Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1)

by Aidan Willows

  “Tomato juice, a whole load of ginger, a big pinch of cumin, a couple of limes, some crushed mint leaves and some honey. It may sound and taste disgusting but it will be sure to cure what ails you.” I said pushing the glass towards her. “Drink it all and then drink the water.”

  Addie looked doubtful, but picked up the glass and downed the entire contents. She made a face when she finished and then took a few big gulps of water. “That actually didn’t taste that bad.” she said sounding surprised.

  “Yeah. It was our mother’s recipe. She swore by it to cure a hangover.” I told her.

  “I sort of feel slightly better already.” Addie said taking off her sunglasses and taking another sip of water.

  “Your mother must have been a wise lady. And beautiful too, if you both are anything to go by.” Debbie asked. “She would be so proud of you girls.” she finished gently as she took my hand and stroked it. There was something that felt very maternal about the action and it caused a lump in my throat.

  “Thank you Debbie, I hope she would be proud of us.”

  “Are you girls free to join us for a while? Or do you need to hurry back?” Debbie asked.

  Niki signalled something to Laurie and then pulled out the chair next to Addie. “I think Mitchell and Laurie have it covered. The morning rush is pretty much done now. We won’t get really busy again until lunch.”

  I pulled out the chair next to Debbie and sat down, taking a scone.

  “Oh, sweetheart. I think you’ve got something on your neck” Debbie said gently brushing my hair away from my neck.

  I had barely looked in the mirror that morning, so accepted the compact that Debbie handed to me and opened it.

  I gasped in horror.

  Oh My God. That motherfucker gave me hickeys. Yes. That’s right, plural. Two hickeys. Side by side. For the whole fucking world to see. How do I not remember him doing that?

  Well he did have you rather preoccupied….

  I clasped my hand to the left side of my neck in horror, while everyone else at the table tried to bite back smiles.

  “Oh.. umm.. I don’t know. It must be a rash. From the water here. My skin is still adjusting.” I finished lamely.

  Well that was a pathetic explanation…I should kick him in that big bulge of his…

  Granted, kicking Caleb in the balls would probably not be the best way to thank him for the orgasms he gave me last night. But it would certainly make me feel better about the huge bruise on the side of my neck.

  “Oh I’m sure that’s what it is, sweetheart. The drugstore down the street probably sells a cream for that rash.” Debbie said with a teasing smile.

  The last time she had seen me, I had been hickey free and leaving her house with her nephew. It didn’t take a genius to work out what had probably happened, to have resulted in me getting the stupid hickeys.

  A hole in the ground to swallow me up would be very welcome right about now.

  The bell chimed and I turned around to see the motherfucking, dispenser of the hickeys walk into the bakery with a huge smile. I threw him the most pissed off look I could muster.

  “Good morning all” Caleb said as leaned across me to give his aunt a peck on the cheek. He then ruffled his sister’s hair across the table and gave Niki a brief hug, before he looked at me curiously and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

  I pointedly stared at the table, trying to avoid eye contact.

  Damn, he smelled good though, like pine or cedar or something. How the hell does the man make smelling like a tree sexy?

  “You want a coffee, Caleb?” Niki asked standing up.

  “I’d love one. No cream, one sugar. Thanks.” he said smiling at her and pulled a chair over from another table, placing it next to mine.

  He grinned at his sister “Wow Addie. You look great.”

  Addie glared at him, picked up a chocolate croissant from the selection of pastries and bit into it. “If I had the energy, I’d punch you.”

  “I don’t know why your first response to insults is always violence, munchkin.” Debbie said taking another sip of her coffee.

  At that moment I was unable to focus on Addie’s response to her aunt, because Caleb had put his hand on my thigh. I jumped and felt my whole body warm.

  Oh, No, no, no. You have a plan. Stick to the plan, girl!

  I picked up his hand from my thigh and placed it on his own thigh, only to have him put it back on my knee. We repeated this little routine twice more.

  I lifted his hand again and this time squeezed it hard as I placed it on his thigh, silently signalling for him to keep it there. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to get the hint as he put his hand on my thigh again, but this time squeezed it just as hard as I had squeezed his hand.

  Heaven help me. This man was going to be the death of me.

  I stood abruptly as Niki returned to the table with Caleb’s coffee.

  “We need to talk.” I told him, pulling on his arm.

  “Sure thing, Angel.” He said taking a gulp of his hot coffee. I frowned at his use of a pet name in front of other people, knowing that it would give them the wrong impression of what happened between us.

  Oh, I think the hickeys didn’t really leave any room for doubt.

  I dragged him behind the counter, through the kitchen area to the small office in the back. Opening the door, I switched on the light and pulled Caleb into the room.

  Before I knew what was happening, he had me pinned to the wall and was kissing me intensely and once again I sank into the kiss.

