Firefly Mountain (38 page)

“That’s the plan.” Patrick slid his hands under her tank top and in one swift motion, he pulled it over Gini’s head and arms.

Gini grabbed a handful of Patrick’s T-shirt and did the same. Within moments, she was looking up at Patrick’s naked body, tracing canyons of skin on his chest and loving every inch of him.

****

Patrick watched Gini’s fingers trail across his chest then searched her face for signs of revulsion. Hints that she was merely pretending to handle his messy physique. He still saw nothing of the kind. Gini’s eyes were blue pools, her lips curved into a delicious grin. She appeared to be enjoying the view as much as he was.

How can this be?
Patrick couldn’t understand her acceptance of him, or her desire for him. It was contrary to prior experience. Even he had trouble looking at himself, yet she lay below him, smiling and pulling him closer. Touching him like no one had ever touched him. He felt as if he’d slipped into some alternate version of reality, some backward world where up was down, left was right.

Patrick slid one hand beneath Gini and rested on the other arm. He kneaded the muscles between her shoulder blades. She wiggled herself up toward the head of the bed so her thighs brushed along Patrick’s erection. Her skin was so hot, so smooth, and Patrick could barely support his weight as he hovered above her.

Gini’s legs parted and when Patrick buried himself into her wet heat, every one of his systems shot to full power. Her velvety folds surrounded him, hugged his length so each trip a little deeper was like swimming in feathers. The more Gini climbed toward release, the more Patrick teased her limits. When she cried his name over and over, her voice gone ragged in arousal, he gave into every facet of the pleasure she gave him. Their bodies flowed together like the ocean and the horizon. No beginning, no end. Just that purple line where water meets sky and all things seemed possible.

Patrick rolled to Gini’s side and slowly slid out of her. Her breath caught in her throat, and he laughed into the side of her neck.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” He nipped at her earlobe.

Gini shifted to her side and caught Patrick’s lips with hers. She drove him back to heaven with the silken sweetness of her mouth. He couldn’t get enough of her. He’d made love to her twice in one day, and yet he wanted more. He wanted to do nothing but make love to her.

“Patrick Barre, I’m so glad you came to Vermont. I’ve been waiting all this time for you.” Gini cuddled up closer, her hair tickling Patrick’s chin.

“I’ve been waiting too, Gini. You’ve unlocked some pretty secured doors here.” He tapped his chest where his heart beat overtime only for her.

“I haven’t exactly been an open book to everyone around me either.” Gini shrugged.

“Who else knows what you can do?” Patrick asked.

“Just Mama, Daddy, Jonah, and Chief Warner, for safety’s sake. I never told Mason or Haddy. I didn’t want them to be afraid of me.”

Patrick nodded his understanding. “You balance being social and hiding well. I’ve always come off looking like a jerk when I hide from people. But you, everybody likes you in this town.”

“Some folks in Rhode Island too,” Gini added with a smirk.

“Let’s not forget them.” Patrick swirled a finger along the rim of Gini’s ear.

“As long as I stay happy, even if just on the surface, I’m not a danger to anyone,” Gini said. “It’s exhausting trying to let every annoyance roll off your shoulders, though. Acting as if nothing brings you to the breaking point can often bring you to the breaking point.”

“You ever meet anyone who has the same ability?” Patrick asked.

“Nope. It’s either just me, or we’re all experts at hiding our troublesome talent.” Gini twisted a coil of her hair around a finger then raised her gaze to Patrick’s. “I did try searching for others like me, but then wondered what I would do if I did find someone. Would we meet? Swap stories? Would they be more powerful than me? Would they be crazies? Would I become a crazy? I decided assuming I was the only one was safer.”

“Probably wise.” Patrick watched Gini’s eyelids blink slowly, as if slumber was a real possibility. “C’mon. Let’s shower.” He slid to the edge of the mattresses and pulled Gini to a sitting position beside him.

Gini’s hair was a spray of golden curls about her dimpled cheeks. Some curls bounced above her pert breasts, while others coiled around her shoulders and curtained her neck. Patrick had to hold her until the sun rose. He had to.

“Will you stay, Gini? Please.” Patrick looked at his hands resting on his kneecaps as he waited for her reply.

“Like you could get rid of me now.” She elbowed him as she stood. On long, lean legs, Gini paraded her naked loveliness to the bathroom.

