by Jane Jamison
Black eyes zeroed in on her, then slid over to Ruthie. His smile widened as he lifted his hand in a greeting. The pulsing that had already started during their talk of sex cranked up another notch, taking her way beyond anything Beth had ever experienced outside a bedroom. She didn’t know whether his allure was from his deep tan or his dark eyes, but she didn’t care. He was a stone-cold hottie who had taken her body without a single touch.
She let out a breath as she turned her attention to his friend. He was as tanned as the other man, but his blond hair was left a little longer to curl around his ears and tease the darker stubble running along his jawline. Laugh lines crinkled around the edges of his mocha-colored eyes. Like his friend, the shirt he wore outlined the contour of his pecs and his washboard stomach. If she could’ve chosen anyone to save her from a burning building, it would’ve been them.
They were beside her table before she had time to ask Ruthie if she knew them. It would’ve been a silly question anyway. From the way they looked at her, this wasn’t the first time they’d seen each other.
Why hasn’t Ruthie ever told me about these guys?
They were there, the blond one standing next to her seat. She watched, fascinated as his lips moved, then studied the muscles in his arm as he lifted his hand and brushed back a lock of his hair.
“Bethie? Yo? Earth to Bethie.”
They stared at her, making the heat around her much hotter than before they’d arrived. Didn’t the restaurant have any air conditioning?
They stared at her as though they expected her to speak.
She blinked. “What?” Forcing herself to look at Ruthie was a lot harder than it should’ve been. Her eyes didn’t want to leave the men. “Did you say something?”
Ruthie didn’t bother holding back her grin. “Yeah. I’ve been talking to you for the past couple of minutes.”
Ruthie motioned for the dark-eyed hunk to slide into the booth and sit next to her. He did, moving his body more gracefully than most men ever could.
“Um,” the blond cleared his throat, “can I sit here?”
She blinked again.
I must look like an idiot. Or a flirt.
“Oh. Yes. Sure. Please.”
Were there any more monosyllabic words she could’ve said? She not only looked like a blinking idiot, now she sounded like one.
The blond took his place next to her. The warmth in the room doubled yet again. She glanced around the room, hoping to wave the manager down and ask him to check the air conditioner.
“Bethie, this is Aaron Mason.” Ruthie bumped her arm against the dark-haired man. “And the firefighter next to you is Seth Sheppard. They work down the street at Fire Station No. 2. And this, guys, is my best friend, Bethie Davidson.”
“Beth.” She’d had to correct them. The name Bethie made her sound like a high school girl.
“Hi.”
Yep. Great. I can stare. I can blink. And I’m still speaking in one syllable answers.
She died inside and leaned the other way. Maybe if she put at least half a foot between them, Seth wouldn’t notice the sweat popping out along the back of her neck. Granted, she’d never had an easy way with men the way Ruthie had with everyone, but she’d always managed to keep up with a conversation. These men, however, had taken her brain and mushed it into a non-working mess of worthless gray matter.
“Anyway, I’ve known them for years through my brothers.”
And she’s just now introducing them to her? What the hell?
“Normally, I wouldn’t admit this, but they’re really good guys who are always ready to help. Isn’t that right, guys?”
“She’s right.” Seth’s smile was perfect, bright, and pearly white. “In fact, it’s kind of our thing.”
“O-kay.”
“Ruthie, we’re sorry we can’t stay to eat, but we’ve got to get back. What’s on your mind?”
Suddenly, the libido-revving choke-hold they’d had on her mind turned her loose. “Wait. So Ruthie invited you to lunch?” At least she’d gotten out more than one word in a sentence.
Seth laughed and leaned back against the cushion seat. If she looked down, she’d get a great eyeshot of his crotch. She forced herself to stare straight ahead at Ruthie.
Ruthie tilted her head and widened her eyes, giving her a pointed look that no one within a hundred miles could’ve missed. “Bethie, uh, Beth, you know I did. Remember? I told you earlier?”
