by Susan Stoker
Koren hadn’t seemed upset, but he was…with himself. He’d kissed her hello, but couldn’t do the same when she was leaving? And he’d been too much of a chicken to even bring up when they might meet for their date.
“Dude, what was that?” Driftwood asked when they were back inside.
“What was what?” Taco asked, trying to feign ignorance.
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” his friend said. “You fucking waved goodbye.”
Taco collapsed onto the couch and rested his head on the back cushion. “I don’t know. I just…I can’t get what Jen did out of my head. What if Koren’s like her? What if she’s just pity-dating me? Did one of you somehow set me up? Did you tell her what happened and encourage her to ask me out?”
“Fuck you,” Sledge said without heat. “We wouldn’t do that to you.”
“So, you think we orchestrated that huge accident because a car crash would be a good time for her to ask you out?” Crash asked sarcastically.
Running a hand over his short beard, Taco sighed. “No, of course not. Shit, sorry. I’m just having a hard time believing someone like her would want to go out with me.”
“Why?” Penelope asked, sitting next to him. “You’re good-looking, you have a steady job so you aren’t a deadbeat. You have great friends…you’re a hell of a guy.”
“Hey,” Moose complained softly from her other side.
Penelope jabbed an elbow into his ribs, but didn’t take her eyes from Taco’s.
“Jen was a bitch. Plain and simple. She used you. It sucks. But that doesn’t take one thing away from the man you are. Besides,” she said, using her ace in the hole. “Everyone liked her. You think Quinn, of all people, would welcome anyone who even remotely rubbed her the wrong way? No way in hell. And Blythe might seem quiet, but I’ve heard her go off about Jen. It’s not pretty. I chatted with every one of the ladies before they left. They like Koren. And she’s into you, Taco. The only question is, are you ready to do something about it?”
“I…I didn’t think so,” Taco admitted. “But every time I see her, it gets a little harder to say goodbye.”
“Do you just want to fuck her, or is there more?” Penelope asked.
“Jeez, Tiger,” Moose complained. “Cut him some slack.”
Penelope turned to glare at the big man next to her. “No. I get it. It was a blow to his ego to have Jen only want him to get to Quinn. But if all he wants is someone to make him feel like a ‘man’ again,” she put up her hands and used them as quotes, “then he should go to The Sloppy Cow and have Erin set him up with one of the bar bunnies. I don’t know Koren very well, but it’s obvious she didn’t come here with a fucking plate of cookies, dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans and a nice, modest top, just to try to seduce Taco.”
“What would she do if she was trying to seduce me?” Taco asked, smiling now.
Penelope shrugged. “I don’t know. As I said, I don’t know her very well, but I’d guess her jeans would probably be tighter and her shirt would be a lot more low cut. Look, all I’m saying is, be careful. You know how you felt after being used by Jen the bitch; don’t do the same to Koren.”
She had a point. Taco hadn’t thought about it that way. He definitely hadn’t considered dating Koren just for sex. In the short time he’d been around her, he liked her. She had a funny personality, and he actually felt calm in her presence. He couldn’t say that’s how he felt when he’d been around his ex.
“I hear you,” he finally told Penelope.
“Good.” She looked at her watch. “I’m going to go take a nap. And if any of you yahoos wake me up before the tones go off, I’ll have to hurt you. Or sic Smokey on you.”
Everyone watched as she marched out of the room toward the back hallway and the bedrooms.
“She’s getting worse, not better,” Sledge observed quietly.
Moose sighed. “I know. She stopped going to therapy, saying it wasn’t helping.”
“She can’t go on like this,” Crash warned.
“I know,” Moose repeated and abruptly stood up. “I don’t know how to help her. She won’t let me help her. It’s maddening and frustrating. I’m just afraid that one of these days she’s going to break, and it’ll be too late to help her at all.”
“PTSD doesn’t manifest itself the same way in everyone,” Chief said without censure. “One person’s path is never the same as someone else’s.”
“I’m aware of that,” Moose said a little testily.
“Maybe she needs to talk to the SEALs or Deltas who were there when she was rescued in Turkey,” Squirrel suggested.
“Or maybe she needs to hit rock bottom before she can even think about clawing her way back out,” Taco warned.
Without a word, Moose left the room and headed for the back bedrooms. They all knew he was going to talk to Penelope, and that now probably wasn’t the best time, but no one stopped him.
The rest of the afternoon and evening were slow as far as calls were concerned. By the time the sun was making its way above the horizon the next morning, Taco had made a decision.
He liked Koren. He’d been prepared to wait years before dating again, but something inside told him if he didn’t give Koren a shot, he’d lose his chance—and regret it for the rest of his life.
He wasn’t supposed to be on duty when she’d had her accident.
She shouldn’t have survived it.
But he was. And she did.
Maybe it was God’s way of apologizing for what Jen had done.
Taco didn’t know. But he was done being wishy-washy about going out with her.
Maybe they wouldn’t get along. Maybe they’d find that they didn’t click so well after all. But if he didn’t at least try, he’d never know.
