Once Gini got the zipper down, she peeled the sides away from his hips. She edged the pants down until they gathered at his bent knees. She did the same to his boxer shorts. Patrick watched as her brows lowered. She either didn’t like what she saw or felt sorry for him. Patrick held his breath and maneuvered the pants and boxer shorts off his legs.
Gini traced a line from the scars on his chest over his hips to the scars on his thigh. “You’ve been through so much, Patrick. We both have.” She slid her hand over to the soft, unblemished skin covering his erection, and firecrackers went off in Patrick’s body.
His head lolled back as Gini coaxed him to greater lengths. All the blood in his body rushed to fuel the fire she was starting. He had a fleeting thought she could literally set him on fire, but that thought vanished the more she stroked him. Being set on fire would be worth it if it meant having Gini touch him like this. Her hands were both gentle and demanding, priming him, getting him ready to fill her needs. And oh, did he want to fill them.
Patrick tested her center with his fingers, dabbed into that sweltering moistness, and Gini let out a growl that made his head swim. She was a large feline stretched beneath him, soft yet muscular, playful as a kitten yet hungry as a tiger. He kissed a trail from her belly button through the valley of her breasts, taking the time to nibble at her throat. A buzzing purr vibrated beneath his lips as he continued the expedition up to her mouth. She kissed him as if she wanted to devour him.
“Now, Patrick, please.” Gini pulled him down so their bodies pressed together, his rough flesh against her silk.
Patrick kissed her once more then plunged into the inferno between Gini’s legs. She cried out at first, and he froze. Not easy to do when all he wanted was to drive himself deeper, be a part of her.
“Are you okay?” He rose to his elbows and looked at Gini’s face. Her eyes were glossy, dreamy.
Gini nodded. “I never…I never did this before.” She turned her head away and closed her eyes.
Patrick nudged her face back to him with a finger to her chin. When she opened her eyes, they were full of uncertainty.
“Neither have I.” He took her hand and rubbed it along his left side. “This happened when I was sixteen before I’d had a chance to…do this with anyone. I only tried once to have sex after the scars, and that ended…” He couldn’t finish.
“That ended badly,” Gini said.
“She couldn’t deal with it. Maybe I couldn’t either.”
“The first time I started a fire,” Gini began, “I was seventeen. My boyfriend tried to force himself on me. I wasn’t ready. I said no. He didn’t want to hear it. Ticked me off, so I accidentally blew up his car.” She let out a breath. “I was so scared I’d hurt someone that I never let anyone get that close again.”
“You’re not scared now, are you?” Patrick began to edge himself out of Gini, but she clamped her hands around him, digging her fingers into his back.
“Not at all. I want this, Patrick. Do you?”
“More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
Gini slid her hands down to cup Patrick’s bottom. She pulled her hips away slightly then edged them back toward him, fitting him neatly inside her.
Patrick’s mouth dropped open, and his heart raced in his chest. Before he could recover, Gini rolled him to his back. Her satiny bottom crested his hips, and each adjustment she made in her position sent Patrick into a hazy bliss. The borders of his vision blurred, music sounded in his head, his body became weightless.
He was flying.
Gini’s hair tickled the unscarred portion of his chest, his neck, his face as she leaned forward and rocked her body back and forth. This rhythm was one he’d never forget, one he wouldn’t be able to live without. His body and Gini’s were two halves of a whole, links in a chain. Patrick felt as if he were under a spell, an ancient love magic changing his view of the world, sprinkling stardust over the darkness he’d been lost in for so long.
Gini let loose a breathy sigh as she increased her strokes. She brought Patrick to the edge of sanity, and he fought not to release himself too soon. He matched her movements, sensual synchronicity. Their bodies rose and fell as one. Patrick could no longer tell where he ended and Gini began. They were a circle, fused by passion, bound by love.
Love? Yes, that was the word he meant. Patrick just now realized he’d loved Gini from the first moment he saw her in the fire station. How could he not love her? She was amazing in every sense of the word. Like no one he’d ever met or would meet again.
