Into the Fire

by T A. McKay

  I see Noah enter the bathroom and walk over to stand behind me, placing his hands on either side of my body on the sink unit. Ours eyes meet in the mirror and I can see the heat in his. Everything below my waist clenches, knowing the promises that come with that look. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing pulse, but with him so close it’s a lost cause.

  “Noah, I don’t have time. I can’t be late for work, I have clients due.” One side of his mouth turns up, showing he really isn’t listening to a word I'm saying. He pushes the thin straps of my nightgown down over my shoulders, letting them brush over my arm as it tumbles to the ground. The look of hunger in his eyes intensifies as he takes in my naked body, and then he reaches out, running a single finger down my spine. I close my eyes in pleasure, goose bumps erupting all over my body.

  I open my eyes and take in his smile, he knows what he does to me. In that moment I know one thing for sure… I'm going to be late for work.

  I rush through the front door of the salon, hurrying my way through to the staff room to drop my bag. Tash is already in the room and when I enter like a whirlwind she looks at her watch and raises an eyebrow.

  “I know, I know. Don’t start with me. Just let me get a coffee and I will be good to go.” I walk over to the coffee machine in the corner and fill my mug that’s sitting next to it.

  “Your first client called, she’s running about thirty minutes late…which is a good thing apparently.” I take a deep breath, thankful that luck was with me this morning. Actually luck has been with me all morning, that’s the reason that I'm late now.

  “You never called yesterday to tell me how your date went.” I still, leaving my coffee mug inches from my mouth. She’s right, I was meant to call her to let her know how I got on with Lex, but with everything happening with Noah I totally forgot. I turn and look at her without even taking a drink. She’s sitting at the small table, looking like she has all the time in the world. I join her at the table, taking a large drink of coffee to help me with the conversation we are about to have.

  “Sorry, we went to Mason’s to see Quinn. I swear she’s the cutest baby I have ever seen. Is that my client?” I go to get up from the table, but Tash puts her hand on my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

  “Iris knows you’re here, she will get you if she turns up. So tell me how your date went.” So much for making an escape. Tash never lets anything go once she sets her sights on it, and her sights are set on answers.

  “The date was good, we had a nice meal and some good conversation.” Oh god, could I sound any less enthusiastic about it? We had good conversation, doesn’t that just sound like the start of every great love story? I see her nod her head, thoughts flashing behind her eyes. I can almost feel her not believing what I say.

  “Did you do anything after your meal?” I don’t like the tone of voice she has, or where this questioning is going. I should have just told her about Noah, he isn’t a secret, but I don’t want her to make a big thing out of it. I know she will totally over react, so I would rather tell her at home, where there isn’t a danger of the public being deafened.

  “He took me home after the meal, he was the perfect gentleman and walked me to my door.” She sits nodding more, her forehead scrunching up into a frown.

  “Did you get a goodnight kiss?” I just look at her, having no idea where she is going with these questions. Did Lex say that something happened between us?

  “No, Noah met us at the door and Lex left. Why all the questions?” She takes a drink of her coffee before answering, dragging out my torture a little longer.

  “No reason. It’s just you have a hickey on your neck and I was wondering who gave you it.” She chose to answer me as I was drinking, making me cough on my mouthful of coffee. My hand flies up to my neck, remembering Noah biting me this morning before I left. Shit! I get up from the chair and move quickly to the mirror. How did I not see it in when I was getting ready for work? Then I remember that I had a six-foot guy trying to convince me to stay with him, so my attention was elsewhere. I rub it gently, trying not to make it worse but hoping it will magically disappear. I'm going to kill Noah, he must have known he left a mark and chose not to tell me. The bloody caveman. I can’t help the smile on my lips as I think about him when he gets all alpha male on me. I have never wanted to be controlled by a man before, but when I'm with Noah I just want to give in to him, let him give, and take anything he needs.

  “Oh god, get that stupid look off your face. I know you got laid, now tell me by who.” I turn and look at her with my mouth open. She really should have been a guy with the mouth she has. She could make a sailor blush. Just as I’m about to tell her, Iris walks in and tells me that my client’s arrived. I walk to the door leading to the salon before Tash’s voice stops me.

  “Don’t you dare try and leave without telling me. I will hunt you down, woman!” I turn back to look at her, giving her my best innocent look. I think it’s time to have a little fun with Miss Owens. I walk away, but not until I give her the answer she’s waiting on.

  “It was Noah.”

  As I make my way across the salon I can hear her shouting in the back room. Telling me that I need to get my butt back there so she can talk to me. She needs details. I laugh at her dramatics as I stand behind my client.

  “Good morning, Lorraine. What am I doing for you today?”

  Noah

  I’ve been sitting in the meeting with the construction workers for the last hour. We’re working on the plans to extend the garage to fit in a work area for me and, as much as I should be excited, I can’t get my mind of a pretty little red head that rocked my world this morning.

  I'm torn from my thoughts when a pen comes flying across the table and bounces off my chest. I lean down and pick it up off the floor, looking across at Rocco who is looking pissed off.

