by J. H. Croix
As the door to the station fell closed behind me, I looked up to see a woman I didn’t recognize. I knew of her, if only because she’d become legendary in small-town Willow Brook for stealing Beck Steele’s heart. Maisie Steele was Carol Rogers’ granddaughter. She’d not only inherited her grandmothers old home, but she stepped right into her shoes as the main dispatcher for Willow Brook Fire & Rescue. Rumor had it that Beck, teasingly known when I was younger as a flirt extraordinaire, had fallen head over heels in love with her. They’d since married and had one baby with another one on the way.
“You must be Maisie,” I said as I approached the reception counter, taking in her riot of dark brown curls and wide brown eyes. Her eyelashes were so thick, I could see them curling against her cheeks from where I stood several feet away. She was absolutely adorable. She looked slightly puzzled when she glanced up, so I clarified. “I’m Ella Masters, Cade’s sister.”
A wide smile stretched across Maisie’s face. “Oh wow! Everybody is so happy you moved home, so I am too and I don’t even know you! I feel like I do though,” she said as she stepped around from the counter, pulling me into a hug and startling the hell out of me.
When she stepped back and saw the look on my face, she shrugged sheepishly. “I’m good friends with Amelia and Lucy, so by extension your brother too.”
“Of course,” I replied. “It’s so nice to meet you. If you didn’t know it, you’re legendary.”
Maisie cocked her head to the side, her gaze puzzled. “Legendary?”
“Uh huh. Nobody expected Beck Steele to fall in love with anyone. But rumor has it, he fell for you pretty damn quick.”
Maisie’s cheeks flushed. As if conjured by name, the door to the side of the reception area opened, and Beck himself walked through. Though I was a few years younger than Beck, I knew him quite well. He’d been a friend of Cade’s growing up here in Willow Brook. “Ella!” Beck walked to me and pulled me into a quick hug.
Stepping back, I glanced up and grinned. “Hey Beck, long time, no see.”
He didn’t appear to hear me as he was busy dropping a kiss in the curve of Maisie’s neck. The amount of love in his gaze was powerful enough to make my own heart give a thump, if only for being witness to it. Beck had always been a nice guy, yet a relentless flirt. It was good to see him so happy.
“So I hear you’re a father now,” I commented when he straightened and leaned his elbow on the reception counter.
Beck smiled widely, running a hand through his black curls, his green eyes crinkling at the corners. “You heard right. Max is the best baby in the universe. I love being a dad. Plus, I think I’m great at it,” he said, casting a teasing grin to Maisie.
She chuckled softly. “You are except when you’re spoiling him rotten.”
Beck shrugged affably. “Except then. So I hear you’re here to stay. Is that so?” he asked, shifting gears.
“That’s the plan,” I offered with a nod.
The door to the back opened again, and this time Cade walked through. He had a set of keys in his hands, which he tossed in my direction when he saw me. Catching them, I arched a brow. “You sure about this?”
Cade leaned his elbow against the reception counter beside Beck, while Maisie rounded the counter to answer an incoming call.
“Do we have to have this conversation again?” Cade asked.
I bit the inside of my cheek and shrugged. “I suppose not. It just seems like kind of a big thing to give me.”
“It’s an old truck,” Cade said flatly, as if that explained everything. “I changed the oil and made sure everything was up to speed, but it’s nothing special. It’s the old beater I still had hanging around from high school. Amelia will give me hell if I try to bring it back home at this point, so you’d better take it. She’s sick of it sitting in the driveway.”
“All right, all right,” I said, sliding the keys in my pocket.
Beck’s cell phone rang, and he stepped away, giving me a wave as he pushed through the door into the back again.
“Anything new?” Cade asked.
“Nope. I need to find a place to stay next, but I’ve got time.”
