More Than a Fling [Uniformed and Blazing Hot 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (3 page)

But they will give you your first good story for the Cherish Times.

That thought was enough to get her adrenaline pumping as she rushed out of the newspaper office to her car.

* * * *

At nearly any given hour on almost any given day, Amnicola Highway was known throughout the city for its gridlocked traffic. It was the main four-lane stretch lined with factories, corporations, and the community college and led to the business district and tourist attractions downtown. As Nick pulled Hazmat 1 to a stop at the scene of the multicar accident, he mused today’s nine a.m. gridlock traffic was going to top the charts at creating one hell of a parking lot on the major highway.

All four lanes were shut down with police cruisers cordoning off the area from one shoulder of the highway to the other on both sides of the destruction. And it was destruction, he decided as he double-timed it through the scattering of traumatized victims already being pulled from cars, cops already looking to get statements from those who weren’t severely injured, and the firefighters from Station 2 that had been first on the scene.

“Damn, no wonder we were called in for backup,” Tanner commented when Nick met up with him as his friend hopped down from the cab of Truck 29. “This is one hell of a mess.”

Nick quickly scanned the scene. He counted eight cars and two eighteen-wheelers involved in the accident, but the overturned flatbed loaded down with hazardous materials was the mess he was most concerned with.

“Yeah, let’s get this under control before we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands.” Nick slapped Tanner on the back of his shoulder as the two parted ways.

Shouts came from all around him as he headed for the overturned flatbed. Lieutenants issued various orders to the firefighters in their company. Other voices were still calling for help. One voice he recognized as Rescue Squad firefighter Blaine Ellis’s called for the Jaws of Life. That demand had Nick’s blood running cold through his veins. They still had people trapped inside the mangled vehicles.

“What have we got, bloodhound?”

Nick shot a glance to his right as Taylor Parke fell into step beside him. Parke was a firefighter on Engine Company 4 and Hazmat certified, the same as Nick, but he didn’t possess the same keen sense of smell that had earned Nick the nickname bloodhound around the firehouse.

He tipped his nose to the air. “Diesel and propane for sure. Don’t know what else yet.”

“We might have to add oxygen, nitrogen, and CO2 to that list.” Jax Darwin’s voice came from Nick’s left. The man was a Hazmat-certified firefighter on Truck Company 29 with a sense of sight that rivaled Nick’s sense of smell. The man pointed toward the flatbed. “That’s what’s in those other tanks. We’ll be lucky if they’re not punctured, too.”

“Valves are off,” Nick heard one of the firefighters from Station 2 announce.

“Good. Let’s get these holes plugged,” another firefighter from Station 2 said.

Nick glanced left and then right. “You heard the man. Let’s get those holes plugged.”

They sprang into action, joining the firefighters from Station 2 in their efforts to prevent more diesel fuel from leaking onto the road from the overturned tanker. Nick noted that other firefighters from both stations were already checking the tanks McKenzie had been concerned about. Another shout some distance away briefly caught his attention. He caught sight of Tanner first, saw the man do a double take at a point some distance away from the mangled car where he had just turned over a victim to the paramedics, and followed his friend’s gaze.

That’s when Nick saw her. The blood that had been running cold through his veins mere moments before turned molten hot at the sight of his next-door neighbor standing on the side of the street talking with the shift captain of Station 2. Legs, holy macro, the woman had a set of amazing legs, stretched from beneath a short navy blue skirt and ended in a pair of stiletto heels that added a good two or three inches to her height. She wore a pale blue blouse that molded to a pair of impeccable breast. Her light brown bangs hung over her forehead, accenting her olive-green eyes. She had pulled the long strands into some intricate twist, leaving the slender column of her neck exposed. His taste buds went into overdrive as his gaze followed the silky smooth looking flesh until his attention latched onto the press badge dangling in her cleavage.

“Well, I’ll be damn,” Nick muttered to himself. “She’s a fucking reporter.”

Reporters tended to be nosy and pushy and irritating, but none of that mattered a fucking bit to his cock. It turned to stone behind the zipper of his uniform pants the same as it had when he had caught sight of her wrestling with the dog that morning.

Down boy, he thought, reprimanding his cock.
You can look but you can’t touch.

But damn if his hands didn’t start to tingle with the need to do exactly that.

Chapter Two

Violent thoughts crossed Alyssa’s mind as Precious’s continuous barking drew her from sleep more than an hour too soon. So much for the extra rest she had hoped to get this morning. Shoving the pillow over her head, she closed her eyes and willed herself back to the dream about the smokin’ hot firefighters living next door. It didn’t work. Now when she pictured the prime specimens of total beefcake, they were barking at her, too.

“A muzzle may not work, but a gag is getting more and more tempting by the minute.”

Sighing, she tossed the pillow aside and rolled out of bed. With extra time on her hands, she set a pot of coffee to brew, took a long, hot shower while she waited, and then sipped a cup as she dressed for another workday.

Heading to the backdoor to see about Precious, she stopped down the long hallway of the two-bedroom, two-bath house that led to the kitchen, dining, and living room areas and gazed at the framed photo she had left hanging on the wall. The trio of faces that gazed back at her were smiling and their eyes were full of life and love. A rush of sorrow moved through her as it did every time she took a moment to look at that picture of her aunt and uncles. All of them in their late fifties, they should have had many more years together before they had been taken from this life.

A wave of guilt came over her next as it had so many times since she had learned of their deaths. She deserved that guilt. The feud between her mother and aunt had kept her from even knowing her aunt when she was younger, but she could have changed that when she set out on her own. Instead, she had gotten too wrapped up in her own life. She had been too busy chasing the next big story and falling in love with the wrong man to bother herself with making contact with her aunt and uncles.

