Slow Burn (Into The Fire Book 2) Read online

  “Maisie, you know damn well I don’t think about you like that. You’re the furthest thing from a fling. If that’s what’s in the way, stop thinking like that.”

  Maisie stared at me. I scrambled for purchase in my mind. I couldn’t quite believe what I’d just said. As we stood there in the loaded quiet, I considered what to say next. My heart banged against my ribs, and a slight sense of panic tightened my chest and rose in my throat.

  “If I’m not a fling, what am I?” she asked.

  Excellent question. If only I had the answer.

  I appeared to be on a roll with being honest, so my next comment hewed to that track.

  “I don’t know.”

  Her chocolate brown eyes just kept staring at me, questioning, assessing and with a hint of confusion layered in their depths.

  I hadn’t planned any of this. All I knew was I wanted Maisie. That need had overridden my usual control. I hadn’t thought past what it might mean, the questions she might have, and the questions I now had. The only point of clarity was that I still wanted her. Fiercely. I shoved my own thoughts to the back of my mind because, honestly, I didn’t know what to do with them right now. I had genuinely expected that once would be enough. I’d get Maisie out of my system, and we’d move on as friends. Hell, I’d never had trouble staying friends with women I previously dated. Yet, no one I’d dated was quite like Maisie. No one got to me the way she did. And that was before I had a taste of what it was like to be with her.

  On uncertain ground, I fell back on the mundane. “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you left hours ago.”

  I felt rather foolish still standing there in my briefs. Although thank fucking God my cock wasn’t so hard. Attempting to have a rational conversation about the state of whatever our affairs were had cooled the lust humming through me.

  At my question, Maisie twisted a loose curl around the end of her finger. That was a nervous habit of hers. Even when her hair was pulled back, she certainly had plenty of curls to twist. They were wild. Then she went and bit her lip again. Oh hell. Just when I thought I was getting things under control.

  “I came back to try to change the oil on my truck,” she explained.

  My confusion must have shown on my face.

  Twirling that dark curl around her finger, she eyed me. “Susannah showed me how to change it. I thought I got it right, but I noticed there’s an oil stain where I park the truck at Gram’s house.”

  “Oh, well, wheel it in. Let me take a look.”

  She looked so damn relieved, it made me want to hug her. Only Maisie elicited this wanting-to-hug feeling in me. I wasn’t much for the cuddly kind of affection. She also made me feel ten feet tall. Considering I wanted her like mad, it was a small favor to have her make me feel like a big man for a few minutes. All because I’d offered to help her change the oil. Man stuff.

  “You’d help?” she asked.

  It was then I realized I could bargain.

  “Let’s make a deal.”

  The relief in her eyes morphed into suspicion.

  “What?”

  “I’ll check out your truck and fix whatever’s wrong if you’ll stop pretending there’s nothing between us.”

  Talk about loaded silence. Damn. She stared at me, her gaze considering. I thought for a moment she was going to call my bluff. Because the truth was I’d take care of her truck no matter what. I figured she knew me well enough to know that.

  Just when I thought I pushed too far, she spoke.

  “Fine.”

  That’s all she said.

  “Fine?” I asked.

  Her breath came out in a little huff. Damn, I loved annoying her. Of course, the side effect was I got hard all over again.

  “Just that. Fine. I appreciate your help, and I’ll try to…” She paused and gave her hand a little wave. “… I guess, not act like there’s nothing there. I don’t really know what that means, but I’ll stop worrying about it for now.”

  I sent up a silent hallelujah. I wasn’t about to reveal how fucking relieved I was.

  “Deal then. I’ll get dressed, and you can bring your truck into the side bay.”

  For a flash, I considered pushing the issue with her right now. We were alone, and I was already half naked. But I sensed I needed to play my cards right, and that probably meant giving her a little space. I didn’t think about the fact that I was flat out crazy here. I was not the guy that proposed anything other than a fling. Yet, I couldn’t even tolerate the idea of not having more of Maisie.

