Red Hot

by Lisa Childs

  And as he thrust his tongue inside her mouth, he thrust his fingers inside her. She gasped at the pleasure. He swallowed that gasp and groaned as he deepened the kiss. His big, heavily muscled body shook slightly—as if he was as overwhelmed with desire as she was. Maybe his knees were as weak as hers were because he lowered her onto the bare surface of his desk. Wyatt Andrews was no paper pusher; whatever his duties as assistant superintendent entailed, it wasn’t actually a desk job. It was a dangerous job.

  But before she could dwell on that, he lowered his head to her breasts. Then he pushed down a bra cup with his mouth so that he could tease her nipple with his tongue—and his teeth. He scraped them across the sensitive point—back and forth—as his fingers stroked in and out of her. Then his thumb flicked across her clit, rubbing and teasing it, as he sucked her nipple into his mouth.

  *

  THE PRESSURE WOUND tightly inside her, and she clenched her muscles around his fingers. “Wyatt, please…” she murmured.

  “Please you?” he asked. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” His thumb continued to rub her clit as his fingers thrust in and out. In and out. His tongue laved her nipple.

  Pleasure crashed over her like a wave as she came. And she screamed his name again. He moved his lips from her breast, down her body. And he flicked his tongue inside her, as if tasting what he’d done to her. How crazy she was for him…

  “Wyatt…” He was doing it again. Before she could catch her breath, he was rebuilding that need—that insatiable need—she had for him.

  “Is the desk too hard?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No…”

  “I am,” he murmured, his voice gruff with desire. He fumbled a condom from his pocket, ripped it open and sheathed himself. Then he entered her in one swift move.

  And the tension built again with each thrust. He continued to tease her nipples and her clit. And within moments, she was coming again. “Wyatt!”

  “You’re so damn hot,” he said. “So hot…”

  She had missed him. So much…

  She had especially missed how incredible he made her feel when they made love. But it wasn’t love. It was just sex. Or that was what she wanted to believe.

  His hands moved, sliding around to her butt again. He clutched it, driving her up and down his shaft in a flurry of thrusts. Then he shouted as his body tensed and he came.

  “So damn hot…” he murmured between pants for breath.

  He was the hot one—with sweat beading on his upper lip and making his shoulders and back slick. She brushed a fingertip across those beads, wiping them from his handsome face.

  “That’s what you do to me,” he said. “You’re the best workout I’ve ever had.”

  He was joking—as he always did. Even while Fiona told herself that, her pulse quickened.

  “I should bring you upstairs to the showers with me,” he suggested.

  That was how she’d first imagined him naked—standing beneath a spray of water. She was tempted to agree—tempted to go with him wherever he wanted to carry her. But she didn’t even know if they were alone.

  Suddenly an alarm sounded—blaring out from within the station. She started as if she had been doused with icy water. She lost her breath for a moment as panic overwhelmed her. This was what he did—rushed out for fires.

  Rushed into fires…

  *

  WYATT SAW THE fear on her face. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We’ll have to take a rain check on the shower…” He forced a hollow laugh at his lame joke.

  She didn’t even smile. She looked too shocked.

  Was she worried about him leaving for a call? Or had she just been reminded that this was what her younger brother wanted to do—fight fires?

  He had to wait for the other guys to arrive at the house. So he didn’t have to move that quickly—yet. He pulled out and set her on her feet. She swayed, as if her legs were about to buckle. He caught her shoulders to steady her.

  She tugged free. “You have to go,” she said. But as she grabbed her blouse, shoved her arms into the sleeves and hurriedly buttoned it up, she looked like the one on her way to a fire.

  “In a second,” he said. He had already pulled his shirt on and zipped up his jeans. So he reached out to help her as she tried to roll her skirt back down her thighs.

  Her face flushed bright red. She was either embarrassed that she couldn’t manage it alone, or she didn’t want him touching her. “I’ve got it…”

  He wanted her. Again.