“And yet you left me everything you owned,” she said to the faces in the photograph.

They had left her a message in their wills, one that explained to her how, even though they had been kept apart from her all these years, they loved her. Her aunt was unable to have children, though they had tried many times. Her uncles had family living out West, but they had been disowned because of their choice way of life. Still, it was their hopes that Alyssa would accept the estate they had left behind and find the happiness and love in Cherish that they had found.

“How did you know?”

As with every other time she had asked the photograph that question, none of them answered her. Not that she ever expected them to. Still, somehow a woman she didn’t remember and her two husbands she had never met had known the life she built for herself would leave her unhappy, unsatisfied, and searching for a new start.

A voice from outside pulled her from her one-way conversation with her aunt and uncles. Puzzled, Alyssa continued down the hallway, listening as the voice got louder. It was decidedly male, hoarse, just a bit rusty, and sent tremors down her spine.

“I wish I could help, man, but your new mistress might have my head on a platter if I untie you.”

Precious barked as if stating his case.

“I know. I know. Vera, Bob, and Bill never tied you up like this. That’s because they knew you were a good dog. See, what you’ve got to do is convince your new mistress of that.”

Precious barked again.

“You tried, huh?” The man tsked. “I’m not so sure you’ve been going about it the right way. It seems to me dragging that scotch beauty along behind you when all she was doing was trying to take you out for a walk isn’t the best way to prove to her what a sweet boy you are.”

Scotch beauty? Well, that was a name she had never been called before.

Precious continued to bark, as if responding to the man’s statements.

“Aww, now. You’re not being abused, even if you think you are. She cares about you and she’s doing her best. I’m betting she just doesn’t know what to do with a big ole boy like you. Not everyone is a natural when it comes to taking care of dogs.”

Touched that the man seemed to be defending her and grudgingly admitting he was right, Alyssa made it to the back door of the house and pulled it open. The man’s head snapped her way, his lips stretched in a warm smile of greeting, and her heart did a double thump.

Oh, hell. I’m in trouble.

She forced herself to smile back even as the warmth of his smile ignited a sizzle in her blood that traveled straight to all her girly parts. She recognized him in an instant. Not just as one of her hunky neighbors, but also as one of the firefighters she had spotted at the accident scene yesterday. Closer to him now than she had been so far, she got her best look at him yet. It was enough to send her hormones into a wild hysteria of do-me-now pleading.

Standing in heels that added three inches to her height, she realized she was taller than him by a good inch or more. Her focus started at his short blond hair, traveled down a face that was tanned and angular with hazel eyes, a perfect nose, and a strong jawline. Letting her attention slide lower, her gaze moved over broad shoulders that stretched the Cherish Fire Department T-shirt he wore, delineating every muscle in his pecs and abdomen to sheer, dizzying perfection. Black pants rode low on his narrow hips and black boots covered his feet.

Yep, dynamite definitely comes in small packages.

Her gaze traveled back up his front at the thought, settling briefly on one particular part of the overall panty-wetting package. There wasn’t anything small about the bulge lovingly encased by the material of his pants. And she had thought she was in trouble when he smiled. Couple that too-kissable grin with a body made for bringing a woman to orgasm after orgasm and a totally, deliciously looking package like that and she was in danger of an acute hormonal overloaded explosion.

“I hope I didn’t disturb you. I just came over to talk to Precious for a minute.”

Alyssa’s gaze snapped to his, held, and she forced herself to gather her senses before she turned into a drooling mess right in front of the guy. “Are you one of those people? A natural when it comes to taking care of dogs, I mean,” she qualified when she saw the question move through is hazel eyes.

His half laugh sounded just a bit embarrassed. “No, but I knew your aunt and uncles and they were.”

Alyssa’s gaze dropped to Precious. The dog had sprawled on the ground with his head resting on one of the man’s booted feet. “You obviously know Precious pretty well, too.”

Smokin’ hot hunk glanced down at the dog and grinned. “He’s a good dog, even if he is more verbal than normal these days.” He wedged his foot from beneath Precious’s head and walked toward her. Alyssa’s heartbeat picked up pace with each step that brought him closer. “I’m Tanner Carlisle, by the way. I live next door with my roommate Nick Calfee.”

Alyssa put her hand in the one he extended, not thinking to brace herself for the contact. She nearly melted at his feet. His long callused fingers closed around her hand in a firm grip that had her hips screaming to feel the same as he pistoned his impressive cock into her pussy over and over again.

She had to clear her throat before she could speak. “Alyssa Kinney.”

“Alyssa.” Hearing her name roll from his lips sent her mind right back to that truly erotic image, only in a darkened room broken by the soft light of flickering candle flames. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Behind him, Precious chose that moment to bark.

Tanner chuckled, turned, and shook his head. “We haven’t forgotten about you back there. Give me a minute to run an idea by your new mistress. You might like what I’ve got in mind.”

To Alyssa’s utter surprise, the dog shut up. She gaped at him. “There’s no way he understood you.”

Tanner lifted a brow. “Are you sure? Dogs are pretty smart. Some say they’re even smarter than humans.”

Not exactly sure how to respond to that, she settled for asking, “What’s this idea you’re wanting to run by me?”

“Untie him.” His tone made it sound like the simplest suggestion on the planet.

Alyssa shook her head. “I’m headed to work. I can’t leave him loose to roam the neighborhood all day. Something might happen to him.”

Tanner’s grin widened. “See,” he shot back at Precious. “I told you she cares about you.” Precious made a noncommittal sound as Tanner turned his attention back to Alyssa and started to say something else. An electronic alarm broken by a computerized voice yelling, “Warning, do not answer,” over and over again sounded from the pocket of his pants.