by Sylvia Fox
The place that was now a crumbling, burnt-out wreck.
Smoke still clung to my clothes and my hair, but I could smell the fresh scent of pine as I stepped into Blaze’s home. He lived differently than most people, secluded and on the bare necessities. His cabin was pretty much what I’d envisioned all these years. Built by his own two hands, the walls were sculpted from the trees that dotted the mountain, consisting of only three small rooms: a living room/kitchen combo, a bathroom that I couldn’t be sure had indoor plumbing, and his…bedroom. There was no TV, no internet.
It was rustic to stay the least, and I felt like I’d suddenly been dropped into another century, one without the constant buzz of technology.
Luckily, Blaze did have some electricity. He flicked on the lights and led me straight to the bathroom where he handed me a soft towel and a bar of soap. “You need to get the smoke out of your skin. Feel free to take as long as you’d like.”
“So…you do have running water?” I couldn’t help but ask.
He gave a grunt before shaking his head. “‘Course I have running water. I like to live off the land, but I have water and electricity like any normal person.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said, suddenly shy as I glanced at the claw-foot bathtub before me. Swallowing, I grasped for my next words and found myself staring at the ground to avoid meeting his eyes. “Um, do you have any clean clothes I could wear…?”
Fantasies flooded my brain faster than I could stop them. Images of me walking out of the bathroom wearing nothing but my birthday suit and Blaze wrapping his strong arms around me. Blaze carrying me into the bedroom to have his way with me. Blaze kissing every inch of my skin. I wanted nothing more, and I felt like my lurid thoughts were reflected right back on my face. What the hell was wrong with me? I’d never been like this around him before. Sure, I’d always had a crush, but I’d never gotten so flustered in his presence, like my hormones had throttled my body into overdrive.
“Right.” He cleared his throat and backed away. “Of course. I wasn’t thinking. You can’t wear those.”
I dragged my eyes from the floor to meet his eyes. He looked as uncomfortable as I felt, though I imagined his unease was for a completely different reason. I felt on edge because I wanted to jump his bones. He probably felt weird because he was telling his best friend’s daughter she needed to undress.
Did he notice how different I looked these days? I’d filled out…a lot. My breasts were C cups, my waist was slim yet curvy, and my legs were long and firm from the squats I’d added to my routine in the university gym. Usually my clothes didn’t do much to accentuate my curves, but I suddenly wished they did. For the first time since I could remember, I was alone with Blaze. In his house. And I was about to be very naked in his bathtub, covered in sudsy soap.
“Go ahead and get the bath started. I’ll be back in a minute with something for you to wear.”
He disappeared out of the bathroom, and I let out a long breath I’d been holding. My cheeks were hot, flaming from a strange mixture of desire and embarrassment. What had gotten into me? I was usually so good at hiding my feelings. Just because Blaze had brought me home with him didn’t mean anything would happen between us.
In fact, it was just as much as an impossibility as it ever had been.
I needed to get a grip, calm myself down before I made a total idiot out of myself in front of the man. Taking in deep breaths, I peered at myself in the mirror. Two bright spots dotted my soot-covered cheeks, and my usually straight and orderly hair was sticking out like I’d stuck my hand in a light socket. I almost had to laugh at the sight of myself. Here I was, letting my mind wander about Blaze, getting over-excited about being alone with him in his cabin. And I looked like this. Even if I wasn’t his best friend’s daughter, his mind would most certainly not be on sex right now, not with a girl who looked like she’d just been rolling around in a dirt field.
It was not my best look.
“Here you are.” Blaze popped his head around the door with his eyes half-closed, almost as if he thought I’d be in here waiting for him naked…Half-closed, not fully closed, I noted to myself. Had he actually tried to look? At me? Surely I had to be imagining things. There was no way Blaze Marshall, the hunkiest firefighting man of my deepest of dreams, still decked out in his sexy uniform and smelling of heat, was the slightest bit interested in seeing me without my clothes on….
