Up in Flames: Steamy Firefighter/Single Mom Romance

by Mari Carr

  And then there was the second—and even bigger—problem. He couldn’t risk revealing himself to her until he was sure she’d stick around. He really liked Hope…liked her enough that he’d jerk himself off as many nights as it took until he could convince her that they should try to make a go of it. That they’d make a pretty good couple.

  Jesus. He’d never once met a woman who actually had him thinking about a relationship without panicking and looking for the exit.

  Jake led her straight to his bedroom, leaning on the doorframe as she walked around, taking everything in.

  As she pointed to the family pictures he had scattered around the room in frames, he told who was who and how they were related. The Garrett tribe was a pretty big one—his mom one of four kids, Dad one of six. He had countless aunts, uncles, and cousins scattered around Kansas and beyond, and both sets of grandparents were alive and kicking.

  Hope marveled at all of that. She was an only child, and it sounded as if neither of her parents was particularly close to their siblings. And she only had one grandmother still living, though she only saw her a couple of times a year.

  Finally, she looked at the bed, then back at him.

  “Take off your jeans,” he said.

  She clearly hadn’t expected to do that herself. Jake crossed his arms, waiting patiently.

  “What about yours?” she asked, a hint of challenge in her tone.

  He shook his head. “Later.” Much, much later. “You first.”

  She bit her lower lip, and he tried not to smile at how cute it was when she went shy on him. He stayed far, far away from virgins as a rule—for good reason.

  When he continued to wait without moving toward her, she unfastened the button and slid the zipper down. She shimmied the panties down along with the denim, not wasting any time. Once she’d kicked off her shoes and the pants, she stood there, her eyes not quite meeting his.

  At least she wasn’t trying to cover herself up anymore.

  Progress.

  “Hope. Look at me.”

  Her gaze lifted and he smiled. “You’re perfect.”

  She rolled her eyes in disbelief. “Your turn?”

  “Not yet.” He walked toward her, pulling her into his arms when he reached her, the two of them kissing like they hadn’t seen each other in a thousand years. After a few minutes, he backed her toward the bed, gently pressing her down onto the mattress.

  He’d gotten smart tonight, opting to wear jeans that were a size bigger than his norm. He hoped it would conceal his hard-on without strangling it.

  Jake moved her to the center of the bed, liking the way her red hair looked, lying across his pillow. Caging her beneath him, he resumed the kiss.

  Hope’s shyness melted away as she ran her hands over his chest, his shoulders. He placed one knee between her legs, letting the denim rub against her. She was hot and ready, her body gyrating against his leg, seeking more friction, pleasure.

  When her hands started to drift lower, Jake grasped her wrists and lifted them to the pillow next to her head. He had a surprise for her. One she’d like. One that would keep her roving hands away from his cock.

  He reached beneath the pillow where her head rested and pulled out a pair of velvet-lined cuffs.

  “Jake,” she whispered.

  He ran the short chain around one of the rungs in his headboard, then he clasped her wrists together with the cuffs.

  He liked the way she shuddered, the way her eyes drifted closed. When she opened them, he saw desire laced with the tiniest bit of uncertainty.

  “Here, feel this,” he said, showing her that she wasn’t truly trapped. With her hands cuffed together this way, it was simple for her to unfasten the latch, to free her wrists. “Once you get to know me better, we’re getting the real deal and your freedom will come when I decide, but this is all still new. If you get scared, if it’s too much for you, just hit that latch and shake them off. Okay?”

  The smile she graced him with was full of trust. He savored it, drank it in. She was easy to please, which made him want to do it even more.

  She left the cuffs fastened around her wrists, her chest rising and falling rapidly as he moved lower. He stopped briefly, taking a few moments to suck on her nipples, then he slid farther down.

  Hope jerked when he opened her with his thumbs on each side of her pussy, parting it so that he had unobstructed access to her clit. Jake sucked it into his mouth the same way he had her nipples.

