by Sarah Taylor
Even though I know it’s not possible, my heart wrenches in my chest. I can’t resist the urge to follow the redheaded woman.
When I around the corner, at first, I see nothing. Disappointment lodges in my chest when, suddenly, I hear footsteps behind me.
I whip around, fingers curling into fists as Lucy’s green eyes lock with mine.
It really is her.
She’s here.
I can hardly believe it. The disappointment that I’d felt moments ago explodes into joy, though I tell myself I'm this happy just because she’s nice to look at.
Lucy grips her solo cup a little tighter as I take an involuntary step towards her. It’s as if my whole body is dying for me to get as close to her as possible. I feel elated at seeing her, however, she appears far from pleased. Her luscious mouth pinches one way and then the other.
“You don’t have to look like you’ve seen the Grim Reaper,” I state with a smirk.
She gives a halfhearted laugh and then sighs. When she flips her long hair over her shoulder, lust begins to simmer in the pit of my stomach.
I’ve never been this wildly, irresistibly attracted to a woman before. Is it just because she’s playing hard to get?
“I just wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she says quietly.
Damn. She really is hell-bent on wounding my ego.
“I'm sorry,” she adds hastily, seeming to suddenly notice how the comment must have sounded.
She nervously twirls a lock of red hair around her finger. She walks closer to me and with every inch of distance that vanishes between us, I have to fight the urge to reach out and brush her hair behind her ear.
“I just... You know, the whole virginity thing. I guess I'm not used to interacting with anyone I’ve slept with.” She pauses and then slowly grins. “You make me a little nervous, Cooper Nelson.”
I love the way she says my name. It makes little jolts of electricity leap from pore to pore of my flesh.
“Well, Lucy Caldwell. I think you and I can manage to just be friends. Don’t you?” I offer.
The tip of her pink tongue wets her plump, upper lip as her dilated pupils blaze into mine.
“Sure,” she murmurs, her voice faintly husky with a lust that she’s fighting. Her gaze wanders over me for a moment. “I think we can handle that...”
“And just friends get a drink together. Right?” I add, dying for any further second spent with her at my side.
Her chin dips in a faint nod. “Right,” she whispers. “Certainly no harm in that since we’re just friends.”
Just friends... Is that even possible with a girl like her? I have no clue, but I need more time with her, and I’ll take it any way I can.
Chapter 6
Lucy
“So, tell me about yourself, friend,” I poke with a grin, enunciating the end of the sentence.
It feels weird to think about Cooper as just a friend with the way that I continue to crave so much more, but clearly, if we’re both at this party our social circles aren’t that distantly separated — and neither are our apartments for that matter. Being civil might be the way to go, at least for now.
When I’d shown up here tonight, I hadn't expected to find a party this huge waiting. I’d thought it would be Ava and a few of her close friends and quite a few bottles of wine. I’d been hoping that I’d have a moment to tell her all about what happened last night, but I hadn't gotten a chance to be alone with her yet. In fact, I was about to leave when Cooper all of a sudden materialized in front of me. To be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed by the loud wildness of the party.
“Why don’t we go outside?” Cooper asks, lifting his deep voice over the music pulsing in the living room.
I look at him in surprise, caught off guard that he appeared to be thinking the same thing I was. Did he need to get away from all the raucous frivolity for a moment too? That didn't quite fit the image of him I had in my head.
“That would be amazing, actually,” I agree with a laugh.
He grins and nods his head towards one of the doors leading outside.
I nod and, after swiping a bottle of whiskey from one of the many overstocked bars set up around the perimeter of the house, we march out together.
Outside, it’s much quieter.
Cooper sighs contentedly. “Sorry about that. I just wasn’t in the mood for the craziness tonight.”
A warm wind blows as the stars shimmer in the black blanket of the clear night sky. Crickets chirp softly and the music thuds behind us. There’s a bench by Ava’s garden where we settle down beneath the stars, though it’s so small that our knees brush. I try to pretend as though I don’t notice this, but my heart is beginning to pulse between my ears.
Friends, Lucy. Just friends, I remind myself sharply.
“So, you do wine and whiskey,” Cooper chuckles as I crack open the bottle and take a swig.
The liquor is like fire on my tongue.
I grin at him and pass him the bottle. “I wasn’t the one who picked wine last night.”
He gazes at me over the bottle, his blue eyes shining with interest.
“You know, you’re not anything like what I expected,” he muses. He considers me before taking another gulp of the whiskey.
When I outstretch my hand and wiggle my fingers, he passes the bottle back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask playfully.
He chuckles and leans closer so that his breath breezes against my ear. My skin instantly tingles, a wave of goosebumps prickling across my shoulders.
“I just wouldn’t have expected a virgin elementary school teacher to do some of the things you did to me last night,” he muses into my ear.
Somehow, I manage to pull slightly back from him, so that I can gaze levelly into those alluring eyes of his. He grins at me, his white teeth glinting in the moonlight. My whole body is twitching with a desire that I can just barely control. Cooper, with those deep blue eyes and dark hair, sets my whole soul on fire. My blood might as well be boiling in my veins.
