Controlled Burn
Page 19
“Oh man, that sucks. That was a wicked good setup for you. Great apartment and low rent.”
Rick shrugged as they started toward the next hydrant. “I’ll miss the shower, but I can find another place. Hopefully the remodel I did on the place will up the value and help pay them back for all they’ve done for me over the years.”
“I think you did as much for them.”
Rick sighed. It had been a great setup and not just because he had a great apartment for reasonable rent. Joe and Marie had become like family to him and he actually liked taking care of the place for them. The thought of them selling the house felt a lot like he imagined it would feel if his parents decided to sell the house he and his brother had grown up in. But he also believed it was best for Joe and Marie to downsize, and their well-being came first.
“I might buy a place,” Rick said, though it hadn’t really crossed his mind until just that second. “I can fix it up the way I want and not worry about whether or not I like the new landlords.”
Scott, who’d been listening without comment, paused in the act of stabbing the shovel end into a particularly large snowbank, looking for the clank of metal that would pinpoint exactly where the hydrant was. “You know as soon as you get it just the way you want it, you’ll start seeing some awesome woman and you’ll want to marry her and then she’ll tell you she hates your house. Or the schools suck or there’s no place to get her nails done.”
“Pretty sure we have more nail places than we do bars now,” Jeff said.
That sent the two of them off onto a tangent about manicure and tanning places, and that suited Rick just fine. He didn’t want to continue a conversation that included trying to imagine some faceless woman in a strange house she didn’t like. Since the beginning of December, the only woman he pictured himself being with was Jess.
He wanted this damn shift to be over so he could see her. The text messages and the phone calls had been nice, but they didn’t make him feel the way being in the same room as Jess did. He wanted to see her smile and get her naked in his kitchen.
Eriksson yelled at them from the truck, pounding the outside of the door. “Hey, we’ve gotta go!”
Rick took a second to get his bearings and circled the hydrant on the map so he’d know where they left off, and then he jogged to the truck. Eriksson hit the siren as they climbed in and pulled away from the curb.
“Looks like we have an electric space heater and shitty extension cord situation,” he told them as they pulled on their coats in the confines of the cab. “Home owner thinks it’s out, but he’s worried about the wall.”
Hopefully it would be a quick in and out, Rick thought as Eriksson guided the truck through streets that were even more narrow than usual thanks to the snowbanks. He wasn’t sorry to have a break from shoveling, but he needed something to do besides hang around the station and watch the clock.
He still had a lot of hours to kill before he saw Jess again.
* * *
“Good morning, honey,” Marie said when Jessica wandered into the kitchen in search of coffee the next morning. “It’s so good to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back.” And it was. Joe and Marie had greeted her with warm hugs yesterday, and then they’d taken her to their favorite Italian restaurant because they decided she needed a big meal after the travel headaches she’d dealt with.
“We got some snow during the night.” Marie poured her a mug of coffee and set it on the counter so Jess could add milk and sugar. “Not a lot, but enough so it’ll have to be cleaned up. I wonder if I should make a big breakfast. Rick just got home and he should go to bed, but if I know him, he’ll be out there with a shovel so Joe doesn’t try to do it.”
“He, uh... I’m going upstairs to have breakfast with him,” Jessica said because she didn’t see any way around telling her. “He sent me a text a few minutes ago to let me know he’s going to take a shower and then start cooking.”
“Oh.” The corners of Marie’s mouth lifted just enough to give away her amusement. “I’m sure you two have some catching up to do since you’ve been gone for weeks.”
“We’ll probably talk about the house. He knows a lot about it, of course.”
“I’m sure that must be it.” And then her grandmother winked at her.
With no idea what to say to that, Jessica took her coffee to the window and looked out at the new snow. It was pretty, she had to admit, but it was definitely nicer from this side of the window. Late January in Boston was very different than December and, even though she’d dressed for the weather, the cold had threatened to steal her breath when she walked out of the terminal.
She’d just finished her coffee when she heard Rick’s truck pull into the driveway, so she rinsed the mug and kissed Marie’s cheek. “I won’t be too long. You’re probably right about Rick wanting to get out there and shovel.”
Rather than get bundled up to go outside, Jessica used the staircase up to the third floor that was at the end of the hall opposite her bedroom. They rarely used it because the stairs were steep and narrow, but Joe had told her they hadn’t locked the door since Rick moved in, and they liked knowing it could be a fire exit for him if necessary.
After a quick knock, she opened the door and stepped into Rick’s kitchen. He’d obviously just walked in because he was still pulling off his sweatshirt. She’d been anxious walking up the stairs, afraid that somehow it wouldn’t be the same now that she’d been gone, despite the fact they’d talked every day. But the look in his eyes and the warm smile made something shift inside of her. He’d missed her. She could see it and she could see that he was as happy to see her as she was to see him.
Tossing the sweatshirt aside, he strode across the room to her and hauled her into his arms. He kissed her, his mouth hot and demanding, until she was breathless and her knees were weak.
