BLUE COLLAR ALPHAS

by Cole, Aria

  “Just stay here, just…wait…until it passes…” I spit through clenched teeth.

  “Right. Wait til it passes.” His eyes shot around the garage. “You left the overnight bag in the living room, right?”

  “Yes, Jackson.” I tried to breathe through the pain like the labor instructor had taught us. “It’s been there for a week.” I paused as my muscles relaxed. “Okay, I think it’s over.”

  Jackson looked down at my hugely round, nine-month-pregnant belly. “We’re going to have a baby.”

  I grinned, wanting to leap into his arms and slather him in kisses, if I still could. “He’s coming.”

  “He’s coming.” Jackson looked up at me, one tear tracking down his chiseled cheek before he swiped it on the sleeve of his shirt. He pulled me into his arms, sliding my t-shirt over my shoulders and my stretchy leggings up over my big belly.

  “I’ll get the keys and the bag. Be right back, don’t move.”

  “Wait, you’re bringing me in the Blue Devil?!”

  “Hell yeah, I am. I’m bringing my son home from the hospital in this car.”

  “Jackson, no, my water could break, I could ruin the seats!”

  He stood, as if to consider me for a moment. “But it’s where all our firsts happened. I proposed to you on that car. It was the start of us.”

  I stood in the middle of the garage, speechless and in awe of the sweetness radiating from the man I’d married. I knew at that exact moment that he would be the best daddy to our little boy, to all of our future kids. He was already the best husband to me.

  “Okay. Just don’t forget to bring me a towel.” I rubbed a hand over my belly, smiling contently as I eased around the corner of the car to open the passenger door.

  “Hey, mama.” Jackson scooped me into his arms, placing a slow kiss on my lips as he walked me around the car. He slid me in the seat, buckling me in before placing both of his palms over my giant belly. “I love you both so much.”

  He smiled up at me and placed a kiss on my stomach.

  I pushed one of my hands through his hair, pulling him to my lips in a soft kiss. “Let’s go have a baby.”

  SECOND EPILOGUE

  Jackson – three years later

  “Vroooom!” My son’s hands clutched at the steering wheel of the Mustang. I tickled Blaze’s sides as he sat perched in my lap. The way he busted up into a fit of giggles only a three-year-old could muster made me drunk on happiness.

  And as if my life couldn't get any better, the woman who made it all possible walked down the steps of our cabin. It was perched on the lake, way up in the Rockies. I’d built our dream home, and then we’d started filling it with babies.

  “Hey, mama, I think this guy’s gonna be a racecar driver.”

  She grinned, bouncing Hawk, our ten-month-old on her hip.

  “This one better be a chef. He likes to eat. That’s his second banana.” She hugged my boy a little closer.

  Damn, I loved this woman.

  My life had grown more full in the last few years than I ever dreamed it could have. I didn’t even know I wanted these things, didn’t give two shits about a family until Sadie came along. Now I wanted the kids, the dog, and the white picket fence. And I planned on trying for more kids. I’d have ten babies with her if she’d let me.

  “Dawie!” Hawk gargled through a bite of banana.

  A black lab came trotting down the porch, a litter of three pups following her in a reckless line. I shook my head. We’d adopted that dog a few months ago and had no idea she was pregnant at the time. “Here comes trouble.”

  Blaze giggled as two of the puppies took a tumble down the last step, legs and ears every which way. “Can we keep them all, Daddy?!”

  Sadie’s eyes widened as she looked from my son to me, eyes pleading. “That’s a houseful, I don’t know if—”

  “But I’ll feed and water them all! Just like real chores!” Blaze clapped his hands, excitement growing by the second.

  I sighed, patting Ginger on the head when she reached me, tail wagging at the open car door. “We’ve got a few more weeks before they’re old enough to leave their mom anyway, Blaze. You’ve got plenty of time to play with them.”

  I looked up at Sadie, pleading for some help.

  “You know I’m not going to be able to let them go.” She hugged Hawk a little closer, smiling back at me.

