Burn

by Shey Stahl

  Staring at my soaked and broken heels, I ask, “What did he say?”

  The officer laughs, and my terrified eyes find his. “He knows you. Said he’d be right down.”

  I want to die. Something fall from the sky and kill me.

  “How do you know him?” Scarlet asks.

  The officer smiles at me, then Scarlet. “He’s my older brother.”

  Awesome.

  It’s an unbearable three minutes when I see Caleb exit the apartment building and cross the street wearing jeans and a black hoodie pulled up over his head. When he approaches us with a smile, he yanks the hood off, confused yet amused eyes wandering to mine.

  I have nothing to say. I’m bleeding and look like a drowned cat.

  “What happened to you?” he asks and then glances at his brother, smiling.

  My heart is invading my ears. What did he ask?

  When I don’t reply, Izzy does, naturally. “She wanted to see you and you didn’t call her or come by the hotel.”

  Caleb buries his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, relaxing against a parking meter. “I was in training down in Vancouver. Just got back like an hour ago.” And then he winks at me. “I don’t have a number.” He glances at Izzy’s bleeding chin. “What happened to you?”

  “I fell from that tower crane.” She tips her head backward to the yellow tower of death.

  Despite the look of concern, he laughs and reaches for her head to angle it up. “You need a couple of stitches.”

  “I could have told you that,” Scarlet finally says, only now she’s got one arm tucked around Officer Ryan, and he’s allowing it. He even gives her his number on a ticket, I assume. Or he’s writing her a ticket for being a complete dumbass.

  Letting go of Izzy, Caleb steps to me, bumping my shoulder with his. “So . . . you’re into stalking now?”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “Sadly.”

  Licking his bottom lip, he squints and leans into my ear, his lips brushings my earlobe. My unicorn tummy tickles return because he’s that good. “It’s fuckin’ hot.”

  I’M SURE YOU can guess where Caleb and I end up?

  After tossing my keys to Scarlet, Caleb he hauls my ass over his shoulder and carries me all the way back up to his apartment and tosses me on the chair in his room. “Hope you didn’t have anything else planned for tonight.”

  “Actually, I didn’t,” I tease, smiling. “For a while jail seemed to be in my future but this is a much better option.”

  He lowers his head so our eyes are on the same level, to reinforce what he’s about to say, “I’m certainly not opposed to handcuffing you . . .”

  “Eh, maybe next time.”

  Hooking his hands around the backs of my knees, he drags me to the edge of the leather chair, one hand between us, the other behind my neck.

  Our clothes are carelessly discarded around his room. There’s no pausing, no hesitation as I lie completely naked before him. He’s missed me. I can tell by the way his gaze travels over me, lingering, worshiping.

  His eyes flicker to mine. “I’ve waited all four days for this . . .” His thick hard cock glides between my folds, just enough so I felt the pressure, sliding it back and forth over my clit. “I can’t promise this is gonna last long. I’ve been thinking about your tight wet pussy all day.”

  “I don’t even care.” I throw my head back against the chair. “Just put it in already!”

  He laughs lightly, the action shaking his chest.

  And then he slides inside me.

  “Jesus . . .,” I moan, my body greedy for more, eager for every sensation.

  Neither one of us can stop our bodies from shaking, trembling with desire. It’s so bad his hands can barely keep hold of my hips.

  He laughs but it seems out of annoyance. “I think I missed you a little bit.”

  Wild lust-stricken eyes lock on mine, and then he closes his, groaning, his head falling forward.

  Then, just as quickly as it falls forward, he tosses it back, his body arching around mine, every single muscle in his taunt body flexing. His arms tense, muscles contracting as he squeezes my hip with one hand and the other yanks on my hair. My legs wrap around his waist tighter, urging him to move, needing him to move faster.

  But he won’t.

  He’s resisting for what seems like the longest time, his stone body frozen.

  Wordlessly, his eyes open and he moves slightly, his hand falling from my hair and then hooking around the backside of my thighs and around the front to drive me into a hard thrust. The move rocks through me, my breasts bouncing with the force.

