Under Fire (Blue Collar Alphas)

by Aria Cole

  “Chief, sweetheart. But I prefer Blaise.” I rested a thumb on her chin.

  She paused, eyes riveted on mine and making my dick pound with waves of need. “I’m Brianna. Brianna Foster.”

  “Pleasure to save your life tonight, Brianna Foster.” I couldn’t help the grin tipping my lips. She was all sugary sweet and soft, desperate for my hands on her skin. I wanted to make her dirty, mold her to my body, to my life. I wanted to make her mine.

  “Thank you—” her eyes flashed up to mine “—Chief Michaels.”

  A chuckle burst from my throat. “You say everything with that twinkle in your eye?”

  “So what if I do?” There it was again. That twinkle. The twinkle that was knocking me off my goddamn boots.

  “Then I’m in for a helluva ride with you, Brianna.”

  And she was one ride I couldn’t wait to take.

  As soon as we were home, I tucked her into the spare bedroom. I wanted to steer her right into my king-sized bed, but I didn’t want to push her a step too far…not yet anyway. So I settled on the guest bedroom right next to mine. If a fucking mouse tiptoed through there, I’d hear it. It'd have to be enough…for now.

  I woke early the following morning, leaving her a quick note inside her door before running up to the firehouse to drop off the heavy-duty pickup and exchanging it for my own. I made it quick, stopping only for coffee and pastries on the way back home, before stepping into my remote cabin, silence greeting me.

  I set the coffee and donuts on the kitchen table, about to climb the stairs to check on my girl, when she padded out onto the landing. Looking down at me from the loft was an angel sent directly from heaven.

  A slab of concrete hit me in the stomach and nearly scooped the air from my lungs.

  “Mornin’.” I finally spoke.

  She nodded. She took the top stair slowly, that damn ornery cat perched in one elbow. “Good morning.”

  “Picked up some breakfast. Also set some clothes out for you. We will go into town and buy you whatever necessities you need later.”

  “Buy me?” She stopped as she reached one of the lower stairs, her height now even with mine. She was such a fucking vision first thing in the morning, her face clean and hair a wild mess, it was like a fist of desire nailed me in the gut.

  “Buy you, yes.” I stepped closer, desperate to claim some of the distance between us. “I told that nice paramedic I was going to take care of you, and I meant it.” I cupped her cheek in my palm, leaning another inch closer and whispering. “I’m a man who stands by my word, Brianna.”

  I felt the shiver erupt through her.

  A matching one vibrated through my dick and itched at me to pull her closer. Kiss her. Fuck her with my tongue and my fingers and my heart.

  Goddamn, I was already a man obsessed.

  Chapter Three

  Brianna

  “So, just how old are you, Chief Michaels?” I sat across from him, picking at an apple turnover.

  A low chuckle floated across the table. “Old enough to mean what I say, know what I want, and take what I need.”

  His answer nearly sent me crashing through the floor. He was gorgeous, cocky, my savior. And somewhere deep down, I wanted to kick him in the balls. The things this man made me feel were inexplicable—impossibly turned on and crazy irrational, emotionally vulnerable, and physically desirable—everything about what I was feeling felt like a contradiction, and yet somehow still so very right.

  “That’s an evasive answer at its best. ’Fraid to tell me how old you are?” I arched a playful eyebrow.

  He arched his right back. Damn, I hated him. “Not afraid, sweetheart. Just don’t give a shit. Age is just a number, maybe you haven’t learned that yet. Takes a few times around the block before you pick up the wisdom I have.”

  I couldn’t help the laugh then. He could sling ’em, and he could take ’em. I liked him. And liking him was dangerous.

  I was a girl who fell hard and fast, which is why I didn’t fall.

  One high school boyfriend and a broken heart at fifteen was all it’d taken me to write off men.

  “So spill the goods. What year were you born, Pops?”

  “Pops?” He shook his head, that gorgeous grin deepening. I noticed for the first time the laugh lines bracketing his full lips. He was a man who must laugh a lot. It looked good on him. The soft spray of crow’s feet at his temples complemented the fire that danced in his dark eyes. “What’s your best guess?”