Gini’s body shuddered atop him, and when Patrick looked up at her face, he could hold back no longer. They climaxed together, her body hot and shaking above, his body slick and piercing below. When he let go, spilled himself inside her, Gini’s legs tightened on either side of his hips, and a throaty laugh filled the bedroom. The sound of it made Patrick burrow himself deeper into her heat until she collapsed onto his chest. Her hand rested on his scars, and he placed his hand over hers.
All those years searching for a way to rid himself of the scars and all he’d needed was Gini.
****
“Here we go.” Gini breezed into her bedroom toting two heaping bowls of maple walnut ice cream. “I added a surprise to yours.” She handed one bowl to Patrick, who sat up in her bed and leaned against the headboard.
“Blueberries.” Patrick smiled, and Gini got heated up all over again under her light summer robe.
“Picked them from the garden.” She climbed into bed next to Patrick with her own bowl.
“You’ve got everything you need at this farm.” Patrick shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
“I do now.” Gini dropped a kiss on Patrick’s cheek before scooping up some ice cream as well.
Patrick shifted the bowl to his left hand and slid his right arm around Gini’s shoulders. He pulled her closer and kissed her temple.
“I never knew it could be like this, Gini,” he said.
“Perfect?”
“Yeah, perfect.”
Gini met Patrick’s mouth as he lowered his head toward her. Funny how maple walnut ice cream tasted better on his lips. Of course soapy suds in the shower they’d taken together before resettling in her bed had also tasted pretty damn good. Patrick had shied away a little when Gini had turned on the bathroom lights over the vanity, but she’d prodded him toward the shower with red-hot kisses and whispers of how attractive he looked to her.
And it was true too. Although he had stood naked in the middle of the bathroom, bright lights hiding nothing and every scar from chest to thigh revealed, Gini found Patrick breathtaking. She saw strength in those scars.
“I was thinking,” Gini began, “although I can easily see how I could be happy forever, if I were to get angry and you know, accidentally start a fire, you’d be the best equipped to put it out and keep everyone around me safe.” She looked up at him and twisted a curl between her fingers.
“I am professionally trained,” Patrick agreed. “You’d be in capable hands.” He raised an eyebrow, and Gini smirked.
“Those hands definitely have many talents.” She thought about how he’d touched her, gentle yet strong. She’d felt totally safe, totally…loved. Good Goddess, she did love Patrick. He now knew everything about her, more than her own family knew. He knew her secret and also how to make her growl like a lioness.
Gini dove back into her ice cream to cool off. If this wash of heat kept up, she’d be able to turn off the furnace in her house all winter. Nothing like a man in one’s bed to make everything warm and cozy.
Saber jumped up into Gini’s lap and sniffed at her ice cream. Midas, lounging at the end of the bed, raised his head to see what the cat was up to. Saber slinked over to Patrick and nudged his arm until he made room for the cat next to his thigh. Saber sniffed at Patrick’s bowl, which was empty by now, circled three times, and rubbed his cheek against Patrick’s exposed waist.
Gini watched as Patrick’s eyes softened to a mossy green
-brown while Saber, clearly unruffled by the scars, nestled closer. When one furry paw stretched to rest against Patrick’s stomach, Saber closed his eyes and leaned his head on Patrick’s thigh. Patrick closed his eyes too, and Gini itched to take a picture to keep with her always. To remember the happiest day of her life.
“Animals are so accepting.” Patrick’s voice was raspy.
“That’s why I like helping at the Burnam Animal Shelter,” Gini said. “Every time I go there, I feel like I can be myself. I don’t have to pretend. The animals don’t care I’m a freak. They just care that I’m there to scoop their poop, give them a bath, feed them, or cuddle with them. Love them.”
Patrick nodded. “The shelter means a lot to you.”
“It’s been there when I needed a place to hide.”
Patrick’s lips puckered out and drew back in, creating a slight dimple in his right cheek. Gini pressed her lips into that indentation and felt a smile edge across Patrick’s face.
