Love on Fire

by E. L. Todd

  She grabbed my ass and pulled me deep inside her, her nails cutting into me. “Come inside me, Neil.”

  A woman had never said that to me, and it was the sexiest sentence I’d ever heard. Like she’d pressed a button on my cock, I pushed all the way inside her and released, moaning like it’d been years since I’d last fucked her. “Fuck…” I felt my load shoot far inside her pussy, mixing with all the other loads I’d given her that night.

  Her fingers slid into my hair, and she pulled me close, kissing me as we both came down from our high.

  I couldn’t stop fucking her.

  I’d never wanted a woman so much in my life.

  I rolled off her because my body couldn’t go any longer. It’d been hours since we started. I needed food, water, and rest. I lay beside her and closed my eyes for a second, ready to sleep hard that night.

  She lay there for a few minutes, still because she probably needed the rest as much as I did. Then she sat up and fixed her messy hair with her fingers. I assumed she was going to the bathroom, but she started to put her clothes on.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I have to go home.”

  “Why?”

  “I have a baby, in case you forgot.”

  “Why didn’t you bring him?”

  “I didn’t think I was going to be here so long.”

  “You should always assume you’re going to be here long.” I forced myself out of bed and pulled on a shirt.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting dressed.”

  “Because…?”

  I grabbed a bag and shoved a few things inside. “I’m coming with you.”

  “I can just come back after I pick up Torpedo.”

  “You’ll be too tired to come back, and we both know it. I’m coming with you.”

  When I woke up the next morning, I was still tired from all the fucking.

  I opened my eyes and grabbed my phone on the nightstand. It was six in the morning. I didn’t have to be up until seven, so I had no idea why my body hummed to life so early.

  Once Torpedo knew I was awake, he walked up to the bed then lay right on me, hoping I’d take him outside so he could do his business on the grass.

  I felt the air leave my lungs when he sat on me. “Geez, you’re heavy.”

  All the movement must have woken up Charlotte because she propped herself on her elbow and opened her eyes. “You can’t give any sign that you’re awake. Otherwise, he’ll keep pestering you until you get up.”

  “Then what do you do when you just want to lie in bed?”

  “Pretend I’m asleep.”

  “Well, I’m up, so I’ll let him out.” The second I got out of bed, Torpedo was on his feet, zooming out of the bedroom and heading to the back door. I opened the French doors and let him into the backyard. I put on a pot of coffee.

  Looking sexier than ever, Charlotte walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but my t-shirt.

  I brought the mug to my lips for a drink, but my eyes were glued to her.

  Her long hair was in messy waves, and her tanned legs were hypnotic. Her calves were so toned they looked sculpted out of her legs, and her slender thighs led to cute knees. She opened the fridge and grabbed a carton of soy creamer before she helped herself to a mug. She was totally ignorant of the way I was staring at her…as usual.

  She poured the coffee into the mug then added her creamer, her eyes downcast.

  I could stare at her forever.

  “We’re both up early. What should we do?” She brought the steaming cup of coffee to her lips and took a drink, looking at me through her thick eyelashes.

  “You know what I always want to do.”

  She chuckled before she took another drink. “I think I’m out of commission for a couple of hours…”

  “I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “Just a little sore.”

  “Sorry…didn’t realize I hurt you.”

  “Oh, you definitely didn’t hurt me. I liked every second of it. I just think we’re doing it a lot…and you’re big and I’m small. Simple physics. But we could talk.”

  “Talking is good… Fucking is better.” I leaned against the counter and held the mug by the handle. “But you’re fun to talk to, so that works. What do you want to talk about?”

  She shrugged. “Sex?”

  I chuckled. “Would you want to go out to breakfast?”

  She glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Don’t have enough time before work.”

  “Hmm…got anything good here?”

  “Frozen waffles…that are expired.”

  I chucked. “I’m not a big breakfast-eater anyway.”

  She ran her fingers through her hair as she opened and closed her sleepy eyes. When she brought the mug to her lips, her mouth opened in the sexiest way. With every passing second, she became more and more awake.

  “I do have something to tell you. I’m going to DC for a couple of days.”

  “Oh, vacation?”

  “No,” I said with a chuckle. “That’s the last place I’d go for a vacation.”

  “And where would be the first?”

  I shrugged. “Hawaii? Seems nice.”

  “It is nice. You see so many special things in space, but you don’t get to see how beautiful our world is… Kinda sad.”

  I’d always been a workaholic. The day I graduated high school, all I cared about was the next thing on the list. I needed to do everything possible to make my dreams come true. There was no time for trips. “Yeah…it is.”

  “So why are you going?”

  “For work.”

  “I assumed that. But why?”

  It was the same hardship our relationship constantly faced, the secrecy I had to shroud my professional life in. “Another thing I can’t discuss…”

  She sighed and took a drink of her coffee. “Got it. How long will you be gone?”

  “Just a few days.”

  “So…when are you going to tell everyone about this new mission?”

  “When I’m allowed to.”

