Smoldering Heart_Fleming Brothers [Book 1]

by Jennifer Vester

  A small trickle of wetness hit my leg and I decided to risk the bathroom again. I walked stiffly at first then hit the bathroom at full pace. After doing my thing and wiping off the effects of our lovemaking, I returned to the empty bedroom.

  I riffled through his closet for a shirt and pulled it over my head. It was three times too big, but it smelled like the husky scent of Owen, and I liked it.

  Eyeing the phone on the stand again, I saw that the light was still flashing.

  I sat on the edge of the bed for a moment then grabbed the damn thing. I wasn’t normally a nosy person. But I was curious who had messaged him, if anyone. He didn’t frequently get messages.

  Putting it back on the stand, I sighed. Ridiculous to check. It wasn’t like he was out anywhere that I didn’t know about. Or seeing anyone else for that matter. The man spent most of his day with me.

  It beeped again, and I glared at the little flashing light. It was like it was taunting me.

  I grabbed it and swiped.

  Brock: Did you get her to take the shot? By the way I can see that your computer is online, jackass.

  Brock: Call me about Darren. I have some info.

  Bill: How’s the coursework? I hear the online portion is fast. There’s an opening at the training facility in three weeks. Little quick but let me know.

  A few thoughts ran through my head in a jumbled mess. My first thought was about Brock knowing I took a shot. Why the hell would he ask?

  The second, equally important thought was about my dad’s message. What the hell was he talking about? What academy?

  “This is why snooping is bad. Very, very bad,” I said to myself.

  I tapped my fingers on the bed for a moment then got up to walk downstairs. My legs were still a little stiff for a moment. I managed to walk all the way down the stairs and into Owen’s office without toppling over or killing myself.

  I grabbed my panties off the floor and shimmied into them. Then I looked over at Owen’s computer screen. It was off, but his computer was on.

  “This is so wrong. It’s nothing,” I said.

  I grabbed my skirt and blouse. My bra was on the desk. I reached for it but instead of grabbing it, my hand hesitated. I reached over and turned his computer screen on.

  Online courses. The firefighter insignia. Academy. It all hit me in the gut.

  No. God no. Not Owen.

  I started panting for a moment and decided to get dressed. If I had to confront him, I wanted to be dressed.

  When I was done, I heard him let out a swear word from the kitchen.

  I headed in that direction. My legs weak for other reasons. They seemed to be moving on their own but very slowly.

  When I got to the kitchen, I stood and stared at him. He was bent over a cutting board chopping up an apple. He had two bottles of water set on the counter beside him and half a dozen fruits, crackers and cheeses he was putting together on a tray.

  It was perfect in a way. It would have even been romantic if I wasn’t so pissed off.

  Another thought came crashing down on my reality. Owen winking at me as he left for the bathroom earlier. Without a condom on. I couldn’t remember him wearing a condom the previous time either. I thought he had, but I wasn’t sure.

  What a fucking idiot I was! I should have made sure.

  My hand came up to my stomach. Thinking back to my last period, I couldn’t remember the dates.

  I cleared my throat, and Owen turned around. He looked surprised as he took in my clothing.

  “Baby?”

  I took a deep breath. “That’s a good question. Did you wear a condom today or the first time we had sex?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back on the counter.

  He didn’t say anything and gave me a look. Just a small smirk and heated eyes, like he wanted to have another romp even though he could clearly see my irritation.

  “Owen?” I asked.

  “No. I didn’t.”

  I cast my eyes to the ceiling for a moment then back at him. What the fuck had he been thinking? I might have dealt better with that about ten minutes ago but not now.

  “You insufferable ass.”

  His expression didn’t change as my voice got louder.

  “What the hell were you thinking?! Dating is a two-way street and a life choice like that is one of the bigger decisions two people make.”

  “What?” he asked.

  I wanted to slap him. Really hard.

  “Having a baby!!” I yelled.

  He gave me another smirk. “Oh, that. Sweetheart, I want you pregnant and in my fucking house ASAP. I’ve already asked you to move in.”

  I looked at him like he was mental. “Who does that? What kind of guy thinks like that?!”

  He moved toward me, and I backed away from him. It was the way he moved that startled me. It was predatory and calculating. His face extremely serious and determined.

  Holding my gaze, he unfolded his arms. He approached like he was on the verge of grabbing me.

  “This guy does. I want you here with me. With my baby in your belly and married. I want the whole package.”

  “Holy shit. You are absolutely insane. And if that was a proposal the answer is, NO!”

  He stopped walking toward me for a minute. “Maddie, I want this. You’re everything to me.”

  My jaw clenched, then I shook my head. “While I appreciate that, on top of everything, you didn’t tell me you were taking the fire prevention courses. Are you trying to be a fireman or is this some sort of strange research to keep you busy?”

  His face froze. “Did Rachel tell you?”

  I grimaced. “Rachel fucking knows?! Why wouldn’t she? Dad does apparently, he just texted you. There’s an opening at the academy in a few weeks. Who else does?”

  A pained expression flashed across his face. “Half the department?”

