The Single Dad - A Standalone Romance (A Single Dad Firefighter Romance)

by Claire Adams

  “God you’re going to ruin me,” he said, shaking his head. “Good at oral, full of great ideas for how to make sex better—I’m going to fail out.”

  I rolled my eyes and grinned, my cheeks warming with a blush. “Yeah well, you’re still responsible for your own choices. Study if you need to. You can always get more sex—you can’t get more hours in the day.”

  Zack laughed. “You aren’t entirely changed from the girl I knew and loved in high school,” he told me. “You’ve still got your eyes on the prize. If I had ever interfered with your studies back then you’d have broken up with me immediately.”

  I raised one finger. “I actually did break up with you for a while and for exactly that reason.” Zack furrowed his brow in confusion. “Oh, I didn’t tell you then but yeah. When we broke up for like two weeks in spring of my freshman year, it was totally because my grades had started slipping and I couldn’t even handle the idea that it was because of a boy.”

  “Leave it to you,” Zack said, shaking his head. “But you got back together with me.”

  I shrugged. “I was miserable without you, and anyway, I knew I just had to do better at being a student. Make better choices.”

  Zack laughed. “Yeah, you were always good at pointing the hose at me—so to speak—when I got you too distracted from what you were doing.”

  We both fell into a doze and I thought about the time I had spent with Zack when we had been in high school together, listening to the music and enjoying the closeness of his body next to me in the bed. My mind drifted in sleepy circles as Zack’s hands trailed over my body, touching and teasing me lightly. I knew neither of us was up to another round; not yet, anyway. But every last bit of tension was out of my body. It wasn’t like anything had been when we’d been together. There was a kind of sweetness to the ache I felt between my legs that I knew could easily be addictive. I closed my eyes as the music flowed around me and just floated.

  SLAMMED #3

  CHAPTER ONE

  I came back to myself all at once as I lay in Zack’s arms, floating in some place between asleep and awake. Zack’s body was pressed to mine, and I loved the sensation of his warm, velvet-soft skin, the steady thrumming of his heartbeat in my ear as I lay there with my face pressed to his chest. Half-asleep, Zack trailed his hands over my curves slowly, not trying to turn me on again, but caressing me lazily, producing a comforting tingle along my skin. I wanted to hang in that delicious state of almost-asleep forever; I wasn’t tired, but I had a bone-deep satisfaction that flowed through me, lighting up my veins, crackling through my nervous system. I thought idly that it would be nice to just keep lying there, and maybe wake up from the dreamy state just to roll over onto Zack and kiss him into another tryst.

  Through the thick fog of satisfaction, I realized that it had been lunch when I stormed out of the dining hall—and that I still had classes for the day. I sat up quickly and looked at the clock on my desk; it was just after two. My heart beat a little faster. I had a class in twenty minutes; I needed to get ready.

  “Hey,” I said, giving Zack’s shoulder a shake. “I need to get to class.”

  Zack stirred, opening his eyes and giving me a lazy smile.

  “What time is it?” He stretched and I couldn’t quite tear my gaze away from the sight of his naked body; he was all rippling muscle, with slight tan lines where his football gear sat, the skin paler there. I shook away my distraction and looked around for my clothes.

  “It’s two. Or just after.”

  Zack sat bolt upright in my bed and looked around until his gaze fell on the clock.

  “Shit. I gotta run too—or I’ll be late to practice.”

  He leaped off of the bed and grabbed for his clothes on the floor, a faint smile lingering on his lips. I put a robe on, telling myself I’d get dressed after he left; I was too distracted by the sight of him moving, taking in his tight, rounded ass, his muscled legs and thick shoulders as he pulled on his boxers, throwing his shirt over his head and then stepping into his jeans. Zack caught me staring and laughed, taking a moment to step up to me quickly and kiss me on the lips.

  “Walk me out?” he asked.

  I nodded, still tingling all over from the orgasm.