Or was he?
In his hands, he held a flannel shirt—his—and a pair of boxer shorts. “I realize you’re not going to want to wear this out in public, but it’ll do for now. I’ll find something more…your size…for you tomorrow.”
Because he wasn’t wrong. With his muscular frame, Blaze was twice my size, and his shirt would no doubt swallow me whole. I didn’t mind though, not for tonight. In fact, the thought of sleeping in his clothes sent a thrill from the tip of my head to the ends of my toes.
“Thanks, Blaze,” I said, my voice soft and slightly strained. My yearning for him was even seeping into the way I spoke, like my desire had taken control of my body and decided that it wanted to show him, once and for all, exactly what I thought of him.
Blaze Marshall wasn’t some older man I thought of like a father. He wasn’t even my father’s best friend, not to me. He was so much more than that.
It made the tension in the room—the one-sided tension building up inside my desperate body—ramp up about five million more degrees.
“Right.” Blaze cleared his throat again, and I had to wonder if it was from the smoke that had filled his lungs…or something more.
“I’ll rustle up some food while you get clean.” He handed me the clothes and left me alone in the bathroom once and for all.
But even though his presence no longer filled the room, the tension was still palpable in the air. I could feel him in every inch of the wood walls, the rustic sink, the claw-footed tub. He’d installed all of this all by himself with his rough but gentle hands, and every small imperfection—a chip in the wood here, a mark on the floor there—only enhanced the homey, comforting feel of the place.
And as I eased my tired body into the warm water, I found myself feeling far more at home in the cabin than I’d ever felt in the university dorms where I spent most of my time. The wind howled through the trees just outside the tiny window over the tub, and I could see the glittering stars overhead. Since there was so little light pollution in this part of the country, the Milky Way was visible from the naked eye, even through the window.
As I began to relax into the water, my thoughts began to wander to back to Blaze and the way he’d stormed through the raging fire to rescue me from the staircase. He’d had determination and char on his face, and his muscles had been hard and strong under my hands. It had been the sexiest moment of my life…of course, that wasn’t saying much.
I’d never been with a guy in my life. I’d never so much as fooled around.
My hand found my hard nipples as I remembered the way that Blaze’s hands had brushed across my body when he’d wanted to make sure I was alright. I imagined those hands lifting my shirt over my hand, brushing against my skin and sending electric shocks coursing through my veins.
Moaning, my hand trailed down my stomach and pressed against my clit. Even though I was covered in soapy water, I could feel the wetness pooling between my thighs as the aching need within me grew and grew. I spread my legs wide in the tub and imagined it was Blaze’s tongue stroking against me, going faster and faster and faster until…
Blaze cracked open the door just as I moaned aloud once more. I gasped and froze, and our eyes locked across the room. Red flooded his face, and his mouth dropped open. A few long and silent moments passed with the two of us staring at each other. My heart pounded in my chest, and I couldn’t force myself to move. All I could do was sit there under his gaze, caught in the act.
He stared a moment longer, dropped his gaze to my chest, swallowed hard, and closed the door.
Chapter
Four
The next morning, I sat up straight as soon as I awoke, my heart pounding hard as I remembered exactly where I was. In Blaze’s house. In Blaze’s bed. In Blaze’s clothes. He hadn’t said much to me after I’d finally climbed out of the bath with my mortification hanging heavy in my gut. He hadn’t even been able to look me in the eyes. He’d passed me a sandwich he’d made and shown me to his room the moment I’d finished the last bite. And despite my protestations, he’d insisted I slept in his bed while he took the couch.
My embarrassment knew no bounds. All I could do was relive the moment over and over when he’d opened the bathroom door and caught me touching myself, my mind full of his hands and tongue and cock all over me.
I would never be able to look him in the eyes again.
And I had to stay here until my parents returned from France.
Maybe after the little incident, I might be able to convince him that I was better off staying with Rachel. Though…I had to admit to myself that leaving his cabin was the last thing in the world I wanted to do.
