Five Alarm Alphas

by Leah Braemel, Lexxie Couper, Delilah Devlin, Marie Harte, Desiree Holt, Lissa Matthews, Cari Quinn, Shelli Stevens

  Instead of throwing back a suitably nasty retort, he stood and stalked over to her chair. She gazed at him, trying to ignore the mad fluttering in her stomach and other less angsty places. Places that only wanted to feel his hot, naked skin pressed against hers.

  He didn’t speak at first, just crouched before her and traced the shape of her face with his thumbs. It probably shouldn’t have felt erotic, but from the riot in her body he might as well have been stroking her breasts with his tongue.

  “You’re so beautiful.”

  She swallowed hard at his reverent tone. What was she supposed to say to that? “So since you claim to not have a girlfriend, that means…”

  Slowly, he drew his hands away from her face. “It means you’re beautiful and I’m not too blind to notice. It also means I’ve missed you too and there’s no woman on this planet that compares to you, in bed or out.” He gave her his best sexy smile. “Especially not some phantom Thumbelina. That’s some name, by the way.”

  “Oh. Well.” For a moment her brain went blank. He had such a delicious mouth. She’d be happy to suck on his lower lip for a day or two. “I appreciate the sentiment. Now I’d like to go home.”

  Maybe if he untied her quickly enough, he wouldn’t realize she was shaking. That his nearness had that effect on her, though the long night probably contributed too. Dash Carlton was cute and sweet and all, but he wasn’t worthy of shaking fits and tears burning behind her eyes.

  Just need sleep and my own bed. Then I’ll be fine.

  He rubbed the threadbare knee of her jeans. “You have extinguisher powder all over you. Your clothes need to get washed.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek, making her jolt. “You too.”

  “You calling me dirty, Carlton?”

  His lips quirked. Ah, that smile. She’d missed it so much. “Only in my wildest fantasies, Kemp.”

  She cleared her throat. Must focus. No mental side trips into Nudetown, USA allowed. “You don’t have a working washer anymore, remember?”

  “Washer’s fine. It’s the dryer that shorted its shit.” His grin blazed through her and sent tingles from her nipples to the ache between her legs.

  She hadn’t touched herself in weeks, and she damn sure hadn’t let anyone else touch her since Dash. Apparently, she needed a bit of a self-workout. That had to explain why she couldn’t stop herself from wanting to pin her ex-squad mate to the floor with her hips.

  They were over. Long over, and she needed to remember that.

  “I think you need an electrician to check things out before you try to use the washer. Don’t need another fire.” She glared at him, hoping if she put enough menace into the expression she’d stop feeling so quivery and vulnerable. And horny. “Especially since you have no working smoke detectors. That’s insanity. What example are you setting?”

  “Fuck examples. Fuck anything but this.” Leaning in, he closed his hand around her knee and met her mouth softly, sweetly, almost lulling her into believing he was in no rush. Then his tongue tangled with hers and she lost the ability to believe in anything but him and the magic they could make when they were alone together.

  “I want you naked,” he whispered, the words rattling around in her addled head as if he’d shouted them. “In my bed or in my shower, it’s up to you. But we have some business to work out, don’t you agree?”

  Business. A nice, polite word to explain the vortex of need inside her.

  Ah, hell what would it harm if they had a quick bounce—or four? They’d do it and move on. Get those last dregs of remembered passion out of their systems once and for all. Besides, pulling the bandage off the wound was always smarter than letting it fester.

  “I suppose I do. Does this business seem better suited to horizontal or vertical positions?”

  “Your call.” He trailed his hand up her thigh. “Where do you want it, Kemp?”

  Chapter Four

  Katie searched around for her bravado as she tossed her tangled hair back out of her eyes. She probably looked frightful, but from the smolder in Dash’s eyes, he had no complaints.

  “What’s wrong with right here?” she asked.

  He flicked his tongue along the inside of his lower lip as if he were considering, then reached back and tugged his shirt over his head. She barely had time to drink down his magnificently toned, just-hairy-enough chest before he rose and shucked his shorts, giving her an up close view of his erection. He’d won the damn lottery there too. Or she had, since she would reap the bennies.

