by Emma Renshaw
I leaned back, gazing up into his eyes. They were hard and unyielding. His jaw ticced as he stared at me, challenging me to defy anything he said. I didn’t. For this one night, I was going to believe it and trust it. Trust him. For this one night, I was going to forget my awful sins and the guilt that choked me daily.
“Before you forget it,” he said, stalling for a second, “was there anything else with the note? Something you didn’t tell Colt about?”
I glanced away. Foster and Makenna had left the table. Delilah and Colt had their heads bent together, talking, but Colt’s eyes were glued somewhere else. I scanned the bar, finding Foster and Makenna laughing as Foster spun her around the dance floor. I met Ridge’s stare and added to the tally of my sins as I lied to him. “No, it was only the note.”
He nodded once and his jaw ticced. “Okay. Now forget that shit. Dance with me while I imagine peeling this top from your body and these jeans down your thighs.”
Ridge drew me closer to him, and I felt his hardness straining between us. My lips tilted up on one side. “Is it too soon to leave?”
Ridge laughed and spun me out and back. My chest collided with his. “No,” he answered in a husky voice and led me through the bar to say goodbye to our friends, out the door, and straight back to his place.
Our lips clashed together as soon as we entered his house. His keys clattered to the floor as his hand slid under my shirt, grazing my back all the way to the base of my neck, and he tilted my head to the side. My arms wound around his neck as he deepened our kiss, our tongues dueling, sliding against each other. Electricity zinged from my lips to my nipples and straight to my pulsing clit. Our legs tangled as he backed me up through his living room and down the hall to his bedroom. We stumbled, almost tripping, but stayed upright and our connection never broke.
I slid my hands down his chest and abs to the bottom of his shirt, raising it up his torso. He broke our kiss, tugging his shirt from his neck and tossing it to the floor. I took a step back, kicking my sandals from my feet, and lifted my shirt. Ridge took off his boots and prowled toward me. He unhooked my strapless bra with one hand and let it fall to the floor. He sucked a nipple into his mouth, laving the tip. I arched and his fingers went to the waistband of my jeans and tugged them and my thong down my hips and thighs while switching his hot mouth to the other nipple. I stepped out of my jeans and thong, standing before him naked, and he was way too clothed, even with his shirt off.
I sank to my knees, unbuckling his belt, and watched his abs flex as his breathing came out in erratic gasps. I looked up at him and slid his pants and briefs down over his muscular thighs and straight to the floor. And, finally, this glorious man was completely naked in front of me. His erection was thick and hard. I continued to stare at Ridge as I licked my lips and leaned forward, taking him into my mouth.
He groaned as I sucked him as far back as I could. I wrapped my hand around the base of his shaft, my mouth sliding up and down. His fingers swept into my hair, pulling it back from my face. “Never seen anything sexier. Keep those clover eyes on me, baby.” He grunted and thrust his hips forward as I cupped his balls and sucked the head of his cock.
“Fuck. Not yet,” he groaned and pulled out of my mouth, bending to lift me and gently set me on the bed.
I arched up to meet his lips. I didn’t need any more foreplay. I was aching to have him inside me. Aching to continue to forget everything except for him. I wanted to be filled to the brim with him. Mind, body, and soul all consumed with only Ridge and nothing else. In this room with him, it was only us. None of my past sins existed here.
“Please,” I begged. He didn’t know how much I was begging for. That I was begging to forget. Begging to erase the past. Begging to be fucked.
He pushed me back further on the bed before grabbing a condom from his wallet. He stared at me as he ripped the wrapper with his teeth and slid the condom over his shaft before prowling toward the bed and crawling up between my thighs, kissing and licking up my body. I was breathing so hard, so consumed and so lost in him.
Ridge cupped his hands under my ass, bringing my legs up over his shoulders, giving my ankle a sweet, torturing kiss. In one long, hard thrust, he was all the way inside. My back arched off the bed, my hands fisted in the sheets, and I writhed against the pillows behind my head. “Eyes on me, clover.”
