"Will you scream my name when you do?" he asked.
"Y—yes," she managed.
"Good," he purred. "And if you don't manage it this time, then I'll just have to try again."
He bent his head and took her clit between his lips, working it with his lips and tongue.
She fell over the edge into climax, sobbing his name as sweet, almost unbearable waves of pleasure wracked her for long moments.
Dane's caresses became lighter and more lingering, drawing out her pleasure as she began to come down from her orgasm.
Limp with pleasure and floating, she was dimly aware when Dane moved up onto the couch next to her.
"Did you like that?" he asked softly.
Annabeth smiled and curled up against his side. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so happy.
"Mmm, better than chocolate," she assured him.
She felt so relaxed that it was difficult to talk.
"I'm glad. Because you are amazing and beautiful," Dane said, putting his arm around her. "And we're not done yet. I want to see you come again…and maybe again after that."
That sounded wonderful…once she found the strength to sit up again.
"But what about you?" Her gaze strayed down to the telltale bulge at his groin, and guilt jabbed like a cold finger through the warm golden haze surrounding her. "You didn't get anything out of this."
"That's not true," he said. "I loved tasting you and watching you come, Annabeth. You're sweeter than honey. But you don't have to—"
"I want to," she said, breathlessly, surprised to find it was true.
She put her hand over the long ridge of his undiminished erection and stroked him, tracing his hard length through the thick denim. It was immensely gratifying to hear his breath hitch in response.
"My turn. Or should I say, your turn?"
Annabeth slid off the couch and onto her knees, cushioned by the thick wool rug.
Dane obligingly sat up and spread his legs so that she could position herself between his knees. He reached for his belt buckle, and she swatted his hand away.
"Let me. You just sit back and think of England…or something."
He chuckled but obeyed her, letting his head rest against the back of the couch, spread out like a deliciously muscular banquet before her.
"Somehow, I don't think it'll be England I'm thinking of," he drawled.
"Not if I do this right," she agreed, her fingers busy with his belt and his zipper.
Dane obligingly lifted his hips and allowed her to pull down his briefs once she had his pants open. The rich rush of scent was intoxicating—clean male, a hint of sweat, the sharp musk of arousal, and something else. Something wild…
Annabeth licked her lips and leaned forward eagerly, putting her hands on his hard, muscled thighs. His newly freed cock was beautiful, thick and long, the head and shaft flushed and pulsing as it pressed tightly against his muscled belly.
Annabeth licked her lips at the sight and slid her fingers around his cock, enjoying the contrast between the soft, silky skin of his shaft and the hardness within as she pulled it forward.
She teased the sensitive head with her fingertips, and Dane groaned. It was a very gratifying sound.
"I want you," she said. "Inside me. Please, Dane."
"God, yes," he groaned.
With some effort, he extracted a condom packet from the pocket of his jeans.
"Let me," Annabeth said and plucked it from his fingers.
Annabeth took her time putting on the condom, unrolling it down his shaft with long, slow strokes, playing with him, teasing him.
Dane's breathing had turned rapid by the time she finished, and she found that her own arousal had returned in full, hot force.
She couldn't wait to climb on top of him, slide herself down on his erection, and feel him stretch her in wonderful ways as she rode him.
She glanced up and saw that he was watching her with predatory intensity, and she was acutely aware of her bared breasts.
"You are so beautiful," he breathed.
"So are you," she said sincerely and climbed back up onto his lap.
Every part of her ached to be filled by him. And she wanted to watch his face as she rode him to the finish line.
Then his cellphone rang, a harsh blaring ringtone that Annabeth recognized as the emergency summons.
"You've got to be kidding me," Dane groaned.
Annabeth wanted to scream in frustration as she scrambled off his lap. He leaned forward and dug for his phone in the jeans lying on the carpet.
"Shit, Annabeth, I'm so sorry," Dane panted. "Of all the bad timing—"
She shook her head, smiling wryly as he hit Answer.
"Dane here," he growled. "Yeah, I'm on my way—no, I'm just down the street. My turn-outs are in my truck. I'll be there in five."
He ended the call and struggled to his feet. With a grimace, he pulled the condom off his unrelieved erection before pulling on his jeans.
"Annabeth, I'm sorry. I have to go. It's a car accident—a bad one, sounds like."
"Hey, duty calls. I understand," she assured him, swallowing down bitter disappointment.
She'd been so close to having what might possibly have been the best sex of her life…
"Can I—do you mind if I come back after I finish the call?" Dane asked over his shoulder.
"I'd love that," Annabeth said. "Be safe, okay? And I'll see you later."
"Later," Dane said, making it sound like a promise.
Then he was gone, the apartment door slamming behind him.
Since she didn't know how long Dane's emergency call would take, Annabeth decided to leave the door unlocked, for once.
Chapter 11 – Loved
Dane never returned that day.
Annabeth waited until it was past her usual bedtime, then crawled into bed, feeling bitterly disappointed.
She'd let herself hope that he'd be more than just a friend with benefits. She'd fallen for him, and hard.
But as she pulled the quilt over her, dark thoughts began to creep in. Why would a tall, gorgeous man like Dane want in her that way? She was only Fat Bethie, after all.
