Breaking_A Firefighter Romance

by Brandy Ayers

  Charlotte opened her mouth to protest, but Trey swooped down for another kiss, silencing the words before she let them fly.

  “Why don't you take a couple minutes to straighten up and meet me downstairs?”

  He waited until she nodded, then turned and slipped out the door, leaving her with one last heated look and a wink.

  Once the door clicked shut, Charlotte covered her heated face with both hands and giggled. She’d just been dry humped to completion in her boyfriend’s childhood bed. And loved every second. Standing on shaking legs, she went to the full-length mirror hanging on the back of his closet door and made sure her blouse was back in place. Finger combing her hair would have to do since she didn’t see a brush anywhere.

  With three deep breaths, Charlotte crossed the room to the door. Just as she grasped the handle, a doorbell ring, and Trey called out that he would get it.

  Padding as quietly as possible down the stairs, Charlotte prayed that no one would notice her slinking from Trey’s room. It felt as if a giant neon sign flashed above her head reading just got dry humped.

  Thankfully, no one noticed, because every eye inside the house was trained on the door, where a tense stand-off took place between Trey and whoever stood at the door.

  “I said leave.”

  A woman’s voice responded with impatience. “Come on T, it’s ancient history. Mom and Dad invited me here.”

  “You don’t get to call them Mom and Dad anymore. You know very well if they knew the whole story, they wouldn’t want you within spitting distance of their door.” Trey’s voice held so much anger and cold fury, Charlotte thought for a moment he must be someone else and just looked like the man who treated her with gentle kindness. “Leave. Now.”

  The woman’s voice lowered to a whisper so none of the dozen or so people loitering in the living room could hear. But with each word she uttered, Trey’s shoulders grew tenser, the muscles visible under the stretched fabric bunching.

  “As always, it’s been fun T. See you around.” The woman must have walked away, because Trey took a step back and swung the door shut behind her.

  The spectators tried to look busy as Trey turned back to the room, his jaw clenched and brows creased with worry.

  His dark mahogany eyes landed on her and softened slightly. Charlotte still stood on the bottom step leading from the bedrooms to the main living area. Trey crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her hips. The extra height, along with her heels, put them at almost eye level with each other. The turmoil churning behind his irises had her stomach twisting.

  “What was that all about?”

  Trey didn’t answer, just laid his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. Not knowing what to say, Charlotte simply traced her hands up his muscled arms, and loved them behind his neck, letting him take whatever comfort he needed at that moment. But her mind still whirled to every possibility of who the woman could be. Both grateful and disappointed she hadn’t been able to see the mysterious woman, Charlotte couldn’t help but wonder if it had been an ex-girlfriend.

  “Trey, I’m going to need some answers at some point. You know that, right?”

  Trey nodded as he backed away from her. “I promise, they are coming, just not yet.”

  Trust between the two of them had come so easily from the start. Charlotte never doubted Trey until now, until the night he walked out on her and stopped answering her texts. Despite wanting to believe he had good reasons for all this, for not telling her what was going on, Charlotte found building that trust back up after it had been damaged to be extremely difficult. Maybe a few months ago, she would have let everything slide. That girl might not have had the courage to ask for the answers she deserved. But Charlotte had changed since meeting Trey, since taking on more at work. Since making friends with Bekah and Mira.

  This new Charlotte wouldn’t let Trey make promises and not follow up on them. Just as she opened her mouth to let him know she wouldn’t be waiting around forever, Trey’s father came up behind him, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

  “Son, can I talk to you in my office?”

  Trey’s entire body deflated. He placed a gentle, chaste kiss on her mouth and turned to go with his father.

  As soon as they stepped away, Trey’s mother replaced them asking if Charlotte could help her clean up in the kitchen. Breaking from her stupor, Charlotte looked around to find that people had begun drifting out of the house, the party apparently coming to a close. Her mind going in ever which direction, Charlotte followed Vi into the kitchen, and they worked in companionable silence to put away all the leftovers.