  Jess was coming out of her room as Zack and I walked to the door; I blushed as she caught my eye and winked at me, standing silently next to the bathroom. Zack stopped in the entranceway and turned, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling my body against his. “One more,” he murmured, brushing his lips along mine and then kissing me harder, his tongue probing my mouth for a few hot, fast moments before he broke away.

  “Catch you later, Evie,” he said with a little grin, opening the door. It was swinging shut behind him and I reeled slightly, smiling like an idiot in spite of myself.

  “Well, well, and well,” Jess said, crossing the room and looking me up and down with a knowing glance. “Let me just guess what you’ve been up to.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, shut up.” My cheeks were burning, and I sat against the back of a chair, unable to help the smile that kept tugging at my lips despite how embarrassed I felt. “He came and apologized for being an asshole, that’s all.”

  “Oh, so you accept all apologies naked in your bedroom, I see.” I shoved Jess’ shoulder as she laughed.

  “Okay, fine, we had sex again. It’s not that big a deal.”

  Jess crossed her arms over her chest and looked me up and down once more, snickering.

  “You know, the way you stormed out of the dining hall, I would not have thought you’d even let him in the room.”

  I shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought so either,” I admitted. “I sort of opened the door before I even thought about it, and there he was.”

  I told her about what Zack had told me—that he had intended to embarrass himself, not me, that it had been aimed at getting the stupid girls at his table to shut up.

  “I have to admit, I thought you were overreacting. No one in the DH was actually laughing at you—they thought Zack was being an idiot.”

  “Yeah, well, it felt an awful lot like they were—and I thought Zack was doing it just to be a jerk, like he didn’t mean it.”

  “Be careful, Evie,” Jess suggested. “But I will admit that announcing that he’s in love with you in front of the entire dining hall is a pretty good indication that he feels something at least. It was kind of romantic.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It was dumb and silly. But I’m glad he came and apologized to me. I made him promise no more public spectacles.”

  “Well in fairness to him, the last one was all you.”

  I shook my head, still smiling, and turned to go back to my room.

  “Oh! Did you by any chance think to grab my bag?” My cheeks were burning again and I realized I had forgotten all about the fact that I’d left my backpack behind in the dining hall when I’d fled Zack’s public declaration of love.

  “I did, in fact. What would you do without a conscientious roommate like me?” Jess went into her bedroom and came back out a moment later, carrying my backpack.

  “If I didn’t have a conscientious roommate like you I wouldn’t have been the subject of two very embarrassing public displays because I would have never run into Zack at the party you made me go to.”

  “So then, you still wouldn’t be getting laid, is what you’re saying.”

  I couldn’t say anything to that—she was, technically, right. “I can get my own guys!” I shouted as Jess sauntered back to her room.

  I had to hurry to get ready; there was my assignment for class to print out, and of course I couldn’t walk across campus in my bathrobe. I found my clothes and put them on while I printed my assignment for the class, humming along with the music still playing on my computer. My body was tingling still, and I could feel a ghost of the sensation of Zack’s cock inside of me, the lingering wetness between my thighs from the sex we’d had.

  ****

  I managed to make it to class on ti
me, hurrying across campus and avoiding everyone’s gaze as my cheeks burned. I didn’t know how many of the people I passed on the walkways had seen Zack’s pronouncement of love in the dining hall—or how far the word of it had spread throughout campus since I’d gone back to my room. It had been an hour and a half since I’d run back to my dorm—so it could have easily spread throughout half the campus already. I wondered, feeling mortified, if someone had gotten a video of it; they probably had.

  Once I was in class, I tried to turn my thoughts firmly onto the task at hand, but I found my attention straying every few minutes. I imagined Zack at practice, running through plays, doing the standard exercises that seemed to always come up for football players. I assumed that the routine at the college level wasn’t that different from what I had seen Zack work through when we had been dating in high school; there were only so many ways that a team could practice. I thought, remembering the article I had turned in and the stakes of the last game, that running plays and staying in fighting shape were more important than ever for the team. As long as they managed to win the next big game, our team would go on to national championships—a major bowl game that could bring fame to our school. If Zack were the man in charge of the team when that happened, he’d have a permanent reputation at the college for years to come.

