by Bella Andre
He grasped a thigh in each hand and dragged her legs wider. Just the simple act of repositioning her and the feel of his hair brushing against her belly was enough to send her crashing over the edge. He thrust his tongue inside her and her muscles clenched and convulsed around him.
And then he was focusing every ounce of his attention on her. Licking. Sucking. Pulling at her until she wanted to scream with joy.
She'd never known it was possible to feel like this, like she was dying and coming to life all at the same time. He didn't stop licking her until her final tremor. She'd never known orgasms could be all-consuming, had never been limp and shattered afterward.
At last, she collapsed back onto the bed, gasping for air. Logan shifted his weight from between her legs and brought his mouth back to her breasts, tenderly nuzzling the undersides. Unlike other men who went straight for the nipple, he acted as if he had all the time in the world, and she found herself blossoming again beneath his mouth. She ached to feel his entire weight over her, and now that she'd found her breath again, all she wanted was to feel him sliding into her heat.
He lifted his head, a half smile on his beautiful lips. Lips that had brought her pleasure she'd never imagined possible.
"Soon," he promised, "but not quite yet."
She shifted and her foot grazed something hot and smooth. He immediately went stiff beneath her and, suddenly, she wanted him to know the torture of being teased--of being made to wait for something that was long past due.
She flexed her ankle and arched her foot, then pointed it and slid her toes slowly down his long length. Two could play the same game of anticipation and boundless desire.
Logan was levered above her on his forearms, his biceps and triceps shaking beneath her fingertips. And then the thick head of his erection was pressing into her heat.
The words "You win" came from his mouth a moment before he imprisoned her lips beneath his.
She bucked her hips into his hard heat, even though she knew better than to make love without protection. She was that far gone.
He allowed the head of his penis to slide into her, to stretch her wide, far wider than any other man before him. His eyes were blue-black with desire as he pushed inside another inch, and then another.
Her muscles gripped him tightly to pull him in farther. All the way in.
But Logan was a master of control, and her body ached for him as he pulled out and reached into his bedside table for one of the aforementioned condoms. He sheathed himself without her help--Lord knew her trembling hands would have been no use at all--and repositioned himself between her legs. He cupped her face and kissed her long and sweet.
She slid her hands against the great wall of his chest, then over his rib cage to hold on to his outspread lats. She shuddered as her forbidden dreams of making love to her mystery man from so many months ago came true.
"You're mine, Maya."
His passionate words rocked her to the core and she opened wide for him, moisture flooding her canal to ease his passage. Again and again, he thrust his hard, thick length into her. His heavy weight pressed her into the bed and his skin grew slick beneath her hands. Sweat beaded between her breasts and he bent his head to lick it from her skin without missing a beat, the steady propulsion of his hips driving her back up to what should have been an unattainable peak.
She'd never come more than once a night, not even hours apart. But here, beneath Logan's mouth and hands and erection, she was heading straight for another explosion, one that promised to be at least as powerful as her first.
He lifted his head again and locked his eyes on hers, knowing what was coming. And then his hands were in her hair and his mouth was on hers and she was wrapping her legs around his waist and rocking into him.
A cry of ecstasy tore from her throat and merged with his growl of pleasure as spasms wracked her body, starting from her heated core and working their way out to her skin, to the tips of her toes and fingernails and each hair on her head. She rode the length of his shaft again and again, her orgasm breaking her completely. She didn't know how long they lay together afterward, his wonderfully heavy weight pressing into her. It could have been seconds. Minutes. Maybe even hours.
Maya had known from previous experience that Logan could play her body like a fiddle ... but she'd had no idea it would be a symphony.
Being with him felt--just as it had six months ago--so incredibly right, even though it was wrong for a million different reasons, more so now than it had been six months ago. Back then, she supposed she could claim the disorientation of grief for her impulsive actions. But now, minutes after begging Logan to take her hard and fast, her excuses fell flat.
Yes, she'd almost died.
Yes, she'd needed to feel alive.
But those were simply excuses for taking exactly what she wanted.
And she'd wanted him fiercely. Even though being with Logan--wanting Logan with every fiber of her being--spoke to her deepest fears.
Her mother had barely spoken at her father's funeral. But the one thing she'd said to Maya was forever etched into her brain.
Don't let yourself love a firefighter. It will only break your heart.
She hadn't had to say it again at Tony's funeral. It had been understood.
Now Maya was in a hotshot's bed, in a hotshot's arms. Logan was everything she'd ever wanted. Strong, courageous, willing to help people in need regardless of the risk to himself.
But all those pluses were minuses too.
The very things she admired about him, all of the things that made him so attractive, were the same things that made what he did on a daily basis so dangerous. She wished she could keep this contentment of being in his arms, hide inside of it.
But she couldn't allow herself to love--and lose-- another man like him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MAYA STIFFENED and unwrapped her trembling legs from around his hips. She pushed against his chest, and in the aftermath of the most powerful lovemaking of his life, when all he wanted was for Maya to stay cradled and warm against his chest, Logan had no choice but to release his hold on her, to give her the space she demanded.
