Into the Flames (Jupiter Point Book 3)

by Jennifer Bernard

  Yup, Brianna babbled during sex. Words of pleasure, of command—do this, touch that—just came pouring out of her, and it was a total turn-on. Especially because he didn't think she even realized it.

  "Did you know that you talk a lot during sex?" he teased her when he finally caught his breath enough to speak.

  She turned her head to look at him. Her forehead was damp and little tendrils of her hair curled against her skin. "I tend to babble in certain situations. What did I say?"

  "You told me that my cock was like a mallet."

  "What?" Her look of astonishment made him laugh. "A mallet? Sorry. I hope that didn't sound insulting."

  He grinned at her, feeling better than he'd felt in a very long time. Sex with Brianna—well, it felt different. He felt more "himself" with her than he ever had with any other woman. He didn't have to hide either part of himself, the wild mountain man side or the wealthy, privileged side. He trusted her, and that translated into a pretty amazing sexual experience. "Yeah, it totally ruined the mood. Couldn't you tell?"

  Color swept into her cheeks, but she didn't bother hiding her blush. "I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy having the best orgasm of my life. Just don't get all puffed up about that."

  "Oh, I won't. But you don't mind if I put it on my tombstone, do you? 'Here lies Rollo Wareham, he gave Brianna the best orgasm of her life.’''

  She burst out laughing. "I dare you."

  "It would liven up the Wareham family vault, that's for sure. My black sheep status would be cemented forever." And just like that, his mood dampened. Cripes, couldn't he forget about his doom for a few post-sex moments of afterglow?

  She must have sensed the shift, because she rolled onto her side and flung one leg over his. "No brooding. Don't get all Rollo on me now."

  "What the hell does that mean?"

  "That's when you draw into yourself and I have no idea what you're thinking, except it's probably not good. Your eyes get kind of sad and distant, and you act like you're not really here, you're somewhere else. Like you don't want to get too involved in whatever's going on, because you know it won't last."

  He stared at her, struck by that observation. He'd never thought about it consciously, but her description was pretty accurate. He knew he was living on borrowed time and that the bill would come due. He didn't want to get too involved. The only time he didn't feel that way, he was cutting line on a wildfire.

  Fighting fires took all his attention, which was one reason he loved it so much.

  "Look, Bri—" he began. But she put her finger over his mouth before he could finish.

  "Don't worry about me. I get it. You know something? Nothing is guaranteed to last anyway. So why let it bother us? Let's just have as much fun as we possibly can until we have to stop."

  He tried to speak, but she held his lips closed with her fingers.

  "I'm not quite done yet." Her pretty green eyes sparkled at him. "It's not polite to interrupt a lady after hot sex."

  He smiled against the soft touch of her fingers, and lifted his hands in a “you win” motion. She lifted her hand so he could speak. "I beg your pardon, madam."

  "Pardon granted, since you asked so nicely. Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. First of all, we're friends, no matter what. We were friends before, and I really don't want that to change. Secondly, I had no idea what it would be like to…" Her flush intensified to flamingo pink. "To go to bed with you. It was…amazing."

  He grinned at that description. "So far we're on the same page. One hundred percent."

  "Good. Then we agree." She rested her elbows on his chest and cupped her chin in her hands. "But here's the thing—I don't want to have to worry about what happens next. I don't want to think about after Christmas, or who your mother will find for you, or whether I can still be friends with you after you get married, or whether you'll even still be here in Jupiter Point. A million different things could happen. There's no point in even thinking about it, let alone worrying about it."

  He frowned, and wrapped one of her curls around his index finger. "I'm staying in Jupiter Point. My parents know that. I bought this house and I intend to stay."

  "Okay. Good. Fine."

  "I hear doubt in your voice. You don't believe me."

  She worried at her lower lip with her teeth. "Look, Rollo, I don't know anything about your world, your Manhattan one. But I do know that wives generally have a say in what their life will be like. You're a good guy. You're going to want to make your wife happy, no matter who she is or however you came to marry her."