  “Dammit, woman,” I growled. “If these kids weren’t here, I’d bend you over—”

  “Be nice to Mama!” Blaze defended his mother adorably.

  “Oh, I’m very nice to Mama.” I shot my wife a cocky grin. “She likes to beg—”

  “Jackson!” Sadie cut me off with a palm over my lips. “Behave yourself.”

  “So can we keep them, Daddy?!” Blaze bounced behind the steering wheel.

  I groaned, feeling like I’d lost this battle. I could take on the kids, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I could ever say no to Sadie. “Fine. We can keep them.”

  “Yay!” Blaze bounded out of my lap and dropped to his knees, surrounding himself with tiny black lab puppies, tiny barks and tails going wild.

  “We’re going to have a talk later.” I arched an eyebrow at Sadie.

  “Oh yeah?” she cooed. “Did I earn a punishment?”

  I cupped her face in my palm and planted a fevered kiss on her lips. “You better believe you did.”

  BONUS EPILOGUE

  Jackson – twenty-five years later

  “Hold on, mama.” I gunned the throttle around the last corner, loving the way Sadie's shriek pierced my ears, not for the first time in more than twenty-five years of married bliss.

  Well, mostly bliss.

  Three boys running around the house causes a whole lot of chaos, but Sadie and I learned how to ride those waves.

  Well, mostly Sadie.

  I still spent most my days in the garage, fixin' up old cars and teachin' the crew the trade. And it'd paid off, all three of them had a killer appreciation for a well-oiled engine.

  Kane had enrolled at the early entrance program at MIT, a brilliant kid with a head for engineering that never ceased to amaze me. Vonn had taken to workin' the garage with me in the early days of high school and hadn't stopped. We'd celebrated the opening of the second location of Fox Motors just last week, and now here we were, celebrating again.

  “Can't believe Blaze is doing this.”

  I crooked a grin, the feel of Sadie's arms around my waist causing something way the fuck down deep to stir.

  My woman, my wife, my Sadie. There's not another soul on the planet I'd rather spend the days with, she eased some ache in my chest that'd been impossible to hold before her. And now here I was, the luckiest sonuvabitch alive to be walking into Brooklyn Speedway with my wife in my arm as we watched our oldest son get married.

  What a fucking loop that was.

  Blaze Fox, champion race car driver and soon-to-be-husband to racing royalty, Michael Speedman’s daughter and the only woman racing in the league right now, Gia Speedman.

  They set records and burned up the raceway apart, together, they were unstoppable. Blaze had been turning away product sponsorship opportunities and commercial work for years, and the offers had tripled since news of the engagement hit headlines.

  Fox and Speedman, a match made at the pit-stop.

  Sadie and I had been front and center the moment Blaze and Gia met for the first time, her jaw squared and arms crossed across her neon orange racing suit as she eye-balled her biggest competition, reigning champion Blaze Fox.

  Our boy had hit Brooklyn Speedway that Sunday morning last September lookin' to defend his place a the king of cars, and he'd promptly lost it to her, not just a rookie, but one with racing in her blood.

  I still believe one look in those icy blue eyes and he forfeited the race to her instantly, my boy knew that a lost race would be worth a lifetime with Gia.

  Blaze and Gia had been glued at the hip every day since, spending the last few months le
ading up to their wedding in my basement while they waited for their own house to be built.

  Sadie had loved having her boy home again after all the racing around the world he'd been doing, but I secretly was ready for them to take a hike. We'd only just gotten Kane and Vonn out of the house when Blaze was tellin' us he was movin' back in.

  Truth be told I didn't really mind them there, what I did mind was all the private time they stole from me and Sadie.

  It'd been a fucking week since I was last inside her and I was determined to make that right, tonight. Nothing could keep me from sliding inside my favorite toy, fucking her all sweet and soft until I couldn't control myself any longer and giving her what she really craved.

  Some of the buddies warned me at the shop that marriage had a way of halting the sex life, but if anything my appetite for all things Sadie had increased. Our sex lives had been on fire through the years, partly due to the fact that I wasn't one to shy away from trying new things.

