That’s no way to live. Being on the run is draining both physically and mentally.
The good thing is that although Geoff could probably just pull my records at college, the address is no longer valid and there’s no mention of my brother. All he knows is that I live in this town, and if he shows up at that house he’ll find it’s been bulldozed and there’s a park there now.
Still, I’m not trying to linger here in town, which makes me question this whole Jonah thing.
I let loose a quick, sharp exhale and smile.
Who says Jonah would even be interested? Yeah, sure he was hanging out a taxi window yelling at me, but that doesn’t mean anything. He hasn’t even seen my face. He doesn’t know the baggage I come with. And most importantly he doesn’t know my one bag in life is packed at all times, ready to walk out in sixty seconds or less if things go sideways.
I’m not in a position to be with him even if he demanded it…or if my body does too.
Too bad I’m not the kind of girl who just blows off steam, or has guys available for stress relief. That’s totally not me. Never has been and never will be. I’m so old fashioned I’m still saving myself for the one, which seems like something from the times of dinosaurs in the world we live in today.
I’ve overheard girls in my lectures talking about how they’ve been with fifty, or even a hundred guys. I’m not judging, I’m really not, but if and when they do find the one will it really mean something?
I don’t know and I guess I’ll never find out.
All I know is I still believe in that and I’m holding out for if and when that guy ever comes. If he doesn’t then I’ll die a virgin. So be it.
But something in my mind is telling me Jonah is the one. This is completely crazy, as is the thought in my mind right now.
I move to the bathroom and flip on the shower, waiting for the water to warm. I go back to my phone and pull up the Nest app so I can keep an eye on the front door.
Nothing.
I move back to the bathroom, making quick work of my clothes and step inside.
The water is warm, relaxing, and just what I need.
It’s not the standard American shower, but one of those European ones where you can push a knob that makes the water come from above, or pull it out and then you can use that hose thing with the showerhead.
My mind is still on Jonah as I pull the knob and take the showerhead in my hand, moving it in-between my legs.
I press my first and middle finger together, trying to imagine my two fingers together are as thick as one of his. The man is huge, and probably lifts heavy things. No doubt his fingers will be longer than mine, but maybe I can get the girth kind of close.
The sensation between my legs is growing quickly and I move my two fingers right to my nub, slowly rubbing it as my eyes roll back in my head.
I need to stay focused on making some money, tying up my affairs, and getting out of here.
Not on Jonah.
But at least I can dream about what I want. It might be my only chance to be with that elusive “one” I ever get.
CHAPTER 5
Jonah
Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I raise the hose to battle the blaze.
“Move! Move! Move!” I yell to our other crew as they race to the back side of the house while I cover the front by myself.
Getting a call at five this morning that a fire broke out had me up and out of bed in an instant, my dick hard as a rock as I was in the middle of a dream about that woman.
Even right now, doing what I was born to do, my body handling this massive hose all by myself, my mind is on her. What if she was in that building? I have to give everything. I always do, but today I’m a machine. I have to be because we’re undermanned.
At one point or another last night everyone from the station showed up at the memorial to pay their respects. By the time the blaze broke out we were on an absolute skeleton crew.
I got the first call and one of my colleagues wives immediately came and picked me up. As much as I wanted to drive it’s not responsible. I did have three drinks last night, or technically not long before, and risking being on the road isn’t worth it, especially when my buddy lives just three door down, although he was too drunk to perform.
Not me. I’m always ready to save lives, although the fact that this big blaze happened on the four-year anniversary of the captain’s death had my mind racing for connections.
But connecting dots on a map and getting back home from the fire station, after we put out this blaze, is one thing I’ll never have to worry about. I can get a ride back from one of the guys, or more likely my buddy’s wife will circle back home after dropping me off, then wait a few hours and drive my Jeep to the station, with her husband in it so he can at least catch up on some paperwork today.
She loves coming by the station to have coffee nearby with some of the other fireman’s wives. That means my Jeep will be at work and I can bring her and her husband home at the end of the day...if a bunch of the guys and their wives don’t all go out for dinner later and catch a ride back to our neighborhood with another firefighter. That’s the most likely scenario.
I swear the guys at the station are like family. It’s incredible how streamlined our lives our, and how seamlessly we all function together, almost like we’re a military unit at war.
We get the fire put out and there are no casualties, but I’m not about to celebrate anything.