“Maybe you should stop making snap judgments then,” I offer with a smirk of my own.
His laughter rises and he shakes his head. “Are you telling me that you’ve never misjudged someone? Not even me, maybe?”
The alcohol is making me feel brave. I take another gulp and continue smirking at him.
“Nope. I had you pegged the first time I saw you leading two girls at once back to your place last week.”
“Yeah?” he says smugly. “You like watching me?”
My cheeks flush scarlet. I hadn't meant to give that away. He definitely didn't need to know that I’d noticed him so frequently before our chance meeting.
“You really think you’ve got me all figured out?” he presses when I go silent.
I nod glibly. “You’re a playboy who doesn’t commit. I met a dozen guys just like you in high school and then college. Love is foreign to you.”
I'm talking as if I'm some expert, but God knows I’ve never been in a serious relationship either.
His laughter subsides. When I give him the whiskey bottle, he simply sets it on his knee instead of drinking.
For a few moments, we’re totally quiet.
“My last girlfriend cheated on me with my best friend,” he says quietly. “I caught them in bed together then moved into that apartment where I am now. Since then, I’ve drawn a line in my heart. No love. No commitment. No pain.”
When I look at him in surprise, he stays stonily silent, waiting for me to give some sort of reaction. At first, I almost assumed he was joking around, but then I see that veiled pain in his eyes that I’d noticed before.
I’d had an inkling he was deeper than he let on, but now I knew for sure.
My fingers brush his arm and electric tingling that surges up my hand catches me almost off guard, but I can’t bring myself to move away.
“You can’t live like that,” I say firmly. “You’re letting your pain guide you instead of your
heart...”
His face lifts and then tilts slightly towards mine. “Who cares?” he murmurs. “Sometimes, the best thing to do is to just let your whims guide you without getting in too far over your head.”
The rhythm of his alluring voice pulls me closer, as does the warmth of his body and the sizzling liquor in my belly.
Giving in to your every whim without a thought towards the future... Is it that easy?
Can it be done so recklessly?
His lips are only inches from mine. I can tell he wants to kiss me and I’d be lying if I tried to say I wasn’t interested. It would be so very easy to give in. To let him kiss me and take my breath away. To let his arms wrap around me and cocoon me from my own reeling thoughts.
He moves, his hand slowly gliding up my thigh. My skin tingles, lust exploding like a geyser through my body.
But I can’t do this.
He’s clearly dealing with something and inserting myself into this situation isn’t going to help either of us.
I press my hands against his chest and gently push him back. He stares at me, frowning deeply, but I climb to my feet.
It’s time I leave this party... and Cooper.
“I'm not anyone’s rebound,” I state firmly, tears stinging my eyes. “It might be easy for you to be careless, but not me.”
Chapter 7
Cooper
The fire truck rocks beneath me as Brady jerks the steering wheel one way and then the other. We careen down the busy city road as the siren blares.
“Where are we going?” I ask curiously.
When the alarm had sounded, I’d been in the weight room doing deadlifts and missed the announcement. Exercise is just about all I can do to keep my mind off Lucy these days. The sexy girl next door had been avoiding me since the night of the party, which was a little over a week ago, and I could hardly stand it.
That evening, she’d walked away without looking back even once. If I thought it was rough to wake up and find her missing the morning after she and I slept together, being forced to actually watch her go was pure hell.
The moonlight had cloaked her slender figure in silver as those lovely hips of hers swayed back toward the house.
“Seventh Street,” Brady answers, more focused on driving than on conversing with me.
Instead of speaking, I just give a distracted nod of my head.
Brady glances at me from the corner of his eye and chuckles.
“That girl really did a number on you, huh?” he teases.
When I look at him in surprise, he just smirks. “I saw you two sitting alone outside at the party. I asked around and figured out who she was. That’s your neighbor, right?”
Again, I just nod. His smirk softens, but he focuses back on the road.
“Listen, Cooper,” he begins slowly. “I know you like to act like you don’t have feelings or a heart or whatever, man... But you do. Don’t forget that. Don’t miss out on something special just because you’re scared. That’s all I'm going to say about that, okay?”
I twist my head to look back out the window, pondering his words — but his aren’t the only comments spiraling around my head. Lucy’s statement the night of the party still echoes in my mind as well.
How could she think she was a rebound? The incident with my ex cheating on me had happened so long ago... I just don’t know what to think.
Over the last week, I still haven’t been able to bring myself to bring home any other girls, and I’ve kept clear from other parties, too. I couldn’t explain why, but after Lucy had been in my bed, no other woman seemed worthy. Plus, I'm so uncontrollably attracted to Lucy, I just haven’t been able to experience anything that even remotely compares. Being near Lucy makes my whole body feel like it’s on fire...but in the best possible sense. I feel more alive when I'm near her than I have ever felt on any fire rescue.
I just haven’t been able to put my finger on why.
What is it about her that makes me feel this way?
My head jostles against the window as I gaze outside. It’s a beautiful, blue-sky day. There aren’t even any white puffs of cloud to mar the sapphire blue, but in the distance, I can see dark smoke rising in a thin, small plume.
