Under His Command (Six-Alarm Sexy) (19 page)

Rickie patted his thigh. “You’ve been quiet since we visited the Arizona Memorial.”

He shot her a small smile and covered her hand with one of his own. He didn’t want to put a damper on their day, but their sightseeing had affected him more than he’d have thought it would. “I was just thinking about my grandfather’s brother, Great Uncle Joe, and his wife Charlie. Did I ever tell you she was here, at Hickam Field, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor?”

Her expression somber, Rickie shook her head. “No. Your father told me Joe lost his eye in the Doolittle Raid, but I didn’t realize that Joe’s wife had been military too.”

“She wasn’t. Not exactly. She was a flight instructor, and her first husband an officer on the Arizona. She was in the air when the attack began.”

“Oh my God.”

“It wasn’t until it was all over that she found out her husband wasn’t one of the survivors.” At Rickie’s harsh inhale, he shot her a reassuring glance and squeezed her hand.

“Charlie must have been devastated,” she said, emotion thickening her voice.

“She was, but a year later, she met Joe in Texas where she was working with the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron.” He shrugged. “Life goes on, you know?”

Rickie’s only response was to turn away and stare out the window.

Smooth move, asshole
. Jamie wanted to kick himself. Of course, she’d feel a kinship with Charlie. She was probably seeing herself in Charlie’s shoes right now—a young widow, trying to move on and make a life for herself. Shit. Just the thought of Rickie loving another man, of his daughter calling that man “Daddy” made him want to puke.

They drove in silence up Veterans Memorial Freeway until they reached Kamehameha Highway. They hit the coast as the sky was beginning to darken. Needing to salvage the day, Jamie pulled the Mustang off the road and parked.

“What are we doing here?” Rickie asked.

“Let’s go watch the sunset on the beach.”

A smile played on her lips. “End the day like we began it?”

“Seems fitting.” He grabbed a blanket from the backseat and stepped out of the car, waiting for her to join him. They dashed across the two-lane highway and the deserted beach to the water’s edge, laughing like children. Jamie took a moment to lay the blanket out in a dry area, shielded from the road by an outcropping of rocks. Chasing each other, they ran in the wet sand, jumping the waves as they rolled in. Rickie squealed when a bigger wave bore down on her.

Jamie lifted her against his chest and carried her up the beach. Kissing her, he twirled them around until they grew dizzy and tumbled onto the blanket in a giggling, squirming heap.

Tugging the blanket, he rolled Rickie underneath him, wrapping them in a cozy cocoon. As he stared into his wife’s eyes, a deep yearning took root in his heart. He’d do anything to keep her, to keep from losing her again. She was everything to him. He just hoped she’d learn to accept that being a firefighter wasn’t a job to him, it was who he was. If she asked him to quit, he’d do it. It might kill him, but for her, he’d do it.

Love shone in her eyes as she traced the line of his jaw. She bobbed her head up and clamped his bottom lip between her own, sucking gently. His cock hardened and he groaned, nudging against her thigh.

Nipping at his chin, she snaked her hand between their bodies and undid his shorts. He dropped his head down to her neck and suckled the slender column. “You’re playing with fire, Rickie.”

“Good thing I found this long hose, then,” she quipped. Her fingers wrapped around his engorged cock, sliding from the base to the tip, around, and back down. He shuddered and closed his eyes as the world around him blurred. Her hands felt like heaven on him.

Rising up on his elbows, he brushed strands of wind-blown hair off her face. “I love you, Rickie. I’d do anything for you. I hope you know that.”

“I love you too, Jamie.”

Their mouths met in a tangle of lips, teeth and heat-seeking tongues. Jamie poured all his wants, needs, and desires into the kiss, wishing he could make her understand how completely she’d captured him. How completely she owned him. He played the dominant, but she held all the power. She literally had him by the balls.

“Take your pants off,” he whispered, almost feral with his soul-deep need to possess her.

