Burning for the Fireman Read online

  Burning for the Fireman

  J L Taft

  Ryker is no stranger to taking on challenges—as a firefighter, his strength and determination are tested on a weekly basis. When his team is called to extinguish a blaze at an apartment complex, the last thing he expects is to see a woman with flame-colored hair come dashing from the burning building, clutching someone else’s child. But when she informs him she doesn’t like sex, he’s more than just shocked. He’s intrigued and takes her statement as a challenge he can’t refuse, even if it means he has to let Allie into more than just his bed.

  Reader Advisory: This story has graphic sexual language and scenes—no closed bedroom doors (or other rooms) here!

  A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

  Burning For The Fireman

  J L Taft

  Chapter One

  The alarm went off, red lights flashing, and I jumped up, instantly awake. I wasn’t the only one in a rush, sliding down the shiny pole that dropped into the lower level of the fire station. I raced to my locker and began pulling on my equipment.

  Years of training had the group of guys ready to go in minutes. I hopped onto the back of the cherry-red fire truck, just as the lights and sirens cut through the night air.

  The thrill of the ride never got old for me. I loved it just as much now, if not more, than I had the first time. Speeding off into a dark night and into certain danger was never an easy thing to do. Add to that the times where, despite your best efforts, people perished, and it wasn’t a job for everybody.

  The moment might burst the second the truck stopped but I still loved the ride there.

  We turned the corner, where the tall business buildings gave way to up-scale apartment complexes. As we sped down the street, my heart dropped.

  The acidic scent of smoke hit my nose and the sky lightened with that terrible orange glow. When the truck stopped abruptly, I leapt into action.

  I took in the scene in once quick glance—the crowd of people, already being pushed back by other firefighters, to the tall apartment complex, the top levels bursting with flames.

  A woman stood too close to the building, screaming that her daughter was still inside. A couple of police officers were holding her back and I quickly grabbed the tools I would need to go inside.

  “Ryker! Ready?” Travis, a fellow fireman and friend, called as I jogged over to him.

  “Yeah, good to go,” I yelled to be heard over the commotion.

  Passing the sobbing woman, we headed to the front door. A police officer grabbed my arm and I paused.

  “A woman took off inside after the kid as we were pulling up,” he told me with a shake of his head.

  “Anyone else missing?” I demanded.

  “No, just the woman and a kid inside. Everyone else is accounted for.”

  An untrained woman had to have a death wish to run into a raging fire. The front door was open and Travis and I stared inside, assessing our best way in. The lower levels still seemed to be intact but that could change at any minute.

  Nodding to Travis, I took a step inside and stopped dead in my tracks. A woman with hair the color of flames came dashing toward us. In her arms, clutched tightly to her chest, she carried a small girl with skin the color of hot cocoa.

  The woman had her head down and she was hunched over the child, protecting as much of the little body as she could with her own. I caught the woman in my arms as she reached us, lifting them both and carrying them outside and to the nearest ambulance.

  Their combined weight was slight and I had no trouble getting them to help. The child’s mother met us at the ambulance, taking her youngster who was now coughing deeply. Paramedics immediately descended on the pair.

  Light spilled from the open doors of the ambulance as I glanced down at the woman still in my arms. She stared back at me unblinking, her baby-blue eyes wide.

  An instant of recognition nagged in the back of my mind but Travis hollered for me right then and the moment disappeared.

  “Are you all right?” I asked.

  She nodded and her wide gaze had me wondering if she was in shock. I knew one thing for sure though…she was beautiful.

  “Can you stand?” I asked, raising my voice to hear over the roar of the water hoses.

  “Yes,” she croaked out, her voice rough from the smoke.

  I set her on her feet, reluctant to release her. She barely came to my shoulder and she wobbled a bit before finding her balance.

  “Thank you,” she told me with a small smile before turning away.

  The next couple hours were a blur of activity. The fire raged and we managed to keep it contained to the one building. As the sun began rising, we extinguished the last of the flames.

  I was exhausted by the time the sun was fully up and so glad that my shift was ending. I had a full forty-eight hours before I had to report back to the station and it was the weekend, to boot. Taking off my hat and heavy coat, I sat on the back bumper of the truck with Travis, taking the offered bottle of water from him.

  We watched as the other guys neatly finished rolling up the hoses. For some reason, I couldn’t get the little red head out of my mind. I knew I had seen her before somewhere.

  The last ambulance pulled away, revealing a small form huddled in a blanket, sitting on the curb. Her flame-colored hair was a dead giveaway and I was headed toward her before I could think twice about it.

  Crouching in front of her, I laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, are you all right?”

  She lifted her head and stared intently at me before answering. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been a long night.”

  “That it has,” I told her.

  She had a smudge of soot across her cheekbone, the black making the skin underneath look incredibly pale. She seemed so lost I had to wonder. I had seen firsthand how devastating losing all your possessions in a house fire could be.

  “Do you live here?” I asked gently, gesturing to the uninhabitable building behind me.

