Controlled Burn (Scarred Hearts)

by Nikki Duncan

  Chuckling, he grabbed her hips and lifted her up to set her on the counter. Almost at eye level, she shifted her legs to make room for him. Her grip on his shirt tightened, her nails brushing against him, sending a shot of electricity through him.

  Logan framed her face, his little fingers resting against her hammering pulse points. He moved in, his own pulse points slammed against his still sensitive skin. The first touch of his lips to hers burst through the final doubt that he might be making a mistake.

  Nothing about Delancey could be a mistake.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Excited was too calm a word to describe what Delancey felt.

  Blood beat with brilliant vigor through the valleys of her veins. Sweetness of summer warmth swept the span of her skin. Awareness soared through her pores.

  Logan kept the kiss light but altered the angle of his head. The growth of new stubble just making itself known in his new skin pricked her lips. It was softness with a bite and she loved it.

  His hands moved to her hips. He squeezed and released. He kissed her soft and then hard. She leaned into him, sliding her hands to his back, careful not to press too hard.

  With a shudder, he eased away and rested his forehead on her shoulder. “More?”

  She kissed the edge of his mouth and smiled. “More.”

  In case he needed encouragement, she kissed the other side of his mouth, then the edge of his scar. “More smiles and laughs. More kisses and touches.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “It can be as easy or as complicated as we choose to make it. I have little patience for complications I can avoid.”

  “I have enough complications in a day. I’d like to avoid them with you if possible.”

  “You only need to say something if things become complicated.” She kissed him again, directly on the mouth. “You set the limits.”

  “Does that mean I could tell you to stop showing up uninvited and you would?”

  “If you really meant it. And unless I feel something is wrong.”

  He breathed slowly, staring. “What do you mean by that?”

  Alarm deepened Logan’s tone like he didn’t want to know what she’d meant. Like he didn’t want to know but needed to hear her answer. The only way to keep things uncomplicated was to be honest.

  “I get feelings about you. In the fire it was that you were there. In the hospital, even after you asked me to stay away, it was that I shouldn’t.” She’d be more comfortable pacing, she always paced when she wanted to work out the why or how of a situation. Fear of losing whatever connection they seemed to share held her in place. “It was like being compelled.”

  “Like the need for oxygen when you’re underwater?”

  “Exactly.” Being with Logan wasn’t a desire or a choice. It was a need that reached into her core and yanked until she obeyed. “Is that weird?”

  “A little, but being with you… It just feels right.”

  Elation swelled within and made her grin. “So,” going for the big score, “will you be cleaning out my leftover stash tonight or in the morning?”

  “In the morning, but I’m not cleaning you out.”

  “That’s too bad.” She nudged him back and hopped off the counter. Taking his hand, she led him to the bedroom. “I plan on cleaning you out.”

  “And you were so well behaved during pool, leaving the dirty innuendos to Andy and Lexi.”

  “I don’t need an audience. I actually prefer private parties.”

  In the bedroom she released his hand and went to close the blinds. She’d loved the idea of an iron fence overlooking an always-green golf course. Until she’d moved in and realized how many night golfers lived in her subdivision.

  Turning back, and seeing Logan sitting on her bed removing his shoes, had the nerves she’d expected all along made their appearance. Having bought the house after Chad, she’d dreamed of him where Logan now sat. It was only normal since they’d planned a life together.

  Logan looked absolutely perfect against the backdrop of gray walls, black furniture and darker gray-and-black bedding. “I have this same comforter set,” Logan said, making himself more perfect. And making it easier to feel no guilt over moving on.

  “I know. I’ve been in your room.”

  They preferred the same kind of entertainment, small gatherings in a quiet place. He had the same taste in décor, where she’d always clashed with Chad’s taste of the antique. He also didn’t set his shoes at a perfect ninety-degree angle to the bed but instead dropped them and forgot them.