  The silence between them made the room feel even smaller. Vi had been so gregarious during the party, but now an unmistakable shroud of sadness had dampened the naturally cheerful woman. Charlotte didn’t like the shift in the woman’s mood. It reminded her too much of her own mother, though on a much smaller scale.

  Finally, Vi broke the silence. “I don’t know what you must be thinking about all of this. But I just want you to know, Trey is a good man. A great man. He’s got this great big heart that wants to help everyone, maybe even when they don’t deserve help. I know as the wife of a preacher I shouldn’t say something like that. I should say that every sin is forgivable. That every sinner is redeemable. But, I guess I’m just not that good of a person.”

  “Was that woman, was she…” Charlotte blew out the air she’d been holding in her lungs, afraid to voice the question plaquing her.

  “She was special to us all. Though probably not in the way you’re thinking. That brain of yours is worrying so hard, I can practically smell the smoke coming from your ears.” She offered Charlotte a sympathetic smile, and turned to the pile of dishes in the sink. “Well, these aren’t going to clean themselves. God knows my husband can’t do them either. I love that guy with every beat of my heart, but dishes are not something he excels at. Banned him from the job when he broke one of my mother’s Waterford crystal glasses. He never did like her. I’m convinced he did it to spite her and to get out of clean up duty for the rest of our marriage.”

  Charlotte accepted the change in subject, and took her place next to the suddenly older looking woman, drying each dish as it was handed over.

  Right about the time they finished, Trey emerged from his father’s den, his face carefully blank. He made a beeline for Charlotte, gathering her in his arms and placing a delicate kiss on the top of her head.

  So many questions popped in her head, but she let them all float away. He said he would tell her soon. This wasn’t like work where she needed to keep poking a prodding until the puzzle pieces clicked into place. A relationship didn’t work like that. Or at least she didn’t think it did. She had no idea really.

  “Ma, you mind if I steal my girl from you and head home?” Trey turned Charlotte in his arms, so that her back rested against his chest, and his chin sat on top of her head. He couldn’t seem to get her close enough, his arms banding around her waist. The affection he showed in front of his own mother made her cheeks flame red, especially considering what they had done not even an hour again in his room.

  “Of course, sweetheart.” Vi crossed to Trey, and he reluctantly let Charlotte go in favor of picking his mom up in one of his bear hugs. His mother whispered something in his ear, patted him on the back, then pushed at his chest. “Put me down, you big brute. I swear you are my Daddy all over.”

  Trey chuckled, some of the life coming back into his rugged face. “I take that as a compliment.”

  Once again slinging his arm around Charlotte’s shoulders, they made their way to the door. Indecision plagued her every step of the way. She knew Trey wanted to go home with her. Wanted to reconnect physically. But Charlotte wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. She’d given so much of herself over to this man already. If he took much more, there would be nothing standing if he left again.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Heart pounding. Hands shaking. Lungs seizing. Charlotte’s whole body b
egged her to stay in bed. To ignore her alarm and the call of a new day. To stay in bed, with Trey warming her back. But she couldn’t do that. Because today was her first of her new promotion. And no matter how afraid of failure she was, she refused to hide anymore.

  Trey shifted behind her, the hard ridge of his cock behind his boxers finding the seam of her ass, and grinding involuntarily. The giant T-shirt of his she’d been wearing to bed slipped up higher around her hips. The nerves she’d been fighting for most of the night evaporated into nothing, replaced by an unending need.

  In the week since going to the cook out with his family, Trey had barely let her out of his sight. He’d rearranged his schedule at the fire house so that it lined up with her last few overnight shifts. He drove them both to and from work. They ate meals together. Hung out after work. They slept wrapped around each other.

  But they had yet to have sex since he came back.

  They’d done other things, everything but sex. Charlotte learned the joys of the 69 position. She practiced her oral skills on him almost nightly, until she could make him come in under two minutes. Though she usually liked to draw it out for longer.