  “No, I live in the building next to it. They evacuated in case the fire spread.”

  That was something, at least; she wasn’t homeless. But I was curious as to why she had dashed into a burning building.

  “That was a crazy thing you did,” I said.

  She just shrugged as if it was no big deal.

  “Ryker! Come on, man. We’re done here,” Travis yelled.

  “Hey, I’ve gotta go.” I stood and turned but I couldn’t leave it like that. “Do you think I could take you to dinner tonight?” I asked before I had fully processed the thought.

  She sighed and looked away but I saw the disappointment on her face as I crouched in front of her again.

  “Look, whatever-your-name-is, I don’t really like sex so if that’s what you’re after, just go away. I’m tired.”

  I was a little taken aback by her words. This woman cut right to the chase. I liked that.

  “I just want a little conversation and a dinner companion. Maybe you could explain what possessed you to dash off into a burning building?” I cajoled, giving her a grin that usually had the ladies agreeing to whatever I wanted.

  But it didn’t affect her that way. Her eyes narrowed and her gaze gave nothing away. I realized she saw through me and my practiced smiles.

  “I’ll probably regret this but all right. You can pick me up here at seven,” she said, pointing to the stairs that led to her building.

  “Great, I’m Ryker, by the way.”

  “Allie,” she replied and held out her hand for me to shake it.

  Her delicately arched eyebrows lifted in surprise as I raised her hand to my lips and kissed the back. Giving her a full-wattage smile. I released her and strode to the tr
uck.

  After jumping in and closing the door, I watched her until she was out of view. What kind of woman didn’t like sex? And was completely okay with telling a stranger that she didn’t?

  Obviously, something had happened to make her that way and I wanted to know what. While I found her tight little body hot as hell, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get involved and wondered what I had been thinking asking her out in the first place. It wasn’t my usual style but lately I had been discontent, wondering what was missing.

  Travis cut across my thoughts. “Only Ryker can get a date while putting out a fire,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Fuck off, Travis,” I told him good-naturedly. Leaning back against the seat, I closed my eyes, anxious to get home and shower off the smell of smoke.

  The guys constantly ribbed me about my female friends and I had learned not to let it get to me. It would be way worse if they knew the truth.

  The chief was waiting for us when we got back to the station.

  “Good job, guys. First round’s on me tonight,” he said as he shook hands and slapped backs.

  “Thanks, Chief, but I have plans tonight,” I told him as I stowed my gear.

  Travis came striding over. “What plans?”

  “Mind your own damn business, Travis.”

  One of the younger guys on the crew, a rookie who spent too much time messing with his spiky blond hair-do, interrupted. “Did you really get a date while we were working last night? Shit, man, that’s awesome!”

  I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away. The rookie caught my arm. “Dude, will you teach me?”

  “Teach you what, exactly?” I asked but I already knew where this was headed.

  “To get women!”

  “Forget it, kid,” I mumbled as I strode quickly to my truck, parked across the street. I knew the guys didn’t mean anything by it but I hated them digging into my personal life. They all saw me as a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” kind of guy.

  While it might be true to some extent, I still didn’t care for the reference and I certainly wasn’t teaching some kid how to ‘get women’.

  The kid irritated me. Just because I liked women and their company didn’t mean I had fucked everyone I was seen with. Most, maybe, but not all of them. I just didn’t trust them. They all wanted something. I chose to pick the women who wanted the same things as I did.

  Jumping up into the cab, I sat for a few minutes, enjoying the stillness. It had been a long shift. There had been several medical emergency calls and then the apartment complex fire that had taken hours.

  I wondered how Allie was doing and if she should have gone to the hospital. I shook it off. She didn’t need me to worry about her. She looked as if she could take care of herself.

  After her blunt confession that she didn’t like sex and I wondered what the hell I had been thinking. Starting the truck, I shook my head. I needed some sleep.

  As I drove through the early morning streets, it came to me. I remembered where I knew her from. I had seen her at Eclipse, a sex club I liked to play at once in a while. I had gone there last weekend and she had been there with some friends.

  She had caught my eye then too. She’d had on a dark-green dress and sky-high heels, but it had been that curly, fire-colored hair that had drawn me in, over and over. I had watched her all night and she had seemed to be completely out of her element and had never talked to any one man for more than a few minutes. I spent so much time paying attention to her I ended up going home alone and unsatisfied.

  What the hell had she been doing at Eclipse? In any case, I had a feeling the dinner date would be interesting.

  Chapter Two

  I felt refreshed after a few hours of sleep. I was used to working and being awake at odd hours, so waking up late into the afternoon was normal for me. But it didn’t leave me much time to get around before I picked up Allie.

  Taking a hot shower, I was surprised to find I was looking forward to the evening. It had been a long time since I was this excited over a woman. I didn’t like complications and always chose women who knew the score.

  I also liked to be in charge of the situation, which is why I frequented Eclipse. Some of the women there were sexually submissive and it was an easy place to meet someone who liked the same things I did.

