Opposites Attract (22 page)

“
No,
I won’t. I want to help you. Let me think about this for a
minute.” Troy put the weight down and sat on the bench again,
thinking so hard Antonio could almost see his brain working. “You
know, you and I are kind of in the same position, but just opposite.”

“
Oh
really?” Antonio crossed his arms and waited. Where the hell
was this going?

“
Yup,
you see I spent my whole life sampling from the wide spectrum of the
female buffet. Now that I’m with Amy it’s like I’ve
committed myself to choosing and enjoying only one delicacy for the
rest of my life and that’s scary. I won’t lie to you and
say it’s not. You, on the other hand, have always limited
yourself to just one menu item. Now that the whole world of choices
has opened up for you, you’re scared. It makes perfect sense.
But what you have to do is just jump right in, head first and don’t
worry about how cold the water is.” Troy concluded his
long-winded analogy with a self-satisfied nod.

“
You’re
mixing your metaphors there, Aesop, but I get what you’re
saying.” At least this conversation with Troy didn’t
involve alternate universes.

“
So
what are you going to do next?” Troy rose from the bench,
wiping his hands on his shorts.

“
Well,
oh wise one, I can’t do anything from here in the firehouse,
now can I? And this is proving to be the longest damn shift of my
life.”

“
It’ll
be over soon.” Troy slapped him on the back and moved back over
to the mirror to do more standing curls. “But until then and
until you get yourself some of the ‘Maddie Special’,
there’s no way you’re spotting any more of my bench
presses.”

Antonio
closed his eyes and shook his head. One day he would learn to just
keep his mouth shut.

~

Maddie
decided going back to work after being off for the holidays was way
harder than not having any time off at all. She’d spent two
days just wading through and returning emails, faxes and phone
messages. She hadn’t even touched the paperwork in the
briefcase sitting next to her on the seat of the car. But it was
Friday night and she looked forward to the weekend, even if she would
probably spend at least part of it working.

Or
maybe not… She turned into a parking spot in front of her
condo and smiled when she saw the white SUV parked next to her in the
visitor’s slot. Well, well, well. Her weekend was definitely
looking up.

The
SUV’s door swung open and the man who had haunted her nights
stepped down. Briefcase forgotten, she grabbed her purse and locked
the car door behind her. “Hello there, stranger.”

Antonio
shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Hey.
Sorry I didn’t call or anything. I just got off shift and
actually, and I don’t have your phone number.”

Boy,
did he look good in those jeans.

The
cold January wind picked up and blew her hair into her eyes. She
fought to control it.

“
It’s
cold out here. Come on inside, Antonio.”

“
Okay.”

She
ran up the walk and let them both in as quickly as she could get the
key in the lock.

Antonio
stood in the entryway as she took off her coat with slightly
trembling hands. He was here, inside, finally.

“
I
know it’s short notice, but if not tonight, maybe tomorrow
night, I thought we might be able to go to dinner or something, just
the two of us.” He ran his left hand through his wind ruffled
hair and Maddie’s eyes opened wide.

She
stepped forward and took his hand in hers, her eyes on his bare ring
finger. “Your ring…”

“
We
filed for divorce earlier in the week.” He squeezed her hand.
“And I haven’t stopped thinking about you since.”

He
hadn’t stopped thinking about her
.

Maddie
had probably waited her entire life for someone to say something that
sweet to her. She released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d
been holding and stepped in closer to him.

His
skin was cold when she wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and
pressed her lips to his. Antonio groaned when their mouths met. He
pulled her tight against him, tilted his head and kissed her deeper.
She had trouble catching her breath. She didn’t care. Breathing
was way overrated.

Somehow
in a jumble of stumbling and groping all while locked together at the
lips, they ended up getting his jacket off and themselves onto her
couch. She yanked his t-shirt out from the waist of his jeans and ran
her hands up the lean muscles of his torso.

Maddie
couldn’t suppress the sound of appreciation that radiated from
deep in her throat. She’d been without a man for almost a year
and the last man, that being her soft-bellied, pencil-pushing,
cheating husband, was nothing like the man beneath her eager hands
now.

“
God,
I want you.” She leaned down and breathed against his ear.

He
drew in a shaky breath. “I want you too.”

A
few more moments of trembling hands hastily wrestling with stubborn
clothes and they were both in nothing but their underwear.

Antonio’s
gaze roamed her mostly bare body. He swallowed hard and focused on
her face. “Am I going too fast for you?”

“
Hell
no.” Her enthusiastic answer made him smile, which made her
heart skip a beat.

Never
had a man looked so good in boxer shorts. She’d have to talk
him into doing one of those hunky firemen calendars. They’d
sell thousands. Just the girls at her office would buy a dozen each.

But
as beautiful as what she was looking at was, there was still one part
of him she had yet to get to. Perched on top of Antonio, Maddie
reached between them, slid her hand under the waistband of his boxers
and enjoyed watching his eyes roll back in his head as she grasped
him.

He
slid his own hand beneath the elastic of her underwear and found the
spot that had been neglected for so long. She was sure she did some
eye rolling of her own. He circled her slowly, then faster, until her
breath was coming fast and her insides were coiled like a spring.

“
It’s
been a long time for me.” She let out a gasp and ground against
his fingers.

“
For
me too.”