  But every time they fooled around, and they got to the point where they would either have sex or turn in for the night, Charlotte found she couldn’t do it. Couldn’t welcome him into her body, a body that had only known him. Not yet. Not when there was so much still unsaid.

  But she’d been slipping the past couple nights. Wanting to trust him as much as she had in the very beginning. Despite the nightly orgasms, an oddly unsatisfied aura seemed to envelope her. She wanted Trey to fuck her again, wanted to feel him moving inside her body, hot flesh against hot flesh.

  He’d been amazing after the barbeque. Never once complained that they weren’t having sex. Insisting that he was perfectly happy to make her come as many times as possible, and she didn’t have to do anything with him she didn’t want to. Trey truly just wanted to be in her presence. She believed that. Trusted that.

  So why couldn’t she trust that when he insisted he couldn’t tell her why he had ghosted her, who the woman at the party was, he told the truth?

  Trey slipped one hand up her shirt, cupping her delicate breast, abrading the pointed tip with his callused covered fingers. Charlotte moaned and pressed her ass further into him.

  “You gotta get up, sugar. Time to go shine.”

  With those words the nerves came flooding back. “What if I can’t do it? What if I take this leap and fall on my ass? What it I let everyone down…”

  “Hey.” Trey’s voice was firm, but gentle. “You aren’t going to be perfect everyday. You don’t have to be. But you are going to go in there, take that leap, and show yourself you can do everything and anything you want. Now, do I need to carry you to the shower?”

  With a huff, Charlotte finally opened her eyes, taking in the man sitting beside her on the bed. “Do I smell coffee?”

  “Yup. And I’ve got waffle mix waiting to go on the griddle just as soon as you get out of the shower. I’m not letting my girl go to her new job without a big breakfast.” Trey stood up, leaned over, and flung Charlotte over his shoulder. “Here we go.”

  Giggling the whole way, Charlotte yelled at him to put her down, which he did as soon as they stepped into her tiny bathroom. It always shocked her just how much bigger he was than her in bare feet. Pressed up against his chest for balance, her head had to tilt back at an almost ninety-degree angle to look him in the eye. But the affection and warmth in those deep brown eyes made the slight twinge in her neck worth it.

  It was moments like these she knew she loved him. Despite the half truths and secrets, she loved him. His kind words, gentle manner, and brutish hunger for her were a lethal concoction. She wanted to say the words. The effort to hold the back burned at her throat. But she powered through, because she needed the whole truth before she gave him her whole heart.

  “Shower with me?” The request slipped through before she could stop it. Trey’s eyes lit up, hope shining there so bright, she had to look away for a moment.

  “Are you sure? I know we aren’t back to where we were. I don’t mind waiting. And if I get my hands on you while you’re all wet and soapy, there will be no holding back. I don’t want to break your trust more than I have already.”

  “I know. But I’m so nervous about today, and just your touch has the ability to calm me down. I need the truth from you, and I’ve tried to be patient. But my body won’t listen to reason any more.” Charlotte took a step back, shedding the huge PFD T-shirt from her slight frame, leaving her totally naked before him. “Just, please, don’t break my heart again.”

  “Never.” With one shove his sweatpants and boxers pooled around his feet. “Charlotte, your heart is the most important thing to me. I promise, I would rather die than hurt you again.”

  No more words necessary. Trey swept her up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and stepped into the tiny shower stall. The shower head sputtered as it came to life, the initial frigid water barely registering in her brain as the fire their kiss created consumed them.

  “Fuck, sugar, I needed you so much.” Trey shoved her against the wall, water falling around them in streams. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, licking and biting at her skin.

  Charlotte did the same, inhaling the smoky scent which seemed to linger on his dark skin at all times. The scent of charred wood had become like an aphrodisiac. Each time he picked her up from work, it would wash over her inside the car as they kissed frantically after being apart all night. It had become a trigger for her lust, moisture spreading down her thighs as her pussy contracted in anticipation of the pleasure Trey always brought.