  For a guy who said I was everything to him, he sure did keep enough to himself. Or at least from me. I was apparently the last on his priority list when it came to sharing what was quite possibly the biggest decision of his life. A career change like that was a big one.

  And a baby? That burned. Knowing he tried to cut me out of that decision.

  I gave him a blank stare. For a moment I just stared at him, not sure what to say.

  Then I turned on my heel and walked out.

  Out, out. Out of his house. Out of his life.

  Chapter Sixteen

  ~Owen~

  “Technically, this is called stalking in several states. You know that, right?” Noah asked.

  I adjusted in my car seat uncomfortably.

  “Technically, it’s not stalking when I’m just making sure she’s safe. We’re just two concerned family members.”

  “Owen, we’re not family. Not by a long shot. And this whole stakeout shit on your ex-girlfriend is a little over the top.”

  I lowered my binoculars from my face and looked over at him. “She’s not my ex anything. We’re still seeing each other. She’s just pissed at me.”

  “The last time you saw her was two weeks ago.” He held up his finger and paused. “Correction, the last time you spoke to her, and she walked out was over two weeks ago.”

  Shrugging, I tapped the steering wheel and looked back over at Maddie’s place. I knew she was there because I'd watched her leave work and had followed her home.

  We were sitting on the opposite side of the street, and far enough back that I doubted she would have spotted my car.

  “We didn’t break up. She’s just really pissed.”

  “I wonder why, asswipe. And generally, when someone walks out on you, and refuses to call you, or see you, it’s called a breakup.”

  “She didn’t say anything. I think she’s just giving it some time.”

  In the corner of my eye, I saw Noah rub a hand down his face and shake his head.

  “Please, some help here?” he asked the phone in his hand.

  “You’re fucked,” Brock
said on the other end. “Why don’t you leave the stalking to me and give her some space?”

  My eyebrows lifted, and I eyed the phone. “Like you gave Andi? How did that work for you? I seem to recall, and correct me if I’m wrong, that she nearly left your ass.”

  “That was different.” he muttered. “We’re not talking about Andi, though. This is all about Maddie. I’ve got a tracker on her—”

  “That’s great and all, but I don’t want to be tracking a dead body. You said Darren was a threat, and that he’s not even on your radar now after he left Missouri.”

  Noah cleared his throat. “That doesn’t mean he’s going to come around here. He has no ties to the area and knows he would be recognized by half a dozen cops if he did.”

  Brock interrupted. “This has nothing to do with Darren. Look I get it. I really do. Fleming's protect their own. Blood or not, we protect.”

  “True enough.” Noah muttered.

  “So, I get that you’re going out of your fucking mind there, brother, but you have to rein that back a few notches if you want her to come around.”

  “Says the stalker of all stalkers,” I mumbled.

  Punching Noah in the face for calling Brock wasn’t going to help anything, but I really wanted to. When he called to say that he was in the city on business, I thought that he might understand where I was coming from.

  Twins were supposed to understand this shit and have each other’s backs. Instead I got a lecture in the house, lecture in the car, and now a lecture from Brock. And he was full of shit if he thought my situation was different.

  “Okay. I’ll admit I fucked up. I should have told her a few things.”

  “And both of us,” Noah said.

  “Damn right,” Brock added.

  “I don’t need two babysitters. I didn’t have to tell either of you shit. You don’t tell me absolutely everything. Maddie probably needed to know, though.”

  “Look I don’t want to know which way you hang every day,” Noah said. “But closing up shop, dumping it on my lap and then suddenly you’re passing tests for the fire department? And you didn’t tell anyone?”

  “Okay, wait,” I said and held up my hand. “I’m not passing anything. I’m taking some supplemental courses and finishing them. I won’t pass anything really until I’m in the academy. Then I have a shot at the department but only if they’re hiring. If not, then I’ll be waiting as a volunteer if I want.”

  Noah gave me a look. “And that has what to do with—”

  “I’m just trying to clear that up with the right information. This isn’t a guaranteed thing.”

  Brock sighed on the phone. “Bottom line, we’re family. We tell each other shit. If I need to kick someone’s ass because my baby brother gets in a fist fight, it would be nice to know that you’re in a fist fight in the first place.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t believe you’re still bringing that up. I didn’t need your help fighting off Tommy Reardon. And I didn’t ask you to kick his ass for me. Which by the way, did absolutely zero for me in high school. I was Ian’s younger brother. Ian, the guy that would kick your ass if you messed with his brother.”

  “I heard his sister gave you a black eye,” Noah chuckled.

  I shrugged. “Probably deserved it. She had a nice—”

  Brock interrupted. “Hey, asshole, when you’re done shit talking—”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, what?”

  “I’ve always had your back, Owen. Both of you. I don’t care if you want to be a fucking bum and go trekking across the globe to find your pansy ass. You’re still my brother. I’d just like a heads up.”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  “So, listen to me when I tell you that pushing this woman is not going to get you what you want. She’s not Andi is all I’m saying. She’s obviously a lot more spooked about your new profession. And because we’re all made from the same fucking genetic makeup, you pushed it. I get it. If this was working out, I would give you a high fucking five and be on the next plane to come visit. But it’s not.”

