Rescue Breathing (29 page)

“
Olivia…” he whispers.

He opens his eyes and slides his hands
over my hips, cradling my ass and helping me rise and fall over
him. He suddenly sits up and pulls my legs to wrap around his back.
He lifts slightly to adjust his sitting position and we are
suddenly face to face. I gasp as this position pushes him deep,
deep, deep inside me. I wrap my arms around his neck, and we gaze
at each other as we rock, sliding him in and out of me in small
increments, allowing me to feel every inch of him. His hands
faintly trace my back.

“
This is… This is so…” he stammers, looking
confused and lustful at the same time.

“
I know… I know…” I respond. I understand
what he'
s
feeling.
It's without
words, but it's intense and palpable.

We rock against each other over and over,
our skin slick with sweat and our eyes never leaving the
others.
I can feel
myself building, which surprises me. He leans forward and starts to
kiss me, making love to me with his mouth, his body. Before I know
it, I'm close to coming, and he must sense it. Without stopping his
kiss, he slips a hand between us and presses lightly on my
clitoris.

I explode around him, moaning into his
mouth as he kisses me deeper.
I feel him tense right before he comes inside me, causing
my orgasm to go on and on. We shake as we kiss, shuddering as we
both come down, as connected as two people can be. Falling
backwards, he takes me with him, panting. I slip off of him and lie
next to him, barely able to control my breathing, cool air hitting
my sweat-slicked body. He slips off the condom, knotting the end
and dropping it to the floor next to him. Then he pulls me to him,
drawing the comforter over us both.

He looks me in the eyes, pushing my moist
hair away from my face.
“Thank you,” he says.

I furrow my brow.
“For what?”

“
For finding me
.”

He buries his face into my neck, and we
fall asleep together, tangled in each other
's arms, tears streaming down my face as
my heart starts to swell. I think I'm falling for this
man.

C
HAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Owen

Olivia and I have been dating for a little
over a month and fucking for three.
Our busy schedules have made it difficult lately
for us to spend much time outside of the bedroom, and we decided we
definitely need to have a night out. My friends from the firehouse
meet every other Friday night at a local bar, The Hook 'n Ladder,
and I asked Olivia if she would feel comfortable coming out and
meeting my friends tonight. I
'
ve been waiting
for an opportunity to introduce her to my buddies, but I wanted to
make sure she
'
s comfortable
first. I
'
ve never
introduced a woman to my coworkers before. Kind of like church and
state—I keep my work life and my private life separate—but with
Olivia, everything has changed.

With only a little convincing, she agreed
to meet me tonight. I cannot wait to show her off. The guys know
about Olivia. I shamelessly talk about her all the time. Yeah, they
pitch me shit about having a girlfriend and “settling down,” but I
take it all in stride. Oddly enough, the hazing
doesn
'
t faze me at all, because for the first
time in a long time, I
'
m truly happy.
She consumes my thoughts and has replaced my nightmares with sweet
dreams.

The Hook 'n Ladder is a dimly lit Irish
bar chock-full of fireman memorabilia from years past.
It
'
s a favorite gathering place of a lot of
firemen from different houses in this part of Brooklyn. A place
where guys come to relax, share stories, commiserate about the
union, and have an occasional therapy session. There are a few
women here too. Mostly they hang around with the intention of
getting laid. Lots of big hair, big lips, big tits, and little
clothes. We call them “
fire fangirls,
”
a sort of fireman groupie, if you will. On the weekends, the fire
fangirls come here in droves, most all of them willing to help a
fireman with his hose.

Because Olivia is coming from the city and
I
'
m already in Brooklyn, we agreed that she
would meet me here. When I arrived at the bar thirty minutes ago, I
found a few of the guys knee-deep in stories and their pitcher of
beer empty. I ordered another pitcher for the table and snagged a
chair that has a clear line of sight of the door.

“
Maxwell! Where
'
s your
girl? Did you think better than to introduce us to her?” my buddy,
Saul, asks jokingly.

“
Well if I knew you were going to be here,
Saul, I would have. Olivia
'
s on her way
from Manhattan. She should be here anytime,” I reply. As if on cue,
Olivia confidently walks through the door of the bar and looks
around. “Oh. Wow…”
I
exhale.

Olivia is wearing a pair of skinny jeans
that do amazing things to her legs, and I would bet her ass too.
She also has on a black shirt that hangs off one shoulder,
very
Flashdance
-ish.
Her soft brunette hair is down and curled like I love, and her
makeup is light and natural. She
'
s stopped by
Sherman, the bouncer, who checks her ID before letting her go any
farther. Olivia hasn
'
t found me yet,
so this gives me an opportunity to observe her for a few minutes.
She smiles at Sherman, and I chuckle to myself as he takes his
sweet time checking her ID in an effort to look at Olivia just a
little longer. Can
'
t blame the
guy, really. After he returns her ID, Olivia scans the bar, looking
for me. Her eyes eventually settle on mine and she smiles brightly,
genuinely happy to see me. It
'
s been two days
since we
'
ve seen each
other, the longest since we
'
ve been
together, and for a new relationship, that means
we
'
re both feeling a bit greedy for each
other.

“
I
'
ll be right
back, guys. Olivia
'
s here,” I call
out to the table as I make my way towards her.