I move around the house and look for clues of arson. That blaze didn’t look like a faulty plug or a spark or something of that nature. It looked intentional. It could be an insurance scam, but the entire family was home when it happened. Unlikely they’d risk their lives for a couple hundred grand.
The forensic scientists arrive and start checking around for clues and I head back to the station, the exhaustion starting to catch up with me.
I’m just going to get out of my suit, take a quick shower and file the preliminary paperwork while this is fresh in my mind and head back home and get some proper rest.
Until my nose catches an unmistakable scent the minute I walk through the door.
She’s here. There’s absolutely no way that’s not her. That’s the same scent I smelled last night as I got in the cab. It’s the only time I’ve ever smelled something that sweet in my entire life.
I move quickly through the station looking for her, turning a corner and bumping right into Daniel.
“Hey captain, nice work this morning.”
“Who’s here that’s not normally here?” Daniel is a social guy and often hangs around the front. If she came in he’d have seen her, and I definitely know he couldn’t have missed her. If she was anywhere near any of us it would be like a shark smelling blood in the open ocean with her sweet scent.
“Whoa, buddy. You seem on edge. You okay?”
I say nothing.
“You must have heard my sister’s here today checking out what her big brother does for a living these days.”
I heard nothing, but the second she steps around the corner and into my line of sight I know instantly that she’s the same woman from last night.
She freezes, matching my current state as we just stand there, eyes locked on one another.
“Captain, this is my little sister Daphne.”
I feel like my feet are stuck in quicksand and someone stuck a dry dishrag in my mouth. I have a complete loss of all motor skills and have to catch myself before I start drooling.
“Sis, this is the captain, but you can call him Jonah.”
She doesn’t call me anything because she’s having the same reaction.
“Guys? Captain?” her brother asks. “Captain are you in shock from that blaze this morning? I heard it was a pretty big one.”
“No, I’m good,” I lie, but not because of the blaze. I’m completely out of my element right now, feeling a need for this woman even more intense than last night, although I thought that would be literally impossible to top.
Oh it is. I want to push her brother out of the way, grab her, kiss her hard, take her to my office, swipe everything off the top with one big sweeping motion of my forearm, and make babies with her starting right fucking now.
My breathing spikes and my blood runs warm. Thank god I’m still in my thick, fire retardant suit because my dick is absolutely throbbing right now. The fucker is pulsing in my underwear to the point it feels like there’s a grenade in each of my balls that are about ready to explode at any second. The pain is as intense as my attraction to her.
Attraction isn’t even the right word. Need. Gravitational pull. Desire. Want. There’s not even a word in any language known to man.
I have to have her. That’s all there is to it.
I slide forward in my boots, not even taking a proper step. My face is covered in soot and I know I look like a hot mess.
I don’t care. I don’t care about anything but her and there’s no way I’m letting her get away.
“Get back to work,” I growl, feeling the other fireman closing in around us as if she’s a piece of meat and every wolf in here wants the first taste of blood.
She’s the biggest knockout on the planet and she sure as hell shook me but I’m still standing. She’s not a piece of meat though, even though I sure want to put my lips on every part of her body and absolutely devour her.
How can I properly describe her? I can’t. What is she then?
Mine. That’s what she is.
“Jonah,” I say, extending my hand.
Her arm slowly raises until her hand is level with mine. Without either of us breaking eye contact I reach out and take her tiny hand in mine, electricity from her touch shooting through me as I watch her pupils dilate in real time.
I increase my grip slightly, not wanting to hurt this perfect female creature, but in a form of subconscious possessiveness. My entire body is on alert and I need to claim her, pull her body in close to mine, but I can’t.
And it’s driving me fucking crazy.
“Daphne,” she says in a voice barely above a whisper.
Our hands don’t move, don’t shake properly. Her tiny hand just rests there in mine as we both stay frozen.
“Daphne has an idea she wants to run by you. I apologize in advance as it’s completely corny, but I promised her I'd at least introduce you so you two could talk about it.”
A long moment passes. “Right,” is all I can muster.
Daniel slides just a bit closer and although my eyes are locked on his sister I can see his eyes narrow and feel him starting to question what in the hell is going on. I just found lightning in a bottle. That’s what’s going on. She’s the lightning and the bottle is my hand.
No way do I want to ever let go of her, but I have to. As much as I want to fast forward to the part where my lips claim hers, and a whole lot more, I need to be smart and not tip off her brother to the emotions that are shooting through me right now.