She wanted to say no, wanted to, for once, make Ruthie admit that she hadn’t said one word. She would’ve remembered her talking about two sexy firefighters. But she couldn’t. She’d always have her friend’s back, no matter what she did. “Oh, yeah. Of course.”
“So?” Although speaking to Ruthie, Aaron’s obsidian gaze locked onto her. “You said it was important, so here we are.”
“It is important. You see, Beth is my best friend and she wants to go to nursing school.”
“Hey, that’s great.” Seth shifted in his seat so he faced Beth. “My mom is a nurse. Not here, though. She’s in Wyoming.”
“And?” added Aaron.
It seemed Seth was the chatty one of the pair.
“And”—Ruthie placed her hands, fingers laced, in front of her on the table—“she needs money for tuition.”
They were confused. That much was certain. “I’m not sure why Ruthie’s telling you guys this. I didn’t even know you were coming.”
Crap. Now they know the truth.
“We picked up on that.” Aaron crooked the side of his mouth into a slanted smile that made her want to skim her tongue over his lips. “So you want us to help you get money for your tuition? Is that it?”
“What? No. Of course not. I mean…” Had Ruthie brought them there to ask for donations?
“Yes, we do. But not in the way you’re thinking.” Ruthie took a drink, then went on. “We’re not asking for handouts or a collection drive at the station. We want you to help us earn the money.”
This is a bad idea. It feels like I’m begging.
Suddenly, she wanted to run and hide in the bathroom. What next? Offering her body to them for money? “Ruthie, stop. This isn’t working out. I’ll have to think of some other way.”
“Oh, bull. It’s a great idea and these guys are perfect for it.”
She was right about that. She couldn’t imagine a more perfect pair of men to grace a sexy calendar.
“Ruthie.” Aaron squared away at her friend. “Do you need the team?” He glanced at Beth, assessing her with his intense scrutiny. “The Firemen for Hire team?”
“The Firemen for Hire team?” With a name like that, she had to wonder if they were real firefighters. Were they male exotic dancers and that was their stage name for their group? But Ruthie had said they worked at the station down the street. Maybe they moonlighted as dancers? Or even gigolos? After all, firefighters weren’t paid half of what they were worth.
She wondered how much they charged if they were gigolos, then pushed that thought away. Still, if she ever paid for that kind of thing, she’d fork over the cash for them in a heartbeat. The conversation had taken an interesting turn.
“She doesn’t know about the Firemen for Hire thing, guys. Why don’t you explain it to her?”
She paused, unsure if her friend had set her up for a joke. It wouldn’t have been the first prank Ruthie had played.
Their waitress stopped by to ask if they “needed anything else.” If the interest she showed the men was any indication, she couldn’t have cared less if Ruthie or she wanted a four-course meal. For the men, however, she’d probably have jumped through fiery hoops. Beth felt the rush of jealousy at the way she’d said the word anything. She was happy when Seth told her that they were fine, then looked away from the brunette with the huge breasts.
Wow. Jealous over men I just met. I am officially pathetic.
“Okay, here it is in a nutshell.” Aaron glanced around them as she’d done earlier, thinking someone might overhear him. “
The Firemen for Hire teams help women who are in trouble.”
Fascinated, she asked, “What kind of trouble?”
“Like when an ex-boyfriend or husband is harassing them. Or maybe they’ve gone to the police, but the police can’t or won’t help. We help out in any way we can, but most of the time, we’re helping women who really need it. They’re women who have nowhere else to turn.”
It was obvious that he didn’t think helping her get money for tuition was up to the Firemen for Hire team’s standards. The rush of heat sliding up her cheeks didn’t help cool her off any. “I understand. And trust me, I wouldn’t have asked for your help. I didn’t even know you were coming. Besides, I don’t have the money to pay you.”
“Don’t worry about repaying us.” Seth snatched the pickle off her plate. “We don’t work that way. When we help a lady, then all we ask is that she help someone else in return. It’s a pay-it-forward kind of arrangement.”
Was Ruthie not telling her something else? “Ruthie, did you help them? Or did they help you?”
