Burning Love

by Cassandra Car

  By the time he came back to reality, Michaela had sat back, wiping at the corner of her mouth.

  “You’ve killed me.”

  “Now that would be a real shame.” Standing, Michaela leaned back on her desk.

  “Can I reciprocate?” He didn’t have much time, but felt like a real ass. Here he’d come to congratulate her on the great review, and he’d ended up getting blown in her office. It hardly seemed fair.

  “Why don’t we take a rain check on that? I don’t want you to be late.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She tilted her head. “What’s going on?”

  “I just—I just don’t want you to think I’m one of those guys who uses women for sex. I mean, that’s mostly what we’ve done when we’re together.”

  Michaela laughed. “I was the one who initiated everything today.”

  “I like you. I think we might have something, something that goes beyond incredible sex, and I don’t want to fuck it up.”

  She rose and approached him, sliding her hand down the side of his face. “We won’t fuck it up.” Michaela grinned. “Now go to work.”

  After one last scorching kiss, he left.

  ***

  If Michaela had known the office sojourn with Jude would be the last peace she’d have for days, she would’ve made sure to enjoy herself more. The review was a double-edged sword. Sweetness Seventeen remained packed from the moment they opened until they finally locked the doors behind the last customer of the day, but that brought its own problems. Michaela didn’t have the staff to contend with this kind of volume, both in the front of the house or in the kitchen. Her plan had been to build her following and staff more gradually, but now that didn’t appear possible.

  Even though Gina and a couple of her more loyal employees worked overtime—and a lot of it—without complaint, she didn’t have any idea how long that would last. By the time they’d shut down on the third day after the review—a Saturday in which Michaela had worked nearly twenty straight hours, they were all snapping at each other as they fought to get the closing chores done so they could fall into bed before doing it all over again for Sunday’s brunch. Thank God they were only open four hours on Sundays.

  She hadn’t been able to manage more than a few quick texts to Jude, and she felt bad, but she had bigger problems to worry about. Just that day she’d placed an ad in the community newspaper looking for more help, and though several people had answered the ad, none of them jumped out as employees Michaela would be able to count on, at least not in the short term.

  If she didn’t find some good, experienced people soon she’d lose it, and probably take Gina, at the very least, with her. Even her friend’s boundless energy showed signs of flagging, and Michaela was downright dead on her feet. She’d nearly taken a slice out of her thumb earlier, and only last-minute muscle memory had prevented more serious injury.

  Trudging upstairs, very ready to crawl into bed for the four or five hours she’d be able to sleep, she remembered to hook up her phone to its charger. It beeped as soon as it registered the charge and Michaela groaned. She’d let it go dead again, and that number had been in the ad so she’d be answering the calls personally, not leaving one of her harried staff to track her down. Obviously she’d been missing calls for God knew how long. There were eight voice-mail messages. Great.

  Michaela debated just waiting until the next day to check them, but knew if she did, it would bug her. It wasn’t like she could set up interviews at this time of night, but at least she could hit the ground running when she got up. Rising, she went to the kitchen to grab a pad and paper before returning to the bedroom. Putting the phone on speaker, she started playing the messages.

  The first four were responding to the ad and she quickly jotted their information down, praying they would work out. She’d advertised for all positions, but actually had no idea how much staff she’d need. What if the review only caused a temporary uptick in business? How would she hire and train a whole bunch of people only to lay them off a few weeks or months later?

  When the fifth message began to play, Michaela perked up.

  Hi, babe, it’s me. I’ve driven by your place a couple of times and it’s been really busy so I haven’t come in. I hope everything is going all right. Let me know if there’s anything I can do, even if it’s just to stop long enough to give you a hug. Try to get some rest.

  Her heart stuttered. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed Jude until she’d heard his voice. Despite her exhaustion, a fissure of heat opened in her as she remembered what they’d done in her office earlier in the week. It had been intoxicating to make Jude lose control and watch him while he did.

  Michaela sighed. Maybe if she could drag herself out of bed tomorrow after a nap, since she knew damn well there was no way she would survive without one, Jude might come around and they could do something low-key. Without listening to the rest of the messages, she pulled off her clothes, leaving them in a heap with several days’ worth of soiled chef’s uniforms, and fell asleep.

  The next day, she rushed upstairs by two-thirty and called Jude before she allowed herself to curl up under the covers.

  “Hey, you.”

  “Hey.” She fought a yawn.

  “Pretty tired, huh?”

  “It’s been nuts.”

  “Yeah, that’s pretty obvious from the line out the door all the time.”

  “I know. When I opened Sweetness Seventeen, I deliberately only put in a dozen tables, plus the counter. I didn’t want to get too big. But now there are constantly people loitering around waiting for a table. It’s getting positively claustrophobic.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “I shouldn’t complain, but I’m so far beyond exhausted I can hardly see straight.”

  “Are you done for the day? Why don’t you take a nap?”

  “I’m going to. But, um.” She hesitated, not sure where the sudden fear stemmed from. “Would you want to maybe come have dinner tonight? I could make something easy.”

