Slow Burn (Smoke Jumpers) (11 page)

“But I’m not going to be good at all,” she promised. Her lips followed her hands, drawing his balls into her mouth and tugging gently downward. He groaned, and heat exploded through him. The pleasure was fast and hot, and he’d never expected this, never dreamed she’d want him like this. Her hands made the return trip up his thighs, massaging the sensitive area between his balls and his ass.

“Faye,” he bit out, the pleasure making his hips rise toward her in silent demand. He wanted to make love to her, give her the same kind of pleasure she was giving him, but he wasn’t going to be able to hold on for long. Not the way she was touching him.

She lifted her head. “I told you I was going to be bad, Evan.”

“Darlin’,” he groaned, “you have no idea.”

With a little smile, she wrapped her hands around his shaft, her small hands fisting him as she stroked downward. Then back up again, in a torturous, agonizingly delicious return journey until her mouth met her fingers and slipped down over the head of him. Her tongue traced a damp, hot path, and he bit back a yell. He was wet, from her and from him, and the wicked look on her face promised more. Much more.

“Faye,” he gritted out, the sensual exploration of her mouth making his fists clench. Instead of answering, her tongue worked around the head of his erection. Her hands cupped and massaged his balls while her tongue licked and licked. Tasting him in a wicked, heated glide as her hands gently squeezed his shaft.

When she increased the pressure, he about came out of his skin. His hands tangled in her hair, holding her still as he fucked her mouth in long, slow strokes.

And she let him.

Christ, that visual of her mouth, wet from their kisses and from him, opening up to take him, was enough to send him over the edge. Then she looked him straight in the eye, and that was another erotic broadside he hadn’t expected.

“Do you like what I’m doing?” she whispered, lifting her mouth away from him. He loved that husky voice. Faye had the face of an angel, but her hands were pure wickedness. Hell, yeah, he liked this, but he had no idea
why
she was going down on him. Right now, he didn’t care, either. He wanted more Faye and whatever she would give him.

“Keep this up, darlin’, and you’re going to find out how
much
I like you.”

“Oh, good.” The smile she flashed him was pure mischief. Taking a step backward, she shimmied out of her clothes. His first sight of her naked was something else again. The sun-kissed skin of those long legs sent another jolt of heat through him. She’d worn a bikini this summer and had the tan lines to prove it. Some primal part of him loved knowing he was seeing a side of her that had been all covered up. He got to see what she’d kept hidden from everyone else.

He hadn’t touched anyone like this in a long, long time. That soft patch of dark hair between her thighs was pure temptation. He wanted to sift his fingers through those curls. She was so very pretty there. Yeah, he wanted to look, to touch her where she was soft and wet, but she was also deliciously impatient, and she had plans of her own.

Before he could do more than look, she’d pushed him back onto the pile of chutes and seated herself on his lap, her hands guiding his penis through her saturated folds. Right up to her clit.
Christ
. She got the tip of him against the very tip of her, head to head. A sense of connection unfolded in him. This was raw and intimate and about the two of them. His hips jerked, driving him against her as she used him, like a personal toy, stroking him against herself.

Christ, yes
. She was talking, too, whispering words of praise. She made him feel beautiful, cared for. Two things, he realized, he hadn’t known he needed or wanted.

Outside the hangar, a car door slammed. Two familiar feminine voices, calling greetings—right before they stepped inside.
Damn.

“Their timing sucks,” he groaned. He pulled away, grabbing for his clothes. He knew those voices. That was Nonna, and she’d brought Lily with her. He’d have to go back down those stairs and see what they wanted. When all he wanted to do was finish what Faye had started here. He was iron hard, so, yeah, there was no hiding the evidence of his arousal.

Maybe he could conduct business from up here until he cooled off some.

Shaking her head, Faye moved away from him, and, God, he loved that her legs were trembling. She’d been so close, too. She’d been right there with him, right on the edge of something hot and wild and unbelievable. She licked those swollen, wet lips, and he knew he’d see that mouth of hers in his dreams. He was sure of it.

“You’re expecting visitors?”