I release her hand, her fingertips dragging along my palm and then off the tips of my own fingers.
I grit my teeth, angry at the void that’s been created…that I created. I tell myself it’s the smart thing to do right now, no matter how dumb I feel for letting go of the one woman I want to pull in closer than any other in the prior thirty-two years of my existence.
“Okay, I have to run. Daphne, I’ll be out front.”
Daniel turns and goes, seeming to be content now that we’re not shaking hands anymore. Maybe it’s just my imagination running wild. Maybe he didn’t notice anything, although I’d bet my bottom dollar he did.
I swear I could feel it, although not as strongly as I feel the need to make her mine right here and now. I’ve never felt anything so powerful in my life as I wait for her to speak.
“I was at the memorial last night, and I—“
“I know,” I blurt out, unable to control myself.
“How do…” She pauses and let’s the idea of pursuing that question drop off the radar. She knows. She has to know. “And I was thinking of a way to raise money for Captain Callahan’s widow.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“I was thinking we could…although now, in hindsight, maybe it’s not such a good idea.”
“What is it? I’d like to hear it first. I bet it is a good idea. Let’s give it a chance.”
And let’s give us a lot more than a chance because I want to give her everything that she deserves in this life. The ultimate happiness and a family. And I know that’s exactly what she wants because I can see it in her eyes. And because I want it too.
“Okay then,” she says ever so softly. “It’s kind of cliché, like I mentioned, but I was thinking of a calendar.”
“A calendar?”
“See, I knew it was a bad idea.”
“It’s not bad. It just took me by surprise, like you.”
The corners of her mouth turn up slightly as her body turns to the side, one foot crossing over the other as her cheeks blush. God, she’s so incredible when she’s innocent like this. So shy. So perfect. So destined to be mine.
“You know like a…hunky fireman calendar.”
“I’m not sure anyone would buy that.”
“I’d…I mean, I know lots of women who would.”
There’s a quick change in her expression, which she quickly adds to with, “But it’s probably a bad idea. We should just forget it.”
“If you know a lot of women who want to buy it and we could raise money then we owe it to ourselves to pursue it.”
We owe a lot more to ourselves to pursue, that’s for sure, although my pursuit is already a high-speed chase to capture this amazing woman.
“Hey captain,” Bernice, our admin says as she approaches. “Daniel said something about a calendar. I’ll need to run this through HR and get it approved. Then we’ll need to find someone who can—“
“It’s already been approved.” Bernice says nothing. “And I’m going to be in charge of this project.”
“You…?” A moment of silence passes where she sees just how serious I am about this. “Okay then.” She pivots on the heel of her foot and moves back toward her desk.
“And we should get started right away. Have you eaten yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Then let’s go.”
She giggles.
“What?”
“I’m not sure you’ll be able to get into anywhere that serves food, or anywhere for that matter?”
My eyes narrow. “Why?”
“You’re covered in soot and you smell like a fire.”
“Oh. Right.” I shake my head side to side a few times trying to get my brain to function again. Then again it’s focusing all right, but only on her.
The rest of the world is a blur, completely unimportant. All that matters is never letting her out of my sight again.
“I’ll grab a quick shower and be ready in five.”
“Five minutes?”
“You’re right. Make it four.”
I move quickly to the shower, tossing my stuff in the corner as I lather up.
My dick is hard as a rock and I’m afraid if I even attempt to wash the fucker I might explode.
I pinch the area in-between my thumb and first finger of the hand I quickly scrub my dick with. I should, theoretically, feel pain in the area I’m pressing, but I feel nothing.
I only feel my need for her and the desire to save my seed for her and only her.
No more Pyrrhic victories.
She’s going to be the mother of my child and the next time I climax it won’t be while I’m thinking of her…it will be while I’m inside her, making her mine as we make our first of many babies…together.
CHAPTER 6
Daphne
It seems like he stepped in the other room just to make a coffee or get a glass of water, but nope…he’s squeaky clean and dressed. Being a man is so easy in some regards.
“Ready to go?”
“Sure. Where to?”
/> “A good breakfast spot I know. You’re gonna like it. I’m sure.”
“What’s it called?”
As we walk out the station he holds the door for me, which is a nice change from the college guys I’m used to, but as I turn back I see he’s looking at me a bit inquisitively.
Brother's Fireman Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 106) Page 3