by Vanessa Vale
I had questions for Kelsey, and I wanted answers. Now.
I led her to the back of the fire truck. I sat on the bumper, dropped my jacket beside me, spread my legs and pulled her, so she stood between them. She was cast in shadow, but I could see she was looking at the front of my t-shirt.
Jake, one of the firefighters, came around the side of the truck. “Sorry.”
“No worries. Hey, take over IC,” I told him.
“Sure thing, Chief.”
I didn’t look away from Kelsey the entire time. “Okay, sugar. You were the one who called 9-1-1?”
“Yes.”
“What did you mean when you said you got out fine?”
She sighed. “Because… because I was in the building.”
“What are you talking about? Why were you in the preschool in the middle of the night? In… that? Were you sleeping there?” I pointed to her outfit. She said nothing, only pursed her lips together. “Why are you being like this?”
“Like what?”
“Angry,” I said, my voice going up. I was angry too. I didn’t understand this woman. She ran hot and cold, and I seemed to drive her crazy just by breathing. “Earlier at the community center too. I don’t understand what happened. I thought things were good between us. You remember the stable, right?”
She uncrossed her arms and flung them in the air. I’d been right. No bra. Her hard nipples cast dark shadows on her tank top. “Sawyer… I don’t know what to say.””
I ran a hand down my face, tired and realizing I was never going to understand women. Not women, one woman in particular.
“Something’s going on. Please tell me.”
Irene came around the truck and stopped, setting her hand on her chest. Her eyes held a mixture of worry and determination, all of it focused on Kelsey. “You’ll stay with me. No arguments.”
I looked between the two, saw the way Kelsey’s eyes flared wide.
She waited for Kelsey to nod. “Good. I’ll be with the police until you’re ready.” She disappeared into the darkness.
“Why the hell do you need to stay with Irene?”
“Because,” she began, then ran a hand over her face. I thought maybe she’d tell me, but she only said, “Just because.”
I leaned against the back of the fire truck, exhausted. “Fuck, sugar. Are we even friends?”
Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“I know what you taste like.” I ran my thumb back and forth over the bare skin of her stomach where the tank top had ridden up. Her skin was so fucking soft. Like silk. “I thought maybe we were at least friends. More even. I don’t sixty-nine my friends.”
“I…” she trailed off, for once at a loss of what to say. I took advantage and pressed on.
“Let me help you.”
That seemed to be the wrong fucking thing because she stepped back, shook her head and started to walk off. What the fuck?
I hopped up and chased after her. She’d headed away from the scene and into the darkness.
I grabbed her hand and stopped her. She whirled around, her hair swirling around her bare shoulders.
“I don’t want your help!” she hissed.
“Well, you’re going to get it,” I said, leaning down and tossing her over my shoulder.
She pounded her fists on my lower back. “Sawyer! You can’t keep doing this.”
I was taking her back to the ranch. Dealing with this shit where she couldn’t keep bolting. I started toward the road to my truck and realized I’d driven the fucking fire engine. “Fuck!” I shouted into the night.
“Brother.” Huck appeared, one of the emergency vehicle’s headlights silhouetting him. “Got a problem?”
“I’m taking Kelsey home with me, but she’s not being cooperative.”
“I’m right here,” she snapped. “Put me down, you Neanderthal.”
Huck arched a brow and slowly shook his head as if he was thinking of revoking my man card. I couldn’t help but grin in return because he’d find his woman and would be in some kind of fuck-all situation like this. Payback would be a bitch.
“I need to talk with her,” he said, using his cop voice.
“Get in line,” I countered, not caring about his reason. “But like I said, cooperation isn’t her thing.”
“I’m still right here!” she shouted, pinching my back above the top of my bunker pants.
Huck looked at Kelsey’s upturned ass, and I realized she only had on tiny sleep shorts. His gaze shifted to me, then rolled his eyes. “You owe me one,” he said.
I frowned, but he continued. “Kelsey Benoit, you’re under arrest for suspicion of arson.”
She stiffened on my shoulder.
My eyes widened. “What the fuck, dude?”
“You want to question your woman but can’t control her? I’d say she’s not going to escape if she’s behind bars.”
I caught on fast and couldn’t help but grin at Huck. Yeah, I owed him one. She was going to tell me what the fuck was going on. All of it. She’d stay in jail until she did.
9
KELSEY
“I really don’t like you,” I said to Huck Manning through the bars of the cell. He held out a navy t-shirt, and I snagged it then worked it over my head and arms. It had The Bend Police in big letters on the front and hung down mid-thigh. My feet were still bare, but at least my braless state wasn’t quite as obvious now.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied. His arms were crossed over his chest, his stance wide. His gaze raked over me, and he nodded, seemingly to himself that I was covered.
Sawyer had carried me over to Huck’s police SUV and ensured I climbed in—to the front passenger seat—and put my seatbelt on. Since the preschool had burned down, I was pretty much out of a job, but being put in the backseat of a police car in front of a group of small town lookiloos, I’d never be able to work with kids again. I was thankful he understood that. Thankfully, Huck had as well and hadn’t slapped any cuffs on me.
