by Nella Tyler
My phone buzzed in my pocket. We all kept them on silent while we were on duty, but our station uniforms had pockets, so it was never a problem to carry them around as long as we weren’t on a call. I pulled my phone out, frowning down at Lacey’s name and picture flashing across the screen. She’d been radio silent for over a month now — no calls, no visits to the station or my apartment, no spying on me when I took Sami out, at least not that I’d noticed or she’d called to tell me about.
I had to admit that I was curious to know why she was suddenly calling me now. I was irritated, too, and I didn’t plan to do a damned thing to encourage her to keep calling. It was true that I’d told her one day we might be able to be friends, but today wasn’t that day. Things still felt too raw between us for that, and I didn’t want to jeopardize what I had with Sami by reintroducing Lacey into my life at this point.
I stood up from the table and left the busy kitchen and dining area to take the call in the hallway. “Hello?” I asked in a gruff voice, not wanting to sound too accommodating.
“Oh, good!” she said, sounding relieved. “I didn’t think you were going to answer after the last conversation we had.”
I didn’t recall being rude to her, even after she admitted to spying on me and my new girlfriend, not that it was worth bringing up. Lacey wasn’t the type of woman who’d ever accept blame, no matter how fucked up whatever she’d done had been. I just wanted to find out what she wanted and get off the phone.
“Was there something you needed, Lacey?” I asked, not really trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I didn’t owe her anything. I’d been pretty damned nice to her, considering how she’d acted in and out of our relationship. But my tolerance for her bullshit was nearly at its limit. If this was more of the same needless drama, I planned to hang up.
“I have something really important to tell you,” she said, voice sticky sweet like it got whenever she needed something from me. This wasn’t about money — she made more than I did — but something was definitely up. “I know you’re busy, but I really want to tell you this in person. As soon as possible.” When I didn’t speak right away, she added, “Please, Blaze.”
“Fine, but I’m not free tonight. I have a date with Sami, so don’t just drop by my place without calling first to make sure I’m free.”
“Can I come over tomorrow night? I don’t care about the time. Whatever works for you.”
Warning bells were going off all over my body at how accommodating she was being. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was scheming. I doubted she liked hearing that Sami and I were still together despite her theatrics at the New Year’s Eve party.
“I can bring over dinner or something,” she offered. “Or we can order in, my treat.”
“No, that’s not necessary,” I said. I’d talk to her, but having dinner together felt too much like a date. “You can come over tomorrow as long as talking is all you have planned.”
She laughed a little, but in a good-natured way. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up before I could change my mind.
I finished up the last of my chores before my shift ended and then drove home to shower and change. By the time Sami showed up a few hours later, dinner was in the oven and I’d downed a couple beers to relax myself.
But the shit with Lacey was bothering me. I had no idea why she’d called out of the blue like that. Just when I thought she was finally going to leave me the hell alone, she showed up again. I didn’t like being the target of her scheming, but I didn’t know how to get her to let go of what we had and move on. She’d been the one to throw it all away, not me. Maybe I could make her see things that way when I saw her tomorrow. I doubted it, but I could try.
Sami was already smiling before I opened the door; I took a peek at her through the peephole, which got me smiling, too. Just seeing her helped lighten my mood. I opened the door and pulled her into a hug. She rose onto her tiptoes to kiss me on the mouth, the sweet vanilla scent of her calming my frayed nerves. She had a reusable shopping bag hanging from one arm that she lifted to show me.
“I brought dessert,” she said, her dark eyes glittering. “Don’t worry, I didn’t bake it.”
I chuckled as I ushered her inside and closed the door behind her, but not before I checked both sides of the hallway. I really didn’t think Lacey would be loitering around my apartment building tonight, especially since Sami knew what she looked like, but the paranoia was itching at me anyway.
“It smells so good in here,” Sami said.
