STORY EXCERPT

The firefighter’s voice was smooth and melodious, like an FM radio DJ’s voice. Autumn pulled her gaze up, skipped over the strong chin with a day’s growth of stubble, and paused at the slightly parted, way too kissable, set of lips. Her heart rate kicked into double time as heat unfolded in girly parts she’d thought had gone dormant long ago. Those lips moved as he spoke again.

“Are you okay?”

No, she absolutely wasn’t okay if her system was reacting to this man this way. Hadn’t her body learned anything? She tore her attention from his mouth, dragged it up the bridge of his nose, and met his gaze. Hazel eyes stared back at her with a mix of concern and unadulterated attraction flaming in their depths.

Firefighter. Firefighter. Firefighter!

Her mind screamed the word at her like a mantra as her traitorous gaze took a quick stroll over his short, light brown hair and drool-worthy face before locking on his eyes again. He was decidedly a young firefighter at that. Then again, since passing the big 4-0 last year, anyone under the obvious age of fifty had started to look young.

“I’m fine. I just wasn’t watching where I was going.”

His lips kicked into a charming lopsided grin. “Neither was I.” His gaze dropped, slid slowly down her body, and inched its way up again, drinking her in as if his eyes were straws and she was suddenly his favorite beverage. “I am now.”

Oh, God. That look absolutely should not have had her nipples beading to hardened points that poked against the cups of her bra. It should not have ignited a slow burn in her clit and had juices slicking her feminine folds.

But, damn it, it did.

“Again, I do apologize.” Needing to make a fast escape, Autumn kneeled to retrieve the bag she’d dropped when they had collided, unable to keep her gaze from taking in every long, stupendously toned, and­—oh, wow—outrageously packed inch of him clad in tight-fitting uniform pants and black combat-style boots.

Apparently having the same idea, he kneeled with her and reached for the bag. Their fingers brushed and a zillion volts of supercharged white-hot desire zinged up her arm.

No. No. No! Didn’t her hand know she wasn’t attracted to men like him? She had suffered more than her fair share of obnoxious, egotistical, I’m-too-hot-in-my-uniform firemen like him.

“I’ve got it,” she told him as she took the bag and quickly straightened. “Thanks. Have a good evening.” She started to walk around him, but his long fingers closed on her forearm, sending another unwanted zing ricocheting through her.

“Hey. You can’t run off without at least telling me your name.”

She took a deep breath and met his gaze again. Holy hormones! His hand on her arm coupled with the flames still present in his hazel eyes was more than enough to have her envisioning hot, sweaty bodies—his and hers—tangled in rumpled sheets.

“Autumn.”

“Autumn.” The way he repeated her name in that smooth, melodic voice added sound to her vision, the kind that had him whispering her name as he settled his narrow hips between her wide-spread legs. “Different, but beautiful. Do you have a last name to go with it?”

“That one’s not so different. It’s Johnson.”

“Zach Torren.” His hand slid down her forearm, leaving a path of sizzling heat in its wake as it closed around hers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Autumn Johnson.”

Not so obnoxious. In fact, he was polite, well mannered, and too freaking nice. The man should’ve been covered in warning labels. Ones that read something like, Caution: Any form of physical interaction will result in third-degree burns and, Caution: Prolonged eye contact will be damaging to the system. Those labels might not be present, but the one on his shirt was enough to set off the sirens in her head, even if her body didn’t seem to hear them. Almost any man could give off the first impression of being a nice guy if he wanted to.

“You, too, Zach. Now, if you will excuse me.”

The radio on his hip squawked and Autumn’s belly churned at the sound. “Hey, Lieutenant. What’s your ETA? We’re starving out here.”

He reached with his free hand, snagged the radio from his belt, and keyed it up to speak. “Hold your horses. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

His other hand was still holding hers. She eased hers free and immediately felt the loss of the warmth from his touch as she started to back away. “It sounds like you need to go, too.”

“They can wait.” He took a step forward, reclaiming more than half the distance she’d put between them in a single stride. “Can I buy you a drink sometime? Take you to dinner and a movie?”

Yes, the sirens in her head were doing their job. They drowned out the screams of her body to accept his offer for a date and reminded her she had thankfully thought to put on her ring before leaving the house. That ring was her defense mechanism, her way of keeping herself from doing stupid things like forgetting the misery men had brought to her life, especially men like the panty-wetting lieutenant currently asking her on a date.

She held up her left hand, showing him the silver band and matching diamond ring on her third finger, and gave him her best apologetic smile. “I don’t think my husband would approve.”

Disappointment threw water on the flames in his eyes, but it didn’t put them out completely. “He’s a lucky man.” He turned slightly and bent at the waist to snag the handle of the basket she hadn’t realized he’d dropped when they had collided. When he straightened, he gave her a smile that sent more of those zings bouncing from one erogenous zone in her body to the next. “But I’m still glad you ran into me. Have a good evening, Autumn.”