  In a flash, I remembered Zack’s hands on me, the image of him in my mind firmly replacing the thoughts of him virtuously at practice, focused on running plays. My cheeks burned with a deep blush as I played through the way Zack buried his face between my legs, my mind sending ghostlike jolts of remembered sensation through my body as I tried not to squirm in my seat, heat rushing through my body from head to toe. When we had dated in high school, Zack had been okay with his hands—I could easily remember him getting me off with his fingers—but he’d never been too interested in going down on me. I shivered in the memory of how enthusiastic he had become.

  I took notes mindlessly, hearing and not hearing the lecture going on in the front of the classroom, thinking about the strange set of events that had led to having Zack in my bed. I smiled to myself, remembering the sight of him stretching; the thick, dark patch of hair tangled around the base of his cock, the ripple of his abdominal muscles, the deep cut of his hip bones. I felt giddy and satisfied, worried and contented all at once, and I knew—in a sudden flash—that I was every bit as infatuated with Zack as I had been in high school, that it would be incredibly easy to fall head over heels in love with him just the way I had before. The thought of that gave me a moment’s pause. I had fallen completely and totally in love with Zack when we’d dated in high school, and he had ended up breaking up with me—he had left. We were in the same position in college as we’d been when we’d first started dating; even if we lasted the semester, and then Spring, what would happen when it came time for Zack to graduate?

  But it was too soon to be worrying about what would happen years in the future. For the moment, I could let myself think of Zack without too much danger. He was undoubtedly every bit as hot as he’d been when we’d dated before, but he’d changed too. He was better in bed by far than he had ever been when we were both in high school. The subject of Zack apparently going to the library every day tugged at my mind; was he really studying? If he was, then he had definitely changed. If he was goofing off, then it was a little strange that he would pick that location. I felt a flush of heat rush through my body as I remembered the time we had sex, on the couch of his frat house; I thought about how he had seduced me so easily, kissing me until I was so turned on I couldn’t have formed the word no if I had wanted to—and I certainly didn’t want to. I shivered as I remembered how eagerly he had buried his face against my pussy, sucking and licking until he brought me to an intense orgasm.

  I went from one class to another and still couldn’t shake the thought of Zack; I relived the acute embarrassment of his impulsive decision to apparently announce his love of me to as much of the campus at one time as he could. I saw him in my mind’s eye climbing up onto the table and getting every last person’s attention, looking at the girls and the guys at his table before telling everyone, “I want everyone to know that I am stupidly, head-over-heels, hung up on Evelyn Jackson. She’s the only girl for me. No one else could ever compare with her.” I couldn’t quite make myself believe that he was actually in love with me, per se; but when I thought about the way he’d done something so rash and stupid to shut up the girls making fun of me, I had to admit that my reaction had been a bit much.

  I was struggling to pay attention during the last class of the day but failing miserably as my mind kept drifting back to the incredibly hot sex that Zack and I had in the aftermath of our fight. I smiled to myself as I remembered telling him that I could get him off just as thoroughly as he’d brought me to orgasm, and the silly wager we had made—and of course how I’d won it. Zack’s words, in his low, pleased voice, filled my mind. “God, you’re going to ruin me. Good at oral, full of great ideas for how to make sex better—I’m going to fail out.” I made myself pay at least enough attention to get the notes off of the board; it was lucky for me that my last class of the day was English Literature, something that I could do well in even if I occasionally lost myself in thought. In spite of the bone-deep satisfaction I felt after my afternoon tryst, my mind kept coming back to the question of whether it was all going to end this time the way it had before; was Zack just going to move on once he graduated? Or would he wait for me? I shook off the thought as best as I could. We’d had sex twice, and Zack had publicly declared his love for me—but that wasn’t exactly an indication that there was anything serious between us, no matter how tempting that possibility might be.

