Impulsion: A Station 32 Fire Men Novel (28 page)

She moved against him, let her eyes close when the sensation demanded a soft moan; that was the instant she felt his hot kiss across her chest, when she felt his body edge closer to hers. Her hands moved across his face, caressing him as his lips lavished her flesh
, before sliding down his shoulders, exploring everything she could reach.

That reach became more and more shallow, his lips were easing down her body. She had felt herself building, reaching for the cliff that she had not felt since the last time she was with him, so feeling his fingers vanish from her flesh almost hurt, but that erotic pain was never felt, there wasn’t a chance; his lips on her flesh not only eased that pain but seemed to intensify
it all at once.

That sharp edge, that cliff that she had craved to feel again erupted all at once. She could feel waves of energy bursting off her, heard the sound come from her throat. Her body was numb as he pulled her hips even closer, as his kiss gained power. Her skin began to glisten; she was hot and cold all at once, felt everything, sensed everything, and only wanted more, nearly demanded more.

Slowly, he turned her. She felt his lips meet the base of her back, his fingers sliding within once more. The rhythm of his slow, wet kisses eased up her back. When they reached her neck, she leaned back, pressing her back to his front. For an instant, his hand moved across her body as he dared to rock with her.

That climb, that build, it was burning its way back through Harley, unleashing her. She turned in his arms, claimed his lips while her hands moved down his chest, only to reach for the rim of his jeans and push down. As she took him in her hands, she broke her kiss, just so her gaze could fall to her touch.

Hearing his fast breaths, watching his stomach tense was empowering to Harley. She moved her body with her touch. At first he gave her that control, almost relaxed into it, but then he reached for her hand, rolled her to her back, gently pinning that arm above her head.

Harley caught his stare once more, moved her legs around him. As her hand fluttered down his side, he let go of the arm he had pinned but pulled it between them. Together, holding each other’s stare, they moved their bodies into one.

Harley’s breath hitched. It didn’t hurt, but she could feel her body taking him in, felt how it had to find a way to adjust.

The gaze that Wyatt was raining down
on her seemed to change, almost as if a hint of wonder had surfaced.

Her hands moved to his face, pulled him into a kiss. That was when he moved, moved deep, when whatever kiss she wanted to give him turned into a gasping breath. After that instant, the rhythm filled with unbridled passion took over, a fight for control that they would only surrender to for a moment or two.

When she felt his body tense, felt him slow down as a breath burst from his lips, a gasping smile came to her face. His lips caught hers once more, but he didn’t stop his rock; he pressed a little harder, moved to the side, moved his lips to her neck as his hand found her chest. That was the moment she found the cliff once more, when she felt her body flex around his, waves of energy pulsing their bodies together. His arms grew weak, and he fell gently to her side, pulling her hips with his, not willing to let them part until he had no other choice.

Somewhere in the numbing aftershock of that erotic rush, Wyatt had drifted to sleep, still clinging to Harley. It was like his body had relaxed for the first time in years. He felt a dazing calm that allowed him to sleep like he hadn’t in years.

The sound of the shower woke him. At first he thought it was all a dream, like all the ones he had wished to come true before.

He found Harley in the master bath, standing in the center of the oval tub. At first he just watched. Her eyes were closed as her fingertips lathered that long hair that at times he would swear was pure silk. She had the body of an athlete; long, lean muscles, not a flaw that he could or would acknowledge. So much youth, strength, power.

He couldn’t help
himself as he moved inside that shower, let his hands glide through the soap that was sliding down her body, smiled when he heard her sigh, when he could see her body start to respond to his touch. He was sure he could stare at her for the rest of his life and always find something new to fascinate him.

Seeing the hunger in her eyes as she turned to face him caught him off guard at first. Somehow between before and now, this girl had learned to be an erotic lover. He wanted to tell himself it was just them, that if she had never left this farm this was the sensation he and Harley could have found. He could even swear to himself that just before, just as they became one, there was next to no chance there had been anyone that held her.

Once again, those thoughts faded as her lips moved down his chest, his stomach—as her lips, that kiss, made him forget his own name for a moment. He felt himself building toward a carnal cliff of passion that he wanted to share with her, only her. He pulled her back to his lips, wrapped her legs around him, and sank into her, riding that wave of passion together until he felt her body clasp around him, until he felt an unmistakable vibration of energy wave through her body as a gasp of breath coupled with a moan that was music to his ears burst from her swollen lips.

Out of breath, they had glided to the floor of the tub. Wyatt reached to turn the shower off and stopped the drain. She was now lying just before him. Steam was still coming off the water, and he was gliding the water over her chest, fascinated with each and every rivulet that traced down her body.

Harley never wanted to leave that house, that bathroom, the cage of his arms. A sudden spark of an old fear came to her, one that made her recognize they would have to part. That urged her to plan their next escape, caused her to look up at him. “You have to work today?”

It was past one in the morning when she had gotten into the shower. So much had happened since then; for all she knew, it was nearly dawn, he’d have to leave, and she’d have to go a day before she saw him again.

A laugh came from deep in his chest. “I’m praying for rain. I think the weatherman is on my side,” he said as his fingertips traced her jaw.

“No fire department?”

“Most cases, that’s twenty-four on, forty-eight off.”

She eased to the side just so she could look back at him but still feel his arms and legs around her. “I can remember that night you said you wanted to be a fireman, the way Easton was looking at that fire, Memphis, how Truman had that awe in his eyes.”

A heart-stopping grin spread across Wyatt’s face. “Truman still looks like that if the fire is big enough. He hasn’t been on long, still learning.”

