Emerging Temptation: A BWWM Romance Limited Edition Collection

by Peyton Banks

  After showing me the kitchen, the bunking quarters, and his office, the last stop on the tour was the gym. Although we were still in the hallway, I could already hear the loud, rowdy chatter coming from in there.

  “Brace yourself,” Lieutenant Harris joked before opening the door and leading the way inside.

  My ears quickly adjusted to the sudden spike in the noise level, as my eyes scanned the room, taking in the scene, which could only be summed up as every woman’s fantasy come true. There were shirtless, buff, sweaty males e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.

  “Aye, aye!” Lieutenant Harris yelled.

  In three seconds flat the room fell silent. Now that was what you called pulling rank.

  “Everyone, meet Karmena Todd, our newest Battalion #1616 firefighter. Todd, meet the squad.” He proceeded to point at each man and give me a brief introductory spiel about him.

  First, was a redheaded guy named Aiden. The very first words out of his mouth were, “How many chin ups can you do in two minutes?”

  Lieutenant Harris shooed him out of the way before I could answer.

  Next, was Jerome, a larger than life African-American guy who came out of the gate cracking jokes.

  I also met Luke, Tommy, Rowan and Adrien. The last guy made me think of the long-haired, leather jacket-wearing guy Adryen who had driven me to work this morning. Co-worker Adrien had nothing on him in the looks department.

  “Well,” Lieutenant Harris said, “I’ve got to get up to the conference room for my morning call with the Captain. I’ll leave you all to it.”

  Back rigid, posture impossibly straight, he marched out of the room, closing the door behind him.

  Tommy clapped his hands together loudly, mischief gleaming in his pale green eyes.

  “Now, about those chin ups…”

  Jerome obnoxiously hollered, “CHIN-UP COMPETITION!”

  A series of catcalls and cheers filled the room.

  I looked around, grinning. The boys here reminded me of my squad back in Amarillo. I knew I was going to fit right in.

  “Let’s do this,” I yelled, rolling up my sleeves.

  6

  Adryen

  Shaniqua LaNae Lewis had drawn my full attention the very first time I saw her. As did Karmena Todd—a fact that didn’t escape my notice. Hopefully, things would go better with Karmen and me than they did with Niqua. Actually, they had to.

  But I digress.

  I laid on my back in bed, staring up at the ceiling fan as my thoughts carried me back two years.

  A lot of the biker clubs I frequented weren’t in the best of neighborhoods. In one of the worst cities in Pittsburgh—Braddock—was where I met the love of my life.

  Pounding Pavement Biker Club, commonly referred to as PPs, was located on a ragged dead end street with only one working streetlight.

  That night, me and all the members of Skulls and Handlebars MC rolled up to the club fifty-deep. We were the second largest MC in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. It’s a unique experience, walking up in a bar with your biker brothers, everyone in leather jackets and rocking a combination of ponytails, beards, and tattoos. For most of us, it was all of the above.

  The second we walked in the dingy, cigarette-stench filled bar, all eyes were on us. Including Shaniqua’s.

  Our gazes locked and instead of looking away like some bashful little school girl, she smirked, silently daring me to come say something to her. So, I did.

  We spent the whole night flirting in between her serving up drinks. I ended up ditching my biker brothers to stay and help her clean up, before making sure she got home safely.

  Two weeks later, she was in my bed. Two months after that, I moved her out of the run-down apartment she shared with her big sister in Braddock and into my house. And then we started our life together.

  I smiled, thinking of the days I would come home to fried chicken, green beans, and mac-n-cheese kind of meals. Shaniqua was a great cook. Heck, she was a great everything, which was why it was so hard to go on without her. I hated myself for her not being here anymore.

  Sighing, I jumped out of my bed and dropped down to the floor. My arms ached in protest, but I pushed through the minor pain. The only pain that got to me these days, was the pain in my heart. The pain of loss.

  I did push-up after push-up, willing myself to stop thinking about the woman I’d lost so abruptly.

