Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
June
My heart is pounding sitting in the back of the fire truck, watching Ethan getting the equipment ready.
His uniform is off and he’s in some navy pants and a matching T-shirt. I’m not sure if it’s the smoke inhalation or those tight sleeves gripping his big arms that are making it hard to breathe.
This man is seriously hot. It’s the calendar come to life, only somehow he’s even sexier in person. The way he moves so smooth and confidently. The way he keeps glancing at me with a protective air. And those hands… I can’t stop looking at them.
“Are you in any pain?” he asks in a low deep voice as he gets in nice and close.
I sit up and swallow hard. “No.”
“Any burns anywhere?”
He gently takes my arms as if they’re the most precious things he’s ever touched and lifts them, roaming those gorgeous blue eyes all over my skin.
“I’m fine,” I say with a lump in my throat. “I didn’t get burned.”
My eyes are locked on his as he checks me out. This shouldn’t feel so intimate. We’re in the back of the fire truck with the doors closed and he’s performing a medical examination. This is his job. It’s work for him.
I have to keep telling myself that. Because for me it feels like the end of a hot date where we’re about to get fresh.
“Any pain in your throat?” he asks as he brings those soft tender hands up to my neck. Oh god… “Any burning in your lungs?”
I shake my hands, feeling my nipples tightening as he gently strokes my throat. My eyes drop dangerously to his lips. He has such a sexy mouth. And that beard… It’s short and neat, framing his mouth in a way that makes it look so damn kissable.
I was never a beard kind of girl. I always thought they looked so itchy and would feel scratchy against your skin, but this beard looks so soft and tempting…
I just want to run my hands through it. I wonder what it would feel like under my fingertips, or kissing down my stomach, or scraping along my inner thighs. I shiver.
“You okay?” he asks, those blue eyes darting up to mine.
“Yeah,” I say, starting to blush.
I’m definitely not okay. I feel like I’m about to combust with this scorching, red-hot mountain man in front of me.
“Any dizziness?” he asks, holding my neck with those sexy hands while staring at me with those breathtaking blue eyes.
Is that a serious question?
“I… uh… no.”
“Nausea?”
I shake my head.
“Do you have a headache?”
I’m all lightheaded, but I doubt it’s from the smoke. It feels more euphoric than painful.
“You’re not coughing,” he says. “That’s good.”
He takes his hands off me and reaches into the large First Aid Kit by his side. I squeeze my hands tighter in my apron to keep myself from reaching for him like a moth toward a flame.
This man… The way he is. The calmness emanating from him. The gentleness from such a big strong man… It’s so sexy. It’s such a turn on.
My studio is a smoking ruin and all I’m thinking about is how it would feel if he kissed me.
“This is a called a pulse ox,” he says as he gently takes my hand and puts a clip on the end of my finger. “It’s going to measure your oxygen saturation and your heart rate.”
Uh oh. I’m about to be busted. My heart is racing because of this man.
“Your oxygen levels are good,” he says as he reads the screen. “But your heart rate is elevated.”
“Oh,” I say with a nervous laugh. “I can’t imagine why.”
“You’re probably just stressed,” he says as he unclips it from my finger.
“Yeah…” I say, nodding a little too aggressively. “Stress. That’s it. For sure.”
He takes my hands in his and kneels in front of me, our faces lining up. My mouth waters.
“I want you to breathe with me,” he whispers. “Can you do that?”
I nod with a gulp.
His smoldering blue eyes are locked on mine as he inhales deep, that huge muscular chest expanding and pulling that navy blue T-shirt even tighter.
Holy moly. I almost forget how to breathe.
But I manage to inhale deep, following him, maybe puffing out my chest a little more than necessary, even though this big thick apron is covering the goods.
“And out,” he whispers, exhaling long and hard.
We’re staring right at each other as we do this over and over and it feels even more intimate. His strong hands holding mine, the small cramped space, the air all tingly like it’s buzzing with electricity.
My heart is still pounding. Every nerve ending in my body is on full alert, tingling and vibrating like a struck tuning fork.
