by Marie Carnay
After she’d floated into the deeper water, Rich’s voice rumbled into the dark. “Can we turn around now?”
“Yep.”
Dave and Rich bobbed around in the water and a thrill rushed through Angie. They were all naked.
Dave swam a body-length closer. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“No. And it sure as hell beats sitting around not knowing what to say.” Angie stretched out her arms and pushed through the dark waves. The water washed over her shoulders and she let out a sigh. All the stress and the tension from the restaurant disappeared into the night.
She spun around and took it all in. The forest encircled the lake in a furry ring of darkness and the stars and moon up above gave enough light to see. The lake was calm and peaceful and so very real. She could hear crickets and birds and the wind as it swayed through the pines. The sound of Dave breathing a few feet away. Ripples in the water as Rich floated on his back.
In the comfort of the backwoods, all of Angie’s questions bubbled to the surface. She treaded water and sought out Dave’s face in the dim light. “So do you two really date one woman?”
“Yes.”
“At the same time?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“It doesn’t get awkward?”
Rich swam closer. “Not for us.”
“And you’ve been in a relationship before? Not just sex?”
“For over a year.”
She shook her head. “Then what happened?”
Rich’s huge shoulders heaved and water rippled toward her. “Monica wanted to be an actress. Said we were holding her back. Not a lot of opportunity for that in Mill Creek, I guess.”
Angie blinked. Leaving a pair of men as kind and sexy as Rich and Dave to be an actress? It hardly seemed fair. She gave him a sympathetic smile. “I see.”
“I don’t think you do.” Rich swam forward in a single burst and took her by the arm. In one fluid tug, her body rolled into his. Oh, wow. The heat of him up close. The faint smell of cologne. The scrape of calluses across her skin. Rich was right. Angie had no idea.
He tipped her chin up and his brown eyes sought out hers. “We want you, Angie. Wrapped up in our arms. Tucked between our bodies.”
Her mouth fell open and words tumbled out in a whisper. “Is that all?”
“It’s only the beginning.” Rich pulled Angie closer and as his lips brushed hers, she stopped questioning.
Rich hadn’t come onto her in some tacky, booty call kind of way. Neither had Dave. They’d taken her to the nicest restaurant in town, even though it was so far out of their comfort zone they couldn’t talk.
Then they took her to a forgotten piece of paradise out in the forest. Showed her their world. Rich’s fingers pressed into her soft upper arm and she let out a sigh.
It didn’t matter if it was one minute. One hour. More. Angie would take everything they had to offer that night and forget about the rest. She’d already jumped in with both feet and a naked ass. No sense in holding back now.
Rich’s arms wrapped around her waist and water splashed over her shoulders as Dave swam up behind her. His hands brushed her naked back and she moaned out loud. Oh, wow. It was one thing to imagine two men. But to experience it? Four hands caressing. Stroking. Holding her afloat. Way better than her fantasy.
Dave’s lips pressed soft and light on her shoulder and she leaned back into him. Rich held her up in the water and trailed kisses down her neck and collarbone. Searing heat, warm water, cool air. All too much and not enough.
To hell with her doubts and her questions. She’d been living the prim, boring life for far too long. This was so much…more.
Angie reached up and ran trembling fingers over Rich’s chest and down his stomach. All muscle. Rock hard and flexing in the water. Damn.
As she explored his toned body, Rich eased her shoulders back until her back brushed against another man’s chest. Dave. He took her weight, slipping his arms beneath hers to hold her up as Rich grabbed her by the hips.
There she was, floating in the water with her breasts and belly exposed to the air. On any other night—with any other man—she’d have freaked out. But now? The way they stroked and kissed and caressed her? It wasn’t a quick screw and a take you home. It was worship. Plain and simple.
Dave’s fingers splayed over her breasts, rubbing her nipples until she shivered in pleasure. Rich leaned over and licked across Dave’s fingers to lap and roll the hardened nubs and Angie groaned. This was better than…anything.
