Slow Burn (Smoke Jumpers)

by Anne Marsh

  When she increased the pressure, he about came out of his skin. His hands tangled in her hair, holding her still as he fucked her mouth in long, slow strokes.

  And she let him.

  Christ, that visual of her mouth, wet from their kisses and from him, opening up to take him, was enough to send him over the edge. Then she looked him straight in the eye, and that was another erotic broadside he hadn’t expected.

  “Do you like what I’m doing?” she whispered, lifting her mouth away from him. He loved that husky voice. Faye had the face of an angel, but her hands were pure wickedness. Hell, yeah, he liked this, but he had no idea why she was going down on him. Right now, he didn’t care, either. He wanted more Faye and whatever she would give him.

  “Keep this up, darlin’, and you’re going to find out how much I like you.”

  “Oh, good.” The smile she flashed him was pure mischief. Taking a step backward, she shimmied out of her clothes. His first sight of her naked was something else again. The sun-kissed skin of those long legs sent another jolt of heat through him. She’d worn a bikini this summer and had the tan lines to prove it. Some primal part of him loved knowing he was seeing a side of her that had been all covered up. He got to see what she’d kept hidden from everyone else.

  He hadn’t touched anyone like this in a long, long time. That soft patch of dark hair between her thighs was pure temptation. He wanted to sift his fingers through those curls. She was so very pretty there. Yeah, he wanted to look, to touch her where she was soft and wet, but she was also deliciously impatient, and she had plans of her own.

  Before he could do more than look, she’d pushed him back onto the pile of chutes and seated herself on his lap, her hands guiding his penis through her saturated folds. Right up to her clit. Christ. She got the tip of him against the very tip of her, head to head. A sense of connection unfolded in him. This was raw and intimate and about the two of them. His hips jerked, driving him against her as she used him, like a personal toy, stroking him against herself.

  Christ, yes. She was talking, too, whispering words of praise. She made him feel beautiful, cared for. Two things, he realized, he hadn’t known he needed or wanted.

  Outside the hangar, a car door slammed. Two familiar feminine voices, calling greetings—right before they stepped inside. Damn.

  “Their timing sucks,” he groaned. He pulled away, grabbing for his clothes. He knew those voices. That was Nonna, and she’d brought Lily with her. He’d have to go back down those stairs and see what they wanted. When all he wanted to do was finish what Faye had started here. He was iron hard, so, yeah, there was no hiding the evidence of his arousal.

  Maybe he could conduct business from up here until he cooled off some.

  Shaking her head, Faye moved away from him, and, God, he loved that her legs were trembling. She’d been so close, too. She’d been right there with him, right on the edge of something hot and wild and unbelievable. She licked those swollen, wet lips, and he knew he’d see that mouth of hers in his dreams. He was sure of it.

  “You’re expecting visitors?”

  He flashed a rueful grin. “No. I’d have been putting up caution tape and keep-out signs if I’d known what you had in mind for us.”

  “Maybe they’ll go away?” she asked hopefully, but he knew better.

  Footsteps crossed the hangar floor, and Nonna called his name again. She knew he was in here, and he got the feeling she knew exactly what he and Faye had been up to. Hell, it was almost like being back in high school, except Evan had never been irresponsible. Rio had been the one Nonna had busted. Repeatedly.

  “Evan?” The laughing exasperation was plenty clear in Nonna’s voice. Five seconds more and she’d be up the stairs and in the loft with them. “Where are you?”

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Lily sang. She sounded damn cheerful.

  “Up here,” he called, and he moved to the edge of the loft. He was as decent as he was going to get for a while.

  When he leaned against the edge of the loft and looked down, however, it was plenty clear that Lily hadn’t connected two and two. The chagrined look on her face said she’d have given the hangar the widest possible berth if she’d known he and Faye were there.

  “Sandwich delivery,” Lily offered weakly, but Nonna didn’t even bother with the excuse. He wasn’t surprised to see them, not really. Nonna knew—hell, the entire town knew—he’d taken an interest in Faye Duncan. Nonna didn’t know about the possible arsonist in the department’s midst, so all she saw was the girl her son was after. He could spin it any way he wanted, but that was the reality. Faye interested him, and he’d made it clear that he intended to do something about that interest.

