Big Engine: A Firefighter Romance (Firehouse 22 Book 1)

by Scarlett Brooks

  “Yeah, I hadn’t noticed.”

  “Wrong. You’re making puppy eyes at him.”

  “That’s not true,” I tried to protest.

  “Nice try. You should ask him to dance later.”

  I shook my head. “We’re here to work, not play.”

  “Uh huh,” she rolled her eyes at me. Sure we were dressed like guests, and maybe instead we should have worn our white pastry chef jackets, but it was a nice reason to get dressed up. But that still didn’t mean we were guests. After Crew finished talking, the dancing began. The bride and her father and the groom and his mother—the traditional dances. Then the floor was open to the guests. Most of the songs they played at first were slow dances—to get the men out on the dance floor. Most guys didn’t like to dance to fast songs. I got up to get another glass of wine for Summer and me, and when I returned, she was already on the dance floor.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised. She was so pretty that she usually jumped right into the mix of things. With her long blonde hair and blue eyes, she was a knockout. As I set the glasses of wine on the table, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there stood the best man.

  Crew. Hottie extranodaire.

  “Would you care to dance with me?” he asked.

  I wanted to say ‘no’ and run. Try to remain professional and focus on my job. But something in his eyes—which were a gorgeous shade of blue—told me that it would be okay to dance with him.

  “Umm sure I guess.”

  We walked out to the floor and he took me in his arms and we started to dance to an old song “Endless Love,” and I thought instantly of the movie and Brooke Shields.

  “I’m Crew Hudson, Brad’s brother.”

  I snapped out of my thought and back to reality. “Oh, I’m Lacey,” I lied. I have no idea why I told him that name. Somehow I guess I thought that I would be safe from getting hurt if he didn’t know who I really was. “Nice to meet you, Crew,” I seemed to mutter.

  “Are you having a nice time?” he asked.

  “Yes, it's a lovely wedding,” I managed to answer a question that I really had not determined yet myself.

  I was so nervous dancing with this absolutely gorgeous man. His black hair and blue eyes made for a mystical combination and I was mesmerized by his good looks. He was a good dancer too. Held me pretty close for having just met, but I sensed that there was a mutual chemistry between us. I know that I could feel it.

  “Lovely? That’s not a term you hear too often.”

  I smiled, trying to seem sweet, or whatever. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I wasn’t demure! I was usually covered in flour, hair sticking up, sweating my butt off in a bakery. This whole pretty girl vibe was not me.

  “I don’t know, I like old stuff I guess. So you’re a firefighter?” I asked changing the subject.

  “Sure am. Firehouse 22, busiest one in Austin.”

  “That must be an exciting life,” I commented as he twirled me away and then brought me back in close. I could smell his cologne. Damn, why had I lied about my name like a weirdo?

  When that song was over, they played another oldie, “Unchained Melody,” and we stayed on the dance floor.

  “It’s not so bad I guess. I do love it. I think it’s my duty to save people.”

  “Now you sound like a military man.”

  He rolled his eyes and I could tell I hit a nerve.

  After that song, the DJ announced that the bride and groom were going to cut the cake, so he walked me back to the table. “Gotta perform my best man duties I guess,” he said as I sat down. “Thanks for the dance; may I ask for you to save another dance for me a little later?” he asked.

  “Sure, I would like that,” I heard my voice saying this, but I didn’t know what made me say it.

  He walked back to the area where the action was taking place. Summer and I headed back to the kitchen to wait for the cake to come back.

  Jocelyn and Brad cut their piece of cake and fed a bite to each other. Summer asked one of the waitstaff to bring the cake back to the kitchen on a cart for us to cut. So we took off the top layer and boxed it up for the bride. We cut the rest of the cake and put the slices on dessert plates as the servers took them out and gave them to the guests. When we were finished, we went back to our table and Summer took the topper up to the bride’s table.

  The dance music started again and the lights were lowered. Summer said, “I saw you dancing with the best man, he’s pretty hot, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, he’s hot. But it's really no big deal; who were you dancing with? He was really cute too.”

  “Yeah, he is—and he is really nice too. He is a firefighter with Brad and his brother. I like him!” She giggled.

  We were on our third glass of wine and I could see that she was acting silly. I just felt a little relaxed and a little warm. This wasn’t going to end well. Summer never handled her booze particularly well, and I should have monitored her more closely. Especially because our job was done. It was time to go. If I was lucky I could sneak out before Crew found me again, and pressed me for information. I wasn’t a good liar, and being “Lacey” was going to get difficult fast.

  I felt that tap on my shoulder again. It was Crew. He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet and led me back out to the dance floor. In his arms again, I felt like a princess. Again, he held me close to his body. The heady scent of his cologne made me imagine things I shouldn’t have.

  The warmth of his breath on my neck gave me goose bumps on my goose bumps. I was tingling all over and then the song changed to one by Enrique Iglesias—“I Can be your Hero, Baby.”

  “I love this song,” I said. “Have you ever heard him sing it in Spanish? It is so beautiful.”

  “You are so beautiful, Lacey; I can’t take my eyes off of you. I have to tell you that when I first saw you, my heart dropped to my stomach. It was like I knew you; it was just strange I guess.”