  Allie was exactly the opposite. But something about her got to me. As her face popped to mind and I thought about her tight little body, my cock sprang to life and I groaned.

  Since I was going out with a woman who claimed not to like sex, I fisted my cock and jerked on it until I came in quick little bursts. I stood under the water, breathing heavily.

  I kept my hair cut short, so I only had to run a comb through it. A few short minutes later, I’d dried off and gotten dressed. I had called and made reservations at my favorite Italian place, so I’d put on slacks and a light-blue button-up shirt that matched my eyes—or so my mother had told me.

  Knowing the restaurant was casual and it was warm enough to skip the jacket, I had the cuffs rolled halfway up my forearms before I hit the front door.

  I drove to Allie’s place and made it with only minutes to spare, but I wasn’t late. She was already waiting for me outside the upscale apartment complex. I couldn’t help but take a long look at the black, bare bones of what was left of the building next door. I felt a quick surge of satisfaction, knowing that even though the building was gone, no lives had been lost.

  I pushed all thoughts of work and its dangers from my mind, as only someone with experience could do. I hopped from the truck and made my way to Allie with a smile on my face. I didn’t let my emotions rule me, never let them take control of my actions, which was why I was still a little perplexed over my decision to ask her out.

  But it was the first time I had seen her in the bright light of day, and she took my breath away, everything else fading into the background. She wore a pale-spring-green dress that clung to her curves and made her blue eyes intensely bright.

  I was glad she had left her hair mostly down, with the top half of it pulled back from her face. She smiled at me when I continued to stare, making me feel as if I should have brought her flowers or something.

  Damn, she was sexy and just the right size for me to toss about easily in bed. I had a quick vision of those legs over my shoulders as I lowered my face between her thighs…

  Shaking off my naughty thoughts, I was surprised to feel heat climb up my neck under her steady gaze. I took the last few steps and couldn’t resist kissing her cheek. She smelled great, something delicate and flowery, and I sucked in a deep breath.

  “Hi, Allie, you look great,” I told her as I grabbed her hand and led her to the truck.

  “Thank you. How are you, Ryker?” she asked as I opened the passenger door for her.

  If she wanted to play it polite, then I could do that. I helped her into the seat, unable to keep my eyes from the perfect roundness of her ass.

  After closing the door, I jogged around the front and climbed in.

  “I’m good, Allie. How are you? Any lasting effects from the smoke inhalation last night?” I still thought she should have gone to the hospital.

  “No, I’m fine. I wasn’t in there long,” she replied while sneaking glances at me from under her lashes. Her voice had lost the roughness of the previous night.

  I wondered if she remembered seeing me at Eclipse. If she did, I wasn’t entirely sure that would be a good thing.

  It took us mere minutes to drive to the restaurant and I pulled the truck to a halt and turned to face her. I couldn’t get the image of her dashing through that building surrounded in flames out of my head.

  “That was a completely crazy thing to do. You realize you could have died in there, right?”

  “I know,” she replied with a sigh, “I didn’t think about the consequences when I heard Yolanda yelling about her little girl still being in there. Help wasn’t there yet, so I just went. I knew which apartment she was in and it was on the ground level
.” Her voice trailed off at the end and I knew she was reliving it.

  “Hey,” I murmured as I reached for her hand. I knew how terrifying it could be.

  She didn’t pull away from me and slowly lifted her gaze to mine. The thought of her being caught in that burning building had a cold chill running down my back and made my voice come out gruffer than I intended. “Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again.”

  I had seen too much to simply let it go but as I watched her eyes widen I figured I may have crossed the line by being an overbearing asshole and our date might be over before it really started.

  She stared for long seconds then finally smirked at me. “All right, Ryker. Since you asked so nicely, I promise never to run into a burning building again.”

  I chuckled and gave her hand a squeeze before jumping from the truck. I wasn’t sure what to say to her now that she had seen through me so clearly. I was usually pretty good at hiding my emotions. I had been called an unfeeling bastard by more than one woman.

  I jogged around the truck and opened her door and she held her hand out for me to help her down. I bypassed her hand and circled her waist, lifting her to the ground easily.

  Once she had both feet on the pavement, I should have released her. But her blue gaze caught mine and I had the sudden urge to kiss her. Her fingers dug into my forearms and her lips parted.

  Smiling, I grabbed her hand and tugged her into the restaurant. At least she wasn’t completely immune to me.

  I was greeted by name by a young server and shown to the back corner where there were several booths sectioned off with tall greenery, artistically separated from the rest of the large room. We would have plenty of privacy without us being alone.

  I had a feeling that some of our conversation shouldn’t be overheard because I had questions for the woman still holding my hand.

  After we were settled and had ordered the wine and main course, I found myself staring. The brighter light of the hanging lamps overhead lit up her big blue eyes. There were gold-colored highlights in her hair and I itched to get my fingers in it. She was gorgeous.