by Brynn Hale
“That’s great.” It is a start and some weeks she’ll need to be there more, I know that. Sometimes I have to work longer than the 48 hours because we are on a call and the moment just requires it.
“But…that’s my life. If I need to go in to do something, I wouldn’t want you feeling like I was stealing time from us.”
I set my wine glass on the table and I can’t stop the smirk that comes over me. I move closer. “Us?”
Her mouth drops open. “I mean…opposed to…or from…other…things…and didn’t mean…” Her deep breaths increase.
“Reese, I just need to know one thing.” My mouth is a hair’s width from hers.
Her eyes stare into mine. “What?”
“Can you forgive me?”
She finishes the distance. Words aren’t needed. She’s showing me that she’s not going to hold a grudge. She’s going to make me hers. Whether or not she knows it, she’s already mine.
Reese
Risks. He’s a big one, but Kelton’s worth it. His self-assured ways. His care. His understanding. And yet, he’s not afraid to speak his mind. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of my father. And that is a little disturbing, but also, he’s a great man and I love my father, so… I’ll just leave it at that.
I try to remain calm as his lips caress mine, but it’s like we ignite each other. Some eternal burn inside of both of us flares to a roaring fire.
I slip my mouth to his ear and suckle the lobe into my mouth. “I forgive you, Kelton,” I breathe out the words and he breathes them in.
And with those words, I know that I’m his.
His mouth claims mine again, joining our bodies and tangling our souls. He stands and in the blink of an eye, I’m in his arms and being carried down the hallway. His hands on my buttcheeks and mine in his fantastic curly hair.
My mouth continues a blitz on his and he meets me twist for twist of our tongues, the pressure harder and harder. We’re devouring each other. I can feel to my soul that this man has been brought to me for a reason. Either I’m freeing him or he’s freeing me. Either way, I can’t stop wanting more of him.
Our bodies bubble at the surface for each other, and the upsurge to knowing that he’s mine approaches.
His lips glide down my neck. They are like silk, soft and slick. I moan his name and he releases a guttural groan as his cock presses into my softness. He places me on the bed and reaches to lower his sweatpants, stroking his cock as I just watch, every moment intense and captivating.
“Sugar, what do you want to happen?”
“I want to be yours, Kelton. I want to know that you’re mine.”
He slips a hand along my fleshy thigh and under my dress.
“Fuck, commando?”
“I took my panties off halfway through dinner. They were soaked from thinking about you.”
“I jacked off twice thinking about you and that sweet pussy. I need to taste you.” He reaches below me and slips the zipper down. I lift the fabric up and over my head. My black push-up bra making the most of what I have to offer, rounding the flesh into large handfuls. I release the front clasp and his lips suction to a nipple.
“Holy shit!” I let the sensations roll over me. The wetness of his tongue, the deep scent of his cologne, the sound of his hand working his cock. If it’s like this every time I may never want to go into work again.
He returns to between my legs, lifting my feet to his shoulders. He teases my clit with the tip of his tongue. Circling around and around the hard nub. I pant harder, every breath surging oxygen into my smoldering system. His fingers separate my body’s folds, and he glides his tongue along the puffiness until he dives his long tongue deep into my body. My hips jerk toward him.
I reach down and show him where I want him. “Suck there. Slowly…” The pulsing starts, but I inhale slowly to calm the tide of the orgasm, I want to come undone with him. “Kelton, I want to come with you inside of me.”
He slows his actions, finishes stripping, moves me to the middle of the bed. In two seconds, his cock is at my entrance. “I was lost before you. I was always looking for you and I’m never letting you go.”
In one solid thrust, he’s driving deep into my core. His hard cock, touching every internal inch of my slick pussy. I gasp his name as he seats himself deep inside of me.
“Fuck…shit, condom.” He grunts through tight teeth. “I’m sorry, I’ll pull—”
“Don’t you fucking dare.” I’ve never felt skin-to-skin, and it’s heaven, so tactile, and the intimacy is multiplied for me.
“But you said you’re not on the pill, Sugar. Do you really want to take the risk?”
My eyes fill with tears.
“Reese, what’s wrong? My impetuousness got the better of me. I’ll put on the condom and whatever happens—”
“I want to be yours forever and if children come with that, I want that, too. I…I love you.”
He buries his face in my shoulder and I can feel him fighting emotions. When he returns, his eyes are as glassy as I imagine mine are. “Reese, I won’t ever love someone more than I love you.”
He slowly draws his cock from my pussy and smoothly plunges into my body. I arch my back and my body clenches around his cock. I grab for every piece of his body, pulling him in deeper. My hands explore his chest while we hold each other’s gaze.
I writhe under him as my body climbs higher and higher. The energy builds and builds, until everything snaps, and the throb of a punishing orgasm rolls through me, lighting me on fire from the inside out. I scream out his name. He plants deep inside of me. The massive bursts of cum from his cock feel like lava inside of my pussy and we’ve crossed over into new territory. I’ll be his now and always.