I opened my eyes, meeting his gaze. His chest filled with an intake of breath. “You’re so damn beautiful, Zoe.” He dropped my legs from his shoulders. “Wrap your legs around me.”
I did, clutching him tightly to my body and meeting every movement of his rocking hips. His hands coasted up my sides to my breasts, tugging on my nipples before one hand went down between my thighs and he rubbed my clit in circles. I never looked away from his eyes as his pace grew faster and his body came down over mine, our lips brushing.
“You’re wanted, Zoe.”
I tugged his face closer to kiss him, pushing my tongue inside his mouth. With every second that passed, I was able to forget. With every second that passed, I was able to believe that I could have something like this.
I felt my orgasm approaching, ready to hurl me over the edge, but I wasn’t ready to let go. I wasn’t ready for other thoughts to take over my mind again. I wanted to stay lost in this moment forever, but I could no longer control my body. Every sensation Ridge gave me was too much. Too good. I broke our kiss, crying out his name as I came. His pace became even faster until he stilled, deep inside me, with his head thrown back, neck arched. “Zoe.”
21
Ridge
“We have to hurry,” Evan hissed and glanced over his shoulder to make sure the chief wasn’t back. If he returned to the station and caught us before we could execute our plan, there was no way in hell we’d ever hear the end of it. In this case, it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Adele whipped around, pointing a glitter-stained gloved finger in Evan’s face. “Unless you want to be covered in glitter, keep your mouth shut. I know what time it is, but I don’t want to be finding glitter on my uniform for the next two years, so it’s a slow process.”
“Why the fuck doesn’t it come off?” Foster grumbled, scrubbing his hands for the fifth time in an hour. He'd thought Adele had been exaggerating when she'd said glitter gets on everything and doesn’t come off, so he’d poured some in his hand to dump into the balloons.
I chuckled, shaking my head, peering out the window to make sure the police department wasn’t heading to the field on the other side of the fire station. We had to catch them while they were walking over, getting ready for their department picture.
Chief had been livid when he'd found out about the newly dyed pink polo shirts. This war between cops and firefighters wasn’t anything new. It had been going on for years. We believed we were better, and they believed they were better. Hawk Valley harbored tales of the department chiefs pranking and warring against each other going back seventy-five years. Chief Talbot had sent a messenger to the police chief with a bill for new shirts, along with a warning that retribution would be coming.
It was an unwritten rule to leave the chiefs out of it. The less they knew at the time of execution the better.
I turned back to watch Adele finish with the vials of glitter.
“Who’s that?” Rick, Adele’s paramedic partner, asked. I looked out the window and grinned as I spotted a flash of red hair.
“I’ll meet y’all on the roof.” I jogged down the stairs and opened the side door just as Zoe passed. I grabbed her arm and gently pulled her inside, backing her against a wall. I leaned my hips into hers and grabbed her waist. “What are you doing here, clover?”
She shrugged and grinned as she wove her fingers into my hair. She did it all the time, and it never failed to get me hard. I loved feeling her hands on any part of my body. My gaze traveled down her body, taking in all the creamy skin showing. I’d kissed every inch of her skin, and it still wasn’t enough. She had on a blue tank top and
cut-off jean shorts. Her legs looked incredibly long and sinful. “I had some time today and remembered you said y’all give tours, and I figured you could give me one.”
“Sure thing,” I said. “We have a couple things to do first.”
“What is it?”
“First…” I leaned in and kissed her, licking along her bottom lip until she sighed and opened her mouth. I pushed my tongue in and tasted her. Everything that made up Zoe. Her fingers tightened in my hair, and her beautiful full lips were still tilted up in a smile as I kissed her until we were both breathless.
“Ready for the second item on the agenda?” I asked, smirking. I was pulling her into this war whether she liked it or not, but I wouldn’t let her face any blowback.
