by Sy Walker
There was no need for a verbal reply; the look said it all. Of course he wasn't going to move. She felt her cheeks burn red.
"Sorry. I mean, I know you're going to stay. I'm... I'm going for water." And before she could put her foot in her mouth any more, Amber darted from the room and to the bathroom just across the hall.
The large bathroom mirror revealed just how dirty she'd become. Dark streaks of ash now clung to her robe, and had Amber's dark blonde hair not been tied up, she knew that the section that tumbled down her neck over her shoulders would have been stained as well. There was no time to dwell on the mess; Amber grabbed a clean cup from her sink counter and filled it with cold tap water. The tap squeaked as she turned it off, and then she rushed back to the bedroom to find the firefighter passed out again.
"I brought water," Amber said. The words felt juvenile and stupid, but she didn't know what else to say. An eye cracked open and with a dry sigh the man propped himself up on the bed, leaning against her headboard for support. When he was seated, Amber pressed the cup of water into his hand, and he drank it back in one swig.
"More."
Now that he'd wetted his throat, his voice sounded smoother. Amber could tell it was deep, the intonation vaguely northern. This was no country boy.
When he passed the cup back to her she returned to the bathroom to fill it, and the same scene repeated itself. Another request for more left her scrambling back to the bathroom, and back and forth they went seven times before the firefighter groaned and collapsed upon her bed anew. Some of the ash had been slicked away by water that had missed his mouth, exposing his tanned skin beneath.
"Should I call for an ambulance?" Amber asked.
"No," he breathed, eyes partially lidded from exhaustion. "No doctors. I'm fine, I was just thirsty. Really thirsty. And I'm hungry and exhausted. Otherwise I am fine."
Amber wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. He looked as though he'd been roasted by the flames, and yet he was intact.
"What happened to you?"
His eyes had started to close again, but Amber needed to know. Were there others out there? Maybe she should call in a search party.
"We were fighting the fire on the other side of the mountain when it hit a dry patch and exploded out of control. I got split up from the rest of the unit, and I couldn't get back around. Got disoriented and wandered, and I'd just about given up hope when I saw the lights in the distance. You saved my life."
For a moment silence stretched between them. The firefighter closed his eyes for a long while and then opened them again at length, fighting sleep.
"I need to call someone from your unit."
"Tomorrow," he muttered, eyes dragging closed again. "They've been looking for me for days, so a few more hours won't kill them. Just let me sleep. That's the kindest, best thing you could do for me right now."
Amber struggled to accept it. Here was a man filthy with grime and nature, still fully clothed in heavy layers, who'd been dying of thirst and likely had a hunger to match, and she was supposed to let him sleep. Half of her told her he'd wake up dead, and the other half told her that if he didn't sleep he'd only get worse. In the end she had to let go.
"Okay." Hesitation. "But before you do, tell me your name."
"Dominic Telford." The syllables tumbled lazily from his lips. "You?"
"Amber Chase." Amber felt awkward and flustered all at the same time. There was a reason she'd moved from the city and had few guests; for as much as she loved the convenience of living in a hub, Amber had always preferred the written to the spoken word. Dominic was the first man who'd slept in her Colorado bed, and although he wasn’t the first man she’d never brought home, he was the first man to arrive under such circumstances.
"Ms. Chase," Dominic mumbled, "thank you for saving my life. When I am able to lift my own head I promise to show my gratitude, but right now all I can do... Is sleep." Even as he spoke he'd started to doze off, and Amber watched as sleep dragged him beneath its surface and drowned the last of his consciousness.
"Goodnight," she whispered. Cup in hand, she backed from the room, turned out the light, and went to curl up on the couch with her laptop to write. After all that had happened tonight Amber was too wired to sleep, and until things were sorted out with Dominic, she figured that she'd be unable to.
Part Two
The glare of the screen against the dark living room and the clacking of the keyboard saw her through the night.
Rich sunlight streaked through the windows to illuminate the dust particles suspended in the air. When Amber opened her eyes and saw them, disorientation hit. Since the forest fires had hit the sun had been hidden beneath thick billows of smoke. What had happened?
The smell and sounds of sizzling meats threw her off further. One by one she took stock of her surroundings. The plush couch was the same one she'd been writing on last night. The wooden ceiling was the same one that had always belonged to her living room. The laptop she'd used was no longer propped on her stomach, but as she turned her head she discovered it upon her coffee table, plugged in and still open to her word processor. The sentence she'd been midway through writing when she'd dozed off remained unfinished.
What was happening?
Someone was in the kitchen. Amber bolted upright and gasped. Last night before she'd settled down to write she'd removed her dirty pink robe and had wiped her hands down on it, leaving it on the back of a chair so it wouldn't dirty the floor. She'd slept in her panties and the loose tank top she preferred, and there was someone one room away, moving around in the kitchen.
Dominic.