She shrugged. “The guys came to me and asked me to give a woman a safe place to stay until they could sort out her problem. It wasn’t anything hard to do. However, it did earn me a favor from them.”
“It was more than that.” Aaron shifted his body toward Ruthie. “The woman’s ex could’ve found you and hurt both of you. You put your life on the line for a stranger and we don’t take that lightly.”
“Wow, Ruthie. That’s amazing. I wished you’d told me.”
Ruthie shrugged, then leveled her gaze on Aaron. “So let me get this straight. Bethie has to have a deranged ex-boyfriend on her ass for you two to give a shit?”
Aaron sat back and crossed his arms. “Come on, Ruthie, you know this isn’t the kind of stuff we do.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Beth cringed when Ruthie shifted in her seat, crossed her arms like Aaron had, then scowled. “I also know that you said something about returning that favor whenever I needed it. Well, that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m calling in that favor.”
She could sense Seth tensing up. “You know what kind of favor we meant.”
“Really? Because I don’t remember either one of you saying anything else. You didn’t say it had to pass a certain level of danger for you to consider getting involved.”
Aaron let out a hard breath. “You’re right. But are you sure you want to use that favor now and not when you really need it? You know. When it’s really important?”
“I do and this is important. Getting my friend what she wants, what she’s dreamed of, is very important. So? Are you going to help us or what?”
Beth couldn’t stand the idea of forcing them to help with her problem. “It’s okay. Really. I wouldn’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
Seth leaned closer. “We kind of live by that standard.” His sensual brown eyes slid down then back up her body as she’d wanted to do to his earlier. “So how can we help? I don’t have a lot saved up, but it’s yours if you want it.”
Her mouth parted, stunned at his generosity. “Oh, no. I couldn’t take your money. You don’t even know me.”
The curve of his mouth drove her insane with the need to touch it. Would he mind if she brushed her thumb over his lips? If she did, would he suck her finger into his mouth? She swallowed, positive she’d melt into a pool of liquid sexual need if the heat got any hotter.
“That’s not what we had in mind.” She heard the humor in Ruthie’s voice.
Seth eased back, relieving her and disappointing her at the same time. “Then what exactly do you have in mind?”
Ruthie grinned, then put her hand on Aaron’s muscled arm and squeezed. “We want you to pose for our sexy firefighter calendar.”
* * * *
Aaron had a difficult time keeping his eyes off Beth. The fact that Ruthie knew a beautiful woman like this and hadn’t told him made him want to ring her neck just like one of her brothers would’ve done.
He was as close to Ruthie as a brother. Now that he thought about it, he remembered her mentioning her best friend, Beth, but she’d never shown him any photos or told him that the woman was drop-dead, smokin’ hot.
He didn’t like blondes much. Had, in fact, always been drawn to brunettes, thinking that they were sexier with their long, dark hair. But Beth Davidson had changed his mind the moment she’d twisted around in her seat and looked his way. Her hair was silky, flowing over her shoulders in a waterfall of gold. Her face was oval, with the cutest little nose and pouty lips that looked like she’d been kissed hard. Light blue eyes, the color of a robin’s egg, had widened when they’d sat down. He’d sensed her surprise, had seen the quickened rise and fall of her chest, and had wanted nothing more than to draw her into his arms and tell her everything would be all right. She had a great body, with curves in all the right places, and perky little breasts that would fit his hands with nothing left over.
Simply put, she was the kind of woman they’d waited for.
He caught Seth’s attention, and in that unspoken way they had, knew that his step-brother felt the same way. They’d grown up in the small town of Destiny, Oklahoma, after his father had married Seth’s mother. As the older teen, he’d tried to remain aloof from his new brother, but it hadn’t taken long before Seth’s outgoing personality had won him over. From that point on, they’d considered themselves brothers, not by marriage, but by a natural connection that neither one of them bothered to question. As he often said, “It is what it is.” Why question a good thing?