  Chapter 13

  Maisie

  I stared down at Beck’s boots. They were sticking out from under my truck as he checked out the situation with my oil filter. Battered, worn black leather boots was all they were. Yet, they were somehow part of everything he was. He was so casually masculine, I doubted he ever thought about it. Coming from California, I’d seen plenty of brand-spanking new leather boots made to look as if they were worn. I doubted those kinds of boots were even sold here in Alaska. Vanity wasn’t much of a thing around here. I’d guess Beck probably blew through several pairs of boots like this every year.

  He was rough, rugged, and so quintessentially alpha man, it was almost ridiculous. He shouldn’t get to me the way he did. I mean, guys like him surrounded me day in and day out at the station. All tough as nails, hardened hotshot firefighters. Only Beck sent my belly into somersaults. Only Beck made me practically melt inside at how hot he was.

  The first time I saw Beck, my pulse had lunged, flutters had spun in my belly, and he’d made me want things that weren’t the least bit sensible.

  I stared down at his boots, my mind spinning back to last week. I couldn’t even think about it without getting all hot and bothered. My sex clenched right here where I stood. All of this was happening in my body while Beck was changing my oil filter. He appeared to talk to himself a bit when he worked because I occasionally heard him say something, but I couldn’t make out what he meant.

  My body recalled the feel of him filling me, the push and pull as he stroked into my channel. I swallowed against the tide of need rolling through me. This was insanity. I’d tried so hard all week to forget what had transpired. I’d scrupulously avoided being alone with Beck, which had taken some effort when he popped out front to chat. I’d never considered how often he did that and how much I liked it. He’d invariably say something to needle me, and we’d spar about something. All this time, I thought he annoyed me. He did, but it was fun and lighthearted. For the entire week since he’d left me boneless and shown me the folly of my belief that fantasy would trump reality, I’d pretended I’d been on the phone several times a day when he sauntered out front.

  I wondered how long I could keep that up. I also wondered how long I could resist him. I’d fully expected us to have a one-night stand. I’d expected to leave slightly disappointed and easily expected to stop fantasizing about him. Instead, he’d blown my mind, sent me flying into an explosive climax and left me wanting more, more, and more.

  I jumped when he slid swiftly out from under my truck. He was on his back on one of those rolling backboards. He flattened one boot to the floor, somehow managing to look as if he were lounging on the damn thing. A thin strip of his bronzed skin showed where his t-shirt rode up slightly above his jeans. That one little glimpse sent another wash of heat rolling through me. I knew just how hard and muscled he was and how he felt against me.

  “All set,” he announced with a quick grin.

  “Oh, that’s it? What was wrong?”

  He rolled the backboard slightly and stood, catching the end of it with one boot. “Not much. You got it right. It just needed tightening. Since it was leaking, I went ahead and replaced the filter because the seal was a mess.”

  He quickly picked up a few tools and cleaned up. I watched while he washed his hands in the giant sink in the corner. We were standing between my truck and the garage wall. The side bay we were in was left empty unless they needed to bring one of t
he vehicles in for maintenance. Beyond us and closer to the main part of the station were the main bays, which contained two fire trucks. Aside from where we were, the garage was shadowy.

  It was barely light outside with the sun’s long, slow descent almost over. Through the window, I could see the thinnest sliver of its orb falling behind the mountains. The light was silvery gray outside.

  I looked back toward Beck. He tossed a paper towel in the trash beside the sink and spun to face me, hooking his hands over the edge of the sink. It was bad enough how my body behaved when one of us was occupied, but it was downright embarrassing when there was nothing to distract me. The second his dark green gaze landed on me, my belly executed a slow flip and my pulse quickened. He was quiet, his gaze considering. In the narrow space between my truck and the sink, we were perhaps a foot apart. The space felt suddenly crowded and hot. I was burning up, inside and out.

  Beck reached out and hooked his hand on the hem of my t-shirt. I’d returned to the station, expecting to see no one around. As such, I was wearing a t-shirt that hung past my hips and a pair of leggings, my usual comfy home outfit. I didn’t feel the least bit sexy, but when Beck looked at me, my body lit up. He gently tugged me to him.