His lips seal over mine, tenderly. His reverence for what I’ve given him and what he’s given to me is in every slow brush. My eyes widen as his cock never gets flaccid and he starts to rock into me again.
“If it’s too much, just tell me.”
“I love it. I…I love you.”
I rock my hips to meet his and this time I know it’ll be gentler and slower.
We are meant to be together. Physically, emotionally—in every way—I am his forever.
Our gazes never leave each other. I slip my fingers onto my clit, the tender tissues ricochet a throbbing sensation down my thighs, tightening the muscles.
Warmth drowns me and I’m rising into the heavens again. The ache of my body for his is satiated when he roars my name and buries his face into my shoulder as his body quakes, filling me once again with his seed.
I hold him while our breathing matches and slows.
He pulls out and drags me against his chest. “That was totally worth the risk.”
I giggle.
In a few minutes, we both stretch and he cups my chin before kissing me, the brush of a feather.
“Movie?” he asks.
“Sure.”
He lends me a long T-shirt and I curl up on his sectional sofa. His house is bachelor. And that shit ain’t gonna fly. I imagine the colors that could be on the walls.
“You own this place?”
“Well, technically, the bank owns it, but yes, the deed is in my name.”
“It’s nice.”
“Nice?”
I laugh. “We’ll make it great.”
“I’d like that.”
Two hours into a long movie, my head rests against his arm. His phone rings and his brow furrows when he sees the number. “It’s local. Weird.” He declines, but the number calls back. “Hello?”
I can hear the voice through the phone. Jessica.
“Is Reese with you?”
He glances to me and my stomach bottoms out. I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t call me…
Chapter Eight
Kelton
I stand and walk to the entryway. “What’s going on, Jess?”
“Boscoe called. The Greek Leaf down from her place is on fire. They’re on their way, but they’re coming from ano
ther fire two miles away.”
“Fuck. Okay, I’m on it.” I hang up. “Sugar, I need you to stay calm, but I need you to get your clothes on. It’s your parents’ restaurant. It’s on fire.”
“Oh, God, which one?”
“The same strip mall as yours.”
We’re out the door in a minute. Her restaurant is truly around the corner from my place, one of the reasons I decided to review it. Convenience. And I wanted something different. I got that and more.
We pull into the parking lot and there’s a car still there. It’s about two in the morning.
“That’s my dad’s car!” She points and her eyes fill with tears.
Flames shoot from the roof in the back, but the front looks clear.
We both jump out. I meet her at my Jeep’s bumper. “You stay here. I’ll make sure the place is clear. Maybe he rode home with your mom…”
“No, it’s her night off.”
A loud crash comes from inside. If I go in there, I could get fired. I know the dangers of smoke inhalation and not having the proper equipment on. But this is her father. I’ll do anything for her. I know that.
I pull on the front door and it’s not locked. There is a chance when I open the door, it will allow oxygen inside and create a backdraft situation. I lift my T-shirt collar to my face and pull the door open, crouching low to the floor.
“Mr. Dynas? Are you in here?” I call out.
I don’t hear anything.
The crack and pop of the fire grows. I need to get out. The gas hasn’t been turned off. This place could explode at any time.
“Mr. Dynas?” I venture in farther. “Are you—” I still when I hear a groan in the dark. “Mr. Dynas…please, call out.” The smoke is now settling through the front seating area and I’m coughing every second breath.
I can’t imagine this will be my end. Just when I’m starting to know Reese. Just when we’ve cemented everything we mean to each other, fast and furious is our way.
I crawl along and I hit something soft. “Mr…” I feel for a pulse and thankfully, there is one. The man is barely conscious. I hear the sirens nearing. It’ll still take them time to get hooked up. I have to take the chance. I inhale a deep breath of whatever oxygen is low to the floor, slip the lithe man over my shoulders, and head toward the glow of the front door from the streetlights.
I’m about two steps away when the door rushes open. I sink Mr. Dynas into my buddy Dairen’s suited arms and then fall the floor, gasping for clean air, but my lungs only fill with more smoke. I’m flipped to my back and glove covered hands slip into mine, pulling me out on my back. I try to stay awake, but I can’t.
Reese…
Reese
I lift the white paper cup to my lips and sip what is basically brown water with a dash of creamer. I’m sitting on the world’s hardest chair between two beds. One housing the man of my past and one housing the man of my future.
The man of my dreams. Even when I didn’t know what to dream of.
They’re both still out and the doctors say both will recover. My father will take longer than Kelton.
I reach through the two metal railings and squeeze Kelton’s hand. My mother is in the hallway calling every person of the family. Every single one. She’s much more the frantic one. I get my composure from my father. Although, I’ve been known to come out of my cool shell occasionally, like with this man. I brush a hand over Kelton’s hair. So soft. He still has a smear of soot around his mouth, so I grab a tissue and dab it off.
I lean over and place my lips against his. “Man of my dreams, come back to me.”
His eyes crack open. “My goddess.”
