Backdraft (9 page)

“I want to watch you suck my cock.”

A chill skated over her sensitized skin. Few things gave her greater pleasure than loving him with her mouth. In that position, she was able to demand his complete and total surrender. She stacked the pillows behind his head, winking at him, as she held her nipples just above his mouth. “This may take a while. I just wanted you to be comfortable.”

Watching her slide down his body, he groaned. “I could never get tired of watching you do this.”

She tried to tamp down her enthusiasm; knowing he was thinking ahead made her want to surrender to the hope that flared to life when she first saw him walk onto that stage tonight. Focusing her attention on his steel shaft, she lovingly licked him up and down, coating his cock with her saliva before she slid it into her mouth. She shifted so she could take him deeper then opened her throat and fastened her lips around him.

“God, you look so hot when you do that.” Fisting his hand in her long hair, he guided her head, forcing her to take all of him.

He was the one who’d taught her how to worship a man’s cock, and she’d learned the lesson well. Moaning around his shaft, she felt the vibration against her lips as she sucked him deeper and harder, building momentum until his hips were coming off the bed and he was fucking her mouth.

“That’s it, baby, take it all. Fuck me, yesss…”

She loved making him lose control. She’d lived for it, for those stolen moments when they snuck away from school for a quickie in the bed of his truck by the lake because they couldn’t wait another second to tear each other’s clothes off. She had never known that kind of urgency with a man since.

“I don’t want you to swallow,” he muttered.

Confused, she tried to pull away. He used to love draining his cock into her mouth. Was that act too intimate for them to share now?

“I want to come on your tits,” he murmured, clenching his teeth. “I want to mark you, make you mine.”

She would have smiled, had her mouth not been filled to capacity with his cock.

“At least for tonight.”

As quickly as hope bloomed, it withered and died. He wasn’t in this for the long haul after all. This was just one more night to remember him by, as if she could ever forget.

Dave was desperately trying to separate his head, heart, and body, but he couldn’t. She sucked his cock and it felt like she was tugging on his heartstrings, reminding him of how good it used to be. She was the only woman who’d ever loved him this way. He’d had a hundred blowjobs in his life, but the way she focused on his pleasure made him forget everything and everyone else in the world.

“Turn around,” he whispered. “I want to eat your pussy while you suck my cock.” He needed to do something to make this less intimate. Watching her love him like that pushed him dangerously close to the edge of that sheer drop. If he fell, he knew that life as he knew it was over for him. There was no going back.

Moaning, she turned and slung her leg over his waist, positioning her luscious pussy over his face.

He cursed the bum hand that prevented him from peeling her apart and feasting on her the way he wanted. Instead, he dipped his tongue inside her moist slit and found the pleasure probe linked to her orgasms. The harder and deeper she sucked his cock, the faster he licked her clit. Before long, they were fucking each other’s mouths relentlessly, as though their lives depended on it, and it was the hottest, most intense thing he’d ever experienced. He was dying to come, but not before he drove her over the edge first. He got his wish as she gasped and tried to pull away. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her in place as he lapped up the sweet juice pouring from her tight channel. When he was satisfied that he had exhausted her, he said, “Head on the pillows, flat on your back.”

When she was lying on the pillow beside him, he shifted until he was straddling her waist.

“Dave, your hand, be careful,” she said, eyeing his bandaged hand, warily.

“Don’t worry, Doc,” he said, smirking. “I won’t need my hand for this.” Bracing his uninjured hand on the headboard, he slid home, and it struck him that being inside of her felt like home.

“God, that feels good,” she said, her eyes drifting closed.

This was always her favorite position. She used to tell him she loved feeling his weight pressing her into the mattress, confining her.

Bracing his weight on his forearms, he leaned in, kissing her softly. He’d intended to steal just one kiss, but that was like asking an alcoholic to stop after one drink: impossible. Sliding his tongue over the seam of her lips, he smiled when she opened for him, threading her hands through his hair to draw him closer.

Kissing was always her favorite form of foreplay. She would often straddle him at a stoplight and kiss him breathless until he had to pull over on a deserted country road, pull his pants down, flip her skirt up, and pull her back into his lap to finish what she started. God, they had been so hungry for each other back then. And so in love, it still hurt him to think about it.

He closed his eyes and lost himself in the kiss. In his mind, they were teenagers, on the verge of being adults and so desperate to be together. The memories filtered through his mind like a slideshow: the stolen kisses, the laughter, the lovemaking. She wasn’t the girl who betrayed him anymore; she was the woman he loved.

Thrusting in and out, trying to bridge the gap of their broken dreams, he made love to her as though the last ten years never happened. “I love you,” he whispered, surprising himself with the intensity of his declaration. He poured everything he had, everything he was, into her, depositing his seed, and giving her his love.

She looked into his eyes, as though half-expecting him to take back his words, but when he said nothing, she smiled. “I love you, too. Always have, always will.”

He cursed himself as he rolled off and gathered her in his arms. He shouldn’t have said that. It was too soon; too much mistrust and uncertainty lay between them to talk about love yet.

She kissed his chest and looked up at him. “This is the most amazing night I’ve had in…” She smiled. “A long time.”

“Shit,” he whispered, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger as he closed his eyes. “Shit.”

Frowning, she pushed off his chest. “What’s wrong?”

“We forgot the goddamn condom.”

She settled back into his arms, gliding her hand down his bicep. “Don’t worry, I’m on the pill.”

Be that as it may, he never forgot to use condoms, ever. “Is that 100% effective?”