  Karmena’s face drifted into my mind as I absentmindedly counted out each completed push-up. Her eyes, grey and shrouded by thick dark lashes, were captivating. And that smart mouth of hers… Her kisses had to be off the chain. Had to.

  A knot of guilt formed in my stomach and I stopped mid push-up and curled up into the fetal position.

  Tears stung at my eyes and despite my best attempt to keep them from falling, they did anyway.

  How could I be this attracted to another woman? And not even on just a physical level. It wasn’t fair to Niqua and what we had.

  But then I remembered my dream the other day. I truly felt like that was Shaniqua’s way of getting a message to me: it was time to move on.

  So, no matter how hard it was or how much it felt like a betrayal, I had to honor her request. I had to.

  I sat up and wiped my tears away. Determination filled me, warming my insides. It was time to put myself out there with Karmena. I just hoped she didn’t hurt me the way Niqua had in the end.

  It wouldn’t end well, as it hadn’t last time.

  7

  Karmena

  Life in a firehouse was not as exciting as one would think. When there wasn’t a fire to put out, or working out or chores to be done, the squad just did a whole lot of...waiting. Waiting for the siren to go off. Or the phone to ring with a request from a local police department to come assist at the scene of a car accident. Or with a call from a little old lady who needed help getting her sixteen cats out of the tree they’d crawled up.

  Contrary to popular belief, actual fires were not a common occurrence. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, in 2017, there were a little over 1.3 fires throughout the entire United States of America, over a one year period. When you think about how large the country is, that’s not a whole lot.

  I sat in the firehouse common room, half watching the Pittsburgh Steelers dominate the Cleveland Clowns—I mean the Browns, while playing Solitaire on my phone. Suddenly it vibrated in my hand and a message banner popped up.

  Hey.

  The number wasn’t saved in my phone, but when I looked at the lone previous message in the thread, I immediately knew who it belonged to: Adryen Spence.

  Before I could text back, the phone vibrated again, signaling the arrival of another message.

  How are you?

  I smiled, surprising myself, because I abhorred small talk. ‘Just state your business and go’ was my motto. But since I was bored out of my mind sitting here, I decided to be a good sport—just this once.

  Adryen, hi!

  Three dots appeared, a perk of texting a fellow iPhone user.

  Hey, you.

  The accompanying heart-eyed emoji made me blush, so I went ahead and sent back the blushing-face emoji.

  We spent a few minutes exchanging the usual small talk. How’s your day? How’s work?

  When he asked me about work, I started to follow up with “what do you do?” but caught myself. I wasn’t looking to get to know someone and then eventually get into a relationship. I was looking for some pants to get into. That’s it, that’s all.

  I still owe you a thank-you dinner, I texted.

  This time, Adryen didn’t text back right away. A minute passed, then three, then finally the three white dots floated onto the screen.

  Then they disappeared again.

  Well, okay then. Wasn’t like it was the first time I’d shot my shot and missed. Shrugging, I locked my phone and tuned back into the game. Not surprisingly, the Steelers were still up.

  Around the third quarter, my phone went off again.

  I’d mov
ed to a couch closer to the tv when the game had started to heat up. Jerome and Co-worker Adrien sat beside me, talking shit on the Browns.

  Tuning them out, I unlocked my phone and found a reply from Adryen.

  My bad. I got an urgent call from a client who needed me to fix one of the graphic designs I sent him last week.

  Well, that solved the mystery of what he did for a living.

  I texted back, No biggie. I’m at work myself, being annoyed by my co-workers as we watch the game.

  Before I could sit my phone down, it vibrated.

  Ha! A perk of working from home= no annoying co-workers.

  I sent back the laughing emoji. Then typed, What are you up to for the rest of the night?

  If it stayed slow like this, I could get off early and if Adryen was up to it, I could come over his house and work off some of this pent up energy.

  I’m about to jump in the shower and call it a night. Early client call in the AM.