“I heard dat.” My father’s thick accent emphasizing his words while eyes are still closed, but obviously he’s not asleep.
Kelton’s lips smirk. “I think we’ve been discovered.”
I look into those beautiful blue eyes. “I love you.”
“I also heard dat, Ritsa,” my father grumbles.
“I didn’t whisper, Dad,” I say as I place another soft kiss to Kelton’s lips. “Thank you for saving my father.”
“It was for you.”
“What am I chopped liver?” my father chuckles.
“Dad, Kelton risked his life to save you!”
“Kelton—is that Irish?” he asks.
“Yes, sir.”
“What’s your last name?”
“Cassidy.”
“Good Irish names. I like him.” My father finds a way to give his consent without giving it. Doesn’t matter, in the ways of love, he’s out voted.
“Mr. Cassidy, thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re very—”
“Wait…are you the reviewer?” My father moves in his bed, machines beeping insistently that he return to his original position. “You, my son, are about to get whooped up on by a sixty-five year old man. Ritsa, help me.”
A chuckle comes from the bottom of the bed and I look up to see my mother and Boscoe, Jessica’s boyfriend standing there.
My mother pushes him back down. “Kosmos, stop it. Obviously, Ritsa has already made her thoughts on the review known to him. Yours are not needed. What you need is to do is to rest but first, tell me why you went back in there if you knew it was on fire?”
“I needed to get the picture of our family.”
My mother’s eyes roll. “You stubborn man. We have that picture at home!”
“But if it was all I have to start over again, I wanted the item to mean something.”
My mother’s lips roll inward and she leans over to kiss him. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”
“Asteri mu…” my father says softly. My star…
I pull the curtain between us. Kelton adjusts his bed to sit up and he squeezes my hand.
“Ritsa?” Kelton asks with confused eyes.
“My given name is Ritsa-Marie Dynas.”
“Wow, that’s a mouthful.”
I chuckle. “Exactly why I started going by Reese when I hit high school, much to my father’s irritation. Now, are you okay?”
“I’m gonna be.”
I lean over. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“My life is nothing if you’re not happy, Reese. I’ll publish a retraction with an explanation of what was happening in my life this next week.”
“Don’t.” I cup his jaw.
“What?”
“I’m going to frame it with our wedding picture and remember how I found the man of my dreams.”
He tugs my head down to his and I sink into the kiss.
The dream is just beginning.
Epilogue
Kelton
A little over two years later…
“And by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” The officiant motions to me. “Seal it with a kiss.”
Inside of Season 617, we are saying our vows with over a hundred of our closest friends and family—the extended Dynas family making up 99.9% of the invitations—standing around us. It’s a tight fit, and don’t tell the fire marshal—but I think we have an in there—but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Our eight-month-old son cries out from Bryar’s arms. Rogan Kostas Cassidy. He’s quite the fiery redhead but his eyes are as green as his mother’s.
I do as instructed, dipping my bride in a dramatic kiss and she squeals with happiness.
The last two years have been the best of my life. We decided to get smart after that first night and started using protection until one night when we both agreed that we weren’t afraid of being parents, and in fact, we wanted to start immediately. Her parents were excited. And remarkably, mine were too. It changed their outlook so much that they sold the restaurant and moved to Passion Point to be near their grandchild. Our relationship is still a little strained, but if they are wanting to be there for our child, then that will happen.
The Dynas family is a lot to take sometimes. Reese is the baby of t
he family. But it seems being a firefighter is almost a get out of jail free card. Her father treats me like a son and her mother feeds me so much food that I had to start running marathons to stay in shape.
And then our son came along. When she handed me that white stick in the middle of the firehall, I cried. I lifted her into air, asked her to marry me, and then ran out for a call. It was the best two minutes of my life.
After people start mingling, she pulls me off to the side near the bar.
She points to the wall, and there it is. A framed picture of the review I did of Season 617, a space for a picture, and below both a tag that says, “Who knew he’d be the man of my dreams. Oh, yeah… he did.”
I lift her into my arms and kiss her like she is the oxygen in my lungs. I set her to her feet and I see something. I lift the can and hold it up to her mouth. She opens and I fill her mouth with whipped cream and then do the same to mine.
That whipped cream will be going home with us tonight.
The woman of my dreams.
I am loved.
~THE END~
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DAIREN
Chapter One
Dairen
Four weeks ago…
“I can’t believe you did this.” Her face is so close that if I raise my head, our lips will touch. I know it’s not the time. I mean, I’ve just been rescued from a smoke-filled house, where I was close to being unconscious and almost unable to walk.
And I’m the firefighter. I should’ve been the one rescuing. But it’s also not the time for that either.
I stare into her emerald green eyes. “Dr. Lakeman, has anyone ever told you that you have gorgeous eyes?” My voice is muffled by the oxygen mask, but I can tell she hears me by her widening eyes and her gaze skims over my chest. I’m bare from being stripped in the back of the ambulance by the EMTs.