  Toys, movies, ties, leather, edible-anything, I was game.

  “Can't wait to get you out of this dress.” I slid a hand over the curve of her delicious ass, givin' it a quick squeeze.

  “You sound like a man with a plan, Fox.” She winked up.

  “My own plan is coming down deep inside this sweet pussy tonight.” One tug plastered her gorgeous curves to my form.

  “Tonight?” She lifted an eyebrow, challenge written in the twinkle of her eyes. “Not sure I can wait that long...”

  My cock throbbed through the dark tuxedo pants, tie at my neck suddenly feeling way too fucking tight. I pulled at the collar, swallowing once as we walked through the wide gates, eyes catching one of the waitstaff holding glasses of champagne for us.

  I nodded quickly, uttering to the gentleman under my breath, “Can you point me to the nearest restroom, seems my lady love is having a bit of a problem.”

  Sadie's eyes shot up as her grip tightened in mine.

  “Surely, sir. There's a private bath just down this hallway.” He pointed behind him, helpful smile on his face.

  “I can't even begin to thank you.” I clapped him on the shoulder and Sadie and I were off down the hallway before he could say a thing else.

  “A quickie, on our son's wedding day?!” Sadie stifled a giggle with her hand.

  I opened the door and we slipped inside, my hands locking at her waist and pulling her up around my hips. I shoved the zipper down on my pants just as Frank Sinatra piped through the speakers.

  “I can promise you, Sadie Fox, not a thing about this is going to be quick. I plan on tasting every inch of you.”

  Sadie's eyes lit with fire just as my cock breached her hot walls, swallowing me whole, making me feel. Again.

  Sadie.

  My reason for living.

  My reason for loving.

  My reason for everything.

  THE END

  UNDER FIRE

  ARIA COLE

  Blaise Michaels has never met a fire he couldn't tame—or a woman who could cause a fire-alarm blaze in his heart. But the night he meets Brianna Foster is a night that will leave permanent marks on them both.

  Brianna Foster wasn't looking for love—in fact, all she was looking for was her grumpy old cat before the building dissolved into ash around them. But when tall, dark, and heroic bursts through her apartment door to save her—and her pussy—from the flames, she never dreams he would light a fire that could incinerate her heart.

  Warning: Blaise is a big, growly, alpha male with a hero complex. Saving Brianna isn't enough for him. He wants more than just in her bed. He wants her tied to him for life.

  ONE

  Brianna

  “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty,” I cooed, tossing another treat his way.

  A low grumble vibrated from somewhere by the bed.

  “Don’t be a bad boy. Come to Mommy.” I tried my best to stay calm as fire alarms rang around my head. “Jinx…”

  I heard the bang of footsteps up the old stairwell.

  “Jinx! For God’s sake, come to Mommy!” I inched closer, the fire alarms wearing on my last fucking nerve. “Jinx, come here, boy. Please come here.”

  The old cat crouched farther under the bed.

  I could hear more footsteps pounding down the hallway now, doors banging, people running.

  There’d been a half a dozen false alarms in the last year I’d been living here, but this time, I’d heard the sirens outside. There were a lot of emergency vehicles currently parked in front of my small apartment complex, and something told me this wasn’t a false alarm.

  “Jinx, goddammit, get your grouchy little ass over here.” I lunged under the bed, the edge of the cheap metal frame cutting into my upper thigh. “Fuck!”

  I kept stretching, trying desperately to dig my fingers into his soft fur so I could haul him out of here with me.

  No way could I leave my sweet kitty in a building that was going up in flames.

  It was probably just Mrs. Avery on the third floor, blind as an old bat and cooking soup. The flames had crawled all the way up the wall and left a trail of soot the last time this had happened, and the super still hadn’t replaced her range hood. She complained about it to me every time I went upstairs for cookies and tea. I hated the tea, she put way more lemon in it than I liked, but I choked it down for her.

  I hoped she was safe. I hoped everyone, as motley a crew as they may be, was already out on the lawn. I’d grown attached to everyone here, and in a way, we’d banded together over the complete lack of upkeep on the part of our landlord.