The second Mick and the others arrived for their shift the next morning, Taco did what he’d been thinking about for at least an hour before he’d taken a fitful nap.
He was going to go see Koren.
Nadine Patterson sat in the strip mall across the street from Station 7. She wrote down every license plate of every vehicle that entered and exited the parking lot. She didn’t have a lot of computer skills, but one of the guys she got her drugs from had a friend who’d been feeding her the information she wanted.
Flipping a page of the notebook on her lap, Nadine checked to make sure she had descriptions of all the cars as well. When she saw his Silverado pull out of the lot, she quickly put her notebook to the side and started her car. Pulling out a few cars behind him, Nadine followed.
When he didn’t turn toward his house, she grinned.
Hudson Vines really was one of most boring men she’d ever had the misfortune to know. Most of the time he went straight home from work. He went grocery shopping and sometimes visited some of the other asshole firemen he worked with.
But today he was taking a route she hadn’t seen him take before.
Looking behind her to make sure she wasn’t being followed, Nadine tried to ignore the anxiety she always felt when it had been too long since she’d had a hit. Her regular dealer hadn’t shown up the night before, and she hadn’t had time to find an alternate source for her stash.
After she found out where the asshole was going, she’d remedy that. She was getting tired, needed the rush the meth gave her. Then she could start putting things into motion. Hudson would suffer, but first she’d terrorize him—and all his friends.
The man would rue the day he hadn’t tried harder to save her son.
Chapter Five
Koren startled badly when someone rang her doorbell. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was only nine in the morning. She hadn’t heard from Vicky or Sue that they were coming over, and they should be at work anyway. Her parents also usually called before they visited.
Figuring it was someone selling something, she ignored it, turning back to her computer. She was researching a trip to Hawaii for a couple who wanted to go there to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary.
; When the doorbell rang again, Koren sighed and pushed back her chair. She looked down at herself and shrugged. Maybe the sweats, T-shirt (without a bra), and fuzzy slippers would scare away whoever it was. She hadn’t even brushed her hair after getting out of bed.
Jogging downstairs and crossing to the door, Koren looked through the peephole—and gasped. She put her back against the door, as if that would somehow change the situation.
She couldn’t open the door looking like this. Letting Taco see her au natural wasn’t going to happen. No way.
But she couldn’t just pretend she wasn’t home. That was rude. And one thing Koren wasn’t, ever, was rude.
She cracked her door open, leaving the safety chain on.
“Hi,” she said through the crack.
Taco smiled. “Hey. Sorry about showing up unannounced. Can I come in?”
Koren looked down at what she was wearing, then scrunched her nose and said, “I’m not exactly dressed for company.”
“I don’t care.”
Dang it. He was supposed to apologize and say he’d come back later. “Um…” She frantically tried to think up another excuse. “I just started working, and I’ve got about a hundred emails to wade through.”
“I won’t take long.”
She huffed out a breath. Now what?
“If you don’t want me to come in, just tell me,” Taco said calmly. “I wanted to talk about our date, but if you’ve changed your mind about that too, all you have to do is say the word and I’m outta here.”
“No!” Koren blurted. “I haven’t changed my mind.” Her voice lowered, as did her eyes, as she mumbled, “But if I let you in right now, you might.”
“Are you okay?” he asked, stepping closer to the door. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” she told him.
“Then why won’t you let me in?” he asked.
Sighing, Koren said, “Because I look like I just rolled out of bed…maybe because I did just roll out of bed. I haven’t showered, haven’t even brushed my hair yet. I’m wearing ratty old sweats and my slippers. I’m barely passable on my best days, but I’m pretty sure if you look at me right now, I’ll never see you again.”
“Open the door,” Taco said in a tone Koren hadn’t heard from him before.
Still, she hesitated.
“Please,” he added.
Sighing, and having a feeling she’d regret it, Koren shut the door so she could undo the chain, then slowly opened it once again. Maybe this was good. If he saw what she looked like now, he wouldn’t have any surprises later, right?
She didn’t know what she’d expected him to do, but pushing into her foyer and slamming the door with his foot wasn’t it. His gaze was penetrating as he stared at her, and Koren instinctively took a step back. Then another.
He stalked forward, matching her step for step. She saw his gaze go from her hair, to her chest, down to her feet, then back up to her face.
But she couldn’t read what he was thinking. God, she should’ve at least kicked off the slippers she’d had forever. She was such a cliché.
“Taco?” she asked when he didn’t say anything, just continued to move toward her. Her back hit a wall near the kitchen, and she stared up at him when he didn’t stop. He walked right into her space. She put her hands up instinctively, and they rested on his chest. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to push him away or pull him closer.
He smelled delicious. Like he’d just showered. His hazel eyes glittered with some emotion she couldn’t read. He had a short beard, just enough to cover his jawbone, and Koren’s hands itched to move upward and touch it. Would it be rough or soft? She’d never been with a man with a beard before. She never thought she’d be attracted to someone with facial hair, but on Taco, it was sexy as hell.
He brought his hands up and speared them into the hair on either side of her head, gently forcing her head back so she had no choice but to look him in the eye. Her fingers curled on his chest, and she vaguely had the thought that he was all muscle under the black T-shirt he was wearing.
