Into the Fire (5 page)

Then Nate lifted his gaze and caught
hers; his eyes went molten as he read her expression. He clenched
his jaw, as if reining back a comment, and schooled his expression
into one of pure patience. He wanted her, of that Charly had no
doubt, but something was holding him back.

“
You know, there’s one thing
I haven’t said to you,” his tone was so serious, so solemn it sent
a chill of foreboding through Charly. “I never said I was sorry for
up and leaving you back then.”

Of all the things he might have
uttered, that was the very last thing she expected, and it was like
a punch straight to her heart. Granted, she’d thought it often
enough over the past few days, but she hadn’t expected to hear him
utter the words. “No worries,” she replied, keeping her voice
light, “we’re both adults, and we made our choices.”

He dipped his head in assent. “Maybe,
but that’s no way to treat a friend. To be honest, you scared the
hell out of me then.”

Charly was shocked
speechless. She’d scared 
him
?

“
All I can say in my defense
was I was young and dumb and wanted to see the world.” He paused,
as if weighing his words, then stood and pushed away from the
table, standing only inches from her, the heat of his body
blanketing her. “I want you back, Charly, and I’ll do whatever it
takes to make it happen.”

Charly sat in silence for a long
moment, then raised her eyes to his. “I won’t deny wanting you,
Nate, but that’s all it would be: sex, friends with benefits. I’m
not looking for anything long-term, and you deserve to know it up
front.”

He grunted in response, as if he
didn’t believe her.

“
Dammit,
Nate, I mean it. I’ll enjoy the hell out of the sex, but
it 
will
 end there.”

*

Nate scooped a hand through his hair.
Had he really hurt her so badly when he’d left? Or, did he think
his role in her past had been greater than the reality? It didn’t
really matter in the long run. Charly would be his, heart and soul.
He relished the challenge.

“
Just sex, huh? I guess
that’ll have to be good enough ... for now.” He turned her chair
around, dropped to his knees and planted his hands on the arms of
her chair, then leaned into her, his eyes locked on hers as he
inhaled deeply. “You’ve always smelled so damned good, woman. Like
you were made for me to savor one bite at a time.”

Her breath caught in response to his
words, her nipples hard little points against her
blouse.

He dropped his head and blew a breath
across them, still maintaining a cushion of space between his face
and her body. He wanted her just as entranced as she’d been back
then, begging for his touch even as she held all the power. He
wanted to incite her beyond reason and then deliver them both to
ecstasy.

“
What the fuck do you think
you’re doing, Nate?” Her voice was a bit thready but laden with a
steel resolve he’d never heard before.

“
Friends with benefits,
right?” He blew across her left breast again. When she
involuntarily surged toward him, he tightened his hands into a
death grip on the arms of the chair; otherwise, his arms would have
grabbed her of their own volition, with or without his
consent.

“
Then get on with it,
dammit,” she ground out.

He smiled in response. “A little
testy, aren’t you? I’m just getting reacquainted.”

“
I’ll show you
reacquainted.” She wound her hands into his hair and lifted his
face; her kiss scorched his lips.

Nate let her control the embrace,
although everything within him itched to lift her onto the kitchen
table and feast. His shorts felt two sizes too small, and his cock
was about to burst through the zipper, but he’d wait. This was
about regaining her trust. This was about winning
Charly.

*

As Nate’s taste swept over her,
Charly’s heart thundered over the alarms, which started clamoring
the second he caged her against the kitchen chair. No, she’d heard
the warning too late; now, all she wanted was him: his lips, his
tongue, his cock. She wanted it fast and hard. She wanted it
now.

Sucking his bottom lip between her
teeth, she nipped hard and slipped her hand between his legs. His
erection was iron in her fingers. She traced him through the fabric
of his shorts and reveled in the familiar sensation. Eight years
vanished as if, only yesterday, she’d last fondled him, tasted him,
anticipated his touch.

Her breath stuttered as his hips
jerked and he surged into her hand. Jesus, it was like coming home
again.

She swept her tongue into his mouth,
and, as if that were the invitation he’d been waiting for, he
pinned her against the chair. Taking command of the kiss, his lips
and tongue boldly plundered, as if he had every right. As she
melted against him, she realized he did.

“
Jesus,
Charly,” he growled against her lips; his
hands 
finally
 left the arms of the
chair to tease her nipples. He tweaked each peak relentlessly as he
devoured her mouth; his cock pulsed against her hand as he ground
against her. Her pussy clenched in response, flooding with
cream.

His mouth moved south and teased her
breasts through the fabric of her blouse, their labored breathing
the only sound in the room. She arched into him, one hand gripping
his cock, the other tangled in his hair.

Then he lifted her, sweeping the crime
scene evidence from the table with one hand while he laid her out
with the other.

The hard, slick surface of the table
was strangely sensuous against her back, the fan-driven air
tickling her dangling legs.

“
A feast...” he mumbled as
his fingers fumbled with the buttons of her blouse. With a curse,
he gave up, grasped both sides of the garment and pulled, sending
buttons flying. He latched onto one lace-covered nipple with
hunger, his teeth nipping and suckling, one hand on the other
breast, the other fumbling with the tab of her shorts.

Passion swept through her, the craving
so intense she shook in response to his caresses. An inferno of
desire fueled her response as she clutched him against her breasts
and wrapped her legs around his thighs.

“
More...” she gasped, as he
lowered her zipper and dove beneath her panties, spearing her with
two fingers, making her bow against him in response. Her heart
stuttered in her chest as he delved deep, his thumb massaging her
clit, his teeth biting at her breast. His fingers found her G-spot
with unerring accuracy.