  “What?” He just shakes his head at me before turning back to the foreman to talk.

  “We will have a look over the plans and finalise all the details, well once Noah gets his head out of arse.” I flip Rocco the bird while the guys leave the office.

  He returns to his seat across the table from me once he closes the door.

  “I thought once you got together with Madison you would be back in the game. What’s wrong?” I smile. I remember Mason telling me what Rocco was like when he first got with Makenzie, he was crazy in love and no use to anyone.

  “Don’t pretend you have forgotten what it’s like to be in love. I know from a little birdie that you weren’t so easy to work with not that long ago. That maybe Makenzie was a distraction for a while, and still is at times.” I see the slight colour on Rocco’s cheeks, but I'm not sure if it’s embarrassment or the memories he’s thinking about.

  “You can tell that little birdie that’s he’s going to get his arse kicked. But yes, I know that feeling well. I still get it now when I think of Makenzie. Knowing I'm going to marry her soon just messes with my mind. I didn’t imagine getting married, but when I see the woman who fell in love with me. Shit, I’m still blown away.” I can fully understand what he means now. I spent so long suppressing my feelings for Madison, that now that I’m able to show how I feel it’s like my feelings are on overload. When I'm with her I can stop touching her and not just in a sexual way even though I’m a walking hard on around her. I just need to feel that constant connection with her, to know that she’s there. When we’re apart my mind goes a little crazy, it feels like it’s going through withdrawal from her. I think I need to hand my man card back as I’m fully without my balls now I have my woman.

  “I feel you, brother. I didn’t think I would ever feel what I do now. I’ve loved Madison all my life, but I felt I couldn’t love her as much as I needed to because we weren’t together. Now that I know she has feelings for me, that I'm not the only one in this relationship, I'm free to be honest. Well, I can’t explain how much I love that woman but I'm going to marry her one day and give her a house full of children.” Rocco laughs at me
, grabbing the plans off the table.

  “Would you listen to us? We sound like a couple of girls having a chat about our first crushes. I'm glad Mason isn’t here to listen to us.” I laugh along with him, grabbing my phone from my pocket.

  “Shit, Mason would be worse than us now. Have you seen him with Quinn? The guy is like putty in her tiny little hands. The women in his life rule over him, and he’s only too happy to allow them to.” And it’s true. Mason was never a guy to be told what to do, especially by a woman, but now with Niamh in his life he has completely changed. He would do anything to make his girls happy, and I mean anything.

  I open my phone to the last text message from Madison. She sent me it this morning after she left for work, it gives me an instant erection when I read it. People only see the sweet Madison, but I get the naughty Angel and I love it

  ‘You made me late for work, but on the upside I can still feel you inside me. I think you may have ruined me for other men. X’

  I had mixed emotions when I read it. There was the pride of knowing what I’d done to her that morning, why she was sore, but there was also the possessiveness with her talk of other men. That kind of talk will just not fly.

  ‘I'm glad I made you late. Sorry, I will never apologise for that, now or in the future ;) And I'm glad you can feel me, I want to be with you all day. But I swear if you mention being with another man I will lose my shit woman. You are mine, do you hear me? MINE.’

  I felt better after my possessive outburst and I felt even better after her reply. I swear this woman knows what words to write to turn me on.

  ‘Yes Sir. I'm yours. Anywhere, anytime. I’m here for you to use that naughty little imagination on. X”

  Even reading over them now I feel my dick go semi hard in my jeans. I move in my seat trying to relieve some of the tension, but it fails to help.

  “Yeah. He is a smug fucker, especially for a guy who was never gonna settle down. I'm happy for him though. It’s good for him.” I know what he means. Mason protested too much that he wasn’t ever going to be faithful to one woman. I knew he just hadn’t found the one who made his world start turning. He used to give me so much shit for falling so hard for Madison, now he knows what it feels like.

  “Yeah, he’s a lucky fucker to find a woman like Niamh. The fact that she knows what he was like, and still loves him, well that’s something.” I type out a message to Madison while I talk. Needing to make contact with her in some way.

  ‘Hey Angel. Want to cuddle down tonight and watch a movie? I’ll grab ice cream and you bring your cute little arse ;) ’

  I have this need to spend the night holding her, just talking like we used to. This time though, if we get carried away we will be able to do something about it. My phone beeps in my hand and I look down at the incoming message.

  ‘You and ice cream? Count me in. X ’

  I make a note to grab ice cream on the way home, I can’t turn up without it. That only happened once, it was when we first started having our ‘sleepovers’ as we call them. I thought she was joking when she said I better not forget the ice cream, but she wasn’t. She made me leave in the pouring rain to go get a tub. I learnt that night that Madison has a great love of her dairy treat, and nothing will stop her from getting it. Not even a thunderstorm.

  ****

  I can’t believe I'm watching this movie again. I hated it the first time we watched it, and now on the seventh time, I hate it even more. I sigh heavily again, trying to get my point across but Madison is doing well ignoring me.

  “I hear you having a hissy fit over there, Mr Wolfman. Do you need something?” She thinks she’s funny, if she wants me to let the wolf out I will, and I will enjoy every single minute of it. . I turn on my side facing her. I rest my head on my hand and give her my best sexy smile.