He flashed a rueful grin. “No. I’d have been putting up caution tape and keep-out signs if I’d known what you had in mind for us.”

“Maybe they’ll go away?” she asked hopefully, but he knew better.

Footsteps crossed the hangar floor, and Nonna called his name again. She knew he was in here, and he got the feeling she knew
exactly
what he and Faye had been up to. Hell, it was almost like being back in high school, except Evan had never been irresponsible. Rio had been the one Nonna had busted. Repeatedly.

“Evan?” The laughing exasperation was plenty clear in Nonna’s voice. Five seconds more and she’d be up the stairs and in the loft with them. “Where are you?”

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Lily sang. She sounded damn cheerful.

“Up here,” he called, and he moved to the edge of the loft. He was as decent as he was going to get for a while.

When he leaned against the edge of the loft and looked down, however, it was plenty clear that Lily hadn’t connected two and two. The chagrined look on her face said she’d have given the hangar the widest possible berth if she’d known he and Faye were there.

“Sandwich delivery,” Lily offered weakly, but Nonna didn’t even bother with the excuse. He wasn’t surprised to see them, not really. Nonna knew—hell, the entire town knew—he’d taken an interest in Faye Duncan. Nonna didn’t know about the possible arsonist in the department’s midst, so all she saw was the girl her son was after. He could spin it any way he wanted, but that was the reality. Faye interested him, and he’d made it clear that he intended to do something about that interest.

Maybe he should make things easier for Nonna. Take Faye home for dinner.

Of course, it wouldn’t be as much fun that way. Truth was, he’d always loved to tease his Nonna. And it wasn’t as if he’d produced a ring and dropped to one knee, after all. He’d had lovers before, and he certainly hadn’t brought them all to Nonna’s house for casserole and salad.

“We’ll be right down,” Faye called. She didn’t want anyone else up there, either, and he liked that. Suddenly, this loft was theirs. He didn’t want to share it, not even with his family. Beneath her breath, Faye muttered a short curse that was shockingly graphic, coming from that pretty mouth of hers. He still couldn’t believe what she’d done to him or the gift of that dazzling sensuality.

This woman was dangerous.

 

Faye flew down those stairs as if her ass were on fire.

Nonna watched her, a knowing twinkle in her eye. Not wanting to face that music just yet, Evan grabbed his used canopy and started working.

His gut said he’d be going up again soon, and he preferred jumping with his own chute. Safety regs said you did your chute yourself, or a certified packer did. Since the only other people he trusted to pack his chute were his brothers, he packed for himself. The hangar smelled like rubber and nylon, all gear with a whiff of wood smoke and grease. Like a well-packed chute, that was a familiar scent, one that said all was right with his world.

Plus, he was ringside for whatever conversation Lily and Nonna were about to lay on Faye. Double bonus right there. Faye was talking before she hit the bottom of the stairs.

“Evan is helping me with my story.” The excuse clearly shot out of her mouth before she could bite back the words. She didn’t need to excuse herself. They were both adults here. He was free, and so was she.

The little smile on Lily’s face said she knew exactly how Evan had been “helping.” When she spoke, however, her words were carefully chosen. “He’s good that way. You get what you need?”

Faye’s feet cleared the stairs and hit the floor, but she wasn’t even trying to hold back the laughter in her voice. They knew. And, no matter how frustrating the situation was, it was also funny. “Not yet. You have a few minutes?”

“Sure.” Lily put down the large bag of paper-wrapped sandwiches she was carrying. So that part had been true enough. They had brought lunch. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m doing a piece on the fire house renovation for a magazine,” she explained, “and I want to include something in the captions from the people who are involved as friends and family. You all know the firefighters best. I thought you could tell me about what the firehouse means to you.”

Lily looked over at Nonna. “You want to start?”

Nonna had stories, all right. Only question was, where would she choose to start? While Evan waited for her opening salvo, he folded the canopy he’d used to bring down Faye. No creases. Nice and smooth, all straight lines and ready to go. This chute would come right out the next time he pulled the cord, and he’d fly down nice and safe.