  I tilted my head, eyes searching his face greedily.

  He could be one of those models from an L.L. Bean catalogue. All rugged and well-aged, like a fine whiskey. Dark and smoky and sweet on the tongue.

  I bet he was so sweet on the tongue.

  I cleared my throat, forcing myself to look away. “Thirty-five.”

  He huffed, drawing my attention back to him. “Close.”

  “How close?” The salt-and-pepper sprinkled in his hair only added to the distinguished, confident air. He carried himself well.

  “Few years off.” He shrugged, taking a long swig of his coffee, his throat rising and contracting with the action. God, how could watching him swallow coffee be so sexy?

  “More than five?” I calculated the numbers in my head. That would put him around forty. If this was what forty looked like, I was A-OK with that.

  “More than five,” he confirmed, and I raised my eyes. “Not over forty? And definitely not under thirty-five. You’re like an enigma, Chief Michaels.”

  He grinned, his eyes doing that sparkling thing I was fast coming to love. “Forty-two.” He leaned a little closer, his hand brushing my own on the table. “That too old?”

  “Old? More like mature and sexy. Nothing about you is old.” I slapped my hands over my mouth in total horror. The words vomited out before I could put a lid on them. Dammit.

  He arched one slash of dark eyebrow. “So how many years you got under your belt, Ms. Foster?”

  “Twenty…” I paused, stringing him along. “One.”

  His eyebrows rose for a moment, glancing down my body then up to my face again.

  “Surprised?” I asked, feeling warm and tingly under his intense scrutiny.

  “You act more mature. The way you hold yourself, the sarcasm. Don’t usually see sarcasm like that until well into your thirties.”

  “It’s a gift.” I shrugged.

  He grinned, eyes burning up the space between us and lighting a fire in my belly.

  Jinx chose that moment to rumble with irritation in my arms. “He gets angry when he’s hungry.”

  I set the old man on the floor, watched him toddle for a moment on the slick hardwood, then plop down on his ass and look straight up at me, letting out a long, low howl in frustration.

  “When is he not angry?” Blaise’s eyes turned down to my cat. “I’ve got some tuna. Will he eat that?”

  “He’ll eat anything. I’ll have to go to the store and get him some food later.” Without money. God. My life sucked.

  “We’ll stop at the pet store. Maybe pick up some fresh bandages for your wound too while we’re out.” He set a can of open tuna at Jinx’s feet, and the old cat started feasting instantly. But only after swiping and growling at Blaise. “How is it feeling?”

  Blaise bent to the floor and placed a hand on my knee, his fingers trailing up the curve before tracing around the cotton bandage.

  Fireflies bounced off the walls of my stomach. The way his rough, heavy palms touched my skin was like they’d always meant to be there. Like he knew exactly how and where to touch me to melt me into a pool of delicious submission.

  “It feels fine,” I finally choked out.

  “Maybe I should take a look at it?” His fingers wrapped around my calf as he held me in place, firm and steady in his grip.

  The power harnessed by his body alone was a turn-on, but then to have him so close, so in my space, was threatening to my very sanity.

  Blaise turned, striding down a long hal
lway and disappearing out of my sight. My eyes took in the simple surroundings of his cabin. Definitely a bachelor pad, but clean, well-cared for. Just like everything he did, I imagined.

  Giant windows soared up to the second story of the big A-frame, snow-capped mountains dominating the view. Everything about Blaise Michaels was impressive, not just the way he held himself, but the way he really cared for the things he loved. The way he knew what he liked and how he liked it. I could use an injection of his kind of confidence once in awhile.

  “Fresh bandages and some antibiotic cream.” He sauntered back into the room, holding his finds. He crouched between my knees, handling me gently as he cleaned my cut with a damp cloth, then medicated and covered the wound with fresh dressing.

  “Thank you for doing this. I don’t think I could ever thank you enough.” Jinx chose that moment to meow loudly and curl his tail around my ankle. “Jinx thanks you too.”