“Jesus, I’ve missed you,” he said against her mouth.
She backed away enough to peel off her shirt and bra, then slid the yoga pants she’d thrown on to the floor. He was even faster and by the time she was free of her clothes, he was not only naked but had rolled on the condom he must have stuck in his pocket for this moment.
“I swear that felt like the longest shift I’ve ever worked,” he said, pulling her body hard against his.
“That was the longest five weeks of my life.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her mouth to his.
His hands cupped her breasts, thumbs running across her nipples. “This time I’ll just tell you up front I’m going to kiss you and touch you every chance I get.”
Jessica ran her hands down his back to the curve of his ass. “While naked, as often as possible.”
When he slid his hand between her legs, her knees weakened and they went to the floor. His free hand was between her head and the tile as he kissed her. With a moan she opened her legs as he slipped a finger deep inside her.
“I can’t wait,” she said, sliding her heels up the back of his legs.
“Good, because I can’t, either.”
She gasped when his cock drove into her, her back arching off the floor. His fingertips bit into her left hip as he moved, and he leaned on his other arm so he could look down at her. His gaze as he watched her was intense until he raised his eyebrow in that way she found so sexy, and she smiled.
“What?” he asked.
“You have the sexiest eyebrows.”
He rocked his hips in a lazy rhythm. “I don’t think anybody’s ever told me that before. As a matter of fact, I’m sure of it.”
“They were one of the first things I noticed about you the day I got here. We were still outside on the sidewalk and I was distracted by what great eyebrows you have.”
“I noticed everything about you. Especially your eyes.” He grinned. “And your ass. And your legs.”
She cried out as she came, finding the release her body had been wanting for weeks, and it wasn’t long before Rick’s body stiffened and she felt his orgasm pulsing through his body.
When he collapsed on top of her, his breath hot and ragged against her neck, Jessica wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding him close. For the first time in weeks, she was totally content and the warm rush of happiness was almost as potent as the post-orgasm glow.
But once she’d caught her breath, Jessica became aware of how hard the floor was under her body. She moved a little, and saw the wince on Rick’s face when he took some of his weight off of her by shifting it to his arm and hip.
“Are we cuddling,” she asked, “or just trying not to admit we might be too old to have sex on a tile floor?”
He chuckled, and then groaned as he pushed himself off the floor. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice my reluctance to try to get up.”
He helped her up and, after kissing her again, walked to his bedroom. Just as she finished putting her clothes back on, he returned. He’d thrown on a pair of sweatpants, but skipped the shirt. She didn’t mind at all.
“I’ll pick up my clothes later,” he said when she looked at them scattered on the floor. “Now that my biggest hunger is taken care of for now, it’s time for breakfast. I’m starving. You want an omelet?”
“That sounds delicious.” So did the idea of watching her shirtless man cooking her breakfast.
“I missed talking to you,” he said, taking a carton of eggs out of the fridge. He set them next to a big mixing bowl and cracked the first egg open. “The phone just isn’t the same.”
“I missed you, too. What can I do to help?”
“You can grab us some coffee and then sit and talk to me,” he said. “And then later, I’m going to drag you outside and teach you how to shovel snow.”
She laughed and went to his coffeemaker and poured them each a coffee. “Good luck with that. And Marie was right. She said you should go to bed, but you’d probably shovel snow instead. She was going to make you a nice breakfast to keep you going.”
“You should have told me that before I started cracking the eggs.” He winked at her. “So I guess you told her you were coming up here to have breakfast with me?”
“I didn’t really have a choice.” She sat on a bar stool and watched him drop a blob of butter into a frying pan. “Is that okay?”
“Of course. I mean, I guess all I can do is hope they’re okay with it. Did you not want to tell her?”
Jessica shrugged. “Joe and Marie are a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
“Very true. So how was your father about you coming out here again? Did he give you a hard time?”
“No, he was really good about it, actually, and said he didn’t want to get in the way of me building a relationship with Marie and Joe. I think he’s starting to regret a lot of the choices he’s made in his life.”
“As he should,” Rick said, pouring the egg mixture into the pan.
Jessica fought back the automatic reflex to defend her father and said nothing instead. She knew nothing Rick had ever heard about David Broussard would inspire him to like her father, so he’d believe it when he saw it, so to speak.
She changed the subject to the weather while he cooked their breakfasts. It surprised her that a guy who spent as much time outside in the cold as he did wouldn’t be jealous of her home city’s temperate climate. “You wouldn’t even need to own a coat.”
He laughed. “I don’t mind owning a coat. And I need four seasons. Without cold and snow, how do you know when it’s time to start singing Christmas carols?”
“Oh, the department stores will let you know.”
The omelets were delicious, but she balked when he told her to go downstairs and borrow some good boots, along with a coat and gloves, from her grandmother. “I have boots and a coat.”