  I woke from the kiss induced haze when he pressed his already hard cock against me. Pulling away, I jumped to the other side of the room, the furthest point away from the man and his magical mouth.

  “No! No more kissing!” I told him whilst still panting.

  “But we’re so damn good at it.” he replied with a wink.

  Yes, we are. We really, really are…No! Remain on task, Maliya!

  “Be that as it may, we can’t do it anymore. Firstly, Last night was a mistake. I should have stopped what we did before we got so carried away. I’m sorry if I led you on, but I’m not looking for a relationship or anything. So all the pet names, touching and kissing need to stop.” I looked him directly in those devastatingly blue eyes.

  I took a deep breath and continued “Secondly, I can’t believe you gave me fucking hickeys, where everyone can see! What are we? Teenagers? Thirdly, I think it’s probably for the best if we don’t see each other at all anymore. I wouldn’t want things to get confusing. I don’t really do friendships either. So please don’t suggest wanting to hang out.”

  His eyes narrowed on me and he asked “You about done now, babe?” I nodded at him.

  He pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning on and stalked towards me.

  “Firstly, last night was in no way a mistake and it will be happening again. Secondly, I could say I’m sorry about the hickeys, but that would be a lie and I don’t do lying. I had to let all the other assholes eyeing you know that you’re taken now. Thirdly, it’s a small town. You can’t avoid me forever, Angel.”

  He had reached where I was standing, and he lifted a hand to cup my face and ran his thumb over the apple of my cheek.

  “I don’t mind a chase, baby. Whether it’s a sprint or a marathon makes no difference to me. I’ll reach the finish line eventually. I don’t know what you’re running from, but I don’t give up easy. I’ll be seeing you around soon.” he said with another wink and planted a firm, brief, kiss on my mouth.

  My body jumped again as he gave my bottom a sharp smack before leaving the room.

  “Did he just spank me?” I said incredulously to the empty room.

  I think the question you need to ask yourself is, why did you like it so much?

  “Shut up evil voice! You are not wanted right now!” I huffed as I left the room, thinking about how the hell I was going to about avoiding Caleb Jameson.

  Chapter 15

  Caleb

 
I whistled as I entered the firehouse with my bag slung across my shoulder.

  “He lives!” my friend and Fire Captain of the firehouse Andre Washington said grabbing me in a big hug. Andre was a big African American man, 6 foot 6 and was the epitome of a gentle giant. He was older than me by a couple of years and had been a great mentor when I had started training.

  He was close friends with Nate and he had been around a lot when I was growing up. “When Nate told me what had happened I was worried but can’t say I was surprised. Only you would jump in front of a damn car.”

  “You would have done the same thing Dre and you know it.” I told him.

  “You had us worried you asshole.” A female voice said. I turned around and hugged Jenny Watson, the only female firefighter on our crew.

  She was tall and slender with black hair cut short and bright blue eyes. She was a knock out and much to the disappointment of most of the male population in town, she was only into women. Not that this stopped them from trying to hit on her, going out with her to a bar had always been entertaining.

  “Nah, I’m telling you the slacker was faking the head injury for another day off work.” Vinny D’Angelo said with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Do these stitches look fake to you, jackass?” I told him, giving him a one armed hug.

  “No. But they do make your ugly mug even harder to look at.” Vinny replied with a laugh.

  Vinny was a prime example of one of the idiots in town who kept hitting on Jenny. He had typically Italian features; dark hair, dark eyes and lightly tanned skin. When he had started a couple of years ago as a candidate, he had acted like such goofball that I was sceptical about his future in the firehouse, but he had proven himself to be a damn good firefighter.

  “Chief wants to see you, Lieutenant.” Matthew O’Neil, the newest candidate said. Matthew was Bryan’s youngest brother. The two of them looked alike, both with red hair, freckles and green eyes. They had another brother Patrick who worked as a nurse at the hospital and a sister Penelope, who was a dancer.

  “Thanks, Matt. He in his office?” I said moving my bag to my other shoulder.

  Matt nodded “Yup. Good to see you’re okay, Lieutenant. Though if what Bryan said is true, I don’t think the outcome of the accident was all bad.” he added boldly.

  I glared at him warningly “Watch yourself candidate. Your brother gossips more than the women at the Salon.”

  Bryan and I would definitely be having words later. Personally, I didn’t care who knew I had kissed Liya. The more men who knew they should stay away from her because she was mine, the better.

  But she was still new in town and I didn’t want people getting the wrong impression of my girl. I didn’t think she would appreciate the gossip about her or us, circulating about town.

  As I left the bay where the trucks were parked, I heard Vinny ask Matt quietly “What happened after the accident?” I groaned internally, knowing that my business would probably be spread about the whole firehouse by the end of the day.

  I detoured to the locker rooms, to put my bags away in my locker. Sitting on the bench I pulled of my shirt, ignoring the ache the movement caused in my right arm, as the sore muscles pulled tightly.