“If it’s as good as the first item, then I’m definitely game,” she said quietly. Her neck and cheeks were red when I leaned back, cupping her cheeks and kissing her softly one more time before grabbing her hand and leading her up the steps. We strode down the hallway to the stairs, in the back of the house, that led to the roof.
Everyone turned, looking over their shoulders as I pushed open the door and held it for her. She walked through and paused, staring at everyone. “Zoe,” Foster greeted. “Are you helping?”
“Yep,” I said and led her to the overlook on the roof. Foster leaned in, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and hugged her. “Everyone, this is Zoe. Zoe, that’s Evan, Adele, Rick, Theo, Chase.” I pointed at each one as I went down the line.
“Glad to have you on our side, Zo.”
“What side am I on?” She eyed the bucket at her feet, filled with water balloons.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pointing down at the sidewalk. “When cops start walking by, throw these water balloons at them.”
She gasped and turned her head toward mine. “You want me to do what? I can’t do that!”
“Sure you can,” Foster said. “You’re on our side.”
“Your side?” She wrinkled her nose.
“Firefighter side, baby.”
“I can’t throw balloons at the cops,” Zoe whispered.
“It’s payback,” Chase said, leaning over and smiling at her. I didn’t know if he recognized her from the day she came with Makenna. Didn’t know if he realized who she was friends with, but she knew who he was. She hesitated before returning his smile.
“Payback for what?”
“S-s-snakes,” he said as his entire body shuddered. He still wasn’t over it and checked every shower and bathroom stall before he did anything.
“Snakes?” Zoe asked.
“They put snakes in our showers and dyed our white polos pink for our department picture. Today is their picture day, we’re just giving them a little decoration, that’s all,” I said.
She licked her lips and nodded once. “Okay.”
She picked up two water balloons, handed one to me, and kept one for herself. “Hush,” Adele whispered loud enough for us to hear. “They’re coming.”
A group of police officers were walking down the sidewalk, chatting, completely unaware of us.. I spotted Colt in the first group and grinned. He was who I was aiming for first. I waited with bated breath, bringing back my arm and getting ready to throw it at my target. I needed patience though, and I needed to wait for the right moment.
“When do I throw it?” Zoe asked, in the same position I was.
“On the count of three,” I whispered. “One. Two. Three.”
We both launched our balloons. They hurdled through the air, side by side, only separated by about an inch. The others on the roof threw theirs as well. My green balloon exploded as it landed on Colt’s shoulder. Zoe’s balloon hit Colt's hip and split apart on his gun belt. Water and purple glitter soaked through his uniform. He and the others stopped and turned their gaze to the roof of the fire department.
Colt was scowling. Foster hooted out a laugh. Zoe bent down, grabbing another balloon. She passed it to me before launching another one into the air at a new target. Zoe’s surprised laughter exploded from her chest. “There’s glitter in the water? That’s never coming out! Glitter is the worst!”
Some officers below started to take cover as some ran for the station doors, but we’d anticipated that and locked the doors. They weren’t getting in. There wasn’t a tree in sight. There was nowhere for them to hide, and the roof gave us perfect access to whatever direction they ran.
One after another, we threw water balloons. Zoe’s laughter, mixing with the shouts from below and the laughter of the others on the roof, including mine, was nothing short of fucking magic. I liked having her here for this. I liked having her join us and be part of the game. “You better protect me if Colt comes to arrest me,” she said while laughing and wiping a tear from her eye.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” I promised. “You’ll get to have all the fun without any of the payback.” I hooked my arm around her waist, bringing her to my chest, and leaned her back over my arm to kiss her. I swallowed her chuckles and cupped her face with my other hand.
She broke the kiss, stunning me with her smile, which lit up her eyes. Since I'd met her, eleven years ago, and had seen her again for the first time a month ago, she’d had this heaviness coating her. Every laugh and smile had never quite made any of the shadows go away, until now. There was nothing but happiness in her gaze.
