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

by Scarlett Brooks

  “Yeah, that’s fair. Also, his parents should know that they are going to have an addition to their family. I only have my mother. My father is gone and I have no siblings, so this baby will need to have family too. I will go see him tomorrow to tell him; please don’t say anything to anyone,” I pleaded.

  “It is your story to tell, Payton.” They both agreed.

  But Jocelyn acted like the minute I was going to tell him, we would go off and get married. We didn't even know each other! I was still set on raising this baby alone. Babies might bring two people together, but they don’t keep them together. Just look at my parents.

  Ugh, this was going to be a mess.

  A big life altering mess.

  5

  Payton

  As I drove to the fire station, all I could think about was how was I going to tell him? “Hi, remember me? We had hot sex in a hotel room at your brother’s wedding and now I'm pregnant.” “Hi, I'm having your baby.” “Hello Crew, I bring you tidings of great joy; I'm with child—your child.”

  I pulled into the parking lot beside the station and parked my car next to a school bus. Apparently, there was a school tour today. The kids were little ones from a local daycare center, coming to see the firemen for a fire safety demonstration. The leader of the tour thought I was with the group, so I just followed them.

  We were all sitting in a circle waiting for a different firefighter to give another demo and I was surprised to see it was Crew. One of the little girls in the group jumped up and ran to him and hugged him. He was so sweet with this little girl; it kind of changed my plan of action.

  I had planned on telling him that I wanted to raise the child on my own. But after seeing him with these kids, now I was doubting my decision. Just then I caught his eye as he noticed me in the group. He smiled in recognition.

  He proceeded with the tour and the demonstration. When the tour was over, he pulled me aside as the children left and boarded their bus to go back to the daycare center.

  “Lacey, where have you been? You left the wedding without giving me your last name or your phone number. I have been trying to find you, but nobody knows anything about you.”

  “Well first of all, my name is not Lacey, it's Payton; Payton Bailey. I don’t know why I told you I was Lacey; I was just afraid. I had long ago given up on dating; but you were so sweet, and I was a little tipsy from the wine, and I lost control of myself. And what happened, just happened. I don’t know what to say.”

  He looked surprised, but I still felt kind of forgiven. I took a deep breath ready to relay my next bit of news…

  FIREHOUSE 22 STRUCTURE FIRE 1495 EAST ST

  The fire alarm started ringing and the men were running to get their equipment and starting up the trucks.

  I knew he had to leave and I blurted out: “I just found out that I'm pregnant.” I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

  He stopped dead in his tracks.

  “What?”

  “I’m pregnant, it’s yours.”

  His face went white as a sheet, but he tried to shake it off. Someone yelled his name from the truck. “I’m sorry, but I have to go now, please meet me this evening for dinner at six at the Ramona, on Sixth Ave. We will talk this all through. Do you know where that is?” he asked.

  I nodded my head, and agreed to meet him.

  Then he disappeared.

  Ready to walk right into the flames.

  6

  Crew

  All the way to the fire, all I could think about was the look on her face, telling me that she was having our baby.

  She was still as stunning as I remembered from the wedding. She was a tough one to forget.

  And now she waltzes back into my life and tells me she is pregnant after she went out of her way to avoid ever seeing me again. She even gave me a fake name. How should I really feel?

  I didn’t fucking know.

  But a baby, my baby—my son, my daughter—that threw everything in a different light. I could sort out my feelings for her later. Right now, we needed to focus on our child and make sure that this baby knows that he/she will have two parents who will love them.

  We arrived at the fire and it was just a small kitchen fire, and the family was standing out on the front porch, the mother, and two small children. We hooked the hose up to the tanker and stood by while Brad went in with a fire extinguisher. He was able to control and put out the fire with the extinguisher. The fire was contained to one small corner of the kitchen where the stove was. Pretty easy, luckily.

  I checked in with the mother and the two little ones. They were all okay—no burns, no smoke inhalation. They got out right away and the mom called 911 from the porch on her cell phone. I told her that she did the right thing. She should leave the doors and windows open and use exhaust fans to get the smoke out of the house. She would have to replace her stove and the kitchen might need a fresh coat of paint, but the damage was minimal.

  We headed back to the station to file the report. Lucas saw that there was something bothering me and he sat down with me while I told him the situation.

  “What’s going on man? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I saw Lacey, she was here. But her name isn’t Lacey, it’s Payton. And she’s freaking pregnant. So there’s that. She knew where to find me, but she didn’t bother. I'm just really not sure how I feel about her now. She blew my mind at the wedding. Now I'm just kind of numb.”

  “Well, buddy, don’t say or do anything until you hear her out.” Lucas offered some good advice.

  “Yeah, either way, this is my baby and I want to be a part of this kid’s life. I want to be a good father.”

  I went to the locker room to get cleaned up for dinner. Shift was over, it was time to face Payton. To get some answers and clear the air.

  I drove over to Ramona and grabbed a table to wait for Payton to arrive. Maybe she wouldn’t show up, I thought. I ordered a beer and some appetizers.