Annabeth had spent her entire life trying to prove that she was the nice, hardworking one while watching most of the attractive men she met go for the thin girls when they wanted to date someone.
Roger had been the first man who treated her like an attractive woman, but if his recent outburst was anything to go by, he had been lying to her all along.
And if Roger had been able to fool her like that, then how could she trust her instincts about Dane?
As Annabeth curled miserably under her quilt, she began to worry that something she had done or said on their date had given Dane second thoughts, and that was why he hadn't returned.
Her horrible, awful, no good day had ended on such an unexpected high note…and had shown her what kind of place Bearpaw Ridge was. Kayla, Fred Barker, Dane…she had friends here who were willing to help her out.
And she realized that this was what she had wanted all along…a place to belong.
Although she had only been here for a short time, Annabeth had never experienced anything like the sense of community she had experienced in this small town. People valued her here, and they were willing to help her out when she was in trouble.
They treated her like she mattered. Like she was important. Her mother had never done that; nor had Roger.
With them, Annabeth had always felt the need to justify her existence. Don't cause a fuss, don't be a burden, always work hard so that they'll want to keep you around.
Only Maggie had been different. And Maggie had come to the Bay Area from Bearpaw Ridge. That couldn't be a coincidence, could it?
Remembering everything that had happened that day, both good and bad, Annabeth felt a sickening clench of doubt. What if she couldn’t make a profit with her bakery? What if tomorrow proved to be another series of disasters? What if she lost everything?
Her stomach roiled at the thought, and she felt sick.
I can't go back. I've outgrown the old Annabeth. Whatever happens now, I'm a different person. And I want to stay here, no matter what it takes.
Even if Dane's changed his mind about me.
When her alarm woke her early the next morning, she saw that Dane had sent her a text around midnight.
At hospital in Salmon. Accident was neighbor's son. Am staying until parents arrive. So sorry, I'll make it up to you tonight. I promise.
Annabeth stared at her phone and felt a weight lift from her heart. Last night's doubts and worries suddenly seemed far away. Of course, Dane wouldn't just abandon her. But he was a firefighter, and he had to go help whoever needed him.
And she was okay with that. In fact, it was one of the things she really liked about him.
She took a quick shower and got dressed in a clean pair of pants and chef's coat—bright magenta today.
Clutching a steaming mug filled with the sweet nectar of wakefulness, she made her way downstairs to the bakery to start the first batch of sweet yeast dough for cinnamon rolls.
Annabeth heard the front doorbell tinkle promptly at 4:45 a.m. and smiled. "Kayla, is that you?" she called.
"Good morning, Annabeth," Kayla's cheerful voice replied. "Do you want me get the coffee going?"
"That sounds great! Let me just put this batch of lemon bars in the oven, and then I'll come and show you the ropes," Annabeth replied.
The rest of the day passed quickly.
Kayla proved to be cheerful, hardworking, and on a first-name basis with nearly all of Annabeth's customers.
She rang up purchases, ran the espresso machine, and served the pastries while Annabeth remained mostly in the back of the bakery, mixing dough and rolling out the next batches of the cinnamon rolls.
Thanks to her new help, she even had time to make croissants and a batch of jam-filled Danish, using the delicious, locally produced apricot and huckleberry jams she had bought from the Ursus Acres farm stall at the local farmers' market.
Kayla turned out to be a skilled barista, which she played off with a shy smile and an offhand comment about having worked her way through college at a café near campus.
Undeterred by yesterday's unexpected closure, the bakery's customers were lined up out the door even before opening time, and business remained brisk until after lunchtime.
Annabeth was relieved to see them. She had been worried that the appearance of a restaurant inspector and the bakery's subsequent closure might have frightened people away.
After lunch, things quieted down, and Annabeth finally had a chance to chat a bit with her new employee.
She learned that Kayla had graduated from college in December with a bachelor's degree in biology and had been accepted at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University for the fall semester.
In turn, she told Kayla about working for Maggie at Cacao in San Francisco, carefully omitting any mention of Roger.
"Thank you so much for all your hard work yesterday and today," Annabeth told her new assistant with real gratitude as Kayla untied her spotless apron at 2:00 p.m. and hung it on a coat hook embedded in the wall just behind the register. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Sure thing!" Kayla called, pushing open the bakery's front door with a cheery tinkle of the bell. "This job is fun!"
Things were quiet in the bakery for the rest of the afternoon, with occasional customers dropping by for coffee or to pick up something for an afternoon snack. With satisfaction, Annabeth noted that almost everything had been sold, and there would only be a few croissants and a dozen cookies to bag up at closing time and put in the "Day Old Discount" box.
Diane Felsbach dropped by late in the afternoon, not to inspect, but to purchase the last few lemon bars and huckleberry tarts.
"For my husband and kids," she told Annabeth with a wide smile. "I always try to bring back a treat if I'm gone overnight from home. And everything looked so yummy when I was here yesterday in my official capacity."
"I imagine you have a pretty big territory to cover," Annabeth said as she put Diane's purchases in a takeout box.