  Maybe he should make things easier for Nonna. Take Faye home for dinner.

  Of course, it wouldn’t be as much fun that way. Truth was, he’d always loved to tease his Nonna. And it wasn’t as if he’d produced a ring and dropped to one knee, after all. He’d had lovers before, and he certainly hadn’t brought them all to Nonna’s house for casserole and salad.

  “We’ll be right down,” Faye called. She didn’t want anyone else up there, either, and he liked that. Suddenly, this loft was theirs. He didn’t want to share it, not even with his family. Beneath her breath, Faye muttered a short curse that was shockingly graphic, coming from that pretty mouth of hers. He still couldn’t believe what she’d done to him or the gift of that dazzling sensuality.

  This woman was dangerous.

  Faye flew down those stairs as if her ass were on fire.

  Nonna watched her, a knowing twinkle in her eye. Not wanting to face that music just yet, Evan grabbed his used canopy and started working.

  His gut said he’d be going up again soon, and he preferred jumping with his own chute. Safety regs said you did your chute yourself, or a certified packer did. Since the only other people he trusted to pack his chute were his brothers, he packed for himself. The hangar smelled like rubber and nylon, all gear with a whiff of wood smoke and grease. Like a well-packed chute, that was a familiar scent, one that said all was right with his world.

  Plus, he was ringside for whatever conversation Lily and Nonna were about to lay on Faye. Double bonus right there. Faye was talking before she hit the bottom of the stairs.

  “Evan is helping me with my story.” The excuse clearly shot out of her mouth before she could bite back the words. She didn’t need to excuse herself. They were both adults here. He was free, and so was she.

  The little smile on Lily’s face said she knew exactly how Evan had been “helping.” When she spoke, however, her words were carefully chosen. “He’s good that way. You get what you need?”

  Faye’s feet cleared the stairs and hit the floor, but she wasn’t even trying to hold back the laughter in her voice. They knew. And, no matter how frustrating the situation was, it was also funny. “Not yet. You have a few minutes?”

  “Sure.” Lily put down the large bag of paper-wrapped sandwiches she was carrying. So that part had been true enough. They had brought lunch. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’m doing a piece on the fire house renovation for a magazine,” she explained, “and I want to include something in the captions from the people who are involved as friends and family. You all know the firefighters best. I thought you could tell me about what the firehouse means to you.”

  Lily looked over at Nonna. “You want to start?”

  Nonna had stories, all right. Only question was, where would she choose to start? While Evan waited for her opening salvo, he folded the canopy he’d used to bring down Faye. No creases. Nice and smooth, all straight lines and ready to go. This chute would come right out the next time he pulled the cord, and he’d fly down nice and safe.

  “You want me to tell you about raising three boys to be firefighters?” Nonna’s laugh was a happy bark of sound. “Sure. I can do that, but you might want to take a seat. That isn’t a fast-food order you put in.”

  “Whatever
you want to share, I’d love to hear.” Faye sounded like she meant it, too. Maybe it was professional curiosity, or maybe it was something else, because he didn’t see a recorder or a pen and pad in her hands, but she marched right after Nonna. She was done with him and with the loft.

  For now.

  Because he already knew he’d be doing his level best to coax her back into his arms as soon as their unexpected company had the good sense to leave. Unfortunately, if Nonna was in a storytelling kind of a mood, he might be waiting a while. A really long while.

  The three women headed for the door and outside. Evan wanted to follow, as if there were a damn string connecting Faye to him. She went, he went. It didn’t make any sense, this need he had to be near her. He wanted to hear what she had to say about the firefighters, too—and he damn sure wasn’t waiting until she’d stuck her material into a magazine.

