Matt, being Matt, had offered up his guest room the moment he saw the place, but I refused. Despite my fears and tears, I had paid for the place, and I needed to be stronger if I was going to make it in the world outside the flock. I was learning, slowly, to be an adult, albeit an adult who had massive amounts of help from a good friend.
I had, however, managed to stay in the house for the past four days without calling Matt over, so I felt proud of myself. I was doing it.
After a dinner of a bologna sandwich and a bag of chips, I tucked in for the night. Bed was an old crib-sized mattress I’d placed in the small bedroom at the back of the house. I’d picked up the little mattress and a couple old blankets at the local thrift store along with some mismatched cups, plates and silverware. It worked for me for the time being, but I had stars in my eyes about the idea of getting real furniture one day.
As I lay on my little mattress, I stared up at the ceiling and blinked away tears. It was my ritual to shed a few tears each night, but I was trying to do better. I didn’t want to be sad. I wanted to be okay. I wanted to be normal. Normal people didn’t cry themselves to sleep.
My mind went into spastic overdrive every night, touching on all the things I was missing. My family was at the top of the list. I couldn’t say I regretted leaving Macon’s Edge, but I would’ve done anything to see my sisters again. I missed the little things like the walks we took down to the creek bed, and the camaraderie of all of us girls pitching in to fix supper then wash up the dishes afterward.
I realized, more and more reluctantly, that I even missed what Kyle had been in my life.
Kyle had been the first and only man to call me pretty. He’d been my first kiss, my first everything. I’d even given my virginity to him. My chastity was something that I’d been taught to hold sacred. A woman should give herself to no man but her husband, and I had a hard time giving in to Kyle before our wedding.
I realized in retrospect that Kyle had done a number on me. He’d convinced me that we were as good as husband and wife already, and that it was perfectly okay. It was such a unique and euphoric feeling to me to have a man desire me, or to see any value in me at all, that I gave in.
I had thought Kyle was the love of my life. I trusted him. Finding out the reality of our relationship had devastated me. So much so, that I’d done something reckless and foolish. I had so much to atone for.
I fell asleep wondering if someday I would find the man I was meant to be with. I imagined it happening several years in the future, when I was more of a worldly type woman. Currently, I felt as though I was barely out of my teens, little more than the newborn calf that Matt and I had helped bring into the world, walking around on shaky legs. I was still learning, still growing. Maybe he was, too.
In the middle of a dream about parading around Burden arm-in-arm with my sisters, I was startled awake by something unusual in my room. I jerked upright. It took a moment or two to wrap my head around what was happening, but when I did, panic instantly seized my heart.
The room was hazy, but I could make out a bright light coming from the kitchen. The air was thick and I began to cough. The haze quickly became dark, billowing clouds of smoke that stung my eyes and choked off my airway. Even through the thick smoke, the bright light from the kitchen was now clearly visible as the flames of a raging fire.
I stood up and hurried to the doorway, but crackling and popping sounds from the living room scared me. I backed away, coughing, my eyes stinging form the smoke. I looked around the bedroom for a way to escape. The only window in the room was small, but big enough for a person to fit through. I ran over and tried to pry it open. It was nailed shut. Why had I never noticed that before? I’d have to break it. I wrapped a blanket around my fist and punched the glass. A shooting pain travelled through my fist up my arm, but the window didn’t even crack. Banging on it again and again, I prayed for it to break.
I dropped the blanket and used my bare fist. The smoke burned my eyes and throat. Sweat drenched the T-shirt I wore. The fire was getting closer, growing stronger every second. The house was a matchbox, everything igniting everything beside it. Fear and smoke threatened to steal my last breath, but I fought with the window.
I didn’t have anything heavy in the room to use to break the window, just the mattress and old blankets. I was going to die in a crappy little run-down shack in Burden. I was going to die.
5
Sam
It felt like I’d just closed my eyes when the alarm on my phone went off. I knew immediately it was the firehouse. I sat up and jammed my feet into my shoes before taking off out of my front door. Not bothering to lock the door, I jumped in my truck and raced over to the station.
The captain was already gearing up, along with a couple of the other firefighters, Dan and Pete. I jumped into the routine of donning my gear, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I went.
“Did the mountain reignite?”
Captain Jones shook his head. “The little shack at the end of Orange Blossom Lane is lit up like a damn firework show. One of the neighbors thinks there might be someone living in it. Says there’s been an old truck parked in the driveway for a few weeks now.”
My stomach tightened to a knot, the way it always did when learning about a potential fire victim, and I tugged my helmet on before running to the firetruck. “Come on!”
I’d gone from being in a dead sleep to maneuvering a speeding firetruck towards the small dirt lane where an inferno blazed in less than five minutes, but I knew it may still have been too long. We could be rushing towards a burning house fire that held the remains of its victim.
When I turned onto the little street, my heart sped up, and adrenaline surged, charging my brain, which in turn kick-started my muscles, everything working on auto-pilot, doing what it had been trained to do. I spotted fire. The small structure was burning high and bright. This one wasn’t going to be easily doused. Once we had it under control, I knew we’d be left with nothing but a smoldering pile of ashes.