  She continued to drink her coffee, looking out the window so she could see her dog in the yard. “Well, I should probably head to the gym since I’m up early. I haven’t been going lately because I’ve been busy.” She gave me a knowing look.

  “But you still got a workout.”

  13

  Charlotte

  Being in a relationship with Neil, even if it wouldn’t last forever, was nice. Weeks passed until a full month came and went, and I could honestly say I’d never been so happy. The last year had been spent in turmoil, the depression leaking out of my pores like toxins. I was constantly bleeding out, but there were so many cuts that I couldn’t figure out how to sew myself back up.

  But now…I actually smiled.

  Stacy and I stood at the bar on Friday night, and Kyle joined us. In dark jeans and a black t-shirt, he blended in with the darkness of the bar. When he got to the counter to order a drink, the bartender slid him a beer. “From the blonde at the end.”

  Kyle turned his attention to the woman and raised his glass in gratitude.

  She waved her fingers and smiled.

  “She’s cute,” Stacy said. “Are you gonna go for it?”

  Kyle shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “See what?” Stacy asked. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “I’d sleep with her,” I blurted.

  Kyle slowly turned to me, his eyes narrowing in interest. “Now, you have my attention.”

  “I’m not saying I want to bone her,” I argued. “I’m just saying she’s very cute.”

  “All women are cute.” Kyle drank from his beer. “If you chase the first tail you see, you’ll be running around nonstop. And I usually like to do the chasing instead of having someone chase me.”

  “But this is an easy lay,” Stacy said. “Why waste your energy on a maybe when you can have a definitely?”

  Kyle watched people dance in the bar
, getting down to the music. “I’m not gonna say because I’ll sound like an asshole.”

  “We already think you’re an asshole, so just tell us,” I teased.

  “Alright.” Kyle set his beer down. “I get laid all the time, to be frank. I pick up women at the gym, when I’m running in the park, when I get a beer at a bar. Sex is easy to come by. It’s just as convenient as the air I breathe. So, I’d rather work for something once in a while, find a piece of ass that actually impresses me. They say too much of a good thing is a bad thing…”

  His response made me realize how important our previous conversation had been. All he usually wanted was sex. But with me, it was the first time he’d wanted something more. Rejecting him had been painful for both of us, but now I suspected it had been more painful for him. “I don’t think that makes you sound like an asshole.”

  “Yeah,” Stacy said. “You sound like my husband before he was married.”

  I wondered if he sounded like Neil too.

  A moment later, Vic and Neil walked inside, clearly the two best-looking guys in the bar. Heads turned their way, and they must have been having a good conversation because they were both smiling—which made them even more handsome.

  Like always, I felt butterflies glide in my stomach, felt my fingertips go numb. I was excited and nervous at the same time. “The guys are here.”

  Stacy followed my gaze.

  I hadn’t thought about Kyle until that moment. He and Neil had never really hung out until this point. Kyle said he was fine with my decision, and he behaved like he was indifferent to my personal life, but I wasn’t so sure if he was really okay with it. I suddenly felt insensitive and uncomfortable.

  I wondered how Neil felt about him.

  The guys didn’t even make it halfway before a pair of women stopped them in their tracks and spoke to them.

  I turned to Stacy. “No punches tonight.”

  “I’m not gonna punch anybody,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “I knew this would happen when I married him. He’s gonna get ass handed to him like he’s a frat boy at a waxing salon. Nothing I can do about it. Just have to hope he doesn’t get tired of me one day…”

  “Never gonna happen,” I told her.

  Kyle stared at the guys too. “Having a desirable partner will make you appreciate him more, make you do more to keep giving him affection and fucking. Because you don’t want to lose him. It’s the couples who aren’t afraid of losing each other that don’t work out.”

  That was exactly what happened with Cameron. When I couldn’t give him what he wanted, he found someone who could.

  “That makes sense, actually,” Stacy said. “Which is interesting because you’ve never been in a relationship.”

  “Just because I’ve never been in one doesn’t mean I don’t know how to be in one.” He turned back to the bar and grabbed his glass.

  I kept staring at Neil. He slid his hands into his pockets as he spoke to the woman talking his ear off. He smiled in return, remaining polite, but he constantly kept inching away, like he was trying to exit the conversation without seeming rude.

  Vic stepped away. He must have said something to blow off the woman because she didn’t try to talk to him again. His eyes were on his pregnant wife as he came to her, as if no one else in the bar mattered to him at all. His arms slid around her waist, and he pulled her in for a deep kiss.

  My eyes went back to Neil. I knew we weren’t seeing other people, but we weren’t necessarily exclusive either. He told me I could be with someone else if I met a man I liked. That must apply to him too because this was a two-way street. I wasn’t his girlfriend. I was a long-term fling. I grasped for a better term but failed to find one.

  Vic pulled away from Stacy and turned to me. “Kiss him. That’ll get rid of his admirer.”

  I didn’t own Neil, so I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. If he wanted to talk to her, he had every right to. I turned around and faced the bar, reaching for the drink I had left there. It was a vodka cranberry, but all I really wanted was the vodka.

  Kyle glanced at me then faced forward again.