“Do you believe us now? That we want to share you? Take you places you’ve never been?” Dave’s words trickled into her ear like the water washing over her and Angie nodded.
Call her a convert. She believed. “Yes.”
“Good. Because after seeing the way you looked tonight, I couldn’t bear to watch you walk away.” Rich’s deep voice rumbled over her stomach and chest as he kissed his way to her other breast. He lapped her nipple into his mouth, rolling it around his tongue. Sucking and flicking again and again, he made her forget every last question. Every nagging doubt.
His hands slid down her sides, farther and farther until he gripped her thighs. Before she could process anything but the strong grip, Rich had pulled her legs apart and eased between them. What the…? Oh my God.
Dave stroked her breasts, up and down, around and around, as Rich kissed his way down her belly. Past her belly button. Down, down, down. Until his lips brushed against her mound. She quivered in the water.
“Tell me you want this, Angie. Tell me you want us.”
Despite the lake lapping at her fevered skin, Angie’s mouth turned to cotton. Could she do this? Let Rich’s mouth slip lower and taste all her secrets? She ran her tongue over her lips and nodded. “I want you. I want this.”
He smiled against her sensitive skin and before she could breathe, his tongue darted out. Slicing through her swollen, hot flesh, he licked her clit and she cried out. He licked again and she bucked in the water. Dave wrapped his arm around her middle and Rich held her tighter.
No getting out. No escape. Only mounting pleasure and surrender. Moonlight and black water.
Angie reached up for Dave, scrabbling across his shoulders to run her fingers through his short hair. He bent down and kissed her—lips soft and insistent—as Rich flicked her clit. Harder. Faster. He worked into a rhythm and she spiraled toward an orgasm.
It was all so surreal. Only the day before she’d been fending off Steve’s advances. Now she was naked and in the arms of two firemen. Two unbelievably skilled firemen. Ring the alarm, she was about to ignite.
Dave swiped his free hand up and over her breast, teasing her nipple as Rich slid his hand beneath her ass. Between the strength of his arms and the water, she floated on the surface. Body on display for the moon and the trees and these two men who’d brought her to the edge of bliss.
Angie spread her legs and Rich took advantage, sucking her swollen clit into his mouth and swirling his tongue. All while Dave massaged her breasts and kissed her cheeks and neck and lips. His tongue raked across her lip and she opened for him. Taste me. Take me.
She moaned into Dave’s mouth and Rich’s fingers plumped her soft backside. Oh, yes. Two men. Up top, down below, all over and everywhere.
Rich lapped, wide and flat across her clit and Angie wasn’t swimming. She flew.
Hot flashes of white filled her vision. An orgasm exploded in her core and she tore her mouth away from Dave’s to cry out in pleasure. Shock. Her voice echoed across the water and her body sent ripples to chase it down. Oh my God.
She’d had orgasms before. But none like that. Never like that. Rich released her legs and her lower body sank like a stone. Wow. If that’s what their tongues were like…She couldn’t wait to have them both in a bed. On land.
Angie blinked her eyes open and spun around in Dave’s grip. All I have to do is ask. She opened her mouth to do just that when a noise from the bank stopped them all still. A cacophony of beeping
and ringing and singing erupted from the ground.
Oh, no. “What is that?”
Rich cursed under his breath and headed for the shore. “I’ll take one guess.”
Dave pulled Angie into the shallow water and released her before splashing after his fellow firefighter. He crouched at his discarded pants and fished his phone out of his pocket while Angie found the lake bottom with her feet and remembered how to breathe.
“Shit.” Dave’s tone brought reality crashing back in. “It’s the station. All hands on deck. The corner grocery’s on fire.”
CHAPTER FIVE
THE TRUCK BOUNCED and jittered down the dirt road and Angie bounced right along with it. She tugged on her underwear, hooked her bra in the back, and dodged falling head-first into the front seat as she shimmied into her dress.
She couldn’t believe it. One second she was giving into all kinds of sinful temptation. Naked, floating in a lake, with two men kissing her all over. The next, she was scrambling on the floorboards of a pickup truck looking for her heels.
