“I’m going to shower at home because I forgot to throw clean clothes in my bag,” Aidan said and they all laughed. “Scott?”
“I’m going to shower before I leave. I walked and you never know who you might run into on the way home.”
“Hey, you could bump into your television wife,” Rick said.
“My television wife? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, that’s what Eriksson calls the woman you stopped dating to meet. Like an old sitcom wife or whatever. Aprons and baking and perfect children.”
That made him laugh. “Perfect children? It would take one hell of a woman to bring perfect Kincaids into the world.”
“I’ve been your best friend since we were teenagers and the fact my children will each have one foot in the same gene pool as you scares the crap out of me. I mean, think about it. Me and the Kincaid DNA means there’s a possibility I’ll have gorgeous, perfect daughters—like their mother—and then very attractive sons with bad tempers who kind of suck at hockey.”
“Or they might take after me,” Scott shot back.
The other two were still laughing when they left the rink, and Scott shook his head. It still blew his mind that Aidan was going to be his brother-in-law, but once he’d gotten over the initial shock, he had to admit he couldn’t have picked a better husband for Lydia even if she’d let him.
He hit the shower before getting dressed and then slung his hockey bag over his shoulder. Maybe he should have done like the other guys and just showered at home, but the last time he’d done that, he’d run into some old friends and ended up in a bar in smelly workout clothes.
Walking was the right choice, though, he thought. Mother Nature had opted for a warm spring night, though there was another cold snap in the long-range forecast. A lot of people waved to him, and a couple of kids even recognized him from a Fire Prevention Week program he’d done with Chris and a few other guys at the elementary school. He talked to them for a few minutes.
After a couple of blocks, he turned down a side street to take a shortcut. The bag was heavy and he shifted it from one shoulder to the other. Sometimes he was tempted to drive to the rink because it was a long walk with a hockey bag, but he liked to think of each trek to the rink and back as one less hour he had to feel guilty about not being in the gym.
“Scott.”
He looked to his left, at the woman he’d been about to pass by without really noticing, and stopped short. His tired legs and shoulders were forgotten as every nerve in his body seemed to spring to life.
She was wearing a long gray sweatshirt over black leggings or yoga pants or whatever they called those things. Her feet were shoved bare into sneakers and her hair was caught in a messy knot on top of her head by one of those clips with the painful-looking teeth.
God, he wanted her. He wanted to squeeze the clip so it opened, watch her hair tumble down around her shoulders in waves, and then bury his face in it. “Hey, Jamie. What are you doing here?”
She nodded her head toward the building they were standing in front of. “I live here.”
“Oh. That makes sense then.”
“Had a craving for chocolate pudding.” She held up a folded-over paper bag. “They sell this pudding at the corner that’s amazing. The owner’s wife makes it, I guess. Have you ever had it?”
“Nope.”
She peered around his shoulder. “That’s a pretty big bag.”
“Hockey stuff,” he said, and then he smiled. “And some free life advice—don’t ever open a guy’s hockey bag without a gas mask or a clothespin for your nose. I’m pretty sure women who think hockey players are sexy have never smelled one before he hits the showers.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. So what are you doing here?”
“I was playing some hockey with Aidan and Rick, and this street is a shortcut between the rink and home. I’ve been walking this way since I was so young my mom would hold my hand on the way to youth league practice.”
She smiled. “I bet you were a cute kid.”
“I was.” He loved the sound of her laugh.
Then she sighed, and he realized they’d run out of standing-on-the-sidewalk small talk and were heading toward awkward silence.
He tried desperately to think of something to talk about—anything that would keep her there and give him an excuse to spend a few more minutes with her. But he’d already had this conversation with himself and he needed to do the right thing and say good-night.
* * *
SCREW IT, JAMIE THOUGHT. She was done torturing herself, and the chocolate pudding in her hand was good, but it was no substitute for the man standing in front of her. She wanted him. She knew he wanted her. They were adults and they were both fully capable of showing up when scheduled and doing their jobs. Spending some time together off the clock wasn’t going to change that.
So, before he could end the silence by telling her he’d see her around, she demolished the weak, teetering wall of professionalism she’d tried to build between them. “You want to come up? Maybe share my pudding?”
Something flickered in his expression, and then he gave her a wry smile. “Is this an offer you make to all of your coworkers?”
She assumed he was trying to feel out what kind of invitation she was offering. The “ran into a friend and why not share her pudding” kind? Or the “using the pudding as an excuse to get him alone” kind? “No. Sharing my chocolate pudding is a very exclusive offer, just for you.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back a little on his heels. “I’ve spent a lot of time this week trying not to imagine you inviting me up to your apartment because I don’t want to be a problem for you.”
“I appreciate that.” And she really did. It meant a lot to her that he’d taken what she’d said to heart. “But having all this...tension between us is a problem for me, too. You and I have chemistry. It sure as hell isn’t burning itself out, and it seems like everybody can see it and there’s going to be speculation no matter what. If my sex life is going to be the subject of gossip for the next month and a half to two months, I’m going to damn well have a sex life.”