Cade’s eyes narrowed, and I sensed the direction he was going. Holding a hand up, I shook my head. “You don’t need to warn me. Mom and Dad have already made it clear they want me to stay with them until everything blows over with Lance. But I’m fine. It’s been going on for over a year and a half. Plus, it’s not like a place to stay will pop up anytime soon. It’s Willow Brook, and we’re headed into winter. I love Mom and Dad, but now Dad’s more worried than he ever was, and Mom is hovering. You know how I feel about that.”
Cade ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “They’re just worried about you, Ella. I get it, but…”
I shook my head. “No you don’t. You’re the big brother. They never worried about you the way they did me. Then with the accident, that just made it worse.”
Cade pushed away from the counter, stepping in front of me and glancing down. “Okay, no use in arguing about this. It’s good to have you home, sis. I gotta go though. I promised Amelia I’d be home soon. Speaking of that, she wants to have you out for dinner. When can you come?”
“It’s safe to say my schedule’s flexible,” I said with a laugh. Which was quite true. Although I was getting busy with my new job, I was discovering that working from home on research and writing papers was a good fit for me. I was an early bird and preferred to get up at the crack of dawn. I was usually done with my work for the day by early afternoon.
Cade nodded as he stepped back. “I’ll check with Amelia and text you. Caleb’s number, right?”
At my nod, he waved and walked out. Maisie was finishing a call, and I was suddenly at loose ends. I’d barely allowed myself to think much about it, but I’d been hoping I would run into Caleb here.
As if my thoughts alone conjured him, the next person who came through the door from the back was Caleb. He was looking down at what I presumed to be my phone as he walked through, so he didn’t see me right away. His eyes narrowed, and a flash of anxiety coiled in my gut.
But then he looked up, his eyes landing on me. He immediately put the phone away in his pocket and flashed a grin.
“Anything I need to worry about?” I asked when he stopped in front of me.
He shook his head quickly. “No, not at all.”
“Are you sure? Because…”
Caleb shook his head again, more forcefully this time. “Not much point in me having your phone if you’re gonna ask for updates about it all the time.”
Warmth curled around my heart. Part of me wanted to push back against how much I savored his protectiveness, but it felt too good right this second for me to dwell on it.
Sweet hell, he looked so good too. His dark brown hair was damp, and I presumed he’d just showered. It was approaching evening. His espresso gaze coasted over me, lighting little fires under my skin everywhere it landed.
I’d been trying to convince myself that I didn’t want him as desperately as I did, but it was pointless. Ever since the other night, which was now three days ago, I’d barely been able to stop thinking about him. He texted me regularly, but he’d been busy with two fires, including one that took him out of town overnight.
I was also still trying to get my footing under me here, and though I certainly didn’t need to answer to my parents about my choices, it was rather awkward to sashay away to see Caleb every night. That was a big part of the reason I wanted to find a way to move out sooner rather than later. That and the fact that my mother’s tendency to hover would drive me to the edge of crazy pretty soon.
As I stood there, simply staring at him, he spoke, voicing my own thoughts aloud. “I miss you. Come home with me tonight.”
His confidence was intoxicating as was the depth and honesty of his desire for me. I was nodding before my brain had formed a thought. His mouth curled up at one corner in a slow grin. My belly promptly executed a flip.
Yet, right here, right now, with Caleb, joy bubbled up inside, tangling with a carefree, thrumming desire.
“I have a truck,” I said, tugging the keys out of my pocket and holding them up.
When Caleb arched a brow, I continued. “Cade insisted I take his old truck. This way, I don’t have to rely on my mom so much anymore.”
Caleb nodded, his eyes flicking up to my hairline. Lifting his hand, he traced his fingers over the freshly healing scar. “How does it feel?”
“Fine. It wasn’t too bad, but then you knew that.”
I didn’t voice the jumble of emotions crowding my heart. He made me feel so protected, so cared for. Every small gesture sent another curl of warmth around my heart. Why, oh why, had I avoided this for so long?