As she dug one out from under the seat, Rich spoke up from the front.
“What did the chief say?”
Dave’s voiced warbled with tension. “Not much. Just that they got word late and it’s all hands on deck. If they don’t get the fire contained it’ll spread. There are houses back behind the grocer.”
Rich grumbled. “A whole neighborhood. It’s one of the new ones with everyone crammed in one on top of the other. If the fire jumps…”
His voice trailed off as Angie crawled up from the floorboards and slipped her heels on. Three-inch black pumps wouldn’t do much good on scene, but at least she could run across the pavement without cutting her feet. Too bad she didn’t bring spare gear along. Not that she’d thought of it on a date. Her cheeks flushed and she looked out the window. She’d had other things in mind.
Rich tugged on dress pants and tucked his shirt in as Dave whipped the truck onto the asphalt road. “Shit, man, this could be the biggest fire Mill Creek’s had in years.”
Dave glanced over with a scowl. “Tell me about it.”
“How far out are we?” Angie buckled her seatbelt and held on to the back of Rich’s seat in front of her as Dave squealed around a corner.
“Maybe ten minutes. Five if I haul.”
“Then do it. The sooner we get there the sooner we can help.”
“All right. Hold on. It’ll be rough."
Angie gripped the seat while Dave floored the gas pedal. They flew down the dark road, kicking up dust from the tires in a whirlwind behind them. Every mile closer to town drew the pungent smell of smoke and fire thicker into the cab.
She couldn’t see it, but if they could smell it that far away…It was bad.
“You think they’ll have extra gear?”
Rich glanced back at her and nodded. “They wouldn’t have called if they couldn’t use us. I’m sure the chief thought of it.”
Dave turned another corner and Angie gasped. The horizon lit up with the sickening glow of a building on fire.
Damn. Dave screeched into the parking lot and Rich hopped out before the truck was even in park. Gone were his thoughts about the date, Angie, anything and everything except stopping the fire. Saving lives.
He ran up to the main engine and spotted the chief. “Got here as soon as we could.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me, Dave, and Angie. Please tell me you’ve got gear.”
The chief motioned to the engine. “In the cab. Hurry. You and Dave check inside. We’re not sure if it’s clear. Hank and Steve are already in there, but it’s a big space to cover.”
“Got it. And Angie?”
“She’s on ladder duty.”
Rich nodded and hustled up to the cab. He tugged the door open and dragged out pants, boots, jackets, and more. Everything they’d need. Thank God.
Angie hustled up with Dave right behind her.
“What can we do?”
“Chief asked for me and Dave inside, you up on a ladder.”
“Got it.”
Rich tossed gear to each of them, dressed, and shoved a helmet on his head. Go time.
He grabbed an ax off the side of the engine and made his way to the open door. Smoke billowed out and he fastened his oxygen mask to the front of his face.
Clear the room. Watch for falling timber. Get out.
He’d done it a million times before, but never this big. Never this intense. It’s what he trained for. What he’d wanted to do since he was a little kid putting on a plastic firefighter’s hat on his birthday at the fire station.
People braver than him died in this job. But it still gave him a thrill. The danger. The heat. He paused. Knowing that Angie was up on a ladder, hose in hand, risking her own life…Rich shook his head.
No time to worry. Only act.
He inched inside, skirting the edge of the building. The fire had yet to spread to the front of the store, but smoke billowed across the ceiling. If civilians were still inside, they could be lying on the floor, unconscious in an aisle. If they were hidden by boxes of cereal or a carton of produce, it was Rich’s job to find them.
Dave headed left and Rich headed right, each man peering down the aisles and scouting for bodies. Aisle after aisle, farther and farther into the store they crept. Until at last, they reached the back. The main portion of the store was clear.
Rich raised his arm and circled his fingers twice pointing at the storeroom. The site of the fire. The only place left to check. Dave nodded and pointed in the same direction and the pair started toward it. Just as the pair met at the open doorway, a splintering crack echoed out above them. The roof was caving in.