I parked the firetruck close to the house, beside a rusty Chevy that’d seen better days. Jumping out and running for the hose, I quickly hooked it to the closest fire hydrant and handed it off to Pete. “I’m going to look around and see if I can spot anyone through the windows. Start working on the front. See if you can clear us a way in.”
I hurried around the house, trying as best I could to see into the smoke-filled structure. I’d nearly made my way around it completely when I noticed a hand pressed against a window. It was a small hand, small and delicate. Female.
My heart pounded harder. She was still alive, and I was determined to keep her that way. It’d be a good story to tell if she was okay. The little fire bunnies, like Kelly, would love it.
I peered into the window to assess the situation. There was so much thick smoke that I couldn’t see the rest of the woman. Knowing that she probably didn’t have much time left, I turned my body and slammed my elbow through the glass. Smoke billowed out, and the fire in the front burned brighter, fed with the additional oxygen. The whole place was going to go in seconds. I only needed to lean my body over the sill to find the woman hunched and propped against the wall under the window, trembling. She looked up at me with the biggest, most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen.
Mate.
I was momentarily stunned, but my bear came to life and growled. Mate. Shit. Swinging into action, I reached down and grabbed her, yanking her out of the burning house. Holding her tightly to my chest, I carried her farther from the smoke and fire.
She coughed and rubbed at her eyes. Her pouty lower lip quivered. Again, I was stunned stupid. My bear was shouting at me to claim our mate now that we had finally found her. Mark her, don’t let her go.
Fortunately, I overrode my animal instincts and forcibly kicked my training into high gear. “Is there anyone else in the house?”.
She shook her head and her long, pale blonde hair tumbled down my arms and brushed against my legs. I could almost feel th
e silky caress through my suit.
I carried her around to the front of the house and nodded to Captain Jones. I had her.
“What’s your name, Rapunzel?”
Her eyes widened even farther and she started crying. “Presley. My house…”
I looked back at the crew. They had everything under control. I wasn’t letting go of the woman in my arms. “Yeah, it’s gone. We’ll find somewhere else for you to live.”
Like with me, in my house. While some would think that insane, it felt perfectly normal to me. After so many years, I’d finally found my mate. Keeping her near me every second felt right.
“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” How could I have forgotten to ask her that immediately?
She shook her head and her hands clung to my shoulders. “I… Is everything destroyed?”
“Baby, it doesn’t matter. We’ll make sure you’re taken care of. A house, new stuff, whatever you need.”
She met my eyes and I watched her throat work as she swallowed audibly. Over the smell of the smoke clinging to her, I caught the faintest whiff of her arousal. My dick reacted in epic proportions and I had to shift to ease the ache. I grasped her tighter to my chest.
“Does anything hurt?” I repeated the question, trying to get myself under control.
She bit her lip and looked down. Gently, she moved her hands from my shoulders and lifted her knuckles for my inspection. “I couldn’t break the glass. I wasn’t strong enough.”
Sensing she was on the verge of tears, I flexed my arms and winked. “Not everyone has these guns.”
She ducked her head and looked up at me through long lashes. Instead of speaking, she just chewed on her lip more and watched me, studying me.
I had to resist the urge to puff out my chest, hoping her perusal of my looks was leaving a favorable impression. I couldn’t tell if she was shy or just in shock from the fire. I’d figure her out. We had all the time in the world to get to know each other.
“How’s your breathing now? Do you need oxygen?”
Her small, but perky chest rubbed against me as she tested her breathing. As her nipples stroked my uniform through the thin, oversized T-shirt she was wearing, I heard her small intake of air. I scented her arousal growing stronger. “Fine.”
My captain shot me a look when he saw how I was holding Presley. I just held her tighter and shrugged. I’d explain it to him later.
An ambulance showed up and an EMT hurried over to us with a medical bag at his side. He reached out to touch Presley and fury washed over me.
I growled at him, low in the back of my throat, and bared my teeth. “Don’t touch her.”
He froze, very much human, and raised his hands. “I’m sorry. I was assuming she was the victim.”
“She was.”
“I need to check her over.”
My bear had never been violent. I’d brawled with my friends over the years, and had a few ill thought out fist fights after a night of drinking when I was younger, but the reaction my bear was having to the EMT was shocking. He wanted to rip the man’s head off. I couldn’t control the rage that blurred my vision. “Touch her and I’ll break your fucking hand.”
Captain Jones rushed over and put his hand on the EMT’s shoulder. “Son, what’s the problem?”
I pressed my little mate’s head to my chest and tangled my hand in her ridiculously long hair. “Mine.”
Presley, if she thought what was happening was bizarre, didn’t say anything. She just let me hold her while I threatened and growled.
“Shit. Why don’t we let the paramedic check her out, Sam? We need to make sure she’s okay.”
He wanted to take my mate from me. I snarled at him, seconds from going feral when a familiar scent reached me. My cousin, Matt Jennings, the calmest guy I knew, was rushing towards us, not looking too calm at all.