  “I’ll come over for dinner, but you are not cooking for me. I’ll bring a pizza and some wine.”

  “Better make it cola. Wine will put me right to sleep.”

  Jude laughed. “Cola it is. What time?”

  “How’s seven? That way I can sleep for a couple of hours and then maybe get a little paperwork out of the way. Whose dumb idea was it to be open seven days a week anyway?”

  “Uh, I’m guessing yours?”

  “Crap.”

  “Get some sleep. I’ll be over in a few hours.”

  It didn’t take long for Michaela to fall asleep. She woke about an hour before Jude would arrive and, after taking the world’s quickest shower, she carried her laptop to the couch and opened her accounting program. Things had been so busy, she hadn’t had time to actually reconcile her income and expenses. With fingers metaphorically crossed, she entered the last few invoices and waited while the program spewed out its reports.

  Her heart sank.

  The café had been afloat before the review, but the bottom line hadn’t seen a positive change. Michaela supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised. With the increased business had come increased expenses. She’d put in a rush order to get shirts for the new employees she’d finally managed to hire, plus her food costs had gone up to accommodate the larger crowds. Michaela chewed her lip. The food costs worried her. Usually she kept a tight rein on what she bought and what she planned to use it for, but that had been impossible lately with no time to inventory the proper way, and in just the few days since the review, her food-related outlays had spiked as they’d made emergency purchases and other adjustments on the fly. Even if it meant getting even less sleep, Michaela needed to get a handle on the ordering or the income the review had gained her would be lost in out of control spending.

  A business like a restaurant was sometimes little more than a crapshoot.

  The doorbell rang and Michaela jumped. Glancing at the clock, she c
ouldn’t believe she’d been inside her own head so long she hadn’t even noticed how much time had gone by.

  Michaela closed her laptop, deciding to enjoy this brief time with Jude and worry about everything else later. With a smile, she opened the door.

  “Hey, you.”

  “Hey.”

  She stepped aside to allow Jude to enter. “Man, that smells good.”

  Jude kissed her on the cheek. “It’s no panini, but I like it.”

  Michaela laughed. “I enjoy a good slice of pizza as much as the next person.”

  He slid the pizza onto her coffee table. “I’m starving.”

  She brought paper plates and napkins out to the living room and plopped on the couch. “I’m starving, too. And exhausted.”

  Jude leaned over, running his fingertips down the side of her face. “You look tired, and that’s not an insult. You’ve been running yourself ragged, haven’t you, baby?”

  Michaela shrugged. “Not much choice.”

  “I know. How about we stuff our faces with pizza and then I give you a foot rub? Maybe you can relax enough to go to sleep and finally get a decent night of rest.”

  “What would I do without you?”

  But do I really have you? Being in the same room more often would help answer that.

  “Hey, where’d you go?”

  “What?” Michaela looked down and noticed Jude holding out a slice of pizza on a plate. “Geez, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I can’t even imagine the schedule you guys are on.”

  “It’s insane. I keep wondering if this review will turn out to be a blessing or a curse.”

  “With any luck, a blessing.” He held up his pizza and took a huge bite. Michaela raised an eyebrow, but Jude either ignored her or didn’t notice. He put the pizza down and picked up his cola. “Here’s to it being a blessing.” They plunked their cans together.

  “We can only hope.”

  After they finished eating, Jude insisted on doing the cleanup, then came back and made good on his promise to rub her feet.

  “Put them on my lap.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this? I’m on my feet all day. They’re kind of gnarly.”

  “Oh please. Like they could be worse than anything you’ve seen on me. The scars? The puckered skin?”

  “But you’re a hero.”

  Jude snorted. “Just doing my job.”

  “You saved two children and a beloved family dog. That makes you a hero in my book.”

  “Been doing some research on me in your extensive spare time?” he mocked, pushing his thumb into the ball of her foot.

  “I might just purr if you keep doing that.”

  Jude laughed and did it again and Michaela gave her best imitation of a purr, feeling a little silly but glad she could let loose without Jude making fun of her for it.

  “Good to know.” After a flick to her earlobe with the tip of his tongue, he straightened. “So, um, there’s something you should probably know.”

  “Okay….”

  Jude blushed red, but he didn’t look embarrassed. He looked furious. She frowned. “I might not have a lot of money for a while. You know, to take you places or do stuff.”

  “I don’t have much money either. My food costs have skyrocketed because I’m too busy to keep a tight leash on them. Besides, we don’t need to go anywhere fancy. I love doing things like this, just hanging out.”

  Jude’s face twisted. “Fucking disability people say it’s a workers’ compensation thing, and then the workers’ comp people say it’s a disability case. What it all adds up to is I get screwed.”

  “Oh, hon, I’m so sorry.” Michaela dropped her feet to the ground and wrapped her arms around him. “Hopefully you’ll be able to go back soon and it won’t matter.”

  “Yeah, we’ll see.” She hated the bitter, flat tone his voice had taken and wondered about his physical therapy. Maybe things weren’t going well. No way she’d ask right then, though. “The test to see if I’m eligible to ride in the truck again is this upcoming week.”

