The Firefighter's Christmas Reunion

by Christy Jeffries

  They didn’t speak as they walked down the hallway, the thick, plush carpeting muting their steps, making the silence all the more deafening. But he remained quiet because he didn’t want to risk saying anything that would scare her away.

  The tiny light above his doorknob turned green, but his hand was so unsteady it slipped on the handle and he had to insert his key all over again.

  “Can I get you something else to drink?” he asked, stopping by the mini fridge.

  “No, I probably shouldn’t. But if you don’t mind...” She braced one hand on the entry wall, balancing herself as she slid each foot out of her heels. “These things have been killing me.”

  Isaac’s mouth went dry and he yanked out a cold bottle of water, trying not to think about what else she could remove to make herself more comfortable. “Make yourself at home.”

  She walked toward him and he was slow to step aside as she passed between the dresser and the bed. The thin, floaty material of her dress brushed against the fabric of his slacks and Isaac’s skin flooded with heat. Did Hannah have any idea what her closeness was doing to him?

  Probably not. She’d always been the type of woman who didn’t go out of her way to enhance her beauty, who didn’t use her looks to get what she wanted. It was why he’d fallen for her that first summer. Not only had Hannah not been impressed with all the things Isaac’s dad had bought him back then, she was the one who’d made him want to work twice as hard to prove himself worthy of everything he’d been given.

  She stood in front of the open window, her back to him as she looked out at the night sky, and he walked up behind her. “You should see the view in the daytime.”

  “I can imagine it right now.”

  “You always could see things for what they really were. People for who they really were.”

  The light from the lamp near the desk caused a muted reflection in the glass and she didn’t have to turn around to make eye contact with him. She didn’t step away when he stood close to her. In fact, it could’ve been wishful thinking on Isaac’s part, but it almost felt as though she was arching her back, leaning toward him.

  Using their reflections, Isaac’s eyes stayed locked on hers as he put a hand on her waist. Heat raced up his spine when she put her own palm over his and held him there. Hannah’s admission downstairs had been emotional and he wasn’t the type of guy who took advantage of a female when she was vulnerable—not that Hannah would ever allow herself to be vulnerable. Still, he wasn’t about to put the moves on her if she wasn’t willing.

  As Isaac drew in a deep breath, his chest pressed against the smooth, bare skin of her back. He was aching to touch her. Hannah pulled on his hand, dragging it along her waist until it was settled onto the flat plane of her stomach. He spread his fingers, his thumb brushing the seam in the fabric just below her breasts.

  “You still smell the same,” he said, his voice shakier than he’d intended. “Like that pear and honey lotion you used to buy at the farmer’s market.”

  Her head tilted back until it rested on his shoulder, putting her forehead mere inches from his lips. “Your hands still feel the same. Although I have a feeling other parts of you have changed.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like your arms. They seem bigger.” She ran her free hand up over his biceps and Isaac’s muscles instinctively flexed.

  “Fire hoses are very heavy.”

  “And your chest seems wider.” Hannah turned in his arms, her fingers trailing over his pecs to the knot in his tie. She eased it loose and Isaac gulped, keeping both of his palms planted steadily on her hips.

  Hannah undid the first few buttons of his shirt, her thumbs tracing along his velvety dark skin as she made her way down. He threw back his head and groaned before pulling her hips closer against his own, the length of his erection pressed against her.

  “I see that hasn’t changed,” she whispered as she reached between their bodies to unbuckle his belt.

  Her eyes were steady as she stared into his, not needing to watch what she was doing because it was all by feel. By the time her fingers landed on his zipper, his hand was cupped along the back of her head, and he lowered his face and claimed her lips in a searing kiss.

  Or, rather, she claimed his.

  He would’ve liked to take his time, to savor every second, every touch. But Isaac had waited too long for this moment. He didn’t know where his moans ended and hers began, but they both worked frantically to remove every item of clothing between them. He caught a glimpse of her bare backside reflected in the window, but before he could study and admire those curves, she was stepping forward, moving him toward the bed.

  “Are you sure this is what you want, Hannah?” he asked when the backs of his knees hit the mattress and he went down onto the bed. He leaned on his elbows, watching her as her eyes seemed to drink in the length of him. Isaac had asked her the same question ten years ago, and just like then, he held his breath, waiting for her response.

  Like then, she answered by slowly unpinning her hair. But that was where the similarities stopped. Because, this time, they were older, they were wiser and they had years of pent-up desire to make up for.

  Their bodies came together in a clash of heat, their hands touching everywhere their mouths couldn’t. Hannah straddled him, rocking her hips as she slid herself against his shaft. It would only be a matter of seconds before he slipped inside and it took every ounce of strength to hold her still.

  “I need to get something,” he whispered before reaching toward the floor, feeling around for his pants. Finally, his hand landed on them and he was able to retrieve his wallet out of the pocket.

  “I’m glad to see you brought your own,” she said, referring to that night in her boatshed when she’d had to pull a box of condoms out of the drugstore bag she’d hidden under a life vest.

  “In my defense, I didn’t exactly know what you had planned.”

