Page 24 of Playing with Fire

How would she handle things if they continued this way? She could handle Beckett dating her, but could she handle him loving her? Could she handle loving him? As Willa gazed up at him, the sun highlighting the smooth lines of his face and the open and easy expression that seemed to be a permanent fixturethere, she couldn’t help but hope that the answer to both of those questions wasyes.

Chapter Fifteen

~Beckett~

The smell of smoked meat and burning charcoal mixed with the warm air of late morning as the fire truck rolled its way down the Fourth of July parade route in downtown Applewood. Eager children and their watchful parents lined both sides of the street, waving tiny flags and holding their hands out for the candy some of the other parade participants were handing out. Cheers greeted Beckett and his coworkers as they traveled from the largest park in the area down toward Town Hall. There the celebrations would cease until later when a good amount of people would drive to the big city for their fireworks display.

There was far too much forest around for Applewood to attempt their own. Wildfires were a huge threat, and it wasn’t as if the small fire departments in the area could handle it on their own. Despite there being no official fireworks, every year it seemed that someone liked to try and create a show in their own backyard. Being on shift during the patriotic holiday consisted mostly of handing out fines for using fireworks illegally. It wasn’t a difficult shift, just tedious. Luckily, this year Beckett was not scheduled and wouldn’t have to act as the fun police for the entire town. Instead, he would get to spend his evening with Willa.

They had been spending more time together lately with Willa even sleeping at his apartment on occasion, though it was mostly Beckett staying at her place since she mentioned feeling a little uncomfortable waking up and possibly running into her boss. It was hard for him to understand since Beckett had breakfast with Chief Trilby anytime they were on shift together, but he could see the need to keep professional boundaries with Nate.

Beckett also wanted to make sure Willa was at ease withas many aspects of their relationship as possible. They still hadn’t defined anything, so he wasn’t even sure if he could refer to Willa as his girlfriend. It had been difficult for him to not have things progress in a sure pattern, but he was managing. Willa was far too important to him already to risk losing her with his need to push for more, and that included asking exactly where things stood between them.

Patience hadn’t ever really been his strong suit in the past, especially once he found something he wanted, or in this case, someone. When Beckett was little, he absolutely hated having to wait for the apples to fully ripen before trying one and would end up with his mouth pulled into a tight pucker at the tartness when he inevitably ate one too soon. Beckett also hated having to wait until he had graduated from high school to start attending the fire academy, didn’t enjoy having to go through probation before he could go on certain calls at the station, and disliked having to wait to move up to fire captain, the position he held now.

Beckett’s need to move quickly had served him well in his career, but it wouldn’t serve him well with Willa. She needed time and understanding, and even though Beckett would love to skip forward a few steps in their relationship, he could wait, especially considering that he was falling in love with her and had been since the moment he saw her.

Willa had called him brave for being a firefighter, but she was the brave one. Dealing with a controlling, manipulative boyfriend and getting up the courage to leave that situation made her more courageous than every man in the station put together. Her strength was one of the things Beckett found most attractive about her and what continued to draw him in every time they were together. Willa was made of pretty stern stuff, and sometimes Beckett couldn’t believe how lucky he was that she was even spending time with him. She could do anything, bewith anyone, and she chose him. It was a bit of an ego trip, and any time Beckett thought about it, he found himself standing a little taller and feeling like the best kind of man.

A nudge to his side yanked his thoughts away from Willa and onto the man next to him. “What’s up, Friedman?” The expectant father had worry lines near his brown eyes and looked like he could use another few hours of sleep, but the smile on his face hid all that for the moment.

“Isn’t that your girl?” he asked, pointing into the crowd.

Beckett’s eyes darted around the smattering of townsfolk until they landed on Willa. His mouth twitched with the need to pull into a big, dopey grin, so he stopped fighting and let it happen. “Yes, it is,” he said proudly.

Beckett would claim Willa to the entire world as soon as she was ready to let him. Waving to the beautiful woman, he smiled even wider when she blew him a kiss. Willa’s hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, giving Beckett a clear view of her gorgeous face. Her eyes seemed to light up as he passed and seeing her look so happy had his feet moving before his mind considered the consequences.

