As it turned out, it wasn't an obstacle. Alex's nimble fingers found the fly on the front of his pants and yanked it open, and Landon devoted no more thought to logistics. He had lived through this fantasy countless times before in his head—and negotiated every scenario—but there was no trying to maneuver his way through the reality that was now unfolding before him.
He let Alex assume command of the proceedings, keeping his hands firmly planted on her waist to help balance her as she took charge of stripping them both. He moved his hands away only when she began tugging on the front of his shirt with an insistent, borderline-frustrated growl.
"Easy," he breathed unhelpfully and held his arms up in complete obedience to her animalistic demands. In truth, he was loving every second she allowed him to see this side of her.
"I intend to be," she moaned, hot little tongue lapping at his neck as her hand skated down his stomach. She caught the rigid length of him in her palm and wrapped her fingers around him possessively.
Heat rushed into his belly in response, and Landon groaned, letting his head fall back against the pillow. He closed his eyes, unable to focus on anything save the two points of sensation that warred for his attention: Alex's mouth on his neck, and her hand pleasuring him between the cage of their legs.
"Need you," he ground out. There were only so many orders a man like him could take before he had to insert a command of his own.
"Yeah? How do you need me?" Alex didn't raise her head from his neck. She spoke the teasing words in a warm gust across his bare, sweating skin, and it made him shudder to hear the desperation for release in her own voice. He could already tell he was going to need another shower once she was through with him.
But in response to her taunt, Landon half-raised himself and clutched a fistful of her hair. He pulled her up as gently as he could, without loosening the firm hold he had taken on her.
Alex gasped with pleasure and met his eyes in that moment, her own blue hues inexplicably darker than they had been a moment ago, half-lidded and hungry. She swept her tongue along her lip as if she couldn't stand to be without tasting him for even a second.
"Get on," he said in a low growl. "Before I take you squealing up against that door."
Alex shivered at the dark promise in his words and tightened her grip on his cock.
His head fell back again; for a moment, he forgot just who was holding the trigger around here. His hand sought her warm, wet folds in the next instant, though, and he found her dripping and ready. He wondered how much his imperious words had to do with it. He felt, rather than saw, the moment Alex angled herself above him. He brought his fingers to his mouth, savoring the sweet taste of her, then quickly painted her with the extra lubrication his saliva provided.
Alex moaned and undulated her hips, grinding for more of his deep touch, but he pulled back before she could be fully satisfied. She took an even more resolute hold of him, then, in vengeful response, and lowered herself slowly.
"Oh, God!" he heard himself eject roughly as Alex subsumed the crown of his cock. He penetrated her, inch by agonizing inch; his hands on her waist gripped her hard, trying to arrest her descent so the two of them could take it slow, but gravity pulled her inexorably down. Within seconds, he was buried fully inside her.
He could feel the exquisite satin of her inner thighs brushing his sac, and the dangerous heat flared in his belly again.
"Is this your way of getting back at your boss?" he gasped as she began to move atop him. He glanced down to witness for himself the erotic way she squirmed her hips. The feminine dips in her waist danced and slid through his fingers. No matter where or how he tried to arrest her, she always managed to slip through his grasp.
"This is my way of getting exactly what I want," Alex panted. His cock jumped inside her at her impassioned response.
"You want it just like this?" he urged her. His hands finally found purchase around her backside, and he dug his fingers into her ass, raising and lowering, raising and lowering, in a rhythm that was starting to pick up with their increasingly unsteady gasps.
"Don't you?" She lowered her mouth back down and tucked her sinful little smile behind his left ear. "And don't you dare lie to me."
"I always want you. Ever since I first laid eyes on you."
God, he loved it when his angel talked dirty. He wanted to keep the conversation going, wanted to see just how much more he could make her admit to while he was sheathed inside her, but the way she moved atop him made it increasingly difficult to string more than two words together. Soon enough, even words wouldn't come; he devolved to a creature that could only grunt affirmatives.
