“I’m sorry I let you down and walked out, Sarge.”
“You didn’t let me down, Sam,” McCready said. “You made your choice. There’s nothing wrong with that. You stood up for what you believe in and that’s admirable. I respect it – maybe one day our paths will cross again.” He stuck out his hand and Sam stood up and grabbed it. “If I had any say in it, you’d be a full-fledged member of the Forest right now. You wouldn’t have to give up anything – your dreams, your career, Brooke. You’d have it all, if I could.”
“Thanks, Sarge,” Sam said. He watched as McCready went for the door. The ex-Sergeant nodded at him, opened it, and left without another word.
Sam stood there for a few moments. He’d lost it all, hadn’t he? He’d lost everything. But he’d lost it all because of his choices. He wouldn’t sit back and be forced into something he wasn’t. He’d stood up for himself – and after all of those years, he’d finally found himself.
I just wish she was here with me.
And then there was another knock at the door. Sam expected McCready to come back in, to give him some other bit of wisdom, but the door didn’t open. Sam approached it and slowly opened it.
Brooke was standing there. Her eyes were wet – it was obvious that she’d been crying.
“Why?” she asked, sobbing again. “You didn’t have to, Sam. You didn’t have to throw it all away. You could have had your career!”
“I couldn’t. I couldn’t be what they wanted me to be,” he said. “And I couldn’t be anything I wanted to without you.”
“You failed your test,” she said, sniffling. And then she threw herself into his arms and pressed her lips against his.
Brooke pressed herself against Sam. She’d handed out the tests – one fewer than she had expected – and sat in silence as the rest of the students finished their exams. John Forbes spared a few glances towards Sam’s empty seat but the rest of the students didn’t even do that. Their entire future was on the line.
She hadn’t known what to do. In truth, there had been nothing she could do. Sam has missed his exam and that was that. She’d waited quietly while the rest of the men finished their exams, placed them on her desk, and left the room. Brooke had attempted a few futile efforts of grading them but her mind couldn’t leave Sam.
Why did he do this?
So immediately after the last man handed in his exam, Brooke found her father and managed to weasel the information about where Sam lived out of him. Heart pounding in her chest, she’d knocked on the front door, hoping against hope that he hadn’t skipped town or disappeared somewhere she’d never find him again.
And when he’d opened the door, she hadn’t known what to do then, so she’d just yelled at him and then jumped into his arms and kissed him.
After they broke their kiss, Brooke pulled away, took a step back, and slapped him.
“Ow!”
“How could you?” she yelled, finally slamming the door closed behind her. “How could you sit there and throw away your entire career? Over what? Me? How they were treating you? I hope you’re happy! They replaced you with Ryan Smith!”
“They what?” Sam asked, almost dumbfounded.
“They’re saying he’s the one that saved you in that building collapse! Since you weren’t playing ball, they decided to replace you!”
“That’s good.”
“That’s not good, Sam! That means you were going to be replaced anyway, whether you decided to skip out on the exam or not! So you just threw away your career for nothing!”
“It’s not for nothing, Brooke. I want you.”
“You can’t have me, Sam!”
“I’m not your student any longer, am I? And you’re certainly not my teacher. So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I don’t want you!” Brooke lied. She was coming dangerously close to crossing the line – really giving in to her desires.
She would be lying if she said she didn’t want Sam more than anything else in the world. But it wasn’t right, was it?
It doesn’t matter now. Maybe it never mattered.
“Then why did you come here? Why’d you kiss me?” Sam asked. The questions were simple and Brooke didn’t even have a simple answer. “Just tell me you don’t see something between us, Brooke. If you say it, I’ll believe you.”
Brooke opened her mouth to say those exact words but nothing came out.
“You threw away your entire life for me, Sam,” she said instead, coming close to him and putting a hand on his large, warm chest. “You didn’t have to. You shouldn’t have.”
“That was my choice to make, Brooke. I realized that there was something else I wanted. I wanted you. But if you won’t have me, I won’t hold it against you.”
“They offered me a job next year, you know,” Brooke said. “And with my father being the Chief, it won’t look good if I’m seen with a dropout. What would everyone say? People are going to talk.”
“Let them.”
“My dad might not be happy.”
“But will you be?” Sam asked. They had come close then, their lips inches from touching.
“More than anything,” Brooke said.
“I love you,” Sam whispered.
Brooke felt her heart leap in her chest, those words something she’d never heard like that before, and she said them back and then their lips touched.
It wasn’t anything like their other kisses. The first had been forbidden. The second, only minutes ago, had been angry and lustful, uncertainty and sureness all wrapped into one kiss. This one was something else entirely. It was love, longing, soft – everything Brooke had always imagined kissing someone in love would be like.
