Into the Fire (2 page)

It was too easy to imagine him
touching her all over again. Her body reacted to the imagery, her
nipples tightening as her core pulsed. She pushed away the memory
with real effort, but telling her body to stand down wasn’t so
easy. She took a deep breath and fought to control the impulse to
throw herself into his arms and welcome him home.

“
Nathan Andrews. Color me
surprised.” She was proud her voice didn’t waver. She sounded as
strong and unaffected as she intended. She waved to his uniform
shirt. “Didn’t think I’d ever see you back in Ludington. And
certainly not in uniform.”

He shrugged, his gaze skimming her
body, almost as if he could see beneath the bulky turnouts. Hell,
he’d seen enough in the past, all he had to do was remember. And,
judging by the way his hazel eyes had gone a shade darker, that’s
just what he was doing. “My commitment was over. I wanted to come
back,” he said with a shrug.

Commitment? What in the hell was he
talking about? No, she wouldn’t ask. She didn’t care. Really, she
didn’t. “Well, nice to see you again, but I’ve gotta go log my
report.”

“
Hey,” he said, surprise in
his voice. “Can’t we get some coffee or something, catch
up?”

She pushed down a lancing spear of
anguish at his words and laughed mirthlessly. “So, how did you
think this was gonna play out, champ? We’d have a quickie in the
car, and you’d be the newest stud in the ‘house? Be able to tell
everyone you banged the Ice Queen ... again?”

His eyes sparked with anger. “That’s
beneath both of us, and you know it. Why are you so
mad?”

Charly stepped away, fury almost
blinding her now. “You dare ask me that? After what you did? Stay
the hell away from me, Nathan. I don’t need this ... or
you.”

Whirling on her heel, she strode to
her car, perilously close to hyperventilating. She wouldn’t look
back. She. Would. Not. But she did anyway, and damned if Nathan
didn’t have the most dumbfounded look on his face she’d ever
seen.

Good, served the bastard
right.

Then he was coming after her with his
face set in tight lines and his strides long and fast. His hand
closed on her shoulder, and he spun her around to face
him.

“
What the fuck,
Charly?”

She wasn’t going to cry, though she
felt the painful prick of tears behind her lids. Dammit, she was
stronger than this, stronger than him.

“
Go away, Nate. There’s
nothing more to say. You said it all eight years ago.”

And, he had said it, albeit
without a sound. He’d reduced their time together to nothing more
than idle firehouse gossip and filleted her heart in the process.
Never mind the fact she’d had to be better, faster and harder than
any man she worked with. His loose lips had almost cost her the job
she loved.

The patrol officer made an opportune
appearance, no doubt spurred by the way Nate had manhandled
her.

“
Is everything all right
here, Detective Davis?” The young cop was looking very pointedly at
Nate’s hand, which still held her shoulder possessively, as if he
had a right to touch her.

“
Fine,” she said through her
teeth. “I’m just going to head into the precinct and start the
paperwork.” She shook loose of Nate’s grip and popped the trunk of
her car, shimmying out of her turnouts to the jeans beneath. After
stowing her gear and the evidence case, she liberated her sidearm
from the lockbox and slid the Beretta into the holster at the small
of her back before turning back to the men.

“
Gentlemen,” she nodded
pleasantly, even though her heart was trying to thump right out of
her chest. Stepping into the car, she did the one thing she’d sworn
she’d never do. She fled.

She made it all of two blocks before
the shakes overtook her. Pulling over to the side of the busy
street, she rested her head on the steering wheel and let the tears
flow.

As she did, she and Nate’s last
encounter played through her mind. She couldn’t stop it.

Nathan’s hands bracketed
the leather cuffs enclosing her wrists; his body rested in a full,
deliciously sinful press against her back.

His breath whispered
against her ear. “You asked for this, you know. Every kiss of the
paddle, every stroke of the feather, every brush of my
lips.”

Charly shivered in
response; her body arched involuntarily into him to soak up his
heat, his scent.

He ground his cock into
the crease of her ass. “Didn’t you, Charly?”

“
Yes,” she sighed in
helpless response, her body liquid with need. She’d wanted this for
so very long, but she couldn’t believe they’d waited for their last
night together to act upon their mutual fantasy.

Then he pushed her
forward, bending her over the upholstered hotel room
chair.

He untethered the cuffs
from behind her back and draped her hands over the seat of the
chair, then crouched in front of her and clipped each cuff to the
front leg. He reached up and pushed a stray strand of hair behind
her ear. “Are you sure, Charly? Really sure?”

She smiled in response and
ran her tongue over her lips, tasting the kiss he’d given her at
the door. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my
life.”

He rose with an unholy
look in his eye and left her there for a long moment, before
returning and standing directly behind her. Their choppy breathing
was the only sound in the room.

Charly squirmed in
anticipation. She could probably turn her head, but that would
spoil the game. Then, he took the option away from her, leaning
over her back to fasten a silk blindfold over her eyes. The
sensation of the smooth, sensuous fabric was almost overwhelming in
the sudden darkness. Her other senses took over, teasing her into
an arousal so intense it was almost painful.

She could hear him moving
behind her, rummaging around in the bag of toys he’d brought. With
each sound her anticipation ratcheted higher, until her nipples
were hard pebbles against the chair and her pussy wept. Her thighs
grew wet with cream.

“
I’d gag you, but I want to
hear every little whimper coming out of your luscious mouth.” His
breath was sinful against her ear; his heat, a brand against her
back.

Charly lifted her head. Her body cried
out for release in the here and now, but her mind was no longer
able to process the memories, the feelings, that Nate’s mere
presence had re-exposed in both her body and soul.

God, how was she ever going to deal
with him?