  I heard someone enter the locker room and turned to see Mikhail Denisov, a senior firefighter and my best friend leaning against a locker, watching me carefully. Mikhail had started at the firehouse the same time as me; we had both been candidates together and had grown close over the years.

  “Should you be back so soon? A concussion can be serious. Is your arm okay?” he said cautiously, his usual slight Russian accent prominent. He had moved to the States with his parents as a child, but had never lost his accent.

  He claimed that women loved his “sexy accent”. I would have thought this was bullshit, if I hadn’t have gone out with the guy, and actually seen women fawn all over him once he started talking. According to Jenny, his looks didn’t hurt either. He had high cheekbones, grey eyes, dirty blond hair and was built like brick shithouse.

  “I’m fine Mom, stop fussing.” I said rolling my eyes.

  He snorted at my reply and sat next to me “You fight fires for a living and have never been injured on the job. You get a day off, decide to get a doughnut and end up being knocked over by a car. Only you, my friend.”

  I pulled on the uniform of a navy blue polo shirt with the firehouse name and logo sewn on the front. “You’ve jinxed me now man. Don’t tell a firefighter he’s never been hurt on the job!” I said punching him lightly in the arm.

  He rolled his eyes and looked at me with a concerned. “Seriously though asshole, how have you been?”

  I looked over at Mikhail and paused. I was debating whether or not to tell him about Liya, when I realised that our crew were a bunch of gossipy busybodies. Even if I didn’t tell him about her now, he would probably have found out anyway by the end of the day.

  “I’ve been good man. I… met someone.”

  Mik’s eyebrow’s rose. “What do you mean you met someone? Like a woman?”

  “No, a cyborg.” I said sarcastically. “Yes, of course a woman. And I like her. A lot.”

  I pictured Liya and her fucking amazing body and remembered how she melted into me when I kissed her. Yes, she was definitely all woman.

  Mikhail must have noted the look on my face “It can only have been a couple of days since you met her, right? But you look like this is something serious. She must be something special to have you hooked so soon, Caleb. Where’d you meet her?”

  “She’s Trudy’s grandniece. Her sister runs the bakery now. She was there when I pushed that kid out of the way and got hit by that car. She came over to help me and in my delirious state, I sort of… grabbed her and kissed her.” I finish awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck.

  Mik froze and then burst out laughing. “You certainly know how to make a first impression Cal. And she what? Just let you kiss her? She didn’t punch you in the face or anything?”

  “Hey asshole, I was concussed! I didn’t know what I was doing. Well… not completely.” I said with a grin.

  “Do I get to meet the woman who has done the impossible and gotten Caleb Jameson interested in her?” Mik asked.

  “I hope so, soon. We’re sort of having a difference of opinions at the moment.”

  Mik looked confused. “What do you mean?”

  “She said she doesn’t want to date or have any kind of relationship with me. And I do want a relationship with her.” I told him simply.

  His mouth fell open “She doesn’t want anything to do with you, but you’re still going after her?” he asked perplexed.

  What? Like that’s a weird thing to be doing?

  “Yep. She wants to be with me. She just doesn’t want to admit that she wants to be with me.”

  “You realise you’re sounding like one of the crazy stalker chicks you usually try to avoid, right?” he said in a soothing tone, as if I was going to grab a knife and go all ‘Psycho’ on him.

  “You haven’t seen us together, man. The chemistry is off the charts. We could be good together. She’s everything I’ve been looking for in a woman. She’s smart, caring, funny and so fucking beautiful it hurts. She’s just afraid of something. I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to find out and we’re going to sort it out, so all the “no relationship” nonsense can be over with.” I said conclusively.

  Mik just stared at me his mouth still open. “Well, okay then man. I suggest lots of flowers and chocolate. I don’t actually know how that’s supposed to help, but it’s what they do in the movies. Or you could serenade her with a boom box outside her window. Or lip-sync ‘Try A Little Tenderness’ to her. Or take her dirty dancing.”

  I stared at him with a deadpan expression “Any suggestions that don’t come from a movie made in the 80s?”

  “Nope. That’s all I got.” he said with a shrug.

  I really need to get a better best friend….Preferably one who watches movies made in
the current decade…

  “Thanks, man. That’s really helpful.”

  ----------------------------------

  “Miss Martha, you look lovelier than ever.” I greeted the chief’s administrative assistant with a smile.

  Miss Martha had been at the firehouse for as long as anyone could remember. She was an awesome old gal, with a wicked sense of humour but whatever she wanted us to do was done sharpish, because nobody wanted to piss her off. As we had all learnt the hard way, Miss Martha angry was terrifying.

  “Good Morning, Lieutenant. I heard you got yourself a lady friend. Bout time you settled down.” she said with a wink.