STORY EXCERPT

Casper Wiley’s hands reflexively shot out and locked onto Madeline’s slender hips when she came to an abrupt halt in front of him, and he was toast. In all the years he’d lusted after her, fantasized about her, and wanted her, he’d managed to never touch her beyond a fist bump or a high five around the firehouse. He was touching her now and not just with his hands. He’d slammed into her and now his chest was pressed against the back of her head and shoulders, his dick was resting against the small of her back, and her shapely ass was against the front of his thighs.

Casper knew he was a damn good firefighter, but the blaze burning inside him hot enough to turn the state of Tennessee to ashes for paramedic Madeline Rafferty was one he still hadn’t figured out how to extinguish. Holding her wasn’t going to help that a damn bit.

He felt her stiffen in surprise, and then relax in his embrace, and, God, help him, when she rolled her head on his chest to look up at him, he nearly lost the hold on his resistance he’d been gripping tightly all these years. Her gaze locked with his, and there was no way he could miss the heat, desire, and challenge that sparked in her big, blue eyes. His dick turned rock-solid behind his zipper. Even through the material of his uniform slacks and bunker pants over them, there was no way she couldn’t feel how hard he was. The soft moan that escaped her slightly parted lips gave him all the confirmation he needed.

“We should head back, Rafferty.”

Rafferty. Not Madeline. Not Maddie. He watched her blink and all but saw her mind switch gears. Calling her by her last name put them back on the level they needed to be, paramedic and Truck 29 Lieutenant.

Casper gathered his willpower and used it to pry his hands off her slender hips as he took a full step back. He was still within arm’s reach of her, but he’d learned long ago how to control the urge to draw her in closer.

Madeline shook her head hard enough to send her short, brunette ponytail swinging and pointed to the field in front of them. “There’s a house over there. We have to check it out. He could be inside it.”

Casper shifted his gaze to the house several yards ahead. It was little more than a shack on the hillside that had obviously seen better days. “Are you kidding? We’re a good mile away from the scene and I doubt anyone has been inside that place in years.”

“Look at the grass.” She pointed again, this time to the field surrounding the house. A path zigzagged through it on a direct course to the front door. “Someone has been through here, Wiley. It could be our guy looking for help.”

Or looking for an escape.

Casper kept that suspicion to himself, though he’d started to believe the man they were looking for wasn’t merely a victim, but someone not looking for a run-in with any of the first responders in the area. Why else would an innocent victim from the downed helicopter that had crashed on top of a warehouse a mile away flee so far from the scene? Cherish Police Department, along with firefighters and paramedics from Stations 4 and 5, were back there scrambling to help people trapped in the part of the warehouse that had collapsed and others on the ground that had been injured by flying debris created when the helicopter had crashed. A triage had been set up at a safe, but close proximity to the warehouse and Casper, Madeline, and the rest of the Station 5 A-shift crews were searching the outlying areas for victims. One of the victims told Madeline’s partner, Neil Ingram, that he’d seen an injured man staggering this way.

Upon hearing there may be someone out here needing medical attention, Madeline had sprinted off. Casper had refused to let her go after the guy alone. She sprinted off again now, heading straight through the knee-high grass toward the house. Casper, once again, followed.

“We have to at least check it out.”

“Fine. We’ll check it out, but this is as far as we’re going. If he isn’t in there, we’re heading back to the scene.” Casper double-timed it to get in front of Madeline when they reached the rickety front porch of the shack. He noted the foreclosure notice taped to the outside of the door. A door that was standing partially open.

“Casper.”

Madeline rarely called him by his first name, but every time she did sounded different in his head. It was always breathier and preceded by the word “oh” or “please” as he kissed and licked his way over every inch of her sultry body. Her hand that closed on his bicep while she pointed to the floor of the porch with the other didn’t help stop the change of her tone or the vision that formed in his mind.

“That’s blood.”

ADULT EXCERPT

She felt perfect in his arms. Stacy had known she would. He hadn’t known how scrumptious she would taste. Christ! The woman’s juices hadn’t done anything to curb his appetite for her. He needed to be inside her sweet heat, to feel her tight pussy muscles clamping around his dick as he pistoned his hips and drove himself inside her sultry body again and again and again.

