face with him.

  Matter of fact, Joe wasn’t much in the mood to talk to anyone. He’d chatted with plenty of people before the auction started, and didn’t feel the need to mingle anymore. He headed toward an exit, but felt a hand on his forearm. He knew who the unpainted, short fingernails belonged to without looking at the woman’s face.

  “Faith.”

  “You’re leaving already?” she asked. Her words and tone were indifferent enough, impersonal, not giving away anything of their recent history. But when he looked into her eyes, she seemed to see deep inside him, as if she could discern more than everyone else. “Are you upset?”

  He took his time answering. Made a point of trying to keep every hint of anger out of his voice. “Why would I be upset?”

  The knowing look she gave him made him want to punch something. Or take her into his arms and mark her as his, maybe carry her off so Troy couldn’t get his hands on her.