I knew I was in over my head and it was going to hurt like hell when she walked out of my life. Even though I saw that pain barreling down on me like a thirty-ton freight train, I wouldn’t do anything to stop it. I’ll take every second she gave me until she walked away.
I tightened my hold on her. “When are you leaving, Zoe?”
“I—I don’t know,” she whispered. Panic clawed through my gut as every instinct I had yelled at me to hold her tight, refusing to ever let go, but I’d have to.
I swallowed, feeling nervous around a woman for the first time in as long as I could remember. “In a month, there’s a firefighter benefit charity gala. Stations from all around the area meet up in Austin, raise funds for charity, there’s an auction. Fancy dinner. Stay until then. Go with me.”
I held my breath, waiting for her to answer. She looked away and bit the edge of her lip. Her fingers played with the ends of my hair as she thought about it. I didn’t breathe and I didn’t twitch even a fucking muscle waiting for her response.
“I’ll stay until then. I’ll go with you.”
My shoulders fell as I let my relieved sigh come out before I kissed her, forgetting every other person on this roof and ignoring the screaming officers below.
22
Zoe
Nostalgia filled me as I slowly walked up the pathway to Roxanne’s front door. The white picket fence was still in pristine condition, and the path was lined with colorful flowers in full bloom. I’d spent childhood summers drawing with chalk on the concrete beneath my feet and helping Makenna pull weeds from the yard for a quarter per weed. We’d sold lemonade in the front yard with Macy and Allison.
I’d known her home as well as my own. When we were kids, and all through high school, I never knocked on the front door. It was never locked, and Roxanne had insisted her children’s best friends should come on in. She’d made this place a second home to me. It’d been too long, so I raised my hand to knock on the door.
She’d made me promise that I would come for dinner at least once before leaving town. I knew I’d be here for at least another month. I’d already been here far longer than I’d planned, and the weeks had flown by. The longer I stayed and the more people I let into my life, the harder it was to think about what I’d come here to do—spread Georgia’s ashes. I still hadn’t picked a spot, and each time I decided on the right place, something would happen, causing it to be put off for another day. For now, the urn still sat in the cabin.
Makenna opened the front door with a smile on her face. “Hey, I didn’t think it was you. Why’d you knock? I think the last time you knocked we were seven.”
“It’s been eleven years, Mak.”
She shrugged and stepped back to allow me into her mom’s home. Makenna had moved out a long time ago and lived in a small house off of Main Street. She had been the only one in our group who was going to stay local. She’d planned to go to school in the area until she could follow Declan. Those plans had changed the night of the fire. While Mak did stay here in Hawk Valley and take some business courses, she never went to a university. Instead she joined her mom’s business. I had blown off college for a year after the fire; then we arrived in Colorado, and I pursued nursing.
“You’re always welcome to come on inside here. You should know that, Zo.”
“She’s right,” Roxanne said, stepping out of the kitchen into the small hallway Makenna was leading me through. She had on a floral apron with teal apron strings, and she was wiping her hand on a kitchen towel with a motherly smile at me. “Always come on inside. You’re family in this house, and family doesn’t knock. I won’t have it.”
“Hey, firecracker.” I looked past Roxanne’s shoulder and gasped. The last time I’d seen Makenna’s younger brother, Wyatt, he’d been a scrawny, pimple-faced kid with glasses that were too big for his face and a gaming controller glued to his hand. He wasn’t much younger than we were, only three years, but back then it had felt like an age gap as wide as the Grand Canyon.
He was not that scrawny little kid anymore. My jaw dropped. “Wyatt?”
“Grew up real good, didn’t I?” He turned in a circle, showing off. I threw my head back, laughing. He had always been a confident kid, quiet at times, but with a wicked sense of humor. His once bleached blond hair was darker now, matching the stubble along his angular jaw. When he finished spinning in a circle, he faced me again with his arms open. “Give me a hug. Feel my muscles.”