  At six o’clock on the nose, Payton walked in the door and I waved to her.

  She sat down at the table and again, I was mesmerized by her beauty. Her dark hair lay in waves down to her shoulders, and her hazel eyes sparkled. Her skin seemed to have a certain glow to it.

  “Payton, you are still as beautiful as I remember from our night together. I have pictured that face in my mind over and over again since you disappeared.”

  “I didn’t mean to disappear,” she responded quietly.

  The waitress came to the table to get Payton’s drink order. She asked for a tall glass of any fruit juice that they had.

  Then she returned with a glass of cranberry juice and took our food order.

  I started the conversation. “Payton, I don’t understand why you ran away from the wedding. It wasn’t meant to be a one night stand on my part. I was really attracted to you and that night, it was so perfect—I got the feeling that we were meant to be together; then you just left. Why?”

  “It’s a long story, Crew. I guess that my impression of love and relationships has been tainted by my parents--who went through a terrible divorce, and the only boyfriend I ever had, cheated on me after several years of being together. I thought he was my best friend. It just left a bad taste in my mouth for romance and relationships. So I avoided them like the plague. I gave up on love and concentrated on my bakery business.”

  “I was at Brad and Jocelyn’s wedding because my bakery made the wedding cake and Jocelyn wanted us to cut the cake and serve it, so she invited us to the reception. But I should have remained professional. When you asked me to dance, I wanted to run and hide, but I think that the wine I drank gave me liquid courage. When you held me in your arms, it brought back all sorts of feelings, and I was so attracted to you.” She continued.

  “After our time in the hotel room, I knew that it would be a relationship where I could be hurt again; and I just can’t do that. I was emotionally dead after my ruined relationship. That is why I left the wedding early. I'm s
orry,” she confessed.

  “I wish you would have given me a chance to show you that I'm not that kind of guy. I have dated some, but I haven’t met anyone that I was interested in until I met you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said again.

  “Payton, I still have feelings for you, but the most important thing right now is our baby. I want to be a part of this child’s life. I want to support you through this, financially and emotionally. I accept responsibility for my part in this.” I needed her to understand I was in for the long haul. Regardless of how guys treated her in the past, I was going to do my part for this kid. And for her.

  “I’m not really sure how to handle all of this. And your line of work! How do I explain that there’s a chance you won’t come home one day?”

  “You walk across the street and you may not come home one day. We can’t base our life, or our child’s life on what ifs Payton. We have to just do what’s best for them. And I know, that being in their life is what’s best.”

  She chewed on her lower lip. It was cute but I needed to focus. Finally she said, “Well, when you put it like that, I guess it doesn’t make much sense. But I can see that we will need to set up some ground rules. Let’s think about it and get together again to discuss them,” she admitted.

  “Sounds like a plan to me. I want to be there for the baby and you, Payton.”

  She smiled, softly. I knew she wanted to let me in, she just didn’t know how. I wanted to kill the guy that had hurt her bad enough for her to be this way. What complete garbage he must have been.

  We finished our dinner and agreed to meet again in a couple days after we both had some time to think about it.

  I knew that I would be thinking about little else.

  7

  Payton

  We had a long talk at the restaurant, and I felt better after sharing my fears with Crew. After all, he had a right to know who I was and what I was about. He and I were going to share a baby; we needed to have honesty between us.

  I had my doubts about Crew when it came to his ‘feelings’ about me. I found that handsome men usually had a book filled with pickup lines they use to get a girl in bed with them. Also, when it came to babies, most men run when they see all that’s involved when it comes to the responsibilities and duties. I thought maybe I should put him to the test.

  I called him the next day and asked him if he would like to go along shopping with me to buy some things for the nursery. I was fixing up our third bedroom as the baby’s room. Obviously, I needed everything.

  He said that he would love to go shopping with me, so we would see. This should be interesting.

  He came by the condo and picked me up in a pickup truck. He helped me step up into the seat and then closed the door. We went to a big box store and we looked at cribs and furniture. I was totally surprised at how much fun he had looking at all the baby things. He really looked happy. What kind of man likes to shop?

  We bought a crib; I wanted white, but he said, “What if it’s a boy? Why don’t we go with a natural wood color which would be appropriate for either one?”

  “I guess I'm just thinking girl because a girl would be easier for a single mom to raise,” I countered. I realized after it was out of my mouth that probably stung him, but he just played it off.

  “But this baby is going to have a daddy who can help with a boy,” he reminded me.

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but I had the good sense to keep it to myself. Then we picked out a high dresser in the matching wood, and a changing table. He saw a really cute bathtub in a soft shade of yellow, and he picked that up and put it in the cart too.

  Crew was having a field day looking at all of the baby things. He saw a baby swing that he said we just had to buy, and then a baby monitor for the nursery. He picked out a really techie one —and of course he picked a large monitor so we could see and hear everything. I was just totally blown away. Maybe, just maybe he might be a good father to this baby.

  After we were finished shopping, we went to the checkout and he pulled out his credit card and paid for the whole lot. I told him that I could pay for some of it, but he wouldn’t hear of it. We carried the smaller things out to the truck and pulled around to the back of the store where the shipping crew loaded the furniture into the bed of the truck.