Sam’s hands came up to the sides of her head, thumbs running along her earlobes and she tilted her head, kissing his hand up and down. Then his lips were on her cheek, kissing, then an ear. Goosebumps exploded across her body and she let out a little moan, tickled even as his lips were kissing her cheek again, moving down to her neck, sucking, kissing…
His apartment was bare – but somehow, that was perfect. It was exactly the kind of man Sam had been before he’d fallen in love with her and Brooke had the briefest thought of what their life would be like together; their own place, a bedroom, dinners, cuddling up on the couch together – something that neither one of them had ever truly had.
Her hands grabbed his shirt and lifted it over his head. His found her coat and tore it off, tossing it onto the table. Brooke felt the briefest flash of cold until he wrapped himself tightly around her and then they were tumbling onto his small bed on the floor, surprisingly warm and comfortable. He lifted up the big, thick quilt laying over it and they dove underneath it, his warm chest pressing against her body, his warmth keeping her warm.
She kissed him again, lips, cheek, neck, all of the way down to his chest. He moaned and his large hands pulled her shirt over her head and she was there in her bra. They were kicking off their shoes and socks. She heard the thunks as they fell an inch to the floor and then their pants came next, warming fingers fumbling with buttons and zippers and then those, too, were gone, somewhere at the foot of the bed.
Brooke could feel Sam’s entire warmth. His body was pressing down on top of hers and there was something else pressing against her warm skin and she felt herself gasp.
They kissed and kissed, lost in each other’s lips for so long that Brooke had no idea. One of Sam’s hands came up and grabbed one of her breasts, squeezing and dipping his fingers underneath it. She felt one of his fingers slide against her nipple, finally touching her and she let out another small moan. Brooke arched her back and Sam slid one hand underneath her, unclasping her bra and freeing her breasts. Sam immediately moved down, kissing her chest, then moving to one breast and then the other, lightly sucking on her nipples.
He was there for a few minutes before kissing downwards, dancing down her stomach with little pecks and kisses until he reached her underwear, long since soaked through with her exc
itement.
He hooked two fingers in each side of them and then pulled down ever so slowly. He worked them down and down, past her knees, his lips following, kissing all the way down until they were off her feet and he worked himself back up, kissing here and there and everywhere, teasing as his lips moved from thigh, directly over her wetness, and then to another thigh.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take it any longer, she let out a moan, clutching the pillows as his lips moved to that special place between her legs. He kissed expertly, lips and tongue working in tandem and hitting all of the right spots. He dove between her lips, tongue dancing, then kissed her clit ever so lightly before moving away again, always doing something perfect, until he focused directly on her clit and all of her other thoughts fell away as she could feel an orgasm approaching.
It built faster than she could have ever imagined. Sam knew exactly what he was doing, exactly how to make her come, somehow he just knew. She felt the warmth blooming from deep within her, barely more than the merest pinprick of heat, but it didn’t stay that way for long. It grew and grew until it completely engulfed her, her entire body going warm and numb and she held off for as long as she could.
But it was pointless. Sam did everything right and then she was cumming, her back arching and her body going flush with excitement and pleasure, her screams of ecstasy filling the small apartment. She wrapped her thighs tightly around Sam’s head but it didn’t matter; he wasn’t going anywhere. His lips and tongue never stopped moving until she was completely spent, her chest heaving, her nipples hard, her entire body warm with what had just happened.
He ever so slowly kissed his way up to her and they kissed again. But she could feel his thickness pressing through his underwear, pressing just between her legs and she wanted him now. She reached down, lips still locked, and pushed them off of his tone and heavily muscled body.
Brooke’s heart gave a little flutter as she could feel his thickness against her inner thigh. They broke the kiss for just a moment, long enough for Sam to look her deep into the eyes, and her to say, “I want you,” and then they moved and she could feel him pressing against her wetness, right there between her thighs. She let out a small moan as the tip of his penis pressed against her, pressing and pressing and then parting and sinking and then she let out a large moan and he was inside of her.
He sank deeply into her, slowly, her wetness and warmth engulfing him until he was buried entirely inside of her. They stayed like that for a few moments, lips against each other’s, both moaning and just feeling the other for the first time, and nothing in the world seemed like it mattered any longer. Brooke felt as if everything leading up to this was pointless and she wondered why she had ignored Sam for so long – but then he pulled slowly out of her and their moans filled the apartment again. He pushed back into her, faster than before but still slowly, and then they were falling into a rhythm; him pulling and pushing into her, Brooke arching her back and pushing her hips against his at the exact right time.
His hands wandered over her body, hers against his toned back. Their lips kissed and then danced away, kissing every bare inch of flesh they could find.
Every stroke was a stroke against her clit and she could feel another orgasm building. Her body was growing hot again, her cheeks blazing warm, her nipples hard between Sam’s lips, and she let it wash over her without a second thought. She was screaming, arching her back, nails digging into his own, and then she felt him tense up on top of her.
Sam let out a loud, bestial roar of pleasure, pushed deeper into her than anyone had ever been, and they came together. She felt his cock jump within her and felt a hot spray of his seed deep inside of her. She felt herself tightening around him. They came together, kissing and bodies going limp, and finally, after what seemed like hours, it was over for both of them and their lips finally parted. Both breathing deeply, hot, exhaustion taking over them, Sam slowly pulled out of her and rolled off of her to the side. Brooke immediately rolled over and cuddled up next to him.