  It wasn’t that she wanted him to be a slob. She simply liked that he wasn’t too rigid. As long as he was rigid in the right ways.

  Pulling the extra pillows off and piling them in her chair, she said, “I think you’ll really like the sheets. I found them after my surgery when everything else was too itchy or clingy.”

  “Or cold or hot.”

  “Yes!” Being with him, talking about mundane things when they both knew they’d be having sex very soon, was easy. Not complicated had been the deal, but this simple? There had to be another shoe.

  Or maybe she was looking for trouble where there wasn’t any. Not all relationships had to be full of drama or awkwardness at the start. Or at all. True, hardships during a relationship tested its strength, but sometimes it was better to proceed as if the worst was in the past.

  “You good with that side, or do you want this one?” Logan asked.

  “I could sleep on top of the fire engine with sirens blaring in the wide open. I have no preference on sides of the bed.”

  “I tend to sleep on my right side now so unless I’m going to keep my back to you all night I should take the left.”

  “I like your logic.” They rounded the foot of the bed, brushing hands as they passed each other. The easiness snapped beneath the power of his skin against hers. Hunger roared to life and had her ripping back the covers.

  Standing on opposite sides of the bed, gazes locked on each other, Logan and Delancey undressed. She left her bra and panties on. Logan left on his boxer briefs, which hugged low at his pelvis and down his thighs. She’d seen his body and scars in the hospital when he’d been practicing dressing. Perfectly imperfect would be her description for him.

  Now he revealed himself all for her pleasure and it was so much better.

  Not big and bulky, but lean and lightly sculpted, Logan was sexy. His biceps and shoulders were the most defined parts of him, but not in a way that said he worked out a lot. Rather in the way that said he was healthy and in shape, or just lucky to be built that way.

  His scars were primarily on his left side, with a few offshoots toward his right side, there were patches of wrinkled-looking skin, but most of his body was smooth from grafts. When he finished healing, the worst of his scars would be the few areas they hadn’t grafted.

  His face and arms, where his skin had been exposed to the fire, had the worst of those scars. She wanted to explore him, taste him and convince him he was beautiful, scars and all.

  Delancey’s heart rate picked up like it had in the kitchen. She moved to get on the bed, but Logan didn’t join her. Sadness darkened his face, obliterating the fun that had been there.

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “I don’t have a condom.” He sounded as sad as he looked. “Do you?”

  “No, but I take the pill. And I’m clean.” Walking on her knees, she moved toward him. “Are you?”

  The grin he rarely showed brightened his face, replacing the darkness. He got on the bed and walked on his knees to the middle. “I am.”

  “Excellent.” Delancey slid a finger down his chest and her stomach tingled with excitement and arousal. “I’d hate for you to show up pregnant in a couple weeks. That would be so embarrassing.”

  Laughing, Logan placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her sideways with a little twist. She bounced onto her back and was reaching for him as he moved over her.

  With a shak
e of his head, he took her hands and stretched her arms over her head. “Before you start touching me, I want my turn.”

  “Okay,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “But if you take too long I’m going to lose patience and the touching will begin.”

  “You won’t lose patience.” He didn’t release her hands though. He laced his fingers with hers and bent down, claiming her mouth.

  The prickle of his partial beard teased her. She curled her fingers against his and lifted her head from the pillow, deepening the kiss. He read her signals and granted the wish.

  He eased his tongue’s tip between her lips and ran it along her teeth. She opened her mouth on a sigh and he went deeper, taking his tongue on an exploration of her mouth. Thrusting and withdrawing, sweeping his tongue against hers on the withdrawals, nibbling her lip before the thrust, his kiss ramped her already-considerable arousal.

  Over a year had passed since she’d been with a man. She wouldn’t have expected the first time back in the game to go so well, but they fit.

  And he wasn’t satisfied with kissing.