  “Well, we have furniture for the nursery. Now we will need to shop for the smaller things next,” he stated with a big smile. “Unless you want a baby shower for all that stuff. I don’t really know how this all works.”

  Hell, I didn’t either. But he looked so handsome, his eyes sparkled and his beautiful lips were draped over the whitest teeth. And he looked truly happy. What was it with me? Why was I the one standing in the way of my own happiness? How many men would be excited about shopping for baby furniture?

  We got back to my place and I carried in the smaller things while Crew carried in the furniture. The crib and changing table would have to be assembled and he said that he would come back over the next day to do that. He said that he could see that I was tired.

  “Yes, a little, but the worst thing is my back. It is killing me. I'm used to standing in the bakery for nine hours, but the extra standing while shopping has thrown my back for a loop.” I winced as I kicked my shoes off and headed back to my bedroom. Crew followed me.

  “Did I ever tell you that I give a great massage? Come on Payton; let me massage your pain away. Do you have any oil?” he asked.

  “You don’t have to do that…” I protested, but honestly I didn’t mean it. I would freaking love a massage. Especially from him. He was turning on the charm all day.

  “Payton, get the oil.”

  I liked that he was a little forceful. I did what he asked. Didn’t even think twice. I undressed and put on my satin robe that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door. When I got back with the oil, Crew had taken his shoes off and was sitting on the side of the bed. I handed him the oil and he stood. He had a devilish little smile on his lips.

  “You ready, Pay?”

  Nobody ever called me Pay, but I found it to be endearing and I loved the sound of it falling off his lips.

  “Yes, I'm ready, just got a little shiver. Hope your hands aren’t too cold.” I laughed and then I turned and opened my robe and dropped it to my waist; then I lay down on the bed with my back exposed for my massage.

  Crew removed his shirt and poured the oil in his hands and rubbed them together. I could smell that light fragrance that we all attach to babies and it made me long to hold my baby in my arms. I was starting to get excited now. I think that Crew had a lot to do with that feeling.

  He applied the oil to my back and my shoulders and then he started to knead my shoulders with strong hands. It felt so good.

  “Ohhh Crew, this feels amazing. I needed this.” He continued to work his magic with his fingers. He worked his way down my spine, gently massaging each vertebrate. He wasn’t kidding that he knew how to give a good massage!

  When he got down to my lower lumbar region, he worked on that area, somehow knowing that was where I was hurting the most. He worked that area for about ten minutes; then worked the sides of my back with his thumbs, continuing his kneading of my flesh.

  “Seriously thank God for you.”

  He laughed. “I told you I was good. I'm going to climb up on the bed now and work on you from the top.”

  He stopped rubbing for a moment as he put more oil on his hands. I didn’t know it, but he removed his jeans too. When he climbed between my legs, I felt the bare skin of his legs against mine. He started his massaging again, and after a few moments, he lay down beside me and reached around and pulled me onto my side.

  This man was trouble. Every time we were together I could hardly keep my hands off him.

  It looked like this day would once again be no exception.

  And I was totally here for it.

  8

  Crew

  I was so turned on, just running my hands all over the
soft skin of this beautiful woman, the mother of my child. I loosened the belt on her robe and proceeded to rub the oil on her breasts, gently massaging her pert nipples until she moaned. I continued to massage her body until I reached her pussy. My well-oiled fingers found her magic spot and gently worked it.

  “Crew, oh Crew!”

  “Just let go,” I whispered in her ear.

  I quickened my pace until she began to quiver. Sliding in and out, playing between her folds. She rolled onto her back and with my hand between her legs; I brought her to her first orgasm.

  I kissed her lips. Soft and warm. She clung to me as I climbed between her legs. I teased her with the tip of my cock close to her opening. I rubbed some baby oil on it and slid it over her clit, coaxing another orgasm from her.

  “Yes, Crew!”

  “Come on baby, come for me.”

  She took deep breaths and guided me into her hole. She was so slick and wet. Her warmth surrounded me. I pushed all the way in and pulled all the way back out just a few times before she began to twitch again, chewing her lower lip and moaning. After her orgasm subsided, she told me to lie on my back.

  “Now it’s my turn to make you squirm.”

  She removed her robe and straddled my mid section. She lowered her mouth to mine, probing my mouth with her hot tongue. I reached up and massaged her nipples while we kissed. I thought she was going to come again, but she gently pulled away from the kiss and slid her leg from the outside of my body to a spot between my legs.

  She lowered her mouth to my cock. I felt a spasm of pleasure as she started pleasuring me with her hot mouth. I was so turned on; I didn’t want it to stop. I came so close to exploding in her mouth, but I groaned and asked her to stop.

  “No baby, I want to be inside of you when I come.”

  She slowly pulled her mouth away and climbed on top of me. As she lowered herself onto my rock hard cock, I had the feeling that all was right with the world. As she rocked my body with hers, I kneaded her sensitive nipples.