I turned to see her pulling her store-bought dessert — a cherry pie, from the looks of it, along with a can of whipped cream — out of her ecofriendly bag. She was wearing a dark green dress and low black heels. As usual, she was stunning without really trying. She grinned up at me, her cheeks a healthy pink and lips light red.
I liked that she didn’t wear as much makeup as Lacey. I didn’t really think she needed it at all. I’d seen her fresh from a shower, and her skin was rosy and soft. But she only seemed to put makeup on around her eyes and on her lips. Lacey had all kinds of creams and powders. If I touched her face, she flipped out on me.
“Cherry is my favorite kind of pie, hands down,” I said, grinning, too.
“I know. You told me on our second date.”
I knew it wasn’t necessarily healthy to keep comparing her to Lacey, but since she’d just called today, I was finding it difficult not to. This was yet another way Sami was different. She actually listened when I told her stuff, even dumb shit like my favorite dessert. If you asked Lacey the same question, she’d probably tell you what her favorite dessert was. And, yes, I knew what it was — baked Alaska. We’d had it enough while we were dating.
I took the pie and whipped cream from her and then directed her to the dining room table, which I’d set for two. Sami sat down, crossing her legs under the table and opening the paper napkin in her lap while I went into the kitchen to retrieve dinner. I’d roasted a chicken with root vegetables and potatoes.
“No movie tonight?” she called after me.
I brought the dish out, not answering her until I set it down in the middle of the table on a waiting trivet. “We can watch one after, if you like.” I didn’t want anything to distract my attention away from her tonight.
“That looks great, Blaze,” she said, and it really did. The skin on the chicken had browned evenly, and it was sitting in a mix of butter and its own juices.
I cut a few slices from the breast and served us both while she scooped some of the veggies and potatoes onto her plate. I did the same, then sat down. I popped open the cork on the bottle of white wine I’d left sweating on the tabletop and poured us both a glass.
I waited for her to take a bite of the chicken. I loved to see how much pleasure she took in the food I cooked for her. It was something I enjoyed doing anyway, but her reaction made it even sweeter.
“This is delicious,” she said, wide eyed, and quickly cut another bite for herself. “I could eat this every day of my life!”
“I’m glad you like it.” I grinned. “I’m happy to roast a chicken for you whenever you’d like.”
“This is even better than Amy’s! She’s going to insist you show her how you do it.”
“I’m up for it whenever she is.” The longer I went without mentioning the phone call with Lacey, the more it felt like I was keeping something from her. I should probably just come out with it, but after the terrible first meeting they had, I didn’t want Sami to think that I was still into Lacey in any way. I didn’t like feeling conflicted like this. Lacey shouldn’t even be an issue at this point, and I was pissed at her for barging into my life and making things more difficult for me than they had to be.
“Are you okay?”
I looked up, smiling nervously at the concerned expression on her face. I’d been staring off into space for who knew how long. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“You seem preoccupied. Is it about work?” She didn’t seem worried now t
hat I’d forced a grin, just interested.
“No, I was just thinking about us and drifted off for a minute.” I smiled, more genuinely this time, and she smiled too.
“That’s a good subject to get distracted by.”
We finished eating, chatting a little, but mostly just enjoying the food. Afterwards, she helped me clear the table. She rinsed our plates and silverware, loading them into the dishwasher while I pulled the meat from the chicken and put it first in a plastic container and then in the fridge, along with the leftover veggies. We’d each had two servings at dinner and couldn’t dive into dessert right away.
Sami grinned at me, but shyly, her dark eyes gleaming with a light I couldn’t quite read. “You know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you since the night of the fire at my place.”
I froze, my heart skipping several beats at once as my stomach clenched. It wasn’t lost on me how familiar what she’d just said was to what Lacey told me during her phone call earlier today.
“I saw you before the night my tree went down in flames.”