  Oh Jesus.

  I couldn’t describe how his words made me feel, but I had to admit that I somehow knew that I would see him again. I looked up into those blue eyes and he closed my mouth with his. I thought I was going to pass out. My knees grew weak and my body wanted more of him.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered as he led me out of the ballroom. He took me upstairs in the elevator to a room that the guys changed earlier. He chain locked the door and pulled the covers from the bed that didn’t have clothes all over it. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me again. I was so turned on, I couldn’t stop myself. I was like putty in his hands.

  But how could I? I was a professional! And now a freaking liar.

  This was getting way more complicated that I expected.

  3

  Crew

  I didn’t know what hit me with this girl. She was so damn beautiful, but I could see sadness in her eyes. As we danced on the dance floor and I sang in her ear, I could feel her melting in my arms. I had a hard on that wouldn’t quit. When she looked up in my face, all I wanted to do was be with her. I took her up to the room. As we stood there by the bed, she looked like a scared puppy, but her kiss told me something else.

  She wanted me as much as I wanted her. I held her in my arms as I pulled down the zipper on the back of her green dress. She shrugged it off and started to unbutton my shirt and I took off my trousers and shoes and socks and we fell together onto the bed. It was all so rushed. I knew she felt like we had to get back, I couldn’t be missed as the best man. But damn if it didn’t make it that much hotter.

  Rushed words, and breathless kisses. It was a fucking turn on.

  She had the most beautiful ass; it was curvy but nice and firm. Her breasts were soft and round. I covered her nipples with my lips and teased them with my tongue. She squirmed under me and ran her soft hands down my sides and arched her body up to meet mine. I reached my hand down and felt her hot wetness. She moaned as I gently massaged her, slipping a finger between her wet folds.

  “
Oh God, yes,” she moaned in my ear.

  “C’mon Lacey, you can be louder than that.” I put my thumb and pointer finger over her clit and watched her eyes light up. Just like that I knew I had her. She would do anything for me in that moment.

  I slipped two fingers inside her wet pussy. She was warm and tight, exactly what I wanted her to be. Damn. She was everything. And the fact that this was probably the last time I’d ever see her again made it so much hotter.

  I sucked her earlobe into my mouth as her hips began to rock back and forth. She was so close to the edge. I could feel it.

  She was panting and trembling as she came right there in my hand. I climbed on top of her and pushed myself into her throbbing hot box. It felt so good, she was tight and her muscles contracted and milked me as we rocked together. God, she was driving me crazy—her body was meeting my every thrust.

  When we kissed, she wrapped her legs around me and I could feel the electricity shooting through my body, right down to my toes. Finally the pleasure overtook me as I started to come; and she started to shudder and moan while I filled her cavern with my seed.

  “Shit, that was intense,” I said as we lay there panting. I wasn’t fucking kidding either.

  “Yes, it was, I don’t know what to say. I’m not usually a one night stand type of girl, but I could get used to this.”

  “All I know is that when you looked up in my face, all I could think of was ripping off that dress of yours. It was like I knew we would be so good together,” I said pulling her close to me again.

  “I think that we should get back downstairs to the reception before they miss us.”

  I knew she was right, but I did not want to let go of her just yet. We laid there for another moment before she started to get dressed. She suggested that we go down separately so no one would suspect. I got cleaned up and dressed quickly and went back down.

  She followed suit.

  When I went back into the ballroom, Jocelyn was just getting ready to toss her bouquet and as I walked across the dance floor to get to the table, I saw something coming at me and I reached up and caught the bouquet. Everyone laughed because the girls were the ones who were supposed to catch it. So I gave it back to Jocelyn and let her take another toss to the ladies. I searched the room for Lacey, but I never did find her. Where did she go? Would I ever see her again?

  I tried to find out who she was—I never got her last name so I had no clue how to find her.

  I went to Brad at Lucas as the firehouse a couple weeks later, finally ready to admit my kind of crazy deed.

  “You fucked some chick at my wedding?” Brad was less than pleased.

  “Don’t do that at mine, man. Lauren will have a fit.” Lucas offered, even though he looked sympathetic. His fiance was a little more pushy than Jocelyn.

  “Guys I’m telling you, she was perfect! Lacey, do either of you know her?”

  They shook their heads. “Nah man, I’ll ask Jocelyn though, some of those girls I’d never seen before. Weddings bring out everybody apparently.”

  He did ask her for me, leaving out our little tryst in the hotel room, but she didn’t know anyone by that name. Maybe she had been a wedding crasher? I didn’t know, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.

  My eyes sought her out in every group of people I met, but I never caught a glimpse of her. After a month or so of searching, I gave up. I figured she might not live around here; hell, maybe she wasn’t even who she said she was. Just my luck, I had fallen in love with a mythical creature. A Goddamned unicorn. And she didn’t even leave her glass slipper for me to find her.

  Lucas tried to fix me up with some girls that he knew, but no one ever matched up to the perfect Lacey. I had no choice but to keep on living my life in hopes that one day I would look up and she will be there. As they say, “life goes on within you and without you.”

