She pulls away panting. “Your back …”
“I’m fine,” I tell her, and then my lips are back on hers.
I drop to the couch, unable to wait long enough to get to my bedroom. The leather creaks under our weight, and she pulls her lips from mine. Her eyes search my face for something, but I’m not sure what. She must find it, though, because then her lips are back on mine.
My hands grip her dress and yank it over her head, causing our lips to separate for a brief second. My hands go straight to the straps on her bra, and I pull them down over her shoulders. I drag my lips away from hers and lower them to her bare breasts.
“God,” she whispers, throwing her head back and letting out a moan.
I lightly nibble on the pebble between my teeth, and she hisses in a breath. My hands cup both of them possessively.
Mine!
“Karter …” she cries out, and I pull away. I slide a hand between our bodies and pull her matching thong to the side. Running a finger over her shaved pussy, I moan when I feel how wet she is. “Tell me,” I demand roughly.
“I need you,” she says with a whimper. “I need you, Karter …”
I pick her up and spin us around, dropping her onto the couch. I yank her thong down her legs quickly as she goes for my belt. It’s undone in record time, and then she’s yanking my jeans down my legs along with my boxers. I kick them off, and I push her onto her back. My legs pushing hers apart.
She’s panting, her chest rising and falling quickly as she lies naked underneath me on my couch. The only thing she’s wearing is her heels. I cup her face as her eyes look up at me, and she bites her bottom lip seductively as she tries to pull me down to her, but I don’t budge. “What is it?” she asks as worry takes over her features.
“Just admiring your beauty,” I say truthfully as my thumb caresses her soft skin. Then I lower my lips to hers, kissing her desperately. Letting her know just how much I want her. She moans into my mouth and wraps her soft hand around the base of my cock.
Now, it’s my turn to moan into hers. She pulls away, breathing heavy. “Fuck me, Karter. Please.”
I spread her legs farther with mine and push her hand away. Taking my painfully hard cock, I press it against her soaked pussy. She doesn’t mention a condom, and I don’t either. Not wanting to take the time to put one on.
I slide into her, and she arches her back, her lips parting, and I moan. “Fuck!”
She runs her nails down my chest, and I hiss in a breath at the sting. Grabbing her hands, I pin them down above her head to the soft leather and begin to move my hips. Slowly, I pull out of her and then push in. My hips move at a slow and steady pace although I want to take her hard and fast. I’ve thought of her for four weeks like this, and now that I have my chance, I want to savor it.
“Please, Karter.” She whimpers.
“What, baby?”
“Fuck me.” She breathes.
I yank her to sit up with my hands still wrapped around her tiny wrists. I stand, my cock still inside her, and carry her to my bed, needing more room.
We fall onto the mattress, and I place my hands behind her knees. Pushing her legs down on the mattress, I open her wide and begin to move. Harder and faster, just like she wants. Her breathing picks up, her lips part, and her eyes close.
“Look at me,” I demand. They open as her tits bounce up and down from my force. Those blue eyes look up at me, and a growl forms in my chest. She looks just as I imagined she would. Gorgeous. Her brown hair fans out over the bed, and she reaches up to cup her own tits.
She moans as she pinches her nipples.
“Do you like it rough, baby?” I ask.
“Yes.” She gasps as I slam my hips into hers.
My cock stretches her, and I love the way she pulls me in. As if she needs me.
I place my body on top of hers, my forearms on the bed, and I grip her dark hair, pulling her head back to expose her neck. My arms still behind her knees, holding her legs down, spreading her as wide as they will go. They fight me, pushing against me, but I’m stronger than she is. And she’s soaking fucking wet. I can feel it running down to my balls.
“Just like … that,” she says through gasps.
Her pussy tightens around my cock, and I grind my teeth.
“I’m gonna come…” She trails off, and her words just make me move faster. Harder. Needing to hear her call out my name as I fuck her just like I have imagined.
It’s hot. So fucking hot.
No matter how much training you have had, nothing prepares you for the real thing.
Organized chaos at its finest.
My heart is pounding with adrenaline, and my breathing is erratic.
My chief, who is also my training officer, turns to look at me. “You ready, son?” he asks. I nod. “This is it, boy. Stay focused and close to me. I got your back; you get mine.”
“Yes, sir.”
We make our way through the first floor of the apartment complex. The smoke is blinding. The heat almost suffocating. My eyes dart around, looking for anything and everything.
There’s a loud explosion to my left, and I turn to look at it. Pieces of the ceiling have fallen. “The floor is collapsing …”
My words are cut off by my chief shoving me backward as I hear another explosion. It along with the shove has me hitting a hard surface before falling onto my ass. I hear voices in my helmet. My brothers talking to me, but I can’t make them out due to the ringing in my ears.
I look up to see my chief stand. The explosion had knocked him down as well. His eyes meet mine right before I see a flash. The fire seems to erupt from underneath him.
“Nooooooo!” I shout as I hear his scream come through my helmet. I crawl on my hands and knees as I try to get to him when I’m pulled back.