  As for the rest of him…muscles everywhere. The guy kept in serious, drool-worthy shape. From his broad shoulders to his washboard abs to his lean hips, he had a body capable of whatever task he required, whether it be a fighting a fire or making love long into the night.

  Not that she thought about that particular skill of his often. No more than once per half hour. Okay, twice.

  Hell, if she managed not to look at his face, she’d think he was the same devil-may-care Dash. But one look into those shadowed blue-green eyes and her heart tripped.

  He put on a good show but she knew better. This Dash wasn’t the same one she’d slept with months ago. Just as she wasn’t the same woman. So who would they be together now?

  Did she have the guts to find out?

  Silently, he knelt to untie her boots, removing them and her socks in a leisurely manner than didn’t fit the mighty hard-on he was sporting. He could be gentle, oh yes, but the way he was stroking her ankles and the arches of her feet could only be called pure sensual torture. Her jeans were next. He dragged the zipper down with the same infuriating slowness, his mouth curving when she whimpered. “Impatient little thing.”

  “Untie me. I want to touch you.” So much.

  Arching a brow, he leaned closer to reach behind her chair. The movement rubbed his cock against her thigh, ever so close to her aching pussy, and she moaned in frustration. Why was he tormenting her?

  He turned his smiling lips against her hair while he worked to unbind her wrists. “I wondered how long it would take you to break. You’ve been sitting here so stoically while my balls creep for my damn throat.”

  Caught between a giggle and a snarl, she narrowed her eyes. “I haven’t broken yet, Carlton. You’re going to have to work for it. Preferably on your knees, with your face between my legs.”

  A lot of guys might’ve bristled at both her chilly tone and the demand. Not Dash. He enjoyed their sexual sparring, knowing it would only make their mutual win that much more satisfying.

  Instead of answering, he returned front and center and licked his way into her mouth, exploring her depths with a leashed urgency that made her squirm against the bond he still hadn’t loosened. What had he been doing back there? Tying her bindings tighter? As if in silent answer, he rubbed his thumb over the inside of her wrist and his erection against her thigh, his eyes flickering open to meet hers.

  She’d once thought his habit of opening his eyes mid-kiss was a little weird. Okay, a lot weird. Then she’d discovered she loved watching the kaleidoscope of blue and green deepen with his arousal. That he was as affected as she was only turned her on more. He stayed right with her every step. That was security. The best sort of freedom.

  Until he hadn’t been beside her anymore. Shit, was it any wonder she hadn’t been right for months?

  Somehow tonight she’d found her way back. And she’d find out soon enough if this encounter would end up being a lucky break or a major clusterfuck.

  Saying nothing, he reached behind her again. He must be letting her go. Finally. As soon as he’d freed her, she launched herself into his arms and attacked his mouth with enough enthusiasm to send them both tumbling onto the plush rug.

  “Sorry,” she gasped, leaning up to tear her T-shirt over her head.

  “Don’t apologize. Ravish me all you want.” He reared up to catch one of her erect nipples between his teeth, apparently unconcerned that she wore a durable cotton, decidedly unsexy bra. She hadn’t dressed for seduction
and her underwear wouldn’t win any style awards. With any other man, she might’ve wondered how he saw her, but not with him. He always looked through her and saw the woman she was inside, exactly why he scared her so damn much.

  He gave her no place to hide. Simply wouldn’t allow it.

  She wove her fingers through his bristly hair, drawing him as close as possible. A heartbeat away. Still too far. As hot and hard as his body was under hers, only bringing him inside her would satisfy this ache.

  She hissed out a breath at the kisses he trailed over the tops of her sensitive breasts and up her throat. She’d thought she missed him? Not. Even. Close. She’d been starving for what only he could provide. Shelter, comfort. Sweaty sex. Some magical elixir of all three.