“Get your camera, Gini,” he said.
“What?” Gini almost dropped her bowl of nearly finished ice cream. She fumbled around with it, her spoon clanging loudly against the ceramic. “What did you say?”
“Your camera. Get it. You can have a picture for your calendar.”
Gini’s mouth opened and closed as she sputtered around for words. Patrick’s hand on her forearm settled her.
“As long as you take it from the right somehow. I obviously don’t want any of this in the picture.” He gestured to his left side.
“I can do that.” Gini jumped off the bed and stopped abruptly at the bedroom door. “Are you sure, Patrick? You don’t have to do this.”
“After hearing the way you talked about the animal shelter? Seeing your face as you thought about it? Yeah, I’m sure. It’s for a good cause, and you are a fantastic photographer. I’m sure you can make even me look presentable.”
“The camera does all the work, Patrick. And it doesn’t lie. You’ll see. You are presentable. More than presentable. Damn gorgeous.”
She bounded out of the room in search of her camera before Patrick changed his mind. When she returned, Patrick had his uniform pants on and was walking around the bedroom holding Saber. He was saying something to the cat, but stopped talking once Gini entered. She wished she could ask Saber later what Patrick had told him, but that cat refused to gossip.
“How about if we take Saber and Midas out to the barn?” Gini asked. “There’s still enough light outside for a wonderful dusky shot.”
Patrick followed Gini down the hall through the living room to the back door. Midas trotted ahead and picked a spot Gini would have selected herself. Honeysuckle vines climbed the back of the barn, offering a splash of yellow against the red painted wood. The setting sun cast a pinkish curtain of light over the area. Just perfect.
“Over here.” Gini tugged on Patrick’s arm, and he let her position him. She angled him so his left shoulder leaned against the barn, casting everything he didn’t want exposed into the shadows. He still held Saber, and the cat’s fluffy body covered most of his chest, so even the unscarred half was hidden. Sunlight kissed Patrick’s muscled shoulders and arms, however, reminding Gini again of his strength.
Midas sat at Patrick’s feet, poised and picturesque—a symbol of duty, loyalty, companionship. He was a sleek black wolf and Gini clapped her hands. Sex and photos. Could this day get any better?
“You guys all look fantastic,” she said. “Don’t move a muscle.” She held up her camera and centered the three of them. Gini had offset many of the other fighter pictures to add variety and interest to the calendar, but she had to center Patrick. He was the focal point. No mistaking it. He was her focal point. Thinking that made her insides do a happy dance.
Is it possible that I’ll never be angry again? That I’ll never have to worry?
Gini shook her head and snapped photos. She clicked the shutter until Saber squirmed in Patrick’s arms and jumped down. Neither Midas nor Patrick had moved an inch.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Patrick.” She held out her hand, and he took it. “I do know your picture in the calendar will make a difference to all those animals at the shelter.” She reached up on her toes and kissed Patrick. He circled his arms around her waist, and they fell into a passionate game of tongue tag.
As Gini’s mind and body were drifting on a cloud, Patrick ripped his mouth from hers.
“How big is the animal shelter?” he asked. “Is it bigger than Groveston’s Market?” He stepped back from Gini.
“The shelter is huge, but with all the animals we service in this area, we still need to expan—”
“Come on.” Patrick cut her off and walked around her toward the house.
Gini ran to catch up. “Where are we going? Patrick, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong yet.” He opened the back door and ushered Saber, Midas, and Gini inside. “Be right back.”
Gini watched as Patrick jogged to his truck and pulled out his investigation kit. He dumped it on her kitchen table when he came back inside. After fishing around for a moment, Patrick extracted the evidence bag containing the children’s book they’d recovered from Groveston’s.
“What if this is a clue?” Patrick tapped the bagged book with his finger. “What if it points to the next target, Gini?”
The blood drained from Gini’s extremities causing a general numbness. “The shelter. You think the shelter is the next hit?”