  But he expected he might not get another opportunity. She had just remembered that he was the kind of man with whom she wanted nothing.

  Nothing but help with her brother.

  “I didn’t find Matt,” he told her.

  She tensed. “You didn’t?”

  “No. He took off too fast that night,” he said. Faster even than his sister was trying to take off now.

  “You haven’t heard from him?”

  He shook his head. He didn’t expect that he would, either. Matt had been furious with him—had felt betrayed. “I know where he’s staying, though, so I’ll wait until he cools off and go see him.”

  “Where?” she asked. “Where is he staying?”

  Matt already felt as if Wyatt had betrayed him. If he told her where she could find the kid, Matt would never forgive him. “I can’t…”

  She cursed then. He had only heard her swear once before—when he’d told her about Braden’s ex-wife sending him the wedding invitation.

  “He’s okay,” Wyatt assured her. “We would have heard if he wasn’t.”

  “You might have,” she said. “Not me. My mother doesn’t even know where he is.”

  His expression must have betrayed something because he saw the realization and the betrayal cross her face. “She knows.”

  He’d seen Matt’s mom there before—cleaning up after her son as she’d done when he’d lived at home. “Since she didn’t tell you, either, doesn’t that convince you that Matt doesn’t want you to know?”

  “Why not?”

  “Probably because he knows you’d call it a cockroach-infested frat house.” Because that was what it was. Through the steel door, he could hear that the team was rushing in. He pulled open the door to his office.

  And before he could say anything else, she pushed by him and hurried past the fire engines and the men pulling on their gear next to them.

  Wyatt stepped out behind her. But he didn’t chase her. He doubted he could catch her with the speed at which she was running away from him.

  Cody whistled as she rushed past him. “Damn, Wyatt, how the hell do you always get so lucky?”

  Braden snorted. “Lucky?” He obviously wasn’t giving it the same connotation that Cody had. “I think he’s a damn fool for ignoring his own advice.”

  Wyatt couldn’t argue with his boss—partly because he was too busy jumping into his gear. Partly because he had been a hypocrite. No matter what he and Fiona claimed, what they had was more than sex.

  But he suspected that was over now.

  Cody gasped. “What? You think Wyatt is getting serious?” He jammed his hat on. Despite having all his heavy gear on, he shivered—with revulsion. “I thought that would never happen.”

  “It won’t,” Wyatt assured the others. At least it wouldn’t now. “There’s no danger of that.”

  The only danger was whatever fire they faced. And he preferred it that way. He was trained and equipped to handle his job. He couldn’t handle Fiona O’Brien and all the feelings she inspired in him. They needed to be done.

  14

  THEY WERE DONE. Fiona was glad. Relieved, really…

  He knew where Matthew was but refused to tell her. Sure, he believed he was honoring Matthew’s wishes. But what about hers? Didn’t he care about her at all?

  He knew how worried she was about her brother—worried enough that she’d slept with him. And for what? He hadn’t helped her.

  “What’s g
oing on?” Tammy asked, snapping her fingers in front of Fiona’s face. “You’ve barely touched your wine, so you can’t be passing out on me.”

  Fiona blinked away the faint sting in her eyes and focused on her friend. They were at Tammy’s place again. The brunette preferred it to Fiona’s because she didn’t worry if she dropped crumbs on the floor or spilled wine on the cushions.

  Was Fiona that difficult? That uptight?

  She flashed back to making love with Wyatt standing up. Lying on the desk. In the shower. She’d had wild, passionate sex with him in every position. She wasn’t uptight with Wyatt. But she had been in other areas of her life.

  “I’m sorry,” she told her friend. About so many things…

  Tammy waved a hand. “I forgive you for being distracted. Hell, after bringing me to that bar the other night, I would forgive you anything.”

  Tammy had wanted to go there tonight, but Fiona had refused to go back. “The Filling Station is a much better place than that club,” she continued. “The men at the club were just dancers pretending to be heroes. You found the real heroes.”