  “I didn’t, either.” Hannah’s nipples were tight and hard, pressing against his side as she watched him unroll the condom. “I still don’t.”

  Then she raised herself over him again before gently lowering her body on his. After that, she proceeded to show Isaac that all of the planning in the world couldn’t have prepared him for how incredible it would feel when they finally came back together.

  Chapter Twelve

  A humming sound penetrated Hannah’s fuzzy brain. She opened her eyes to pitch blackness and kept absolutely still as her mind tried to orient itself. Her body was warm, her limbs relaxed, despite the heavy weight across her stomach. What was that? Tentatively reaching down, she sucked in a deep breath when she encountered the steely forearm draped over her waist.

  Isaac.

  She was in his hotel room. More importantly, she was completely naked in his hotel room, pressed up to him in the huge king-size bed. She hadn’t had so much to drink that she’d forgotten what they’d done when she followed him up here the previous night. And she hadn’t had so much that she’d forgotten the first time they’d made love, ten years ago, either. Not that she had been comparing the two experiences, but back then it had been sweet, slightly clumsy and so very poignant.

  Last night had been anything but. It was as if all that time apart had built up between them and they’d finally come together in a clash of passion and intensity. And if Hannah was being honest with herself, their connection was even more powerful now, her climax had been more earth-shattering.

  There was that humming sound again. Hannah turned to the vibration coming from the glass-topped nightstand and stretched to grab her cell phone, carefully dislodging Isaac’s arm without waking him. Her heart sped up when she saw the notification of a text from her mom. It was almost two in the morning and the message was only a few minutes old.

  Sammy had a bad dream and is asking for you. I’d bring him to you, but I forgot which room you’re
in.

  Since she wasn’t currently in her own, she should’ve felt relief that her mom had forgotten. That her mom and Sammy weren’t standing on the other side of the door to room 406, wondering where she was. Instead, the only thing she felt was a sharp stab of shame for abandoning her son when he needed her, leaving the boy with her mother while Hannah played a game of rekindle the romance with her former flame.

  Whipping her head around, Hannah used the dim light of her screen to confirm that Isaac was still asleep. It was bad enough that she’d fallen under his spell so easily last night. She didn’t need him seeing her in the light of day to remind her of what an easy conquest she’d been. Again.

  That wasn’t fair. If anything, Isaac had been the hesitant one and Hannah had been the one to make the first... No. She needed to get out of here, not relive the way her body had come alive just from the way he looked at her.

  She sat up gently; it seemed to take forever to scoot off the bed without shaking him awake. Now, what had she done with her dress? Rather, where had she been standing when she’d willingly and shamelessly taken it off? She hit her big toe on the wooden leg of the high-backed chair in the sitting area, dropping her phone and muffling a yelp. Hannah sank to her knees and patted the carpet around her as she blindly searched for her cell.

  When she finally found it, she used the flashlight app to hunt for her lost clothing, but had to keep the thing angled downward so she didn’t accidentally shine it in Isaac’s direction. Finding the blush chiffon dress piled in a heap near the edge of the sofa was relatively simple, and when Isaac let out a mild snore and rolled onto his back, a pair of nude panties tumbled off the bed. But after several more seconds of searching, Hannah decided that she would just have to live without her strapless bra.

  Still kneeling on the floor, she shimmied into her dress and got a kink in her neck twisting to zip up the back. She stood and padded in her bare feet back to the nightstand to retrieve her little purse, then remembered that she’d taken her heels off as soon as they’d arrived. Hannah scooped those up on her way out, the straps hanging from her thumb as she tried to balance her phone and purse in one hand as she used the other to ease the door closed.

  An adrenaline-fueled rush of air tore out of her lungs and she looked at the mirror in the hallway, her chest rising and falling as she tried to congratulate herself for escaping unnoticed. However, the only thing she could tell her reflection was that there was no way she could go collect her son wearing a rumpled dress and the shoes that had been pinching her feet all night. It didn’t help that all the bobby pins from her updo were long gone, while the gallon of extra-hold styling spray remained, making her resemble a vixen from an eighties rock music video.

  She was supposed to be asleep. Or, at least, asleep in her own room. She couldn’t very well show up on the front step of her parents’ RV looking like she’d just done the walk of shame. Hannah debated how long it would take her to run up to her room so that she could change into something more appropriate. Even her pajamas would be a vast improvement and make it more believable that she’d been in bed when she’d gotten the text—her own bed.

  But the vibrating phone in her hand made the decision for her. “Hi, Mom.” She answered the incoming call, wishing she hadn’t turned her ringer off and missed the first text. “I’m on my way to come get Sammy.”

  “Actually, your dad got him back to sleep so I was calling to tell you to just leave him here.”

  “Maybe I should still head that way?” Hannah offered in a hushed voice, looking over her shoulder as she did a tiptoe run to the elevator. “Just in case he wakes up again?”

  “No. The poor guy was just a little overstimulated is all. It’s been a big day with lots of excitement and the boys ate so much cake and did all that showing off on the dance floor. I got exhausted just watching them.”

  The reminder of her mom’s health made Hannah want to insist all the more. “But you’ll rest better if I bring him back to my room.”

