Blazing Hotter (Love Under Fire Book 2) (16 page)

“Oh, god yes. It’s so good, so hot.” A momentary panic went through him and he met her eyes, letting out a disappointed groan. “Shit, wait a minute. I don’t have anything.”

She giggled, hefting him in her hand. “I’d say you have more than enough.”

“No.” He threw his head back into the pillows, trying to relax and calm himself down. “I don’t have a damn condom. We can’t do this.”

“A condom?” She froze, cursing softly under her breath.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll be okay. Just stop touching me.”

“Hell no. I’m not leaving you like that.” She snorted. “And I’m not leaving myself like this. I’m ready for more, and I want you.”

Reaching up, Frankie wrapped his hands around her neck and shoulders, doing his best to massage them before letting his hands slide down to her magnificent boobs, dangling above his head. “I can give you more. Roll back over. I’ll do whatever it takes to show you how desirable you truly are. We don’t have to have sex for me to please you as many times as you need.”

“No, it’ll be okay.” She still didn’t climb off him, the moist heat between her legs against his a testament to how much she wanted him. “I won’t get pregnant, and I swear I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone for a long time, and I know you haven’t. We don’t have to stop this. Do you trust me?”

Right now, all he wanted was for her to ride him. That desire overrode any common sense he might have. He couldn’t stop this—didn’t want to stop it.

Sliding his hand down her hips, Frankie helped guide her into position over the top of his dick. “I trust you more than anything.”

When Cassie slid down his shaft, he joined her with a feeling of coming home. Screwing some chick in the past had never felt like this. This was real, tangible, something more than getting his jollies off.

She rode him hard and fast until they were both in a feverish pitch of lust, about to explode. Frankie took her into his arms, rocking with her movements. Pure pleasure was the only thing coursing through his body after so many years wracked in pain. Kissing Cassie deeply, the tightness became unbearable and unstoppable. Slamming her against him one last time, he rode on a cloud of joy, groaning in pleasure while they crested the wave of passion together.

***

C
assie lay on top of Frankie, struggling to catch her breath as their heavy pants of exhaustion filled the room. That and noise from the TV were the only things to distract her thoughts.

What in the hell just happened? She wasn’t on the pill. What was she thinking? When Frankie said they had to stop, she simply couldn’t force herself to do so. Stopping was the last thing she had wanted. Which was crazy! She didn’t sleep around. Ever. When she did trust someone enough to have sex, she never went bareback! Had she just made the biggest mistake of her life?

She feared once the police caught the killer Frankie’s interest in her would fade. All evening she’d told herself that was fine. All she wanted was this one night of lust, nothing more. Obviously, just like she’d lied about not being able to get pregnant to Frankie, she lied to herself about what she actually wanted.

He was more than a patient and someone she enjoyed spending a few hours a week with. Frankie had become a good friend, someone she liked spending time with and someone she admired. His strength both emotionally and physically amazed her every day. Sure, he might have times when he got down on himself and felt like the struggle wasn’t worth it, but he usually bounced back.

In her time of need, he’d bounced way back, doing things because of her that she never thought he’d do again. If that wasn’t worthy of her admiration, she didn’t know what was.

That didn’t mean his feelings for her were real, however. Cassie was all too aware of the phenomenon of transference—patients with close contact to their doctors sometimes thought they were falling for the doctor. Since becoming a physical therapist, Frankie wasn’t the first patient of hers to think they had feelings for her beyond friendship. The one difference now was that this was the first time she’d developed feelings for a patient. She had set herself up for heartache in a big way.

If Frankie decided what he felt for her was gratitude for helping him get his life back, his feelings for her would level. Cassie feared his true feeling wasn’t love, no matter how she was starting to feel about him.

The oddly smooth skin of Frankie’s scarred hands rubbed against her back, soothing and comforting. If her mind weren’t so busy, she would probably sleep, allowing herself to be comfortable in his arms. It was one thing to know she should pull away and put an end to things before she made them worse, but it was another to be able to do so. Being with him felt right, even if she knew it would only last a short time.