Patrick raised his face to the ceiling and sent a silent thank you into the cosmos. Then he scrambled to his feet and joined Gini in the bathroom. Her peals of laughter when he grabbed her bottom mixed with the steam from the hot water she’d turned on.

Intoxicating. That’s what she was. And Patrick was drunk. Good and truly drunk.

****

“Look what I’ve got.” Gini waved her prize in front of Haddy’s face as her friend entered the home office.

Haddy reached for it and when her eyes registered what she was looking at, she let out a hoot. “No freaking way!”

“Yeah freaking way,” Gini said.

“When? How?” Haddy sat across from Gini, one of the shots of Patrick with Saber and Midas on her lap.

“Yesterday. I was talking about the animal shelter after we…” Gini cleared her throat, but Haddy didn’t give her a chance to recover.

“Had sex. Go on.” Haddy smirked and adjusted her glasses.

“Made love, I was going to say.” Gini tapped her pencil on Haddy’s knee.

Haddy shrugged. “Anyway…finish the story.”

“He suddenly told me to get my camera when Saber cuddled up to him.”

“That cat is good.” Haddy raised an eyebrow. “But more importantly, is Patrick good?”

Gini rested her head on the back of her chair and twirled around in it. She went for two more spins before stopping to face Haddy again.

“I’ll take that as a definite yes.”

“More good news,” Gini announced. “Chief Warner called this morning and said we can move back to the studio.”

Thirty minutes later, Gini and Haddy were settled in the studio with calendar parts strewn about the worktable. Haddy was at the computer, cutting and pasting, aligning and cropping, drooling and fantasizing.

“I can’t wait until Jonah’s all healed up.” Haddy studied Jonah’s photo, Mr. May. “He’s lethal with one arm. Two arms should rock my world.”

Gini laughed and angled her head at the picture of Patrick she’d chosen for July. The setting sun caught the reddish-brown highlights in his hair, and Saber’s light fur was a wonderful contrast to Patrick’s dark coloring. Midas had an intelligent tilt to his nose as his brown eyes looked straight into the camera.

She traced a finger on the photograph along Patrick’s exposed arm where he supported Saber against his chest. The curves cut into his bicep made Gini’s heartbeat race. She couldn’t wait to see Patrick again. To touch him. To make love to him.

They’d held each other all night, and in the morning, waking to Patrick’s steady breathing behind her made Gini feel complete. As if this was how life was supposed to be. Peaceful. Content. When she shifted to face him, Patrick’s eyes slowly opened, one at a time. Gini had scooted closer, fitting herself in the circle of his arms, feeling the warmth of his body against hers.

A hot blush shot to her cheeks as she thought about peeling Patrick out of his clothes tonight and feeling him inside her again. They fit together as if they’d been made for one another. All this time she’d been convinced her life was destined for solitude. For nothing more than flirting glances with men. She’d never expected to find someone she could actually tell her secret to. Someone who would love her even after finding out she was a monster.

“Give me that picture,” Haddy said, “and I’ll scan it in.” She pulled on the edge of it, but Gini couldn’t make her hand release the photo. Haddy peeled Gini’s fingers away from the glossy borders. “Jeez, you can have it right back, Gini.”

“No.” Gini shook her head and sat on her hands. “Don’t give it back to me, because I’ll only look at it all day, and we’ve got stuff to do here.”

While the computer spit out draft copies of photos and calendar grids so they could play with layout, Haddy’s cell phone rang. She dug it out of her purse and checked the caller.

“Jonah.” The smile that accompanied her brother’s name made Gini squeeze her friend’s hand.

Haddy squeezed back and stood. “Hey, Jonah.” A pause as Jonah responded. A giggle as Jonah undoubtedly said something dirty. “I’ll come by at lunch, you nut.”

Gini watched Haddy walk to the other end of the studio and gave her some privacy. She collected the printouts from the computer and organized them on the worktable. Hot firefighters on the top row, corresponding month grids below each specimen. Starting at January, Gini examined each photo all the way down to December—a tough job, but someone had to do it.

Haddy had surrounded each picture with an appropriately themed border. Snowflakes for January and the scarf-wearing fighter. Hearts for February and a chocolate-toting fighter. Shamrocks for the red-headed firefighter posing as Mr. March. April had raindrops and umbrellas with a fighter Haddy and Gini had soaked with the hose. Beads of water glistened on his well-defined chest.