  Under his penetrating stare, I can’t keep my eyes on his. I can’t because, in that first movement, I want to let go again. He’s that good, or maybe, I want it that bad after not seeing him for days.

  The pressure builds, climbing higher and higher, a warmth so blissful it tingles everywhere, all at once, alight with the fire he’s created in me.

  Caleb’s mouth twitches into a half smile, his head bent forward, but his eyes remain watchful of my every move because he knows, he fucking knows, he gets me off the moment he’s inside of me.

  With my hips rising off the edge of the chair, Caleb moves, sliding out slowly and then back in, his eyes squeezing shut, body shaking.

  Weakened by his touch, I moan, my lips parting, and his eyes snap open at the sound, the green scorching my skin like a hot summer day.

  I want this to last forever.

  I want him inside me for days, fucking me, just so this feeling running through me never ends, never becomes a distant memory of a moment between us. It can’t, not with the way he moves inside of me, the way his stare locks on mine and worships me, and certainly not with the way his heavy chest matches mine and the way our bodies move as one.

  No way.

  It can’t end.

  Ever.

  We’re meant to be this way.

  Forever.

  Unfortunately, Caleb is a little worked up, and within a few minutes, I know this will be short-lived when his breathing changes and intensifies.

  The thought of him pulling out makes me panic, and I grasp his hands on my hips. He responds by slamming into me again, clutching my body like his life depends on it.

  Grabbing him, I yank him closer, wanting to feel his breath against mine, pressing my mouth to his. His breathing stops, as does his movements as he collapses against me, his hips crashing into mine so forcefully my head hits the lamp beside the chair, sending it flying and breaking as it crashes to the wood floor of the loft.

  Caleb lets out a growl that vibrates through the both of us. It’s like the rippling of a wave as it crashes to a rocky shore, his hips erratic in motion, desperately chasing his need.

  With haste, his mouth captures mine, his tongue darting inside my mouth.

  “Don’t stop,” I moan against his lips, mouth parting. His lips draw mine into his wet, hot mouth to suck on them. I’m so turned on by his sudden, frenzied need, the warm burning in my belly intensifies, spreading throughout my entire body in a burst of white pulsing lights seen behind closed lids.

  “I won’t,” Caleb growls, his body shuddering so badly he can’t hold himself up. His hands dart from to under my ass as he pushes into me one last time.

  When he lets go, I can feel every single pulse of him inside of me, the way his dick swells and releases, all of it.

  Though I knew he’d come, he doesn’t stop his movements. Like he knows one time isn’t enough for us. It never will be.

  “What’s the grin for?” he asks, a smile tugging at his lips.

  My eyes focus on the brightness in his. “For the last four days, all I’ve been able to think about is you, you inside me, feeling your release, all of it. All. Week. Long.”

  His jaw clenches, muscles flexing. “I did too,” he rumbles, head dipping forward to capture my lips. “I had to jerk off in the shower every morning because my hard-on wouldn’t go away.” Drawing back to sit back on his knees, he b
rings me with him and smiles. “And now I need more of you.” He wraps his arms around me and I bury my head in his neck, never wanting to let go.

  Caleb fucks me. He doesn’t make love to me. I don’t even think he knows how to make love. What he does do is make me forget anything outside of what he’s doing to me exists at all, and in many ways, it’s exactly what both of us need.

  SOMETHING KICKS ME in the side. A straight up kidney punch that rocks through me with an indescribable pain. I awake with a jolt, Caleb beside me, tossing and turning as he moans in what sounds like pain. Opening my eyes, my heart pounds as I place my hand on his bare chest, unsure what’s happening.

  “No, don’t go back in there!” he pleads in a mumble, his words frantic, grabbing my arm like he’s trying to stop me from moving.

  “Caleb?” With my other hand on his shoulder, I shake him, his body slick with sweat.

  “Where’s Wyatt? You have to get him out of the smoke.”

  Who’s Wyatt?