"I do, but I like to think that I'm doing important work." Diane paid, then extended her hand to Annabeth. "And I wish you the best of luck with your new business, Annabeth. I hope to see you next year."
Annabeth shook the restaurant inspector's hand. "I hope so too. Thanks for everything, Diane."
She was sweeping up the flour and crumbs when her doorbell tinkled once more.
"Hey, Annabeth!" called Dane's deep voice, and her heart soared.
She put aside her broom and hurried to the front of the bakery.
Dane looked tired after his long night at the hospital, but he was smiling and holding a pizza box in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other, the dark brown bottles covered with condensation.
The pizza was from The Bear's Lair Pizza & Pasta restaurant across the street, and it smelled delicious.
Annabeth's stomach growled loudly, and she felt abruptly ravenous. She had been so busy today that she'd forgotten to eat lunch.
"I thought I'd drop by with dinner, if you still want to see me," Dane said, looking as if he really expected her to kick him out.
"Dane, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," she said, smiling at him. "Or your pizza. Give me a few minutes to finish cleaning up here, and then we can go upstairs."
"Take all the time you need," he said, dropping into one of the café's chairs. "I’m off-duty, and I'm not going anywhere."
"Good," Annabeth said.
He came back! He wants to spend time with me!
Sitting at the breakfast bar in Annabeth's apartment, they wolfed down the pizza and two of the bottles of Bearpaw Dark Ale, a smooth local microbrew.
"How did today go?" Dane asked around mouthfuls.
"Great! And Kayla was a big help. I can't thank you enough!" Annabeth said enthusiastically.
It had been a good day, and now it was ending on an even better note, with Dane sitting next to her, their shoulders touching occasionally as they ate.
Dane's tired features creased into a smile. "I'm glad."
Reminded of the reason for his weariness, she asked, "And what about the accident last night? Is your neighbor's son going to be okay?"
Dane sighed and rolled his shoulders. "Eventually. Josh has a couple of major surgeries ahead of him. It looks like he took a turn too fast. Rolled his car down an eight-foot embankment and landed on his roof in Steve Fraser's alfalfa field. Luckily, Josh was wearing his seatbelt, but he still got pretty banged up. Broken bones, heavy bruising, concussion. His car was a beater with no airbags."
"That sounds awful," Annabeth said. "I'm so sorry."
Dane finished off the last slice of pizza and sighed with repletion.
"It could have been worse," he said quietly. "A lot worse."
Annabeth studied his somber expression and wondered what kinds of "worse" things he had seen as a firefighter.
From what she'd overheard from Dane and his brothers whenever they stopped by the bakery, a lot of their emergency calls involved either car accidents or boating and swimming accidents on the river.
Then Dane seemed to shake off his gloomy thoughts. "I didn't bring dessert," he said apologetically.
Annabeth raised her brows and pouted.
"And here I thought you were the dessert," she said daringly.
Her heart pounded as she waited for his reaction to her outrageously flirty remark. She was going to feel really stupid if he turned her down.
Instead, she got a slow, hot smile.
"I could be," he said. "If that's what you want."
Annabeth swallowed, her throat feeling dry. "Yeah, I definitely want."
His smile widened, and he hopped off
the bar stool. He reached for his shirt buttons. "Best news I've had all day," he said.
She reached out and caught his hands. "Let me."
Dane's eyes widened. He obediently let his hands drop back down to his sides.
Annabeth opened the top button of his shirt with tantalizing slowness and worked her way down, revealing hard muscle as the fabric parted. His chest was as broad as she remembered, his torso sculpted in ways that made her want to run her hands all over his taut skin.
She finished opening his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.
"Wow," she said, admiring his biceps.
His arms looked as massive as tree trunks. No wonder he'd been able to move the Hobart without effort!
"Wow is good," he observed happily, "though I did start to feel hopeful when you didn't immediately slam the door in my face after I had to cut our date short last night."
"Dane, if I was the one in a car accident," she said, keeping her tone light despite a stab of guilt because she had been angry and hurt, at least for a little while, "I'd want to know that you and the other firefighters were responding as quickly as you could."
"I'm glad you understand," he said. "If something had happened to Josh because I couldn't make it there quickly enough, I'd feel really bad. His parents’ ranch is a fair distance away—when the Medevac helicopter arrived, I went with him, so that he wouldn't be alone in the ER until his folks arrived. I knew it would be at least two hours before his folks could make it to the hospital in Salmon."
"I understand, really I do," she said, pressing her palm lightly against one hard, warm pectoral. "However, I'll cop to feeling really disappointed because you had to leave so suddenly."
"But you're giving me a second chance now, and that's all that matters," Dane said, suddenly serious.
"You made an excellent first impression, Mr. Swanson," Annabeth teased. "As it stands, I'm going to have to think of a way to return the favor tonight."
"I can't wait to see what you come up with," Dane whispered, his eyes half-closed as she yielded to the temptation and stroked his abs.
"Ooh, pressure." She ran her hand back up over his chest, enjoying the contrast between the springy hair and the firm muscle beneath. She had noticed before that his skin felt very warm to the touch.
Heat: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 1) Page 8