TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1)

by Kallypso Masters

  Seriously? The sparks that flew between them that night had nothing to do with sexual attraction. She’d been so pissed at him for assuming Marc was the one at fault that she’d held no similar interest in him. And they’d seemed to rub each other the wrong way every encounter up to and including the wedding reception.

  “That’s why I tried to keep you at a distance. That is, until that damned DJ threw us together for the garter reversal and…”

  Yeah, that had been a game changer for me too.

  “Carm, I’ve lain awake so many nights thinking about how my cheek brushed against your calf as I slowly slid the garter up your leg. You smelled of lavender, but as I got closer to your knee, the fragrance was all you, and I knew you were as turned on as I was.”

  Carm’s stomach dropped into her pelvis, and she grew wet remembering that night—and all she could picture was him going down on her. “I was turned on—especially after our hike on the Ute Trail—even though I tried hard not to admit it to myself,” she said through a surprisingly constricted throat. “I’ve had some sleepless nights fantasizing about you.”

  He smiled ever so briefly, then grew somber. “I can’t promise you anything beyond this week, Carm.”

  “Who’s asking for anything more than that?”

  He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. Finally, he said, “If you’re okay with a vacation fling, then we’d better stop to get some condoms after dinner.”

  She hadn’t brought any protection with her because she’d expected to spend the week alone. Thank goodness one of them was still thinking clearly. But she couldn’t help but taunt him a little. “What if this is the most incredible sex you’ve ever had, T.G. Will you be able to walk away after only a week?”

  He swallowed hard. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I’ve never been able to maintain a relationship with a woman for very long, which is why I’ve been trying to ignore the chemistry between us for weeks now and have tried my best to keep my hands off you.”

  Carmella had never met a more exasperating man in her life—but damn it all, he still captivated her. She wanted to see where this might lead. Perhaps they’d both be surprised. They’d gone from disliking each other to tolerance to being friends. They could take the next step to being lovers—even if only temporary lovers, if Tony would take that step with her.

  If they were anywhere near as compatible as she thought they might be, she’d do her damnedest to be the most exciting lover he’d ever had. She didn’t delude herself. There’d been many women in his past that he could compare her to. She wanted this thing between them to last longer than a vacation fling.

  “Let’s eat, T.G.” The relief on his face—as if she was being the sane one and putting an end to this discussion about having sex—was almost comical. “Then we can make that stop at the pharmacy.” His eyes opened wider in surprise.

  If he didn’t change his mind tonight, she intended to have him in her bed within a few hours. At this point with Tony, the evening could go either way.

  The evening sun made Carm’s skin glow in a way that made her even more beautiful, which Tony would have thought impossible. Or maybe that soul-shattering kiss accounted for the glow.

  Tony was used to being the pursuer in relationships with other women. He’d held himself in check so many times with Carm that he figured she’d decided they wouldn’t get anywhere if she didn’t step up to the plate. That she’d initiated the kiss had been the biggest turn-on he’d had from a woman in a long time.

  Then why did you fuck it up?

  Tony had no clue. A sudden thought about not wanting to hurt her when they returned home had slammed on the brakes. Tony liked sex as much as the next guy but had only engaged in it when there were no strings attached. Not that Carm was trying to tie him up in knots of commitment, but she deserved that kind of relationship. Not one with someone who would hang around a while then move on.

  As they continued toward the strip of restaurants, he was dogged by the fact that they’d go back to reality after a week. Could they still be friends if things fizzled out romantically? He liked spending time with Carm and didn’t want to return to merely tolerating each other when forced to attend joint family gatherings. He wanted their friendship to grow, not be destroyed by raging hormones. Could he give Carm what she needed to be happy beyond a fling this week?

  Not when he was still trying to work out the aftermath of the drownings. He wouldn’t sleep with her—actually sleep—for fear of having a nightmare or something. But could he do casual sex with Carm and then return to his room down the hall? Was that fair to her?

  “Here it is,” Carm announced when they came upon a restaurant with a colorful sign emblazoned with The Sea Sprite. The check-in area had at least twenty people standing or sitting around, and the hostess gave them a thirty-five-minute estimated wait time.

  “Should we find another place?” Tony asked, hoping she’d say yes, because after that kiss, food was the last thing his body needed or wanted.

  “I’d rather wait, if you don’t mind. There’s a line for a reason. My friend says their conch fritters and chowder are to die for. I’ve had my heart set on them since she told me about this place.”

  “No worries.” He took the buzzer from the hostess and glanced around to find a place for Carm to sit, but most of the people seated were older than they were.

  “Their pan-seared grouper is the best on Provo,” said a man behind them using the island’s nickname. Tony and Carm turned together to acknowledge the speaker and found a group of five men wearing T-shirts from fire departments in Illinois and Texas.

  Tony introduced himself as a brother from Colorado. During the round of introductions and pleasantries that followed, Carm chimed in.

  “I told Tony I always have at least one first responder in my dive classes. Are you guys here to scuba dive?”

  Turned out they were indeed.

  “Why don’t you guys join us?” a man named Ryan asked. “We can add two to our reservation, and you will probably get to eat quicker.”