He'd been desperate to claim Maya as his own. She was so damn beautiful--and so incredibly responsive, even more responsive than he'd remembered. She'd seemed equally as possessed, and he'd wanted to be gentle with her, wanted to erase the threat of death that hung over her. And he hadn't been able to resist the sweet pull of her body, her slick heat.
"We shouldn't have done that." Her voice was raw. Unsteady.
"We both took what we wanted, what we needed," he said, tipping her chin up with his fingertips to force her to look him in the eye. He wouldn't let her talk her way out of what had just happened. "There's nothing wrong with that."
A faint haze of satisfaction still covered her features, even as he watched her recoil from her loss of control. She was the most frustrating--and most seductive-- woman he'd ever known.
She shifted away from him. "I shouldn't be here with you. Naked. In your bed."
He sat up, unconcerned with his own nakedness. "Don't ask me to apologize for what just happened. Because I won't." He dropped his eyes to her bare breasts, her soft skin red from his rough handling. "Not this time. Or the next."
She pulled the sheets up to tangle over her hips and thighs, before covering her chest with her arms and looking away, her mouth pinched tight even though her cheeks were still flushed from satisfaction.
"No matter how hard you fight it," he said, "no matter how much you wish we didn't have this connection, we do. This isn't over between us."
"It has to be, Logan. It's not even the fact that I'm here to investigate you. I can't date a firefighter. I just can't."
All at once, it was clear to him what was going on in her head. She thought that hiding herself away from everyone and everything that reminded her of her father and brother would keep her safe.
"Only once have I had to tell a woman that she was a widow."
Her eyes flew to meet his. "Kenny? You had to tell his wife? But you were just a rookie."
"The superintendent wanted to make sure I had it in me to make it back from the edge." He thought back to that shitty afternoon, in the blazing sun, watching his awful words make a pretty woman cry. "I'm not going to lie to you. It was one of the worst things I've ever had to do." He touched her hand. "But the next day I was back out there on the mountain. To quit then would have made Kenny's death even more pointless."
She didn't say anything, but he hoped she was hearing what he was saying.
"You're incredibly strong, Maya. You're one of the strongest people I've ever met."
"I want you to understand," she said in a very serious voice. "You're wonderful, Logan. Anyone can see that. And you're right, our connection is ..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but the rosy color splashed across her cheeks and her plump lips, reddened from their kisses, spoke volumes.
"I can't do what my mother did. I can't spend the next five, ten, fifteen years sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring."
He wanted to argue with her, but he couldn't. Not when she'd been through hell already. How could he blame her for wanting to protect herself from more unbearable pain? He should have been happy to just be with her, naked in his bed. But he wasn't.
He wanted more.
Out on the mountain, when he was facing a fire, he knew to move slowly. Patiently making his way closer, inch by inch if that's all he could get. Rushing the flames never worked. Only a slow assault would get him closer to the flames, to the point where he could overtake them.
Yet again, he needed to take a page from his hotshot experience. He was moving too fast with Maya. He needed to back off and give her time. Otherwise, he'd lose her.
"I don't want to pressure you into anything."
She smiled a crooked little smile. "You're not. I just want you to know where I'm coming from. What just happened was great, but I don't want to lead you on. It wouldn't be fair."
She was the most honest, straightforward woman he'd ever known. His own conscience kicked into overtime.
"You've been completely honest with me," he said, knowing for certain that he could trust her. "Now it's time for me to come clean with you."
Surprise whiplashed across her face. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
"Probably not," he admitted.
"I'm listening."
"You know that trails lead into Desolation from behind Joseph's house, don't you?"
Her brows furrowed. "I saw that on the topo map, but I hadn't thought ..." She quickly worked out what he was getting at. "You think he's involved in the fire in some way?"
Logan shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "I sure as hell hope not. But with his memory failing, I can't stop thinking that anything is possible."
Maya sat up quickly, the sheet falling off her breasts to her hips. Logan fought to keep his attention on what she was saying, rather than on her spectacular curves.
"Including the possibility that he started the wildfire?"
This time he wasn't going to leave anything out, not even the most incriminating details. The only way she could help Joseph was if she knew the full, unvarnished truth.
"A couple of weeks ago, I dropped by to check on him just as he was coming back from a hike. I noticed ash on his treads, but when I asked him what he'd been doing, he couldn't tell me. He didn't know. Two miles up the trail I found a fire burning in a circle of rocks to the side of the footpath."
"I don't get it. Why would he have lit a campfire in the middle of the day during a short hike?"
"I've been trying to figure that out, and the only thing I can come up with is that the fog was pretty heavy, so maybe he got cold. Or maybe he got hungry and was cooking something to eat." He let her digest what he'd said, practically able to hear the gears churning in her head.
"Okay, so that could possibly explain what started the wildfire, but what about everything else? The anonymous tip? The fire in my motel room? The explosion? The bomb in your car? Who hates me and you and all of the hotshots enough to try to kill us all? Because there's no way Joseph could be involved with any of that."
