Page 16 of Five Alarm Kiss

Did that sound snarky?She hoped so. After he spoke to the class, and the children left, she was going to give the guy a lecture on the importance of being punctual and respecting other people’s time.

Officer Bennett smirked as the fireman changed directions and walked to the front of the classroom. When he arrived at her side, she felt dwarfed. The bulky, black gear he wore made him seem larger than life. The jacket and pants boasted reflective, fluorescent yellow stripes encircling the wrists and bottom hem of the pants and jacket. Another stripe ran horizontally across the chest, with two more traveling vertically up the back, stopping at the shoulder blades.

He leaned down, eclipsing the overhead lights.

“Lockwood,” he said.

She blinked up at him, unable to see him clearly through his mask. “What?”

“The name’s ‘Lockwood.’ We don’t go by ‘Officer’.”

“Oh, um…” She swallowed against her suddenly dry throat. For some reason, all of her senses had switched to high alert. “Class,” she said. “This is Mr. Lockwood. He’s a?—”

“Fireman!” the kids finished for her.

“But you can call me Jake.”

Chapter Five

Laurel’s pulse faltered upon hearing that name whispered in her ear, but it jettisoned into warp speed when she looked up. The fireman had removed his helmet and was staring down at her with an amused grin, ice blue eyes full of mischief.

“Hi, Laurel.”

Holy hopscotch!

Laurel’s heart slammed against her rib cage, and she stumbled back a step.

Jake, from the bar!

“Nice to see you again...” His voice was smooth as silk and brought every stroke of his tongue to the forefront of her mind. His gaze floated down her frame, stirring up her insides, before rising back to focus on her face. “… without the hat.”

He winked, and her mouth dropped open. For the life of her, she couldn’t find her voice. She stood there, mute, unable to move a muscle. Helpless against his knowing grin.

After a few, torturous moments of being watched, Jake addressed the kids. With the magnetic pull of his eyes directed elsewhere, Laurel wasted no time in escaping to the safety of her desk. She scootched her chair in so far, the desk dented her stomach. She didn’t care. She needed the barrier itafforded between herself and the living, breathing, sexy-as-bells incarnation of her abject humiliation.

Jake discussed his life as a fireman and what he did on a daily basis when he wasn’t fighting fires. The chores, training, physical fitness—he emphasized the importance of exercise, for both him and the kids, which she thought was a nice touch. He explained how he prepared for fighting fires, and the precautions he had to take. He even segued into a segment on fire safety for the kids and taught them the “stop, drop, and roll” method if they—God forbid—ever found themselves on fire.

When the kids asked him about his gear, he explained everything piece by piece. How the self-contained breathing apparatus respirator mask, or SCBA for short, allowed him to breathe in a smoke-filled room, and the fact his outfit—he’d called the jacket and pants “turnouts”—helped repel moisture and had thermal layers which offered some insulation from the heat.

He took off his jacket, so the kids could try it on.

Laurel gripped her desk like it was a lifeboat keeping her from going under. Jake was wearing a navy-blue T-shirt that emphasized the muscles in his back and revealed powerful arms she knew could effortlessly hold her down on a bed as he had his way with her.

A little shocked and a lot turned on by how easily her mind had thrown her into a porno film, she crossed her legs tightly against the sudden tingling in her core.

Jake wrapped his turnout coat around Travis’s shoulders. It dwarfed him, puddling on the floor around his feet, like it did on all of the children who took a turn donning the jacket. Her ex-fiancé, Ethan, would’ve shut it down after the first two. Correction, he never would’ve offered to let them try it on in the first place. He had no patience for kids, which should’ve been red flag number one. She was a grade school teacher, forgoodness’ sake. Why the heck had she agreed to marry someone who wasn’t good with children?

Jake, on the other hand, was relaxed and accommodating, and seemed to genuinely enjoy interacting with the kids. It was… surprising. And hot. Just like the kiss they’d shared.

Her thoughts flashed back to Hannah’s and being held in Jake’s arms. The way he’d lifted her as he’d plundered her mouth. The heat that’d ignited her senses when he’d cupped her butt and pulled her against?—

“Laurel?”

A large hand on her shoulder made her jump. She looked up to find Jake standing over her.

“You in there?” he asked.

“What?” It took a few seconds for her to come back to the present and realize she’d been sitting at the head of her first-grade class, fantasizing about kissing a man she didn’t know.

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