It felt right. Everything felt right. She knew, with complete certainty, that the words they had said to each other before hadn’t been just words. They were the undeniable truth.
“I love you,” she repeated again. Just saying them was like there was a weight off of her shoulders – she was finally being honest about what she felt, no matter who cared or what came from it.
“I love you, too,” he repeated, and they kissed again.
Sam’s apartment was gone, as too were most of his old belongings. His bed, which he was actually surprised to find he missed, some of his old clothes, a stack of newspapers and the kitchen table they had rested on, and everything else he didn’t absolutely need.
He missed them, in a way, but at the same time, it had been cathartic to get rid of the old – because though they were his things, they were from the part of his life where he wasn’t entirely happy.
His new place, for once in his life, wasn’t a rundown apartment. It was an actual house. There was an actual living room, kitchen, and a master bedroom that was as big as his entire apartment. And to top everything off, they were actually separated by walls. It was like stepping into another world.
And it was his.
“This is wonderful,” Brooke said from beside him.
It was theirs.
“Our own place,” Sam said, looking around the living room. They didn’t have any furniture – actually, they had little more than a bed and a box of plates and silverware – but it would all come together in a short time.
It had taken a little loan from the Chief, something Sam hadn’t wanted to do – but they had their own place. Brooke had convinced her parents to help her out one last time, and though it had pained her to do so, she’d done it and had moved out and together, her and Sam were going to start their life together.
They took a tour of the house, though they’d walked it over a hundred times before. Sam looked out into the backyard. It was finally warm and the sun was shining brightly. Most of the snow and ice had finally melted away. Things were looking up.
“We’ll never be able to pay off my parents,” Brooke said. She looked over at Sam’s face and laughed. “Only kidding, honey.”
Honey. I never thought I would hear anything like that.
It had been months since he’d finally been accepted into the Forest. It seemed almost like yesterday. His life had moved fast since then but it hadn’t been bad. He’d met Brooke, after all.
“You can put your grill out there and cook when we have our first party,” Brooke said, looking out the window. “My parents, John, a few of the other men. I have a couple of teacher friends I could invite, too…”
“I don’t think I’ve ever used a grill in my life,” Sam said, swallowing. He thought of trying to entertain so many people, in his own house, and the thought daunted him. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Sam, you run into burning buildings for a living,” she said with a laugh. “I think you can handle a grill. Plus, what would Ortega think knowing you can’t run a grill?”
“I’d better start practicing.”
Upstairs was the master bathroom, the master bedroom, a few extra bedrooms – perfect for starting a new, little family. Sam looked over at Brooke, standing there, radiating her beautiful glow and smiling – and standing there, obviously pregnant.
“We’re going to start a family,” Sam suddenly said. “I’m starting a family. With you.”
“Can’t believe it?” she asked, coming close to him, slowly, waddling in her beautiful, pregnant way. “You deserve this, Sam. After everything you’ve been through. After everything we’ve been through. We deserve some happiness.”
“I know,” he said – and for once in his life, he knew it was absolutely true. He kissed her on the lips.
“The movers should be bringing our furniture sometime this afternoon,” she told him. “We need more than a bed and truth be told, I’m getting sick of eating stuff we just toss in the ov
en. I’m ready to cook, I’m ready to sit down and relax in our own home. We’re so close.”
“We are,” Sam said. “Can you believe it? And to think you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“That is not true,” she said with a devious smile. She came close to him and kissed him. Sam felt himself melt at his merest touch.
“You have to stop…” he said, breaking their kiss. “I have to go into work.” She kissed him again. “I can’t. I’ll be late…” Another kiss. “Brooke, please…”
“Get out of here, Sam,” she whispered, pulling away slightly. “I’ll be waiting for you when you get home.”
“Are you sure you can handle everything?”
“I’m only pregnant, Sam,” she laughed. “I can tell some guys where to put our stuff when it finally arrives. Go. Get to work. Bring home the bacon. That kind of stuff.”
“Okay, Brooke,” he said, giving her one last kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she said back. They made their way to the front door where Brooke waved as he reversed down the driveway in his new vehicle and turned down the road, watching Brooke in his rear view mirror as long as he could until she was only a speck.
Life was different now. It was much more different than when he’d joined the Forest and seen Brooke for the first time. It was different than it had been only a few short months ago, when he’d decided to give up everything. He smiled in a sad sort of way – he’d given up everything in his life. But somehow, everything had worked out for him.
He’d gotten Brooke, and a house, and a most importantly, they were going to have a child together. He’d never been so happy in his entire life.
He pulled up to the fire department and parked, looking up at the new stonework that proclaimed, “THE FOREST.” The men had vetoed the idea but of course, the bosses had decided that their new rebranding was more important than what a few of the men wanted.
Bear Heat: BBW Fireman Bear Shifter Romance (Firefighter Bears Book 1) Page 15