  Logan journeyed along her jaw and down her neck. With his mouth caressing the skin at her shoulder, he released her hands and slipped her bra straps down. The textured skin of her burn had always felt a little numb to her own touch. Logan’s mouth and fingers were kisses and brushes of worship that breathed new vibrancy into her pores.

  Intensely reactive, her skin popped with bumps, standing her arm hair on end. Everywhere his mouth touched sang the praises of his prowess. Her muscles trembled and her skin danced. Her pulse pounded loudly in her head until she heard nothing beyond the race of her blood and the boom of her heart.

  He removed her bra and gave her breasts the same attention he’d given her scar. When she was struggling to not writhe beneath him, to not shift her legs against each other in an attempt to take herself to orgasm, he trailed his fingers down her torso and played with her panties.

  Delancey closed her eyes, anxious to block the sensations bombarding her. The self-inflicted blindness heightened the intensity of his seduction and made her more aware of the simplicity of his scent. Like the coconut milk salve she’d used to keep her skin moist after surgery.

  Levering off her, Logan slid her panties down her legs, trailing the path with his fingertips. Naked before him, with his touch gone, Delancey snuck a peek to see what he was doing. He knelt at her feet, grinning.

  “You’re a whole lot of sexy wrapped in a tiny body.”

  She opened her eyes fully and smiled back. “You gonna sit there and talk, or are you gonna strip and have your way with me?” Pushing up on her elbows, she broadened her smile. “Or is it my turn to touch?”

  Logan considered her question for a moment. He enjoyed having control, had almost shamed himself a couple times when she’d wiggled against him. If she set out to touch him and drive him crazy he’d lose all control. Quite possibly that could be part of the fun.

  “What kind of Texan gentleman would I be if I denied your fun?”

  “The kind who doesn’t let the lady go first?”

  “The only ‘go’ that matters in bed is the finish.” He dropped his gaze to her body and traced unseen patterns on her legs as he worked his way back up her body. “I like to finish as a team…”

  He slipped his hand up the inside of her thigh, creamy smooth and tempting to taste, and continued to tease her. Sex had always been sex, but Delancey made it fun.

  “If you’d like to go first…” He teased her clit. She spread her legs for him, granting him freer access.

  She was hot and wet and sliding home would be so easy and satisfying. A groan rumbled free from her throat. She rolled her hips, pressing herself against him. So sexy and responsive he couldn’t help but react in kind. His hips jerked as his dick begged to replace his finger. “I’m going to take that as a yes that you want me to keep going.”

  “I sure as hell don’t want you to stop.”

  He wouldn’t stop, but neither would he let her come without him. He wanted to be buried inside, hands linked when he watched her fall off the ledge.

  Logan tried to make himself stop grinning when his face began to hurt, but then she’d squirm or moan or writhe because of a touch and his efforts were defeated. He slid his finger against her and then in and out. He twirled it when he went deep, massaging her inner walls and G-spot, retreating the moment before she lost control.

  When she was twisting and turning, groaning and begging, with no restraint he slipped off his boxers and crawled over her. She flattened a hand on his left cheek, brushing a finger methodically over his burn.

  Her eyes captured and held his. “Tell me you’re done teasing.”

  “Have I met the elusive white unicorn? A woman who doesn’t want all the foreplay?”

  “Oh, it’s good.” She slid a foot up the back of his right leg, digging lightly into his butt cheek. “But time for play is over. I’ve waited months for this moment.”

  Logan positioned himself, and with a chuckle and a “you asked for it,” he thrust. All the excitement of a lust-obsessed teen coalesced into a mass of arousal. His back muscles tightened, squeezing his spine and pressing against his nerves until every cell in his being throbbed with need.

  Delancey arched into him, pressed close and clung. As tight as she held him while he carried them both to the vortex of pleasure, she never clung too tight or in a spot that might cause him pain.

  He withdrew. In a moment of calm before the climax he stared into her hazel eyes and for the briefest of moments could swear he saw his future. A future where he was old and gray with his petite savior at his side.