My chest unclenched and I found I could breathe again, the relief that fell over me total. “Oh yeah?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I saw you out at a bar. You were knocking back drinks like you wanted to forget the world. And then our paths crossed a few weeks later in front of my house.” She giggled, her cheeks coloring prettily in a way that drew me across the kitchen to take her into my arms. “Maybe that fire was fate.”
I looked down into her dark eyes, so much warmth flooding me, it was difficult to speak for a moment. “I don’t care why the fire started, I’m just glad I found you.” I leaned to kiss her, this time deeply, my tongue entering her mouth to toy with hers as I crushed her against me. When I pulled back, that heat surged again, and I couldn’t help but speak exactly what I was feeling.
“I love you, Sami.”
She blinked up at me, and then her lips parted in the most gorgeous smile anyone had ever given me.
Chapter Twenty Eight – Sami – The Same Evening
I couldn’t speak for a moment. It was a strange feeling, to be so surprised, but so certain that what I was feeling was genuine. I’d just told the girls the other night that I loved this man. And now he was telling me that he felt the same way about me. I’d known it from the heat in his eyes when he looked at me, but now that I’d heard it from his own lips, the truth of it sizzled over my skin, forcing me to let him know how I felt about him.
“I love you, too,” I said, and that changed the air between us, heating it up. I took Blaze by the neck and brought his face down to mine, his smiling lips now within reach. We kissed, the passion already boiling over before our mouths touched, before our tongues began to explore each other’s sweet heat. He picked me up as we went at each other, his hands cupping my ass to keep me against him while I wrapped my legs around his middle and my arms around his thick neck.
Blaze carried me to the bedroom as we continued to maul each other, kissing so passionately, we didn’t even need to breathe anymore, just letting that heat sustain us. He sank down onto his bed, landing heavily on top of me while I giggled into his mouth.
I released my legs’ death grip on him, and he sat up, pulling me up with him so we could better tear at each other’s clothes. He tugged my dress off and I ripped his shirt over his head, revealing his muscular chest, where he did have a faint spray of freckles that always tickled me to see.
Once we’d removed our clothes, I pushed him back on the bed and began to trace those freckles with my tongue, drawing a delicate pattern down his torso as he moaned with pleasure. I kept connecting the dots, ending up between his legs and finishing by taking his erect cock into my mouth. It was salty to the taste and hard as a rock. I circled the sensitive tip of it with my tongue, keeping my eyes on his face, which was constricting with the ecstasy I was giving him.
I loved this power — to please him so completely, he was almost losing his mind with how good it felt. I wanted to run my tongue over every inch of his body. I wanted to know every curve of it, to taste every part of him. And, when I was done, I wanted him to do the same to me.
But that could wait until another night. Right now, I wanted to show him how good I could make him feel.
I took more of him into my mouth, my tongue moving over the length of his shaft as I sucked on him, lightly at first, and then more forcefully, my mouth moving up and down over him. He groaned, his hips pumping once into my face and driving him deeper, the tip of his cock pressing into the back of my throat. I moved my head in an even, steady rhythm, devouring his cock only to let it slide nearly all the way out of my mouth again. His hips moved in time with me, and the noises coming from him made that tingling, needy place between my legs itch even more, every part of me desperate to have him inside me. I could feel how wet I was, my sex pulsating with its desperate hunger.
I sat up, sucking hard until his cock fell out of my mouth and thumped against his abdomen. He had a crazed look in his eye as he sat up and took me in his arms. He swept me underneath him, pressing me into the bed as he climbed on top of me and spread my legs open with two sweeps of his knees. He dropped his hips and thrust into me easily because I was dripping wet and so ready for him. I shrieked with how good he felt, that heat exploding inside me and tingling over my skin. He was so deep so suddenly, the breath caught in my throat as the heat flooded my face. I wrapped my arms around him as he kept up his powerful, intense motion, his hips moving gracefully, but firmly, filling me up only to back out again, building that agonizing pressure.
“I love you so much,” he whispered, hot breath entering my ear as his body moved against mine. “You’re so beautiful.”
