“What’s that?”
“We are having an affair. We just haven’t gotten around to the making love part yet.”
“I’d kind of noticed that was missing.”
“I think this would be a good time to take care of that oversight.”
He lay so still, humiliation washed over her. He was going to send her away. She’d made a dreadful mistake. He didn’t want her.
“Your family isn’t going to be thrilled if we start sleeping together,” he warned.
“This has nothing to do with my family. It’s what I want.”
“In that case, it’s what I want, too.”
In trembling relief and anticipation, she watched as he sat up, put his feet on the floor and stood, moving so slowly she wondered if he was making sure he didn’t wake up from his dream.
Only boxer shorts prevented him from being stark naked, although they didn’t disguise his jutting arousal. Or do anything to ease the tension that vibrated through her. She raised her gaze to meet his and licked her lips.
“Princess, are you sure about this?”
“Yes.” In the stillness of the night, her voice was barely audible to her own ears.
With the back of his hand he caressed her cheek. “I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret in the morning. You know I’m not the kind of guy who can make forever-after promises.”
“I know. But you’re the one who’s likely to regret it.” Despite the lump of despair in her throat, she forced a tremulous smile. “I’m not exactly sure…I mean, I don’t have a whole lot of experience.” It had been years since she’d made love, and those interludes had been mostly hurried and not entirely satisfying. “I might not be able to satisfy you.”
His lips canted into a smile. “Princess, that’s not something I’m worried about.”
“I wonder—could we put something in front of the door? A chair maybe? If Randy should burst in—”
“I’m way ahead of you. I installed a latch on the door when I got back from dropping you off. Although I didn’t expect I’d get to use it so soon.”
“On the way over here I stopped at a drugstore—just in case—”
Even in the relative darkness of the room, she could see the roguish glint in his dark eyes. “I’m way ahead of you there, too.”
“Then there isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t—”
“None at all.”
Chapter Ten
He brushed a kiss to her lips. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”
“Not unless we’re both having the same dream.”
“Good. You think you can hold it right where you are while I latch the door?”
Her mouth was as dry as toast, and she swallowed hard. “Yes. Assuming my knees don’t buckle.”
“I promise to get back in time to catch you.”
She believed he would do all he could not to let her fall. But there was no way he could protect her heart. She’d already lost that.
Beside her again, he framed her face with his hands, sliding his fingers through her hair. His thumbs skimmed her cheeks right below her eyes. “Still standing, I see.”
Her eyelids fluttered closed. “Barely.”
Another kiss teased across her lips, his breath sweet and fresh across her cheeks. He lingered over the next kiss, nibbling on her lip, then soothing the tiny bite with his tongue. Annoyingly, he refused to kiss her more deeply despite her efforts to tempt him.
She wavered, leaning into him. “I don’t suppose you could go a little faster? In addition to weak knees, I seem to be having some trouble with my breathing.” Her heart was working way too hard, too.
“Not a chance, princess. We’re going to make this last.”
“I was afraid of that.”
She was wearing a loose blouse over a strappy T-shirt, the outfit she’d worn on the boat that afternoon and to her parents’ house. He slid the blouse off her shoulders, trapping her arms at her side, and shifted his kisses to the flesh he’d bared.
“Did you know you’ve got freckles here?” He kissed her at the juncture of her neck, then drew his tongue along her shoulder—warm, moist heat that echoed low in her body. “I’ve been wondering how long it would take to kiss every one of your freckles.”
“Too long,” she moaned, ready to get on with more serious activities.
“We’ve got lots of time.” With exquisite care, he lavished equal attention on the opposite shoulder.
“You’re trying to drive me crazy, aren’t you?”
“Is it working?”
“Absolutely.”
“Glad to hear it.” He slipped her blouse the rest of the way off, freeing her arms, then edged the straps of her T-shirt down, trapping her again with his hands, rendering her helpless. Vulnerable. “Ever since our scuba-diving excursion, I’ve wanted to do this.” His mouth found the cleavage between her breasts. He worked damp, lingering kisses across the top of one mound, back to the valley between them, then up again.
On a sigh, her head fell back. He’d barely begun his seduction, and she was already aroused beyond endurance. Obviously she had no resistance to this man. She hadn’t since the first moment they’d met at the hospital. She’d only been delaying the inevitable.
“Please, Mike…”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
He raised her T-shirt over her head and removed her bra, dropping them both to the floor with a soft, sibilant sound, and his mouth claimed her breast, closing over her nipple. Alternately, his tongue soothed and his teeth gently tugged.
With her hands free at last, she gave herself over to the exploration of his body—the hair-roughened texture of his chest, the way his skin stretched over muscle and sinew, his blazing heat. Or maybe the heat was her own.
With a low, feral growl, he pulled her against him, pressing his arousal hard against her abdomen, and finally kissed her fully. His tongue plunged into her mouth. Hot. Demanding. Mimicking the stroking of another part of his anatomy she desperately craved to experience.
Urgency drove her to fumble with her slacks, sliding them downward even as his hand followed their path. His fingers slid into her warm slickness and gently probed the sensitive nub at the apex of her thighs.
