“I’m developing a model of glacial movement emphasizing the thickness of the ice and the slope of the underlying rock,” he said.
“I thought that’s what Annabelle was doing,” Sean said.
“Nope.”
“Huh. That’s weird.” Having paid close attention to everything Annabelle related, the topic sounded quite familiar to Sean. He’d even looked up a few things online to better his understanding of her dissertation. Had his efforts been for nothing? “What’s her topic, then?”
“Depends on the day,” Derrick said, his tone derisive.
Cameron gave Derrick a look and Lottie opened her mouth, but before either of them said anything, something near the entrance caught their attention.
“Whoa,” Lottie said. “Someone’s decided to sex it up tonight, I see.”
I’ll say, Sean thought, following their gaze.
Annabelle had walked into the bar and removed her coat. She wore a clingy, low-cut sweater in a sangria color and jeans that hugged every curve. Her knee-high boots with heels put a swing in her hips.
Sean’s mouth went dry with desire. The outfit gave an impression of controlled sexuality, full of tantalizing hints that led the mind to imagine her naked. Which Sean was definitely doing.
It took a tremendous amount of effort to pull his eyes away from her, but for just a second he flicked his gaze to Derrick. An odd expression had crossed Derrick’s face, reluctant attraction mixed with something else. Disapproval? Envy? Anger? It was definitely a negative vibe, whatever it was.
Refocusing on Annabelle, Sean stood and pulled out the chair next to him. Watching her cross the bar, he found himself smiling like the love-stricken fool he was. Quite possibly, it was the way she was looking at him that made his heart so light. It was a look that wondered if he’d noticed her different, sexier style of clothing and if he approved.
Oh, yeah, he thought. I definitely approve.
“Hi there,” she said, her cheeks that familiar shade of shy which Sean had come to find endearing.
“Hi there, yourself,” he said back.
When he brushed his lips against her cheek, giving her a quick kiss of hello, she startled. Sean wondered if it had been the wrong thing to do, although after the passion of their last kiss it seemed like a model of restraint. Annabelle hadn’t seemed to mind public displays of affection when they’d danced at the piano bar the other night, but maybe she felt differently around her colleagues.
“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to make you jump.”
“Oh, no!” she said. “It’s just—I’m still thinking.”
“Say no more,” Sean said.
“You know what?” Annabelle stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Never mind.”
Sean grinned. “Should I take that to mean you’ve had your time to think and you’ve decided we should go for it?”
“I don’t know about that,” she said. “But maybe?”
“I’ll take maybe. Can I get you a beer?”
“Definitely.”
While he poured a beer for her from the pitcher, she sat down in the empty chair next to Sean and greeted everyone. She said hello to Derrick in the same tone as she did to Cameron, and Derrick said hello back, albeit with a visibly clenched jaw. Sean could tell it was killing him to have to play nice.
“You’re just in time,” Lottie said. “Trivia’s starting.”
“I had car trouble.”
“Car trouble?” Sean asked.
“It wouldn’t start, and then all of a sudden it did.” She took a dainty few sips of beer.
“You look fantastic tonight, seriously.” He spoke during the trivia master’s instructions. “What’s the occasion?”
He raised his eyebrows teasingly, but poor Annabelle. He could tell she wanted to flirt back but just couldn’t quite allow herself to, or didn’t quite know how. That was okay, he decided. He had experience enough for both of them.
“Is there a guy here you like or something?” he said.
She elbowed him and leaned in close enough for him to capture her sweet vanilla scent. And for him to enjoy the shadow of her cleavage in the neckline of her sweater.
“Maybe,” she said.
“That’s two maybes I’ve gotten from you tonight,” Sean said. “You’re starting to shake my confidence.”
“Oh, they were both good maybes!” she said. “Not bad.”
“Good to know.” He caught Derrick watching them. “Hey, by the way, remind me what your dissertation topic is again?”
“Glacial movement based on sediment slope and ice thickness.”
“That’s what I thought.” It was the same thing Derrick had just said he was working on. Or was he not understanding the intricacies of the differences between the two? “And Derrick?”
“He actually has a very similar research question, but his model uses different variables than mine. Why?”
“All right, people. First round,” said the trivia master.
“Never mind,” Sean said. “I’ll tell you later.”
The trivia contest proceeded much as it had the previous week. David Attenborough’s Pants knew their stuff, and Sean was happy to add to their knowledge in the sports department. When a break came along and Annabelle excused herself to use the bathroom, Lottie scooted over into her chair and gave Sean a friendly, appraising look.
“You like my friend?” she asked.
“I do,” Sean said.
“She likes you, too.”
“Did she say that?”
“We share an office,” Lottie said. “Suffice it to say you were very much a main topic of conversation this week.”
Sean grinned. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yes, and she’s too shy to say so directly, but you should know that my dear officemate and friend likes the idea of having mad, passionate sex with a new man in her life—namely, you.”
“I’m not looking to just get laid,” Sean said. “I happen to think Annabelle is pretty special.”
“No need to convince me!” Lottie said. “But if you’re looking for a green light to make some moves, you’ve got it.”
Sean laughed. “Does Annabelle know you’re telling me this?”