  Consumed with all he’d ever wanted, all she’d done for him, and all he currently felt, he thrust. Her inner walls squeezed him tight, draining him until he lacked the energy to do more than collapse beside her.

  Seconds passed into minutes and who knew how many of those passed until Delancey tugged at her left arm. “Can I get this back?”

  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “You’re not moving.”

  “Can’t.”

  She laughed and poked him in the stomach with her right hand. “Logan.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m moving.” It took another moment but he finally shifted enough for her to free her arm. When she did, she asked, “Can I lean against you?”

  “Are you asking me to snuggle?”

  “Does the idea repulse you?”

  “Yes.” He pulled her against him. “You’re very repulsive.”

  Nestling her head into the crook of his arm, she curled into him. Her palm rested on his stomach. Her fingers moved slowly across his still oversensitive skin in the tiniest of caresses.

  “You’re a sweet man, Logan.”

  “Said no one. Ever.”

  “Not even Ashley?”

  “Not even her.” He knew how to be a brother, a student and an accountant. He was entirely unaccustomed to companionship that didn’t come from his sister. Part of him said to run, another said to stay and cling tight. The part saying to cling tight sounded remarkably like Ashley.

  “I’m sure she did.”

  Logan stroked Delancey’s hair, absorbing the silken softness that was so like her touch on his body. “She loved me, and we were as close as possible, but I was a duty. I never want to be anyone’s duty.”

  Certainly not Delancey’s, because if what he thought he felt was what he really felt he needed a partner not a keeper. Delancey as a partner was an idea he could get used to, but too easily he could see her stepping into the role of caretaker.

  She’d done it with the food deliveries, the rides home, the companionship and friends. She’d commented once that Andy accused her of having a compulsive need to help people.

  He’d crossed a line by staying with her. Bottom lining it for himself, getting too comfortable, which he could easily do, added up to be trouble.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Delancey and the crew had been mid-workout when the in-station
alarm announced a call. They’d moved fast, leaving whatever they’d had out where they were, and hauled ass to the truck bay. Four hours later, the blaze was extinguished, hoses and equipment stored on the trucks and the crew loaded onto the trucks to go back to the station.

  “Great job, Gidge.” Ice Man patted Delancey’s shoulder as they moved to the trucks. “You almost look like an old pro.”

  “Just don’t get too relaxed,” Jarrett advised without a touch of humor in his tone. “Or maybe you’re more focused when you’ve let off some steam.”

  “What?”

  “Please.” Charlie smirked. “Like we can’t spot a woman who’s the recent recipient of an orgasm.”

  “A. Gross. B. Butt out.”

  “There is no butting out in families,” Jarrett said easily.

  Delancey didn’t take it as easily. It was the first time one of the men had called her family. That it came from Jarrett meant she’d finally earned the respect she’d craved, and damn it she wanted to cry. A single tear would undo all the effort she’d put in though, so she blinked the urge away.

  Logan’s fire, as she’d come to think of it, had been a turning point in her quest for equality. Each call they’d responded to since had shown a change in how she was treated. They still gave her a hard time—that would never change—but it was equal opportunity obnoxiousness.

  This was entirely different and all she could think of was how much she wanted to call Logan to tell him. For the moment she settled for her current company.

  “Aww. You could make a girl all glowy with such sweet talk.” She rolled her shoulder that was probably a few shades of purple from a wall that fell on her when the floor gave way beneath her. The only reason she hadn’t flipped out was because Jarrett had been right beside Andy and Married Man Mike to get her free quickly.

  “Watch it,” Ben warned, “or we’ll have to throw you back in that busted floor hole.”

  “That sounds more like the men I’ve come to know and tolerate.”

  Her ankle hurt when she put weight on it, but it wasn’t enough to keep her from doing her job. Or have her mentioning it to the guys. Getting on the truck, and off her ankle, she was glad their shift was over when they got back.