  So much for a quiet dinner for two. While Tony normally loved talking shop with his brothers, tonight he really wanted some romantic alone time with Carmella. But if they were seated faster, that could mean they might get back to the villa earlier.

  Carm nodded her agreement to his silent question, and Tony accepted Ryan’s offer. Sure enough, within fifteen minutes they were seated out on the deck overlooking the bay.

  “It’s gorgeous out here!” Carm said as Tony pulled out a seat at one end of the table for her. “Thanks so much for inviting us to join you, guys.” He took the seat opposite her, surrounded by palm trees and table umbrellas that mimicked the ones found in the drinks on the tables nearby. Carm faced west and once again the sun warmed her olive skin to a vibrant glow.

  My gorgeous principessa.

  “What do you do back home, Carm?” another man asked.

  “I run a family resort in Aspen along with my brother,” she replied.

  “A five-star hotel and ski resort,” Tony said proudly. The men seemed impressed, as they should be. Tony didn’t know why but he was suddenly a little possessive of her, even though no one had made a pass or anything.

  Ryan asked Tony about his setup at the station.

  “I’m a career firefighter/EMT at the main fire station in my county. I also do SAR work.” The other men each held two or three jobs, as did many firefighters around the country. Tony felt a little like a slacker, but preferred to have free time to go camping or hiking whenever he wanted over working an EMT crew or at the hospital. He didn’t have a family to support, and his needs were pretty simple.

  “Are you planning on doing the rescue training class this week, too?” Ryan asked.

  Tony shook his head. “Didn’t know about it.” He told them about the classes he’d been able to book so far. “It was a last-minute opportunity for me to come to Provo.”

  The men went on to say they were members of div
e teams and/or water-rescue squads at their respective fire stations, albeit from two different states. Apparently, they’d just met up in conjunction with taking courses this week.

  “Does your station have a dive team?” another man—Steve, he thought—asked.

  Tony shook his head. “Not in our budget. We’ve been doing some swift-water training, though.” Thoughts about how his lack of experience had cost two people their lives put a damper on Tony’s mood.

  “Wasn’t in our budget either,” Ryan said. “Politicians don’t think about diving apparatus and gear when it comes to fire department budgets. But we partnered with a local corporation in town and our community got behind us, so we funded our own.”

  Tony had never thought about seeking funding anywhere but through the local government. But Aspen Corners was too small to have a corporation with deep pockets sitting there waiting to help.

  “How much does it cost to start a team?” Carm asked.

  “Depends,” Ryan said. “A boat doesn’t cost anywhere near what a ladder truck does, but the costs mount when you make sure your team is equipped with all the dive gear and training it needs to do the job.” He turned to Tony. “Of course, as I’m sure it is at your station, most of us pay for our own training and do it during our time off.”

  “Yeah, so do we,” Tony said. If you wanted to be the best you could be, you trained every chance you got and rarely were reimbursed for the expenses.

  “A dive team is much more doable than a full-on water-rescue squad,” Ryan added. “It’s a good place to start. Why don’t we see if there’s a spot open for you in Wednesday afternoon’s class? Even if you don’t have a team now, it never hurts to know how to handle an emergency you might come upon during a dive.”

  Tony turned to Carm. They’d talked about his getting into the shipwreck dive together that day.

  “Don’t worry about me, Tony. You totally should do this one, if you can get in. I know how important your job is. We can explore wrecks on another trip.”

  Tony hadn’t thought much beyond this week, and Carm was already thinking about future trips. He’d never been in a long-term relationship with a woman before. What if it wasn’t something he was capable of?

  Tony searched her face a moment. She seemed to sincerely want him to take this opportunity. “Thanks for understanding.” He turned back to Ryan. “Okay, I’ll see if I can get in.”

  “No worries,” Jeff said from the opposite end of the table. “I figured you’d want to, so I texted the instructor. He’ll take you as long as you have your open-water certification. Just come 20 minutes early to fill out the waivers and pay for the class.”

  Everything had happened so quickly. Tony hadn’t had time to give it much thought, but now he looked forward to doing some impromptu training this week. Idle time gave him too much time to think and Carm sounded like she had a busy week planned with her own dives.

  On the walk back to the villa that night, long after the sun had set, he held the package from the pharmacy in one hand and Carm’s hand in the other. He fought to rekindle the excitement they’d experienced after their kiss, but thoughts of training for future water rescues had excited and yet unsettled him, leaving him feeling anything but amorous. All he could think about now was finding a way to bring a dive team to Aspen Corners.

  “You’re sure you don’t mind me running off on you Wednesday?” he asked.

  “I had initially planned to do the wreck dive by myself, remember? And I saw how your face lit up when you were talking with those guys tonight about their dive teams.” They walked a little farther in silence. “We still have the nighttime dive lecture tomorrow and the coral reef dive Thursday if we can get you into that one.” She leaned closer to his ear. “Not to mention our nights diving under the sheets.”