Just then Annabelle appeared. “Does Annabelle know she’s telling you what?”
Lottie scooted back to her own chair, and, feeling emboldened, Sean took Annabelle’s hand and pulled her onto his lap. He brushed her hair away from her ear so he could speak privately to her.
“Lottie says you want me,” he said, and her sharp intake of breath provoked the stirrings of an erection—that and having her perfect, supple ass in his lap. “She says you like the idea of having mad, passionate sex with me.”
“Oh my gosh!” Annabelle sank her head into his chest. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be embarrassed.” He twirled his finger around one of her titian curls and shifted to accommodate his growing erection. “You think I haven’t thought about being with you? It’s just about all I can think about, to be honest.”
She pulled back so they could look into each other’s eyes, and Sean couldn’t help but notice the quick, worried glance she gave in Derrick’s direction before she connected with him. Sean could feel the heat—the wanting—radiating from her body, filling the space between them, and he suppressed the urge to take her face in his hands and kiss her thoroughly.
“I’m afraid of liking you more than you like me,” she said. “It’s silly, but I liked you for so long in high school, and I know you’ve been with women much more . . . vivacious than me.”
“You’re as vivacious as they come,” Sean assured her, knowing she really meant sexy. “And as far as liking me for so long—hell, if you want to put on a naughty schoolgirl outfit, that’d be alright by me.”
She laughed at that. He could practically see her thinking through how to shift her ass to further arouse him and found that endearing. She even analyzes how to be sexy, but she should know that she already is. He pu
t his hand on her knee, and she covered it with her own hand. And then they interlinked hands and smiled at each other.
“I want to get out of here with you,” he said.
She smiled. “We can’t abandon the team.”
“No.”
“But you could help me make sure my car starts afterward.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. “Can we make out in the back seat? I haven’t done that in ages.”
She cupped her hand around his ear. “I’d rather go back to your place.”
Hot damn, Sean thought.
“Works for me,” he said.
She moved off his lap as the next trivia round began, and the minutes felt like hours as they ticked by and ticked by. Sean focused as best he could, but his erection never entirely subsided. Annabelle intrigued him so much. Interspersed with her outward chasteness, she was giving him glimpses of an untamed wildness that he felt, sensed, hoped had been seen by no man before him. He would love to be the one who made her scream with satisfaction. To explode in orgasm again and again.
He watched her as she wrote the team’s answers, saw her smile each time he got a sports question right, and received a properly executed high-five from her when they were announced as victors for the second week in a row.
Before they got their free pitchers of beer for winning, Derrick left, and as soon as he was gone, it was like a weight had been lifted from Annabelle’s shoulders. She laughed more, teased more, and flirted more. Sean enjoyed seeing her relax and let loose.
As the night wound down, Cameron left and then Lottie with an approving waggle of the eyebrows, leaving just Sean and Annabelle.
“And then there were two,” he said.
Their feet were intertwined under the table, and Annabelle scooted closer. He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it once. Every nerve ending was focused on the feel of her hand in his, the smallness and warmth of it, the natural fit.
“And then there were two.” She bit her luscious bottom lip.
“I can help you with your car now.”
“Ooh, baby.” She teased as if it had been a sexual innuendo. “And if my car won’t start, will you give me a ride?”
“I’ve got room in my truck, baby,” he said, hamming it up to make her laugh.
Her eyes gleamed. “So what are we waiting for?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Well.” She stood and extended her hand to him. “No need to wait anymore, Sean. I’m ready.”
17
But am I? Annabelle asked herself as she followed Sean out of the crowded bar. Am I really ready to have sex with Sean?
Physically, she was. A raging lust had been present between them all night. She’d been aware of his erection when she’d been on his lap and wished she was the sort of woman who could grind herself into it and use her sexuality as a tease. But that wasn’t something she had the confidence to do.
She wished she wasn’t such a nerd.
Such a scientist.
She hadn’t had her first kiss until college, and her few boyfriends had been fellow nerds, the kind of guys who would just as soon play video games as have sex. None of them had unlocked in Annabelle any stronger physical reaction than “I guess that was nice.” Men like that could do a number to a woman’s self-esteem; she’d somehow gotten the idea that most men didn’t like smart women, so rather than dumb herself down, she’d limited her options to science-types like herself at the expense of feeling any kind of sexual passion.
So to know that Sean—big, strong, firefighter Sean—wanted her, desired her, got hard for her—well, she could hardly believe it. And yet here they were, leaving together to go have sex.
And she did not want to be a wallflower in bed. Not with Sean. None of her fantasies involved being passive; quite the contrary, she wanted to let loose. Her out-of-control, hurtling-on-a-roller-coaster desire for his body frightened her with its intensity, but then she reminded herself that she’d faced a much worse fear when she was stuck in that crevasse, and fear hadn’t helped her then and didn’t help now.
She couldn’t be afraid of being with Sean. Even if she turned out to be just another one of his throwaway girlfriends, she wasn’t fragile anymore like she’d been back in high school. She could handle the rejection. She could handle the pain later. And in the meantime, she definitely could handle his raw, athletic physicality making her feel all sorts of sexy.