Alex's hands settled on his chest as she pushed herself up and down the slick length of him. She began to raise her hips even further off him—until Landon clutched at her, desperate not to lose the connection, should she miss when she next sank down, but Alex never missed. She would hover just out of reach, the promise of her enveloping warmth tantalizing every nerve in the head of his weeping cock, then drive her hips down and encase him once more.
She propelled herself down with particular force, and Landon dug his nails into her flank with a stifled curse. He was going to come completely undone if he kept allowing her to call the shots. Just because she was his nurse, and she was on top, didn't mean he couldn't have a say in the wildly reckless love they were making.
He interrupted her rhythm the next instant by holding her up off his cock. Alex whimpered in protest and tried to catch him between her legs again, but Landon kept her at bay. Just when she appeared unable to stand it any longer, he plunged himself inside her, filling that tight passage with every hot, solid inch of what she wanted.
"Landon! Oh God . . . oh fuck!" The heated curses that passed across her lips drove him on. Every civilized human thought vaporized instantly in his brain. His hand shot behind the drenched curve of her lower back and forced her down until her velvety pelvis rubbed against his tensed abdominals. Her breasts, blushing and pebbled with arousal, flattened between them as Landon clutched her closer.
He lost himself in feeling every inch of her body singing against his own; he could even feel the fine hair on her arms standing at attention and the goosebumps that erupted along her arms as he struck that trove of pleasure deep within her.
Alex's voice rose, and she began to shout wordless half-protests, half-encouragements as Landon picked up the pace. Now he was dictating every quick rise and recession, his hands cupping the curve of her ass and releasing, his cock pistoning in and out of her at a breakneck speed. The pulse of their lovemaking was unsustainable, but he would hold out as long as he could—and for as long as she kept shouting his name like that.
"Oh God, Landon! I'm coming!"
Her exclamation resonated like a split-second prophecy, and suddenly Landon understood, without a doubt, that he was also going to come. Usually, he could feel it building up inside him slowly, inexorably . . . he was a man who prided himself on his exceptional endurance—and in satisfying his partner before he climaxed. But now he was combusting, pushed over that ultimate edge by Alex's wild cry of ecstasy.
She clenched in the same moment he erupted inside her. He clawed at the back of her scalp until he found a grip on her hair, then he wrapped the silky layers around his fingers and held on for dear life. He shoved her face into his neck to muffle her cry as he spilled his seed inside her.
Their chests rose and fell as one in the frantic aftermath. Landon made a concerted effort to slow his breathing; soon enough, he felt Alex's hammering heartbeat begin to subside as it tuned itself with his own.
As soon as he found his breath again, he couldn't help himself: He chuckled.
Alex, already snuggled into the crook of his armpit, raised her head curiously. "What's funny?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said. "It's just that my secret fantasy came true. I got to have sex with my pretty day nurse while laid up in my hospital bed, after all."
"What an unoriginal fantasy!" Now it
was her turn to laugh brightly as she burrowed in further.
Landon screwed up his eyebrows and pretended affront. "Why do you say that? I thought it was pretty good."
"Because it's the exact same fantasy I had every day after you were admitted," Alex confessed.
Hearing her say it so frankly to him now caused certain stirrings. Landon glanced down, surprised to find his erection already swelling against his inner leg with a vengeance.
"Well, considering we now have two sexual fantasies between us to quench—"
"Landon!" Alex laughed with delight as he overturned her on the bed. The frame groaned in protest beneath them, but held firm, as Landon took his beautiful angel in his arms and showed her just how much he appreciated her divine intervention in his life.
Epilogue
Alex
Three days after the apartment fire, and Alex found her own house swarming with firemen.
Thankfully, in this instance, the only immediate smoke that filled the air was the cloud pouring off the grill in back. Landon flipped burgers deftly, looking cute as hell in the petite apron he had borrowed from her for the occasion. Across the lawn, members of the Alaskan volunteer contingent tossed a Frisbee, with Blaze running back and forth between them, yipping excitedly.