  “Don’t worry about me.” Donna Gregson gave her classic response as Hannah stepped inside the elevator. “Besides, your dad has gone back to sleep next to Big Dot on the kitchen floor, since Sammy is on the dinette conversion bed. There’s no way to get through there without waking him up, too. Let me just write down your room number, and if Sammy has another bad dream, your dad will bring him straight up to you.”

  Hannah told her, then disconnected and stared at the round buttons on the elevator wall. She should’ve just gone to the fourth floor last night, instead of getting out on three with Isaac. They could’ve avoided all of this. But avoiding things was what had gotten Hannah into this situation in the first place.

  As the doors opened on her floor, Hannah stepped out into the quiet corridor. Now that her flight instincts had settled and she was no longer in the midst of her mad-dash escape, the tingling ache in her body grew with every step she took. Like something that had been lying dormant for so long just woke up and had a taste of what it hadn’t even known it was missing. Which was true enough, she had to admit, literally and otherwise.

  Unfortunately, she was going to have a hell of a time convincing her body that it didn’t want more.

  * * *

  Isaac wiped the sweat off his face with a hand towel as he left the small gym in the joint basement below the police and fire stations on Monday morning.

  It had taken every ounce of self-discipline he’d possessed to not call Hannah after he woke up alone in his hotel room on Sunday morning. When he fell asleep, sated in her arms, he’d truly believed they’d finally turned a corner. That maybe they could now put everything behind them and even possibly start again.

  But she’d sneaked out while he’d slept, like the high tide taking the glowing embers from a beach bonfire out to sea, his burning hopes floating away with her. No note. No text. No explanation. She’d needed a distraction last night, and he’d provided it, but he was sure her worry about her son and her mom and her reputation had quickly returned with the light of day. It was possible that an emergency had come up with either Sammy or Donna Gregson, but why wouldn’t she have woken him?

  He could’ve hung around the hotel lobby waiting to catch a glimpse of her going to the family brunch—which he hadn’t been invited to—but for all he knew she’d already returned to Sugar Falls. Besides, what would he say to her if he did see her? She was the one who held all the answers. Who held all the control.

  She always had.

  That was what happened when a man blindly put his heart in the hands of another. Not that he was repeating history or putting his heart out there again. Isaac hadn’t liked his powerlessness back then and he wasn’t about to tolerate it now. If Hannah wanted to pretend nothing had happened between them at the wedding, then he would double down and pretend even better.

  Isaac stretched his arms over his head as he returned to the main floor. After a workout like that, he normally would’ve rewarded himself with a protein shake and a metaphorical pat on the back, enjoying the sense of accomplishment after bench pressing more than either of the rookie cops who’d also been working out. But Isaac was craving some sausage gravy and little bit of reassurance that his early departure from the reception with Hannah wasn’t the source of any current gossip. The only place he’d find both of those things was at the Cowgirl Up Café.

  After his shower and a brief discussion with Reina Garcia, the lead medic on duty, Isaac grabbed a fleece pullover and clipped a yellow walkie-talkie to his belt before jogging across Snowflake Boulevard on his way to the café. With Thanksgiving week now over, Sugar Falls wasn’t even being subtle in its transformation into a winter wonderland. Of course, it helped that they’d had their first dusting of snow last night.

  The public works department had gone through and hung green wreaths on every Victorian lamppost. Garlands studded with red bows and white twinkling lights were strung across each intersection. T
he Ski Potato Festival was scheduled for this weekend and then the holiday merriment would really kick into gear.

  He kept his eyes on the lookout for Hannah’s environmentally friendly compact car and felt the walls of his chest loosen when he didn’t recognize any of the few vehicles parked on that block.

  Isaac did, however, note his uncle’s horse tethered to the hitching post right next to Blossom, Scooter’s mare. The warm, sausage-scented air greeted him as he crossed the threshold of the café. This early on a Monday after a holiday weekend all but guaranteed that there would only be a handful of customers in the restaurant, and just as Isaac had expected, he knew most of them. Freckles had a spandex-clad hip propped up on the wooden armrest of a chair by Jonesy and Scooter’s booth.

  If Isaac was looking for gossip, he’d certainly come to the right place. Making his way to the trio, he waved at Monica, the town’s librarian who sometimes picked up extra waitressing shifts at the Cowgirl Up. “Can I get a cup of decaf when you get a chance?”

  His body had been humming since Saturday night and Isaac didn’t need any extra caffeine coursing through him as he tried to act casual. As though he wasn’t the slightest bit interested in what anybody knew about him and Hannah.

  “Speak of the devil,” Freckles said when Isaac slid into the booth beside his uncle. Isaac schooled his features and hoped no one saw the wince he held back.

  “And he shall appear,” Isaac joked with forced indifference when what he really wanted to say was Whatever you heard about me, I can explain.

  “Did y’all have a good time at the wedding?” Freckles’ question immediately put Isaac on edge. Who did she mean by y’all? She was looking directly at him, yet the way she was smacking her chewing gum made her face hard to read. Luckily, the old-timers at the table with him loved to hear themselves talk.