Wildfire - Honey Palomino Page 0,16
I asked.
She paused before answering, her eyes darting down to my lips for an instant before shooting back up.
She took a gulp of her beer and shook her head.
“I need another. You?”
“Sure,” I said, chuckling to myself as she headed back inside. My eyes were glued to her backside, the tank and shorts cradling her tight body. I reached down and gripped my cock, trying to encourage it to stay in its cage. The briefs I was wearing would do nothing to hide an unwanted erection.
Just as I was beginning to second think those jeans, she came back out carrying a beer in each hand. She handed me one and sat down on a nearby lounger.
“Feels weird to just sit here while shit burns,” she said.
“We did what we could,” I said.
“Thanks for the sandwich,” she said.
“My pleasure,” I replied. “There wasn’t much to work with.”
“I’m used to that,” she said.
“You look like you have plenty to work with,” I quipped.
She looked up at me in surprise. “Are you flirting with me?”
“Would I do that?” I said, wrinkling my brow.
She gave me a teasing smile. “No, probably not.”
I sat down in the lounger next to her, enjoying the feel of her being close enough to touch. Desire to do just that coursed through me, threatening to overcome all resistance.
Pull it back a little, I reminded myself. She doesn’t want your hands on her.
I looked over and caught her staring at me again. Her hair was down, falling around her face in long red waves that the moonlight threw streaks of light over. Those freckles were on full display, and I resisted the urge to touch one with my fingertip.
“So, what’s your story, Jesse?” she asked. “You have a wife?”
“No way,” I said. “You?”
“A wife?” she laughed. “Nope.”
“Boyfriend? Husband? Gimp in the basement at home?”
“Nope, nope, and nope,” she laughed. “Hard to keep a relationship going when this,” she gestured around us, “is your life.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “Hard to keep a relationship going no matter what. Being addicted to danger doesn’t help, no.”
“Is that what you call yourself? Addicted?”
“Sure, aren’t you?”
“Maybe,” she said, biting her lip, contemplatively. I couldn’t tear my gaze away and as the tip of her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip, I almost groaned in pain. “I used to tell myself I wanted to help people. But I guess protecting rich people’s bougie vacation homes isn’t really helping people. This sure is a lot of fun, though.”
I laughed. “Yeah, it is.”
“I guess I do it because no matter how many times I fight fires, it always gives me the same rush, the same thrill, I had in the beginning. The excitement doesn’t fade. It doesn’t become boring. It’s always as good as the first time. Kind of like the first time you kiss someone, or the way you wish sex was.”
Her face froze, then she turned away quickly.
Shit.
I’d said too much.
“Sorry,” I muttered, bringing my beer to my lips and taking a few good gulps.
“It’s cool,” she said, her voice soft now. “I agree.”
She turned serious, and without looking at me, asked, “Why’d you do that earlier?”
“Do what?” I asked, knowing damn well what she was talking about.
“Hit your boss, Jesse,” she said, looking back at me and smiling.
“Because he didn’t need to talk to you like that,” I said.
“What if he had been talking to Charlie like that? Or Frenchie or Brick?”
I shrugged.
“Would you even have said a word?”
“No, probably not.”
“So, then why’d you do it?”
She pressed me for an answer I didn’t have.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, I think you do,” she insisted. “Is it because I’m a woman? You thought I couldn’t take care of myself?”
“Nope, clearly you have no problem doing that.”
She looked at me, crossing her arms, which only served to frame and raise her amazing breasts. I looked at them a little too long, then met her gaze again.
“Well?”
“I don’t know, I just feel protective of you, I guess,” I admitted, surprising myself at the same time. It wasn’t my job to protect this woman. I barely knew her.
She nodded firmly at my admission, her eyes full of I-told-you-sos as she broke our gaze.
While she was turned away, my eyes raked over her body again, my cock now at full attention. When she turned back to me, her eyes were on fire.
“I don’t need to be protected.”
“We established that,” I nodded.
“So, if you know that, then why?” She met my gaze directly, holding it for a long moment, the