“You want me to tell you about raising three boys to be firefighters?” Nonna’s laugh was a happy bark of sound. “Sure. I can do that, but you might want to take a seat. That isn’t a fast-food order you put in.”

“Whatever you want to share, I’d love to hear.” Faye sounded like she meant it, too. Maybe it was professional curiosity, or maybe it was something else, because he didn’t see a recorder or a pen and pad in her hands, but she marched right after Nonna. She was done with him and with the loft.

For now.

Because he already knew he’d be doing his level best to coax her back into his arms as soon as their unexpected company had the good sense to leave. Unfortunately, if Nonna was in a storytelling kind of a mood, he might be waiting a while. A really
long
while.

The three women headed for the door and outside. Evan wanted to follow, as if there were a damn string connecting Faye to him. She went, he went. It didn’t make any sense, this need he had to be near her. He wanted to hear what she had to say about the firefighters, too—and he damn sure wasn’t waiting until she’d stuck her material into a magazine.

Fortunately, his seat on the loft’s floor also gave him a clear line down and out the door. He could pack chutes and eavesdrop. It wasn’t nice of him, but he’d take what he could get. As soon as the women got outside, Lily and Nonna dropped their bags onto a wooden picnic table and started pulling out sandwiches. From the look of the piles, the guys merited both variety and a step up from PB&J today.

“You’ve lived up here in Strong for years, right?” Faye looked at Nonna, who nodded. That was a softball question. After the canopy was folded, he checked the lines, straightening them. Lines had to be good and tight. One twist, one overlooked kink, and he’d hit the ground dragging the equivalent of a bedsheet behind him.

“I’ve been here thirty-five years now.”

“And Jack, Evan, and Rio—they’ve been fighting fires for how long?”

A familiar little smile played on Nonna’s face, her fingers moving over the sandwiches the way his own worked the buckles on the chute. This was one of her favorite stories, and she loved telling it. “They joined me when they were ten. Almost from the first day, they were fascinated by that firehouse. They’d hang around and pelt Ben with their questions. If the fire was small enough, he’d even let them ride out on the truck. It was a different world then. We weren’t worried about lawsuits and liability. Ben was real good to my boys, and they needed to see a man who did things right.”

Faye hesitated, then plunged in. He’d have told her anything she asked, but she clearly saw an opportunity here to ask her questions, and he kind of liked her curiosity. She wanted to know about him and his brothers. That wasn’t a bad thing. “You adopted the three of them?”

Nonna nodded. “Eventually. As soon as I could, in fact. They came to me as fosters, though, so at first I was afraid someone would show up and take them away from me again. A foster parent has to be able to let go, and I knew almost at once that I wasn’t ever going to be able to do that.” She stepped back and eyed the mountain of sandwiches critically. “Those boys get right under your skin and into your heart.”

“And you didn’t mind their riding out on the fire truck? Or that they grew up to be firefighters themselves?”

“There’s no
mind
about it. Those boys scared me half to death every time they walked out the door. They were doing the right thing, though, and boys need to grow up. I knew Ben would look out for them, best he could, and they needed to go.”

“And now?” Faye asked. “Now they’re all grown up and they’re going places where they’re not safe, and they’re spending most of their time away from you.”

“Not so far away,” Nonna said. “I’m right here, aren’t I?

“Yes.” Faye didn’t sound convinced. She waved a hand toward the hangar. “You don’t feel out of place up here?”

“Because this hangar is brimful of men and testosterone?” Nonna laughed. “Honey, those men need to know someone is looking out for them. I don’t want to jump, and I’m not digging line with them. Sometimes sandwiches are enough, and sometimes they’re not, but I’m always here. They know that.”

Faye looked over at Lily. Evan’s brother’s fiancée hadn’t jumped in yet. Evan figured that if anyone had a good handle on what it was like, living day in and day out with a jumper, Lily Cortez was that woman. His brother was a lucky man, having her by his side. Jack had told him once that Lily hadn’t been sure about living with and loving a jumper, but she seemed to have embraced her fate with both hands. The two of them were talking about a late-summer wedding date.