Shit. According to his chief, Steve and Hank were somewhere back there. If they were in the storeroom, they could be trapped. Hit by falling support beams. Crushed under the weight of smoldering shingles.
Rich motioned at the doorway and Dave nodded. They needed to go in. A step at a time, both men advanced, creeping toward the burning inferno of pallets filled with paper products and cereal and a hundred other items.
He made his way toward the edge of the room, trying to skirt the worst of the flames, when another thundering crack sent a fresh wave of burning roof down from above. Sheetrock and roof trestles and flaming insulation hit the ground and sparked into the air.
Smoke plumed and Rich stepped back. Damn it. He couldn’t get to the other side of the room now even if he wanted to. Just as he motioned at Dave to back out, Steve and Hank emerged from a wall of fire. Both were covered in soot and ash, but appeared okay.
They gave Rich the all clear and pointed at the exit. Thank God. No one was left inside. They could fight the fire with the rest of the crew from outside and hopefully spare the rest of the town.
Steve and Hank rushed past and Rich took a final look at the fire. As he turned back around, ready to retreat, the whole building shuddered. Like a giant taking a gaping breath, the walls shook and trembled. Too late.
Angie watched in horror as wood cracked, walls groaned, and enormous flaming chunks of roof fell on all sides. All the time Rich and Dave had been inside the store searching for victims, she’d been up in the air on a ladder.
She’d doused the fire with as much water as her hose could shoot out, but it wasn’t enough. She couldn’t get close enough to do any real damage. There were men on the other side, aiming hoses at the at back. But their goal was to save the neighborhood and keep the flames from jumping. Angie was the only one at the source of the fire.
As she’d climbed up another rung to reach a bit more, another section of the roof had collapsed, blocking Rich and Dave inside. They stood down below her—frozen like miniatures on a set—while chunks of sheetrock and flaming trestle crashed to the ground. As they spun around in place, it hit her—they were trapped.
Damn it. She needed to get closer. Hit the fire at the source. Drown it enough to give them a chance to escape. Angie glanced at the portion of the roof still st
anding. Would it support her weight?
Probably not. But what was the alternative? Watch as the two men who’d just opened up her heart burned into crisps? No way.
As soon as she’d given in to the temptation—let Rich and Dave carry her away into their world and a backwoods lake—everything’d changed. She’d changed. She couldn’t let them down now.
With a deep breath, Angie held the ladder in one hand and the hose in the other. I can do this. She eased off the ladder and onto the roof. One step at a time. That’s all this is.
Aiming the water at the worst of the flames, she inched forward. A pep talk for every step. As the water hit the raging fire, it hissed angry protests and she smiled. Take that, you son of a bitch.
The fire receded and Angie grew bolder, stepping closer to the open mouth of the roof as the water beat the worst flames back.
One more step. Then I’ll stop. That’s it. She lifted her foot, aimed the hose, and…
Angie was falling. Arms out, hose gone, legs kicking.
For a few moments, she was weightless. Free-falling in the dry, hot air. And then she slammed into something solid. Agonizingly hard.
Flashbulbs went off behind her eyes, her ears rung, and then…nothing.
Oh my God. Rich rushed out of the building and ripped his mask off. “Firefighter down!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.
Dave whipped around. “Who?”
“I don’t know. Who was on the roof?”
He scanned the faces of every coworker he could see. They needed to assemble a crew, follow procedure. Get back in there and…Where is she? No. Dread crept up his spine as the chief came out from behind the engine.
“It’s Williams. Everyone else is on the back.”
Damn it. Rich tugged his mask back on and turned to run. Screw protocol. Screw procedure. He wasn’t leaving her in there to get swallowed up by an inferno. Not after he just found her.
As he reached the entrance, a hand landed on his back. What the…? He spun around, ready to deck whoever was trying to stop him, when he paused. Dave. His best friend pointed at the fire and the pair of them rushed in. They’d save her. They had no choice.