  He kept his arms over her thighs, holding her ass tight to the mattress as he nibbled, licked, and sucked.

  Hope cried out his name several times, peppering it with a few “oh my Gods” and “holy shits.”

  He glanced up and grinned when she said, “Please, please. I need you.”

  It took a few seconds before she realized he’d stopped. Her eyes opened slowly, their gazes connecting.

  “Begging?” he teased.

  She sighed. “Dammit. Yes.”

  “Don’t stop,” he urged, hedging his bets and making sure he got his way by slipping two fingers inside her. She was soaking wet, nearly dripping with her arousal.

  Hope Connor was damn good for the ego.

  “Oh my God. Jake, I can’t take it. Too good,” she said as he slid his fingers in and out, slowly, curving them until he found the sweet spot inside that had her keening like a cat in heat.

  Within sixty seconds, her vocabulary had shrunk to just one word that she repeated over and over. “Please.”

  He kept sliding in and out, stroking her G-spot. The first orgasm was coming this way, and it didn’t take Hope long to figure out the same thing.

  “Jake,” she cried. “Oh God, I think…I’m coming.”

  He rubbed her clit with his thumb, recalling how that had set her off like a bottle rocket the other night on the couch. It worked again.

  She came roughly, her body shaking as she said his name. He liked the sound of it on her lips, but he wasn’t going to be satisfied until she was screaming it.

  Jake slowed the thrusting of his fingers as her climax waned. Once it had passed, he pulled them out completely.

  “Not bad for the first one.”

  She frowned. “First?”

  “Oh, sweetheart. You’ve got at least three more of those ahead of you tonight.”

  She smiled weakly. “I’ll be dead by morning.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m a trained EMT. No worries.”

  “Take off your pants,” she said again.

  The woman was tenacious.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked, his next means of distraction would hopefully make her forget all about his damn jeans. Hell, if he did it right, she’d forget her own name.

  “What?”

  Jake glanced to where she’d laid her purse by his bedroom door. “Mind if I grab it? Seeing as how you’re tied up at the moment.”

  “I hardly think the vibrator is necessary. You’re pretty damn good with your fingers and mouth. I can’t even begin to imagine how good it’s going to be with the real deal.” Her eyes drifted to his jeans. His cock was thick and hard and too fucking ready to roll. He shifted, sitting with his back to her on the edge of the bed, hoping she hadn’t caught sight of the outline of it.

  Rising, Jake crossed the room to her purse. The vibrator was on top, making him think she’d thrown it in at the last minute. He wondered if she’d debated bringing it at all.

  It was his turn to frown when he pulled it from the bag.

  “Jesus,” he murmured.

  He glanced up at Hope, who was beautifully naked and handcuffed to his bed. That was a sight he was going to see in his dreams until the day he died.

  She gave him a sheepish grin. “Everything okay?”

  He held the vibrator up. “You couldn’t find a bigger one?”

  His question seemed to amuse her and she started laughing. “I was in a pretty desperate state when I went online for that.”

  “Used it y
et?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  Jake sighed, torn between laughing and—God—maybe even crying. Hope had bought the biggest vibrator he’d ever seen, but it still wasn’t as big as him. If she couldn’t take this…

  He pushed that thought away.

  “Batteries in it?”

  She nodded.

  “Give me two seconds.” He walked to the bathroom and washed it off, then he looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn’t sure how Hope couldn’t see his pained expression. He wanted to fuck her more than he wanted his next breath.

  Then, he glanced at the vibrator again.

  “Here goes everything,” he muttered to his reflection.

  When he walked back into his bedroom, his chest tightened at the sight of Hope, lying there, waiting for him, her body flushed from her first orgasm.

  He placed one knee on the bed next to her. “This is a pretty ambitious toy to start with.”

  “I’ve always been an overachiever.”

  He bent down to kiss her, then lay down next to her. Switching the speed on low, he raised himself up on his elbow. “Open your legs, Hope.”