She must have said it louder than she meant to, because a guy passing by paused to look at her. He looked like he was going to say something, but one look from Scott sent him on his way.
“Oops,” she muttered.
“I’d love to come up and share your chocolate pudding,” Scott said. “I’ve worked up an appetite.”
As she unlocked the side door that gave residents access to the interior stairwell, Jamie decided that was the problem with innuendo. She didn’t know if he’d worked up a sexual appetite for her, or if he’d literally worked up an appetite playing hockey with the guys and was going to try to eat all of her pudding.
They wound their way up the narrow staircases to the fourth floor, while she told him about the building. “Obviously you know there’s a barber shop on the first floor, since you walk by here all the time and there’s a sign. Then there’s a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor and two one-bedroom apartments on the third. I’ve got the studio they managed to fit on the fourth floor.”
“This explains why you haven’t spent any time in the workout room,” he said.
“I could afford the rent because they have a hard time finding people willing to climb this many stairs multiple times a day. There’s no elevator, so this is it.”
“Do you have decks off the back?”
“No, just a bare-minimum fire escape.” At the top of the stairs, she unlocked her door and let Scott into her apartment.
Once inside, he set his hockey bag off to the side and made a relieved sound. “I need to get wheels for that thing.”
“Or you could drive.”
He shrugged, then unzipped his sweatshirt and to
ssed it on top of the bag. “The problem with driving is finding a place to park.”
When she toed off her shoes, he did the same, but he didn’t follow her when she walked to the counter to put down the bag from the market. She turned to face him, leaning the small of her back against the edge of the fake granite.
“Are you really sure about this?” he asked, his eyes serious as he looked at her from across the room.
“I wouldn’t have invited you up if I wasn’t. Are you sure about this?”
“I’ve been sure I want you since you first walked into the station. But you were right before, when you said it would be worse for you because you’re a woman. I’d like to deny it because it sucks, but I’ve been around long enough to know it’s the truth.”
“My record speaks for itself. And if that’s not enough... I don’t care. I’m not going to spend the next six weeks being miserable because of other people’s hang-ups.” He didn’t move, and she chuckled. “I swear. I’m very sure.”
He moved then, crossing the room to her in long strides. When he reached her, he grabbed her hips and tugged so she was standing straight, almost pressed against him. “I swear I haven’t been able to think about anything but you for days.”
“I’ve been thinking about you, too, and I don’t know why.” When he arched an eyebrow, she laughed. “That didn’t sound right. I just mean that I’ve never been this distracted by a guy before. Also, you smell delicious.”
“I’m glad I took the time to shower after I left the ice or you’d be opening the windows right now. Or throwing me out.”
“You’re not going anywhere for a while.”
He grinned and slipped his hands under the hem of her sweatshirt, pushing it up until his hands were at her waist. “I love these legging things. They make your legs look wicked long, and the elastic waist is nice, too.”
As he said it, he dipped a finger under the waistband and she shuddered as his knuckle tickled her skin. But then she grasped his jaw with her fingers, tilting his face up until he met her gaze. “There’s no home run if you skip first base.”
He frowned. “I...don’t know what that means.”
“That’s what I get for trying to use a sports analogy, because I’m not sure, either. It’s supposed to mean you haven’t kissed me since that night in your bar’s storage room, and I like a little romance before a guy gets his hands down my pants.”
His hands left her waist and he looked at her so intently, she was afraid for a minute that she’d turned him off and he might change his mind. But then his hands cupped her face and he smiled before his mouth claimed hers.
It wasn’t a gentle kiss. It was hot and hungry, and she moaned as she buried her hands in his hair. His tongue danced over hers and she ran her heel up the back of his calf. When he nipped her bottom lip, she smiled against his mouth. His hands went underneath her sweatshirt again, but he didn’t touch her waistband. His palms slid up her sides, stopping just below the bra she’d thrown on before running to the store.
He kissed her until her knees were weak and she wanted him inside of her so badly her entire body ached. Grasping the bottom of his T-shirt, she yanked it free of his jeans and slid it up over his abs.
“How much romance are you holding out for?” he murmured against her mouth.
“Being naked is romantic,” she said, a little breathlessly.
He stepped back and lifted his arms, but before she could get his shirt off, he dropped them again. “This is kind of awkward, but before we start taking any clothes off, I should tell you I don’t have any protection with me.”
“Really? The grapevine would be so disappointed to hear you don’t walk around fully prepared to have sex at any given moment with no advanced planning.”
“In my defense, I went out tonight to play hockey with the guys. You’re not supposed to keep condoms in your wallet and they’d probably disintegrate in five minutes if closed up in a hockey bag, so...yeah.”
“I’ve got you covered.” She paused, and then laughed. “No pun intended.”
He groaned. “Really? That was pretty bad.”
“Maybe. Why don’t we move a few feet to the left, into the bedroom?”