  My heart pounds as I shake him again. “Caleb, are you okay?”

  This time his eyes snap open and he gasps, sitting up in the bed and swallowing rapidly as he attempts to focus on me. He notices he’s holding my arm and immediately let’s go.

  “Are you okay?” I ask, tentatively.

  He nods, reaching for me and sliding his body on top of mine, the weight, the hold, all of it tells me otherwise. He’s not okay and this, him with me, it’s a distraction.

  In the pale moonlight filling his room, his kisses move from my chest and make their way to my lips. Placing his hand on the back of my neck, he glides his tongue across my skin and then to my arm I have wrapped around his neck now. The same arm he was gripping moments ago.

  “Did I hurt you?” he asks, pushing inside of me.

  “No, you didn’t.”

  He makes a noise, a soft grunt revealing how good it feels to him entering me, but I don’t miss the way his body is trembling, as though he’s nervous, or excited, and then he begins breathing heavier, nearly panting.

  With each frantic movement his hips make with mine, he grunts and pushes. “Fuck,” he growls in my ear, his voice throaty and sexy. It’s almost a pained sound that leaves his lips.

  I realize quickly it was a pained sound. He’s shaking so badly his body is vibrating to the point he can barely keep from collapsing against me.

  “Caleb . . . what’s wrong?” I want to cry, for him, but he refuses to stop, shaking his head against my pleas for him to look at me. “Should we stop?”

  “No.” He jerks his head back and forth, his eyes squeezing shut. “Not for me.”

  He seems strangely determined to fight whatever’s bothering him.

  Just when I think it will be like every other time and I’m waiting for the more dominate side of Caleb, I’m shown something else entirely. Something almost tender underneath the fear inside of him.

  One hand moves to cradle my head, his grip never tightening as he threads his fingers in my hair. Tenderly, his lips cover mine, breathing the words, “Don’t leave,” against them.

  Don’t leave? Does he really think I could leave him now?

  I can’t. I won’t.

  My muscles tighten as his movements become more urgent, almost frantic, until suddenly every muscle in his body clenches and he tenses on top of me and collapses against me.

  I don’t know what to say, or do, so I wait to see his reaction.

  He places his head at my ear, kissing the lobe and whispers in my ear, “I’m sorry.”

  His body hasn’t stopped shaking, but he moves to my side pulling my back to his chest.

  “Are you okay?” I finally ask into the darkness.

  He doesn’t reply; instead, his body clings to mine as if I’m what he needs.

  Sure, I’m a distraction, but we all know distractions aren’t permanent. The memories find their way through the cracks at the most inopportune times.

  Like nightmares.

  ONCE CALEB’S BACK asleep, I try to fall back asleep but it doesn’t come. I stare at the window for over an hour, trying to occupy my mind with anything but him. I can’t.

  I make my way downstairs to the kitchen for some water, unable to shake what just happened between us.

  I’m surprised to see Jacey taking her shoes off and setting her purse on the bench beside the door. Glancing at the clock, I smile when I notice it’s late . . . or shall I say early? It’s like three in the morning.

  Jacey grabs her chest when she sees me standing in Caleb’s T-shirt in the kitchen. “Holy shit, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be up.”

  I set my glass on the counter. “Sorry,” I whisper, not wanting to wake Caleb, despite him being upstairs.

  Moving around the living room, she throws a blanket over a man on the floor. I smile and notice it’s Owen, the guy Scarlet slept with that night. “I’ve seen him sleep on the floor before.”

  Jacey rolls her eyes and sits down on the couch. “Owen rarely sleeps in a bed. He’s usually on the floor somewhere.” She pats the cushion next to her. “I can’t sleep. Come keep me company.”

  I’m not sure what to do so I sit next to her. Maybe she can tell me why Caleb was screaming in his sleep like that or why he was shaking so badly.

  “What are you doing up?” Jacey asks, setting her cell phone on the coffee table in front of the couch.

  “Caleb had a nightmare.”

  In the dark, her eyes roam to mine, but she doesn’t say anything. The look gives it away. This isn’t something new.