  Noah reached over and punched my shoulder lightly. “We’re just saying that maybe backing off a little, and not going psycho stalker would be a better way to go,”

  I narrowed my eyes at Maddie’s house. The lights in the living room had come on as the evening got darker.

  “Yeah, I get it,” I said, half listening to what they were saying. No way was I going to back down from getting Maddie back.

  Clearly mistakes were made. My plan of attack was possibly a little flawed. But my brothers weren’t going to convince me that backing off would actually help.

  Maddie was a sweet woman. One that made me want to be sweet back in some ways. But she was also someone that had given up on love. She said she didn’t think she could possibly ever find something like that twice in her life, and I wanted to prove her wrong.

  One thing I knew for sure was that she was scared as shit to put her heart on the line. I didn’t blame her one bit. If I had someone like her and lost it all due to an accident, I’m not sure I would recover at all.

  At this point, I wasn’t sure if I would recover if I didn’t get her back. That realization hit my gut like a sledgehammer. I felt it tense and knot when I thought about it.

  I didn’t believe in that fairytale bullshit. Love at first sight, knights and rescuing princesses. Maddie wasn’t a princess, and she damn sure didn’t need rescuing.

  Love at first sight? I might be living that one. I couldn’t blame the vase she bashed me over the head with. I couldn’t blame anything other than the sweetness in her eyes when she looked at me the first time.

  If that had been a single event, if I hadn’t seen her at all after that one moment, I knew that I would always remember that look, her face and how I felt. Everything that had happened since then had just cemented what my instincts knew the first time she locked those beautiful blue eyes on me.

  She was mine. Not that I owned her. It was that I knew, without a fucking doubt, that Maddie was meant just for me.

  Darren probably wasn’t a threat at all. He was most likely laying low and causing trouble somewhere else. But with the odd fires in the city, and his previous behavior, it bothered me. I didn’t want to look like a crazed stalker, but I also wanted her to be safe. I needed to know that she wasn’t in danger. Whether that came from a rabid squirrel or a whacked-out arsonist like Darren. Either way, she was mine to protect. I would put a bullet in both if she was in trouble.

  I had two days left until the academy started. Rachel, the she-devil that she was, had been right. If I wanted to go through with being a fireman, then it wouldn’t matter either way whether Maddie approved or not.

  My interest might have started with getting to know their family. Through them, the multitude of generous guys and women on the department. But in the end, the pull to be a part of that community had to be solid and focused if I was going to be part of it.

  I wanted it. It may not have been my first profession or even my second or third. But there was something about it that I really liked, that I felt like I could excel at, and that I knew would give me satisfaction at the end of the day.

  When I had initiated a conversation with Bill about it, he'd directed me to some courses that saved some time. But the man had known what he was doing. By the time I was halfway through, it dawned on me that he’d pointed me toward enough knowledge to either bore someone or just give enough to interest them more. In my case, I was not only interested, I wanted to jump in with both feet and start running.

  It was something I felt like I needed to do now. But I needed her as well. And waiting on her to stop being pissed at me was driving me nuts.

  I looked over at Noah, who had both arms crossed over his chest. He was staring down at some paperwork in his lap. Brock must have hung up a while ago.

  “What do you think about the fireman gig?” I asked subtly.

  He looked up and over at me with mild surprise. “You’re asking?”r />
  Hoping I wouldn’t get a lecture, I took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’m asking.”

  He flipped a page over in his lap. “It fits. Probably more than the bounty hunter thing, and definitely more than the bodyguard job.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, you’re good with people. Which seems to be part of it. You also don’t mind putting your ass on the line when it counts. You don’t panic in a pinch, and you generally think even under pressure. But I guess the biggest part of that is, that I know regardless of what I think, you’ll do it to the best of your abilities.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What was that bullshit?”

  He shrugged. “Just make sure you point the hose in the right direction, Owen. You can probably handle that. You have a lot of experience with holding yours at night.”

  “Asshole.”

  “Hey, look,” he nodded toward Maddie’s house. “Visitor?”

  I raised the binoculars to my face. I didn’t give a shit if I looked like a maniac stalker at the moment. I wanted to know why a sedan had just pulled up in front of their place.

  We were too far back, even with the binoculars, for me to see the person’s face that just climbed out of the sedan. What I did see, was that the person had short hair and was wearing a baseball cap. Jeans and a black leather jacket made up the rest of the outfit.

  My heart started pounding in my chest. Threat or not, the late-night visitor was a guy. Taking my gun out of my holster, I placed it on my lap.

  “Maybe they’re at the wrong place,” Noah said beside me. “No need to get anxious.”

  “I’m not anxious,” I growled.

  “No need to get homicidal. She has friends. I’m betting some of them are guys she grew up with. Maybe even work on the department.”

  “Shut up, Noah,” I replied as I watched the visitor walk up the concrete leading to her front door.

  A light came on and her door opened before he got there. A smile broke out on her face as she walked up to the stranger and threw her arms around his shoulders. He wasn’t that much taller than she was but a little heavier. The bastard hadn’t turned around yet, so I couldn’t quite see what he looked like.