Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
JESSE
I pushed the speed limit all the way home. I had rushed to the chief’s office, shocking him when I told him I needed a couple of personal hours.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“I have no idea. There’s a situation at my house.”
He waved me off. “Go. We’ll cover the rest of the shift.”
Outside, I ran into Mark, who had taken the day off. “You busy?” I asked.
“No, just came to grab my charger I left in my locker. What do you need?”
“Follow me home.”
I pulled up to the house, leaving the truck on the road.
Mark pulled in behind me, following me into the backyard.
I stood, my hands on my hips, staring at the oak tree in the corner of the yard, not sure what I was looking at.
Casey’s denim-clad legs were visible in the tree, up way too high for safety.
My ladder lay on the ground, no use to her at all.
“What’s going—” He stopped. “Oh God, what is she doing up the tree?”
“I have no fucking idea.”
I stomped forward, peering up into the branches.
“Casey!” I yelled.
“Oh… Hi,” she responded. “You’re home early,” she said, trying to sound casual.
“Because a neighbor called and said someone was stuck in a tree,” I roared. “It didn’t take me long to figure out who that was!”
“Lila tried to lift the ladder, but it was too heavy,” she said, as if that was okay. As if any of this was okay. “No one else heard me calling.”
I pinched my nose, trying to keep my patience. It was thin right now.
“We’ll lift the ladder,” Mark said, sounding amused as he clapped me on the shoulder. “We can hold it, and she can climb down.”
“Fine.”
Together, we got the ladder upright and lifted the extension slider, locking it into place. It went higher than Casey so she could climb on easily and come down safely. Then I planned a serious chat with her.
“Okay, Casey,” I called up, keeping my voice calm. “Grab on.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
There was a moment of silence. “I can’t move,” she confessed.
“Fuck,” Mark muttered. “She’s frozen in fear.” He cleared his throat. “Want me to call it in? Get the truck and ladder here?”
“No. You hold this steady. I’ll go get her.”
“Are you serious? That’s not really protocol.”
“Nothing about this woman is.”
I swung myself up, ascending the rungs quickly. Given the dizzying heights we were used to, this was nothing. I reached Casey, who was clutching the trunk like a lifeline. I saw how badly she was shaking, and my anger abated.
A little.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to become the firefighter I was trained to be. In charge. Patient.
“Pixie,” I said gently. “I’m here.”
She didn’t move.
“Pixie.” I tried again. “Look at me.”
She met my eyes, hers terrified.
“I’m right here, and you’re going to be fine.”
“I can’t climb down. I can’t even let go,” she admitted.
“You don’t have to. I’m going to lean over, and you’re going to let me lift you off the branch.”
“No! You’ll fall! We both will,” she whimpered, clutching the tree even tighter.
“I won’t fall, and I won’t let you fall.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she whispered.
I took a deep breath. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then let me help you. I would never let you get hurt.” I waited for her to move, but she didn’t. “I promise.”
“Okay.”
“Put your right hand on my shoulder. That’s it,” I encouraged. “Slowly. Now the left. Good girl. Now lean forward, bracing yourself on me.”
Her breathing was rapid. “Are you holding the ladder?” she asked, panicked.
“Yes,” I assured her. “You’re doing so well. I’m coming closer now. Let me hold you.”
She allowed me to get my arm around her while I held on to the ladder with the other. I knew Mark was bracing it below, but I needed to do this fast before something gave.
It could be the ladder or me.
“Deep breath, Pixie. Let me do the work.” I paused. “And shut your eyes.”
She gasped as I lifted her, hoisting her to my torso. “Hold on.” I held her tight to my chest.
“Coming down!” I yelled.
I descended a little slower than I’d gone up, trying not to jostle her. Her legs were wrapped around me tightly, her arms almost strangling my neck. I felt her tremors, and without a thought, I kissed the top of her head. “I have you,” I promised.
I didn’t breathe again until my feet touched the ground.
I kneeled down, sitting her on the grass.
“Good job,” Mark said. “Well executed.”
“Thanks,” I murmured, my attention on Casey. I stroked her hair in comfort. Her shaking was subsiding, which was a good sign.
“You need me anymore?”
I stood and shook his hand. “No. Thanks—I appreciate your help.”
He grinned. “You had it handled even without me.”
He bent down. “Take care, Casey. Stay out of trouble—or at least try. Keep your feet on the ground.”
Chuckling, he left, and I kneeled again in front of Casey. “Hey,” I called, lifting her chin. “You’re okay.”
She sighed—a long, shuddering sound that made me want to take her in my arms and hold her. But I resisted.
