Backdraft (14 page)

She dropped her head into the circle of her arms. “I’m afraid of losing you again.”

He reached out to stroke her hair. “That’s never going to happen. I love you, I’m not going anywhere.”

Looking up, she said, “You run into burning buildings, Dave. That could cost you your life one day.”

“This is about my job?” He felt as though he was suddenly free-falling off the edge of a cliff. His job was his life, it’s who he was. Was she asking him to give that up? Could he? No, not even for her.

“You’re in a high-risk profession. People die in your line of work every day,” she said, looking up at him. “You could be next.”

He rubbed his eyes, trying to find the words to put her mind at ease. “Honey, one of us could get hit by a bus crossing the street tomorrow. We can’t live our lives in fear of something that might never happen.”

“But what if it did?” she whispered, a tear slipping down her cheek. “What if it did and we had a couple of kids, like you said? What if they had to grow up without a daddy because you rushed a burning building to save someone else’s life?”

He tried to process her words. She was right; he wouldn’t hesitate to put his life at risk tomorrow if he needed to. It came with the territory. Of course, he’d never had anyone depending on him to make it home before. Having a wife and kids would change everything. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” he said quietly. “Am I supposed to promise you that I won’t put my life at risk? I can’t do that, babe. That’s my job, you know that.”

“I know,” she said softly. “And I’m proud of you for doing what you do, Dave. I am; I’m just scared, too.”

He leaned forward, pulling her into his arms. He wished he could say or do something to ease her fear, but he couldn’t. Her fear was legitimate, and he wouldn’t pretend it wasn’t. “I love what I do, hon. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life.”

“I know,” she said, burying her face in the crook of his neck. “And I wouldn’t ask you to, but I just need a little more time to get used to all of this, okay?”

“You need time?” he said, tipping her chin. “What does that mean? How much time are we talking about here?”

Smiling and sniffling in unison, she said, “You’re the most impatient man I’ve ever met.”

“When it comes to something I want this much, you’re damn right I’m impatient.” He wouldn’t apologize for that. He intended to be relentless about her, pulling out all the stops until he convinced her to face her fears and take that long walk down the aisle with him.

“I just want to ease into this, see where we are a year from now.”

He felt like she’d just drop-kicked him in the gut with six-inch stilettos. “A year? You expect me to wait a year to make you my wife?”

She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. “A year’s not that long in the big scheme of things. If we’re in a good place then, we can talk about getting married.”

He didn’t want to wait a year; he was ready to talk about it now. Hell, he was ready to quit talking about it and do something about it. “You still want the same things you did back then, baby?” he asked, praying she’d say she did. If she didn’t, then they had bigger problems, because the Maya he knew and loved shared his dreams, his vision for the future.

“You know I do. I want…”

He shifted, pulling her into the protective circle of his arms, he said, “Tell me what you want. I want details.”

She pressed her lips to his forearm. “I want to live in our dream home…”

“Our dream home?”

“The house on Wells.”

He chuckled, relieved that making that dream come true would be easy. “I think that could be arranged, but what about the commute to the hospital?”

“I’ve been thinking it may be time for me to give up emergency medicine,” she said, quietly. “I’ve always planned to be a general practitioner. I could set up a practice in Brant, or maybe even take over for old Doc Murphy. He’s got to be getting ready to pack it in, right?”

“Yeah, he mentions retiring every time I see him. He and the missus want to spend more time at their place in Florida.”

Squeezing his arm, she said, “See, it’d be perfect.”

After kissing the top of her head, he asked, “You sure that’s what you want, sweetheart?” He couldn’t stand the thought of her sacrificing her career for him.

“It is. I’ve been thinking about making the change for a long time. Besides, working with Chris might be a little awkward now.”

He knew he was too possessive to be comfortable with her working with a man who was in love with her, someone she’d slept with. “Okay, so what else? You’d want to live in the house on Wells, work as a G.P. in Brant…” Just one thing was missing from the perfect picture she was painting, and for him, that one was a deal breaker.

Tipping her head back to look at him, she said, “You know how much I want kids. I’ve always wanted a family.”

He released the breath he’d been holding. “Ten years is a long time; people change. I wasn’t sure you still wanted the same things out of life.”

She turned to face him. “What about you? What do you want?”

“You.”

Smiling, she rolled her eyes. “Aside from me.”

“I want you, a couple of kids, and a couple of dogs. I want to coach little league, take over for my father as chief.” He shrugged. “I want a simple life with the woman I love by my side.”

She framed his face with her hands, kissing his lips. “That sounds like the perfect life to me.”

“Really? You’re sure?” he asked, needing to be certain they were still on the same path.

“Of course I’m sure.” She sat up on her knees, facing him. “I know this won’t be easy, relationships are hard work, but I think it’ll be worth it, don’t you?”

“Definitely.” He’d never wanted anything more.

Dipping her head, she said, “There’s just one other thing.”

“Hey,” he said, tipping her chin. “What is it? You can talk to me about anything, you know that.”

She sighed. “I know what you and Craig have been into lately, the threesomes, and…”

He touched his fingertip to her lips to silence her. He didn’t want to think, much less talk, about having sex with other women while he was with her. “That’s in the past. I think we need to agree, moving forward, to leave the past where it belongs, don’t you?”

Gripping his hand, she said, “I want that, more than anything, but how do I know I’ll be enough?”

“What’re you talking about? How can you even ask me that?”