My friends throw out harassing comments
and jabs about how I
'
m whipped and
that she already has my balls in her purse, but I
don
't listen.
I'
m excited to see my
girl.
My
girl.
It
'
s been a long time since
I
'
ve laid claim to anyone.
It feels good.

The thought of being exclusive with Olivia
was scary, but the thought of being without her terrified
me.
I
didn
'
t know if she was seeing anyone else. I
didn
'
t want to know. I assumed she
wasn
'
t because we were seeing each other nearly
every day, but I wanted her to know that I was serious about giving
this relationship an honest try, and committing to her and only
her. So last weekend, in the middle of my living room while sitting
around the coffee table and eating Chinese food from white paper
cartons, I broached the subject of being exclusive. My heart was
beating out of my chest, and I wanted to throw up, but you should
have seen the look on her face. It calmed me. Her beautiful blue
eyes were filled with tears of relief, joy and maybe even love. I
can
'
t describe how that made me feel. The rust
around my heart was really starting to break free; I could
literally feel it. We talked openly and honestly about seeing only
each other, and without much fanfare, we committed ourselves to one
another. It felt right, natural, and safe. I
'
m still scared out of my mind, but I
'
m getting comfortable with the idea.

I meet Olivia halfway through the bar,
place my hands on her hips and kiss her softly. The guys are
catcalling from behind me, and I start to chuckle.
I press my forehead against
hers.

“
Hi, beautiful.
Goddamnit, you look fuckable. I
'
m going to have to fight off my buddies tonight,
aren
'
t I?”

Olivia chuckles and looks past my shoulder
to my friends, who are now staring. “I think I can handle them,”
she replies.

“
I don'
t doubt that. Come on,” I say, grabbing her hand and
pulling her towards my friends. “There are some people I want you
to meet.” As I lead her back to our table, I call out to the
bartender, “Arnie! This beautiful woman would like a mojito. Easy
on the sugar.”

“
You got it, boss!” Arnie calls back.
“She
'
s a looker, Owen. Nice
goin
'
!” he adds.

I turn to look at Olivia,
who
'
s blushing, “I know,” I reply, only
looking at her. “I
'
m a lucky
guy.”

We make our way around groups of drinking
firemen from different stations around Brooklyn. I look back at her
as we get closer to my friends, eager to hear what they think of
her. As we get closer to them, I squeeze her hand and give her a
wink. We walk up to the table and their conversation stops, their
gazes all moving to Olivia and I, smiles erupting on their
faces.

“
Olivia,” I began, taking a deep
breath.
This
is kind of nerve-racking
. “I
'
d like to
introduce you to Saul. He
'
s our
chauffeur—he drives the rig. Nat and Matt here are usually working
with me, and this guy,” I say, grabbing my friend's
shoulder, “is Tanner Wilson.
He
'
s the stupid asshole who has my back.
He
'
s saved my life a time or two.”

Tanner and I are the youngest guys to be
promoted to a Rescue Company in the five boroughs.
The bonus is that we are both
in the same firehouse. We
'
ve developed a
natural bond in and out of the firehouse. I have an enormous amount
of respect and admiration all the guys I work with and he's become
a huge part of my life, an extension of my family.

“
Olivia, it
'
s nice
to finally meet you.” Tanner smiles widely. “This guy here has told
us all about you. Not everything, but enough.”

“
Okay, stop talking, Tanner.
She
'
s gonna think I
'
m
smitten or something.” The table erupts in laughter, and I turn my
head to pretend to look over my shoulder but whisper into
Olivia
'
s ear, “Which I
totally am, by the way.”

Olivia shifts her eyes to look at me and
grins. “Good. Me too,” she mouths to me and grabs my hand under the
table, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“
Maxwell, you said she was beautiful, but
damn, man, she
'
s fucking
gorgeous.”
Matt shouts
excitedly.

“
Watch your mouth, Matt,” I mockingly
scold.  “And yes, she is fucking gorgeous.” I grin as I pull
Olivia close and softly kiss her temple.

Arnie brings over Olivia
'
s drink and Tanner raises his glass for a toast. “To Owen
meeting his match.”

“
Really, Tanner?” I say, “Match?
We
'
re firemen. That
'
s the
worst pun of a toast I
'
ve
heard.”

We all groan and clink our glasses despite
the corny sentiment.

Over the next half hour, Olivia laughs and
jokes with my friends as if she
'
s been with the
department for the past umpteen years. She
'
s
engaging and attentive with the tall tales my friends are sharing.
It
'
s endearing. Without much effort at all,
she
'
s won their approval, which I knew
wouldn't be a problem.

“
Ready for another drink, Liv?” I ask
her.

The rest of the guys chime in and say that
they
'
re ready for another round too.

Olivia laughs and crooks her finger at me,
asking me to come closer. “I
'
m going to head
to the bathroom while you get drinks. Where is it?”

I point towards the back of the bar and
realize that the place has picked up considerably since we
arrived.

Olivia gets up from the table, and I give
her a pat on the ass before she walks towards the restrooms.
She turns around and shoots me
a seductive look over her shoulder that makes my cock stir. Mmmm,
bar bathrooms do make fond memories for us.