  ****

  After class ended, I walked back towards the dorms, still distracted by thoughts of Zack. He wanted to see me again; well, I thought, of course he did. Even if he wasn’t serious about me, I knew good and damned well that I was an excellent lay. I didn’t need his confirmation of it, but his words had expressed how much he’d enjoyed himself—just as much as I had. So of course Zack would want more of that. I grinned to myself as I swiped my card to get into the building, barely noticing the world around me, my thoughts alternating between the homework I had to do and the thought of when I might see Zack again. Would he ask me on another date? And if he did, where would he take me?

  I took the stairs once more, climbing them slowly and dreamily, able to feel the aching tenderness between my legs. I would text Zack once I got back to my room, I thought; he should be out of practice and maybe we could make plans. I had to get my homework done, but maybe Zack would be willing to come up to my room and we could study together and then have sex again. That was a good date, no matter who you were. Or maybe Zack would be up for going to the movies in a few days, and coming back to my room afterward; in spite of the fact that our first sexual encounter at the college had taken place on the couch at his frat house, I didn’t like the idea of going to the frat house to be with Zack. I could still remember his brother’s comment about me being Zack’s piece of ass. I didn’t think that Zack took the same view—I hoped he didn’t—but I didn’t want to hear it from anyone else, either.

  My mind kept going back to the way Zack had improved in the time we had been apart. The thought of him—of what it was like to have sex with him—was so intense that I felt myself getting turned on in spite of the fact that I was walking around campus, into the dorms, up to my room. I thought about calling Zack, inviting him over to have one more little quickie in my room before dinner. I could still feel the ache between my hips when I moved, the sweet feeling of tenderness between my thighs that was so satisfying. I wanted more of it—I couldn’t help but want more. I smiled to myself. I could easily just offer Zack a massage; after practice he’d definitely want one, and he’d know right away that it was the perfect opening for sex.

  I was so lost in thought that I didn’t spot the guy in front of my dorm room until I was nearly at the door. I looked up and saw one of
the guys who had been sitting with Zack in the dining hall at lunch standing right there, looking up and down the hallway. The sight of him confused me; since he was on the team, I had to suppose that I’d been right—practice was over for the day. But what was he doing hanging around in front of my dorm room? The guy was bigger than Zack—bulky and hefty where Zack was lean and muscled, with dark hair already starting to thin at the top in the crew cut he wore. He shifted uncomfortably and watched me as I approached, his pale gray eyes firm and his lips pressed together.

  “Uh, hi? Who are you and what do you want?” I shifted my backpack, feeling an instinctive fear creeping up from my stomach.

  “Hey,” he said, trying to give me a friendly smile, but I could tell he was tense about something. “I’m Robbie—I’m on the team with Zack. How’s it going?”

  I shrugged, feeling impatient. “I’m doing pretty well—or I was until I found some strange guy standing outside of my door looking like a creeper.” I raised an eyebrow and Robbie shrugged uncomfortably. I set my jaw. “Maybe you’d rather just get the point of why you’re here.”

  Robbie looked at his feet for a moment before meeting my gaze. “Look,” he said, “You need to just cut Zack loose.”

  I frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?” My heart was beating fast, and I wondered if Zack had told all of his teammates about me.

  “I know you don’t know me and we’re not friends, but consider it a personal favor. Don’t hang out with him, don’t go on dates with him, leave him alone.”

  I felt anger mixed with confusion rising inside of me. “Excuse me, but I don’t have any reason to do you a favor. I don’t know what’s going on in that big blockhead you’ve got going on, but this was probably the dumbest way to ask me to stop seeing Zack.” I shook my head in disbelief. “You don’t know me and you can’t do anything about what Zack wants to do.”

  “Listen—hey—I get it, but just hear me out…” The guy started forward, giving me an opening. I darted around him and got my key in the door quickly, unlocking it with a wrench and yanking the door open.