  Thunderstruck, he stared at her, barely seeing her tumbling curls and candid green eyes. He'd never thought of it that way, but she was absolutely right. This hypothetical wife wouldn't be someone abstract, someone he could move around like a chess piece in his future. She would be a real person with desires of her own. And he would want to accommodate those desires.

  "What's your point?" he asked hoarsely.

  "My point is, let's just face the facts ahead of time. Let's be perfectly clear with each other. That's my specialty—bluntness. Right? Here's the blunt truth. We can only do this until you leave for Christmas. Then we both have to forget about it. It's a limited-time deal. After Christmas, you have to move on to the next phase of your life. We both know it, so let's just make it so. It's less messy that way. Less chance for misunderstandings."

  "So…you're talking about a fling."

  "Yes, I suppose. A fling. One with a built-in expiration date."

  He let his head fall back so he didn't have to look at her innocent, open expression. A fling with an expiration date. On the plus side, he could soak in all the Brianna time he could. But would it work out the way she described? Or would those three weeks make it even harder to walk away? Above all else, he didn't want to hurt Brianna.

  But ending this now, after what he'd just experienced in her arms? He wasn't sure he had the strength for that.

  "So after Christmas, we go back to being friends? Just like that?" He cupped her face, tracing a pattern of freckles across delicate cheekbones. "You promise things won't be weird?"

  "I don't know how things will be," she said honestly. "But we already crossed the line, so why not smash it to bits? You know, with that great big mallet of yours?"

  He gave a laugh-snort—the kind of reaction only Brianna ever inspired in him.

  "Besides, it's only three weeks until Christmas Eve. I think our friendship can survive three weeks of sex."

  His cock stirred again at the sound of the word "sex" in her teasing voice. He shifted under her light weight. "Even fantastic, mind-blowing sex? That sounds like a challenge."

  She plopped a kiss onto his chest. "You're always up for a good challenge, right? But I have one other condition."

  "Geez, you have more deal points than a corporate takeover. What else?"

  "I want to keep this quiet. My friends are already wondering about us. I don't want the whole town thinking we're a couple. When you come back to Jupiter Point with your new wife, I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me, or assume you dumped me for a hot debutante. As far as everyone else knows, we'll still be just friends. Can we do that?"

  He gazed at her doubtfully and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "I don't know. You're Brianna. Blurting things out is kind of your thing. You might want to be telling the whole world about my mallet."

  She made a sassy face at him. "You know, I'm starting to think I imagined the whole thing."

  "Is that right?"

  "Yes, I must have. Silly me." She started to roll off him, but he anchored her right where she was. He slid his hands down her silky skin and gripped the firm globes of her ass.

  "Where do you think you're going? We have a deal to seal."

  She gave a happy sigh as he positioned his shaft in the still-damp place between her thighs. "Already?"

  "No time to waste. Three weeks goes fast. And we still have venison stew and little green balls waiting for us."

  God, did thr
ee weeks go fast. Especially when you spent so much of that time inside a warm, eager body. But the sex was just part of the joy of being with Brianna. Even when they weren't in bed, the time he spent with Brianna sped by, each day like a happy dream.

  Then after Sidney was asleep, Rollo would slip away from the property. He'd jog the three miles to Brianna's little one-room cabin. One of her clients had given it to her in exchange for five years’ worth of landscaping services. It was made from cedar logs and held a squat little potbellied wood stove, a bed, and not much else.

  They didn't need anything else.

  The shift from friends to lovers didn't make them awkward with each other. They could still talk about anything, he still laughed at her plant-nerd jokes, she still teased him out of his black moods. Now that she knew about his darker side, he felt like he could tell her anything.

  They spent hours telling stories from their childhoods, sometimes until dawn.