“None of it scares you?”

His glance moved to trace the burn on her cheek, to the mark on her hair line that was healing rapidly, then back to her eyes. “Normally, it’s a rush. Someone needs help, and I want to help them.”

“Easton has really been with you this whole time?”

He didn’t answer at first. He was captivated by the water he was sluicing over her once more. “Always side by side. When we came back, Memphis was not only already on the fire department but kicking ass and taking names. They just made him a lieutenant. Easton and I didn’t even discuss it really. It just seemed to always be the plan. We all found our way to the same house.”

“You see them every
day?” She said with a smile, realizing how perfect that was, those boys were so close, true best friends.

“Most. Sometimes things move around a bit.”

“Fireman, and Ava’s going to be a nurse. She said Trey was trying to be a vet.”

“Trying is a good word. The boy needs to figure out that you have to go to class to get a degree. If he doesn’t turn it around, he’s going to find himself in that apartment with Truman.”

“He’ll figure it out. Sometimes you just need a break from whatever plan you have.”

Wyatt’s smile fell a little, but Harley never saw it; she was tracing his hand with hers.

He had to wonder if he was her break, if she was going to go back to
him
. He wanted to ask, it was killing him not to, but the threat of killing the bliss of this night caused him to hedge his words.

“Harley, the business law student.”

She pursed her lips. “A degree I don’t want to use or care to finish…I even tried to major in lit instead.” She raised her chin a bit. “I was told I needed depth, something that said I could do more than read.”

“What did you want to do? What
do
you want to do?”

She gazed
at the ceiling. “I just want to be…just ‘be.’ I want to ride my horse, take in the senses of the Earth, feel the shifts of the seasons brush across the wind. I don’t want to fit in any world. I want a world of my own. I even taught for a bit at school, watched the scared new riders find their seat. That was the only time I felt grounded at school, or when I would go to whatever barn Danny Boy was at.”

His father was right
. Everything she wanted, he could give her; he knew that. She just had to be brave enough to take it, to take it and not fear leaving her life behind. Even if there wasn’t this Collin guy, the guy that had been with her from the second they parted, he knew Harley would not leave that world behind easily.

She loved her father. They had an odd bond, one where he always seemed to be striving to make her more independent, stronger, and all she wanted was to make him proud. Harley never saw it that way, at least not the way Wyatt was sure her father wanted her to see it
. Instead, Harley did what she could to make him proud, to honor his legacy.

Wyatt could still remember the first conversations he had with the man. Wyatt had just dismounted a horse called Chopper.

“Name seems fitting,” he’d said to Wyatt. “You held on like you know a thing or two about holding on to power. You got a bike, son?”

“Not yet,” Wyatt had said. At the time, Harley had only been at his farm for all of three weeks. He was already in love with her, but they had barely spoken more than a few words. Harley had kept to herself
, though he’d still managed to make her laugh a time or two.

Garrison Tatum looked Wyatt right in the eye as if he heard the unspoken truth in Wyatt’s young fifteen-year-old voice, heard Wyatt say he was going to make Harley his.

Garrison raised his chin a bit. “I was too busy building an empire to have a mid-life crisis, get a Harley of my own…so when my greatest accomplishment took her first breath, I knew the perfect name for her.” He chuckled. “Claire dared to fight me on that name.” He let out a deep breath as his stare moved over the boy Wyatt was. “I found it fitting. Raw power that only a few can understand is within my daughter. I’ve raised my daughter to understand reverence, passion. To never ask for what belongs to her.” Garrison glanced around the farm he was standing on, then back to Wyatt. “I expect you to make sure that no matter what, she feels safe here. That she is taught to not fear a challenge, yet not rush into one without thought. I expect you to be the man I see in your eyes.”

Garrison reached to mess up Wyatt’s sweaty hair, then walked away. His words were lost on Wyatt for a long while. At first he thought Garrison was threatening him, then he thought he was just trying to make him feel like a man, included in the position his parents had agreed to take on. But as he watched Harley ride, watched her try to keep to herself at the farm, he realized that maybe, just maybe Garrison really did want Harley to feel safe and knew Wyatt was the one that could make her feel that way.

You’re safe
. Those two words started their relationship as friends, a friendship that turned into more within a few weeks’ time.

Harley had been thrown by Danny Boy, a hard throw, the kind that knocked the wind out of you, would take you days not to feel. He was the one that caught Danny Boy, led him right back to Harley
—the one that helped her mount again. He held her stare, seeing the fear saturate her expression. “You’re safe. He feels everything. If you feel safe, so does he.”

Those words were enough to get Harley through that ride. They also caused her to come to him as he was putting away all the tack later that day. “How can you read him so easily?” Wyatt smiled a slow, sweet smile. It was the first time she had spoken to him first. He felt like he had won a world medal at that point. The conversation never stopped from then on, and it lingered on more than just horses. He did his best to understand her world then. Even as a boy, it all seemed like bullshit to him.

Say what you mean, mean what you say. That’s all he knew how to do.

When he told Harley that she would always look away, when he demanded to know what scared her, she said her father. She said from the moment she was able to understand age, she feared losing him. Wanted to do whatever she could to be what he needed her to be while he was still here.

Before he could tell her then just to ‘be,’ a crash of thunder shook the house.

“Told you, the weatherman is on my side,” he said, moving his hands around her, then lifting her. The water was turning cold, and the flesh on their hands had begun to shrivel.

He was going to make her some warm coffee and talk about how she could just ‘be,’ what had to happen for her never to leave Willowhaven Farms.