  “I’m sorry, Char, but I need in you. I promise, I’ll make up for it with my fingers and mouth later. But right now I need my cock inside.”

  All she could do was whimper in response, her hormones having taken control of the wheel several minutes before. Trey gripped his cock, lined it up with the eager entrance to her sex, and thrust home in one brutal swing of his hips.

  They both paused. That long-awaited connection taking both their breaths away. Lips pressed together, mouths open wide, they could do nothing be just be. Together. Staring into each other’s eyes, the shower continued to fall around them, drops dripping from their eye lashes. Somewhere in the apartment, Weasley probably slept in a corner. Outside the neighbors made their commutes to work. The city kept moving.

  But in Charlotte’s apartment, time stood still. It was just Trey and her.

  “Fucking hell woman.” Trey pulled back until just the tip of his cock still rested inside her, then pushed home again. “I love the way your body grips me. I love how warm and sweet you are. Not just your pussy, all of you. I just… fuck… I love you. I know it’s too soon and irrational, but I do. I love you.”

  Charlotte’s mouth crashed into his. For once, she was the aggressor. She kissed him until her lips felt swollen and raw. She ground down on his cock, twisted and lifting, then falling back down until he filled her completely. Legs wrapped around his waist, she used his body as leverage to fuck him. All he did was stand with hands braced on the wall around her and took it.

  She wanted to say those three words back in the worst way. But they terrified her to her very core. The number of times her parents had said those words to her could be counted on one hand. They hoarded their affections like it cost them something to show them. Even when her mother was in of her manic swings of the pendulum that is bipolar, she still never showed Charlotte much more than passing interest and disapproval.

  Having no idea how to process this overwhelming feeling of happiness and joy, and all-encompassing fear, Charlotte channeled into all into riding Trey. Nipping along his thick neck, she moved to his ear and bit down. The sting of her teeth seemed to break him from a daze, with a roar her surged forward, slamming her against the wall.

  “You’ve had your fun, sugar. Now it’s time for mine.” Holding her
steady with his hips pinning her to the cheap shower surround, Trey tore her arms from around his neck and wrapped them around the shower head above them. “You stay just like that, or there’ll be consequences.”

  Stretched out as she was, Charlotte could barely move other than a slight rocking of her hips. Trey gripped them, stilling her movements, and let loose. He pumped into her with force and speed, sucking on her breasts hard enough Charlotte knew he would leave marks. And she loved it, loved the sting of pain and the command his body had over her. The blunt head of his cock slid across the interior bundle of nerves that drove her higher and higher until unearthly screams tore through her, the orgasm welling up from a deep place in her belly.

  “That’s right. Get that cream all over my cock, sugar. Soak it.” Trey moved a hand between them, strumming at her clit until she tried to pull up on the shower head to get away from the overwhelming sensations.

  But also begging him not to stop.

  “You think I could stop? I can never stop. Your pleasure and happiness are my sole mission in life now.” Through two more intense earth-shattering orgasms, Trey held back his own release. Not until Charlotte begged for him to fill her up did he finally relent, sending wave after wave of his hot cum crashing over her walls, triggering one last climax of her own.

  They clung to each other panting, the now cold water falling over them in one large stream. Both looking up at the same time, Charlotte realized she had pulled the shower head almost clean off the pipe, and a river of water cascaded down from the dangling fixture.

  “I guess I’m calling a plumber today.” Unable to hold back the laughter, they gingerly separated, both gasping when Trey’s spent cock fell free.

  “Nah, I’ll take care of it. Been fixing the shower at the station since I was a rookie.”

  With a pat on her ass, Trey sent Charlotte to finish getting ready. She quickly dressed, threw her hair into a long braid instead of her usual bun, and dew on the pair of heels Bekah had insisted on. Her skin glowed, at least partly from the orgasm wake up call.