  “Oh, Mr Wolf would love to come out and play.” I lean in to her, wanting to taste her lips. I don’t get my wish, instead I feel a hand against my head pushing me away.

  “Not so fast. I want to see the end of this film and if you kiss me that’s not going to happen.” I flop onto my back, letting out a very dramatic groan.

  “I hate this film, I just wanted a kiss to break my boredom.” I feel the bed move next to me before a warm body is lying on top of me. I wrap my arms around her hips, pulling her close to me.

  “Ah, so you want something to do? Something fun?” Her lips brush over mine as she speaks and I groan again, but for a very different reason this time. Thoughts of being inside her running through my head.

  “Oh, Angel. You know I'm all about the fun.” I lean forward to attack her lips but she moves back quickly, returning to her side of the bed.

  “Good. Then go get the ice cream while I watch the end of this.”

  I walk back to the bedroom from the kitchen with two ice cream cones in my hand. I was going to buy tubs when I went to the shop earlier but when I had seen the chocolate waffle cones my decision was made. Madison loves waffle cones, add chocolate to them and she is in heaven. I topped of the special treat with mint choc chip ice cream, knowing that she will love me forever for this.

  She sits up when she sees me enter, her eyes getting large when she spots what’s in my hand.

  “You got waffle cones?” She claps her hand, looking like a six year old, only a lot cuter. I sit on the bed and shuffle myself closer to her, handing her one. I lean forward and kiss her gently.

  “Yes, I got you waffle cones. I know what you like, Angel.” She kisses me back, her lips moving softly under mine. I'm tempted to throw the cone away and tackle her to the bed, but that’s the perfect way to get a punch.

  I watch as she starts to lick the ice cream that is starting to drip. Her eyes close in pleasure and she moans. I know exactly how she feels, but my rising erection has nothing to do with the ice cream. I forget the ice cream in my hand as I watch her intently, not wanting to miss a moment of this. I know it’s such an obvious thing but there is something highly sexual about a woman licking an ice cream cone, and I can’t stop my mind from going there. The longer I watch her enjoyment, the pure pleasure she gets from something so simple, the more I realise something. I love this woman, and I mean I really love this woman. She’s everything I’ve ever looked for in my life. I was sure that I would be able to live without her love, but I was very wrong. All those years I spent with Judi doesn’t compare to just the few days I’ve spent with Madison. It’s crazy when you think about it, we have only officially been together for a few days but it feels like we’re been together for much longer, like I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life, that moment when everything is perfect.

  “You’re staring, Noah.” She doesn’t even look up from the cone in her hand as she talks, surprising me a little.

  “Yes I am, Angel.” She smiles and looks up, our eyes meeting. She really is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her red hair shines like the sun, and the cute little freckles on her nose drive me insane with lust. I just want to kiss every single one of them, and then start again.

  “And why are you staring?” I can see the playfulness in her eyes, making them sparkle more than normal.

  “Because I love you.” She stops eating her ice cream, lowering the cone to lean against her leg.

  “I think I love you more than I have ever loved anything before. Everything about you is just perfect. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have a woman like you love me.” I see the colour creeping up her face as I declare my love for her. It’s in that moment that I know she is everything to me, I don’t need anything else from life except her. I move to sit in front of her, taking her ice cream cone and, along with mine, throw them both in the bin next to the bed. I cup her face in my hands, rubbing my thumbs along her cheeks. I don’t break eye contact as I speak gently to her, making sure she hears what I'm telling her.

  “Ask me again.” Her forehead scrunches up in confusion, not sure what I'm talking about.

  “The last time we were talking in this bed y
ou asked me a question, about where I saw my life. Ask me again.” She finally realises what I'm talking about and she asks the very important question. Her voice is breathy as she speaks.

  “Noah, where do you see your life in five years?” I kiss her lips, lingering a little longer than I planned, but she tastes like ice cream and her. I pull back slightly so I can see her eyes, but I keep my lips as close to hers as I can.

  “With you. In a month, a year, or in five years, I only see myself with you. I'm going to marry you. I think I have always known. And it’s gonna be soon. I’ve spent too much time not being your husband, I can’t wait much longer to be yours forever. And that baby you want? I'm going to give you that baby.” I reach forward and rub my hand over her stomach, picturing what it will look like when it gets round and full.

  Madison sniffs and I look up from her stomach, suddenly realising that she’s crying. She doesn’t look sad though, there’s still a light in her eyes that lets me know she’s happy. She leans her face into my hand, kissing the palm of it before speaking.

  “I want to be your wife and I want to give you children, but the truth is, I just need you. Any way I can get you, Noah, that’s all I want. I just to be with you for the rest of my life.”

  I capture her lips with a passionate kiss, trying to show her how much her love means to me. I want her to know that in this moment it’s love that consumes me, not lust. When her hands reach up and grab my hair, pulling me deeper into the kiss I can’t stop the reaction it causes. I think I resisted her for three minutes, that’s a new record.