ADULT EXCERPT

She met Zach’s gaze. “I want you on your knees so I can get to you.” She shifted her attention to Casey. “I want you behind me.”

“You want doggie style,” Casey guessed correctly and, oh boy, the flames that overtook his eyes were the hottest she’d ever seen.

She waggled her brows. “Woof. Woof.”

Casey cracked up.

Zach snorted and rested his forehead on the side of her shoulder as he laughed. “And you call me the comedian.”

Autumn waited for both men to sober before she framed Casey’s handsome face with her hands. “I’m not ready for anal sex yet, but I won’t mind if you play there. It will help, won’t it, so it doesn’t hurt when I am ready?”

She’d never had anal sex, but she’d had a boyfriend who had tried once. It had been far too painful for her to allow him to continue. Still, she had always wanted to try again, especially when the ménage fantasies had started creeping into her dreams about being with Zach and Casey. She was certain the reason it had hurt so badly before was because the guy she’d been with hadn’t cared about anything beyond his own satisfaction. He’d done nothing to prepare her and hadn’t been gentle or slow. Casey was the wilder one when it came to kisses and blurring the line between pleasure and pain, but somehow she knew, when it came to anal sex, he would be more tender, at least until she became comfortable with the act.

“Yeah,” he told her, his voice thick with his own arousal. “It’ll help.”

“I’ll get the condoms and lube.” Zach brushed a light kiss over her shoulder, eased back, and walked on his knees to the head of the bed. He pulled open the nightstand drawer, palmed two condoms, a tube of lubrication, and returned to them.

Autumn watched him as he passed one of the condoms and the lube to Casey and started to work on the remaining foil wrapper in his hand. She reached out and curled her fingers around his wrist. “Are you clean?”

She hated to ask, but in this day and age, a woman had to be careful. He met her gaze and she knew by the intense look in his eyes that she could trust him. He nodded. “Then you don’t need that. I want to taste you, not latex.” She turned to Casey and grimaced. “Unfortunately, you will need one. I’m not on birth control.” She’d stopped bothering with it when she’d sworn off men, but now wished she hadn’t.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

She minded, though. Casey had told her he’d never been inside a woman without a condom. She wanted to be his first. She made a mental note to make an appointment with her OB-GYN tomorrow morning as he rolled the condom down his massive cock.

Her pussy convulsed as a swift rush of anticipation returned. She shifted, got to her knees, and turned, her mouth watering when her gaze landed on Zach. He was on his knees, his sexy ass settled back on his haunches, and his naked cock standing at attention. She licked her lips, more than ready to give it that attention as she flattened her hands on the mattress and crawled to him.

“Christ, that’s fucking sexy,” Casey whispered behind her.

Autumn glanced at him over her shoulder. Men had told her all her adult life how sexy she was, but she actually felt sexy for the first time. It was the look in his eyes that made her feel it as his gaze moved over her back and ass. Said ass tingled, the muscles flexing on their own accord as if eagerly awaiting his touch.

Saying thank you seemed too inane, so she simply smiled and turned back to Zach. He rose to his knees when she stopped in front of him, putting his cock in perfect alignment with her mouth. Behind her, Casey moved in, positioning himself on his knees between her legs. She wiggled her ass and swallowed a giggle when he moaned. Then his hands molded the cheeks of her ass and it was her turn to moan.

His hands caressed the orbs, squeezed them, and then one hand curled, parting them and tugging at the entrance to her ass. Sharp flares of heat whipped through her system. That heat was met with a startling chill as he slipped a finger into her crack. The contrast of the cool gel made her shiver.

His hips shifted and she felt the head of his cock graze her outer folds. Then it was pushing between them, homing in on the drenched opening like a heat-seeking missile, and thrusting deep.

“Oh, yes!” Her arms supporting the weight of her upper body shook, threatening to buckle, as the first round of pleasure tore through her.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he ground through gritted teeth as he settled his cock balls-deep inside her and the finger between her ass cheeks flattened over the sensitive cavity. He circled the outer rim of her anus as he pulled his cock back until only the head remained inside her pussy before he thrust it in again all the way to the hilt.

Autumn cried out, the second round of pleasure ripping through her more violently than the first. She felt a hand push beneath her hair, turn to gently fist the strands, and she opened eyes she hadn’t realized she’d closed. Her gaze locked on Zach’s cock barely a breath from her mouth and she parted her lips, stuck out her tongue, and swiped at the bead of pre-cum glistening on the slit. His hand in her hair gave the strands a reflexive tug, his hips bucked, and a soft, animalistic sound rumbled from his throat. Wanting to hear more of those sounds, she licked his engorged cockhead into her mouth, closed her lips around it, and sucked it deeper.

“Holy shit!”