  Blaise arched an eyebrow, glancing at the cat now hovering around his knees, and then rested his palm on my knee. “You’re welcome for as long as you need, Brianna. I mean that.”

  I swallowed, eyes transfixed by his as I felt a thousand more things passing between us.

  I couldn’t believe he was offering to let me stay with him.

  I couldn’t believe I was considering it.

  But no way could I walk out that door now, beg for a bed at the homeless shelter, and try to snatch a shower before I had to work Thursday morning.

  Ugh.

  Work.

  “Anything else you need to do today?” Blaise interrupted my anxious thoughts.

  “I have to call work.” I swiped a palm over my face. “I’m supposed to work Thursday morning—”

  “You’re not going back to work.”

  “What, why? I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I go back to work?”

  “You’ve just suffered a traumatic event. I’ll get you a doctor’s appointment—”

  “No, really, Blaise. I’m perfectly fine. I just need somewhere to sleep for a few nights. I get paid next Friday. If I skip my insurance payment, I’ll probably have enough for a deposit on a new place.”

  “Absolutely not.” He shook his head, determination lacing his features. “No fucking way. You’re staying here, end of discussion.” He turned to walk away.

  “Blaise.” I followed his lead and shot up from my chair, following him into the kitchen.

  “You’re being so generous, but I can’t keep taking all this help from you.”

  “Why the hell not?” He turned, eyes hard as he watched me.

  “Because, at some point, I have to face real life. I have bills to pay, a job to do, classes to get to.”

  “Classes?”

  “I’m in school, part time at the community college. Nursing, but it’s hard to study when I’m working too, and I hate turning down hours at work because I need the cash to make rent. Well, I did.” I paused, instantly regretting the way I’d just laid all my worries out for him.

  His jaw ticked, eyes darting away before he pushed a hand through his hair. “You’ll stay here. I’ll drive you to work and class if I have to.”

  “Why would I stay, Blaise? So you can feed some misplaced hero complex? I wasn’t injured in the fire. I got cut chasing my cat under the bed. I’m perfectly fine. It was like a normal Monday night for me.” I shrugged off the misfortune. I had to; that’s how a girl like me got by.

  “Hero complex?” He advanced on me then, his hands cupping my jaw, lips hovering just inches from mine. His nearness sucked all the oxygen out of the room, twisting my stomach and making my knees weak. “You think this is a hero complex?” He thrust his hips against mine, the thick bulge of his very hard cock pressing between us. “I don’t want you only to feed some bullshit sense of ego I have, Brianna. I want you here because you’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to wake up to first thing in the damn morning. The only woman I want to sink myself inside of every night.” His teeth grazed my ear. “I want to make you come so hard every damn neighbor will know I own you.”

  He lifted me onto the counter, his rough hands spreading my thighs and sliding my ass across the cool granite.

  Blaise’s hands trailed up my skin as his words sank in.

  He wanted me.

  He wanted me here.

  With him.

  And now his hands were crawling up my body.

  Oh, God.

  Chapter Four

  Blaise

  One thing I had registered the minute she’d said she had to get to work Thursday morning.

  This woman should never have to work again.

  I would take care of her.

  I was determined to provide for her.

  For some fucking reason, she’d been abandoned in life. I could see the hurt all over her face. The way she’d cradled that cat like it was the only thing in life she loved.

  I’d love her.

  And I was fairly certain I could make her love with me, the way her eyes rolled back in her head when I breathed across her skin.

  Brianna was so turned on I was fighting every urge in my body not to bury myself between her thighs and fill her up with my seed until she was claimed. I’d never let another man touch what was mine.

  “I’m moving you into my bedroom.” I uttered, my lips brushing across her skin with every word. Goose bumps burned up her neck before a faint twitch darted across her lips.

  Her eyes cut to me before she replied. “What makes you think I want to be there?”

  I arched an eyebrow. “I know what a woman looks like when she’s turned on.” I pressed a thumb to her inner thigh, sinking into her silky flesh. “Your breath comes out in sweet little pants.”