“There’s something I didn’t mention this morning,” he said softly, his warm breath brushing against her shoulder.

“What’s that?” It would be better to be distracted by him than worry about a future she couldn’t change.

His lips rested against her forehead for a brief second and he hugged her more tightly. “You know about the nightmares that I have. The ones where I relive what happened and hear those kids die all over again.”

Cassie struggled to control her immediate sorrow reaction. She hated thinking about what happened to him in that fire. No matter what she had said to try to help Frankie get past it, she knew he would never forgive himself. “Their deaths weren’t your fault.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged beneath her. “The point is, I’m normally afraid to sleep. The nightmares come all the time. Sometimes it isn’t with the kids. Sometimes it’s Laura screaming at me for putting Thayne in danger and she’ll try to kill me with a knife.”

“Laura?” Cassie propped herself up on her hands so she could look into Frankie’s eyes. She’d never made time to talk to her friend to reassure Frankie, but he needed to know Laura didn’t blame him for anything. “She loves you, Frank. She would never want to hurt you. No matter what you’ve convinced yourself of, Laura thinks of you as family and doesn’t blame you for what happened. If Thayne had spotted the kids in that blaze, he would have charged ahead in front of you. Laura knows that. She’s told me about it many, many times. One of these days, you have to let yourself off the hook for that fire. It wasn’t your fault, and you did the best you could to help those kids. Place the responsibility where it really belongs—the men who started that fire.”

A fleeting grin lifted the corners of Frankie’s lips, showing a hint of dimples. His hand rubbed faster against her back, as though he could calm her with a mere touch.

The thing that surprised Cassie was his touch did indeed make her feel better. Something in it told her that Frankie was trying to forgive himself. One day soon, she figured he’d be able to do so.

“I’m happy to know Laura doesn’t blame me,” he said. “I haven’t had the courage to talk to her about things, but it has been a big worry.”

“Well, stop that. She blames the people who are responsible. Plus, she’s glad Thayne can’t go into fires anymore. Being a medic is safer, and it’s the place where Thayne wants to be. In a way, everything worked out great for them.”

“They aren’t the reason I mentioned the dreams, but I’m glad they’re moving on and happy.”

Cassie laid her head back against his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat. “Then why?”

“I didn’t have a nightmare last night. The one time I woke up, you were spooning me from behind. Instead of the panic I normally feel upon waking up, I was comfortable. I actually took your hand and fell right back to sleep.” He kissed the top of her head. “Being with you is better than any anti-anxiety pill they put me on. I trust you. Life is better with you in it.”

Cassie’s heart swelled near to bursting. How could this man be so wonderful after everything he’d gone through? If only she could trust he would still feel the same way in a few days, but she feared the worst. She should put an end to things before she truly fell for Frankie and ended up hurt.

After squeezing him tightly, Cassie rolled off the side of his body and met his dark eyes. No matter what her brain told her she should do, her heart said something entirely different. If one night was all she would get with Frankie, she’d make it worth it. “I know of a great way to stop nightmares, lover. Let’s make you too tired to dream.”

She rubbed her hand up his inner thigh and Frankie’s eyes lit with passion as his midsection came back to life.

“Not only beautiful,” he murmured softly, “smart too.”

F
rankie woke slowly, not coming alert all at once as per usual. A warm feeling of happiness settled over him as he watched the grayish darkness of the room lighten to gold with the rising sun.

Next to him, Cassie had stolen all the covers, bundled against his side with only the ends of her hair peeking from the top of the white comforter.

It was an odd sensation. The side of his body that she laid against was too warm while his naked side bare of all covers felt almost too cold.

Not that he would change anything. Cassie had been a wildcat last night. Quite a surprise, really. He never expected to make love to a woman again, let alone three times in the same night. She was insatiable. No matter how many times he made her tremble and shake as an orgasm raced through her, she was up for more. He’d finally had to beg fatigue before she relented, kissing him deeply and then curling against his side to sleep. He wondered if every day with her would be like this.