  Who the hell came up with that one anyway?

  4

  Payton

  Four Months Later

  Oh shit! I could not believe this! It couldn’t be true—we were only together once, I thought as I looked down at the positive sign on the pregnancy test I just took. What the hell was I going to do? I was just getting my life back on track after the wedding a few months ago. It took me a long time to try to forget what happened the night of the wedding.

  My dreams were haunted by his face, by his eyes, his freaking abs of steel. God, I wanted him in every way, but I just had to stay away from him. He was so gorgeous he had to have women lusting after him constantly. I couldn’t afford to get hurt like that again. And now this!! What the hell was I going to do?

  Since that night, Summer and I kept in touch with Jocelyn and she became a pretty good friend to us. I never told her about my little tryst with her brother-in-law. I texted Jocelyn and asked her to come over to the apartment, I needed to talk to her about something important.

  She came right over and Summer had just returned from grocery shopping. We all sat down at the kitchen table and I began.

  “I don’t know how to tell you two this, but I don’t know what to do and I really need some guidance from two good friends. I just took a pregnancy test and it was positive.”

  “What?” Summer was shocked. “You never told me that you went out with anybody…”

  “I know. I was embarrassed. I never thought this would happen. It only was one time.”

  “That’s all it takes,” Jocelyn said. “Are you going to have the baby?”

  “I have to; I'm four months along. I kept ignoring the signs, thinking that it might just be nerves with all of the expansion plans and how busy we have been. I just never imagined that it would happen to me. I don’t know how to feel.” I said, with tears spilling out of my eyes.

  “Does the father know?” Jocelyn asked.

  “No, that is why I wanted you to come over, Jocelyn.” I turned to her, knowing to expect the worst. She was going to freak the hell out. And I would just have to take it. This was on me, and well, on him too. “It’s Crew, your brother-in-law. We found ourselves attracted to each other and one thing led to another and I had too much to drink and the rest is history. I really don’t know what to do?”

  “Crew told me that he met someone at the wedding that he really liked, but she left without giving him her last name. But her name was Lacey. I had no clue who Lacey was—I don’t know anyone named Lacey.”

  “I lied to him. I didn’t want him to know who I was. I didn’t want to get involved with anyone.”

  She raised an eyebrow at me. “Wait so you’re Lacey, his mystery girl?”

  “Yes,” I responded quietly. “Wait what do you mean, mystery girl?”

  “He looked for you, for months! And here you’ve been? HOlding this secret?”

  “No!” I protested, “I just found out, I promise. I didn’t know he was looking for me.” I lowered my voice, “I have real trust issues with men, so I normally keep my distance. But with the wine I drank and how handsome he was, I lost control of myself. Now I literally am screwed.”

  “You have to tell him, Payton. He has a right to know and he can help you with things. You don’t need to go through this alone. And he has been trying to find you—or Lacey—he really liked her/you.”

  “I agree with Jocelyn; Payton, you have to go tell him—no ifs ands or buts,” Summer said with conviction.

  “I guess you are both right. I'm petrified; how do you tell a man you slept with one time that you are pregnant? How incredibly stupid does a woman my age have to be to have sex without using any birth control?”

  Summer, who is a hopeless romantic as well as being a little naïve, offered her two cents.

  “Payton, everything happens for a reason. Maybe you two were drawn together to make a baby that would keep you two together. You have been alone for so long, that I was afraid that you would grow old before you would find someone who is worthy of you. Your life could have passed by without ever finding happiness.”

  “I am not old, Summer. A
nd this isn’t some sort of Hallmark movie.” I rolled my eyes at her, way to have my freaking back. “I have plenty of time to find someone, but I just wasn’t looking for that right now. I don’t know what made me sleep with him. I knew that he probably wouldn’t take a second look at me.”

  “That is where you are wrong, Payton. Crew was smitten with you. He looked high and low for you—or Lacey. He has been obsessed with finding you. Whatever you two had made a huge impression on him. He is not interested in anyone but you. He is not like most good looking men. Brad and Crew were raised in a home where they were taught to respect women. His father was military and very strict with them. These men are gems in a world full of rocks, I promise you,” Jocelyn claimed.

  “I don’t know, Jocelyn. Having a baby now was not in my plans. I have so much going on in my life with the bakery and trying to grow my business. I don’t know how I'm going to deal with all of this and I don’t have time to bring a man into my world right now.”

  “But, Payton, Crew can take some of the load from you. He is a good man. This baby is half him too. I know he will want to be a part of this child’s life, I just know it. That’s who he is. And he is so easy going; he won’t wreak havoc on your life. Trust me. And his family will welcome you with open arms. You will need to have a good support system for this baby.”

  I sighed. “You’re right, Jocelyn. I have to tell him.”

  “And this baby is going to have a great auntie too!” She smiled brightly at me.

  “Wait do I also get to be an aunt? I know I’m not blood related,” Summer looked a little worried.

  “Of course you’re this kid’s aunt. I mean hell this baby is going to live here with us. Geez, where are we going to put them in here?”

  Summer covered my hand with hers. “We’ll figure it out. But first, you need to talk to Crew.”