  If it wasn’t peeling paint or heaved sidewalks, it was a leaking pipe or a burned-out air conditioner.

  I hated this fucking building.

  Part of me hoped it would go up in flames, but I knew it was the cheapest rent I could find in this city. Rents were climbing higher and higher every year, and I was barely making it as is. If I didn’t have an apartment to live in, where the hell would I go?

  “Jinx…” I tossed him another treat, begging him to inch just a little closer. “Please, boy?”

  A half a dozen loud bangs rattled the door of my apartment. Jinx chose that moment to swipe at my hand, slicing my finger ruthlessly and causing blood to pool between my fingers.

  “Fuck!” I recoiled, not bothering to check the gash on my thigh that was now throbbing, and launched down the short hallway to my front door.

  Just as I reached the kitchen, the door burst open and a firefighter, complete with breathing mask, barged in.

  A pair of intense dark eyes was all I could see of the stranger, his hand waving me to him rapidly.

  I shook my head, stubborn tenacity and adrenaline charging through my veins as I turned back down the hallway. I didn’t even give a shit that I was seriously undressed. I had to get Jinx.

  “Ma’am!” The firefighter pounded down the hall after me.

  I slid beneath the bed again, stretching to reach Jinx.

  “Ma’am, I’ve got to get you out of here.” His hand rested at my back. Gentler than I would have expected considering the layers of fireproof gear he wore.

  I shook my head, glancing over my shoulder to find he’d taken off his mask.

  And then the air was sucked straight out of my lungs.

  Warm, honeyed skin stretched across a dark, stubbled jaw. The angles of his face inviting, the dark slash of his eyebrows and empathy radiating from his eyes making me weak in the knees. His full lips parted with each breath, the reckless, unkempt dark hair…he was the walking embodiment of a firefighter’s calendar I’d seen a while back. Except this guy was better, features so chiseled I was pretty sure I would spontaneously combust if I stared at him for too long. Why did it feel like something was twisting down deep in my belly with just one look?

  Wait, what is going on again?

  Why is there a gorgeous, rugged fireman in my bedroom?

  Right.

  Jinx.

  “My cat,” I breathed, pointing under the bed, shaking
the fireman-induced haze from my brain.

  “Your cat is under the bed?” His throaty voice curled my toes.

  I gulped. “I can’t leave him.”

  His eyes heated with understanding. “I’ll get him.”

  He stood, walking around the bed, his gait slow and confident. I would have killed to see what he was packing under that fireman’s getup, if the place wasn’t burning down around us, that is.

  “Wait—” I interjected. “He’s been a moody bastard. He might bite you.”

  A crooked smile that made my stomach turn somersaults cracked his lips. “I’ve encountered a lot of mean kitties. That’s why they give me the gloves.” He held up one gloved hand and winked.

  He winked.

  He fucking winked at me.

  I nodded, unable to form a syllable before tall, rugged, and dangerously sexy leaned beneath the bed and swiped up my ornery old cat in one hand. He cradled Jinx in the crook of his elbow, covering his eyes before coming around the bed for me.

  “Let’s go.” He held out a hand.

  My lips slid open, the way his eyes held mine leaving me completely transfixed. His dominant presence ate up the energy between us and made me a slave to his scrutiny. I couldn’t think straight, could hardly take a breath without feeling his gaze prickle my skin. I felt completely immobile. As cheesy as it might sound, I was a deer in the headlights, those headlights being his intense eyes. I could swear my heart was beating a hundred miles an hour, and at that moment, I was thankful for the fire and the search for Jinx because it hid my embarrassing reaction to this stranger.

  “You gonna make me carry you?” He did that crooked grin thing again that I’m pretty sure had the ability to get me pregnant. I pondered asking him to carry me just because I wanted the feel of his hard, firm body pressed against mine, but my leg chose that moment to throb fiercely, reminding me of the wound I’d gotten earlier. I glanced down, seeing rivers of red streak down my leg. Well, if I pass out from his heat, at least I can pretend it’s from the gallons of blood I am losing from my leg.