Amber's pulse quickened. Had he seen her undressed? How would she sneak past the kitchen door and up the stairs so she could put on real clothes? But as she schemed, Dominic's deep voice disrupted her.
"Are you awake? I thought I heard you moving around."
Should she play stupid? Amber's mouth felt dry.
"I'm awake," she replied hesitantly.
"Good. Breakfast is almost ready. I made use of your kitchen and fridge while you were sleeping. You have no idea how hungry I am."
Now that he'd regained his strength and had something to drink, Dominic sounded a lot more chipper. Amber picked herself up from the couch and picked her way across the living room, trying to avoid the squeaky floorboards so she could peek into the kitchen without him noticing. As she stuck her head around the doorway her shifting weight pressed one of the boards she stood on in the wrong way, and it groaned beneath her feet. Dominic turned from where he stood at the stove, a towel wrapped around his waist. He wore nothing more than that.
"Good morning," he remarked, hitching an eyebrow. Now that he was clean, Amber could make out his features clearly. There was a wholesome, blocky quality about his face that lent him a dependable, trusting appearance. His hair was a rich shade of brown, and some rough stubble grew along his jaw and neck from the time he'd spent wandering the forests. As she'd suspected, his body was defined by muscle, but there was a sleekness to his build that was attractive.
Firefighters sold calendars of their men partially clothed for a reason, and the reason stood right before her in stunning detail.
"Good morning." Amber's cheeks burned red at being discovered peeping. "I um. I..."
"How about you come in?" Dominic commanded, inviting her into her own kitchen. "Sit down. I cook a mean breakfast, and I'm hungry like a beast right now, so there's lots to go around."
A very gorgeous, very naked man stood in her kitchen, and he was unapologetic about inviting himself to her shower and her kitchen. It was as though he'd already claimed the place as his own. Amber remained where she was, just barely peeking in at him.
"Did you put my laptop on the table?" she asked him.
"Yeah. It was about to fall off of your stomach and onto the floor, and the battery was almost dead." He said it as if it meant nothing, fixing her with his fiery stare. There was hunger in his eyes; it wasn't just meat he was hungry for.
"Uh. No. You were wearing panties and a shirt. That's hardly naked. Not that I'd have minded."
God. Amber's cheeks burned brighter yet. Dressed as she was her plump thighs and the curves of her hips and stomach were unmasked. That a hot guy like Dominic had seen her so plainly made her uncomfortable. No one had looked at her body like he had, not with full light exposure. Amber had always made sure of it. And now here was the most stunning man she'd ever seen, and he'd seen her at her worst.
"I'm sorry. I'll um, I'll go get dressed, okay?"
"Why?" He'd turned back to the stove to tend to several frying pans filled with various meats. Protein, she supposed. He probably needed tons of it being so active on the job. "I'm standing here in a towel and I don't think it's a big deal. Bodies and bodies. You don't have anything to be ashamed about."
Nothing to be ashamed about? Amber didn't agree. All her life she'd been told she was too big, that she was unattractive, and that she should lose weight. Dominic was just saying that to humor her.
"No, really. I'll go put on some clothes."
Amber was about to push off from the doorway and dart to the stairs when Dominic spoke again.
"Don't make me take off this towel to prove my point, Amber," he warned her. Then, a pause. "You're not taken, are you? No Mr. Chase hiding in a spare bedroom, waiting to club me over the head for being crude to his wife?"
Taken? The word made her stop. Amber looked back into the kitchen to find him turned away from the stove, gazing at her.
"I'm not attached to anyone," Amber replied.
"Then you don't have anything to worry about," he said with a grin. "Come have some fun with me. It's been a long time since I've seen a girl as pretty as you."
He had to be lying, and yet the words stirred in Amber's heart and left her feeling flustered. Hesitantly she sidestepped into the doorway, looking him over. If it wasn't a trick or a cruel prank, how could she refuse?
"You mean it?" she asked.
"If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say it," Dominic said. "Come. I'm alive when I thought I was done for. I was rescued by a stunning blonde sweetheart with a shy streak that makes my heart sing. You eat in your panties, I'll eat in my towel. Let's see where today takes us."
There was no way she could discount his words. With a stabilizing swallow, Amber moved from the doorframe and into the kitchen to take a look at the stove. Dominic was frying up just about every meat she had. Bacon. Sausage. Pork chops. Steaks. Chicken breasts. When he said there would be plenty to eat, he wasn't kidding.
"Do you want any eggs or hash to go with all that?" Amber asked as she drew closer. She'd been watching Dominic carefully, and he'd yet to look at her critically. As far as she could tell, he really did think she was attractive.
"Nah. I'm craving meat like you wouldn't believe. I don't have a taste for anything else right now. Well, almost anything else. There's one more thing I wouldn't mind eating this morning."
Color continued to darken her cheeks. Had he cooked all that meat just so she'd lead him into a setup like that? Never had she met a man as brash and forward as Dominic was, and never had she felt so flattered and flustered all at the same time.