  Well, that has to be a good sign. But why doesn’t he look happier?

  She pulled away enough to look him in the face. “Believe in yourself. You’ve come so far since your injury.”

  “Tell it to the chief. He’s the one who’ll make the decision.”

  “Do the best you can. I know that sounds like a worthless platitude but it’s all I’ve got right now.”

  Jude smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” He tapped her nose. “You should go to bed.”

  “But we don’t get much time together. I should stay up.”

  “Things will calm down. Sometime.”

  “You don’t sound very confident.”

  “I just don’t know what my life is going to be like if I fail the test. I’ve got nothing else—no education, no other skills.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true. And anyway, don’t worry about it until you have a reason to.” The lines between Jude’s eyes told her how frightened he really was and she leaned forward to kiss them. “I have faith you’ll figure it out, no matter what.”

  “Thank you. Seriously, I mean it. It’s really nice to have someone in my corner.”

  “I am. I might not always be around, but I will support you whenever I can.”

  “Let’s get you to bed. I’ll tuck you in.”

  Michaela raised an eyebrow. “Is that a euphemism?”

  “Not at all. We’re both tired. I won’t say no to a nice, long, goodnight kiss, but that’s where it ends.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Oh, I kinda like that.”

  She laughed and climbed off the couch. “I just bet you do. But don’t get used to it.” Padding into the bedroom, she quickly changed into sleep shorts and a tank top with a sports bra underneath and took care of her nightly grooming ritual. True to his word, Jude did tuck her in, pulling the covers up to her chin.

  “Sleep well, beauty.” Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers.

  “I thought you said you were going to give me a goodnight kiss.” Grabbing the front of his shirt, she pulled until Jude half-sat, half-lay on top of her. “Much better. Now do it like you mean it.”

  “Gladly.” Sliding both hands into her hair, Jude tried again, pushing his tongue into her mouth. Michaela moaned. She had no idea what about Jude drove her so crazy, but she’d never enjoyed kissing as much as she did with him.

  His grip on her hair tightened as he went even harder, tilting her head to dive in deeper. He nipped her bottom lip with his teeth and soothed it with his hot, wet tongue.

  She pulled away. “Jude.”

  “Yeah?” He moved to her neck and licked her rioting pulse point.

  “God, you just….”

  Raising his head, he looked at her. “Just what?”

  “Drive me crazy.”

  He gave her a lazy grin. “Isn’t that the point?” Sitting up, he took a deep breath, his arousal evident as he pushed a hand against his crotch. “You need to get some sleep. Call or text me whenever you get a chance, okay?”

  “You too. Definitely let me know how the test goes.”

  “I will.”

  “Night.”

  Once she heard the front door close behind him, Michaela turned onto her side, snuggling into her pillow. Bed had never felt so good.

  Chapter Four

  Jude worked his ass off over the next several days to prepare for the firefighter test. Stacey was pleased with his progress and, for the first time in a long time, Jude saw a ray of light at the end of what had seemed like an interminable tunnel.

  He and Michaela were still missing each other more often than not, though they’d managed to sneak out for ice cream and a disastrous game of Frisbee in the park wherein she’d almost collided with a grill and later a dog, and Jude wondered a couple of times whether this whole thing was taking too much effort. Sure, Michaela was a great girl and the first who had fired u
p his libido in quite some time, but were building relationships supposed to be this much work? Were they trying to do something that wasn’t meant to be? His gut told him no and he hoped his intuition was right.

  The day before his test, he got an e-mail saying the calendar had been released and Leo planned to do a ton of publicity for it. Jude had seen the shot they’d chosen—one of him in his pants, suspenders, and hat perched on a block—and had to admit he looked pretty good. Of course, he had no idea about the other guys. Maybe he was the biggest dog in the bunch and no one would pay him any attention. But Jude was proud of his involvement and glad his friend had browbeaten him into it. It felt good to do something worthwhile, and it certainly gave his battered ego a little boost, too.

  Not able to sleep that night, Jude spent time going through every aspect of the Firefighter Combat Code—the fancy name for the tests he’d have to undergo to get back on truck duty. Not only did he need to finish each task within a prescribed time limit, he also had to do each thing right. No skipping steps, no cutting corners. His knee hadn’t buckled in nearly a week and Jude hoped like hell it would hold up. It had to. If he had to go into a burning structure on the job, he couldn’t have his knee collapsing. He’d stepped up his upper-body workouts in preparation for the test and at least that part of him felt ready to go.

  In the back of his mind, he knew he probably shouldn’t be trying to take the test so soon, but he was antsy to get back on the truck. Plus, he was running out of money. He worried he might have to hire one of those attorneys who specialized in disability cases, and how much of a cut would the guy be expecting, provided he actually made the bastards pay up?

  He rolled out of bed about two hours before, figuring it would give him time to warm up and stretch out, have a cup of coffee and a healthy breakfast, and still make it down to the training center in plenty of time.