  It would have taken a monumental effort for me to resist when every fiber of me wanted to latch onto him. I’d already forgotten the long list of reasons why I shouldn’t let anything happen with him again. He pulled me flush against him and let out a satisfied hum.

  I felt soft against him, if only for the contrast to his hardness. Aside from the fact I could feel his cock hot and hard against me, he was hard all over. My body almost sagged in relief against him. The effort it had taken to try not to notice him this past week had been more than I imagined. To let go into what I wanted—in short, to essentially bind myself to his body and forget the rest of the world—was such a release. I was humming with need, but for the moment, I wasn’t fighting it. I closed my eyes and tried to catch my breath. While I was relieved to finally stop my internal fighting with my own desire, touching him only sent the need notching up.

  “Maisie.”

  Beck’s voice was low and taut. The sound alone sent a prickle of sensation down my spine. I opened my eyes. One look into his, and my breath and heartbeat got choppy. His gaze was fierce and so intent, I could hardly bear it.

  I sucked in a breath. “Yes?”

  “Is this when you tell me we can’t do this?”

  My head was shaking before I could form a reply.

  “You’ll need to be more clear,” he said as he slid one hand around to cup my bottom while he lifted the other and trailed the backs of his fingers across my nipples.

  They were already tight and achy, begging for his touch. The subtle brush across the thin cotton almost made me moan. I scrambled for some semblance of control, my mind hazy with need. “Clear?” I choked out.

  “You shook your head. I don’t know if that means we can’t do this, or if that means you’re not saying we can’t do this. How about you tell me what you want?”

  He appeared to have more capacity for speech than I did, although his voice was gruff. I could feel the hard thump of his heartbeat against me. His cock was nestled at the apex of my thighs, right where he’d tugged me tight against him. I wished he wasn’t demanding I make it explicit what I wanted. Somehow that made it feel real, something I couldn’t chalk up to a wild, impulsive choice.

  I looked into his eyes—fiery heat sliding through my veins and pooling in my belly, feeling the slick moisture between my thighs—and felt a depth of connection I’d never before known. It made me want to look away, but if there was one thing I wasn’t, it was a coward. I was downright stubborn when it came to facing things head on. So I held his gaze with my heart beating like the wings of a bird and emotion tightening my throat.

  I gulped in air and barreled through the fear chasing me inside. “I want you.”

  My words came out husky, roughened with the depth of my need. For good measure, I slid my palm over his cock. His lids fell as he arched subtly into my touch.

  “Fuck, Maisie. You make me crazy.”

  “Well, at least that’s two of us then.”

  His low chuckle sent shivers over my skin.

  His fingers sank into my bottom. With a growl, he dipped his head and dragged his tongue along the side of my neck.

  “You taste so fucking good,” he murmured between licks, kisses and nips.

  I’d gone from humming with need to nearly melting into a puddle. Thank God Beck had a firm hold on me. His lips finally made their way to mine. I needed to kiss him about as much as I needed to breathe and possibly more. I fisted a hand in his shirt and dove into our kiss. There were kisses and then there were Beck’s kisses. Perhaps I was short on experience, but damn if he wasn’t a pass master at it. Deep strokes of his tongue interspersed with tracing my lips, catching my bottom lip in his teeth, murmuring what I didn’t know and then diving back into my mouth. It was the perfect balance of hard and soft, hot, deep, wet and overpowering. By the time he drew back, I was all but riding his knee, which had slid between my thighs somewhere along the way. My shirt was shoved halfway up and he had both hands cupping my breasts, his fingers teasing my nipples to madness.

  Chapter 14

  Beck

  I drew back and sucked in a breath. I was all but lost in the maelstrom of Maisie. Her lips were damp and swollen from our kiss, her eyes hazy and dark, and her skin flushed all over. Her hips were rolling against my thigh and I was so fucking hard, I thought I might explode.

