Connelly's Flame (7 page)

was slipping behind the wheel.
He must be in love if he didn’t respond to my sex comment.

“This is a work of art,” he praised from where he sat behind the wheel.

“Thanks.” Dezarae said as she opened the passenger door and climbed in. “I wish
he
was done but I

can’t spare the time. Most of my hours are in the shop. So he is kinda neglected.”

“This car is not a ‘he,’” Jeb insisted.

“Listen here, Johnny Reb,” Dezarae teased. “Men get to have their cars be women so why wouldn’t I

want my car to be a man? If I’m gonna have an orgasm it sure as hell isn’t going to be because of a woman.”

That got his attention. “Keep up with that kind of talk and you will have an orgasm and I guarantee it

will be by a man,” he warned.

“We need to get to town,” she rasped as she got out of the vehicle.

“Runnin’, Firebird?” he challenged, reluctant to leave the car so soon.

“No,” she purred in his ear. “I already know this man can make me come, so why would I run from

you?” Her dark body moved closer to the car door. “And I am talking about the car.” Her lips were right by

his ear as she delivered those final words, her warm breath teasing him.

His erection jumped painfully against the tight confines of his jeans. Infatuation over the car was lost

to the pressing need to possess this woman, this ebony vixen.

He climbed out of the car and grabbed Dezarae’s arm, spinning her back toward him. Not giving her

an opportunity to voice her opinion, he lifted her up. Her legs around his waist as his strong hands gripped

her ass. His mouth latched onto hers with a ferocity that, instead of scaring her, only inflamed her more.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as she sucked his tongue deeper into her mouth. Pulling back

she held onto his lower lip, dragging her teeth lightly across it.

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Aliyah Burke

His hands clenched on her butt cheeks causing her to let go of his lip with a gasp. “Tell me what

male exactly in this garage can give you an orgasm?” Jeb’s tone was hoarse as he readjusted his hold so he

could move one hand up under her shirt.

“The one with the stick,” she panted as his fingers teased her skin.

“Dezarae,” he growled low in his throat.

“Yes?” Her question was strained.

The smell of her desire was potent to him. His free hand slipped from her shirt to the waistband of

her pants and over her soaked panties. Her whole body shivered.

“You seem awfully wet. Did your car do this to you?” He asked, deceptively calm.

“No,” she admitted. “It was the other male in my garage.” Her whimpers grew in volume as his

fingers slid under the wet edge of her underwear.

“Tell me,” he ordered before his mouth adhered to one of her breasts through her shirt. Sucking until

the moisture from his mouth was palpable to the tender skin of her full breast.

“You,” Dezarae barely managed to whisper. “It was you.”

“And don’t you forget that, Firebird.” He slid one finger inside her welcoming heat.

“Oh God!” she wailed as her body spasmed with an orgasm.

Slowly removing his finger, he said in a guttural tone, “Let’s see your car do
that
.” He sucked his

finger clean before whispering, “You taste like candy, Firebird.”

Eyes closed from the intensity of her orgasm plus a bit of mortification at her response to his touch

Dezarae said, “I…we need to get going.”

“Kiss me first. Taste yourself on me. Come, Firebird, kiss me.”

Dezarae couldn’t ignore him. Hesitantly she opened her eyes to see nothing but affection in his

return gaze. Tenderly she put her lips on his and began the kiss. Soon the kiss intensified; she closed her eyes

in pleasure as he deepened the kiss.

She could taste herself in his heated kiss. Her body pressed harder against his as she felt that need

begin to build up inside her again. Dezarae wanted all he could give her.

The kiss ended as he pulled his mouth off hers. Those eyes of his were dark with desire and it was

plain to Dezarae as she looked into them. “What?” Her question was asked quietly.

“I don’t have that much self-control. We have to stop now, or I won’t be able to.” With great

reluctance, he put her on her feet. “Unlike you, Firebird, I’m only mortal.” He brushed his lips against hers

one more time. “Let’s get going.”