I don’t think this man is capable of lowering my heart rate.
Well, maybe he could. But he’d have to give me half a dozen orgasms first.
“Keep breathing like that,” he whispers as he leans in.
He puts his ear close to my mouth as I slowly breathe in and out, wondering if my breath is tickling his skin. I wonder what he would do if I lean in and kiss that muscular neck.
I look away, because he’s so distracting and he keeps filling my head with dirty thoughts, but my eyes fall onto his hands and that’s even worse.
They’re holding me so gently, but I can feel the strength of them. The power in them. They’re beautiful hands. Capable hands. The kind of hands that could hold you down with ease and still be careful about it. The kind that can dominate you and make you feel protected in the same time.
I don’t know how many hours I’ve stared at these hands. That photo in the calendar. The almost magical hands holding that little seedling like it was so precious, now holding my hands in the same way. It’s unreal.
My hungry eyes move over to his lap and my breath hitches for a heartbeat when I remember how good that hard thick clay felt in my hands. I bet the real thing would feel even better.
“Good,” he whispers, leaning back. “I don’t hear any wheezing or see any difficulty breathing.”
I get a little bloom of happiness hearing this man praise me and then I immediately feel stupid about it.
So, I can breathe without wheezing. Wow. He’s definitely going to ask me out now! Silly girl.
He pulls his hands away, and I hate how quickly I miss them.
“You have some… white powder…”
He slowly reaches up and brushes a streak of fire extinguisher powder off my cheek with the edge of his thumb.
It’s so gentle I barely feel it.
But I feel it.
Everywhere.
My throat tightens—not from smoke. From the intimacy of it. From the fact that he’s touching my face like this is more than just a professional courtesy. Like he has a right to. Like I’m his to touch whenever he wants.
Little does he know, I am.
He lowers his hand like nothing happened. Like he didn’t just light a match inside me.
Like a permanent shift didn’t just crack through my core like an earthquake.
“You seem to be fine, June,” he says, steadying his voice. “If you start coughing more later, or you feel lightheaded, I want you to get checked. Don’t brush it off.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“I’m serious,” he says, those blue eyes locked on mine, making me feel lightheaded right now. “You can call me if you like. I’ll take care of you.”
I gulp. Audibly. “Okay,” I quickly say, feeling my cheeks heat up.
“Can I get you a room in a hotel?” he asks with concern on his face. “I don’t want you sleeping outside in a tent. Or, if you like, I have room in my—”
The door gets yanked open and it’s so jarring and unexpected, cutting through all this tension that we both jump apart and gasp.
“How is she looking?” the fire chief, the older silver fox one, asks.
“She seems fine,” Ethan says, the softness in his voice gone. That tender gentle voice he saved for me is over.
I feel regret and loss as he turns from me and starts putting the equipment away as the fire chief climbs into the truck, ruining the moment.
“Do you have a place to stay tonight?” he asks.
“I was going to sleep in my tent outside,” I tell him, wishing I could hear the end of what Ethan was about to offer.
Or, if you like, I have room in my—
Was he really about to invite me to stay at his place?
“Why don’t you stay in town for the night?” the chief says. “You have insurance, right?”
I nod.
“I can call them for you,” he says in a hard tone. “They’ll pay for a hotel. You need a hot shower and a good night’s sleep. Your place will still be here tomorrow.”
I glance over at Ethan and he nods.
“Okay,” I say. “Thank you.”
“I can drive you if you’re feeling a little shaky,” he says.
“I think I’m okay.”
“I’ll follow you just in case,” the chief says with a nod. “Ethan, I’ll take care of her from here. You can bring the truck back with Doug.”
Ethan nods to his fire chief and then turns to me with a longing look.
I slip out of the seat and head outside into the cool air. I turn back and take one last look at the gorgeous fireman I’ve been crushing on for weeks. It was a fake crush before. Some unknown man on a silly calendar. But now… Now, the crush is real.
And it’s burning red hot.