“I kind of like the kitchen and the bedroom being all one like this,” he said when they reached the bed. “And you can see the TV from both.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and grinned up at him. “Yeah, so I can lie in bed and watch you make me a sandwich. Naked.”
He pulled his T-shirt off and tossed it aside. “That’s incredibly hot. You naked. Sandwiches. Maybe a hockey game on the TV, all at the same time. This is basically a perfect apartment.”
Once she’d had her fill of looking at his chest and abs, which were impressive, she reached into the nightstand drawer for a condom and set it on the edge of the bed. Then she caught his hand and tugged as she lay back, so he fell over her on the mattress. She was done looking and wanted to touch. “Sex with a hockey game in the background?”
“Hey, a crowd cheering’s good for a man’s ego.” He reached down for her sweatshirt and started working it up over her stomach. “You know, I’ve heard some women who work in male-dominated fields like to wear lacy lingerie under their clothes to remind them of their femininity.”
She laughed and slapped his hand away. “I don’t need to be reminded I’m a woman. And I’m not into climbing multiple flights of stairs in sixty-plus pounds of gear with a lace thong wedged up my ass, so if that’s what you’re hoping to find, you’re going to be disappointed.”
“You just smiling at me can make my whole fucking day.” He pushed her hair away from her face, his gaze suddenly serious and intense. “There is no chance anything about you will disappoint me.”
Emotion swelled in her chest and she lifted her head to kiss him so they would close their eyes and he wouldn’t see it on her face. His kiss was as fierce as the look he’d given her and she ran her hands over his back, his muscles rippling under her palms.
Then he pulled back and hauled her to her feet. “I need to feel you against me.”
She pulled the sweatshirt over her head and dropped it on the floor. His hands cupped the white cotton bra, his thumbs brushing over her nipples. Reaching behind her back, she unclasped the bra and let him slip it over her arms.
Scott made a low, growling sound of appreciation before unbuttoning his jeans. After kicking them off, he pulled off his socks and the white boxer briefs followed. Hooking the waistband of her underwear with her yoga pants, she pulled them off and then wrapped her hand around the back of his neck to pull him in for another kiss.
Without taking his mouth off of hers, Scott picked her up and set her on the bed. Jamie ran her hands down his back and over his ass, scraping lightly with her fingernails. He cupped one breast, rubbing his thumb over the nipple, and she moaned against his lips.
But when she rocked her hips up against his, he drew back to grin at her. “Pushy, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for days. I don’t want to wait anymore.”
“Maybe just another minute,” he said, his voice rough as his palm skimmed over her stomach and between her legs.
She sucked in a breath as he pressed against her clit. His fingers stroked her slick flesh and she buried her hands in his hair, not wanting him to stop.
“God, you feel so good.”
“I want you inside me now.”
“You got somewhere to be?”
She growled, scraping her fingernails down his arm. “You’re killing me.”
Finally, she heard him rip the condom wrapper open. After a few seconds, he knelt between her thighs and ran his hands down her calves. Smiling at him, she spread her knees wider and lifted her hips.
He took his sweet time about it. Slowly, he entered her, one hand gripping the ba
ck of her thigh while the other supported his weight. Each time he pulled back, he went a little bit deeper until he filled her completely.
“Damn,” he whispered, a light sheen of sweat gleaming at his hairline. “This has been building for days, and I don’t want it to be over.”
“That’s not the only condom,” she said, rocking against him.
He groaned and started moving, meeting each lift of her hips. She wrapped her arms around his waist, digging her fingertips into the middle of his back. Stroke after stroke brought her closer to orgasm, and she closed her eyes, savoring the sensations. He thrust deeper and faster until her back arched and she bit down on her lips to keep from crying out as the orgasm hit.
Only a moment later Scott groaned, his body jerking as he came, and she held him until his orgasm passed. He lowered himself on top of her and kissed her neck as his body relaxed, and she sighed contentedly.
If there were consequences for tonight, she’d gladly accept them. It had been worth it.
Once they’d caught their breath, he kissed her again and then rolled away. “Since you only have one door, I guess that must be the bathroom.”
“Mmm-hmm. But there’s also a box of tissues on the nightstand and a wastebasket under it if you need it.”
She closed her eyes as he disposed of the condom, and then smiled when he rolled back to her, his body spooning hers. “You’re so warm. I might never move again.”
“I guess I’ll let you rest for a few minutes.”
Laughing, she snuggled deeper against him. “A few minutes, huh? You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
He lifted his head and kissed her neck before putting his mouth next to her ear. “I bet you think I forgot you offered to share that chocolate pudding with me, don’t you?”
SEVEN
EATING CHOCOLATE PUDDING naked in bed with Jamie Rutherford. Today was definitely ending a lot better than it had begun, Scott thought. And she’d been right about the pudding. It was damn good, and would have been worth climbing the stairs for even if she hadn’t gotten him into her bed.
Fully Ignited (Boston Fire #3) Page 8