I hadn’t said a word while Sawyer did all that. I’d been so angry and frustrated with him, he might need to pour water over my head about the smoke coming out of my ears. He hadn’t said anything, just checked that my belt was secure, gave me a look that I hadn’t been able to read, then walked off and got back to work. He was the fire chief, and there’d been a fire.
As for me and Huck, we didn’t talk the half a mile to the police station or when he led me to the only jail cell in the place. I wasn’t sure if it was because he wasn’t a man of many words or because he didn’t talk to people he arrested. He hadn’t read me my rights like they did on cop shows.
“It’s whether you like my brother that matters,” he added. A voice came through the walkie talkie on his hip, and he turned it down, not looking away from me. He had the same pale blue eyes as Sawyer.
“I’m not sure if I like him right now either,” I replied, frowning and taking in the bare space. This was definitely a first.
Huck ran a hand back and forth over his head as he studied me.
“I didn’t set the fire,” I told him.
“I know.”
My mouth fell open. “Then why am I here?”
“Because while you may not like him, Sawyer likes you.”
“So you arrested me for him?”
“Yup.” He turned and walked off, down the short hallway and through the door that led to the main room of the station. This wasn’t a big city. The building was old and small and didn’t appear to get much use.
There wasn’t any noise except for the muffled ringing of a phone and air through a vent in the ceiling. I sat on the bed, careful to sit on the edge and very daintily. I had no idea who or why the last person had been in here.
I hadn’t even settled onto the scratchy blanket before I heard the door open, heavy footsteps, and then Sawyer appeared. He was winded, as if he’d run from the fire scene. He’d ditched his thick fire pants and boots and was now in jeans and fire t-shirt. Soot coated his face and n
eck. I couldn’t get over how attractive he was. Earlier, in his gear, he’d been like a calendar model.
I popped up. “Sawyer Manning, get me out of here.”
He looked me over, took in the police t-shirt and my bare legs. His jaw ticked. “Not until we talk. I’m tired of you running.”
“Fine,” I snapped.
He tipped his head back and laughed. “A woman saying ‘fine’ means everything but fine. Why do you keep pushing me away?”
My shoulders slumped, and I looked down at the concrete floor. I refused to think about the germs that were now on my bare feet. “You’re being too nice!”
His eyes widened, and he stared at me for a second surprised by my answer. “You want me to be an asshole?”
I gave a slight shake of my head and closed my eyes. “No. It’s… I won’t be reliant on a man. My ex was all nice like you’re being.”
“Reliant? I’m offering to help, not own you.”
I blinked my eyes open, saw the exasperation on his face. “What’s the difference? I take your help now, but what happens later? I can’t do it, Sawyer.”
He set his hands on his narrow hips, and I remembered the first time I saw him I admired the way he moved them. Then I remembered other ways he moved them so well, which wasn’t helping at all. “Do what? You’re the one who bought me. Fucked me. Am I just a dick you can ride? I mean, you tossed me aside earlier. You keep pushing me away. Running away from what is really fucking good.”
Oh shit. His words were well aimed and pierced my heart. Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them away. There was no way I was crying here. Now. “I told you before that first time, it meant nothing.”
He shook his head, took a step closer to the bars. “Then? Maybe. Maybe it had all been attraction. Need. To taste you, fuck you. Get you out of my system. But now? Now you can say what we have means nothing?”
He was so right. Even the other night in the preschool, I’d been lying to myself. Even then, after just meeting him, it had meant something. I had no idea how since we’d only known each other a few hours, but… I’d felt it even then. I wasn’t talking about his dick, either.
“We only met yesterday, and you want me in your bed.”
“I do, but I’m not asking you to marry me. Hell, like you said, we just met. But there’s something here, and I want to play it out. See what happens.”
Still… it was scary as hell. “Don’t you get it?” I shouted. My face was probably flushed, and the way I waved my arms in the air, I probably looked a little wild. Frantic.
Through the bars, he grabbed my shoulders, gave me the slightest of shakes. “No, I fucking don’t.”
I took a breath, and this time when the tears filled my eyes, they slipped down my cheeks. I frantically wiped at them. “If I let you help me, I’ll lose myself.”
He stilled, stared.
“Says who?” he asked, all the fight gone from his voice. “You? Fuck, sugar. If I don’t have you wet and melting all over my dick, you’re so fucking prickly, like a damned cactus. You make it so hard to get close, but you’re going to let me in. I want to see you, the real you, like earlier in the stable. Fuck, you’re gorgeous when you give yourself to me. Let me make you smile as much as I make you come.”
My mouth fell open at all that. God, was he a firefighter or a poet? My pussy clenched, and I was eager for those orgasms.
“I can’t give you everything,” I admitted. “I can’t be my mother, and you can’t be my ex.”
He lifted a hand and cupped my jaw, swiped my tears away with his thumb. “I see you, sugar. That’s the problem, isn’t it?”
“I need you to be an asshole,” she whispered.
“Not happening,” he said, looking at me in a way that said he wasn’t arguing about it. “We solved this when you kneed me in the balls.”
I couldn’t help but huff, softening to him.
“Come on, I’ll take you home.”
My heart flipped. We were right back where we started. “You can’t.”