  They'd drift off, then come awake again. As soon as he became conscious of her sleeping form next to his, he'd run his hands along her curves. He found her silky-smooth body irresistible. He loved to touch the warm nest between her legs, teasing the little nub until it grew plump. Still half asleep, he fondled her breasts, plucking her nipples into hard peaks. He drew her round ass against his cock and palmed her clit until she gasped his name.

  And, being Brianna, she got totally wild and demanding. One time she actually ordered him to make her come, like some kind of sexual drill sergeant.

  So he made her wait. No matter how much she squirmed and begged, he kept her right on the edge, teasing her swollen sex until it dripped with her juices. Then he drew her onto her elbows and knees and spread her apart. Worked his way into her tight little entrance, felt her body clasp him in a throbbing, mind-blowing embrace. As she buried her head in a pillow and fisted the sheets, he drew out every stroke as long as he could stand it.

  Her sweet little body shook and flushes of pink swept over her skin. He stroked her spine, savoring the firm muscles that ran alongside her vertebrae. She was so strong and supple, his Brianna. Perfectly made for his powerful physique. Nothing was ever too much for her. She soaked up every hard plunge of his cock, every passionate thrust into her body.

  "Don't you dare stop," she gasped, still ordering him around. "More. Again. Do it." And, eventually. "Fuck me, you big tease. Do it!"

  After that, he let off the safety brake and hammered into her, hard. The pleasure her firm body gave him was so intense, it was hard not to come the first time he slid into her. But he made himself wait until he felt the flutter of her orgasm against his shaft.

  Then, he let loose, let the blinding detonation wipe his mind clean of everything except pleasure and freedom and her.

  Always her.

  20

  Rollo went around in a sort of daze during those three weeks. Her scent followed him wherever he went. So did the sound of her laughter. He kept hearing it at random moments—at the hardware store buying paint. At the hotshot base cleaning out the crew buggy. At the movies with Sidney.

  Brianna, Brianna, Brianna. It felt as if the sunshine of her spirit had infiltrated his blood. He found himself smiling at all kinds of random moments, causing his friends to look at him oddly and ask if he was on something.

  Of course, her actual presence was a million times better than the memory of it. Every time he laid eyes on her, a grin spread across his face. He always wanted to touch her right away, no matter who was around. It took incredible willpower to stop himself from feeling her up in front of Evie or Sean or Suzanne or Josh or Finn or Sidney or Merry or any of the other pesky human beings who populated Jupiter Point.

  Damn it, didn't they know time was running out? Why couldn't they all just disappear for a few weeks so he and Brianna could be alone?

  During the day, Brianna worked at her greenhouse and her flower deliveries to local businesses. She was so busy that when the parts for the koi pond arrived, she was only able to allot a couple hours now and then to that project.

  Rollo spread his time between working with the JPFD on fire mitigation and trying to get up to speed on Wareham business dealings. The paperwork drove him nuts. How was he going to handle an entire lifetime of reports and spreadsheets?

  "There must be something about it you like," Brianna told him when she found him staring morosely at a quarterly report from a fund focused on tech stocks. She peeled off her work gloves and kneaded his shoulders.

  "No. These companies are all old-school. They're solid performers but the tech world changes all the time. There are so many new apps and products out there."

  "So why don't you invest in some of them? You're in charge. Or you will be, right?"

  "That's not what we do. The Wareham Group tends to be risk-averse. We go for the safe bet."

  "Oh, like running into wildfires? That's safe?"

  "I told you I'm a black sheep. I like risk. God, that feels good." He groaned as her incredibly strong hands worked at his knotted muscles.

  "Speaking of risk, where's Sidney?" Brianna asked innocently.

  "I think she's with Finn getting help with her Spanish." He tilted his head back to look at her. "Feel like getting risky? And frisky?"

  She ran her tongue across her lips and that was that. They hurried into his bedroom and locked the door. They got naked in world-record time. He lifted her against the wall and wrapped her legs around his hips. They ground out a quick, fierce, silent orgasm.