6
Presley
I had no clue what weird science was happening between myself and the devastatingly sexy man holding me, but I knew, like I knew that the night sky was black and the morning grass was green, that he was as attracted to me as I was to him. My body had instantly and tenaciously reacted to his. The moment I saw him through the window, I’d felt something inside me transform. Like the first breath of fresh air after he’d lifted me through the window, he felt life-affirming. Somehow, it felt normal that seconds after escaping a perilous blaze that had almost consumed me, my body was responding with wanton lust to the firefighter holding me firmly and lovingly to his chest. He held me as though he was carrying me across the threshold on our wedding night.
My body had never responded to anyone—anyone at all—the way it was responding to him. I could feel moisture pooling in my panties, making my thighs slippery. I was painfully aware that if I wrapped my legs around him, I’d be able to rub myself against the hard bulge I knew was in his uniform. Heat flooded my face, feeling hotter than the fire itself. What was wrong with me?
I’d never wanted a man like I wanted him. I drank in his face, partially hidden by his helmet. Dark blue eyes, and I was close enough to see the specks of silver in them, surrounded by dark, thick eyelashes that I wanted to feel brushing against my skin. His mouth looked soft and I desperately wanted to touch my lips to his to find out. His stubble would tickle, and I instinctively knew that I would love it.
Pulses of raw desire flooded my body and, for a few seconds, I forgot everything about my past and my history with men. I envisioned giving myself to the man holding me in his strong arms, begging him to take me, crying out for him, and continuing, over and over again, until morning.
He gruffly warned the paramedic against touching me and I’d been glad. I didn’t want him to release me, and I certainly couldn’t stomach the thought of any other man’s hands on me.
It was as though time stood still between us. A sexy, growly thing he did from the back of his throat set my insides aflutter. If he’d just slide his hand between my legs, just a slight touch, it would bring me instantly to that magical point. As he called me his, like I was the last piece of pie at Thanksgiving dinner, my body flooded with even more moisture at my core. I liked it. I had no idea why, but heaven help me, I did.
Then, like a switch had been thrown, he broke eye contact. I followed his gaze to see Matt running towards us, fear and worry etched on his face.
The fog lifted. Seeing Matt jerked me back to reality. What in the world was I doing? Fear and panic washed away my arousal and I wiggled out of the fireman’s grip. Running to Matt, I threw myself into his hug and sobbed.
As soon as Matt’s caring arms wrapped around me, I let the floodgates open. My body trembled and my knees felt like jelly. My mind and body suddenly reacted in spades to what had just occurred. First, the near-fatal experience of being trapped in the fire. Then, my almost as frightening, freakish reaction to the stranger who had rescued me. I could feel the firefighter’s eyes boring into my back and I clung tighter to Matt.
The physiological response I’d had to him terrified me. I’d never felt anything like it before, and it terrified me. I’d never reacted to Kyle this way, and I’d thought I loved him. Kyle had devastated me. I could only imagine how deeply the destruction would run if I were to give myself to this handsome, powerful stranger only to have him trample on my still-healing heart.
Matt stroked my back. “Are you okay? Sweetheart, you’re shivering. What happened?”
I could hear the firefighter growling behind me, and I squeezed Matt even tighter. “I woke up and the house was on fire. I don’t know if I left one of the candles burning or not. I was so scared, Matt.”
He lifted me into his arms and pressed a kiss to my head. “You’re coming home with me. I won’t take no for an answer. You have to, now.”
“Matt.” The stranger’s voice threatened to weaken my determination, all deep and sexy.
“Hey, Sam. Thanks for saving my girl, here.”
“Your girl?” Displeasure was evident in his voice and I felt him m
ove closer.
Matt just helped me out more than he realized by calling me his girl. Maybe I could use that to my advantage before Matt corrected Sam, the stranger. It was a crazy idea, but it could work. Panic caused a rise of fight or flight within me and I was flying as far away from Sam the firefighter as possible. Pretending to be in a committed relationship was far-flying.
“Yes, I’m his girlfriend.” I pulled my face back far enough to stare, imploringly, into Matt’s eyes.
It was clear he sensed my desperation and a small furrow formed between his eyebrows. “Uh, yep. So… yes, I really owe you one, cousin.”
Cousin? I dropped my head onto Matt’s shoulder and groaned. I’d just coaxed Matt into lying to his cousin. Worse, what if his cousin knew he was gay? I held my breath and waited for the laughter, but none came.
“Didn’t realize you were dating anyone.”
“You know how it is, Sam. One second you’re enjoying bachelorhood, and the very next second, you’re dating someone. Literally, the very next second.”
I pinched his arm and coughed to cover up his pained cry.
Tingles spread across my skin as Sam’s hand rested on my back. “You sure you’re okay? You’re coughing. Do you need to get checked out?”
Sure, when someone else was holding me, he was okay with me getting checked out. “No, I’m good. Thank you.”
“Is it okay if I take her home? I’ll be sure to monitor her condition. If any symptoms present, I promise I’ll get her taken care of.” Matt’s voice suddenly sounded strained and for the first time since meeting him, I worried that he was angry with me.
Sam grunted. “She’ll be at your house?”
Bears of Burden Complete Series Box Set Page 41