She closed her eyes. “Craig told me that you’ve been with two women at once before, and that you’ve had a pretty active sex life for years…”

He was pissed that she was talking to Craig, her former lover, his best friend, about sex. He was even more pissed that Craig had the audacity to tell her about his kinky sexual escapades. “You’re the only woman I’ll ever need,” he said, quietly. “You don’t ever have to worry about that, sweetheart. From this day forward, I have no interest in taking other women to bed.”

She ran her hand up and down his biceps. “I want to be everything you need. If there’s something you want to do, or try…”

He groaned, pulling her into his lap. Talking about sex made him think about it, and all of the things he was dying to do to her, starting now. After pulling her shirt over her head, he placed wet kisses over the swell of her full, round mounds. He pressed the snap on the front of her bra, dipping his head to swirl his tongue around her tight nipple. “God, there’s so much I want to do to you, I don’t even know where to start.” With a wicked gleam in his eye, he asked, “You still like hot fudge sundaes, baby?”

Frowning, she said, “Yeah, why?”

Oh, this was going to be so good. “Take your clothes off and lay on the bed for me. I’ll be right back.”

Getting up, she asked, “Where are you going?”

Cupping her cheek in his hand, he kissed her. “Just relax, and trust me, okay?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Chapter Ten

When Dave finally returned, Maya was laying in the middle of the bed, naked, as he demanded. “Now what?” she asked, trying to see the items tucked away behind his back.

“Patience is a virtue, baby.” He walked backwards into the adjoining bathroom.

She heard the clatter of what sounded like tins or bottles being set on the granite countertop. “What the hell are you doing, Briar?”

He stood in the doorway with his hand braced on the frame, looking too damn good without a shirt to hide all those rippling muscles. “I decided turnabout is fair play, sweetness.” He started opening her dresser drawers one at a time. “This should do the trick,” he said, pulling out several silk scarves.

“What are you going to do with those?” she asked, shifting back on the bed as he walked toward her.

He laughed. “Since you tied me up and blindfolded me, I thought it’s only fair if I return the favor.”

“What?” She scooted back, squealing when he grabbed her ankle and pulled her half-way down the mattress.

“Don’t even try to pretend you’re not going to love every second of this, sweetheart.”

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and she was getting moist already. “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.”

With a wicked grin, he said, “A virgin? You know how much I love that.”

She tried to kick him as he was fastening her second ankle to the bedpost, but he was too fast. “Tell me what you put in the bathroom.”

“Uh uh, you’re going to have to guess. If you guess right, you’ll get a reward. If you guess wrong, I’ll have to punish you.”

Grinding her hips into the mattress, she could feel the juice trickling into the folds of her pussy. “What kind of punishment did you have in mind?”

He pulled his belt through the loops on his jeans. Snapping it between his hands, he said, “This should do the trick.”

She gasped. “You can’t be serious?” But she realized her weeping pussy was praying that he was serious.

“I’m dead serious. I’d take pleasure in making that sweet, round ass all pink and hot.” He reached for the front of his jeans, unfastening them and letting them fall to the ground.

She could see the outline of his engorged cock through his tight, black boxer briefs, and just the sight of it made her lick her lips.

He laughed. “Don’t worry. I intend to make sure you put that sweet mouth to work on my cock later.” He walked to the head of the bed and fastened one wrist, then the other, to the bedpost. Straddling her waist, he tied the silk scarf securely around her eyes. “How’s that? You okay?”

Her biggest problem at the moment was her desperation to come. She could feel it in every nerve ending. Her clit was already throbbing in anticipation of what was to come, and she couldn’t wait to feel his mouth, hands, and cock everywhere… at once. “I need you.”

He leaned over, whispering in her ear. “And you’re going to have me, all of me, soon enough.”

She felt him slide back and off the bed. Holding her breath, she waited for him to return, having no idea what to expect.

“You ready for this?” he asked, his voice deep and husky.

She shuddered. “Yes.” She couldn’t remember a time when she was more ready.

She bucked against her restraints when she felt something hot strike her nipple. Her first impulse was to try and escape, but when the warmth spread all over torso, she tried to spread her legs wider.

He spread her pussy lips wide, drizzling the warm substance all over her clit.

She moaned, thrashing her head as she felt it seeping inside of her. “Oh God, what is that? It feels amazing.”

Chuckling, he said, “It’s only going to get better, trust me.”

She jumped when she heard the snap of the belt.

“Okay, it’s time for you to tell me what it is. You only get one guess. If you’re right, I’ll reward you, but if you’re wrong, you have to endure your punishment like a good girl. Agreed?”

She had never been so turned on in her life. Her body was tense and quivering, her pulse was pounding, and her pussy was dripping wet. Her mind raced, trying to imagine what the substance might be. He’d gone downstairs, probably into the kitchen. Chocolate sauce, honey,

syrup? It felt thick and gooey on her skin, sticky even. It was hot, which meant he’d heated in the microwave. She also had caramel sauce down there for dipping her apples, or rum for her…

He snapped the belt hard. “You have three seconds to tell me what it is. One, two…”

“Chocolate sauce,” she blurted, praying she was right. She didn’t know what kind of reward he had in store, but she had no doubt she would enjoy every second of it.

“That’s my girl.”

She heard the heavy belt buckle clatter against the floor as he let the leather strap fall out of his hands. Holding her breath, she was afraid to move. She lay there waiting, wishing he would put her out of her misery.

“Now that you’ve guessed correctly, I’m going to lick it all off.”

She shivered, imagining how much effort it would take to get the sticky substance off her bare pussy.