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Another hour passed before they were ready. Dezarae went in the house and got cleaned up while

Jeb stayed away from her tempting body.

As he sat beside her in the old vehicle, he watched her out of the corner of his eye. Her face was the

picture of total concentration on navigating them safely the twenty mile trip to town. She hadn’t looked him

in the eyes since she ran from the garage.

She wore a softly-colored patchwork sweatshirt and another pair of hip-hugging jeans. Her coat was

in the backseat along with the one of her father’s that she lent him. Dezarae had her thick black hair pulled

back away from her face, allowing him easy access to her side profile.

Please don’t let me find out I’m married.
His stormy gaze looked out the window as the passing

landscape.
Why won’t she talk to me?

“If I apologize for my actions in the garage, will you talk to me?” Jeb broke the silence that still

teemed with sexual tension.

With a brief glance at her passenger, Dezarae sighed. He still made her breath catch and he had since

she first saw him lying there in the snow. “Have you done something you feel the need to apologize for?”

Her dark eyes moved back to the seemingly nonexistent road.

“No, but I will if
you
feel I should apologize.”
Hell, no, I don’t feel I did anything wrong. Except

stop.

“Then you don’t have to.” Dezarae fell silent as they approached the spot where he busted through

the guardrail.

Jeb’s gray eyes widened as he saw the mangled guardrail. It was like he had been tuned to stone. His

mouth formed a ring as the vehicle slowed.

“Did you want to go look?” Dezarae asked in a quiet voice.

“Please.” His voice was slightly strained.

Carefully, Dezarae stopped the car, letting it idle. She watched in silence as he pulled on the coat and

got out to head down the hill. Allowing him to face this alone, she sat in the car.

Jeb stood at the top of the embankment looking at the burnt remains of the vehicle he had crashed in.

“I was lucky to survive,” he said to no one in particular.

Making his way cautiously down to the bottom, he walked to stand beside the crushed metal. He

looked for anything that may give him a clue to his past. There was nothing that he could see.

His mind wasn’t jarred by this at all. None of it was familiar to him. Of course there wasn’t much

left except the frame, anyway. Then, with the new snow that had fallen, he knew there wasn’t going to be

anything for him to find.

Disappointment and frustration welled up inside him.
Will I never know who I am?
Seconds before

he yelled in aggravation, a gentle sound reached him.

“You okay?” Dezarae had joined him. Her dark eyes were full of compassion as she looked at him.

One gloved hand reached out to rest on his arm.

Jeb couldn’t begin to describe the feeling that filled him at hearing her soft voice. “I still can’t

remember,” he answered, pulling her closer to wrap his arms around her.

Dezarae relaxed against his chest. Together they stood there and looked over the remains. After a bit,

she patted one of the strong arms around her. “We should get going.”

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“Let’s get going, Johnny Reb.” Dezarae said, removing herself from his embrace.

“Right behind you, Firebird. I’m right behind you.” Taking the time for one more look over the

wreckage, the dark brown haired man turned to scramble up the hill after his savior.

“How long before we get to town?” he asked once they had begun driving again.

“Once we get to the main road, about ten minutes. If they cleared it.” She took a sip of her coffee.

“Dale may have some information for you when we get there.”

“Okay,” he replied in a monotone voice.

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Aliyah Burke

“Don’t you want to know?” Dezarae looked at him in surprise.

“What if who I am isn’t good?”

“Then you change,” she said matter-of-factly. Reaching across the car, she patted his hard thigh. “I

don’t believe you are a bad person.”

“But you did.” Jeb said placing his callused hand over her softer one to keep it where it was.

“And I was wrong.” She insisted.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because, Johnny Reb, if you were truly a bad person, whether you lost your memory or not you will

still be bad. Evil that is learned can be forgotten, but those who are truly evil always will be.” Dezarae pulled

her hand free. “I don’t think you are evil.”