I bit his shoulder, wanting to taste him, to have my teeth on him as the ecstasy built, the orgasm hanging tantalizingly within reach. Having him inside me made it impossible to think, to do anything but enjoy the weight of his body on top of mine, the sharp masculine smell of his sweat as the muscles in his body worked, his back moving under my grasping hands. I wanted him deeper and harder, but could only pant the words.
He picked up the pace, thrusting hard with his powerful hips, burying himself into me up to the hilt. I cried out again, and the pressure released all at once, the warmth flowing between my legs as my body arched into Blaze, who continued his steady motion, oblivious to the tingling pleasure undoing me from the inside out. My eyelids fluttered, my muscles softening to trembling jelly as my body responded to him of its own volition, hips lifting to get him deeper, greedily craving the next orgasm.
“You feel so good,” he moaned, lips very close to my ear again. He bit my lobe lightly, just a playful nip that sent pleasure buzzing over my already inflamed skin. I wanted him deeper and harder, but I couldn’t catch my breath long enough to tell him.
I let my hands travel down to his firm ass and squeezed, urging him to move faster. He responded by thrusting hard, his hips slapping into mine again and again while I dug my head into the pillow, my legs dropping open even wider, knees almost flat on the bed to either side of me. He growled behind clenched teeth, rising to his elbows to increase the strength of his thrusts, and my insides boiled over again, that pressure letting go and washing me in luscious agony.
He came a second later, growling like the animal he was in bed. His hips were pressing between my legs so he was as deep as he could get, our bodies straining into each other for a few pleasurable seconds. I couldn’t help but squeal with the ecstasy I felt.
We relaxed together, his body going slack on top of mine while I enjoyed the solid weight of him and the aftereffect of the orgasms reverberating under my skin. He rolled off of me, keeping one leg and arm draped over my body, his warm breath on my face. I closed my eyes, so tired and so satisfied at the same time as the craving between my legs lying dormant for the moment. It roared back to life whenever I saw him, demanding I put my hands on him and draw him closer so I could bask in that heat.
The drowsiness was overtaking
me quickly, leaving me hovering on the edge of sleep. I decided not to fight it. I wanted to stay here, to wake up next to Blaze tomorrow morning for the first time ever. I had houses to show in the morning, but I could be a little late. Being near this man was worth it. I burrowed into his heat and let the drowsiness win, tipping me headlong into my dreams.
Chapter Twenty Nine – Blaze – The Next Morning
I didn’t want to get out of bed. I loved waking up to find Sami next to me for the first time ever, her face scrunched up from her dreams. But I couldn’t get back to sleep. I’d been an early riser since I was a kid and had never found a cure for it. I snuck out of bed, not wanting to wake Sami before she was ready. I watched her for a moment, smiling at how adorable she looked wrapped up in the blankets, and then left the bedroom.
I went to the kitchen, poking around to see what I had for breakfast food. I had the ingredients to make an omelet and hash browns, that way Sami could start her workday off with a good meal. Not to mention I loved cooking for her. I’d just set the necessary items out on the counter when there was a firm knock at the door. I frowned at the clock on the microwave. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet.
I went to the door, ducking to look through the peephole. It was Lacey.
“What the hell?” I muttered, the dark mood overtaking me at once. I unlocked the door and pulled it open. As soon as my eyes took in the entire scene, the jagged, unfriendly response I’d planned left me along with my breath, like someone had just socked me hard in the stomach. It took a long time to breathe in again.
“I had to come earlier than tonight, Blaze,” she said, speaking quickly, her eyes wide and intense. “This is important, as you can see.”
She moved her hands, which had been partially hiding her stomach. She’d had washboard abs for as long as I’d known her, but now her belly was much rounder than usual, what Hector called a baby bump when he talked about Juanita, who was just starting to show. It looked like he wasn’t the only one who was going to be a new father.