“Not for shoveling snow, you don’t.”
“I don’t mind watching out the window.”
He laughed and nudged her toward the door. “Meet me outside in ten minutes. You’ll have fun, I promise.”
Shoveling snow didn’t sound at all fun to Jessica, but spending time with him did. And since he was going to be outside in the cold, she did as he suggested and borrowed Marie’s coat and boots. Her grandmother also loaned her some brightly patterned wool mittens with a matching hat.
None of which saved her from the first shock of stepping out the door. It felt even colder than yesterday, when she’d arrived in the city, and she wouldn’t have thought that was possible.
When Rick stepped out of the garage with two snow shovels, she shook her head. He was wearing a zip-up hoodie—albeit a thick one—and had gloves on, but no big coat or hat. She knew it was just a matter of her being out of her natural climate, but she thought he might be showing off a little, too.
And there was no way she’d let him—or Mother Nature—get the better of her.
Chapter Sixteen
Rick had to admit, Jess was either a lot tougher or a lot more stubborn than he’d given her credit for. He would have bet money she’d make it about fifteen minutes before she gave him his shovel back and went inside.
But she made it almost an hour, shoveling snow in the name of working out, and then practicing her snowball-making skills. The first few she tossed in his direction disintegrated on impact, but he made the mistake of showing her how to take the loose snow and really pack it down, breathing on it to help make it sticky. She managed to make a few small snowballs that actually stung a little bit.
“You have a good arm,” he said. “If this was good snowball snow, you could hurt somebody.”
“Isn’t all snow good snowball snow? How can there be bad snow for snowballs?”
He laughed and explained the different between the dry and fluffy snowflakes that fell when it was really cold and wouldn’t stick together, and the wet, heavy snow that fell in warmer temperatures and could be packed into snowballs that were practically lethal.
“I think my friends would be a little surprised if they could see me right now.” She laughed, a short self-deprecating sound, while brushing snow off the wool mittens.
“You look beautiful. Your cheeks are all flushed and your nose is red. It’s cute.”
She gave him a look that let him know she thought he was crazy. “Yes, red noses are all the rage right now. So tell me, what do you do after you shovel snow?”
“Usually, unless I have errands to do, I read for a while. After being outside, it’s nice to curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book and relax.”
“I just happened to borrow a book from Marie’s bookshelf last night.”
“Grab it and we’ll go snuggle on my couch and read for a while.”
The smile she gave him seemed to grab hold of something deep inside of him and squeeze. And that scared him. It had sucked when she’d gone back to California the first time and, even though she’d only been back in Boston a day, he already knew it was going to suck even worse when she left again. Though he was pretty sure it was already too late, he should be trying to put more distance between them, not getting closer.
Rolling his eyes at himself, he put the shovels away. He was pretty sure it was too late. He knew it was. And even though he knew living on two opposite coasts was going to be a serious problem they’d have to solve in the future, he didn’t see himself giving up on this relationship.
A little while later, they couldn’t get any closer and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Because she’d caught a chill, she’d curled up on his lap
and covered them both with the fleece blanket he kept on the back of the couch. When he’d stretched his legs out, she’d stayed put, using him like a heated recliner.
It was awkward, holding his book open with one hand and turning the pages with his thumb, but he managed because it was worth the effort to have Jess stretched out on top of him. Concentrating wasn’t easy, either, and every time he started losing himself in the story, she’d sigh or shift slightly and become the center of his awareness again.
Then she snorted. “I think if I was running for my life, hiding from the bad guys in a warehouse, I wouldn’t be in the mood to have sex.”
“Duly noted.”
She laughed. “How’s your book?”
“Not as interesting as the sounds you make reading yours.”
“I do not make sounds.”
His arm was wrapped around her waist, and he squeezed as he kissed the side of her neck. “Oh, you definitely do. A couple of chuckles. A few sighs. And a snort which, judging by the timing, was your opinion of being turned on when somebody’s trying to kill you.”
“It’s so dumb. I mean, if you were in a house that was on fire and you just happened to stumble on a room with no smoke in it, would you feel compelled to stop and have sex in it?”
“No.” He paused. “A blow job, maybe, but not sex.”
She elbowed him hard enough to make him grunt. “You would not.”
“Of course not. With the amount of gear we wear, by the time I could get my dick out, the flames would be knocked down and the guys would be in the truck, laying on the horn.”
“Funny.” Sighing, she closed the book and tossed it onto the coffee table without getting up. “That’s not a very good book.”
His was, but she was more interesting to him than any work of fiction, so he did the same. “How long are you planning to stay this trip?”
She thought about it for a few seconds, and then he felt her shrug. “I’m not sure. Marie’s left two messages for the real estate agent, but they’re playing phone tag. And I’m helping her go through the boxes that represent decades of the worst filing system ever. She has receipts for everything, like the heating system and stuff like that, and prospective buyers will want to know the dates. We just have to find the paperwork.”