She screamed into his mouth, and came apart in his arms. He held her tightly as she gasped for air, not easing his grip until her breathing returned to some semblance of normalcy.
“Oh, my…” she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I agree.”
“We didn’t even make it into bed.”
“That’s coming right up.” With endearing gentleness, he helped her step out of her tangled slacks. “Now we’re ready to get down to the business of enjoying each other.”
“More? I’m not sure I can—”
“Trust me, sweetheart, we’ve only just begun.” He eased her onto the bed and stretched out beside her. He caressed her with his hand, following the contour of her stomach, sketched his palm down one thigh and up the other, teasing his fingers through the hair that hid her most private places. “I’ve spent the better part of the past two weeks thinking about touching you like this. Being inside you. Having your legs wrapped around my waist. You’ve been driving me crazy.”
To her amazement, her body reacted with a sharp clenching deep in her womb and renewed throbbing between her legs, as though she hadn’t climaxed only moments ago. She’d felt totally spent. Now, with little more than his whispered words, he’d aroused her again.
“You’re very good at this,” she murmured.
“So are you. I’ve never known a more passionate woman.”
His praise pleased her. She’d been so unsure of—
Her thoughts scattered when his mouth crushed hers with another determined kiss. His hands moved over her freely. Caressing. Stroking. Finding erogenous zones she hadn’t known existed, playing her as a skilled musician would a fine instrument, coaxing from her a greater response than she had thought possible. She was caught at the vor
tex of something she’d never before experienced. More powerful. All-consuming.
Vaguely she was aware of him leaving her momentarily, slipping on a condom, then returning to settle between her outspread legs. His eyes glistened with determination and another emotion she was afraid to identify when he entered her. Filling her. And she rose up to meet him stroke for stroke, instinct overcoming any residual fears she might have had.
Time lost all meaning. There was nothing in the world except the two of them becoming one as they climbed a mountain and flew over the precipice together.
Afterwards, she welcomed his weight on her, their bodies still joined as their breathing slowed. Tears crept from the corners of her eyes to slide down her cheeks, and she wasn’t sure if they were tears of joy.
Or tears of regret because she knew Mike would never be hers.
SHE SLIPPED OUT of his apartment before dawn. Mike understood she didn’t want Randy to catch them in bed together. He didn’t have to like it.
As he got the boy ready for day care and organized himself to go to work, the thought that if he and Kristin were married she wouldn’t have had to leave zipped through his head.
But that wouldn’t be fair to her, he realized an instant later. Hell, if he didn’t know how to be a father, he sure as hell didn’t have a clue about being a husband. He’d never dated a woman more than a few times. He’d never had a live-in relationship.
He’d never wanted one.
A loner, that’s what he was—except for the family of firefighters. He’d earned the right, while fighting smoke and flames, to claim them as brothers. That’s all he’d ever needed. That’s all he’d ever wanted since he’d heard his first siren.
Now was not the time to go looking for things he didn’t deserve and didn’t know how to handle.
Despite the fact he hadn’t had much sleep, he felt pretty damn good when he arrived at Station Six. Almost before he’d gotten inside he was met by Emma Jean.
“Did you read the newspaper this morning?”
“Nope.” He’d had other things on his mind.
“Well, that little boy of yours is getting richer by the minute.”
“Randy?”
She nodded, making her silver earrings jingle. “That’s the one. Seems there was a follow-up story about your rescue of the boy, and that generated another whole batch of donations to his trust fund.”
“No fooling?”
“Say…” Tilting her head, she planted her fists on her hips. “Would you consider betrothing him to me? It’s an old Gypsy custom and I could use—”
He barked a laugh. “I don’t think so, Emma Jean. If he follows my advice, he’ll stay footloose and fancy-free as long as he can.”
The dispatcher scowled at him. “It was only an idea. Besides, based on the big grin you’re wearing this morning, I don’t think you’re gonna be fancy-free much longer.”
Mike jerked back. Did it show on his face how much making love with Kristin had affected him? Could Emma Jean actually see into the future?
But no, she was wrong—as usual. Her psychic abilities, assuming she had any, were a hundred-and-eighty-degrees out of sync with reality. His bachelor days were here to stay.
Not that Mike didn’t wish, at some primal level, that this one time Emma Jean could be right.
KRISTIN PICKED UP Randy at six o’clock from day care and spent the evening with him playing Go Fish and watching television.
When she went to bed, she found sleeping without Mike a lonely experience, and she pulled his spare pillow into her arms, hugging it, inhaling his musky scent and wishing Mike didn’t have to work nights. By morning she was eager to see him, even briefly at the fire station, and was already anticipating an encore session of lovemaking that evening.
Fortunately, the fire trucks were all present and accounted for when she parked at the fire station. Randy, with Suzie hot on his heels, bolted from the car, running through the open bay doors. Buttons gave Suzie a particularly warm welcome, mounting her. Randy dragged the station mascot off his pet, and the three of them ran out the back door to romp on the grass.