I wake up, sucking in a deep breath of fresh air, and feel a warm body lying beside me. Raegan lies on her side, her left leg over mine and left arm across my chest. I run a hand down my face and let out a sigh. Then I very slowly slide out from underneath her. Putting on a pair of shorts is harder than usual. My back is killing me after last night with her. But it was worth it. Heading toward the kitchen, I try to clear my head of my dream. The incident from the other night at the warehouse brought back memories of when I lost someone I looked up to and miss dearly.
Raegan
I roll over with a smile on my face, and I haven’t even opened my eyes yet. Last night was exactly what I needed. A release. A night with a man who knows exactly how to treat a woman. Karter is good.
Reaching out my hand, I feel nothing but the sheets. The smile drops off my face, and I open my eyes. Sitting up, I look around the somewhat dark room. The sun hasn’t risen yet. It’s gotta be soon, though.
I crawl out of bed, taking the sheet with me to wrap around my body. I make my way toward the kitchen when I hear the cupboards opening and closing.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” he calls out, looking up from the stove wearing nothing but a pair of black basketball shorts.
I instantly feel a throb between my legs, my stomach not the only thing hungry.
I smile inhaling the smell of bacon. “You cook?”
“I do a lot of things that would impress you.” He looks up, giving me a flirtatious wink, and those butterflies are back again.
I chuckle nervously. Several things he did last night were impressive. I’ll give the guy that.
Last night, I was a little preoccupied. Now that he’s standing in front of me in only shorts, I get a good look at his tattoos, and one has me doing a double take. It’s a small phoenix coming out of the flames on his lower right side. I blink as my chest tightens. My breathing is labored thinking about where it’s placed. And how it looks so much like … No!
I can’t look away from it. I’ve seen it before, just not on him.
“How did you sleep?” he asks.
I blink and shake my head to clear it. “Great. You? How is your back?”
“Never b
een better.”
I chuckle at his lie.
He turns, and I see the American flag tattoo that covers his back—it spans from shoulder to shoulder and curves with his spine down to the top of his shorts.
It’s gorgeous.
The red, white, and blue colors are bright against his tan skin. The flag looks like it’s waving in the wind. At the bottom it reads— To all those who have fallen but never forgotten. Then it has NYFD and a #38 on it.
“What does your tattoo mean?” I ask. “Were you a firefighter in New York?”
He turns back around to face me, placing a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of me, avoiding eye contact. “It’s for 9/11.”
My brows lift in surprise. I wasn’t expecting that. “It’s beautiful,” I tell him.
“Thank you,” he says, running a hand through his hair and looking uncomfortable all of a sudden.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” I say softly, looking down at my food.
“No, it’s fine. You didn’t.”
I look up at him, and he’s giving me a soft smile, trying to reassure me. “And no, I wasn’t a firefighter in New York. My father was.”
My heart sinks, and my throat tightens at the way he says was. He’s lost someone too …
Chapter 8
Karter
I see the change in her mood and the look of emotion on her face at the mention of my father. It’s the same look she got in my bedroom when I told her I was a firefighter. The same look she gave me when I told her that I chose to jump out of a second-story window instead of burning to death.
She averts her eyes down to her plate but doesn’t attempt to eat it. I don’t know what makes me tell her, but the words start coming out before I can stop them.
“I was running late for school,” I say, breaking the silence, and she looks up at me. “My mom was yelling at me to hurry up. My father was in bed asleep, just getting home from his night shift.” I sigh. “I ran out of the house to get in the car, and I could see smoke. So much smoke and fire. It was so high in the sky.” I run a hand through my hair as I relive this memory for the first time in years. “We lived twenty minutes outside Manhattan. I ran back inside and into my parents’ room. I started yelling for him to tell him about what I saw. He woke up, blinking in a daze, and sat up. I started tugging on his arm. My mother came into the house, yelling my name to get going when he turned on the TV, and she ran into the living room, gasping when she saw the news.
“He grabbed his phone, got dressed, and kissed my mom goodbye. She was already crying, begging him not to go. I didn’t understand at the time why she was so upset. That’s what he did—put out fires. He assured her he would be back soon enough. He then told her not to take me to school. To stay home and watch the news. He was nervous, but I couldn’t figure out why.” I was only eight at the time. “He hugged me and told me he loved me. I think a part of him knew he wasn’t going to return. He knew it was a devastation that no one was prepared for.”
Raegan sniffs and whispers. “I’m so sorry.”
My chest tightens at her voice. “I felt like it was my fault for a long time,” I admit. “I should have let him sleep. His cell was dead. He could have been out for hours until the chief got a hold of him.”
She looks up at me, her tangled brown hair falling over her face, covering up half of it. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that now, but the guilt was enough to eat me alive.” It took me years to get over it. To stop the nightmares of what I saw on TV that day and the days to come. Many friends never got to tell a loved one that they loved them again. That was the hardest part of all.
“How did you end up here?” she asks, swiping at the tears that have fallen and trying to change the subject.
