Yours To Seduce

by Karen Anders

  She wanted to call him back, but she couldn’t look weak, not even in Sean’s eyes. He was her best friend and now her lover, but she just couldn’t let him know what had almost happened there on that bridge.

  All her life, her father had told her not to show fear, don’t let them see you’re scared.

  So she told Sean she was fine, even though he knew she wasn’t. It seemed to damage their relationship every time it happened. A cut here, a chip there and it eroded and eroded. Working with a man you were sleeping with wasn’t good, but working with a man you were sleeping with and who was your best friend was just plain stupid.

  9

  LANA SET THE FOOD on the table. Again, Pete took Sean’s seat. When Sean came to the table, he sighed and took another chair.

  But the minute she brought her food up to her mouth, the alarm sounded.

  There were grumbles and groans as men threw down their napkins and headed to the engines.

  The call came over the loudspeaker that the burning structure was a warehouse in the wharf district. As they pulled out of the fire station, the horn wailed warning motorists that Station 82 was entering the roadway.

  When the engine pulled up, the structure was fully engaged.

  “Don’t bother going in,” a firefighter said and Lana looked at him. The same guy from the other fires. Strong, square jaw with a ragged scar along the cheekbone. His turnout coat and pants looked almost brand-new. A probie? But if he was a probie, where was his veteran.

  “Why?”

  “We tried an interior attack, but the stairs collapsed. The whole roof is gonna come down,” he explained.

  Captain Troy nodded and said, “Surround and drown people.”

  Lana headed toward the specially-designed ladder with a hose attached, which was already being propelled into the air. Without missing a beat, she climbed up the seventy-five degree angled ladder, ascending through smoke and steam that obscured everything.

  At the top of the eighty-foot ladder she took up the nozzle. She positioned it over the warehouse and opened the nozzle.

  Water streamed out forcefully through a tip in a concentrated stream and then loosened and fell, like rippling ribbons of silver.

  Lana found it peaceful at the top of the ladder, like sitting on a cloud in heaven watching hell burn. The wind picked up giving fuel to the fire and throwing a fine mist all around her. As time passed it soaked her through.

  Once she started to shiver, she descended the ladder and Sean was waiting down at the bottom to take over.

  For a moment he paused and swallowed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He turned to look at her, his eyes wide. “Nothing.”

  Without another word he scrambled up the ladder. Lana watched him, making a mental note to ask him about it later.

  Once there was nothing but smoldering ruins left of the warehouse, Lana began the tedious job of making sure that no living embers survived. All debris had to be pulled out and hosed down.

  She walked toward the fire ground, but was brought up short.

  “Don’t even think about doing any snooping around in there.” Bryant stood a few feet away from her, his helmet dangling from his hand. “Just do your scutt work and leave the investigation to me.”

  It took all the willpower she had not to snap back at him. “I’ll do what my captain told me, but have you even looked at the reports?”

  “No. I told you that you’re off base. Those were basements. Of course there’s going to be fuel type products in them.”

  “Bryant, you’re…”

  “Go ahead, Dempsey. Just give me a reason to write you up. I’d love some insubordination about right now.”

  “…incompetent,” Sean finished for her. “Go ahead and write me up.”

  Bryant didn’t even bother to glance at Sean. “Watch your step, Dempsey.”

  Brushing past Sean, he jammed his helmet on his head, cinched the strap beneath his chin, and headed into what was left of the building.

  Lana turned to Sean. “How many times…”

  “…do you have to tell me to mind my own business?” He pulled off his glove and tilted her chin up. “I’m going to stick up for you because it’s in my nature to do so. If you don’t like it, that’s too bad, Dempsey.” Sean walked past her and entered the building to haul out more debris.

  Lana’s irritation with him dissipated. It was strange to see this part of Sean.