The one time they’d been separated was when Aaron had moved to Tulsa to do the only job he’d ever wanted to do. After watching Aaron become a firefighter, Seth had decided that he, too, wanted to fight fires and save lives. Later, when Paul Winchester had asked him to join the growing Firemen for Hire team, he’d suggested that Seth join, too. As he should’ve known, Paul had planned to recruit Seth the next day.
He jerked away from his thoughts and back on the beauty across the table. When Beth parted her lips, he had to restrain himself from throwing his body over the top, clutching her by the arms and crushing his mouth to hers.
“We want you to pose for our sexy firefighter calendar.”
Sexy firefighter calendar? Had he heard Ruthie right? “Aw, hell, no. There’s no way we’re posing for one of those things.”
“Aaron isn’t right a lot of the time, but he’s right about that.” Seth’s smile had died. “I want to help you, Beth, but we’ve had other people ask us to pose, and we’ve turned them down flat. I’d rather give or loan you the money. Hell, I’d rather beg on the street for donations. But a calendar? Naw, it’s not happening.”
“Come on, guys, it’s for a good cause.”
“Ruthie.” Beth was mortified. Anyone could see it. “It’s not like I’m a charity for sick kids. No, forget it. It was a stupid idea anyway.”
“No, it’s not.”
Aaron was used to Ruthie’s take-no-prisoner attitude. When she wanted something, she’d move heaven and earth to get it. And since the something she wanted was for her best friend, she’d go to even greater lengths to make it happen. “Ruthie, ask for a different favor. Seth’s right. It’s not happening.”
Ruthie’s determined expression didn’t leave him much hope that she’d listen to him. He cleared his throat, caught Seth’s attention again, and shot him a warning look.
Get ready, man.
Ruthie rested her back against the side of the booth. “So that’s the way it’s going to be? You get to decide when I can cash in my favor? Seems to me I didn’t ask any questions when you asked me to let that woman stay at my apartment for a month.”
“Wait. Now I remember. Are you talking about Edith Walker? You told me she was your aunt.”
“I’m sorry, Beth, but I lied. I had to keep her real identity a secret until they solved her problem.”
Beth appeared hurt. “I guess I understand.”
Damn, but he
liked the sound of her voice. It had a musical quality about it.
“See? Beth remembers her. But I guess you guys don’t.”
He was fighting a losing battle and he knew it. “Yeah, we remember and we’re very grateful that you helped her.” He didn’t bother checking with Seth. He could tell that he’d already given up by his silence. “Okay. Go on. Tell us more about the calendar.”
Beth’s face brightened, making her more beautiful than before. “Seriously? You’ll consider doing it?”
“Yeah. We’ll do it.” Her smile was worth any amount of humiliation he’d catch from the guys at the station.
His stomach did an awful lurch when her smile died. “What’s wrong?”
Beth took a swig of her drink, obviously trying to gain a little courage. “Before I take you up on it, you should know that our calendar isn’t going to be like other firefighter calendars.”
“It’s not?” Seth leaned toward her again. “We won’t be standing around looking all buff and ripped with our shirts off? Maybe an axe in one hand and our helmet on our heads?”
Aaron had no reason to be jealous of his half-joking step-brother. After all, they’d talked for the past year about sharing one woman. And yet, there it was. He wanted first dibs on her.
Beth had a difficult time keeping eye contact. She tore at her napkin, her nerves on display. “Not exactly. Instead of having firefighters in their uniforms standing by, say, a bale of hay and some pumpkins for the month of October, we want to appeal to women’s, um, real fantasies.”
“I’m not sure I understand.” Funny, how Ruthie had grown silent.
“We want to put firefighters in, um, more provocative poses.”
Provocative? He wasn’t sure her definition of the word provocative matched his. “What does that mean? Give us an example.”
“Ruthie?”
Ruthie shook her head and waved her off. “You’re doing a fine job. Go on and tell them. You can do that, can’t you?”
Aaron wasn’t sure, but he imagined that Ruthie had just dared Beth. Although Beth seemed shy, he had a feeling that she was made of stronger stuff. She just needed someone to help her find her inner core of strength. The possibility of his being that person intrigued him more than ever.