"It's done. Get us some plates and forks and we'll eat."
Of course. Amber snapped back to reality. This was her house, and her kitchen, and he was technically her guest. It was rude of her to leave all the cooking and preparation to him. She busied herself setting the table, and as she did Dominic served. He'd been in her life for less than twenty-four hours and already he'd blended in seamlessly, unafraid to direct and take charge.
When they sat, Dominic wasted no time in digging in. He speared a chicken breast with his fork and tore into it, ravenous. The rest of the meat on his plate disappeared in a similar fashion, and when he was done, Amber pushed her plate across to him and he descended upon it. She'd eaten a little bacon, but she was never really hungry in the morning.
"How long has it been since you ate?" she asked. Surely this hunger had to be abnormal.
"Three days? I found some blackberries on the way here, but it's so time consuming to pick and eat them."
When the second plate was depleted, Dominic sat back in his chair and set his gaze upon her. Amber felt herself heat beneath his stare, and she did her best not to squirm. There was a spark in Dominic that she loved, a lust for life that reached out and grabbed her as real. A genuine man who worked an honest, heroic job. A man who'd made his interest in her clear.
"I'm an honest guy," Dominic told her, eyes rising to meet hers, "and I'm a simple guy. I'm unattached. My unit came from up North to help with the fires here and we've been here for almost a month. I've spent a month sleeping on a makeshift cot in the encampment and getting next to no sleep when I am able to lie down. Last night felt like the best sleep of my life, and here I am sitting across from a gorgeous, unattached woman."
The speech was leading into territory Amber had never thought she'd explore. As he spoke she did start to shift, unable to hold back how he'd crept under her skin to leave her affected.
"Now that my stomach's full and I'm rested, there's just one more ache I want to tend to. But only if you want to as well."
Although he hadn't spelled it out, Amber knew how to extrapolate. She hadn't had a boyfriend since her first year at college, and now...
If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say it. The words haunted her. How could someone like Dominic find someone like her attractive enough to want to fool around with? But thoughts like that didn't matter right now. What did matter was that the hunk who sat across from her wanted her. Amber couldn't say no.
"I do."
The man she'd saved last night, who'd been on the brink of death, had bloomed into a dominant, straightforward charmer. When she'd given her consent he rose from his chair and abandoned his dishes, circling the table to stand at her side and catch her chin in his hand.
"Firefighters play hard," he warned her, keeping her gaze lifted and locked onto his. "I'm going to light your fire, and then I won't stop until it's extinguished, and even the smoldering remains have burned down into nothing. Are you ready for me?"
It was a fantasy. When Amber said yes, the word tumbled from her lips like a pebble over a cliff. Dominic smirked and leaned down, crushing his lips against hers to silence her. As he did, he stole her breath.
Part Two
Dominic was still smirking when he pulled away and took her by the wrist, directing her up from the chair and then up the stairs and to her bedroom. The sheets were stained and dirty with ash, and his dirty uniform was in a pile in the corner. The mess didn't both Dominic, who guided her to the bed and then pushed her down upon it.
One knee then the next he followed, and Amber felt as the towel loosened and fell from his body. She didn't have a chance to look before he'd caught her lips with his once again, passion sparking between them. Dominic's vibrant energies penetrated her shy introversion, and he drew her from her shell like a pearl from an oyster. The heat he'd stirred inside of her roused her, and Amber kissed him back with just as much ferocity. Soon they had rolled across the bed, both of them fighting for dominance. Amber knew Dominic was letting her play; he was clearly the stronger of the two of them, and could overpower her with a thought. When he'd had enough, he proved it. Amber found her wrists pinned to the mattress beneath one of his broad, calloused hands. The other was at her hip. Her tank top had ridden up just a little, leaving the skin there exposed.
"Up," Dominic punctuated the word by letting his hand at her hip slide north, "or down?" The hand reversed its course, tracing along her curves to meet her upper thigh. Amber gasped and squirmed beneath him, feeling herself start to slick. Everything Dominic did was hot.
"Up," she begged him, lifting her hips just a little to try to position her body for his pleasure. Dominic laughed.
"Mm, but I want to see just what I've do
ne to you, you timid little thing. Let me dip down."
As he spoke his hand inched downward, over her thigh and across it, teasing the tender skin near her sex.
"Dominic," she gasped. His touch felt electric, and Amber parted her thighs willingly for him. The grainy ash smeared on the sheets dug against her skin, but instead of drawing her focus away from the situation, it grounded her. The physical sensation of her body was all the more evident, and Amber focused on her body and how it felt rather than the thoughts that usually ran through her mind.
"Let's see," Dominic whispered, a dark playfulness in his words. His fingers trailed inward and brushed against the crotch of her panties. Anticipation sped through her veins and pulsed in her clit, and Amber moaned softly.