May had Jonah sitting in Gini’s garden, flowers bursting into bloom behind him while Haddy’s dog, Titan, sat beside him. Suns encircled Mr. June’s picture while Patrick set July on fire within a honeysuckle vine border. September had apples and a fighter up in a tree, Saber in a basket below him as if waiting for the apples. Leaves surrounded Mr. October. Pumpkins for November, and holly for December.

The entire calendar looked amazing, and Gini knew Burnam’s women would single-handedly fund the improvements to the animal shelter. The animal shelter they had saved last night. Gini ground her teeth, but quickly thought of Patrick in suds up to his elbows as he gently washed kittens. She filled with such warmth that the tiny spark of anger trying to spill to the surface was snuffed. A single thought of Patrick, and she was calm.

Would he always have that effect on her? Good Goddess, she hoped so.

****

Patrick vacuumed out the last of the fire trucks and put away the vacuum. He’d jumped at that particular task when Chief Warner called out duties. Figured he’d have plenty of time to think about Gini while he reached into every nook and cranny of each truck.

Gini
. Man, waking up next to a woman like her had been something he’d never thought he’d experience in this lifetime. She hadn’t run away. Hadn’t changed her mind about him. Gini had stayed the entire night, her smooth body against his rough one. The wildflower scent of her hair had infused his dreams. Dreams that in no way involved the night he’d lost his parents. Gini had chased that nightmare away with her caresses and kisses, with her very presence.

“Barre!” Chief Warner called.

Patrick looked up from where he’d stowed the vacuum. “Yes, sir?”

“I’ve been calling you for at least thirty seconds. That’s too long, boy,” the chief said, but a smile tugged at his lips.

“Sorry, sir.” Patrick skirted around the trucks and walked to the chief’s office.

“If you’re done with the trucks, spend some time on the arson cases. You can use the classroom.”

“Yes, sir.”

Chief Warner turned to go back to his office. Before he entered, however, he leaned against the doorframe and studied Patrick. “Good job on figuring out the next target was the animal shelter. Rhode Island’s loss is Vermont’s gain.”

“Thank you, sir, but I had help.”

“Yes, I heard. Help of the leggy blond flavor.” Warner raised an eyebrow. “You be careful with her, son.” The chief waited a heartbeat before adding, “She’s different.”

“One-of-a-kind, sir.” Patrick gave a knowing nod of his head, and Chief Warner’s eyes narrowed.

“As long as you know what you’re getting into.”

“I do.”

“Okay, then.” Chief Warner smiled. “Very good.” He disappeared into his office.

Patrick headed for the dorm where he’d stowed his copies of the arson files in his locker, but stopped when he heard laughing in the vehicle bay. When he looked over, he saw Jonah standing with some of the fighters. As Patrick walked over, Jonah’s smile widened.

“Hey, man,” Jonah said.

“Escaped again?” Patrick shook Jonah’s hand.

“Haddy went to work, and for some stupid reason, my house is not as fun as it used to be without her there.”

“Not our Jonah!” one of the fighters yelled.

“Someone finally got her claws into him? How? When?” another asked.

“It’s just not possible.” A third fighter shook his head in disbelief.

“How will we live vicariously through you, Claremont, if you settle down with just one woman?” the first fighter asked.

“Sorry, guys,” Jonah said. “It had to happen sometime.” He looked at Patrick. “And I’m not the only one getting serious, am I, Patrick?”

“Something in this Vermont air, I guess.” Patrick shrugged and slipped his hands into his pockets.

“Or in my sister’s maple walnut ice cream.” Jonah elbowed Patrick with his good arm.

“Could be.”

The rest the fighters went absolutely still as they stared at Patrick for a few awkward moments. Finally one of them broke the silence.

“Wait. A. Minute.
You
and Gini?”

Patrick nodded. No sense in denying it. He could feel his cheeks grow hot just having the phrase, “You and Gini,” bounce around inside his head.

A loud whoop echoed over the circle of men. Claps on the back, handshakes, congratulations. Patrick was stunned. He’d never encountered such camaraderie. He was more surprised at how much he enjoyed it.

“These two are taking all the good ones,” Chuck said.

“We’ll have to branch out to New Hampshire,” Willy added.