“You think seeing you like this is gonna make me bolt?” Taco asked.
Koren knew she was breathing faster, but she couldn’t seem to control it. “Um…yes?”
He huffed out a breath, and Koren could smell peppermint, as if he’d recently brushed his teeth.
“You haven’t been with that many men, have you?”
She felt the blush blossom in her cheeks. What kind of a question was that? She wasn’t a virgin, but she definitely hadn’t had many long-term boyfriends. How could he tell? And it wasn’t exactly a polite question.
“Don’t answer that; you don’t have to. But I hope to God you haven’t opened your door to anyone else while looking like this.”
She panicked for a second. Jeez, was she that hideous?
“Because this is a dream come true for any man.”
Um… What? But Koren couldn’t get her mouth and brain to work together. She could only stare up at him in surprise.
“Sure, men like to see their women all dressed up. Wearing a slinky black or red dress, high heels, a little makeup. I can’t deny I like that too. But right now…I’m looking at the sexiest thing I could ever imagine.”
He moved one of his hands so it cradled her nape. His thumb caressed the sensitive skin of her neck, making goose bumps spring up on Koren’s arms. His other hand slowly ran down her arm—surely feeling how affected she was—before it rested behind her, on the small of her back. His hand felt huge against her, heavy.
Had he called her sexy? Koren was so confused.
“You have no clue what I’m talking about, do you?” he asked.
Koren shook her head. “No. In fact, I think you must’ve hit your head after I left the station. Do you feel okay?”
His lips quirked, but he got serious again immediately. “Your hair is all mussed, like you truly did just climb out of bed. Your face is devoid of any makeup, so I can see the real you. Your clothes are relaxed and comfy. You’re relaxed and comfy, from the oversized T-shirt down to your fuzzy slippers. And all I can imagine is waking up next to you and looking over and seeing you just like this.”
Koren knew her mouth was hanging open, but she couldn’t seem to close it.
“I see you’re gettin’ it. You look delightfully mussed, Koren. There’s only one thing missing.”
“What?” she whispered.
Taco’s eyes flicked down to her lips—and then he was kissing her. His hands holding her tightly against him, but not so tight that if she protested, he wouldn’t let go. Koren knew down to the marrow of her bones, if she put the slightest pressure on her hands, to push him away, he’d immediately back off.
But she didn’t want him to back off. If anything, she wanted him closer.
She fisted her hands, crushing his shirt in her fists and pulling him toward her.
His head tilted one way and hers tilted the other. His tongue twined with hers, playfully at first, then more seductive. She could feel his rock-hard body against her own. His mustache and beard tickled her face. It was an odd feeling, but she liked it.
She whimpered in her throat and raised a leg without thought, trying to get closer to him. To absorb him into her.
But he pulled back, nipping at her bottom lip as he did.
Koren dropped her leg and stared up at him. He was still holding her, the hand at her back pressing her against him, the fingers at her nape feeling like a brand.
“That’s what was missing,” he said with satisfaction.
“What?” she asked again, licking her lips.
He groaned and shut his eyes for a moment. Koren could feel his length against her lower belly. He was hot and hard…and for the first time in her life, she finally understood what lust was. She’d been attracted to her past lovers and boyfriends, but she’d never felt anything like this. Like she’d die if she couldn’t feel him inside her in the next ten seconds. Her panties were soaked—from a kiss. That hadn’t ever happe
ned before either.
She bit her lip to try to keep herself from doing something really embarrassing…like sinking to her knees and begging him to let her take him in her mouth.
His eyes opened, and the heat she saw in them made her panic for a second, wonder if she’d said the words out loud.
He brought his hand forward and ran his thumb over her lips. “This. Kiss-swollen lips.”
Koren didn’t know what to say. Her mind was blank. He’d short-circuited her brain.
“Barely passable on your good days?” he asked. “I seriously don’t understand women. I can’t speak for other men, but I’m not looking for a supermodel, Koren. I want someone who I’m not afraid to muss up. Who I can kiss without getting lipstick all over myself. Who can eat a doughnut and not worry about whether or not it’ll go straight to her hips. I want a woman who is comfortable enough in her own skin to hang out in a T-shirt and sweats and doesn’t have to be perfect all the time.”
“I had a Pop-Tart for dinner last night, does that count?” she asked quietly.
Taco smiled. “Perfect,” he whispered. Then he took a deep breath and stepped away from her. Or at least he tried to. Koren clung to his T-shirt, not letting him go.
“What did you want to talk about again?” she asked softly.
“I wanted to see when you were free to go on our date. I was an idiot yesterday, and I should’ve asked you then.”
“I get it,” Koren reassured him. “If I had an ex like yours, I would be just as gun-shy.”
“You have a lot of exes?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Good,” he said, and his gaze flicked down to her mouth again, before meeting her eyes once more.
“Tonight?” she asked.
Satisfaction lit his expression. “Perfect,” he said. “Five?”
She liked that he was anxious to see her again. She usually worked until around six, but she’d definitely make an exception to stop early today. “Sounds good.”