Hopping off the side of the truck, Beckett jogged up to her and promptly pulled Willa into a deep kiss. The people surrounding them whooped and hollered, but he didn’t pay them any attention. All he had was being poured into the kiss that sadly, he had to keep slightly appropriate since there were kids around. When Beckett pulled back, Willa’s eyes were a little glazed over as he beamed at her.

“You’re still coming tonight, right?” They had made plans to go out to trivia night where she could meet some more of his family. He’d wanted to invite her over to his family’s annual holiday barbeque, but somehow he thought that meeting his parents might be a little too much for her.

Willa’s eyes blinked dreamily for a moment before sheshook her head with a slight chuckle. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Great,” he said, kissing her temple. “I’ll pick you up at six.” Jogging backward, Beckett finally got back to the engine and hopped on while it was still creeping along at the snail’s pace required of a small-town parade. The chief would likely give him hell once they were back at the station, yelling at him for being reckless and unsafe, but it would be worth it to have seen Willa’s blissful expression.

****

The chief did indeed give Beckett a hard time for jumping off a moving truck, citing his being a “bad example” to the people watching, but Chief Trilby had also looked happy that Beckett seemed to have finally found someone worth getting chewed out for. It was no secret that Beckett was a relationship guy, and finally being in one with someone he felt those incredible sparks for each and every time they were together was better than he ever thought it could be.

Seeing Willa at the parade and sharing that kiss had helped dispel some of his worry. So what if they hadn’t defined what they were doing or what they should call each other? Willa was in his life and ultimately, that was the most important thing. Right now, all that mattered was getting the two of them to Branch and Brew in one piece, something that was very difficult to do with Willa looking as delicious as she did as she lounged in the passenger seat.

When she had opened the door to her house not ten minutes ago, Beckett’s jaw nearly hit the floor. Willa’s style seemed to favor a lot of long, flowing material, and tonight was no exception. What was different was that instead of a dress, she wore a long pink skirt and billowy, short-sleeve blouse of the same color that stopped just below her breasts, leaving her entire midriff on display. The smooth expanse of lightly sun-kissed skin had his throat going dry instantly.

Even now as he peeked over at Willa, Beckett could barely form words let alone speak them coherently. The only thing going on in his mind was wondering how long they had to stay at the brewery before heading back to her place where he could map every inch of her beautiful body, starting by kissing the adorable little freckle that was just under her ribcage.

“You okay over there?” Willa asked slyly. The confidence in her voice and in her expression was evident. Knowing what she had gone through in the past, it was good to hear and to see, and the fact that she knew exactly what she was doing to Beckett was an added bonus.

Shifting in his seat to adjust his aching cock, Beckett grabbed the wheel a little tighter than necessary as he pulled into a spot in the back of Branch and Brew. Turning to Willa, he fiddled with a strand of her golden hair, letting the silkiness ground him as he took a deep breath to calm his libido. “I’d be a whole lot better if you didn’t look so damned edible,” he revealed. Her smile widened as he shook his head. “It’s going to be hard to answer questions when all I want to do is drag you back to your place and touch all that delectable skin you’re showing off.”

Willa considered his words a moment before leaning over. “What if I added some extra incentive?” At Beckett’s raised brow, she continued. “For every question you get right, we’ll add another minute of foreplay later. Then you can explore all you want and I get to lay back and enjoy it. You keep calling me Wild Woman, maybe it’s time we see just how wild you can drive me.”

Willa was fighting fire with fire, and Beckett was being consumed by the flames, his cock going from rock-hard to steel in seconds. “Fuck,” he breathed out. “I don’t know if you made things easier or harder just now. My blood isn’t exactly in my brain.”

Willa giggled slightly and placed her hand on Beckett’sthigh, squeezing it as she trailed her hand up to the ridged outline in his jeans. “We can take care of that first if you want,” she said huskily. Her eyes shifted around the nearly empty lot that was currently devoid of people and licked her lips.

Beckett’s mind whirred with all the ways this could go sideways and they could get caught, but when she palmed his stiff cock through his jeans, any sense he had about being a public nuisance went up in a puff of smoke. “It won’t take much,” he confessed. “It’s been hard for you since you opened the door.”

“Is that right?” Willa gripped him one last time before undoing his jeans and freeing him from his briefs. “Well, I’ve been wanting to do this since I opened the door.” She gripped the base of his cock and gave it a few good pumps before her head bobbed over the top, her mouth warm, wet, and perfect.

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