His finger slid down, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear and sending a shiver through me. The moment felt so intimate, and he’d barely touched me.
So absorbed in the moment, I completely forgot we had an audience with Maisie only a few feet away. She audibly cleared her throat, and my cheeks flushed hot as I glanced sideways.
She smiled brightly at both of us. “So what are you guys going to have for dinner then?” she asked.
She giggled when Caleb shook his head slowly. “Hey, I’ve been here the whole time. But apparently, you two totally forgot. I’m all for it though. By the way,”—she paused, casting her eyes to me—“Caleb isn’t a very good cook. At least, that’s what the guys say. When they’re out in the field, no one lets him cook.”
Her teasing snapped me out of my embarrassment, and I laughed. “He’s not, but I’ll make something. Come on, we’ll go to the store first.”
Chapter Fifteen
Caleb
I leaned my elbows on the counter and watched while Ella finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher. I’d offered to do most of the cleanup, but she’d swatted me away. I took a pull on my beer, savoring the sight of her as she bent over to put the last plate in the bottom rack. I’d conveniently forgotten what a sweet ass she had. Well, it wasn’t that I’d forgotten, it was that she’d filled out more, so it was even sweeter than I remembered.
It was a good thing my memories hadn’t been that sharp. If they had, the blade of missing her would’ve sliced deeper. It had cut deep enough as it was.
When she straightened and turned around, her hair fell loose from the knot atop her head. The rich brown locks tumbled in a graceful swing, cascading down her back. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips pink, and her green eyes bright in the dim light. I was trying to be a gentleman and not just fuck her senseless the moment I saw her. Yet, my restraint was taking its toll.
My cock had been straining against my jeans for most of the evening. The simple fact of her existence, of finally having her back here, had only served to refresh my memories of how much she meant to me. There had never been a woman who called to me the way Ella did. The attraction between us was raw, a power of its own—she was a magnet whose force I could not resist. Mingling in with that was a sense of protectiveness to the point that I felt half insane. Lance, who was just a number on her phone, had sent another series of texts earlier today while I’d been out responding to a local fire.
It was a damn good thing I made a habit of leaving my phone at the station when I was on duty. Our crew had been called out to a minor fire in the kitchen at a hunting cabin. Nothing major, it was all in a days work for us, but I’d have lost my focus if I’d seen those messages while I was out.
After I’d returned to the station and seen the messages after my shower, I’d wanted to pummel the fucking guy, and he was nowhere near here. So all I’d done was as Rex requested and simply forwarded them to him with a quick text asking for him to give me a call soon. I hoped like hell he had some updates on the situation.
The fury I felt at seeing those texts and knowing she’d been seeing them for too damn long amplified everything I felt. So with her standing there by the counter, her cheeks flushed and her hair in a tousle around her shoulders, my restraint was at the end of its tether, about to snap.
I wasn’t much for trying to take this slow, so I didn’t even bother. Setting my beer down and rounding the island between us, I reached out, catching Ella’s hand in mine and reeling her to me. I savored her soft gasp as her body bumped against mine. I didn’t care that my arousal was obvious, I didn’t care about anything but this moment and getting as close as physically possible to her.
Her gaze darkened as she looked up at me, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips. I meant to say something, but I didn’t. I was done for the moment her tongue swiped across her bottom lip.
Releasing her hand, I brushed a loose lock of hair out of her eyes and fit my mouth over hers. On her gasp, I swept my tongue into the sweet welcome of her mouth. Inside of a hot second, I was lost, devouring her mouth with deep sweeps of my tongue, nips on her bottom lip, and rocking my hips into the cradle of hers. Sliding my palm free of her hair, I swept it down her back to cup her lush bottom, palming it and rocking my arousal into her.
