Kade's Rescue (Detroit Heat Book 1)

by Lynn, Davida

  One of them turned around, and I saw MCCAFFERY in thick letters at the bottom of his long coat. He was listening to Clay yelling orders. Kade turned to me for an instant, and I could see his smile. After that, he disappeared out of sight behind the fire truck.

  When he reappeared, he had a mask on and another firefighter was beside him. SWAIN, his jacket read. They both had air packs on and my guts twisted when I saw that they were walking straight toward the burning building. They didn’t have hoses or anything. It was hell to see them walking toward that danger while I was safe and sound in the SUV.

  I could see smoke forcing its way out of the front door. I gripped the handle harder than ever when I saw Kade throw a foot against it. It broke open and flames rushed out from inside. Kade and his partner dropped to their knees. I was transfixed.

  My heart was in my throat as I watched them disappear into the burning building. Flames shot through the roof and I could feel the heat of the fire reaching me. I wanted to scream out to them for going against all human instinct. The roar of the fire was terrifying, and I really couldn’t comprehend how anyone could do that job.

  It seemed like hours before they even started spraying water on the fire. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the front door, and I cried out when I saw someone coming through the thick smoke and flames. It was either Kade or his partner, and he was carrying someone. The other firefighter was right behind him.

  They laid the person down in the front yard and I saw the firefighter tear off his mask and helmet. It was Kade. He didn’t waste a second starting CPR on the person. Seeing him in his element like that was so powerful. I couldn’t take it. I wanted him so badly in that moment.

  Other guys from his truck ran after him, carrying hoses. They began to spray water into the busted windows on the front of the house. He didn’t even seem to notice. Kade and his partner kept trying to resuscitate the victim. I saw EMTs pulling a stretcher behind them. They moved the unconscious victim onto it and Kade climbed on too, straddling the unconscious person. He never stopped doing compressions, even as he was wheeled back toward an ambulance. I spun around, watching him as they carried him out of my view.

  It seemed like in just an instant, the fire had been put out. The house was still smoking, but there were no more flames shooting out of the roof or door. The smoke wasn’t as dark, either. It had turned into more of a light gray than the impenetrable black it had been at the beginning.

  I was mesmerized by how quickly they worked. I didn’t know how long Kade and his partner were inside the house. It seemed like hours because I was worried beyond belief, but it was probably only two or three minutes. Two minutes after that, the fire was out.

  Clay was running around, still barking orders at his men. He wandered back to the SUV finally. “You doing all right, Layne?”

  I nodded, totally enthralled by all the action going on around me.

  “Good.” He looked back at the house. “We’ve got the fire under control, so it’ll probably be about an hour and then we’ll be outta here.”

  He started to walk away, but I called to him through the window. “What about Kade?”

  He turned around. “The hero is en route to the hospital. CPR all the way. He’ll be back at the station before we are.”

  I sat back in the passenger seat of the SUV. I couldn’t wrap my head around it all. I thought Kade was sexy before I found out he was a firefighter. I thought he was sexier when he told me. Seeing him in action was crazy, though. I wanted him so badly right then and there.

  Clay was right on the money. An hour later, he and I were heading back to the fire station. He smiled at me. “Glad you decided to talk to him. He’s a hell of a guy, but he’s shit with women.”

  I shrugged. I was willing to give him a chance, but this didn’t completely put Kade in the clear. “We talked it out. I guess it was just a big miscommunication. Big miscommunication.”

  “Communication is the downfall of any organization. That’s a saying in the fire service. I guess it applies to relationships, too. He’s got a diamond-hard exterior. In this business, that’s a good thing, but I can also see that it’s trouble when it comes to having a partner.” He stared ahead at the road for a while, then lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  Knowing what Kade had told me earlier, I wished I could have gone back in time. I could only imagine the strain on his mind dealing with what he had been through. Losing two kids to a fire, then losing his partner to an accident. It was no wonder he came unhinged. If I had known, maybe I could have helped somehow. Instead he’d left me there with no idea at all what was going on.

  I sighed, knowing that if things with Kade and I continued, it wouldn’t be easy. Seeing what he did only made it seem harder, for some reason. Knowing he’d come home with stress and worry on his mind every day made me see a tough future ahead of us.

  Clay pulled the SUV back in front of the station, and I saw Kade leaning against the wall, mirroring what I had done earlier that morning. His jacket was off but he was still wearing his pants and his red and blue suspenders dangled from his hips.

  Clay made a point to take the long way back inside the station, giving me and Kade some privacy.

  This time, I couldn’t quite find the words. “I liked watching you at work today.”

