Page 55 of The Night Belongs To Fireman

Her swimming vision cleared, and she realized the man was Fred. Handsome, wonderful Fred, holding her steady, worry in his dark eyes. She shook her head. “Sorry. You surprised me. What are you doing here?”

“I looked up and you were gone. You’re supposed to tell me when you’re going somewhere. How can I protect you if you wander off on your own?”

Now that was just the icing on the cake. “You were occupied. I didn’t want to ruin your moment.”

“My moment?” A little crease appeared between his eyebrows. Her gaze drifted to his mouth. She hadn’t been this close to him since the kiss at the bowling alley the day before. Her lips tingled just remembering that kiss.

But then jealousy lanced through her again. What if he was planning to kiss that waitress? Maybe they’d already made a date for later tonight. Or in a week, when he’d done his duty as her bodyguard.

Stop being such a child, she thought fiercely. But she couldn’t help it. “You and the waitress were having a moment. I think she’s into you.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Really, is that what you think?”

“It was obvious from the way you were looking at her,” she burst out. “As if you wanted to order her instead of the crab cakes.”

He shook his head incredulously. “Are you jealous of Mindy?”

Mindy. Of course she would be named Mindy. Cute blondes were always named Mindy. Fred and Mindy. Perfect. It sounded like a frickin’ sitcom. “Just because you look at her like you want to gobble her up, and you don’t even notice when I leave the room, of course not, why would that make me jealous? Don’t be ridiculous.” She tried to shake him off, but he clamped his hands tighter. The heat of his grip ignited something deep inside her, some ferocious, primal urge.

She fought against it, her gaze clashing with his. He looked as fierce as the wild bear that had once found its way to the Refuge.

“First of all, I went to high school with Mindy and she married a good friend of mine, who might complain if I gobbled her up. Second of all, aren’t you the one looking at that dude like he’s Brad Pitt and Bill Gates rolled into one? And if I didn’t notice when you left the room, why would I be here right now?”

“You probably have to pee,” said Rachel stubbornly, too miserable to give an inch.

He let out an incredulous snort. “Are you kidding me?”

His scent was taunting her, that freshly laundered, healthy man smell. Would he mind if she licked his neck? Because she really, really wanted to. She leaned in, just a hair, just so she could inhale a tiny bit of his essence.

Slam. Suddenly she was smack against his chest again, sealed against him, thigh to collarbone. All the breath fled from her body, chased by violent shivers of need. His arms clamped around her.

“Are you playing some kind of game with me?” he growled in her ear. “I knew you left the room because it felt empty. I knew because I couldn’t smell the rose garden anymore. Because everything went flat without you. Is that what you want to hear? You want to hear how it’s torture watching you with some other guy?”

She shuddered against his body, like a junkie who’d finally gotten a fix. Wrapping her arms around him, pulling him even closer, she stammered, stupidly. “R-rose garden?”

“Rose garden and rain.” He nuzzled the tender spot below her ear. “Right here.”

Shivers skittered from her frazzled nerve endings in a direct line to her nipples. She pushed her breasts against him, needing the hard pressure of his chest. In a daze, she caught his deep groan rising through his rib cage, through his sweater. “I want you,” she said in a ragged voice. She wasn’t even sure what it meant, since she’d never felt this way before. But no other words seemed to express the turmoil raging inside her.

“Fuck,” he said with equal rawness. “I want you so much I can’t see straight.” With a strangled groan, he thrust her away from him. “But we shouldn’t. I’m working for you.”

She gave a helpless little whimper, which made his eyes darken. He caught her to him again. “Just tell me one thing. Do you like that guy?”

“No, I just wanted to make you jealous,” she burst out. “And it didn’t even work. All it did was make me crazy.”

“Oh, it worked all right,” he said grimly. “Too fucking well.” And he claimed her mouth in a savage kiss.

Chapter 16

Yes, yes … this was what she’d wanted. Glorious hardness against her, raw passion firing her from the inside. They crashed against the wall of the little restroom alcove, feeding on each other like wild beasts. A potted ficus on a side table wobbled, about to topple to the floor. Fred snaked out his arm to rescue it, while Rachel clutched madly at his back, where the slide and flex of his solid musculature nearly made her swoon. Losing her head … The phrase swam into her dazed brain. It had never made sense to her before, but that’s exactly what she was doing. The feel of him, the smell of him, the taste when she finally allowed herself to slide her tongue along his neck.

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