  He got back to his desk just in time to see Sidney loping across the lawn with her schoolbooks. He could still smell Brianna on his skin, still feel her in every rapid beat of his heart.

  But usually, they got together at night. That was when the real joy happened.

  After they'd made voracious, hellacious love, they'd spend the rest of the night wrapped in each other's arms, talking, laughing, occasionally sleeping. Then she'd drive him back to his place and drop him off at the end of the driveway. He felt ridiculous sneaking into his own house, but Brianna insisted that she didn't want Finn or Sidney to guess what was going on.

  Luckily, Sidney was wrapped up in her finals and didn't notice anything. Thank God for the self-absorption of teenagers. When she wasn't studying, she Snapchatted with her friends. Now and then she hung out with the Filipino kid from Thanksgiving. Brianna made a point of spending time with her. She took her to the movies and to volunteer at the Star Bright Shelter for runaway teenagers.

  One evening at sunset, the two of them figured out a way to climb onto the roof of Rollo’s house. Sidney fell in love with the view and often stayed up there until the stars were out.

  The Jupiter Point passion for stargazing had struck again.

  About a week before Christmas, his mother's secretary emailed him the schedule of gatherings he'd be expected to attend over the holiday. Dinner parties, holiday gatherings, three Christmas balls.

  "I'm only coming for ten days," he emailed his mother. "Don't you think this is a little much?"

  "No whining," she emailed back. "You promised."

  The next day, an itinerary arrived in his email. Tickets for him and Sidney. As if he couldn't buy his own plane tickets. He gritted his teeth but decided it wasn't worth the battle. If they could choose his wife, booking his airfare was a minor detail. Nothing compared to the other ways they'd be controlling his life.

  Shortly after the email with the tickets arrived, Sidney came storming into the kitchen, where he was making lunch for the two of them. Brianna was meeting with Evie about her wedding, which was scheduled for Valentine's Day. Even though he was happy for Sean and Evie, the thought of weddings depressed him. That would probably be him soon, getting fitted for a tux and choosing grooms from a list of socially advantageous business connections. Getting married to someone "appropriate."

  "Mother already bought our tickets!" Sidney hoisted herself onto the counter next to the cutting board. "I thought we'd get a chance to talk about this."

  "Talk about what? You
know you have to go back for Christmas. It's mandatory. Not a single Wareham has ever missed Christmas. And it takes us all of January to recover."

  "I know, but I had a really great idea about how to make Christmas marginally less suicidal."

  "Suicidal? Is that a threat?"

  "No. Unless it would work?" She lowered her horn-rimmed glasses and peered over them. "Hm. I can see it wouldn't."

  "And I can see you don't need those ridiculous glasses."

  "Who said I did? Haven't you heard of fashion choices? It's not like you need a beard."

  "I do need the beard." He needed it to remind him of who he really was. The wildfire-fighting mountain man. Without the beard, he looked like any other clean-cut Upper East Sider. With maybe a few more muscles.

  "I'm not here to discuss your facial hair. I want to talk about my idea for Christmas. How to make it more fun."

  Rollo spread peanut butter on a thick slice of the multi-grain bread he'd baked. Baking was one of his favorite things to do from the list of non-Wareham-approved activities.

  "It doesn't involve any banned substances, does it? Or dates with boys who are too old for you? Or piercings or unapproved changes in hair color?"

  "Nope, nope, nope, none of the above."

  "Then I'm listening."

  "I want Brianna to come to New York."

  The peanut butter knife slipped and went clattering across the floor. "What? Forget it."

  He bent down to pick it up, hoping she wouldn't notice how flustered her idea made him. If Brianna came to New York…would that mean an extension of their fling? That would be amazing—no, torture—

  "She's never been to New York. How terrible is that? Everyone ought to see New York at some point in their lives. Especially at Christmas. I've been telling her about the tree at Rockefeller Center and the ice skating and all the shop windows. I know she'd love it. They don't even get snow here in the winter!"