  Damn. No late night dick appointment for me.

  Still, I had to at least set the tone for the next time we saw each other. The ‘thank you dinner’ would come with dessert: me.

  Shower, huh? Wish I could join you. For good measure, I added the blushing face emoji.

  They don’t have a shower at the station?

  Okay, maybe this guy was a little on the slow side, because he’d just missed a clear-as-day opportunity to take this conversation to a different level. Most guys would have been all over that.

  I decided to try again.

  LOL. We do, several showers, actually. But none of them have would have YOU in it.

  Hitting send, I glanced at the TV. Steelers were still up by thirteen points.

  A minute later, my phone went off.

  The message was comprised of a simple blushing emoji.

  Either this guy didn’t know when a woman was flirting with him, or he just wasn’t good at this texting thing.

  I shook my head and went back to watching the game.

  8

  Karmena

  A loud crash woke me from the light sleep I’d fallen into. I bolted upright in my bed, eyes bouncing wildly around my bedroom, assessing my immediate surroundings for a sign of danger. Working as a first responder, I was always ‘TTMFG,’ which stood for trained to mother fuckin’ go.

  Another bang had me jumping out of bed and running down the hallway.

  “Uncle Leeland!” I yelled. “What’s going on?”

  My bare feet skidded over the thick carpet on the stairs, because I was moving so fast. I jumped the last two steps altogether and bounded towards the dining room. The layout was open, which was why I was able to see directly into the kitchen.

  Uncle Leeland was crouched down in front of a floor-level cabinet, carelessly yanking out pot after pot, pan after pan—hence the loud noises that woke me.

  “Uncle Lee,” I called. He didn’t respond, though I doubt it was because he couldn’t hear me. No, he seemed to be in some kind of trance, focused intently on pulling every last pot and pan out of the cupboard.

  “Where is it? Where the heck is it…” he muttered over and over again.

  I jumped when a heavy cast-iron skillet clattered to the kitchen floor. Seeing my Uncle Leeland, the all-knowing, strong-willed man who’d raised me like this was…debilitating.

  My throat tightened and tears pricked at my eyes, but I forced myself to pull it together. Bending down next to him, I caught one of his hands in mine so that he couldn’t pull anything else from the cabinet.

  “Hey,” I said in a soft voice. “Uncle Lee?”

  Turning, he looked at me, seeing me, but not seeing me. His eyes used to be the same slate grey as mine, but age and illness had changed them. They were a watery dark blue now. A frown marred his face, adding another wave of wrinkles to the ones already there.

  “Who—who are you?”

  The tears that had been gathering in my eyes seized this moment to fall free. My heart sank to my stomach. He was getting worse and there was nothing I could do about it. I came home to look after him, but how could I look after a man who forgot me a little bit more each day?

  Instead of answering my uncle’s question—and it would break my heart to do so—I smiled and squeezed his hands.

  My voice cracked as I sang the first line of our favorite Stevie Wonder song.

  “Don’t you remember you told me you loved me, baaaaaaaby?”

  I paused, waiting and hoping.

  His eyes narrowed and he turned his head slightly, before singing, “You said you’d be coming back this way a-gaaaaaain.”

  I blinked rapidly to keep more tears from falling as we proceeded to sing the rest of the song in all of our off-key glory. When we finished, I helped him into the living room and turned on ESPN.

  I came back into the kitchen to make him a cup of Earl Grey tea and clean up the mess he’d made. As I sat down on the floor and started stacking the pots and pans neatly back inside the cabinet, all the emotions I had been suppressing since moving back home burst through the flimsy damn I’d built. Burying my face in my hands, I cried until I had the hiccups.

  Caring for my uncle and managing his dementia was proving to be a bigger job than I’d anticipated, but I would never, ever put him in a home—never.

  I just felt so overwhelmed lately. It was time I acknowledged that since moving back home I’d hit the ground running with work and being a caretaker. I needed an outlet, something for when things in my life got stressful.