  A minute later, Neil slid his arms around my waist then leaned down to kiss me on the neck. His arms squeezed me tightly, and he blanketed me with affection that felt warm on this fall afternoon.

  I closed my eyes in response, falling into the comfort immediately.

  “What are you drinking?” He grabbed my glass and took a drink. “Vodka cranberry…heavy on the vodka.” He grabbed my hips and forced me to turn around. “I like a woman who knows how to drink.”

  When I looked into his face, all the tension I felt from before melted away. I couldn’t be angry at him for flirting with that woman. I couldn’t be anything but appreciative that he was there with me instead of her. “Can I buy you a drink?”

  He gave me an incredulous look. “Never. I buy your drinks. That’s how this works.”

  “And you know I’d like to trade off.”

  “Like I already told you, I’m old-fashioned.” He noticed Kyle beside me, so he dropped his smile and extended his hand. “Hey, man. How’s it going?”

  Kyle acted like the sight of us together meant nothing to him by turning to Neil and taking his hand. “I’ve been better. The girls are pestering me.”

  “About what?” Neil asked.

  He nodded to the edge of the bar. “Pretty lady bought me a drink, so they think I should fuck her.”

  “Hmm…I can’t refute that logic.” Neil didn’t look at the woman, instead keeping his eyes on Kyle.

  “But if I screw every pretty woman who gives me the eye, I’ll never have time to do anything else.” He turned back to the bar and grabbed his drink.

  “He’s got a point.” Neil turned back to me. “You’ve got to be selective. Don’t want to go home with the wrong woman.”

  At that moment, the woman who had been talking to him earlier returned for another chitchat. She had a napkin with a black pen. “I found a pen. Could you sign this for me?”

  Neil grabbed the pen and signed the napkin on his flattened palm. “Sure thing. Who should I make it out to?”

  “Abigail.” With wide eyes full of joy, she watched Neil add a note along with his signature. “Thanks so much for doing this. I hate to bother you, but when I recognized you, I had to ask…”

  “You aren’t bothering me.” He handed the note back to her. “Abigail, this is my girlfriend, Charlotte.”

  Wow, did he just introduce me as his girlfriend?

  I was Neil Crimson’s girlfriend.

  To me, he was just Neil, but to everyone else…like Abigail…he was so much more.

  “So nice to meet you.” Abigail shook my hand. “You’re so lucky. You get to hear all his stories firsthand.” She folded the napkin and placed it in her clutch then walked away. She returned to her friends on the other side of the room and showed them the napkin. All of them seemed just as excited to see the signature.

  Neil brushed it off like it wasn’t his first time.

  “So, I’m your girlfriend, huh?”

  Neil turned to me, his eyes making him look so unbelievably handsome. “Is that a problem?”

  “No…just wasn’t expecting that.”

  “We’re a couple that only sees each other. Doesn’t that make you my girlfriend?”

  “I don’t know…you’ve never had a girlfriend before.”

  “No, I haven’t.” He took a drink from his beer. “But I think I like it.”

  Winter was almost here, so the nice weather of fall was quickly accelerating into a colder environment. We continued to do our outdoor hobbies as much as possible before the cold temperature really struck the city.

  Kyle walked up to the golf ball on the green and readied his putter. He lined up the shot, and after a gentle tap, sank the ball in the hole. “You need to step it up, or I’m going to crush you.” He bent over and grabbed the ball from the hole.

  “Just remember how many times I’ve crushed you in th
e past.”

  “That was then. This is now.” He stepped off to the side so I had a full range of motion.

  I placed the putter against the ball, checked the distance with my eyes, and then sank the ball in the hole. “Not so arrogant now, huh?” I retrieved the ball, and we walked back to the golf cart.

  “I’m still winning, so yeah, I’m a bit arrogant.” He hit the gas, and we drove up the path to the next hole. “So, how are things with Neil?”

  I was surprised by the question, even though we’d been together for several months now. Kyle and I had our awkward conversation at the beginning of fall, so it’d been a long time. He’d been with many women since then, and whenever he was around Neil, he didn’t behave differently.

  When I didn’t answer right away, he kept talking. “Char, stop walking on eggshells. If he’s the man you want to be with, I don’t have a problem with it. The last thing I want is for our friendship to be different. I told you how I felt, you didn’t feel the same, life goes on. I’ve moved on.” He said all of this calmly as we drove around the curve in the road and approached the next hole.

  “You’re right…it has been a couple of months.”

  He parked the golf cart and grabbed his club from the back. “So how are things with Rocketman?”

  I chuckled. “Oh my god, don’t call him that.”

  “I think it’s a great nickname. So how are things?”

  “Good.” It felt like a normal relationship, lots of sleepovers, waffles in the morning, and afternoon walks with my dog. He didn’t lose interest and run off with someone else even though his longest fling had only been a couple of weeks. The desire was still rampant in our veins, and our deep conversations had led to a stronger connection. Ever since we’d been together, all the demons I wrestled with disappeared. I didn’t think about Cameron anymore, didn’t have nightmares about the night he left me. My confidence had returned, and my wounds had healed. That was all because of Neil.