Thank God, she wasn't blaming Joseph for everything, wasn't leaping out of bed and calling the police to go after an old man who wasn't hurting anyone.
"Someone is obviously watching us. Following our every move. We need to find out when that bomb was put in your truck. In your driveway? Or was it earlier?"
He went to the window to look down at the smoking vehicle. He wasn't worried about it sparking a fire on the wide swatch of gravel. But there was no way they were going to be able to sort through the wreckage until it cooled down.
"It'll be hours, at least, before we can get close to the truck."
She stood up, letting the sheet fall away completely. God, he thought as his chest constricted just looking at her, she is absolutely beautiful. The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.
Taking her once wasn't enough. Not nearly. Where Maya was concerned, he was insatiable.
Their relationship wasn't going to end with the resolution of this case. He wanted to be with her, and not just because of the hot sex. How could he let go of a woman this fearless, this resilient in the face of daunting odds and death threats?
"I can't just sit here and wait for the truck to cool down."
She reached for her underwear and pulled it on before jamming her legs into the severely beaten-up borrowed jeans. And then, suddenly, she looked up at him, a strange look on her face.
"You need to get back to the fire."
He heard the words coming out of her mouth, but he could hardly believe they were real.
"Say that again?"
"You've told me absolutely everything. I know about your pyromania. About Joseph. Even about your relationship with Dennis. I also know you didn't light any fires. You didn't put a bomb on the hillside or in your own truck. You're completely innocent. I'm not going to wait another second to take you off suspension."
Holy crap. She'd just offered him the one thing he'd wanted most--and hadn't expected: The chance to get back to his crew, to keep his men safe, and to make sure they put the fire out in the most expedient way possible, before it struck down anyone else.
And yet, how could he go? The last thing he wanted to do was leave Maya alone. Especially after their near escape from the truck.
He couldn't let anything happen to her.
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm not going anywhere."
Maya stared at Logan in utter confusion. Why wasn't he already halfway out the door? He'd said his men needed him to put out the fire. What the hell was going on?
"If you're worried about that letter from McCurdy, I'll make sure he knows this is entirely my decision. I've never met him in person, but from everything I've heard he's a fair man. And he wouldn't want an innocent hotshot sitting around twiddling his thumbs while a fire is raging."
Logan was across the room in a heartbeat, his hands on her rib cage. His strength and warmth were far too welcome, his faint five o'clock shadow making him look far sexier than any man had a right to be.
"Thank you for your willingness to go to bat for me, but there's no way I'm leaving you alone."
She shivered, even though his gaze was hot. Possessive. No man had ever looked at her like that. She hadn't known how much she'd like it. But she did know that she couldn't possibly allow herself to get used to it.
"I don't need you to protect me," she said softly, even though until she nailed the arsonist, potential danger lurked around every corner.
"Some point or another, we all need help," he said. "Even a tough arson investigator like you. I don't want to see you get hurt. I couldn't live with that."
His reaction to her declaration of independence was not what she'd expected. She'd gambled on stubborn, not protective. She wasn't at all certain how to respond, could barely wrap her head around the idea that he was more concerned for her
safety than his job and his responsibilities to his men.
"None of this makes any sense, Maya. Hell, I wish it did. Everything would be different if your life weren't in danger. But someone set your hotel room on fire. Someone wants to hurt you. It'll be harder for anyone to get to you if I'm there too." His eyes were dark and impassioned. "I won't let anyone harm you. No matter what."
She should have pushed him away, but she couldn't stop herself from running her hands down his back. He winced and she couldn't believe she'd forgotten for one second about the beating he'd taken to protect her from the explosion.
"You're bleeding again," she said. "You should have told me to stop, you know, earlier."
His answering grin took her breath away. "I wouldn't have even if I'd noticed. Which I didn't."
"Where's your first aid kit?"
He stepped away from her and pulled it out from a bottom dresser drawer.
"Sit down," she said, and when he sat on the edge of the bed she pulled out what she needed. "This is going to sting," she warned, but he barely reacted as she gently swabbed his back with alcohol.
As she worked, she grew more convinced that Logan needed to return to his crew. Not only to fight the fire, but because someone was trying to kill him. She hoped that putting him back in action would get him out of harm's way.
According to the note she'd been left at the motel, this was personal. What had she and Logan both done six months ago to piss off an arsonist? And could it have something to do with her brother, with something--or someone--he'd been involved in before he'd died?
Logan looked at her over his shoulder. "I'm not going to like what you're thinking, am I?"
No. He wouldn't be happy to hear that she had no plans to hide away from the arsonist, to run scared.
In fact, the more she thought about it, the less afraid she became of dealing with the crazy bastard herself. One on one, no more bullshit, no more bombs in cars and setting hillsides on fire.
"Your crew needs you out there, Logan. Especially after what happened to Robbie. Please, go."
He was silent for a long moment, his eyes searching hers. "You're putting your job on the line by letting me off suspension without getting the thumbs-up first, Maya."
"If they want to fire me, fine. I'll find another job."