  Adryen, with his long hair, big beard and leather jacket floated into my thoughts. He seemed like the perfect outlet, if you asked me.

  Later, after getting Uncle Leeland in bed for the night—thanks to his melatonin, I decided to call Adryen. Last time we texted and I’d shot my shot, old boy dodged every single one of them. Let’s see him do that while actually talking to me.

  My heart thumped away as the phone rang once, then twice. A third ring was all I was going to give him before I hung up.

  “Hello?”

  My eyes bulged when his deep, baritone suddenly filled my ear. Shyness took hold of me, and my response came out sounding more like a question.

  “Um…hi?”

  A chuckle echoed on the other end of the phone.

  “Hey you. How are you?”

  I hesitated with my reply for just a second too long.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked intuitively.

  I shook my head, forgetting for a moment that he couldn’t see me.

  “Nothing,” I responded, then, eager to change the subject asked, “How are you doing??”

  Another chuckle. “I see what you did there, but I’m going to roll with it anyway.”

  This time it was me who laughed. I smiled, feeling a bit lighter already. Yeah, it looked like Adryen could be a good outlet after all.

  “Well, look at you, all chill and stuff.”

  “Hey, I can be whatever I need to be, whenever I need to be.”

  Oh. He was flirting with me?

  “Well,” I began, drawing the word out to give myself time to figure out exactly how to word my next sentence. “What if I needed you to be here, in my bed right now?”

  “Heh,” he chuckled nervously. “What are you saying, Karmena?”

  I sat up in bed, steeling myself to be as direct as possible with this, apparently, clueless ass man.

  “I’m saying, pull up right now and let’s have some fun. Think you can roll with that, Mr. Chill?”

  I was prepared for him to do his little silent routine, but surprisingly he didn’t.

  “How about we maybe share a meal before we share a bed?” he suggested. “Sounds crazy, I know, especially in this day and age of first-date hook ups, but I…I don’t exactly do that.”

  My libido deflated like a balloon that someone had maliciously pricked. Maybe he wasn’t outlet material after all.

  I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to think of a...non-abrasive way to tell him that if he didn’t want to be my
friend with benefits—light on the ‘friend’ heavy on the ‘benefits—then he was of no use to me.

  “Oh, come on. We can hang. Doesn’t even have to be like an official dinner date or anything,” he prodded. “No pressure. Just us, hanging and getting to know one another better before the inevitable happens.”

  I arched a brow.

  “And what is the inevitable?” I queried, then held my breath in anticipation.

  “Do I really need to say it?”

  I giggled. “Oh, yes, you do. With plenty of detail, please.”

  He pretended to sigh in frustration, but I could hear him holding back another chuckle.

  “The inevitable is you. In my bed. Naked. With me doing things to you that will have my neighbors hearing you scream in pleasure.”

  Oh, snap.

  My mouth went completely and utterly dry. It looked like I was in for a treat, sooner or later. I just had to play nice first.

  “Wh-when did you want to hang again? I’m off this coming Sunday.”

  “Sunday it is,” he agreed.

  9

  Adryen

  I was out of practice with this whole dating thing. Like, way out of practice, which explained why I was a nervous wreck.

  I knocked back my fourth beer in the last hour and tossed it, making a mental note to take out the trash before Karmena arrived. Didn’t need her thinking I was a beer-a-holic or anything like that.

  Raking a hand through my hair, I surveyed my kitchen. It was nice and clean, I’d made sure of that. The dishes were washed and the counters wiped down and the floor swept and mopped. It wasn’t as spotless as when Niqua used to clean it, but it would do.

  A memory started to unfold, of Niqua and I in this very kitchen, but I stopped it, forcing it away. I had to stop lingering on the woman I’d lost, and focus on the woman I was trying to get to know.

  Sighing, I moved into the living room and straightened up. It occurred to me while I was fluffing the couch pillows that I didn’t even need to go this crazy with the cleaning, since my date would be taking place out in the yard by the fire pit.