“Six months after my father passed, my mother packed up our lives and we moved back here.”
“Back here?”
I nod and place some bacon on a plate for myself. “My mom’s family is from here. We moved to NY when I was four for my father.”
“Do you see your mother often?”
“I try, but we are both very busy,” I say, and she frowns. “She remarried when I was sixteen, and they opened up a bed and breakfast outside of town.”
She looks up at me, and her soft blue eyes are full of pity. I hate that feeling. I’ve felt it for most of my life.
“So what about you?” I ask, changing the subject. I’ve had enough of memory lane today.
“What about me?”
“Your parents? They live here?”
That look of sadness returns to her eyes, and I regret asking before she can answer.
“They’re both dead.” Her eyes go to my phoenix tattoo rising out of the fire, and then she looks away quickly, but not before I see fresh tears in her eyes.
I let out a long breath and decide not to push that. It took me a long time to talk about my dad and his death.
“What about Steve?” Let’s talk about that fucker. I’d rather see her angry than upset.
“What else is there to know about him?” She shrugs, picking up a piece of her bacon. “You already know I was engaged and how long we were together. He was my second boyfriend. The first one lasted a year.”
My brows rise. “So just how many guys have you slept with?”
Her mouth falls open, and she gasps, the bacon falling back down to her plate. “I don’t think that question is appropriate.”
“Ten.”
Her face grows serious. “What?” she squeals. “Hell, no—”
“No, I meant me. I have slept with ten women,” I interrupt her. I seem to be vomiting at the mouth. I don’t ever speak about my father, and I sure as hell don’t tell the women I’m sleeping with how many there have been previously, but I feel like laying it all out on the table with her. I know she has trust issues after Steve, and who wouldn’t? The man was fucking around on her, and she never even suspected it.
“Oh,” she says, her lips forming the perfect O face. I smile.
“Your turn,” I urge her.
She swallows and answers softly. “You make three.”
I can’t help it; I laugh. She looks up at me, eyes narrowing. “What is so funny?”
“I’m surprised.”
She straightens her back, pulling her shoulders back. “I’m not the whore you thought I was that night.”
My laughter dies, and I frown. “I never thought that about you. I’m sorry if I made you think otherwise. Three is just a really low number.”
She huffs but doesn’t say anything else about it. “So what do you do for fun?” I ask, changing the subject once again.
“I don’t have much time for fun,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I work at the hospital full time and go to school full time.”
“You sound like me,” I say with a smile. “If I’m not at the fire station, I’m at the gym.”
That grants me a smile as she looks me up and down. “I figured you spent a lot of time there.”
I laugh. “Me, Jakob, and Paul are all part owners of a gym for first responders.”
Her brows lift in surprise. “That’s awesome.”
I shrug. “We opened it three years ago.”
She stands from her spot at the bar and walks into the kitchen where she places her plate in the sink and then turns to face me. “Thank you for breakfast.”
I abandon my uneaten plate and wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her to me. This feels right. She feels right.
“What are your plans today?” I ask, pushing her brown hair behind her ear, away from her face.
“I have class at noon. But I planned on being lazy until then,” she says with a smile. “Then I have to work tonight.”
I smile, leaning my head down to hers. My lips trail along her jaw and to her ear. “How about we be lazy together in my bed until you have to go to school?”
“Great idea.” She sighs, wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling me closer. My sheet that was covering
her, drops to the kitchen floor.
I reach down, grab her thighs, and lift her up, carrying her to my room where I plan on spending the morning between her legs.
Raegan
Tuesday morning, I sit in class, completely exhausted. I have my elbow propped up on my desk, a pen in my free hand, and a blank piece of paper in front of me.
My eyes close on their own, and my head falls forward, out of my hand. I wake with the sudden jerk of my head.
“That’s the third time you’ve fallen asleep,” the girl next to me observes.
I lick my dry lips and wave off her concern. I place my head back in my hand, and my eyes grow heavy again. I blink rapidly to try to stay awake. The clock on the wall reads a quarter past nine. I still have forty-five minutes to go.
***
I open my eyes and look around to notice the class room is empty. My paper on my desk now covered in drool. Shit, I fell asleep again. I lick my wet lips and wad up the paper before shoving it into my backpack.
I stand and yawn as I pull my cell out of my pocket to see Karter is calling me. “Hello?” I ask, still yawning.
“Hey.” He laughs. “Did you skip class and sleep today?”
“No.” I push the door open. “I slept while in class.”
His laughter grows. “You need to get some rest. In a bed.”
I nod to myself. “I’m seeing that.”
“Do you have to work tonight?”
“No.” I walk down the hallway, passing all the other students.
“Why don’t you come over?” he offers. “I’ll cook you dinner, and you can get some rest.” I open my mouth to tell him that sounds nice, but he continues before I can reply. “I promise no sexual advances. Just a good home-cooked meal and rest.”
I smile. “You had me until you said no sexual advances.”
“Gorgeous, if that’s what you really want, then that’s what you’ll get.”
Burn Me Anthology Page 79