Looking wonderful and heroic in his uniform, Mike waited for her beside Engine 61.
“Hi,” she said, struck by a belated case of morning-after bashfulness.
His lips slid into a roguish grin. “Hi, yourself. Time for the changing of the guards, huh? How’d it go last night?”
“With Randy? Fine.”
“How ’bout yourself?”
“I missed you.”
“Yeah. Me too.” His gaze held hers, dark and inviting. “You want to come by tonight?”
“Sure. If you want me to.”
He wasn’t touching her, but the way he looked at her was so intense, it made her sizzle. Her flesh heated as though he was caressing her all over. Around them, the firefighters on the next shift were arriving, greeting their buddies, being brought up to date on what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. But Mike’s attention never wavered from Kristin.
“You know the answer to that,” he said.
“I’ll come by after work. I may be late.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
It was all she could do to drag her gaze away from his, freeing herself from his mesmerizing eyes. But the thought of seeing him again that evening—making love with him again—was all she needed to speed her through her day’s caseload as quickly as humanly possible.
NO QUESTION about it. Kristin needed a minimum of twenty-eight hours a day if she was going to get her work done. And that didn’t include a few hours off with Mike. Damn! At the rate she was going, she wouldn’t get to his apartment until midnight.
She snatched up the case files from her desk for her afternoon home visits. She wouldn’t shortchange the kids, but she sure as hell didn’t plan to dawdle.
Before she could leave her cubicle, the phone rang. She was tempted to let the caller leave a message on voice mail, but they’d probably just page her anyway, and the battery on her cell phone was showing signs of being terminal. If it was an emergency, she’d just have to stop somewhere to find a pay phone.
“McCoy,” she said, picking up the instrument.
“Now don’t panic. Everything is going to be okay,” Mike’s voice said. “I’m at the hospital.”
Hospital? Not panic? Her heart rate had taken off like a rocket and her brain had gone into freeze mode. “Who’s hurt? What happened?” Her voice rose nearly an octave.
“Randy fell out of a tree and broke his arm. It’s not a bad break—”
“Paseo Community Hospital?”
“Yeah, that’s right. But you don’t have to—”
“I’ll be right there. Five minutes.” Quicker if she could make it.
She hung up and dropped the files to the desk. Routine home visits could wait. Randy needed her. Or maybe she needed to reassure herself that he was all right.
Despite weaving through traffic at something resembling warp speed, the trip took ten minutes. She spent another five minutes finding a vacant parking spot, which was about a half mile from the hospital entrance. She ran the whole way, finally bursting into the emergency room.
Breathless, she asked the day-shift nurse, “Randy Marshall?”
The nurse pointed toward one of the examining rooms but before she could speak, Mike pulled back the curtain.
“We’re in here.”
Drawing a deep breath to calm herself, Kristin hurried in that direction. She didn’t want her own edge of hysteria to frighten Randy.
With a sigh of relief, she realized she needn’t have been so worried. Randy was sitting on the edge of the bed, a wet cast on his left arm, playing with miniature cars on the bed table. Wearing khaki shorts and a T-shirt, he looked as at home as if he spent a part of every day in a hospital. A broken arm—no big deal.
Even so, her chin started to tremble and tears threatened as she gave him a hug. His shirt was grass-stained, his knobby knees in the same condition, and he smelled of
little-boy sweat. Dear heaven, she loved this small, bedraggled child as if he were her own flesh and blood. When had that happened? When had he gone from a child among many in her caseload to one who had taken hold of her heart?
“So, you fell out of a tree, hmm?” she asked, gathering herself.
“It was a real big tree. Mike boosted me up, but I slipped when I tried to climb higher.”
“I see.” She sent an accusing look over her shoulder at Mike.
He shrugged. “We were at the park. Randy said he’d never climbed a tree, and I thought—”
“The reason they have play equipment at parks is so kids won’t climb trees. They’re dangerous.”
He didn’t look in the least repentant. “Trees are more fun. It’s a guy thing.”
Yes, she supposed that was true. Her brothers had both broken a bone or two during similar adventures, to her mother’s dismay. “What did the doctor say?”
“Six weeks in a cast, then he’ll be good as new.”
“Mike says the guys at the station will sign my cast. And when it’s all healed up, I get to go down the pole again.” With his impish grin, Randy would be a heart-breaker when he grew up—just like Mike.
“Only once,” Mike reminded him. “And I’m gonna be right with you.”
Kristin nearly groaned aloud. They were both hopelessly macho and she was seriously outnumbered. “I’m going to have to file a report with Children’s Services, you know,” she said to Mike.
“Hey, kids break things. You can’t put them in a bubble.”
“I know.” But in this case, she would have to justify Randy’s foster placement with Mike all over again. She wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news to her supervisor that a child in their care had been injured while under the supervision of an unauthorized foster parent.
AN HOUR LATER, she walked into Edward Oden’s office. From the way his hair was mussed and his tie askew, it didn’t look like he was having a good day. His mouth had taken on the perpetual shape of an upside-down U.
“Mr. Oden?”
With Valor and Devotion Page 13