  Her eyes darkened, her breaths doing just that thing I was talking about. So fucking cute.

  Cute.

  Christ, for the first time in my life, a woman had me by the balls.

  I pressed another hand behind her back and slid her closer to me. As if on instinct, her arms draped around my neck, her body molding a little more perfectly to mine.

  “I’ll stay, but the cat stays with me.” She grinned against my neck.

  The sweet lilt to her voice slammed straight into my balls. I groaned. “The cat doesn't like me.”

  “You’ll grow on him. It takes time.” Her fingers whispered across the short hair at my neck, my cock growing with every fucking pass of her sweet little fingers.

  “If that’s what it takes to get into your pants…” I cupped her cheek, sliding the pad of my thumb across her lush lips.

  “You're such a pervy old man.” She swatted my shoulder playfully.

  “See? I knew it!”

  “Knew what? That you're pervy?” She slid off the counter, taking extra time to wiggle against my crotch.

  “That you thought I was old. I should have lied about my age.” I wrapped my hands around her waist, nestling her under my heavy arms, just where she belonged.

  “Nah, I just like to tease you.” She stuffed her hands into the back pockets of my jeans. “I think you’re really sexy, Chief Michaels.”

  Sarcasm dripped from every word.

  “You might be the most dangerous person I’ve ever met, Brianna Foster.”

  “Oh, yeah?” She grinned up at me, smile wide and playful. “Why’s that?”

  “Because you make this old heart feel shit again. Didn’t know it was possible.”

  Her eyebrows shot into her hairline. “Romantic, aren’t you?”

  I shook my head, pulling her a little closer. “’Nother piece of old wisdom, sweetheart. Words mean shit, it’s actions that matter.”

  She hummed against my chest. “I’m starting to learn that.”

  “Good, sweetheart. You're gonna have a lot more learnin’ to do.”

  She swatted me again, laughing before swiping at a small tear hovering on her eyelash.

  “You okay?”

  “Great.” She grinned, another stubborn tear forming. “I have no home, not a single thing to m
y name, but somehow…that doesn’t matter because I’ve been swept off my feet by this cocky knight in a firefighter suit.”

  I crushed her a little closer, soothing her with hands on her back. “Shit only gets better from here, Brianna. I can promise you that.”

  “Thanks, but I can’t accept—”

  “You can, and you will. Starting with quitting that job and enrolling in classes full time. You got a dream? You should follow it. Don’t let something like bills get in the way of that.”

  “What, are you insane? I’m not quitting my job.” She backed away, arms over her chest and instantly defensive.

  “Why not? Seems like a good offer. Hang out here with me, study when I’m fighting fires. Live the dream with me.”

  “The dream? Jesus, you’re the most incorrigible man I’ve ever met, Blaise Michaels.”

  “I prefer determined.”

  She shook her head, eyes rolling up and down my body.

  “Call them and quit. Tell them you need time to heal. They’ll understand.” I thrust my cell phone at her.

  Her eyes narrowed as she swiped the phone from my hand and mumbled. “What kind of name is Blaise anyway?”

  I grinned, watching her punch in the number before she huffed and held the phone to her ear. “Hi, Michelle?” Her eyes held mine as she spoke. “Hey, I just wanted to call and let you know there was a fire at my apartment last night. I’m fine, but I have a shift on Thursday—” She paused, at which point I imagined Michelle saying something about taking time off.

  I crossed my arms, waiting for Brianna to interrupt her and tell her she was quitting.

  Done.

  Traumatized. Focused on school. I don’t give a shit what Brianna told her, I just didn’t want her to worry about anything from now on. I could give her anything she needed.

  “That won’t be necessary.” Brianna continued. “I just wanted to let you know what happened before you heard about it on the news or something. But I’m fine, and I’ll be there for my shift Thursday. Thanks, Michelle. See you Thursday.” Brianna hung up and handed me back my phone, smug smile pulling at her cheeks.