  He smiled. “It’s a living.”

  I wrapped my arms around him as he held me up. I kissed his cheeks, his neck, then back up to his lips.

  I could smell the fire on him; I could taste it on his skin. It was acrid and dry, but it smelled manlier than anything I’d ever smelled before. His skin was hot, and I couldn’t get enough of it. His hands felt so sure around me, bringing back all those memories of the first time we were together.

  I broke the kiss and looked deep into his eyes, “You’re not out of the doghouse yet, you know.”

  Kade smiled as he slid my body down his with ease. “I know, but this is a hell of a lot better than where I was two weeks ago.”

  He had made sure that all of my anger and fears were temporarily muted. “What time do you get off work?” I asked him.

  “Seven in the morning.”

  It was barely noon. I wanted to die. It was going to be a long, long day. I couldn’t help myself. I let out a groan and laid a playful fist on his chest. Kade knew my pain. It was written all over his face.

  He took my hand in his, squeezing it to his chest, “I know. I know. You go about your day, and I will be at your door first thing in the morning. I’ll even bring coffee.”

  “Kade, I don’t want coffee.”

  “What is it that you want?” He knew the answer, but he was going to make me say it.

  I smiled as I turned to walk away. “I want to fuck your brains out.”

  He smiled. “It’s a date.” I watched him head back into the garage, and I thought that a day of celibacy would be deadly after the display of power I’d seen from him.

  I hated letting the firefighter aspect smooth things over, but it gave me another shot with Layne, and for that I was grateful. I would have been more grateful, except that I had most of a twenty-four hour shift between me and what I really wanted.

  The hours passed slowly, even while assisting on two other fires in Detroit. My mind wasn’t on the work in a good way. The stress wasn’t eating at me like it had been before. My mind was on Layne, and that made the work much easier.

  Maybe the two weeks off had actually been good for me, but I’d never admit it to the desk jockeys who’d handed that sentence down to me. It gave me a chance to clear my head, and it gave me a chance to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with Clay. He saw that I was looking for words that I couldn’t find. He gave me the words and even a bit of courage to go with them. I also got the feeling that he’d swayed her into coming to my station on my very first day back. I owed him far more than just a beer for that.

  At the dinner table, my brothers yapped about the fires that day and about a whole lot of other shit I wasn’t listen
ing to. I was too busy staring at the clock, waiting for another twelve hours to be up before I could get back to Layne. It felt like an eternity.

  I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep that night. I laid on my cot beside Jonah’s snores and thought of Layne. I thought of the gentle curves of her body and the way that her curls bounced so effortlessly. Her passionate kiss had given me hope that I could get my head out of my ass and be the man I needed to be.

  I drifted off into dreams of swimming in the sunlight with her. Her smile was warmer than the sun shining down on us, and I could only imagine where the dream would have gone if we hadn’t gotten a call just after midnight.

  Despite getting less than three hours, I woke with an energy I had forgotten I possessed. I felt five years younger and more than ready to call it quits for the day. I had someone waiting for me with more than just open arms.

  The clock clicked over to seven, and I was the first one out the door. I thought I heard one of the guys was teasing me, but I didn’t hear what he said. I only heard the soft soprano of Layne’s moans that had been burned into my brain from our first night together. I had my own fire burning inside me, and this one had been allowed to engulf me without any intervention. I needed her badly, so badly I decided to skip the coffee and head straight to her place.

  On my way. Sending her that text was exhilarating. She made me feel like I was in middle school crushing on a girl who actually liked me back. I cursed every red light between the station and Layne’s house. The fifteen-minute trip was more like the Oregon Trail.

  I dropped my Ford into park. My heart raced, but I could feel the soreness in my muscles as I stepped out. I rolled my shoulders, doing what little I could to ease the stiffness. Between the hard fire and the hard bed, I wasn’t at one hundred percent, but I had a feeling that the sight of Layne’s hazel eyes would make every bit of my fatigue vanish.

  I knocked with a light touch at her door. Layne opened it and I smiled as I took her in. She wore a loose t-shirt that hung from one shoulder. It was light blue and spotted with bleach in a ramshackle pattern. Beneath the lazy t-shirt was a pair of faded pink boy shorts. I tried not to stare too long. Layne gave me a smile and turned around to head back inside, and I didn’t have to hide my stares as she walked away.

  “I see you decided against the coffee,” she said, sounding awake, but hardly bright-eyed.

  I closed the door, never taking my eyes off the boy shorts. “Guess I was in a hurry.” I could smell coffee brewing, but I wasn’t interested. Apparently Layne wasn’t either, because she walked straight through the kitchen. I followed like the oasis was just within view.