“It could be. It’s bigger than the market, and this lunatic keeps upping the stakes. It would be a tough place to fight a fire, too, with all the animals and equipment.”
“We have to tell Mason.” Gini headed for the bedroom on shaky legs to get dressed. Patrick was right behind her, and he was all that was keeping her from coming unglued.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Raina’s voice filled Wolf’s Pub as Patrick led Gini to Mason’s table. As they approached, Jonah looked up and waved with his good arm. Haddy turned her head and smiled, one of her eyebrows raised. She poked Mason and pointed toward Patrick and Gini. A grin washed across Mason’s face when he saw them.
“Decided to join us, huh?” Mason asked. Both he and Jonah looked down to where Patrick was holding Gini’s hand, and their smiles grew wider. Haddy’s eyes were fixed on Gini’s face, and Patrick was certain they were using female telepathy to tell each other that sex had occurred. He couldn’t worry about what he and Gini showing up together meant to these people. He was about to ruin their evening, and he had to do it quickly.
“Mason, we found this at Groveston’s.” Patrick held out the bagged animal book, and Mason took it.
“A kid’s book? What’s special about a kid’s book? Groveston’s sells a bunch of these.” Mason looked at the book. “How did this one not get ruined though?”
“It was wedged above the shelves,” Gini said. “I saw it up there when I was taking photos.”
“We think it’s a clue,” Patrick added.
“The animal shelter might be the next target,” Gini said. “You need to send more police. We need to go there.”
Mason pulled out his cell phone, and Haddy helped Jonah to his feet.
“We’re coming too,” Jonah said. “I may be one-armed, but I got me two functional eyes.”
“I got me four.” Haddy tapped her glasses.
“You should be taking it easy, Jonah,” Gini said.
“He stopped taking it easy about two days ago,” Haddy said.
“You can’t keep men like us down.” Jonah glanced again to Patrick and Gini’s joined hands. “Right, Patrick?”
Patrick half-smiled. “I guess not. Not when there’s so much to do in life.”
“Did those words just come out of Patrick Barre’s mouth?” Raina asked as she sidled up beside her brother.
“They did.” Patrick eyed Raina and waited for a wisecrack.
“Interesting.” Raina winked at Gini, then slid her gaze to Mason. “What did they say to y
ou that’s causing that little crease between your brows, gorgeous?” She pressed her finger to it, and Mason caught her wrist, pretended to bite her finger off, and then paced away as he talked into his cell phone.
“Rivers here. Need available units to report to Burnam Animal Shelter ASAP. No sirens.” He snapped his phone shut and rejoined the group.
“Raina, we’ve got a lead on the arsonist’s next target thanks to your fantastic brother here,” Mason said.
“Don’t forget Gini. She found the book.” Patrick gestured to Gini and rather liked the feeling of being part of a duo. An entirely new yet comforting feeling. Gini smiled, but Patrick could tell her mind was focused on the shelter. Her worry over the animals only made him want her more if that was possible.
“So I guess this means you’re bailing on me?” Raina knocked her fist lightly against Mason’s chest.
“Sorry, but if we can head this whacko off before he, she, or it strikes again, that will be a good thing,” Mason said.
“It’s what I get for going for the hero type this time.” Raina shook her head, but stepped closer to Mason. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, “Be careful.”
“Always.” Mason kissed her once on the lips and led the way out of the pub. Jonah and Haddy followed right behind him.
“You be careful too,” Raina said to Patrick. “I’d like to see that glow coming off the two of you last.” She laughed and walked toward the stage to continue her set.
“Does everyone know we had sex?” Gini whispered.
“I was going to ask you that.” Patrick squeezed her hand and tugged her toward the door. “It doesn’t seem that anyone minds that we did.”
“They may have been the ones to get us to do it.” Gini laughed as they jogged to Patrick’s truck. Midas barked a greeting as they opened the doors and hopped inside.
“You could be right,” Patrick began as he started the truck and pulled out behind Haddy, “but in your bedroom…that was just us, Gini. What we wanted. What we needed.”
Firefly Mountain Page 28