Spark Of Desire (15 page)

She barked a laugh. “It’s all in the hands. You should see me dissect a frog. I’m a wonder.”

“It’s a really nice party. Thanks,” he said, trying again. “I guess it’s not all parties I hate, just the ones I get invited to.”

“I host a mean brunch, too.” She spelled out his name with sure, even strokes. “I even have my own melon baller.”

“I want you to know I appreciate it.”

She nodded and straightened. Reaching around, she put the frosting back in the refrigerator. As she licked frosting off her fingers she didn’t look teary or upset, but she had another green smudge on her cheek. “Just think, in six and a half weeks I’ll be out of your hair.” Her mouth quirked into a sarcastic smirk.

He stepped forward so quickly she jumped back a step, flattening herself against the wall. Her dark eyes went round, looking up at him in alarm. Grabbing her shoulders, he murmured, “You have no idea.” The frosting still on her lips sweetened the kiss. Her body curved against his as his hands slid down to her waist. Even after the workouts she wasn’t hard in all the wrong places. He wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the floor in his eagerness. Her hands grasped his shoulders, pulling him against her as her lips parted to his probing tongue. A soft moan escaped her, shivering through him. He tangled his fingers through her hair, luxuriating in its satin texture. His need for her was growing beyond his control. If he hadn’t wanted to be seen talking to her, he certainly couldn’t be caught having sex with her.

He stepped back as abruptly as he’d moved forward, leaving her leaning against the wall dazed and breathing through her open lips. Her cheeks were stained with a faint blush.

“You can’t tell any of them about this,” he said trying to catch his own breath.

“Okay.” She nodded. Her eyes were round and uncomprehending. Cap would be happy to know she knew how to follow directions. Too bad he couldn’t explain to Cap how he knew that.

“You better go out first. Tell them I went to the bathroom if they ask.” He looked behind himself at the hall. “Where is it?”

“Through the bedroom.” She brushed her hair off her cheek.

“Okay. I’ll be out in a few minutes. You’re not going to put candles on that, are you?” He frowned at the cake, wondering if anyone had noticed they’d been gone a long time.

She looked at the cake too, as if she’d forgotten it was there. “I don’t have to if you don’t want me to.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

She nodded. “All right. I’ll just take it out then.”

Kevin paused. He wanted to kiss her again. To drop a courtly kiss on her cheek, but if he did, it wouldn’t remain courtly. “I’ll be out in a minute.” Hurrying through her bedroom, he tried not to look at her bed. It looked too inviting, and he had enough damage control to do. He closed the door of the narrow bathroom behind him and pressing his forehead against it.

Now what was he going to do? She was a kid. They’d call him a cradle robber. There were at least two captains out there. His little stunt could screw up her ranking. Getting through the exams in the first place wasn’t going to be easy, without having to deal with some kind of other problem. How was she supposed to concentrate on training when he was concentrating on her? He had no right to put his own desires above hers. No matter how raging his need seemed to be. She wanted to be in the department and the department needed her. In comparison, his wishes were infinitesimal.

He stood up and looked around the room. This room too, for all its functionality and the design forced on her by the landlord, felt comfortable without being frilly or girly. Just like the rest of the apartment.

Just like Jessica.

Chapter 8

Jessica remembered watching movies of foals trying to get to their feet after birth. Still wet and wild-eyed, they flailed around trying to get their long, ungainly legs underneath their bodies and maintain some balance. She now understood how they felt.

Gathering her legs under her, she pushed away from the wall. For a second she thought her knees might give, but she got them under control and stood in the middle of the room, swaying.

No one had ever slammed her against a wall and kissed like that before. Most of her previous kissing experience involved either linebackers who were more force than finesse or guys too overwhelmed by the fact that she had to lean down to be very much fun. That alone explained why she was thirty and a virgin. What was there to look forward to, and why spend time chasing it when you could repaint the bathroom?

Kevin had balanced force and finesse pretty nicely. Her lips felt swollen, but a quick fingertip inspection revealed them to be about the same size as normal. She took a deep breath. What in heaven’s name possessed him to kiss her? When he leaped forward the way he had, she hadn’t known what to expect. If she’d had a split-second to think, she doubted kissing her would have made the top ten.

“Well,” she murmured, picking up the cake with nerveless fingers. “I guess this means he likes me.” Liked her? Definite understatement. Based on his reaction, he would have been more than willing to carry on in the other room if she didn’t have twenty-seven firefighters in her backyard.

Carrying the cake through the living room to the door, she wondered why, if he liked her, did he tell her not to say anything to anyone? What was the big secret? They were adults and this could make lifting weights at his house much more interesting. He must have a good reason.

She hoped he had a good reason.

The door latch wasn’t closed. Occasionally the door didn’t close all the way, but she thought she’d heard it click after Kevin when he came in. That had been a while ago. She could be misremembering. If she got to the bottom of the stairs and everyone was looking at her funny, that would end the charade Kevin seemed to want to play.

Everyone was too busy staring at the cake to look at her. The older man with all the stories followed her across the yard to the table, telling her about the country club fire where they’d had to pull down every wall in the office area to put it out, but managed to save the wedding calendar.

“Can you believe a ritzy place like that still had tube and knob wiring? And there they were, running computers and fax machines and all this equipment off this lousy wiring,” Joe finished with a flourish.

