Kiss Me Gone (6 page)

Something heavy landed on my shoulder. I turned to look and found it was my rescuer's ungloved hand gripping me. His thumb gave a quick caress along my neck, the intimate gesture and the blue fire burning in his gaze sending a sudden arc of heat straight to my pussy.

Damn. More than just shock, I was losing my mind to feel arousal at a moment like that.

"Her name is Eden Burke, not Abbey, and she's not going to the shelter." His gaze lifted to glare at the man with the clipboard. "She's coming home with me."

My first thought was "hell yes," followed by a quick "what the fuck?" I wasn't some dog he could scoop up and take home, no matter how good looking he might be beneath all that sweaty soot covering his face.

It took a few seconds to realize he had offered a different last name for me. He knew who I was, which meant I knew who he was. I dismissed the idea that it was Dare. The age might have been right, the blue eyes certainly were. But there was no way in hell Mary O'Donnell would let her son follow in his father's footsteps despite his plans to do so. And, really, could the cold, seemingly indifferent universe be so cruel as to have Dare O'Donnell rescue me from a burning building?

The last time I had looked into his blue gaze, it had been filled with accusations and anger -- anger directed not at his cheating father or my slutty mother but at me.

Mr. Clipboard dropped his pen. The older man's mouth shaped words as he bent down to pick it up but no actual sound came out. Upright again, he tilted his head, started to say something but the firefighter cut him off.

"I said she's coming home with me, Pearson." The hand that gripped my shoulder pulled me closer. "This is Michael Burke's daughter and she isn't going to some damn shelter after nearly dying."

Pearson stuttered then shook his head. "That's highly unorthodox, Sergeant O'Donnell."

Well fuck me running...

I looked once more into those blue eyes. No way in hell it was Frank O'Donnell. It had to be Dare. More than three long years had passed. The grimy coating of smoke and time had changed him. Mostly it was a factor of time and years spent lugging around all that equipment. His body was bigger, his face more sharply contoured around the jaw and cheeks. There was a hardness to him that I didn't recognize.

"You can go help someone else now, Joe." Dare's voice dropped low, a trace of menace and a whole lot of authority edging his words as he nodded in the direction of a small group of people.

The man left, his clipboard clutched to his chest.

With Pearson gone, I turned to Dare. I couldn't even finish getting an awkward "hello" past my lips before he put his hand up, blocking my attempt to speak.

"How in hell can you be in town, living in this junkie-infested dump, without contacting me? And to say you had nowhere to go? What the hell, Eden?"

I tried to dredge up a smile, but I didn't have it in me to do so. I wanted to cry and I still really needed that hug. Breaking into tears, I fell toward Dare and into his arms.

Dare

Seeing the tears start to slide down Eden's cheek, I felt like a total shit. Even then, all I could think was "what if?" What if I had been the one carrying Bailey down the stairs instead of anyone on any of the other fire teams? She would just as likely be dead and I wouldn't even know it. I wanted to yell at her, shake her.

I grabbed her by the shoulders as she started to fall, not sure what I was going to do. A sob tore through her throat.

Don't be an asshole, O'Donnell.

I wrapped my arms around her, smoothed my hand over the back of her damp hair. I couldn't believe I was holding her. Three and a half years had passed since I last touched her. And the last time I had looked at her, I had been blind with fury.

Ignoring my mom's tearful request for me to stay home, I had returned to Eden's house the next morning to find her gone. Expecting she had been as much in the dark as I was about what was going on between Frank and Helen, I had been ready to forgive any knowledge she might have had. Discovering that she and her mother had skipped town in the dark, I had retreated into my own little world for a few weeks as my father moved out of the house and my mother started divorce proceedings.

When I finally pulled my head out of my ass at the end of the month -- all traces of Eden were gone. Her social media accounts were closed. Her email address bounced when I finally opened the three pleading messages she had sent me, claiming ignorance about the affair. The one thing she hadn't told me in those emails was where she had gone. The last one promised to tell me if only I would answer her. Helen didn't want anyone to know, but if she knew she could trust me, if I was still her friend, she would give me the address.

If I was still her friend...

I had proved a lousy friend and that had cost me more than three years. I stroked her wet hair again. It had darken since I'd last seen her, or maybe the light just made it look that way. I'd know in the morning -- if I could convince her to come home with me.

"It's okay," I said softly, my throat too tight from the danger she had just escaped to speak any louder without barking at her. "I'm sorry I yelled."

She sniffled¸ trying to pull it together and be tough, but I knew better. She'd always been a hard shell with a soft center. A tomboy who would squeal with delight when she would open one of Michael's gifts to find a stuffed bear even though she was already a junior in high school.

I rubbed my palm along her upper back in an attempt to stop her shaking. "How about I save the lecture for tomorrow?"