  She entered the building and watched Bryant half-heartedly poke around the debris. She never once saw him take any soil samples or check any of the concrete. He looked in her direction and she quickly looked away. Inside she was waging a fierce battle. She had to keep her record clean if she was going to become captain. If she so much as took a soil sample to test it and Bryant found out, she’d get reprimanded for sure. But how could she let a potential arsonist get away with destroying property and risking lives and do nothing?

  The answer was simple. She couldn’t.

  BACK AT THE STATION, after her shower, Lana stayed up in the bunkroom while her squad members reheated the lasagna and had a meal. She dialed up Sienna, who answered on the first ring.

  “Sienna, it’s Lana.”

  “Hey, good to hear from you. I’ve been meaning to call. How goes it with Sean? Did the apology work out?”

  Sienna’s concern made Lana’s heart tight. “Yes, it did. Thanks for your advice. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”

  “What?”

  “A background check?”

  “Unofficially?” Sienna asked, her tone expressionless.

  Lana closed her eyes, thinking about the chance she was taking. But she couldn’t ignore her conscience and avoid looking at herself in a mirror every day. If she did nothing about her suspicions and someone died because of it, she’d never forgive herself. “Yes, because if it gets out I’m doing this, my career is toast.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Dane Bryant.”

  Sienna gasped. “Bryant! Are you crazy? You’re career will be burnt toast if he gets wind you’re looking into his background.”

  “Can you do it discreetly?”

  “Yes, you know I will. One of your hunches is worth two of mine.”

  After disconnecting from Sienna, she went downstairs, got herself some food and sat down at the table next to Sean. She wasn’t really hungry, but she didn’t want her squad members to notice she was acting any differently.

  Sean got up a few minutes later to get more bread.

  Pete Meadows took Sean’s vacated seat, and sat just a little bit too close. He scooted Sean’s dish over.

  She gave him a weak smile and shifted her chair over to give herself more room.

  “That was quite a save you had this afternoon at the bridge.”

  The roll that Lana had taken a bite of dissolved to ashes in her mouth. Without looking at Pete, she nodded.

  “I heard the drop was eighty feet. Would have killed her and the baby, too.”

  Lana’s stomach knotted and she toyed with the lasagna on her plate, nodding again.

  “I saw Bryant giving you a hard time again. That guy needs to embrace affirmative action.”

  Lana was thankful that Pete changed topics. “What do you know about him, Pete?”

  “He and I were on the same squad before he got a job with arson. He couldn’t cut it as a firefighter. If you ask me, that’s why he moved on.”

  “Meadows, you’re in my seat.”

  Lana looked up to see Sean standing behind Pete’s chair.

  “There are plenty of seats, O’Neill.”

  “But I was sitting here.”

  All conversation at the table stopped at the note in Sean’s voice. Pete looked at Lana, surprise in his eyes. Easygoing, never-have-a-problem-O’Neill was making a scene.

  “You’ve never objected before.”

  “I am now. Move.”

  Pete picked up his plate and glass and gave up Sean’s seat. Sean sat down and started ea
ting without a care in the world. All around the table there were smirks and wry smiles.

  Lana had to bite her lip to keep from grabbing him and planting a kiss on his attractive mouth. His forceful attitude stirred something inside her, made her juices start to flow. Made her feel reckless.

  Sean slanted her a look as if sensing her arousal. She could feel the heat of his gaze against the side of her face. When she looked at him, his eyes blazed with a deep awareness that made her knees weak.

  Too bad they were on duty.

  She only jumped slightly when his left hand landed on her thigh, massaging gently. He continued to eat all the while his fingers moved up and down her leg, giving her goose bumps, wishing it wasn’t another thirty-two hours before they were off duty.

  They had no more calls that night and Lana went up the stairs to the bunkroom. She thought it was empty until she sensed Sean’s presence.

  Lana clutched Sean’s shoulders, as he pinned her to the wall and seared his hot, wet mouth on hers.

  Winding a handful of her hair around his hand, he tilted her head back covering her mouth with a kiss that was meant to inflame, to detonate, to ravage, and Lana groaned softly. He seemed to absorb the sound, drawing his hands up her torso.