Her wiggling as she struggled to get out of her pants cranked up his appetite. Using her toes, she shoved his shorts and boxers to his ankles, and he kicked them off impatiently. Together they removed her shirt then his. He wanted to feel her against him, skin to skin. With nothing, not even air between them.

Before he could get his arms around her, she set her hands on his chest and closed her teeth over one of his nipples, increasing the pressure until he groaned and arched into her mouth. With her fingers, she traced patterns over his chest, his ribs, his abs. She moved quickly as though she wanted to touch him everywhere at once. Then, in a move worthy of Jackie Chan, she flipped him onto his back and rose above him, intense determination on her face. “My turn,” she said, moving down his body. Her nails trailed fire as she disappeared under the blanket.

Her lips closed over his cock, wet heat enveloping him as she sucked. When the head hit the back of her throat, he went rigid. She’d never taken him this deep before. He burned with the impulse to thrust his hips and fuck her perfect mouth.

Her tongue swirled around the head of his cock, rimming the sensitive underside before dipping into his slit. Losing the tight rein he’d had on his control, he groaned and flexed his hips.

She stopped moving.

Shit. Had he hurt her? Reaching under the blanket, he gripped her shoulders and pulled her up. When her head popped out, she licked her swollen lips and frowned. “Why’d you stop me?”

“You’re making me crazy and I don’t want to hurt you. Ever.”

She tapped his chin. “I was just giving you time to enjoy the moment.”

Pulling her up so she straddled him, he pushed on her ass, impaling her with one powerful swing of his hips. “I’ll enjoy this moment instead,” he said, groaning when her muscles tightened around him.

The pink and orange glow from the setting sun burnished her skin as she moved above him, meeting each push with one of her own. But it wasn’t enough. “Ride me, Rickie. Drive me wild.”

“Yee-haw,” she said, sitting up and setting an increasingly frenzied pace. Hips pumping, breasts swaying, she was more beautiful than ever. She came with her eyes closed, her breasts pushed out and her mouth open on a gasp. The sight of her lost in the ecstasy they’d found together sent him over the edge. With a final hard thrust, he filled her, giving her all that he had.

The world spun by him in a chaotic swirl of colors, sounds, and smells until he stilled, emptied of everything but his love for her.

They lay panting on the beach as the sun sank into the endless ocean. Jamie ran his hand down Rickie’s back and over the curve of her ass, enjoying the way she shivered under his touch. “We should get going,” he said, finally, reluctant to let her go. But with the sun gone, the wind off the water felt cool, and he didn’t want her catching a cold.

After getting dressed and folding the blanket, Rickie grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him to her. Laughing, he went willingly. She hugged him tightly, surprising him. “Hey. Everything okay?” he asked.

“You’ve made me the happiest woman in the world. This is the best honeymoon I could have ever asked for.”

“Worth waiting five years?”

“Oh yes.” She gave him a quick heated kiss. “We weren’t ready for this five years ago. But we’re ready now. I can be the wife you always hoped I’d be.”

He shook his head. “You already are, sweetheart.”

Taking her hand, he led her back to the highway.

The air filled with the screech of tires and the terrified squeals of animals. A sickening thud and deadly silence followed. A cold, empty silence that sent adrenaline coursing through his body. Scenting smoke, he stopped under the lone street lamp and handed Rickie his phone. “Call 911. Ask for the fire department.”

Shock on her face, Rickie took his phone and nodded. Knowing she’d follow his orders, he took off in the direction of the accident. In the dark, he couldn’t see it yet, but he could smell it. A few yards away, the odor intensified and he knew he was close. The road turned a little and just around the bend on the eastern side, he saw the red glow of fire. Jogging across the highway, he recognized the remains of two wild pigs. The driver had probably swerved to avoid them but was too late, and the car had rolled on impact. Hitting the two large animals, weighing around two to three hundred pounds each, would have been like hitting a barrier.