Adrenaline simmers through me and I welcome the distraction with open arms.
This is what I live for. This is what I’ve trained for.
I don’t need love. I just need this.
Brady lays on the horn when a tiny sedan suddenly pulls out onto the road in front of him. The driver instantly pulls back over and waves apologetically at us as we fly by.
As we hurtle closer to the fire, the small trail of smoke that wound up through the clear sky began to thicken and darken. This little fire is quickly growing stronger. I grit my jaw, pressing my forehead against the window.
We need to get there, and fast.
The radio crackles. “Fire station 98, what’s your ETA to Davis Elementary?” the speaker says. “The fire’s getting out of control. We need all the help we can get.”
“Davis Elementary?” I repeat in shock, whipping towards Brady.
Brady doesn’t spare me a glance. Instead, he slams the pedal to the metal and grabs the speaker receiver.
“We’ll be there any minute,” he promises.
“Brady, we don’t have minutes!” I interject hastily. My mind races, and so does my heart. A cold sweat breaks out on my forehead. Lucy... Could she be in danger? “We have to get there now!”
“I'm sure the kids are okay,” Brady says firmly. “I'm going as fast as I can.”
My jaw clenches. “Lucy works at that school. If she’s hurt...” I trail off. I can’t even put my fear into words.
Brady’s brow lifts. He glances at me again from the corner of his eye and then revs the firetruck’s engine even more. The truck lurches, straining to move faster.
When we pull up in front of the school, I leap out of the truck and rush over to where a group of other firefighters is preparing to douse the school. The fire licks upward, the flames red and angry and blisteringly hot.
“What’s the status?” I ask over the roar of the fire. “Where are the students and teachers? Anyone missing?”
One of the other firemen grimly looks at me, nodding towards a mass of adults and kids being guided to safety away from the blaze.
“Just one missing,” he says. “A female teacher is somewhere in the building to our left. The fire blazed up so fast that the classrooms were overtaken while they were still inside. She managed to get all of her kids out, but she fell behind making sure they were all taken care of. We’re working on securing the building before we extract her, but—”
“Her name?!” I shout, but I can already feel it in my core.
It has to be Lucy. It would only be her that would brave the fire to make sure she saved every single one of her students.
“I think her last name is Caldwell. Like I said, we’re working on getting to her— Hey, wait!” he shouts, but I don’t even hear him.
I'm already sprinting towards the fire.
No amount of fear will hold me back from Lucy. It never will again.
Chapter 8
Lucy
Sweltering, suffocating heat blazes around me.
The last thing I remember is checking under the desks of my classroom to make sure each of my third graders had safely gotten out of the building. Because everything happened so fast, I hadn't gotten a chance to double-check my roll call aside from a hasty counting of their tiny heads as we ran towards the door.
I just couldn’t leave without being sure... I’d never forgive myself if I missed even one of them.
Just as I finished checking the desks, I’d tripped and fallen and couldn’t seem to gather the strength to get up. I’d army-crawled towards the door, but the smoke was just so thick that I couldn’t catch my breath. I’d been drifting in and out of consciousness for who knows how long.
Laying here, surrounded by fire, all I can think about are the things I
might never see again if I don’t escape.
I won’t see my students, I won’t see my friends, I won’t see my family... I won’t see Cooper.
The last week I’ve spent avoiding him has been so impossibly hard for me. Every time I hear his door open, I rush over to see if he’s coming or going or if he’d brought another girl home like he used to. I know I shouldn’t care what he’s doing because he and I aren’t together, but I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. I’d almost believed it would be easier for me if I saw him with someone else, because perhaps then, I could move on. However, he’d been alone each and every time.
What I wouldn’t give to see him again. To have him hold me again. To hear him say my name.
“Lucy!” his deep voice suddenly calls.
I give a start and pry open one of my eyes to look around, but all I see is fire, and all I hear is the roar of wood being eaten away by the flames. It must be some sort of desperate auditory hallucination on my part, but it’s crazy how vivid the sound of his voice was.
“Lucy!” he calls again. “Where are you?”
Is that... Could it really be him? Could Cooper be here to save me?
Somehow, I manage to push myself up onto my hands and knees.
“Cooper! Over here!” I shout as loudly as I can, but my body is so weak and my lungs are so full of ash and smoke that my voice cracks feebly.
I try again to shout his name, but I can hardly gasp out anything at all. I collapse back down on the ground, panting and shaking.
What if he can’t find me? What if I never get to kiss him again? What if I never get to see his handsome face?
Suddenly, strong arms scoop me upward. The movement is so jarring that I give a faint cry, but when I tip my head up, I'm blessed to see the most astounding blue eyes in the whole world — eyes I’d recognize no matter what else is going on.
This isn’t a hallucination. He’s really here.
I cling to him, tears streaking down my cheeks.
“I thought I would never see you again,” I choke out, but he hushes me tenderly.
“I’ve got you, Lucy,” Cooper murmurs. “Don’t try to speak. You’re safe now.”