She undulated against him, desperate
for more of his hands, his mouth, his skin. As her heartbeat
ratcheted up, a thin sheen of perspiration covered her
body.

He stroked inside her forcefully as
his teeth closed on her nipple hard and she exploded, the walls of
her core clenching like a vise around his fingers. He gave her a
quick, reasonably satisfying peak, but she wanted it
all.

Even as she quaked in the aftermath of
her orgasm, her fingers tightened around his cock through the
barrier of his shorts. “Want ... you in me ... now,” she
moaned.

He grunted in response against her
breast. The vibrations rolled through her in a sensual wave that
lit her afire all over again, but then he pulled away, stripping
away her shorts and panties as he did.

She lurched against him, bereft at the
loss of his mouth, his heat.

He stood over her with a predatory
gaze, his body a taut wire of sexual need as he reached into his
back pocket and pulled out his wallet, extracting a condom, before
pushing his shorts to the floor. His eyes were locked on hers as he
cast his wallet aside and tore the cellophane open.

She lunged up and took the rubber from
him, leaning forward for a long, savoring taste of his cock. He
filled her mouth; his taste flooded her senses until he was her
reality ... the long, strong length of him, the salty tang of
precum. She drowned in him, bobbing her head until she’d almost
swallowed him whole. She fisted him in one hand, gliding down his
length as she ate him up.

She was vaguely aware of his hand
knotting in her hair, his guidance in her tempo almost a
non-entity. He pulled away from her, his face rigid with
need.

He pushed her back against the table,
grabbed the condom from her fingers and sheathed himself in one
swift move. Then his cock was gliding against her clit,
obliterating rational thought.

She ground against him, mindless in
her need, her back bowing against the hardwood of the table, her
pussy on fire.

He pushed into her, and her hands
scrabbled against the table as he thrust hard and deep. She surged
against him, her body and mind crying out for the completion only
he could provide.

The head of his cock dragged against
already sensitized tissues, and she moaned in response. Had
anything ever felt this good, this right?

As he thrust into her and she arched
helplessly in response, her rational mind screamed, “No,” and she
was drowning in the pleasure. Her world centered on Nate, on the
sensations thundering through her body.

He filled her slowly, as if they had
all the time in the world. From his standing position, he drove
deep within her. Clasping her hips in his big hands, he pulled
until she was flush against him, his pubic bone hitting her clit
with each thrust. Her muscles clenched in response to each of his
thrusts as her body strove to keep him within her, filling her to
overflowing.

She squirmed beneath him, desperate
for the contact of his hard chest against her breasts, but he
maintained his standing position, his cock pistoning in and out so
methodically she thought she’d scream.

Lunging up, she grasped his short hair
in her hands and pulled him in close. “Faster, dammit,” she ground
out.

He laughed against her lips but sped
up as she wrapped her legs around his hips. Her nipples brushed
against his chest with each thrust. His mouth, hot against hers,
took her fully with lips and teeth and tongue until she couldn’t
remember where she ended and Nate began.

Then his thrusts became harder,
faster, more punishing, his thumb pressing against her clit, and
she burst into rapture around him, her breath heaving in her lungs
as she arched into his chest. He followed her seconds later,
shouting her name as he came.

*

Charly slid off the kitchen table,
righted her clothing and surveyed the crime scene data scattered
across the floor. Anguish crowded her heart, pushing away the
double-time thump of satisfaction. She ached to snuggle back into
his arms, or better yet, lead him to her bedroom. That just
wouldn’t do. This was fucking, not making love and snuggling. To
maintain her composure, she had to fall back on her life, on the
case.

She’d let her personal feelings waylay
an investigation. It didn’t matter that she could put everything
together again in a matter of minutes. What mattered was that she’d
forgotten, for the briefest time, that someone’s life might very
well be at stake. And for what? A fuck with a lover from the
past.

The fact he’d completely rocked her
world, again, had to be irrelevant. It had to be to maintain her
sanity and self-worth.

She forced steel into her spine and
turned to face him. “You need to leave now.”

His expression was shocked ... and
hurt. “What?”

With all her resolve, she resisted
wiping the pained looked from his face. Right this second, she
needed to be the Ice Queen more than she needed her next breath,
otherwise, she’d come completely unraveled. “We had our fun, now
I’ve got to get back to work. The agreement was sex ... just sex.
Now that we’re both satisfied...”

“
The hell we are,” he
stepped forward, bulling into her space, the very essence of an
alpha male in all his glory. “This was an appetizer,
Charly.”

In that moment she realized he’d been
handling her with kid gloves, hoping not to scare her away. But she
wasn’t scared in the least; she was turned on beyond
reason.

Regardless, she wouldn’t be deterred.
She couldn’t be if she wanted to keep her heart intact.

“
For you, maybe, but it was
more than enough for me. You got sex, and the information you
wanted about arson investigation. We’re through here.”

He stood there for a long moment, his
muscles corded and his fists clenched in frustration. Finally, he
dignified her cold shoulder routine with an answer.

“
Fine, you want it that way,
Charly, you can damned well find me.” Nate was furious; she could
see it in his eyes, hear it in his tone. “You remember the things
we did before I left, and you want them again as much as I do. This
was just a warm-up, Sweetheart.”

Charly’s heart thudded against her
ribs with his words; her nipples hardened all over again at the
mere suggestion. How could she make him understand she couldn’t
lose herself that way again, even if her body craved it? Why did
she even want to?

He scribbled his address on the back
of an envelope. “We’ve got something special, Charly. Something
more than the short term. Come see me when you figure that
out.”