“Why do you still call me Johnny Reb?”

She shrugged. “Don’t know. Does it bother you?”

“I guess not.” He admitted looking back out the window.
It bothers me you may still think of me as

something bad from the South.

****

“Calm down, Cade. We’re going anyway. A satellite image shows a break in the system, and we’re

taking it,” another teammate said.

“I just don’t like it, Maverick. Not at all.”

“None of us do man, none of us do,” Maverick responded.

“I know.”

“How’s the wife?” Maverick asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Jayde’s fine,” the man’s voice softened. “She wants to know when you’re getting hitched.”

Maverick just shook his head. It wasn’t like he was the only single man in the team, either. For some

reason, though, they were all after him to get married.

“It’s gonna take one hell of a storm to get me to the altar, Cade. I would marry Jayde or Alexis but—

”

“We’d kill you.” A deep voice joined the conversation. The leader of Megalodon Team walked in

and glared at Maverick.

“See, Harrier,” Maverick said, not at all threatened by the intimidating presence of the man there.

“You and Cade have the good women.”

The two happily-married men glanced at each other and grinned. Harrier spoke. “I can’t wait to meet

the storm that gets you there.”

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Maverick teased, “Hold your breath, man, please hold your breath.”

****

man,” she said to the vehicle as they left it.

Jeb followed. Shadyville wasn’t as small as he had believed it was going to be, but it wasn’t exactly

a huge metropolis. He walked behind her into the building.

“Sheriff,” she called out as soon as she opened the door. “Are you here?”

A tall handsome man popped out from around the corner. As his eyes landed on Dezarae, he gave

her a huge smile. “Hey, Dez.”

“Hello, Shawn. Where’s Dale?” She smiled easily at the man.

“He’s at the diner getting coffee.” He nodded towards the man behind her. “Who’s that?”

“This is Jeb. The man from the accident.”

Jeb had been watching the man who had asked
his
Firebird for her hand in marriage. The second

Dezarae had said his name, Jeb disliked him. He had become surprisingly possessive of her the little time he

had known her.

The man was handsome. He was tall, not as tall as Jeb himself, but still tall. He had a thick head of

light brown hair, blue eyes, and a moustache that was neatly trimmed. Within seconds Jeb knew that he could

beat him in a fight; where he knew that from he didn’t know. But he knew it.

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The way Shawn kept his blue eyes on Dezarae aroused Ross’s protectiveness even more. Still, he

stepped forward and offered his hand after Dezarae gave his name. “Hello,” he said.

“Hey, man,” Shawn said easily, shaking the hand.

The door opened behind him, sending a wave of cold air over them all. It was the sheriff. “Dez,” his

loud voice boomed. “How you doing, girl?”

“Fine, Dale, fine.” She walked over to him and hugged him affectionately.

“Well, come on back.” He speared Jeb with a glare, “You, too, boy.”

Boy! Boy?
Jeb barely controlled his tongue, but at Dezarae’s look he remained silent and followed

them. An action not missed by either of the other men there.

Shawn stayed up front as the trio went into the sheriff’s office.

“Shut the door,” Dale ordered as he sat behind his large desk.

Dezarae complied and, when she turned back around, she saw that Jeb still stood. He sat after she

had taken her seat.

“So,” Dale said, sipping his coffee. “You don’t know who you are, then.” Eyes the same shade as

Shawn’s were direct as they stared at the stranger.

“No, Sir, I do not. The name Jeb is familiar but nothing more than that.”

“Well, I have been checking with missing persons and, as of yet, there is nothing that fits your

description.” His gaze ran over Jeb. “And I see that Dez gave a very accurate description of you.”

Jeb knew she was blushing for she began to fidget in her chair. “I don’t mean her any harm,” he

blurted out.

“If you weren’t trustworthy then she wouldn’t have let you stay,” Dale said dismissively. “She is a