  Lana lost it. Grappling for every breath, she savored his succulent mouth, drawing his tongue deeper into hers.

  He cupped her face. The feel of his hands made her whole body tremble. Sobbing against his mouth, she reached down and dragged her fingers up the thick, hard ridge under his zipper and molded her hand over the hard bulge. Sean tugged her hand away, making a rough sound deep in his throat. Stretching his arms around her neck, he softened the kiss; then, breathing hard, he pulled away from her mouth, taking control.

  “I know what you need,” he said softly.

  Lana’s senses overloaded when he dragged her against him, the feel of him thick and hard and fully aroused at the juncture of her thighs driving the breath from her. Grasping the back of her head, he covered her mouth with another searing kiss, his heart hammering against her. His hands slipped down her body to her hips. Tightening his hold, he wedged his knee between her legs, and Lana fought for breath as he settled heavily between her thighs.

  Drawing up her leg, she tried to cup him, but Sean grabbed her wrist, forcing her hand away.

  “This time is for you.”

  Sean held her still against him, brushing his mouth against hers with excruciating slowness. Lana wanted desperately to move against him and force his mouth down harder on hers, but he resisted. His mouth barely touching hers, he ran his tongue along her bottom lip. “Sweet. Very sweet.”

  He deepened the kiss, then slowly, so slowly, flexed his hips against hers, aligning his arousal tightly with her pelvis. Lana sobbed against his mouth, thrusting her hips to increase the pressure.

  “Easy does it,” he whispered unevenly. He kissed her again, his mouth wonderfully tormenting.

  He undid her pants and slid one hand under the elastic of her panties going to the hot, moist core of her that ached for his touch.

  Feeling as if she was drowning in the deep, vital sensations, Lana shuddered and turned her face against him as he slid his fingers over her straining core, his touch turning her weak.

  Dragging her mouth away, she shuddered and turned her head against his, the muscles in her back bunching as she flexed her hips against his hand. His lips moved from her mouth to her neck, trailing kisses to the hollow behind her ear, and then he returned to her mouth, kissing her with a thoroughness that went on and on and on.

  Using his thumb to continue with the sensual torment on her aching, sensitized bud, he thrust two fingers into her.

  It was too much. Lana cried out his name on a whisper and arched against him, her body bowing, arching as she clutched at his shoulders and raised her hips. Sean thrust again into her swollen, wet heat. Her whole body went rigid as he thrust while he worked her moist center.

  Lana came apart in his arms, the tension coming together into one piercing center. With one urgent thrust, her center ignited, and tremors shivered through her. Sean covered her mouth, taking her cry into him, effectively muffling it.

  Lana clung to him and buried her face against his neck, feeling as if she’d shattered into a million brilliant pieces.

  Sean adjusted his hold; his hand splayed wide at the back of her head, holding her with such absolute tenderness that it made her throat close up. Gently, he adjusted her clothing and held her for a long time, until they heard footsteps on the stairs.

  Then reluctantly, he let her go.

  IN HER BUNK THAT NIGHT Lana couldn’t help glancing over at Sean sleeping deeply as if he’d been the one who had the explosive orgasm. She wished she could go over there and curl up with him.

  As it was, there were no calls that night. But that didn’t stop Lana from having broken sleep as she tossed and turned. When she woke in the morning to face the rest of her shift, she struggled up out of a nightmare. One where, instead of the pregnant woman looking up at her with a panicked look in her eyes, it’d been her father. But her dream had gone very differently.

  She’d dropped him.

  THE DREAM SEEMED TO HAUNT her as she moved through her shift, taking a call for a car accident that required the driver to be cut out with the jaws of life, a water rescue down at the pier, a man entangled in power lines that fell while he was cutting a tree, and laughingly, a cat caught on a roof.

  At the end of the shift, almost everyone had left while Lana put her gear into her locker. The alarm sounded and effectively emptied the firehouse of the oncoming crew. Lana walked toward the stairs when Sean grabbed her arm and pulled her into the closet where they kept the extra SCBAs.