  “Or fools…”

  “They put their lives on the line to protect other people,” Tammy said. “That’s heroic.”

  “It’s dangerous.”

  Tammy laughed. “Their call the other night was to put out a car fire. It’s not as dangerous as you think.”

  “This time…” But there would be other calls—other fires. Statistics didn’t lie. Firefighting was a dangerous profession.

  Tammy shrugged. “I’m willing to risk it. You weren’t the only one who got carried out of the bar the other night.”

  “Wyatt said Dawson had you.”

  “Dawson…” She said his name with a dreamy sigh. “All I got was a kiss before he had to rush off. But he called me later.”

  Wyatt hadn’t called her. But then, he probably thought she was furious with him. And she should be. But he wasn’t the only one keeping things from her.

  “I left Mandy another voice mail,” Fiona said.

  “She hasn’t called you back?”

  “You know how my mother tries to avoid confrontation.” That was probably why Mandy hadn’t fought harder for custody of her; she didn’t like to fight.

  Fiona uttered a weary sigh. She didn’t want to fight anymore, either. She took a sip of wine and asked her friend the question she’d silently asked herself moments ago, “Am I that difficult?”

  Tammy tensed.

  And Fiona had her answer before her friend said a word. So she apologized again. “I’m sorry…”

  Tammy reached over and squeezed her knee. “Don’t you dare! You’re not difficult.”

  “Liar.”

  Tammy giggled. “You’re not difficult with me,” she said. “You accept me as I am.” Tears shimmered in her brown eyes. “Not everyone approves of how I date…”

  Her mother and sisters often gave Tammy a hard time and nagged her to find a husband, settle down and start a family.

  “It’s your life,” Fiona said.

  Tammy leaned back against the bright orange cushions behind her and nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment.

  “What is it?” Fiona asked. “You know we can say anything to each other.”

  Tammy spoke slowly, for once, as if choosing her words carefully. “How can you accept me and the choices I make?” she asked. “And not accept your mom and brother and the choices they make?”

  Fiona paused a moment to think. “I don’t worry about you,” she said.

  Tammy laughed. “Why not? I’m not cautious like you are. I do things that I shouldn’t.”

  “But you’re strong,” Fiona said. “I’ve never seen you cry. I have never seen you down.” She couldn’t say the same of her mom and her brother. She had seen them both devastated. And she worried that she would again.

  Tammy shrugged. “I just keep a positive attitude. I expect the best.”

  “But aren’t you often disappointed?” Fiona wondered.

  Tammy shrugged again. “I don’t know. I don’t dwell on the disappointments.”

  “How are we friends?” Fiona wondered.

  “Bad habit?” Tammy asked as she held out her wineglass toward Fiona.

  She clinked her glass against it. “The best.”

  Wyatt had been the best—the most amazing lover she’d ever had. Maybe that was why she couldn’t stop thinking about him, why her body couldn’t stop wanting his.

  It was why she jumped when her phone dinged with a text. And wine sloshed over the rim of her glass. She cursed.

  Tammy waved a hand in dismissal of the spill. “It’s not a big deal.”

  Nothing was to Tammy. Maybe that was the attitude Fiona needed to adopt. Maybe she needed to care less about caution and more about people.

  She glanced down at the text with surprise. Maybe this was the opportunity for her to try out Tammy’s attitude.

  “You have to go,” Tammy said.

  “Yes.”

  “No, I wasn’t asking,” Tammy said with a laugh. “I was telling you—you have to go. I have a hot date.”

  Fiona noticed, belatedly, the cute tight blue dress her friend wore. “You look beautiful,” she complimented her. “As always.”

  Tammy smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Dawson?”

  Her smile grew wider. “Yes…”

  Tammy wasn’t a woman like her; Wyatt probably wouldn’t oppose her relationship with his friend.

  “You have a date, too,” Tammy said, pointing at the phone. She wished. But she and Wyatt had never dated. They had never had a relationship. And they never would. But instead of feeling disappointed, she should be relieved.