“Which car is yours?” Sean asked as they stepped into the chilly March night. Spring was just around the corner, but the melt-out had not yet begun. Temperatures hovered in the twenties and still could cause problems, as it seemingly had for Annabelle’s car.
“The green Honda CR-V.” She gestured to it. “I recently got a new battery, but it’s an old car, and it still doesn’t always start.”
“That’s not good,” Sean said. “Let’s see what we can do.”
Once at the car, Annabelle got behind the wheel and tried to start it. The dash lights came on, followed by a whirring noise, but then the engine didn’t turn and the lights went out. Instead of being upset, she enjoyed having Sean there, leaning into the car to watch her effort. He had such vitality, such interest in helping her, such sexy, earnest eyes and broad, capable shoulders and lips she’d only kissed once . . . which was a shame and something she had to fix, and soon.
“I bet it’s the alternator,” he said. “The battery’s good, but it’s not charging. If your terminals are rusted, too, that wouldn’t help the situation. I can try jumping it for you, just to get it home?”
Figuring out her old car’s problems was not what Annabelle considered a prelude to sex. “I have a better idea,” she said, wanting his lips on hers. “Let’s leave my car here and deal with it in the morning.”
Sean smiled at her, the bright kind of smile that made her knees go wobbly. “I like that idea of you and me until the morning. Your place or mine?”
“Yours,” she said.
When he’d left his house, he probably hadn’t been expecting she’d sleep with him that night, which meant Annabelle would get an unplanned glimpse of his bachelor pad. She’d bet money that his house was tidy, uncluttered, and well-kept because his physical appearance was as well. He was always clean-shaven, his hair cut short. He dressed a step up from most men she knew, too, tending toward collared shirts that were always tucked in, often under a good-quality, well-fitting sweater. She’d be surprised if a week’s worth of dishes were piled in the sink, but beyond that, she wasn’t sure what to expect.
His truck was a newer model eco-diesel, and with the heater blasting, it was a warm cocoon. Once they were driving, with the radio playing classic rock, Annabelle relaxed, knowing she was in good hands. If the Golden Falls Fire and Rescue Department trusted Sean to drive the expensive big rigs, she certainly trusted him to drive the city’s icy roads.
“Have you ever been in an accident while driving a fire truck?” she asked.
“Not really. Early in my career, I skidded the truck once or twice, but gently and into low snowdrifts.” He smiled. “And in the fire service, if there’s no evidence, then it didn’t happen.”
He drove on for a bit before turning onto a winding residential road.
“This is me,” he said.
The pines were thick and the houses spaced on large lots. Sean’s home was the third on the right; Annabelle could tell from the slope of the land that it bordered the Nanook River. The house itself was a mix of log and shingles, not overly large but attractive with two steep dormer windows, a small front porch, and a garage with two hockey sticks criss-crossed over the door.
An interior light was on, and silhouetted in the window was a cat. At first, Annabelle thought it was a statue because it was too perfect, but then it moved.
“That must be Samwise in the window,” she said.
“Yep. He longs to be an outdoor cat, probably imagines himself five times bigger than he is, too.” He parked in the garage but led her back outside to the
front door and unlocked it, swinging the door open and gesturing for Annabelle to go first. “Come on in.”
Inside, he took her coat for her, and her heart started pounding as he hung it in the small closet by the front door beside his own. As if I’m staying awhile . . . as if it belongs there.
“Feel free to take off your boots,” he said, offering his arm for support as she unzipped them and set them on the boot tray.
There was a soft meow. Annabelle looked down to see Samwise twisting around her ankles, a lithe black shadow with bright yellow eyes. “Hi there,” she said, reaching down and gently scratching his back. He arched into her.
“He likes you,” Sean said, sounding amazed. “He’s usually shy.”
“He must know I like cats.”
“I think he’s just a good judge of character.” Sean wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, gazing down at her. Annabelle still couldn’t believe that Sean Kelly was looking at her like that, with curiosity and tenderness and fire.
“My heart’s beating really fast,” she blurted. “Like, really fast.”
Sean placed a hand over her heart. “It matches mine.”
Feeling bold, she reached up and slid his hand to her left breast. His breath hitched, and he stroked the skin of her cleavage with his thumb, spreading the rest of his hand out more fully so her breast swelled into it. As her own breathing rose with anticipation, he traced his fingertips over the skin left exposed by her deep v-neck sweater.
They stood like that for a long moment, their eyes connected, his hand covering her breast. Annabelle imagined his fingers exploring all of her body, and the thought made her wet with yearning. She leaned her face toward him and that slight movement was enough, like the tiniest shudder of snow before an avalanche. Their lips met in a kiss that was soft and passionate. Sean’s fingers slipped under her sweater and the contours of her bra, onto the softness of her breast. When his tongue swept against hers, Annabelle’s mouth opened more to him, wanting more, offering more.
As their kiss deepened and his fingers found her hardened nipple, Annabelle couldn’t help moaning against his mouth. She pressed her hips forward, moaning again when his cock bulged through his jeans, sending shock waves of desire swirling to her core. Her hands sought his muscled ass and pressed him forward, cursing the clothing that remained between them.
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