It might’ve been a distant memory before the other night, but it was sharp and vivid now — the way she came alive and let go once the heat of our desire engulfed us. In high school, I’d had a thing for her for a bit before we were together. I’d loved the contrast of how serious and quiet she could be, always a straight-A student, always on the honor roll and always more focused on her studies than anything else. I still remembered the first time I kissed her. Just like now there’d been a moment of hesitation and then it swept away in the fire that flashed hot and high between us.
With her tongue tangling with mine and her hands reaching around to grab my ass, our kiss went wild. I couldn’t get enough of her fast enough. I wasn’t thinking, everything was pure raw sensation. Tugging at her clothes, I was relieved she was wearing a blouse even though she swore at me when I tore a button loose.
“Take it easy,” she murmured.
Dragging my tongue down her neck and savoring the sweet tangy taste, I reluctantly lifted my head. “Easy for you to say,” I muttered, canting my eyes to the side and back to her.
My T-shirt had gotten caught on a knife handle in the dish rack when she yanked it over my head and tossed it aside. It was still dangling there. Ella giggled, her cheeks flushing a deeper shade of pink. A sly grin curled the corners of her lips.
Unbuttoning her jeans, I shoved them swiftly down over her hips. She was quite the multi-tasker, busy trying to tug at mine at the same time. She wobbled with another giggle when she kicked her feet free from her jeans.
Lifting her, I slid her hips on the counter, taking a moment to absorb the sight of her. Her lips were swollen from our kisses, her eyes dark, reflecting that same wild, intense, almost frantic need I knew was held in my gaze. Her hair was a tangled mess, falling down over her shoulders and partially masking her breasts.
Leaning forward, I laved my tongue over the black silk, scoring her nipple lightly with my teeth and dampening the silk. I did the same to the other, savoring her cries as she arched into me. With a flick of my thumb on the clasp between her breasts, her breasts tumbled loose. I savored the weight of them in my palms as I glanced up to meet her wild gaze.
“Not fair,” she muttered as she reached between us and tore at the buttons on my fly. When her palm curled over the length of my cock through the thin cotton of my briefs, I couldn’t hold back a groan.
I needed more hands than I had. I didn’t want to let go of the feel of her breasts in my palms, her ni
pples taut as I teased them with my thumbs. But, just as much, I needed to feel the core of her. Reluctantly, I released her breasts, trailing my fingers down over the soft curve of her belly and dragging them across the wet silk between her thighs. She was drenched.
“Fuck Ella. You make me crazy. You’re so fucking wet.”
I didn’t think it was physically possible, but my cock swelled even more. Just at the knowledge of how wet she was for me.
Thought fled again, what little grasp I had on it for a few seconds there. I needed her bare, completely bare. Hooking my thumb on the thin strip of silk on her hip, I lifted her hips with my other hand, yanking her panties down her legs. She kicked them free, the silk falling softly to the floor. Meanwhile, she was tearing my fly open and pushing my briefs out of the way. My cock sprang free, and I groaned when she curled her palm around it.
Much as I wanted to sink inside of her right away, more than that I needed to taste her. Yanking her hips to the edge of the counter, I leaned over, teasing a nipple with my tongue, dusting kisses over her belly and sinking my fingers into the warm silky wet clench of her core.
Her hands tunneled into my hair, gripping it as I dragged my tongue across her seam. She tasted so good—salty with a hint of sweetness and all Ella. Fucking her slowly with my fingers, I explored every inch of her folds, teasing over her clit again and again while she gripped my hair and chanted my name in between gasps and cries. I could feel her getting closer and closer to the edge. I buried my fingers inside of her, knuckle deep, and caught her clit with my teeth. Her channel gripped my fingers when she cried out, flying apart. I waited until her hips stopped rocking before drawing back. Straightening, I soaked her in—her eyes hazy with passion and her shoulders curling towards me as she caught her breath.
Her lips were parted, her breath coming in little gasps. Lifting a hand, I brushed her hair back from her face, dragging my thumb across her bottom lip. Her tongue darted out, and she caught it in her teeth, sucking it lightly.