  Fortunately, his seat on the loft’s floor also gave him a clear line down and out the door. He could pack chutes and eavesdrop. It wasn’t nice of him, but he’d take what he could get. As soon as the women got outside, Lily and Nonna dropped their bags onto a wooden picnic table and started pulling out sandwiches. From the look of the piles, the guys merited both variety and a step up from PB&J today.

  “You’ve lived up here in Strong for years, right?” Faye looked at Nonna, who nodded. That was a softball question. After the canopy was folded, he checked the lines, straightening them. Lines had to be good and tight. One twist, one overlooked kink, and he’d hit the ground dragging the equivalent of a bedsheet behind him.

  “I’ve been here thirty-five years now.”

  “And Jack, Evan, and Rio—they’ve been fighting fires for how long?”

  A familiar little smile played on Nonna’s face, her fingers moving over the sandwiches the way his own worked the buckles on the chute. This was one of her favorite stories, and she loved telling it. “They joined me when they were ten. Almost from the first day, they were fascinated by that firehouse. They’d hang around and pelt Ben with their questions. If the fire was small enough, he’d even let them ride out on the truck. It was a different world then. We weren’t worried about lawsuits and liability. Ben was real good to my boys, and they needed to see a man who did things right.”

  Faye hesitated, then plunged in. He’d have told her anything she asked, but she clearly saw an opportunity here to ask her questions, and he kind of liked her curiosity. She wanted to know about him and his brothers. That wasn’t a bad thing. “You adopted the three of them?”

  Nonna nodded. “Eventually. As soon as I could, in fact. They came to me as fosters, though, so at first I was afraid someone would show up and take them away from me again. A foster parent has to be able to let go, and I knew almost at once that I wasn’t ever going to be able to do that.” She stepped back and eyed the mountain of sandwiches critically. “Those boys get right under your skin and into your heart.”

  “And you didn’t mind their riding out on the fire truck? Or that they grew up to be firefighters themselves?”

  “There’s no mind about it. Those boys scared me half to death every time they walked out the door. They were doing the right thing, though, and boys need to grow up. I knew Ben would look out for them, best he could, and they needed to go.”

  “And now?” Faye asked. “Now they’re all grown up and they’re going places where they’re not safe, and they’re spending most of their time away from you.”

  “Not so far away,” Nonna said. “I’m right here, aren’t I?

  “Yes.” Faye didn’t sound convinced. She waved a hand toward the hangar. “You don’t feel out of place up here?”

  “Because this hangar is brimful of men and testosterone?” Nonna laughed. “Honey, those men need to know someone is looking out for them. I don’t want to jump, and I’m not digging line with them. Sometimes sandwiches are enough, and sometimes they’re not, but I’m always here. They know that.”

  Faye looked over at Lily. Evan’s brother’s fiancée hadn’t jumped in yet. Evan figured that if anyone had a good handle on what it was like, living day in and day out with a jumper, Lily Cortez was that woman. His brother was a lucky man, having her by his side. Jack had told him once that Lily hadn’t been sure about living with and loving a jumper, but she seemed to have embraced her fate with both hands. The two of them were talking about a late-summer wedding date.

  “You and Jack are engaged,” Faye said, and Lily nodded.

  “We are.”

  “And you don’t mind when he goes out on a call? When he leaves you behind to go out there and jump?”

  “It’s not my favorite thing,” Lily admitted. “But it’s what he does. He’s good at it, Faye. Really, really good. I know he’ll stay as safe as he can, and someone needs to do it. He thinks it has to be him.”

  Yes. The Donovan Brothers were the best, Evan silently acknowledged. He straightened the lines and folded the chute’s tail up with military precision. His chute would open up, nice and symmetrical, next time he jumped.

  “Still,” Faye pressed, “it can’t be easy, loving a smoke jumper.” He could almost hear the list of downsides running through her head.

  He tucked the last fold and gave the whole package a once-over while Lily hesitated but finally handed Faye an answer. “I don’t like thinking about him coming home hurt, or not at all, no. That’s not an easy thing.”

  “So Jack still jumps every chance he gets?” Faye sounded as if maybe she’d been hoping the engagement would convince his brother to ease up on his jump schedule some. He could have told her that Jack would never quit while they needed him. He’d jump, and he’d fight fires until the day he was too old and too broken to do it anymore. That’s what any Donovan would do.