Blaze was a recent—and likely permanent—addition to the household. Landon had finally managed to catch the stray—a bag of burgers made a great dog-catching tool. He’d introduced Alex to the stray when he’d brought him home, and she had fallen head-over-heels in love with the little mutt after hearing the full backstory. It was Blaze's life Landon had saved, that first day before they’d met at the hospital, and Alex couldn't help feeling she owed the shaggy canine a debt of gratitude. As much as Landon still referred to her as his guardian angel, she couldn't help suspect that Blaze was the one most deserving of the title.
The doorbell rang, and Alex excused herself from a conversation with Chase and Sookie. When she pulled the door open, she was met by a beaming, lovely face framed by golden hair.
"Lana! So glad you could make it!" Alex quickly took the covered pitcher of iced tea from her friend's hands. Lana's smile widened in greeting, and the inside of the house immediately felt ten degrees brighter.
"Sorry I'm late," Lana apologized needlessly. "If I missed dinner—"
"You didn't miss dinner," Alex assured her as she ferried the tea into the kitchen. "Landon was just finishing up grilling the burgers out back. And we have vegetarian options, too, if you're feeling—"
But what Lana was feeling became all too obvious the next instant when the two women rounded the corner and encountered the Alaskan fire chief, Hank, standing in the kitchen with a freshly-opened beer in his hand.
He stared, stricken, as Lana came up behind Alex. Lana, for her part, froze like a deer in headlights, doe eyes adorably enormous in her head.
Alex glanced between them. She fully expected Hank to drop his beer in that moment, but the fire chief kept a valiant hold of it, sparing her from having to break out the mop so early in the evening.
"Lana." The way he said her name, there was no mistaking he had said it countless times before. "Good to see you."
"Hank." Lana dipped her head, her cheeks suddenly colored a bashful rose. "I—I thought I might see you here."
"If I'd known you were bringing your famous iced tea, I would have laid off the beer," Hank said.
Lana nodded. An awkward silence stretched between them. Alex decided to save them all from it by setting the pitcher down on the counter with unnecessary force; Lana jumped a little, and Hank quickly detached from where he had been leaning against the stove, reaching to bring down two glasses from the cupboard. "I'll take a beer, actually," Lana volunteered suddenly. "Whatever you're drinking looks good."
Hank nodded and turned away to fish around in the cooler he had brought. While his expression may have been hidden from Lana, Alex could clearly see the hesitant smile tugging at the corners of her friend’s lips.
I'll leave you two lovebirds to it, she thought, with a mischievous grin that Lana definitely saw. Her friend fixed her with desperate, pleading eyes, but Alex just squeezed her arm before retreating out the back door.
Lana didn't need to be rescued. If anything, she could use the healthy infusion of a little more danger in her lonely, secluded life . . . and there was nothing more dangerous, in Alex's own experience, than a firefighter with that same determined spark in his eye that Hank wore.
"Alex!" Landon hailed her from over by the grill, and Alex practically skipped to him. Her cheeks felt even more pronounced than usual, and she knew the smile hadn't left her face since their first guest had arrived earlier that evening.
Landon gazed down at her, grinning himself, as if her mood was too infectious to vaccinate against. "Having that good a time, huh?"
"I can't believe how full the house is," she replied. She observed from afar as Gabby and Cherise bookended Garret, one of Landon's squad mates, and dragged him over to play horseshoes. "It's like . . . oh, God. I hate to be so cliché, but since it's you . . ."
"Since it's me," Landon agreed.
"It feels like we're all one big, beautiful family. Even if we do have our disputes," she allowed as Raphael came tearing past, Blaze in hot pursuit. "And even if it is a fire that brought us all together."
Here's hoping it won't tear us apart.
She still had trouble silencing the voice of warning in the back of her mind.