She
believed him. Her one hand braced on his chest could feel his heart
thundering behind his ribcage.

“
What
do you say we get this first time over with fast and then spend the
rest of the weekend taking it slow and making up for lost time?”
Feeling bolder than she had in a very long time, Maddie stroked him
harder and waited for his reaction to her suggestion.

“
Oh
God.” A shudder passed through him. “It’s going to
be over real soon if you keep doing that.”

“
Then
I had better move on to the next step.”

He
didn’t protest, not that she thought he would, as she pushed
both their underwear aside and guided the hard length of him inside
her.

Antonio
threw his head back against the couch pillow. “Holy mother.
Maddie, you feel too good. You can’t stay on top.”

“
Why
not? I like being on top.” She moved slowly over him, enjoying
every stroke as he slid in and out of her. It had been way too long.

“
I
won’t be able to pull out with you on top of me.” He
sounded as breathless as she was at the moment. “I don’t
want to get you pregnant.”

“
I
can’t get pregnant… Don’t stop. Please don’t
stop. I’m going to come.” Her orgasm started building, so
strong it was amazing she could still speak. She rode Antonio,
setting the pace she needed.

In
between breaths, Antonio asked, “Maddie, are you sure?”

“
Oh,
yeah. I’m definitely going to come.”

Antonio
laughed and sent a wave of vibration rippling into her. “That’s
not what I meant—”

His
sentence ended in a deep nearly feral groan as he must have felt the
start of her orgasm gripping him. The first pulsing began inside her
and grew stronger. Antonio’s hold on her hips tightened and he
pistoned into her, finishing them both off with an explosion that she
was sure the neighbors must have felt. They definitely should have
heard her enjoying it.

Boneless
and breathless from probably the best sex he’d had in recent
memory, if not ever, Antonio stroked Maddie’s back as she lay
collapsed on top of him. “I know it’s a bit late to ask
now, but how do you know you can’t get pregnant? Are you on the
pill?”

She
shook her head and her curls tickled his nose. “I tried for
five years when I was married to get pregnant and nothing. I figure I
must be infertile since Alan had his sperm tested and he said the
doctor said it was fine. I was going to get tested next but we broke
up first.”

“
I’m
sorry.” He gave her pretty blonde head a kiss.

“
It
was for the best. I guess God or Fate or Mother Nature or whoever
knew better than to let me have a baby with that idiot.”

“
Yeah,
sometimes things do work out for the best.” If she hadn’t
once been married to that idiot, he might not have met her at Maria’s
that night. “Maddie, I didn’t come here tonight expecting
this to happen.”

Hoped
maybe—after dinner if he was lucky—but he never dared to
assume it would happen.

She
lifted her head. “Regretting it already, are you?”

He
smiled. “No. No way.”

When
she smiled back, then leaned in and started to tease his ear with her
tongue, his body reacted and told her exactly how much he hadn’t
regretted it. Troy was right. There was nothing to be afraid of.

She
raised an eyebrow and glanced down at his erection between them.
“Already? I’m impressed.”

He
laughed, rolled her off him and stood. He pulled up his boxers and
reached to grab her hand, pulling her off the couch after him.

“
You
said we had all weekend and I intend on taking you up on that. But
unless I want to be at the chiropractor all next week, we better take
this into the bedroom.” He pulled her to him, crushing his
arousal between them. “You okay with that?”

“
I
guess so, though we may have to stop occasionally for sustenance.”
She looked positively wicked. Her hands slid down and gripped his
butt cheeks. “But not right now.”

“
Definitely
not right now,” he agreed.

As
she led the way toward the bedroom she glanced sideways at him. “Oh,
by the way. My kitchen table is very sturdy but it kinda wobbles. I
wanted you to know that, just in case.”

His
brows flew up. “Good to know.”

~

The
weekend flew by much too quickly for Antonio’s liking. But it
was a blissful time spent enjoying each other, making love, cooking
meals together. At one point they even managed to make love while
cooking a meal. He’d have to remember to tighten the legs on
that kitchen table before he left.

Then
there was that quick load of laundry they did since he didn’t
have a change of clothes with him, not that he spent all that much
time clothed. But they made that chore more interesting with some
creative sex on the washing machine. Who knew the spin cycle could be
so fun?

Antonio
couldn’t get enough of Maddie and luckily for him, she couldn’t
get enough of him, either. He felt like he was eighteen again. The
only difference being, instead of having to sneak around behind their
parents’ backs and do it in the car, they had her whole condo
all to themselves.

He
supposed they’d have to cool it down eventually, because when
he stepped outside to get the Sunday paper on Maddie’s stoop,
he got a very nasty look from the old lady in the adjoining condo. He
had to smile at that. Where Tina had rarely made a sound, his Maddie
liked it loud. And he liked her all the more for it.

Now
he lounged comfortably on Maddie’s couch with her lying against
him but all he could do was wish it wasn’t already Sunday
night.

She
groaned. “I can’t believe I have to go back to work
tomorrow. Maybe I can get suddenly and mysteriously ill and stay home
with you all day.”

He
smiled. “Don’t bother, I have to be at the firehouse by
eight. And I want to stop by and see the kids in the morning.”
Then the date hit him. “Oh, shit. I forgot. I volunteered for a
double shift so some of the guys could go skiing. I’m so sorry.
It was before I even met you. I don’t think I can get out of it
now.”