  I was normally more measured when it came to sex. I loved it and definitely loved making a woman go wild. Yet, it was all about the end game. With Maisie, it was something else altogether. Oh, it was want, it was need, but it was far more than that. There was no end game. I got lost in nothing but the sensation of being with her—having her full breasts fill my hands, her tight nipples rolling under my thumbs, the damp heat of her sex pressing against my thigh. There was nothing measured about anything I did with her. It was pure, raw, unfiltered lust mingled with something else. Something I didn’t quite want to think about just now.

  I lifted her against me and couldn’t help the grin of satisfaction when she curled her legs around my hips. She was a bundle of lush, soft curves. Her musky scent surrounded me. Damn. Just the scent of her made me harder. I carried her around to the end of the truck bed, adjusted her in my arms and opened it with one hand.

  “What are you…?”

  Her question ended in a gasp when I slid her hips onto the back of the truck and reached between her thighs to drag my fingers over the damp cotton.

  “You are so fucking wet,” I murmured.

  A little moan came from her when I deepened the pressure and passed over her clit.

  I was about out of my mind, but I had a goal. I reluctantly moved my hand away and reached for the waistband of her leggings. She was quite helpful and swatted my hands out of the way to shimmy out of her leggings in no time. She was busy with me next, shoving my shirt up. It got caught, and she swore. I laughed and reached behind my neck to lift it off quickly. She started to unbutton my jeans, and I caught her hands in mine.

  Her eyes flicked to mine, impatience contained in her gaze.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get there.”

  I snagged the hem of her t-shirt and lifted it off where it fell in a rumple to the floor with mine. Fuck me. She was glorious. Her breasts spilled out over the top of her black silk bra, the nipples taut little beads. Maybe this was only the second time we’d been together, but she appeared to have a penchant for black silk. It shouldn’t have surprised me. She had a touch of goth to her look overall, but her creamy skin, her freckles and her general adorableness made it impossible for her to pull it off.

  I flicked the tiny clasp between her breasts, groaning when they tumbled free. My mouth was on them before thought passed through. I needed to taste her, to feel her nipples tighten under my tongue and in my lips. She arche
d into me, crying out when I bit down lightly. I gripped her hips and tugged her to the end of the truck bed, her calves dangling around my hips. With her flexing against me, I mapped my way down her body, over the soft curve of her belly, and trailed kisses along the insides of her thighs.

  She shifted restlessly against me when I pushed her thighs apart. The silk between them was soaking wet with her juices. I meant to drag this out, but I needed to see her. Hooking a finger over the thin edge of the silk, I dragged her panties off, slipping them into my pocket. I’d be damned if she went home with those on tonight. I looked down to see her pussy, pink and glistening. It distantly occurred to me she was too pure for where we were fucking. Oh, I didn’t mean she was virginal. More that she was so fucking beautiful, so raw and so honest in how she responded to me. Where we were was most often filled with men coming back covered in soot. This place was all man, and she was all woman.

  I slid my hands slowly up her thighs, pushing them further apart as I did. I dragged one finger through her folds—oh my fucking God, she was so wet. My knees almost buckled. Slick with her own juices, the scent of her was like a drug. I sank a finger knuckle deep inside of her, watching as her hips rolled into my touch.

  “Beck, please don’t make me wait,” she murmured between breaths.

  “Oh, I won’t make you wait. This is round one.”

  I finally gave into what I wanted and let my tongue trace her cleft. Her hips bucked, and she gripped my hair. I added another finger into her channel and set to fucking her with my fingers while I tasted every inch of her. She was salty and sweet, and fucking glorious. She didn’t hold back, and I loved that about her. She might be guarded and prickly, but her strong personality came through once she let down her guard.

  With her hips rolling into me, I traced in and around her folds, grazing over her clit again and again, all the while stroking deeply into her channel. When she started to throb around me, I swirled my tongue around her clit and drew it into my mouth. She cried out sharply, my name following with a low moan, as she convulsed around me.