  “They don’t stop, ever.” Nonna’s quiet murmur was almost swallowed up by the crinkle of paper. “Question is, honey, are you asking because you’re doing a story for a magazine—or because you’re wondering what it would be like to be with a man like that?”

  “Busted.” Faye laughed, and that husky sound made him want to go right down those stairs and take her back into his arms. He’d kiss her again, and they’d pick up where they’d left off. It would be good, too.

  Nonna’s soft hum of amusement said his mother approved. “You and Evan do seem to have hit it off.”

  “He’s a good man.”

  “Are you seeing him?” Lily was more forthright. Maybe Jack had already given her an earful, or maybe she was tired of the whole beating-around-the-bush thing. She was asking straight out. Too bad he didn’t know the answer himself.

  “No.” Faye’s quick shake of her head said it all. “I think you’re both misunderstanding this,” she said apologetically.

  Well, hell. He looked down at the nice, neat package he had all ready to slip inside the D-Bag. Suddenly he was a whole lot less interested in getting the chute inside the deployment bag.

  “We aren’t dating,” Faye continued. “Evan offered to show me around, give me a feel for smoke jumping and Strong.”

  His Faye was a sweet little liar. That was okay, though, because he didn’t want all their private details paraded past Nonna and Lily. And fuck. How had he come to have private feelings about Faye Duncan?

  “I’m just passing through Strong,” Faye explained. “I’m out of here as soon as I’ve finished my piece. So it doesn’t really matter, does it? I only have a handful of days.”

  Lily’s sigh spoke of personal experience. “The Donovan men aren’t easy. That’s a real tight timeline you’ve got there, Faye. Evan’s going to have you rethinking things soon.”

  “Pure challenge, the Donovan boys,” Nonna agreed. “That hasn’t changed in almost twenty years. They’ll give you a run for your money, but it’s all worth it in the end.”

  “He’s a bad boy.” He could hear the little smile playing on Faye’s lips. “That’s fine with me. In fact, that’s perfect. I’m not looking for happily-ever-after. Not right now. Maybe not ever.”

&n
bsp; That was plenty clear.

  He got the repacked chute beneath his knees to force out any air and then neatly slid the lot inside the container. When the next call came in, he’d be good to go.

  With a divorce just behind her, no way she’d hop straight back onto that horse. His Faye was still broken, wasn’t one hundred percent. That made him mad, even though it shouldn’t have. He didn’t need her heart—he didn’t want it, he told himself, because that was the kind of thing Jack or Rio would have been good at—but he wanted to fix what had gone wrong for her. If she wanted him just for a while, she could have him.

  “I’m heading back,” she announced. “Can I hitch a ride with you two?”

  He hung the newly packed chute on the wall with the others. “There’s no need for that, darlin’,” he called, taking the stairs fast and striding out of the hangar toward her. Behind Faye, Lily smothered a smile. “Faye and I have unfinished business here.”

  Chapter Nine

  Evan was a silent presence, waiting behind her while Nonna and Lily called their good-byes. He lifted a hand in farewell as the other women got into their car. Faye, however, simply turned and stared. God, he was worth staring at. He was all tall and broad-shouldered beneath his white cotton T-shirt. The flight suit he’d worn for their jump was still unzipped and shoved down to his waist, and the bulky material made his muscled thighs seem bigger. Harder. He ate up the ground as he came toward her now, and she wanted to look and then look some more.

  “Unfinished business?” She grinned up at him. That sounded like pure promise on his part—a promise she was totally on board with.

  “Absolutely.” One large hand shot out, catching her around the waist. He pulled her up against his side, and then he was moving fast, taking her back deep inside the hangar. The contrast between the sultry, mind-melting heat of the outside air with this deliciously cool, shadowy place hit her. She eyed the stairs to the loft, but he wasn’t taking her there. Not yet. For the moment, she was happy to put herself in his hands and see where he could take them both.