But maybe silencing it wasn't the answer, after all. So long as she didn't allow it to rule her, that little beacon of caution could still come in useful from time to time. It would help her prepare for the worst—and make any obstacle infinitely more surmountable, so long as she was ready for it.
"Speaking of a fire bringing us together, I've been meaning to chat with you about something." Landon resumed flipping burgers, and Alex watched him, curious that he should suddenly take an offhand tone. He only ever did that when there was something important he wanted to pose to her.
"Oh?" Alex inquired. "And what was this something you wanted to chat with me about?"
"Kingston?" Landon turned to call over his shoulder. "You mind taking over for a minute?"
"You got it, Brenner." Chase sidled up to take the hamburger turner. He was clearly trying to suppress a grin, and Alex's eyes narrowed. What the heck was going on? And why did it suddenly feel as if everyone at the party was staring at them?
She turned and saw Hank hanging off the back door, Lana standing on the step below him. Her friend’s arms were crossed, her beer in hand; her eyes twinkled.
Wait . . . what the heck was going on?
Alex's heartbeat tripled its pace. She turned back around, to find Landon standing in front of her, wearing her too-small apron . . . and fishing for something secreted in the front pocket.
"Alexandra Appleby . . ." He said her full name reverentially as he dropped to one knee.
Alex's hands flew to her mouth.
"Will you marry me?"
Hot tears sprang into her eyes, and soon her face was overflowing with them. She struggled but couldn't get the words out. As if from a distance, she heard delighted laughter, and many of her friends from the hospital were weeping alongside her as she sank to her knees across from Landon and buried her face in her hands. All she could do was nod her head, forcefully and repeatedly, to be sure that she got her answer across.
A pair of warm arms reeled her in, and she fell against his chest. The word finally sprang free from her sobbing lips. "Yes!" she exclaimed.
An explosive cheer went up all around, and joyous rattling resounded as glasses and beer bottles came together, clink! It was the most beautiful music Alex thought she had ever heard.
She tried in vain to take in the smiling faces around her, but her focus had narrowed to the countenance of the handsome man holding her. There were tears in Landon's eyes, too, and the corners of his cheeks were crinkled with a happiness she knew he couldn't translate into words. Ale
x knew, because in that moment, she couldn't, either.
Blaze joined in, barking excitedly and leaping into the air. Sookie popped a bottle of champagne and sprayed half the squad with its contents like she was emptying a foam tank. When the deluge reached Lana, she held her forearm up, laughing, as Hank stepped in to shield her from the brunt of it. The setting sun hit the hills just at that moment, and its sudden, stark rays penetrated the haze and gilded the already golden afternoon.
From somewhere far away, Alex felt sure that Henry was smiling down on her. After years of living in the past, she could finally see her future unfolding . . . and she planned to run straight into it with arms open wide.
End of Blazing Hot
Californian Wildfire Fighters Book Two
Blurb
He’s back. Hank Logan, the man who broke Lana Sweet’s heart, the man she never forgot, is back in their little town and making her fall in love with him all over again. After her brother Michael’s death ten years ago, Hank disappeared, leaving behind the devastated girl who’d loved him since the first grade. Lana is one tough nut to crack, except when it comes to Hank. With him, she’s just a big pushover. One smile, one kiss, and she’s back where she started. Except now she’s pregnant and wondering if she can count on a man who walked away—who could walk away again—leaving her to deal with the consequences. Just like before.
Hank never meant to come back to his hometown, but when he heard about the wildfire threatening Cedar Springs, he had to return. Who’s he kidding? Sure, there was a fire, but the bigger draw was Lana. In the ten years since Michael’s death, Hank hasn’t been back, but he never could get Lana out of his thoughts, never could move on when she was the only girl he’d ever loved. Blaming himself for Michael’s death, Hank can’t bring himself to tell Lana the truth of what happened that night. Not when telling her would mean he might never get her back.
Californian Wildfire Fighters: The Complete Series Page 22