  She rode him with abandon, seeking the stiff length between his legs that responded so eagerly to her, leaving no doubts where she stood. That was real and tangible. Capable of banishing the fears and recriminations she’d tried to ignore for so long.

  In this moment, her unresolved feelings for him weren’t a punishment. Here and now she could exalt in them.

  He tipped back his head and stared into her eyes while he flicked open the clasp of her bra. When the cups fell away, he leaned forward and swept his lips over the place where her pulse beat so erratically. Fast, faster. Almost as fast as her hips bucked against his.

  “You got someplace to be?” He curled his fingers under her breast. “Because I don’t. I intend to drink you down slow.”

  “Slow’s overrated.”

  “Says who?” He flipped her over and pinned her beneath him, dragging his hand down her torso to slip inside her jeans and panties. One long finger sought her burning hot pussy. A few strokes and she was panting, arching up to seize his mouth. His tongue, his fingers. God, she had to get some part of him inside her. “Either we do this my way or we’ll be doing it until I’m satisfied. Your choice, Kemp.”

  “Let’s meet in the middle,” she suggested, wriggling her jeans and panties partway down her legs.

  “Meaning?”

  “This.” She pressed his palm against her soaked cleft, writhing when the pads of his fingertips grazed her swollen clit. “The sooner you get me off, the sooner you can take your time.”

  “Is that so?” His seductive smile shouldn’t have made her even wetter. She was already under him and primed to go. But the hint of boyish mischief as he moved back to pull the denim down her legs cranked up the heat and added a dose of laughter to go with it. “Do I get to decide the method?”

  She jerked a shoulder. Never let it be said she didn’t know how to compromise. “Your choice.”

  The smile spread. “Just what I like to hear.”

  Once he’d tugged off her jeans and panties and tossed them aside, he ran his palms up her thighs, long strokes of flesh on flesh. That he was just touching her legs didn’t seem to matter. There was a part of her that seemed to be always waiting, holding her breath, in the interim between their hookups. She hadn’t been with anyone since the first time they’d played bedroom bingo but it wasn’t about sex. Or only sex. It was about giving in to him and being given strength and friendship and laughter in return. And knowing she provided the same for him.

  Here, between these walls, she didn’t doubt her prowess or that he cared. But she knew when she left, all the doubts would creep back in. Not just about him but about what else she’d left behind. Like the squad and the incredible sense of family they’d given her. A job she loved and wanted to do until the day she died. But she’d fucked up. What if she did it again and someone else got hurt? Someone she lo—

  “Hey.” He tapped her stomach. “You wanna play along with me? Because I’ll take my toys and go home.”

  She laughed at his pouty face and leaned up on her elbows. Now wasn’t the time to think about her regrets. Or think at all. “You have toys?”

  “Not that kind. Though I wish I did. I’d use them on you until you were limp, baby.” He bent down to nip her knee, his eyes dancing with mirth. “God, I can’t believe I’m about to do this with you.”

  Before she could ask him to clarify this, he skated his mouth up her inner thigh and found the heart of her, his tongue washing away the last of the dark clouds crowding her mind with one thorough swipe.

  Her broken moan stunned her into going pliant in his hands. Though she’d always been vocal in bed, the noise she’d made bordered on desperate.

  “Make more of those,” he murmured. “And open yourself up for me.”

  He stretched her legs apart with his broad shoulders, waiting while she parted her damp sex with her thumbs. For the longest time he just looked. God, she was so wet. So ready for him. His approving murmur vibrated against her flesh just before he arrowed his tongue into her, spearing into her again and again.

  Still resting on her elbows, she tipped up her hips to give him maximum access. Her eyes threatened to close in pure bliss. “Did you get…” Words. Surely there had to be some left. She tried again. “Didja get better at that, Carlton?”

  “Maybe. I’ve been practicing a lot.” When she thumped her heel against his side, he laughed, long and low. Now his eyes burned with another kind of fire, a possessive one. “You just missed me.”