Burying her face against my chest, Eden nodded and I hugged her tighter. The rest of my engine team had finished putting the gear back on the truck and were stopping to stare at us. Cam, in particular, had pulled a knowing face. I shot him a look that told him to get his dumb ass back to work because he didn't know shit.

"Wait here." I sat Eden down on the bumper of the hose truck. "I'll get us a ride."

It took two minutes to find someone from the station house who would bring me my truck and another fifteen for him to arrive. After that, I folded her into the passenger seat and stripped off my turnouts so I could drive her to my house.

Closing in on two a.m., the streets were empty. With no traffic, it was about half an hour's travel to my single-story ranch. The drive passed mostly in silence. I didn't trust myself not to lecture her if I asked any of the questions racing through my head. She didn't seem inclined to volunteer any information either -- likely for the same reason.

I had bought the house about a year after my parents divorced, around the time my mom started dating my current station chief. Even though I had more or less stopped searching for Eden, I made sure my phone was publicly listed. Since my name hadn't changed, like hers might have, and I lived in the same town in which she had last seen me, there was no excuse for her not being able to find me.

That meant she had made the conscious decision not to seek me out.

The thought was almost enough to make me forget my promise to save the lecture for the morning as I pulled into the garage and killed the engine. She should have let me know she was in town. She sure as hell shouldn't have been living out of that damn hotel in Pole Town with its infestation of rats and the worst citizens any city had to offer.

Pulling the key from the ignition, I glanced at Eden. She hadn't made a single noise for the
last ten minutes and it was clear why -- she was sound asleep. Adrenaline fatigue. Once I woke her and the night's events came rushing back, she'd get another spike of the chemical.

I postponed awakening her, of forcing her back into that shaky physical state.

Waiting, I watched.
The garage light had come on, softly illuminating her lower body. One knee and part of her pale thigh peeked from between the blanket's edges. I struggled to suppress the memory of seeing her as the sheets had dropped.

It was a hard memory to bury. It wouldn't stay down no matter how much I tried. I pictured the athletic legs, creamy white thighs, and the red silk covering her pussy. That I had failed her as a friend after Michael's death didn't stop the sudden desire I had to pull back the blanket and touch her, caressing the bare skin of her legs before cupping her mound, my fingers working to turn her inner folds moist.

I clenched my hand into a fist in search of the barest control. I couldn't trust myself to wake her with a touch, so I continued waiting -- continued looking at her with a hungry need.

She shifted in her sleep, one edge of the blanket slipping, exposing her full thigh. Instantly, I was hard all over again and there was nothing I could do to stop the groan as it clawed its way up my throat. She moved. I quickly turned away, coughing as I opened the door and the dome light came on. She made a little gurgle of protest at the sudden brightness within the truck's interior and then came more awake. Wrapping the blanket tight around her, the effort impeded by the fist she had kept closed all this time, she got out of the truck and followed after me.

Despite my curiosity over the item she clutched, I said nothing. People saved crazy things from fires. Kids kicked and screamed as a favorite stuffed animal was left in the smoky bed they had been plucked from. The weirdest thing I could remember someone rescuing was an old map. I thought the seventy year old man must have been a treasure hunter. Instead, the well-folded paper was a memento. He had walked the trails marked on it with his father when he was twelve during the last summer his father was alive.

Unlocking the side door into the house, I turned on the kitchen light and ushered Eden inside, keeping my back to her while I willed my hard-on to subside. "Hungry or thirsty?"

"No."

The shy, soft voice told me she was likely lying. I would let her have her lies tonight.

I pulled a clean glass from the dishwasher and filled it with orange juice. "Well, if you want anything later, help yourself to whatever strikes your fancy."

I gulped down the juice, hoping she was too tired to have heard the want that coated my voice. Still unable to turn to her, I awkwardly led her into the living room and down the hall. The house was in the same subdivision she had lived in as Michael's stepdaughter. Each of the small ranches were exactly the same and she stopped in front of the guest bedroom, her hand reaching through the blanket's edges for the handle.

"You'll be in my bed," I said. She looked up, the blood draining from her face before I hastily explained. "I converted the extra bedroom to a home gym. I'll sleep on the sofa."

Color slowly returned to her face, the cheeks flushing slightly. I led Eden the rest of the way to the master bedroom. I entered first and pointed at the open door to the master bath.

"Should be plenty of shampoo and body wash to remove the soot before you hit the sack," I said, turning next to my closet. "And I changed the sheets before I left for work."

From the closet, I pulled out a big, black garbage bag that was half full of women's clothing. I dumped its contents onto the bed before sheepishly offering an explanation. "Old girlfriend. She never came back to collect it and I haven't gotten around to dropping it off at the shelter."