  She gave her friend a hug goodbye and needlessly wished her a good time. Tammy always had a good time.

  Fiona wasn’t sure she would ever have as good a time as she’d had with Wyatt. But she would survive. Nothing devastated her the way it did her family. Maybe that was why she and Tammy were such good friends; they were both strong. As she walked toward her car, she drew in a deep breath. She suspected she would need that strength now.

  *

  “YOU NEED TO get back out there,” Braden goaded him, deliberately tossing his words back at him. Just like that first day Fiona had showed up, they were in the weight room. But Braden was probably lifting more than Wyatt was. He was preoccupied. “It’s not like you to brood over a woman.”

  No, it wasn’t. But Fiona O’Brien wasn’t just any woman. She was controlling and manipulative. And passionate and loyal. Her brother had no idea how lucky he was to have her love and devotion.

  She would do anything for him.

  Even Wyatt…

  Despite her fear of his profession and lifestyle, she’d risked getting involved with him. For Matt…

  Stupid kid.

  Instead of appreciating how much she loved him, he resented her. He should be grateful that he had family who cared about him. Wyatt would give anything to bring his family back. But they were gone.

  He shook off the uncharacteristic flash of self-pity. He had family: his Hotshot team. That was why he worried about them—especially Braden.

  But his boss had just made it clear that he was doing better than Wyatt was.

  A little defensively, he replied, “I’m not moping around.” He wasn’t mentoring, either. Maybe he’d been too subtle with Matt these past six years. Maybe it was time to throw away the psychology books and knock some sense into the kid.

  He lowered the free weights to the floor. “I’m getting out of here.”

  Braden groaned. “Don’t tell me that you’re going to chase after the redhead.”

  “No,” Wyatt assured him. “I’m actually going to the one place where I know she won’t be.”

  Matt wouldn’t have revealed his location or allowed his mom to, either. He wouldn’t want his sister knowing where he was staying. But that was crazy; it didn’t mean that she would have kept coming over.

  Fiona knew whe
re Wyatt lived and she hadn’t been by. That was because she didn’t love him, though. She’d only been using him—not for sex, but to influence her brother.

  Wyatt had resisted getting involved before. But he shouldn’t have. She hadn’t been asking too much. The kid wasn’t firefighter material. Not because of the danger, though.

  Matt needed to stay in school and find a career that better suited him. And it was about damn time Wyatt told him. Sure, Matt would resist and probably resent him as much as he did his sister.

  But Wyatt didn’t care anymore.

  He showered quickly and headed to the cockroach-ridden frat house in a town west of the national forest. But it was a wasted effort. According to one of the kid’s several roommates, he’d gone to his mom’s.

  Wyatt knew where Mandy Hamilton lived. He’d picked Matt up there for four years—before the kid had gone to college. He pulled into the driveway on the right side of the ranch-style duplex. Matt’s friend had told him the truth—because Matt’s beat-up truck was parked half on the street, half on the grass. Wyatt had bought the clunker for Matt, and they’d worked on it together to get it running. Mandy’s car was gone; she was probably working.

  He shut off his truck and hurried up to the door—wanting to catch Matt before he left, too. He met the kid at the door—as he had when he’d been sneaking out of Fiona’s house at dawn.

  “Déjà vu,” Matt remarked, his voice sharp with bitterness.

  Wyatt shook his head. It wasn’t the same—because he hadn’t seen Fiona since that night at the firehouse. Maybe that was why he was so tense and edgy. Maybe it was because he was sick of the way the kid had been acting.

  “Are you still going to try to tell me that you’re not doing my sister?” Matt asked.

  Not anymore. But that was none of the kid’s business.

  “I’m not an idiot,” Matt said.

  “Yes, you are,” Wyatt said.

  Matt’s head snapped back as if Wyatt had struck him. He had always been encouraging to him—never harsh or critical. Maybe he’d acted more buddy than mentor. It was good that Wyatt had focused on firefighting rather than psychology.