He approached the old overturned sedan, assessing the situation. Two passengers. Male driver. Child in the back. At least the boy was in a car seat. Jamie opened the driver’s door. “Hello.”

The man’s eyes opened and stared at him blankly. “Sir,” Jamie said, filling his voice with authority.

The man blinked and understanding flashed in his eyes. “My son. Please help my son.”

Looking up, Jamie noted the man’s legs were trapped between the dashboard and the seat. Smoke was filling the interior of the car and he could smell gasoline. He didn’t have much time. He unbuckled the belt holding the car seat. If the kid had any injuries, he’d be better off remaining in it.

With the car seat clasped against his chest, Jamie jogged back to where he’d left Rickie. Her eyes grew round as she spotted the bundle in his arms. “Is he—”

“He’s alive. I don’t know what his injuries are, so leave him strapped in. I have to go back for the father.”

When he turned to leave, she grabbed his arm. “The fire department said they’d be here in ten minutes.”

“Fuck.” He blew out a breath. “I can’t wait that long. The car’s about to explode.”

She gasped and her fingernails dug into his arm. Tears filled her eyes and her bottom lip trembled. “No! Jamie, it’s too dangerous.”

Cupping her face, he swiped his thumb through the wetness on her cheeks. “Sweetheart, if it were me trapped in the car, you’d want someone to help me, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

“It’s who I am, Rickie.” The child, who couldn’t have been more than a year old, let out a loud wail. “I’ll be fine. But right now, that boy needs you.” After drying her face with her hands, she crouched down beside the car seat and stroked the boy’s hair, murmuring in that soothing way she’d had when Chloe was little.

He ran back to the car. Flames licked out from under the hood and the smoke inside the vehicle had thickened. He had to get the man out now. To his advantage, the car was an old model with manual seat controls instead of electric ones. He braced his feet on the doorframe and engaged the lever with one hand while using his shoulder to push the seat back. It took all his strength to move it a few inches, but it was enough to free the man’s legs. The victim screamed as gravity dragged them down.

“I’ll have you out in a minute, sir.” Eyes stinging, Jamie wiped the sweat from his forehead and maneuvered himself under the upside-down driver, wrapping his arm around the man’s legs. A roar ripped the air as fire burst through the dashboard, melting it. Heat seared his arm.
Shit
. He had to remember he wasn’t wearing bunker gear.

Ignoring the pain, he released the seatbelt and, with a grunt, caught the heavy man across his shoulders in a fireman’s hold. Even though he was hurting the man, Jamie had no choice. Agonized cries blasting his ears, Jamie stumbled away, moving as fast as he could. The screams finally stopped and the man’s body went lax. Thank Christ he’d passed out.

The heat from the fire built, and even from across the road, it seemed to burn his back. He had only seconds to get himself and the man to safety. Spotting a road barrier a short distance ahead, he hurried over and lowered the man behind it. The car exploded, and Jamie dropped to his knees, covering the injured man’s head and chest with his body. A fireball filled the sky, the roar so thunderous it made his ears ring.

Parts of the vehicle crashed to the ground next to him. With a growing sense of unease, Jamie realized how close he was to Rickie and the boy. Had the debris reached the beach where he’d left her?

Surging to his feet, he tossed the still unconscious man over his shoulders and ran. Fear constricted his chest, making him breathless. The acrid smoke of burning tires and metal scorched his eyes and throat. Nothing mattered more than finding Rickie. He’d almost lost her in the earthquake barely two weeks ago. He couldn’t handle this again. Not so soon. Not ever.

His pulse thundering in his ears and his heart pounding against his ribs, he shouted for the one woman who’d ever meant anything to him. The one woman he’d give up his life for. The one woman he couldn’t live without. “Rickie!”

As the night sky filled with fire, Erica continued to stroke the boy’s hair, tears streamed down her cheeks.
Jamie’s okay. He has to be okay
. Panic rolled over her like a weighted blanket, compressing her chest and making it impossible to breathe.

Stop it
!
Stop it now
!