He swore under his breath, and his arms fell back to his sides. “Why not?”
“Will you stop asking me questions?”
“No.”
“You’re so pushy.”
“You’re so fucking prickly. Why can’t I take you home?”
“Because I don’t have one!” I snapped my mouth shut as if the words fell out, which they had.
“What—” He didn’t say anything else. He blinked, and then awareness flared. He’d guessed earlier but hadn’t put it together until now.
It was that light bulb moment that had me crumbling. Crying. I spun on my heel, so he wouldn’t look at me, put my hands over my face.
From one second to the next, I was wrapped in strong arms and pressed into his chest, a big hand cupping the back of my head.
“Wait, how…” I got the words out through the tears.
“Huck didn’t lock the cell,” Sawyer murmured, kissing the top of my head.
His words had my tears stopping for a second, made me realize I really didn’t like Huck Manning. But when Sawyer whispered, “Sugar,” I started crying all over again.
I had no idea how long I cried for. Or why specifically I was actually doing so. At first, I’d been so frustrated with Sawyer, so angry that he’d been pushing me that I’d told him the truth. Or that Huck had arrested me, so I’d be forced to share my secrets.
At some point, Sawyer sat down with me in his lap and just held me. That had made me cry even more because… God, he felt so good. So strong. I wanted to sink into him, so I had, just let it all out. The cheating ex, the shitty roommate, how I’d fallen for both of them. Even my mother. No matter how hard I tried not to be like her, I couldn’t prevent it. I couldn’t help the feelings I had for Sawyer. How much I wanted to sink into them and be happy.
I finally stopped, wiped my face on his sooty t-shirt. He stroked my hair back and tipped my head, so I met his eyes.
“You called 9-1-1 because you were in the fucking fire because you’ve been staying in the preschool?”
I nodded.
“For how long?”
“A few weeks.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked. All of his earlier frustration was gone.
“I got myself into a mess, and I was going to get myself out.”
“Tell me. All of it. And don’t even think of bickering about it. We’re a little past that now.”
I sniffed then rubbed my nose. “I told you I followed a guy here, that he was married.”
“Yeah.” His jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything else.
“I’d quit my job in Colorado, found someone to sublet my apartment. I had all my stuff in a rental trailer and came up here. I couldn’t go back after I learned the truth.” I took a deep breath, not thrilled to relive my fuck up. “Online, I found someone who was looking for a roommate, got the job at the preschool. Two months in, I came home from work and discovered she’d moved out. Took her stuff. And mine. Left me with a mattress on the floor, my clothes. I think if we were the same size, she’d have taken those too. And she took my rent money.”
“Here in The Bend?”
I shook my head. “No, in Floyd.” The town was ten miles away. “I couldn’t pay the rent, not my half and certainly not my roommate’s half as well. I was evicted, and since I was broke, I had no place to go.”
“What about asking your parents for money or savings or—”
I shook my head and wiped away a strand of hair that stuck to my wet cheek. “I never knew my father, and my mom texted earlier asking for rent money. Ironic, huh?”
“That’s why you were so upset at the community center earlier?”
I nodded. “I got her message after we left the ranch. The Phoenix guy dumped her.”
“What about savings?” he asked.
“Student loans have sapped me, but what little I had saved went to the move, so there wasn’t enough for a deposit on a new place.” I dropped my for
ehead against his chest. “I was an idiot.”
He ran a hand over my hair. “You trusted. That’s not being an idiot. What did you do?”
“I already had the job here at the preschool, so I was getting a paycheck but not fast enough to get a place to live. A motel was too expensive for more than a night. Irene figured out what happened. She let me stay at her place. I slept on the couch. One of her kids put peanut butter on my nose while I was sleeping. I smeared it on my face, and I woke up to one of her dogs licking it off. Obviously, her house is insane. I asked if I could crash in the preschool until I got back on my feet. I figure another few weeks, and I’d be able to get a place on my own. Now though...”
“You’re coming home with me.”
I wanted to say yes. So bad. Instead, I shook my head. “I can’t,” I whispered.
He tugged on my hair, so I looked at him again. It wasn’t painful, but the pull reminded me of how in control he could be, especially when we were naked. “Can’t or won’t?”
“I have no place to live. I obviously have no job now. I can’t just go home with you and have you take care of me. It’s the one thing I’ve tried to avoid.”
“Having someone take care of you?” He looked… bewildered, as if I were speaking another language. “It’s okay to rely on people.”
“Like I relied on my ex and ended up stuck in Montana? Like my mother moves in with a guy, gets dumped and is homeless without any money?”
“Stop comparing me to your ex. You can stay with me until you get your apartment. No strings.”
I shook my head and pushed off his lap. He let me go but tangled his fingers with mine as if wanting to keep touching me. I wanted to run, especially with the cell’s door open. It was exactly what I wanted to do although the pull to climb right back in his lap was just as strong.
I didn’t want to walk out into the main part of the police station and face Huck either. The ass.
Sawyer didn’t understand. He had two brothers. A housekeeper who seemed to care about all three of them enough to auction them off in the hope of finding love. He was Seesaw. He’d never be alone.