  That she couldn’t deny. “Yeah, I did. I especially missed how you kiss. All over.” She shuddered and dropped her head back, letting the pleasure careen through her system. When he added a couple of fingers, she moaned again, squeezing around them. “But about that practice…”

  He took a while to answer. His mouth was a little busy after all, just as it should be. Sucking on her clit with determined pulls. Nuzzling her lower belly. And still his fingers worked in and out in a steady, mind-blowing rhythm. “Haven’t practiced,” he said finally, his own breathing choppy. She adored knowing how much he loved pleasuring her this way. “Couldn’t, since there’s no other you.”

  She swallowed, not sure how to respond or what he even meant. He’d certainly “practiced” with others before. Had he really not been with anyone either? It hadn’t been that many months in the scheme of things, but—

  He circled the special spot deep inside, pressing hard. Her breath whooshed out on a long sigh. “God, yes, Dash.”

  “Just making sure you’re with me. You keep going places. Pissing me off.”

  “Sorry,” she muttered, grinding her hips against his mouth. “I’ll do better.”

  “Yeah. Workin’ hard down here. Give me a damn bone.”

  She couldn’t help laughing. Or crying out when his teeth skimmed over the swollen bud of nerves he was only too delighted to begin sucking again, while those wicked fingers pumped and plunged and wrung out every drop of her excitement. The need built inside her, rising to an inevitable crest. She didn’t want this to ever end, but it had to.

  Her gaze locked on his eyes, now deep blue with arousal, and the motions of his tongue. So damn erotic.

  “Bone,” she whispered, driving up to meet him as the pleasure began to unfurl deep in her core.

  He grinned, his mouth wet with her. And with one last thrust of fingers and tongue, he shoved her over the edge.

  Chapter Five

  Dash gave her a couple minutes to recover, since she’d slumped into the carpet. While she collected herself, he rose to grab a condom from the nightstand. She still hadn’t moved when he returned so he took the opportunity to study her beautiful, lush body. Curves layered upon curves, crowned by a face angels might’ve painted themselves.

  If he didn’t get her around him soon, he was going to explode.

  “Nap’s over, baby.” He laid down and dragged her on top of him. “Ready to ride?”

  A slow smile crossed her well-kissed mouth as she focused on the rigid length pressing into her belly. She encircled him in her hand, her fingers sculpting and teasing. “Not quite yet.”

  She slithered down before his brain clicked into gear. Her warm, wet mouth engulfed the head of his cock and went straight for the gold, rolling down his length
and back again while groans tore from his throat. Then she slid her hand between his legs to cup his sac. She moaned and the sound hummed through him, making him throb.

  “Shit, stop.”

  She didn’t stop sucking. God, she was amazing, but if he came like this he’d hate himself. This first time with her again he needed to be inside her. And she needed to be right there with him.

  After a couple tugs on her hair, she finally lifted her head. “Get up here,” he ground out, managing to get the condom on in record time.

  “But I wasn’t through with you.” She scraped her nails down his stomach and he shuddered.

  “Ditto.” He tugged her where he wanted her and fisted a hand in her curls to bring her mouth down to his. When their lips brushed, he rubbed his erection over her drenched slit and met her eyes. So dark and trusting. A man could happily submerge himself into those eyes and never come up for air. “Best hang on, baby.”

  “You too,” she whispered before she shifted and took control, impaling herself on him before he could do more than groan.

  She didn’t hold back, one of the things he loved most about her. She took him deep, then deeper still. Her heat flashed over him and he grabbed on to her waist, trying to get a grip. But she was already galloping ahead of him, her perfect breasts bouncing, hard nipples daring him to lean up for a lick. He reared up and fastened his mouth around one taut tip, content to feel her need pouring over him with each of his greedy thrusts. If she wanted to lead, he’d let her. Fuck, he’d give her anything if she only asked.

  From her dazed expression, her orgasm surprised her as much as it did him. Rocked by her wild spasms, he plunged harder, aching for more. Knowing she could take it. His fingers slid off her damp skin and he dug in, desperate to hold on. Every part of him trembled with the effort to last just a little longer.

  “Give me more,” he managed. “Katie. Dammit. Not enough.”