Chapter Two

Nate spun the beer bottle on the
hardwood bar, feeling like a bear with a bad tooth. What the fuck
was up with Charly? When he’d joined the Air Force all those years
ago, it’d been because he wanted to see the world. Charly’d said
she wanted the same; he’d been sure she understood.

They’d originally hooked up in a fire
sciences course, and the heat between them had been instantaneous,
combustible. That had seemed appropriate, considering the line of
work they were studying. At twenty, they both had been randy as
hell and more than ready to follow through on it.

The games they’d played had been
fabulous, the best sex, the best connection he’d ever experienced.
Experimenting with a bit of bondage and light restraints had seemed
daring and had been a complete turn-on for both of them. They both
had made it clear it was a game, but, what a game! It had been so
hot he’d never even been tempted to try it with another woman
because he felt as if he’d be sullying the memory. To be honest,
that memory had sustained him on more than one
deployment.

The feeling of completeness, of having
found the other half to his whole, especially after their last
night together, had scared the living crap out of him ... then. He
was too young for any kind of commitment to a woman, so he’d
followed through on his plans and left Ludington, and Charly,
behind.

Now, she looked at him as if he were
the biggest asshole to ever walk the earth. He knew he deserved
some of her condemnation but certainly not to this extent. He
didn’t regret leaving Michigan; he’d needed to see more, do more,
be more. But he regretted not keeping in touch with Charly. Scared
or not, he should have made the effort.

He thought of the women he’d been with
since, and damned if he could remember one of their faces. There
was only Charly and the memory of her ... beneath him, astride him,
writhing beneath his hands, coming apart as he thrust inside her.
Yeah, his mind only saw Charly. The fact he was totally comfortable
with the concept of grabbing onto her and never letting go told him
he’d grown up a damned sight over the last eight years. Now, he
just had to convince her of it.

“
So you crashed and burned,
eh?” CC settled onto the barstool next to him; the other
firefighter smiled hugely with a bit of craftiness.

“
Guess you could say that.
Never thought she’d give an old friend the cold shoulder, new
nickname or no.”

CC nodded at the bartender, who set a
mug of beer down and wandered away. “Old friend, you say? How
close,” he lifted a suggestive eyebrow, “were you?”

Nate took a swig of his beer. “We went
to school together, hung out a bit. Like I said, we were friends.”
No way in hell he was going to divulge the details of their
relationship, even to another firefighter. Hell, especially to
another firefighter. The ‘house was a gossip incubator, especially
on quiet days when there was nothing to do but wash the rigs and
work around the station.

“
Yeah, well, she’s a
cast-iron bitch now, no doubt about it. Thinks she’s too good for
the likes of us. Even before she went over to the other side. Now
she’s got a shield and piece and thinks she’s fucking untouchable.”
More than bitterness tinged the firefighter’s words; Nate sensed
old, festering anger.

Nate stood and laid a fiver on the
bar, wondering over CC’s tone. “She’s certainly not the girl I
remember. But that was a long time ago.” He wasn’t going to give
the man what the man was obviously dying for ... fresh rumors. “See
you in two days. I’ve been off-shift since this
morning.”

CC clapped him on the shoulder a
little too heartily. “Don’t take it so hard, kid. People change,
and you were probably looking at her through tequila goggles back
then. She’s a tasty bit, just too uppity.”

“
Maybe,” Nate shrugged away
CC’s meaty paw. “Catch you later.” He didn’t know what the hell had
happened to Charly, but he was going to find out.

* * * *

Charly poured a glass of wine and
looked mournfully at the Chardonnay. She’d like nothing better than
to tie one on tonight and wash the memories of Nate Andrews right
out of her head, but she couldn’t. With a serial arsonist on the
loose, she had to keep a sharp mind. Her precinct captain had made
it quite clear she was now officially on call twenty-four/seven.
Period. So, she savored a sip of the only glass of wine she’d allow
herself, because she was a professional, dammit, and stared out the
window of her bungalow’s little kitchen.

Disturbed’s 
Inside the
Fire
 pounded out of the speakers in
the living room. The anger and despair in the lead singer’s voice
fit her mood right now. She closed her eyes and soaked up the power
of the music and the taste of the wine.

She’d sworn, after her little crying
jag, that she wouldn’t go there again, but as soon as her eyes
closed, she was transported through time. She and Nate had bonded
over beers, laughing about the uncensored lingo they’d heard in
their ride-along earlier in the week. That night, they’d become
more than friends. Their lips had met for the first time. His hands
had sought her breasts; his mouth had ravaged her pussy before he
filled her in one long thrust that made her scream.

The mere memory made her clench in
response, and she lowered her head to the table, thumping it
slowly, almost in time to the bass beat of the song. She had to
stop this, and right now. She had a bad guy to nail down. Her
private life--or lack thereof--took second fiddle to the job, as
always.

“
I don’t remember you liking
this kind of music.” Nate’s voice sent a rush of terror through her
for a scant second before she snapped open her eyes and whirled to
face the man who had once been her best friend.

He saw her fear and backed away with
his hands held high and wide. “I rang the bell; I knocked, the
whole nine yards. Your next-door neighbor said to just come on
in.”

Charly schooled her features into a
blank slate. Yeah, Mrs. Montgomery would have done that, especially
since Nate was still wearing the tee identifying him as a
firefighter.

She swallowed around the lump in her
throat, stood and walked to the stereo, turning down the thumping
bass. With her back still to him, she addressed the matter at
hand.

“
A lot of things have
changed, Nate. My musical taste being one of them. What are you
doing here? I thought I’d made it quite clear I didn’t want to see
you again ... outside of work, of course.”

She knew how he’d found her. As a
member of the department, all he’d had to do was ask. She should
have thought about it earlier, but she’d been an emotional
mess.