Birds chirped just outside the window, reminding me that I would have to leave Blaze’s bedroom eventually. And when the sound was joined by the rhythmic chopping of wood, I finally convinced my body to slither out of the bed. I still wore his flannel shirt, and it hung all the way to my knees as I padded out of his room and to the front door. It had been left cracked open, and I poked my head outside to see Blake wiping sweat from his brow.
And he looked good. He’d hung his flannel shirt on a wooden post beside him, and his whole body rippled as he lifted the axe from the ground. Beads of sweat trailed down his skin, and every cell in my body desperately craved to run my tongue down the ridges of his abs. He hefted the axe in the air and cut another log in two, grunting with pure masculinity.
I could just eat him up.
And the wetness pooling between my thighs agreed.
As he added the chopped wood to a growing pile on the ground before him, his eyes caught sight of me standing in the doorway. He stood slowly, almost as if in slow motion, and his eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “Morning, Poppy. You sleep okay?”
“Best sleep of my life,” I said, realizing it was true. Despite my utter mortification, I’d felt enveloped by his comfortable, warm bed and had drifted off to sleep in record time. It wasn’t until the chopping wood had awoken me that I’d had a break in my deep sleep.
“Good, good.” He wiped his face with the back of his arms, and I swallowed hard, trying not to stare at the way his tight muscles chorded through his chest. “Listen, I’ve tried calling your folks and haven’t been able to get through yet. You okay staying here a little longer?”
Seeing him standing before me now, a perfect specimen of rugged masculinity, my earlier plan to flee to Rachel’s house suddenly seemed like the worst plan I’d ever had in my life. Why the hell would I leave when this was here? Sure, I’d made an idiot out of myself, but if he wasn’t going to bring it up? Neither was I.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I said with a smile.
“Good.” He smiled back. “Just as long as you’re okay with dressing like a lumberjack for another day. It’s New Year’s Day, after all. The shops in town are all shut.”
Little did he know, I could spend the rest of my life wearing nothing but his clothes, and I’d be the happiest girl in the world.
While Blaze chopped wood, I took stock of his cabin. Dishes cluttered the kitchen counter, and wood chips were scattered across the rugs on the floor. Dust had coated most of the surfaces, a clear sign that while Blaze liked to live on the basics, he also wasn’t much for cleaning.
If he was going to let me stay here, I might as well make myself useful. With a lightness in my heart and a hum in my throat, I got to work after finding some barely-touched cleaning supplies underneath his kitchen sink. I dusted every surface and scrubbed the dishes, sweeping the wood chips into a bucket. His place was small, so it didn’t take very long, and by the time he thudded into the house after chopping wood, his cabin was tidy, clean, and fresh.
He stopped short and glanced around. “Poppy? You didn’t have to do all this, sweet stuff.”
My heart thrilled at the words sweet stuff.
“I know I didn’t.” I gave him a timid smile. “I just wanted to show my appreciation for, you know, how you saved my life and everything.”
“Well.” He shook his head and stood taller, surveying my handiwork with a glint in his eye. “It looks great in here. But you didn’t have to thank me.”
“If it weren’t for you, who knows what would have happened?” My voice cracked, and I pressed my hand onto the countertop to keep myself steady. It was a thought I’d tried to push aside, but it was threatening to finally break through. Because of my bad choices, I’d come far too close to losing everything the night before. And if it weren’t for Blaze, I might not have even been standing there now.
“Oh, Poppy.” Blaze shut the door and crossed the room in two big strides. He caught me in his arms and pulled me to his chest, and the sudden shock of his closeness made my breath catch in my throat. Well, this was certainly unexpected, especially after the way he’d caught me in the bath last night. “You’re okay. I’d never let anything happen to you.”