His dick was harder than the pole at the firehouse. He was used to that discomfort around her. He wasn’t used to every part of his soul throwing a party with the knowledge that it was about to finally get exactly what it had wanted for far too fucking long.

He shot a glance at the still open door, winced, and kicked it closed before he carried her down the hall. Madeline’s jaw dropped and she stared at the door over his shoulder.

“Did you really just strip me naked with my front door standing wide open?”

“It was partially closed,” Stacy told her, tongue in cheek. “I apologize. I got carried away when you answered the door.”

He’d really only come here to talk. And, well, okay, to hopefully end up right where he was now after they ended the conversation. They would get to the conversation part of the program, but there was no way in hell his mind was going to be able to concentrate on what he needed to say when his dick and balls felt like they were about to burst.

He carried her through the doorway of her bedroom, stopped at the side of the bed, and started to lower her down when she cupped the side of his face and turned it to look at her.

“If I don’t get to apologize for my actions, you don’t get to apologize for yours.”

Stacy brushed his lips to hers. “Fair enough.” He drew his brows together when she wiggled in his arms. Not wanting her to fall, he slowly lowered her to the floor in front of him.

Her gaze met his as she pulled the hem of his shirt from the waistband of his pants. “It’s my turn.”

Oh, holy hell. Stacy wasn’t sure if he could handle her taking a turn, especially when her delicate hands dipped beneath the material of his shirt and pushed it up as they slowly glided up the bare flesh of his torso. He managed to hold himself together…barely…as she pulled the shirt up and over his head. She tossed it to the floor, made a sound of pure female appreciation, and flattened her hands on his chest again. She dragged them down, exploring every muscle and plane of his torso on her way to the waistband of his pants.

“Wow!” Her gaze met his for a brief moment and he saw the spark of vixen pleasure in her big blue eyes. “For a man that spends a lot of time behind his desk, you have one amazing body.”

Stacy fisted his hands at his sides. It was the only way he could keep himself from tossing her onto the bed and speeding up this process instead of allowing her to look her fill. Damn if it didn’t take every ounce of control he could muster to give her that. The woman’s fingers were more wicked than the intents he saw in her eyes. She freed the button, lowered the zipper, and peeled his pants and briefs down his hips with an agonizing slowness that made him grit his teeth to keep the growl bubbling in his throat from escaping. When she curled a hand around the base of his cock, he nearly lost his mind. When she started to lower herself to her knees, only one thought managed to penetrate the sexual fog in his head.

He caught her slender shoulders and lifted her until she was standing straight in front of him again. “Please, Madeline. No.” He saw the disappointment mix with confusion in her eyes and dragged a finger beneath her slightly parted lips. “Sweetheart, if you put this mouth on my dick right now, I’m going to blow. I’m not going to last long once I get inside your sexy body, but that’s where I really want to be.”

She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and his balls drew up painfully in their sac. “Can I have a rain check on the blowjob?”

Holy smokes! The hope that swirled with the desire in her eyes twisted around his heart. Did she really believe he’d come here for a quick screw to get her out of his system and planned to leave? He hadn’t even gotten the pleasure of being inside her sultry body yet and knew damn well he’d never get this woman out of his system so easily…if ever at all.

“Madeline.” He cupped her cheek, loving the way she leaned into the touch. “I lost my head when you opened the door today, but I didn’t come over here just for this. We need to talk, to figure out how we’re going to handle this, but what we’re doing isn’t a one-time thing, sweetheart.”

Happiness brightened her eyes, erasing all the doubts and concern he’d seen. “I’ll cash in on that rain check soon.”

Stacy chuckled as she plopped her sexy ass onto the bed and scooted toward the center. “I’ll look forward to it.”

He bent to pull off his boots and then kicked his pants and briefs off his feet. He snagged the pants before they got away from him, dug for his wallet, and palmed a condom as he straightened. Seeing her laying on the bed, her short brunette hair fanning the sheets beneath her, and her amazing body naked with her legs open for him to see the delicious pussy he’d feasted on moments ago stopped his heart. In that instant, he didn’t give a damn if he lost his rank, his job, or anything else he’d worked for forty-one years to build. What mattered most was the woman waiting for him to make love to her and he cursed himself for taking so long to give into the needs that had been haunting him for years.