“What the hell made you go up the tree, Casey?” I asked. A thought occurred to me, and I rose to my feet, peering up into the tree. “Did Barney get out and get stuck?” I narrowed my gaze, looking for the brown-and-gray striped cat, prepared to climb up the ladder again.
“No,” she murmured.
“Then why the hell—” I stopped as the breeze went through the branches, and a sound I knew all too well now rang out. I stepped back, peering upward, investigating, hoping I wasn’t right.
But I saw them.
And instantly, I was furious again.
“You climbed up the fucking tree to hang your wind chimes in it?” I demanded.
“I remembered Lou and me doing it and thought it would be nice,” she said lamely.
“Nice? Nice? You risked your life to hang some fucking wind chimes?” I snarled, pacing and running a hand through my hair.
“After I told you specifically you could hang one set? One? What part of that didn’t you understand?
” I demanded, warming to my subject. “If I hadn’t been around, a call would have gone out and the squad would have had to come and get you out of the damn tree—wasting time and money on an unneeded rescue. What the fuck were you thinking?”
She scrambled to her feet, glaring. “You said one set on the house. You didn’t mention the tree.”
I closed the distance between us. “Because I didn’t think you’d put them in the fucking tree , Casey.”
“I thought they’d be?—”
I cut her off. “I know. Nice. They’ll look nice in the garbage once I get them down.”
She slammed her hands on her hips. “No.”
“My house. My rules.”
“You are such a bastard, throwing that line out when it suits you.”
“I’ll be a bastard every time you do something that puts you in danger.”
“I wasn’t in danger!” she retorted, lifting her chin, defiant and brave. “I would have figured something out. Once I got my breath back, I would have climbed down.” She poked my chest. “I don’t need you.”
I barked out a dry laugh. She would have climbed down. Right.
She was indignant in her rage. The color had returned to her face, and she was flushed with anger. Her bright eyes snapped in fury, and she braced herself, ready to battle this out.
She was fucking beautiful with her anger on display. I loved that part of her.
And I wanted her.
Right now.
In a move she didn’t expect, I bent and threw her over my shoulder. Her long ponytail slapped against the back of my legs.
She gasped, hitting my back. “Let me go!”
I smacked her ass, holding her thighs tight so she couldn’t escape.
“No.”
Then I smacked her ass again. It felt good. It wasn’t hard, and she didn’t object.
I turned and headed to the house, berating her the entire way.
“You don’t make the rules here, Casey.”
Smack.
“I said one set of wind chimes, and you knew what I meant. Finding a loophole doesn’t make it right.”
Smack .
“If I tell you something, you better listen.”
Smack.
“If I have to lock you in the house while I’m gone to stop you causing trouble, I will.”
Smack.
“Those wind chimes are going in the garbage tomorrow.”
Smack.
That one got me a retaliatory smack on my ass, which felt more like a little tap. She argued the whole time, muttering under her breath, grabbing at my ass, trying to slap me—her ineffectual attempts only making me madder and turning me on even more.
I had never wanted a woman the way I wanted her right now. And I wanted her to know exactly who was in charge.
I stormed into the house, shutting the door behind me. As I thundered through the kitchen, she yelled, “There’s a roast in the oven!”
“Too bad,” I snapped.
“Onion gravy,” she responded.
I stepped back and turned off the oven. Dinner shouldn’t suffer because of her bad judgment.
I walked through her space, noting the animals on the sofa looking at us in curiosity but not moving. I stopped and petted Miller’s head. “Good boy,” I muttered.
“Getting dizzy here,” Casey yelped.
I smacked her ass harder. “Then stay out of fucking trees.”
“What are you doing?” she shrieked. “Let me down.”
I kept walking, cutting through the closet, heading upstairs, tapping her butt every step. “Be quiet.”
In my room, I set her on her feet, and she stepped back, glaring.
“Are you done manhandling me now?”
“I’m just getting started.”
“Who do you think?—”
I held up my hand, silencing her.
“Get on your knees, Pixie.”
Her eyes went wide.
I pointed to the floor.
“Now.”
CASEY
His commanding words and the way he was towering over me, furious and bossy, shouldn’t have turned me on.
But they did.
The moment I heard his voice earlier, I knew it was okay. I was okay. Jesse would rescue me and make sure I was safe.
But right now, he was angry. Mad that I had climbed the tree. Furious because it was for wind chimes. Turned on because I defied him. Demanding my compliance to lessen his anxiety.
Anxiety I had caused him.
He wanted to rebalance the scales.
I dropped to my knees.
He glared down at me, his shoulders stiff, breathing hard. His hair was all over the place, his hands fisted tightly. He tore his shirt over his head, his chest pumping hard.