That wasn't exactly the truth. More than one woman had passed through my home for a few weeks or days at a time. I had fucked them silly then sent them on their way, not one of them capable of sparking a deeper interest in me. After each one left, I found myself on the Internet looking for some clue as to where Eden might have gone. I searched every open nursing registry online for licenses issued to women with the first name of "Helen." I tried image searches in which I uploaded pictures of Eden, Michael or her mother, hoping either mother or daughter had posted the same image elsewhere.

A few more days would pass and then I would be on to the next girl to warm my bed. My only defense as a man whore was that I was honest with the ladies. They all knew I wasn't looking for anything permanent. And they all thought they could change my mind.

Moving to the nightstand, Eden placed face down whatever she had clutched in her hand all through the fire and drive home. She turned to catch me looking curiously at the item.

"It's the only picture I still have of Michael."

I nodded my understanding. She had always been a sweet, sentimental girl who loved her daddy. It didn't surprise me that she had thought to find and rescue the photo instead of her wallet.

Passing in front of me, Eden lowered the blanket and tucked it like an oversized skirt around her waist. The t-shirt she had on was white and I could see the darker circle of her nipples. They were still achingly hard. I looked back to the pile of clothes to see her pulling out a
Hello Kitty
tee and pink sweatpants with
HAWT
boldly emblazoned along the butt.

She quirked an eyebrow at me. "Old girlfriend?"

"Ex-girlfriend," I amended. I mostly dated women my age. There had been one cougar, a woman stuck somewhere between my age and my mother's. I had foolishly assumed she was only looking for a boy toy. But that particular lady had taken all her clothes with her when she left -- and a pound or two of my flesh.

A smart-alecky grin I knew all too well surfaced across Eden's beautiful face. "You rescue her from a fire, too?"

That had been the case with my cougar, but Eden didn't need to know. I scowled at her, ignoring the question. "Try to get some sleep. I have tomorrow off and we'll go to the mall, get you something that fits and--"

She shook her head at me. "I don't have any money."

"Little girl, you don't need money."

Realizing I shouldn't have called her that, I shut my trap. She'd been on her own for who knew how long, surviving as best she could. She didn't need me to use a patronizing nickname from a past in which she really had been a little girl. I lost the right to pet names when I stormed away from her drive that night three years ago then buried myself in a hole until she was out of reach.

She gave me another shake of her head, more emphatic than the first. "I don't know when I would be able to pay you back. I don't have a job--"

I raised a hand, stopping her. She had forgotten how things worked in her stepfather's world, how we all took care of one another at the station. Not just those on the job but their families, too. I was going to have to remind her.

"What makes you think I'd let you pay me back? Your dad was family, you were..." I stopped as another wave of failure clawed at my gut. "Just...don't worry about paying me back. If you can one day, then good, if not, that's fine, too."

I raised both brows and gave her a hard stare to let her know I meant everything I had just said. I had failed her in the past, but Eden was here now, with me. Whatever she needed, I'd give it to her. "Is that clear?"

She answered with a short nod, her gaze not quite meeting mine. Whether that meant she wouldn't protest the new clothes in the morning or was too damned tired to argue about it didn't matter. We'd cross that bridge later. Right then, she clearly needed sleep. She was swaying lightly and I didn't think her legs would hold up much longer.

I took a step forward, ready to plant a kiss on her forehead like I had sometimes done in the past. Then I realized she probably wouldn't welcome the gesture. She hadn't come looking for me even though she was living in the same city. If the fire hadn't happened or someone else had pulled her from the building, she would have been gone before I ever found out she had ghosted through town.

I put my hand on her shoulder and gave a little squeeze. "Sleep tight, Eden."

I turned to leave but she called me back with the soft whisper of my name.

"Dare..."

I looked, saw the tears in her eyes and rushed back to draw her trembling body into my arms. "What's wrong?"

She clutched the fabric of my shirt and buried her face against my chest. "Thank you...for saving my life...for bringing me here."

I hugged her tighter, kissed the crown of her head, stroked her hair until she stopped shaking. I wanted to do a hell of a lot more, but I didn't have the right and the timing couldn't be worse. Not even two hours ago she had been seconds from being burned alive.

"You're safe now. Just try to get some sleep, okay?"

She nodded and slowly withdrew from my embrace. I felt the absence like a hard punch in the gut. Wanting to pull her back to me, I forced myself to take that first step toward the door and to keep on walking until I was in the living room grabbing a pillow and blanket from the coat closet.

The sofa was a pullout and I fumbled with getting it open. My hands shook. My heart thumped heavily in my chest. A thin film of perspiration covered my forehead and chest. I flopped onto the mattress and unfurled the blanket across me.

I knew an adrenaline high when I was locked in one. It was all part of the job and I had started fighting fires at eighteen as part of the auxiliary volunteers. I had three full years on the force, my dedication and focus bringing me to the rank of sergeant faster than any other man in the city had earned it.