She rolled off, claiming the pillow beside him as she turned her back to him. “As a doctor, I can assure you, I won’t get pregnant, so don’t worry.”

Shit, he hadn’t intended to offend her, but he sure as hell wasn’t ready for a kid right now. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…”

She sat up, reaching into her nightstand. She withdrew a box of condoms and a small plastic disc. After turning the dial, she set a tiny pill in her hand and popped it in her mouth, glaring at him. “See? No worries, I’m not trying to trap you by getting pregnant.”

His eyes drifted to the small box of condoms on the nightstand. Reaching for it, he tipped the box. It was half-empty. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered. He wished he hadn’t looked; that was more than he needed to know right now.

Glaring at him, she snatched the box out of his hand. “You want me to apologize for having a sex life while you’ve been busy engaging in orgies?”

Just the thought of her having sex with someone else pissed him off. He was her first, and for a long time he’d believed he would be her last. That’s how it would have been, had Craig not interfered. “Orgies? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Don’t even try to deny that you and Craig have threesomes.”

Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “Just how close are you and Craig?” If he found out they were sleeping together, he would drive over to his friend’s house right now and beat him senseless.

“We’re friends,” she said quietly.

Sitting up, he braced his weight on his hand. “Define this friendship.”

Her face fell, and she lowered her head. “We talk on the phone, text, and email; we’ve gone out to dinner a few times…”

Why the hell was Craig trying to forge a relationship with his ex-girlfriend if he didn’t have feelings for her? It didn’t make sense. “How did you two re-connect?”

“Online, a social networking site. He sent a friend request, and we just started talking.” Shrugging, she said, “I was curious about what you guys had been up to.” Looking him in the eyes, she said, “I was curious about you, whether you’d married, had kids…” Her voice trailed off.

“And when you found out I hadn’t, that’s when you decided to come back to Brant?”

She nodded. “I wasn’t expecting anything. I know it seems silly, but I just wanted to be with you again.”

“For old time’s sake? Was this your way of trying to put me behind you, or were you trying to start something new?” He held his breath, waiting for her to explain. He didn’t know what he was expecting, or what he hoped she would say.

“I don’t know what I wanted,” she said, raking her hands through her hair. “I wouldn’t allow myself to dwell on what might happen once you found out it was me.” She shrugged. “Maybe I was hoping that some of the wounds had healed, but I wasn’t expecting too much.”

“That doctor, Chris, you said you two are just friends?” He tossed the condom box on the floor. “You sure that’s all it is?”

Her eyes fell to the small plastic packets on the floor and he knew, without waiting for a response, that they were lovers.

“Goddammit,” he said, reaching for the pants she’d peeled off earlier. “I’ll never learn, will I? And to think, I was almost willing to trust you again.”

“Dave, wait,” she said, grabbing his wrist. “He and I are just friends. Have we had sex? Yes, a few times, but…”

He held his hand up. The last thing he wanted right now was a blow by blow of her sexual escapades with other men. “You know what? That guy’s perfect for you. I think you should go for it.”

Frowning, she pulled the sheet against her chest. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s educated, sophisticated, well-off…”

“You know I don’t care about that stuff.”

Getting dressed without straining his injured hand was a struggle, but he couldn’t out of the house fast enough. “Is that why you were willing to settle for a lowly firefighter? Wouldn’t it have bothered you, marrying beneath you?”

She stared at him. “I thought you knew me better than that.”

“Are you kidding? I don’t know you at all. I never did.”

Chapter Seven

Dave was going stir-crazy at home since his father, the chief, forced him to take the week off while his hand healed. He said he would be useless with only one hand, and in his line of work, he couldn’t argue. Still, he would give anything to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. He couldn’t seem to find the energy to do anything, go grocery shopping, to the gym, or even prepare a decent meal. Instead, he sat in front of the TV, trying to block out reality while immersing himself in mindless primetime dramas.

Six days into his semi-self-imposed exile, he finally picked up the phone to reconnect with the outside world. He’d called the operator for the number earlier in the week, but he hadn’t found the nerve to use it until now. After dialing the digits, he waited for the phone to ring. Since it was Sunday, he wasn’t expecting him to answer the phone in his office. He thought he could just leave a message and claim he’d made the effort to touch base.

“Caledon Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Monroe speaking.”

Dave paused, unsure how to respond. “Uh, Jack. This is Dave… Briar.” He waited, hoping his old friend would fill the awkward silence. This was worse than calling one of his booty calls in a drunken stupor at 3 a.m.

“Oh my God, Dave Briar? How the hell are you, buddy?”

Just like that, the anxiety melted away and they were just two old friends catching up. “I’m good. I wasn’t expecting to catch you at the office today.”

“I performed surgery on a Collie with a blockage yesterday. I just popped in to make sure she was doing okay. Man, I’m glad I did. It’s great to hear from you.”

“Yeah, it’s good to hear your voice, Jack. It’s been too long.” Jack, Dave, and Craig had been the best of friends all through high school. Jack traveled his own path in the years that followed, but Dave always thought of catching up with him, and now he had the motive.

“Hey, what are you doing right now?” Jack asked.

Dave looked down at his ratty sweats and stained tank top. “Uh, not much. Why?”

“My wife and kids are visiting her parents today. I was just gonna go home and catch the game on the tube. Why don’t we get together for a drink? I sure would love to catch up.”

Reconnecting with an old friend, especially one with the insight to help him put his life back in perspective, was exactly what he needed right now. “That sounds great. How ‘bout Casey’s in an hour?” It was a sports bar located in the small town between them. That would give him forty minutes to get his ass off the couch, shower, and another twenty minutes to make the drive.