“Pretty silly. You’d think they’d have been able to afford to replace the wiring.”

“At least it sparked at night. Nobody in the building at the time.” Joe nodded.

Jessica set the cake on the table and wiped off the bread knife and waited. She wanted everybody out as soon as possible. Any other time she’d have gladly trundled the last guest off around midnight, but today had just taken a sharp left. Joe launched into another story about tube and knob wiring.

“Oooo, that looks good. When are you going to cut it?” Roger asked, leering at the cake and cutting off Joe midsentence.

“As soon as the birthday boy comes down.” Jessica fidgeted with the knife in her hands. She felt like she was standing on the deck of a ship during a storm. This was the kind of thing she would discuss with Mindi if Mindi weren’t being nuts. Did Bobbie fall under Kevin’s admonishment not to tell
any of them
? Jessica frowned, glancing around. She couldn’t see over the crowd. For probably the first time in her life, she couldn’t see over most of the heads around her.

Sonya ducked through the crowd. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

Sonya raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask again.

Kevin came down the stairs.

“Hey, Marshall, get over here. Jessica won’t cut the cake without you,” Roger yelled. “Are we going to sing again?”

“No.” Kevin stopped a few feet away from Jessica, but didn’t look at her.

Jessica held out the knife. Her hands were shaking too hard to cut straight.

“You do it. You’re better at it,” Kevin said. He put his hands behind his back like she might force the knife into them.

Jessica held the knife out to Sonya. “You’ve got plenty of experience at this. You do it.”

“Why? You can do it. It’s not surgery.” Sonya’s face wrinkled with total confusion. She wouldn’t leave now until she had answers. At least she didn’t fall under Kevin’s category of
any of them
.

“Julie can do it then. Where’s Julie?” Jessica started to hold up the knife and realized as she did that the long blade exaggerated how badly her hands were shaking.

“No way,” Julie yelled from the other side of the crowd. “We’re not at work. You’re not the boss of me.”

“Give that to me.” Roger snatched the knife out of her hand and stepped between them. “I’ll cut it if you’re all afraid.”

Jessica stepped back and watched Roger hack into the soft cake, smearing frosting everywhere and cutting the largest pieces Jessica had ever seen.

“It’s not a door, it’s a cake,” someone heckled.

“It’ll still be edible.” Roger dumped the first pieces on plates and Jessica grabbed the knife out of his hand.

“Why don’t you let me finish so we’ll have enough to go around?”

“Sure.” He grabbed one of his huge pieces and a fork. “This is great. What kind of frosting is this?”

“Cream cheese.” She bit her lip, remembering that she’d decided on the tart frosting because she thought Kevin was being tart with her. She’d read him all wrong too. So far that was Mindi
and
Kevin. Who was next? Would her mother do handsprings at the idea she was training to be a firefighter? Would Eric develop a backbone and offer her a huge raise to stay at the store? Would Julie and Darla become best friends?

“Wow. Hey, Cap!” Roger waded through the crowd, leaving Jessica standing next to Kevin to cut up the rest of the cake. After Roger had done so much damage, no one would be able to tell her hands were shaking. Kevin grabbed the first plate he could get his hands on and put as much distance between them as possible. Half an hour ago that would have incensed her. Now it explained a few things.

Like why he moved all his weights out of the house.

And why he wouldn’t come near her when they were working out.

What it didn’t explain was why he didn’t want her around his friends or why she wasn’t allowed to tell anybody. Was there something wrong with her? Was he embarrassed?

She looked over the crowd and her eyes settled on his friend Jack and his friend Jack’s soon to be wife, Kate. They had done introductions when they arrived. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time. Yet another small woman, ho hum. Now, Jessica’s gaze fell on her a little more critically.

Kate was really small. Not much more than five feet tall, she guessed. Long hair, long fingernails. Wearing a blue cotton sundress that showed off her curves. Standing beside Jack, they looked like one of those comical Great Dane/Toy Poodle combinations. Kate smiled up at Jack, looking adorable and small and in need of protection. Like Mindi and her mother. Men liked women who needed protection. They liked to be needed.

Jessica had never needed protection in her life. She’d beat up her own bullies in elementary school, escorted nervous girls after dark on campus in college, and now had started on a path that, hopefully, would lead to a full time job rescuing people. Men, she’d learned, were turned off by women who stood up for themselves. Kevin probably thought he was attracted to her because he was training her. Sort of like nurses falling for their patients. As long as she needed him, he would believe he was in love with her. Once she passed the test, if she passed the test and joined the department for real, she wouldn’t need him anymore. Once she didn’t need him anymore, any interest he had would vanish. She met his hooded eyes through the crowd. From that expression she couldn’t make anything out, but didn’t think it mattered.

As giddy and happy as she’d felt a few minutes ago, she now felt sick. The last few pieces of cake waited on the table but she didn’t think she could stomach eating one. Everyone could go home now. Including Kevin. She picked up the knife and carried it inside for an excuse to leave.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Sonya demanded, following her into the apartment. “You look—Jess? What happened?”

Jessica put her hands over her face. “Nothing. Just taking stock of my life and realizing what’s on the debit side.”

“What did Kevin say to you?” Sonya stepped into the kitchen. “You guys were talking for a long time.”

“He wanted to thank me for the party.”

Sonya looked over her shoulder. “He looked like he was enjoying himself for a half second there.”