  She didn’t hesitate. What she lacked in experience, she more than made up for in enthusiasm.

  Jake pressed the tip of the toy to her clit and she jerked, gasped. “Holy shit. I don’t think I can take another one of those orgasms. Seriously, Jake. I’m still quivery inside from the last one.”

  “Tough,” he whispered, pressing his lips against the shell of her ear as he touched her with the vibrator again. “I’m nowhere near finished with you.”

  She was prepared this time, but that didn’t mean her reaction wasn’t just as intense. The third time he touched her clit, he held the vibrator in place. Within seconds, Hope was lifting her hips toward it. She needed it inside her.

  “Jake.”

  He sat up by her hip, wanting an unobstructed view of her face and her pussy as he introduced her to the toy. Placing the head inside her, he paused. It stretched her more than his fingers, but she didn’t wince, didn’t ask him to stop.

  “How do you want it, Hope?” he asked.

  Her brows furrowed, confused by his question. “What?”

  “Slow and deep?” He pushed the vibrator in a couple more inches.

  “God,” she breathed. “Yes.”

  Jake pulled it out a little bit, then pushed in deeper. Hope’s upward thrust gained her another inch. He worked it inside with a slow in and out motion. She was wet, which helped it glide in. It was nearly halfway when she started to tremble.

  “Hope?”

  “So good,” she whispered. “So fucking good.”

  “You haven’t heard your other option,” he murmured.

  Her eyes opened. “Other option?”

  “Slow and deep or…fast and hard?” He punctuated that question with a quick thrust that had her crying out, not in pain but in pleasure.

  “Shit. That. God, I want that.”

  The vibrator was sliding in and out a good eight inches, but she didn’t complain. Jesus. Far from it. She kept begging him for more, pleading with him to go faster, harder.

  Within a few minutes, she came, loudly, but he didn’t stop. Jake was too enthralled, too fascinated, too determined to push her limits. He had to know.

  Had to…

  Have her.

  He increased the speed on the toy, taking it to high, even as she screamed and shuddered and pleaded. Moving, he knelt between her legs, running his free hand over her inner thigh as he continued to pound the vibrator inside her. Her hips were thrusting toward him, greedily claiming another inch, as she came again.

  She was out of control, her hands still bound above her head. He should have unfastened them before starting this. She’d been bound too long.

  “Jake.” She said his name with a long shudder as the third orgasm waned. “Please,” she whispered, and he saw it.

  She winced.

  He’d gone too far. Pushed her too hard.

  Jake slowly withdrew the toy, turning it off and dropping it to the mattress next to them before crawling over her, kissing her.

  It took everything he had not to strip off his jeans and slide into her. He wanted to take her the same way she’d just taken the vibrator. To pound deep, fast, hard. To lose himself in her.

  But he couldn’t. He’d seen that wince of pain.

  He kissed her gently, trying to apologize with his lips, rather than his words. He wasn’t sure he could say anything that would make any sense to her.

  “Jake,” she said, turning her head. He heard a gentle snick, then felt her hands on his face. “Jake,” she repeated. “Take your pants off. I want you.”

  Her words took him by surprise. And not in a good way. “What? No.”

  “Why not?” She hadn’t expected him to reject her. He’d just taken her too hard with that fucking toy. There was no way she was ready for him. God, he wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready. She was so tight, so innocent.

  “Not tonight,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm, soothing. In truth, he was coming apart inside.

  There was an animal, clawing to get out, ready to shove off his pants and take her. Claim her.

  “Yes. Tonight.”

  She tried to reach for the button on his jeans. He moved away rapidly, rising from the bed.

  “Come back.” She reached for him, sitting up as he stepped farther away from her. “I don’t understand. Did I do something wrong?”

  Jesus. She’d done everything right. Too right.

  “Hope. I need you to listen to me. To understand that I’m doing this for you.”

  “You’re saying no for me?” He heard the tinge of anger in her voice, but he couldn’t respond to it, couldn’t back down.