Why? I wanted to ask him. Why wouldn’t you let anything happen to me? Because I was his best friend’s daughter? Or was there something more to it than that? I was beginning to suspect my feelings for him might not be as one-sided as I thought. I’d seen the flush in his cheeks, the way he’d swallowed hard when his eyes got caught on my breasts. And now, this. The way he held me was gentle and strong at the same time, and I could hear his rapid heartbeat in his chest, pumping as hard as my own.
“I’m sorry this is how you have to spend New Year’s Day.” He pulled back and gestured around him at the cabin. “It’s not exactly a great start to your year, huh?”
He was so far off the mark I could have laughed out loud.
“Actually, this is exactly how I’d like to spend my new year.” I felt the heat in my cheeks grow. “I’m not really a fan of parties. I’d rather…I don’t know, sit by the fire and play board games than do keg stands and watch people fall over.”
Something in his eyes burned right through me as he stood there silent for a long and excruciating moment. Did he think I was lame? Sure, he loved the calm and the quiet, but he was also sixteen years older than me. What college student in her right mind would rather have a night full of board games than a night full of whiskey-laden dancing?
“It’s settled then.” Blaze strode across the room and swung open a closet door that revealed shelves full of books, board games, and bottles of wine. “To make up for your less than stellar night last night, you and me, we’ll do it right. What kind of games do you like? I’ve got all kinds here. Monopoly, Risk, Trivial Pursuit.”
“Anything,” I said in a whisper, not daring to speak any louder than that for fear this entire moment would disappear in the blink of an eye. I’d dreamed of this kind of thing happening for years. Blaze and I were actually going to spend time together, like we were actual peers. Friends. Companions. Maybe if he could truly see me as someone on his level, then things between us might turn out to be the way I’d always hoped. This was my one chance. I couldn’t screw it up. “Anything at all.”
Chapter Five
Blaze and I settled on Monopoly, but I didn’t really have much of a mind for the game. As the fire flickered behind Blaze, all I could focus on was the way his muscular silhouette looked in the darkness. The way his biceps shifted as he rolled the dice. The smirk on his face when he got exactly what he wanted.
And what I wanted? Wasn’t to win the game. I wanted him to take me as his prize.
“Would you like a top up?” Blaze raised the wine bottle and nodded toward my empty glass. Even though I’d never been much for alcohol, this situation felt different. It was a deliciously sweet red, and we were snuggled up in Blaze’s cabin while snow began to pile up o
utside. The wasn’t beer stands or pounding dubstep. It wasn’t hoards of swaying bodies pressing in from all sides. It was me, Blaze, a roaring fire, and the electric tension sparking between us.
Because yes, there was tension. While I hadn’t been certain before, I definitely was now. Every time Blaze glanced my way, his eyes sparked with something deep and something fierce, almost as if he were remembering the moment when he’d walked in on my hand rubbing my clit. Almost as if he wanted to replay the moment again.
His eyes kept dropping down to my legs, at where his boxer briefs were riding up my thighs. I was glad I’d remembered to shave the day before. Otherwise, I was pretty sure his reaction wouldn’t have been as intense as it was now. I pulled my ponytail tighter and swallowed hard.
Taking a deep breath, I leaned forward to move my board piece down six properties, letting his shirt hang open just enough to give him a glimpse of my cleavage. And it worked. I heard him suck in a sharp breath, his body betraying him as much as mine had in the bath. My hand trembled as I moved my piece one more space, and as I sat back on my heels, Blaze’s hand grazed against my knee.
My whole body went stiff as a board, and my heart jerked in my chest. Had he done that on purpose? Or had he simply been reaching for the dice? Slowly, with my breath held tight in my throat, I raised my eyes to meet his. He was staring at me, something dark and stormy twisting in his gaze.
“Poppy,” he said in a low voice that almost sounded like a growl. “What were you doing in my bathroom last night?”
I swallowed hard. So here it was. I’d thought we were both going to pretend that nothing had happened, that he hadn’t walked in on me moaning aloud with pleasure. But he’d finally confronted the elephant squatting between us, and my entire face flamed in response.