  Her seductive words didn’t have the effect on him that Tony expected. More than anything, he wanted their first time together to be special, but he wasn’t sure he could make it so in his present state of mind. He needed to stop thinking about work. This was supposed to be a getaway vacation. But he couldn’t help who he was. Work had always been foremost in his life until that disastrous day on the river.

  When they entered the pool area at the villa, he asked, “How about another Painkiller?” Then he realized he was once again using alcohol as a means of dulling his mind. “On second thought, maybe we can go for a swim.”

  She tilted her head in a sexy way and smiled. “How about we take a skinny dip?” Without waiting for an answer, she reached up to untie her sundress at the nape of her neck.

  Tony set the package on the table and reached for her hands. He brought them down before she could undo the knot. “Carm, I don’t know how to say this, but tonight’s dinner conversation derailed me. Brought back memories of a bad call in June—”

  “Oh, Tony! Of course that would make you think about the drownings.”

  Tony hadn’t shared with her the details of what had happened, but maybe Marc had. She tried to hide her disappointment, but Tony still felt like a heel. He didn’t want to talk about that but needed to explain.

  “Our county isn’t equipped with a water-rescue squad of any type, and the precious time we lost waiting for them to show up could have made all the difference. But now I’m thinking having a water and dive combination team might be something to talk to my lieutenant and maybe even the fire chief about.”

  “That would be awesome, but it sounds expensive. Do you think they’d fund it?”

  He shrugged. “Anybody’s guess, but two lives have already been lost that might have been saved if we’d had our own team. Maybe the public would support it now while that tragedy is still fresh in people’s minds.” It would always be fresh in his.

  “So you’re thinking of doing a media campaign?”

  “Not exactly. It’s not my place to take it to the public, but I’ll be the squeaky wheel back at the station and try to drum up support with my lieutenant and battalion chief to take it up the chain of command.”

  Most people didn’t want to pay higher taxes, though. That thought had weighed heavily on him all evening. But at the very least, he intended to work on his own diving skills and Wednesday’s rescue class would be perfect.

  Unfortunately, this wasn’t how he’d expected tonight to end up after that kiss on the beach. His desire hadn’t diminished. He just needed to get his head in the right space.

  “Mind if we call it a night?” he asked. “I’m sorry about tonight, but—”

  Carm pressed her fingers against his lips, warming them instantly. “We’re going to be spontaneous this week. When the time is right for both of us, we’ll know.”

  The momentary flash of disappointment on her face had been clear to him, but was he ready to spill out the details about the drownings and what had been going on with him since? It sounded like she already knew something about what had happened. Maybe he needed to clear the air, tell her about what was going on, and put some of this behind him.

  “Why don’t we watch a movie, play a game, and have a few more drinks?” she asked.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but it’s been a long day and I think I’ll call it a night early.”

  Had he seen a glimpse of disappointment before she smiled? “I understand. You’re right. It has been a long day. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

  After determining what time he should have it ready, the two headed up the stairs with Carmella in the lead.

  If he didn’t quit ogling her ass, he might change his mind by the time they reached the top of the stairs.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  After lying in bed for more than two hours listening to the waves crashing on the beach through her open balcony doors, Carm decided sleep was not going to happen tonight with Tony in a bed mere yards away down the hall. She was as horny as she’d ever been, and all she could think about was what she wanted to be doing with him in this bed right now.

  Instead, she pictured him in his bed. Alone as well. D
id he sleep in clothes or in the nude? Did he snore? Was he a restless sleeper? Did he like to spoon when he slept with a lover?

  The way his shoulders sagged when he’d gone up the stairs, as if he bore the weight of the world on them, signaled to her that he might have a hard time falling asleep. Would she enter into his thoughts as he lay there? The man could run hot one minute, then take a polar bear plunge into oblivion the next.

  The dinner conversation about rescue diving had lasted almost two hours, probably conjuring up memories of the mother and daughter’s drownings she’d read about in the paper. Not a good way for Tony to begin his downtime on Provo, but Carm also loved seeing that spark of excitement about the prospect of his rescue-diving class. She hoped it would give him a more positive outlook toward the future.

  And even though tonight hadn’t ended up with the two of them making love, there had been no mistaking his interest in her during that kiss before dinner. She’d have to be patient. Or maybe even make the first move—again.

  Rather than stare at the ceiling any longer, she decided to go downstairs and pour herself a drink. She’d bring it back upstairs to her balcony and let the hypnotizing rhythm of the waves slow down her mind to where she could sleep.

  But when she entered the kitchen, the open patio door surprised her. Surely she hadn’t left it open.

  Absolutely not.

  Nothing appeared to be out of place. Had Tony gone out for a walk? Was he as unsettled as she? Carm didn’t want to lock him out but needed to determine that he was still outside, so she crossed the room and stood in the doorway surveying the patio and pool area. Her gaze zeroed in on someone gliding through the water at the far end of the pool.

  Tony. Totally nude.

  He executed a perfect flip, kicked off from the side of the pool, and started swimming back toward where she stood in the shadow of the villa. The flexing, powerful muscles on his back mesmerized her as he cut through the water with grace and speed. She remained perfectly still so as not to disturb him but couldn’t tear her eyes away even if she had wanted to.