  “What are you doing?” Lana said softly.

  “I can’t wait for a bed,” he said, taking Lana’s mouth like a man who was starving.

  He pressed her against the ladder, knowing that even a week ago, he wouldn’t have thought about having Lana like this in a place where they could be discovered. He would have fantasized about it, but he wouldn’t have done it. When he realized that Lana thought he wouldn’t mind about the souvenir, he’d finally had enough of complacency. It fueled this change in him and made him want to take the kinds of chances he’d never have taken before. Taking his life, including his love life to new heights. But only with Lana. Now, he didn’t care, he was sick of being everyone’s best friend, always there to help out. He wanted to take something for himself, be stronger and tougher. The thought of that lent an air of excitement to his already aroused flesh.

  “I really like this side of you, Sean. It makes me hot.”

  “You bring it out in me. I can’t seem to care about anything but you.”

  “I think about you, the desire in your eyes, the way you look at me. It makes me feel cherished, wanted, needed.”

  “I do need you, want you, cherish you.” His mouth slammed down on hers. Her reaction sizzled through him as her tongue demanded entrance and he opened for her. A groan escaped him when she teased the roof of his mouth, the inside of his upper lip.

  He went wild when she bit his bottom lip. But this was his fantasy and he was going to force her to do what he wanted. “Touch my cock, Lana.”

  She didn’t hesitate as she undid the button of his jeans and pulled the zipper down. She took his erection into her hands and bent down to run her tongue along his hardness.

  It turned him on that Lana was so receptive to this dark side of him.

  He gasped and his body strained upward. “Take me in your mouth.”

  With a soft moan she slid her moist lips over him, working her mouth up and down his arousal until the heavy sensations threatened to overwhelm him.

  “No more Lana or I’ll come,” he said fiercely and dragged her against him, covering her mouth in a searing kiss.

  Sean had taken her by surprise. He’d changed right before her eyes and it was the kind of man she’d always craved, knew that this dark side of Sean lurked inside
of him. Had she seen it in his eyes? Had she known all along all she had to do was take him into her body to unleash it? She found that she could let her control go with him. Although experiencing a volatile mix of fear and pleasure, she knew deep down in her heart that she could trust him.

  The moment Sean’s hand wrapped around the back of her neck and his tongue surged into her mouth, she was lost again.

  Lana moved restlessly against him. She roughly pushed him back so he was flush against the closet door. He guided her hands back down to his erection. With his hands over hers, he rubbed her palms along his arousal.

  “Is this what you want, Lana?”

  She opened herself to him, body and soul. Just as he’d fantasized, but he hadn’t expected his domination to feel so good, had no idea that this side of him had lurked inside until Lana had brought it out of him. When she’d seduced him, she’d changed their relationship into something more beautiful than he could have imagined.

  There was something in his voice, something dark and delicious that sent heat to the core of her, escalating her need until she felt taut as a bowstring. Strong desire coursed through her, demanding consummation, an urgent, primal need her body had to join with his.

  “Yes.” The word came out on a breath of air. She stroked his hair, drawing his mouth back to her.

  The feel of her ravenous lips wiped out any last vestiges of thought Sean had. He slanted his arm across her lower torso, turning her so that her back was now against the door.

  He pushed and pulled at her clothes, stripping her down to nothing in a matter of minutes. She did the same for him. With a soft groan, he entered her, lifting her up and against the door as his hips moved in rapid-fire thrusts.

  Lana cupped the back of his neck and held on to him as if he was an anchor in a violent storm.

  He pushed away from the door holding her against him with sheer muscle and sinew. Lana moved against him sure of his power and support.

  He backed her toward the ladder to the roof. “Grab on,” he said hoarsely.

  Lana turned to look and released her fingers from around his neck. She grasped a rung and Sean stretched her out as he thrust into her, watching the erotic movement of her breasts, the fine sheen of perspiration that covered her body, the pleasure that played across her expressive and beautiful face.