  Layne turned around at the door to her bedroom. There was only one thing in her eyes, and I was sure she saw the same in mine.

  “I could barely sleep last night. I just thought about you, and about…” For a second, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to blow a second chance with her, but I was pretty sure we were both on the same page. “About all the things I wanted to do to you.”

  She smiled, a hand trailing up her bare thigh. “I guess now’s your chance.”

  The day before, Layne had jumped into my arms. This time, I picked her up as she wrapped her arms around me. We were completely in sync with each other. She leaned down to meet my lips and I held her up without a problem, my hand cupping her ass. My other hand was at her neck, holding her to my lips. I didn’t want to risk letting her get away again. Ever.

  She moaned and bit my bottom lip, reigniting the fire that she’d started the day before. Layne was one of those beautiful women who was so professional, polite, and put together in the real world, but when you got her alone, she was a hellcat.

  I squeezed her ass as I stepped into her bedroom. Layne’s eyes were closed and she was planting kisses anywhere she could, “God, you are so fucking sexy.”

  My heart raced at her passion and energy. My muscles weren’t sore at all anymore. “So are you,” I whispered as I turned her head and kissed up to her ears. I remembered her cries when I had nibbled at her earlobe, and I was hungry for that sound again.

  When my tongue flicked over her skin, I could feel her shiver. She let out that soft, feminine moan, and I replied with my own deep grunt of approval. God, she was sexy in these tiny ways that no one else would ever see. Layne was a one-in-a-million woman, and I wasn’t so stupid to let her slip through my fingers a second time.

  We stood at the foot of her bed, and with her hands around my neck, I let go of her ass and grabbed the loose t-shirt. I pulled it up and over Layne’s head, letting it fall behind me.

  Seeing her topless made me groan. She giggled and leaned back, giving me full view of her beautiful, supple breasts and that perfect, heart-shaped birthmark next to her navel. I kissed my way down her chest and took one of her pert nipples between my lips. She gasped and pulled my head against her.

  As I felt her nub getting harder in my mouth, I sank down to my knees. Layne was level with the bed, and she let go of my neck to sink back into the comforter. My lips trailed down her tight stomach, taking in every inch of her peachy skin as I did. Her hands in my hair made me throb harder as shivers traveled the length of my spine.

  I squeezed her breasts before letting my hands graze downwards. There was a heavenly taste about her skin, and I circled her navel with my tongue as my hands caught up. I spent plenty of time kissing her birthmark. I loved it.

  My lust got the better of me, and I began to travel down her body again. I squeezed her hips, growing ever closer to those soft, pink panties. There was more soft pink beneath them, and the thought made my mouth water.

  I could feel the heat radiating from her pussy as I got lower and lower. Her hips were twisting and writhing beneath me. I smiled at the sight. She had teased me for almost twenty-four hours, so she could stand teasing for three or four minutes. I flipped the top of her panties down just enough to run my tongue along that line.

  “Oh, God. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” She looked down her tight little body to me.

  I ran my tongue across her hips and asked, “What couldn’t you stop thinking about?”

  Layne grabbed at her sheets and groaned before speaking. “Watching you in your gear, it made me want to be carried like that, and you did it. It got me so wet, thinking about you picking me up.” Her voice was breathy, heavenly. “The firefighter thing is hot. It just is, Kade. Fuck.”

  She got up on her elbows. “Are you going to torture me or strip me?”

  “Both.” I said it like the cocky fuck machine I was.

  I backed away, teasing her with my fingers. I traced the line of her panties from hip to hip, then followed that line down her thigh, getting dangerously close to her pussy. My eyes were transfixed as I saw the wet spot on the pink fabric. I smiled to myself, feeling sure, confident, and horny as hell.

  It took all I had to hold back, but I kept brushing my fingers over her skin. I wanted Layne ready to squeal the second I filled her. Giving her a bit of relief, I ran my finger down her slit, so perfectly outlined beneath her panties.

  She cried out, her hands now up above her head. I never tired of watching her. She had this effortless beauty about her, and it was even better when she was naked.

  “Both? Both! Jesus, Kade, you’re gonna kill me.”

  I relented. I could hear the whine in her voice that told me she was more than ready. I pulled her pretty little panties down her thighs and spread her legs. Then I grabbed onto Layne’s hips, pulled her to the edge of the bed, and dove into her heavenly folds.

  My cock was throbbing hard beneath my jeans as I explored and tasted her. She moaned and cried out, her breath coming in quick, shallow gasps. I wanted to burn the beautiful sight into my brain so I’d never forget it.