By now, the sun was fully up. The cops had to have caught the killer, and he and Cassie could think about the future. Although he’d never expected to plan a future after the fire, that seemed not only possible now but probable. He could move out of the rehab center immediately. If Cassie was okay with it, he’d stay at her place, at least until he found something suitable. He knew one night of passion was too early to expect her to commit to him long term, but that didn’t mean a short-term solution to his living situation couldn’t leave them with plenty of time to have more fun.

Maybe somewhere along the way he could make Cassie fall in love with him. He knew it was a lot to ask of any woman, tying herself down to someone who would never be one-hundred percent healthy. After he went through with the hand amputation, things might actually be a bit easier. He had looked at it from the wrong angle before, assuming the world would end when he lost a limb. Now he knew that wasn’t true. Life went on and less pain would free him up for an even better lifestyle. Plus, amazing things were happening with prosthetics these days. Who knew? Maybe he’d be able to get some sort of bionic arm that would function better than his hand used to.

He smiled at the thought of a bionic arm. Was that even possible? Maybe one that would never fatigue and could please Cassie over and over until she begged him to stop. Yeah, that’d be hot and practical at the same time.

As though his thoughts woke her, Cassie pulled the blanket away from her face. A sweet smile crossed her lips and her wide blue eyes stared at him with as much happiness behind them as Frankie could hope. “Good morning,” she said, scooting up the bed to land a kiss against his mouth. “What are you smiling so big about?”

“Thinking about bionic hands.”

Her eyebrows narrowed. “What? Bionic... I don’t understand.”

Frankie chuckled and pulled her in for another kiss. “Don’t worry about it, beautiful. I’m just happy. Someone made me very, very happy last night.” He kissed her again softly. “Several times.”

Instead of laughing or perhaps trying to start something up again, Cassie looked away, almost seeming guilty.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She shook her head ever so slightly, then finally met his eyes again. “Did we succeed in keeping the dreams away?”

Whatever bothered her, she obviously didn’t want to discuss it. He wouldn’t push. Cassie had been through a lot the past few days. She’d proven how much she wanted to be with him last night, so Frankie wasn’t going to drive himself crazy wondering if it was him she had the problem with.

“The dreams are indeed gone,” he assured her. “All except good ones of repeating last night’s experiences far into the future.”

She shrugged. “We’ll see how far you want to take it.”

Determined not to let her odd behavior bother him, Frankie pushed her against the pillow, shifting his body partially over the top of hers. While stroking the hair at her temple, Frankie leaned in and covered her mouth. He ran his tongue across her lips, satisfied when she let out a soft moan and opened her mouth, her hands running across his back as though they had a mind of their own.

Cassie could try to pretend nothing serious was going on between them all she wanted. Frankie knew the truth. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. Whether it was simple lust right now or something deeper, Frankie was confident it could grow.

Just as he was thinking a morning repeat of their nighttime activities was in order, the phone beside the bed pealed out a loud ring.

Cassie pulled away. “It’s probably Detective Rogers. I hope she caught the asshole doing this.”

Nodding, Frankie rolled over and snagged the phone from its cradle, oddly proud that he could get his hand to curl around the body of it enough to lift it to his ear. “Hello?”

“Mr. Hernandez? This is Rogers.”

“It’s her,” Frankie said softly to Cassie. Into the phone he said, “We’ve been anxious to hear from you. How did things go?”

“Unfortunately, they didn’t.”

Frankie’s heart felt like it sank into the pit of his stomach, all his former happiness draining as though Rogers flushed it down a toilet. “What do you mean?”

“We have a problem.”

***

C
assie paced the floor of the hotel room. What had seemed like a luxurious space just minutes earlier now felt confining, almost as though she waited inside a prison to hear when her execution would happen. “What do you mean he never showed up to the house? I did everything you asked and you can’t even—”

“Calm down,” Detective Rogers ordered, raking a hand across her forehead to brush back unkempt strands of curly black hair. “I’ve been awake for thirty-six hours straight working on this case. Your hostility isn’t helping.”