  “Yes. You’re practically a virgin and I just…dammit…I just took you too hard with that toy. Harder than I should have. There’s a good chance you’ll be sore tomorrow and—”

  “I don’t care. It didn’t hurt. And please, for the love of God, stop throwing that virgin thing in my face. I’m a grown woman. I know what I want, what I like. What I need.”

  “No.”

  “Don’t say no,” she urged. “Please, Jake.”

  “Not tonight. Trust me that this is the right thing.” He could see she wasn’t finished arguing. Not by a long shot. But he was hurting and too close to the edge. If he stayed in this room, there was a chance he’d give her exactly what she was asking for. And he couldn’t do that. Couldn’t risk freaking her out or scaring her.

  “Give me a minute.” It was the coward’s way out, but he took it anyway. He left the room and headed straight for the bathroom. Locking the door, he unfastened his jeans and took his dick in his hand, stroking it with a firm, hard grip, pumping it as fast as he’d just thrust that vibrator inside her. Jake closed his eyes and pretended he was inside her tight pussy, pounding deep.

  He grunted, his climax coming fast. Then he took a few minutes to calm down, steady his breathing.

  Washing his hands and splashing cold water in his face, Jake refastened his jeans and unlocked the door. He hadn’t been gone more than ten minutes.

  It had been too long.

  Hope was gone.

  Chapter 7

  The second Hope was back inside her house, she slammed the door, then reached for her cell.

  The phone hadn’t rung twice before Ada picked it up. “Uh-oh. This isn’t good.”

  “What was your first clue?”

  “It’s not even nine o’clock. If rumors are to be believed, Jake has way more stamina than nine o’clock.”

  “I wouldn’t know. He chose to lock himself in his bathroom and jerk off rather than have sex with me.”

  There was a lingering moment of silence on the other end that lasted long enough Hope thought she’d lost the phone connection. “Ada?”

  “I think I need you to start at the beginning.”

  Hope dropped down on her couch and suddenly regretted calling her
friend. Not because she didn’t need someone to talk to. She did. It was just that her rage had lasted all the way from Jake’s house to the front door, and now…God, now, she just felt like curling in a ball and crying her eyes out.

  “We had a picnic in his living room. He’d gotten a bucket of KFC, laid down a blanket on the floor, and he even put limes in the Corona. It was really sweet and romantic.”

  “Mmm hmmm,” Ada hummed. “So far, so good. Keep going.”

  Hope didn’t have enough experience with dating and men, which was why she’d come to rely on Ada so much. She had never had a girlfriend she’d confided so many details to, but Hope needed Ada’s perspective and advice.

  Hope had already played the fool for one womanizer. And while she kept telling herself she was the user this time, taking what she wanted from a guy who wouldn’t give a shit when she walked away, nothing between her and Jake felt like that.

  She liked him. Too much.

  And that was why her throat was tight, her chest aching. She’d fucking done it again. Fallen for the wrong guy.

  “We ate dinner topless.”

  Ada laughed. “Excellent. For a minute, I was afraid you’d gone to the wrong house. That sounds more like Jake than the romantic picnic. Carry on.”

  “After dinner, we moved things to his bedroom.” She struggled to say more. Everything had been amazing, a fantasy come true.

  “What happened, Hope?”

  She said the rest quickly. “I undressed, he handcuffed me to his headboard, went down on me, fucked me with my own vibrator, and gave me three orgasms so strong, I thought I was going to shatter into a million pieces.”

  “Jesus H. Christ. I think I’ve changed my mind about playboys. When you’re done with Jake, can I have a go? Committed relationships are clearly overrated.”

  “You’re not helping.”

  “I’m not sure you need help. I’ve yet to hear anything bad.”

  “I wanted to go farther. I wanted to go all the way. I tried to help him out of his jeans, but he kept pushing my hands away. When I told him I wanted to have sex with him, he said he didn’t think we should.”

  “Did he say why?” Ada asked.

  “He said something about me practically being a virgin—”