  “How long has he been having nightmares?”

  “All his life,” she whispers, pushing her glasses up her nose. “He’ll never talk about them though, so don’t ask.”

  Sighing, I think for a moment. It’s just like me to get involved with someone who’s fucked up. “You know him really well, don’t you?”

  “I’ve known him most of my life.” Yawning, Jacey runs her hands through her hair and then ties the jet-black mess up in a ponytail. “I moved in next door to the Ryan family when I was six. My parents died in a fire when I was eight, so we kind of had that in common.”

  Had that in common? What’s she talking about? Caleb’s parents are alive? Or so I thought they were. Is Wyatt his family?

  I can tell Jacey senses her mishap as she swallows. “Anyway, Caleb and I dated when we were younger. I lost my virginity to him and then slept with his brother, Evan. Ruined that relationship.”

  “But you’re friends now?”

  She nods. “He eventually forgave me, but he never forgave Evan for it. And somewhere along the way, no one really knows why or how, Caleb became a holy fucking terror.”

  “Has he had other relationships?” These are certainly questions I shouldn’t be asking and I feel horrible probing Jacey for information, but after what I just witnessed in his room, I feel like I should know more about him.

  “If you can call them that. He had this one girlfriend, Gemma, but she turned out to be a stripper and fucking his friends. Now he’s trying to fill a void.”

  My eyes widen. “What void?”

  She drops her eyes to my lap. “That void.”

  I know the void because he’s filling it within me too. No other man has ever compared to the way he makes me feel in those brief moments I’m with him.

  “Let me give you some advice. Caleb, and pretty much all the Ryan boys, need two things in life. Sex and fire. And Kellan, well, he needs handcuffs. Stay away from him.”

  I laugh. “Noted.”

  “So you and Caleb?” I let the question hang there. I’m curious. Their relationship is more along the lines of brother and sister, but you can definitely tell there’s been something there before. “You don’t still . . .?”

  She shakes her head immediately. “No. Not since we were sixteen.”

  I hear noises from upstairs, and my eyes widen. “Shit, gotta go.”

  Jacey waves, curling up on the couch again. “Bye.”

  As quietly as I can, I sn
eak back upstairs to his bed. He stirs, rolling over to wrap his arm around my waist, pulling my back against his chest.

  I listen to his breathing, light and easy and then jump out of my skin when he whispers, “Where’d you go?”

  Immediately I want to ask Caleb a million questions about his relationship with Jacey.

  And then again, I don’t because whatever relationship they have now is their business.

  “To get some water.”

  I have a million questions for him that have nothing to do with Jacey and everything to do with him. I know he doesn’t want me to ask though. For some reason, it’s like he doesn’t want me to know him.

  Accountability

  The process of emergency responders (fire, police, SAR, emergency medical, etc.) checking in and making themselves announced as being on scene during an incident to an incident commander or accountability officer.

  I’m back at work the next day and guess who shows up?

  Apparently, last night wasn’t enough for him, given the four-day departure.

  Though I know I’m going to get in trouble, it’s adorable the way he can’t let go. And I absolutely don’t ask about the nightmare.

  Standing there dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, Caleb drops his head as he runs his thumb over his lower lip. “Can you take a break?”

  And by break he means fuck. In case you didn’t know.

  This time we’re in my office, and he’s trying to convince me to do it up against the windows. Those windows face Shaw Investments. No can do.

  Caleb smiles against my neck as his hands shift from my hips to my ass. Scooping me up in a fluid motion, I wrap my legs around his waist, and he presses my back to the glass. “You know you want me to fuck you against this window.”

  “I do, but you see that building over my shoulder?”

  He nods, his mouth finding mine.

  It takes me a moment to reply, what with him kissing me and all, but I eventually say, “That’s Shaw Investments. And you remember that guy outside the closet that one day?”

  He nods again, moving his kisses to my neck and pressing his erection between my legs. Dropping one hand from around my legs, he’s working on his belt buckle.