Everything Bared (Six-Alarm Sexy) (22 page)

Jesus Christ.
The slur sliced through William like metal through skin. Drew hissed in a breath and Chad’s cheeks turned bright red. For the lieutenant to have guessed the word based on a single letter, it wasn’t the first time this had happened, and somehow Hollywood had known when none of Chad’s own brothers had. William wanted to hold his brother, to comfort him, but he knew Chad would welcome a punch in the face more easily right now. After a long silence, Chad looked up at Hollywood, his eyes glistening, his throat working hard. “Like I said, they saved you the trouble.”

Hollywood closed his eyes and sighed before sitting back in the booth. “Believe whatever the fuck you want, man. But when I have something to say to you, I’ll say it to your face.”

William cleared his throat. The tension around the table was choking him. He had no idea why Chad was so angry with the lieutenant, but he needed to hear the rest of the story. “Did the cops catch the guys?”

“Yeah. But they won’t get more than a slap on the wrist. Me, on the other hand, I’ll be lucky if this asshole’s father”—he thrust his thumb toward Hollywood—“doesn’t use this as an excuse to kick me out of the fire service.”

“His
father
?”

Drew clarified. “Deputy Chief Wright is Hollywood’s dad.”

“Like father, like son. The old man hates gays too.”

“My father won’t do anything to you.” Hollywood rubbed his forehead. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Chad narrowed his gaze. “Why would you bother?” William shoved his brother’s shoulder. Why was he being so stubborn?

“You’re Jamie’s brother,” Hollywood said, as though it explained everything. And maybe for him, it did.

“Fine. Whatever.” Chad waved his hand in a shooing gesture, then grinned at William. “Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, how about you tell us why you’re slumming with the peasants tonight. Is Vicenzo’s closed?”

William cuffed him—gently—on the back of the head. “That’s no way to speak to your betters.”

“Something’s up. You never hang out with us.”

“Yeah, well. Maybe I want to change that.”

Drew arched a brow. “And maybe he just needed a favor.”

Chad instantly latched on to that bone. “Oh? Spill.”

“Seems our little Dani kicked his ass. He wanted some pointers.”

A silent message seemed to pass between the three men. As William looked from one stony face to the other, tension coiled in his stomach, mixing in with the already unpleasant heaviness from the beer. “What?” he said when he couldn’t take it anymore.

Drew shook his head. Chad roared with laughter while clutching his ribs, and Hollywood just grinned.

“What?” William demanded again with more force. This right here was why he didn’t hang out with his brothers much. There seemed to be some secret firefighter code he couldn’t crack, and it bugged the shit out of him. He hated feeling like the odd man out.

Hollywood topped off everyone’s beer, then raised his mug. The other two followed suit. “Welcome to the club,” he said to William.

“What club would that be? The I-don’t-know-what-the-fuck-you’re-talking-about club?”

“Nope. The I-got-schooled-by-a-girl club.”

“Wait,” William said, holding up his hand palm out. “You mean she—”

“Yep. At one time or another, she bested each of us.”

Chad nudged him with his knee. “You’ll do better next time.”

William suddenly felt a lot better. He signaled to the waitress to bring more beer and wings. If he was going to go blue collar, he might as well go all the way.

As they joked, ate, and drank, a sense of rightness, almost of belonging, settled in William’s chest. Other than those years when he’d partied with Jamie, and the year Jamie had lived with him during his separation from Erica, William hadn’t hung out much with his brothers. And when had he last spent some one-on-one time with Tori? His baby sister was turning twenty-five this year, and he barely knew her. Things had started to change when he’d gone to university in Jamie’s stead.
He’d
changed. At first he’d been too busy studying. Then it was late nights at the office. If it weren’t for the weekend lunches at his parents’—which he rarely missed—he’d never see his family at all. And why was that?

Had he really become that big of a snob? Or was he too self-absorbed? Neither of those answers felt right. He loved his family, actually enjoyed them. So why had he distanced himself? Whatever the reasons, he planned to change things. Starting right now.

“You guys are coming to the Caldwell Fine Furnishings anniversary party on Saturday, right?”

Drew and Chad exchanged a look. Chad rolled his eyes. “Elbow rubbing isn’t my thing.”

“Did Dad say we have to go?” Drew asked.

“No. I just thought you should know you’re welcome. The company is yours as much as it is mine.”

Hollywood had remained silent during this discussion. He selected a wing and ate it slowly, consideringly. When he was done, he wiped the grease off his lips with the back of his hand. “Dani called me this afternoon,” he said to no one in particular.

Random much?
“Is this a rare occurrence?” William asked, having no idea why Hollywood had brought this up.

“As a matter of fact, it is, which is why I answered her call despite it being my day off.”

Unease stiffened William’s shoulders. Shit, and he’d just been starting to relax. He sensed in his gut where this was going, and he wasn’t at all sure how he felt about Danielle sharing CFF business with her coworker.

“You going to tell us or are you just a tease?” Chad asked, eyes narrowed.

“I don’t tease.”

Chad snorted. Drew elbowed Hollywood. “Then shit or get off the pot.”

The lieutenant stared at William, his expression neutral. “Not my story to tell.”

Ah. So he’d been right. “I had expected her to talk to Jamie, not you. No offense.”

“None taken. She asked me if I could work out some on-site support for you with my father.”

“The deputy chief.”

“That’s the one,” Hollywood said, the corner of his lips jumping up a little.

Seemed he owed Danielle an apology. How many was that now? He’d told her he trusted her. Perhaps it was time he started acting like it.

“Hold up,” Drew said. “On-site support for what?”

“For the day of the CFF party.”

Drew’s face darkened as he glared at his brother. “Is that why you asked us to go? So you could use us to get around the restrictions? That’s fucking low.”
Even for you
was left unsaid, but William heard it loud and clear.

“Of course not!”

Chad seemed confused. “I don’t get it. Why is Dani running around trying to get the deputy chief to okay SFD’s presence at the party? We’ve never done that before.”

“There was an incident today,” William said, his voice laced with frustration and bewilderment.

Chad snorted. “William, here’s how conversations work: Someone asks a question. You answer it with actual substantive content that allows the listener to ask more questions, and so on. Get it?”

William rubbed the pad of his index finger on the rim of the cheap mug. It didn’t make a sound at all. Not that he was surprised, crystal this wasn’t. “An anonymous call was made to the SFD reporting a safety violation at CFF. Danielle came to investigate. We found an emergency exit door that had been chained shut.”

“Sabotage?” Drew asked.

“Maybe. The union negotiations aren’t going well. But we won’t know anything for sure until the investigation is over.”

Chad’s gaze flicked to the lieutenant. “What does this have to do with Hollywood’s dad?”

“You’ve been a paramedic too long,” Drew teased. “Maybe you’ve forgotten the ‘employees only’ rule during safety investigations? While there’s an unresolved health-and-safety violation, only employees can be on-site.”

William had to laugh at Chad’s expression. He looked like a little boy who badly wanted to stick his tongue out at someone. His lids fluttered closed for a moment. After he took a deep, seemingly painful breath, he turned to William. “Count me in, bro. I’ll be there, as a paramedic or not.”

“Me too,” Drew chimed in.

“I’ll get my dad to okay this. I’m not sure who’s on shift that day, but we’ll work something out.”

“Thank you, all of you. The last thing we need are more problems at the party. With you guys there, I’ll feel a lot better.”
And safer.
He’d never admit it to his brothers aloud though. They’d razz him about it until he was on his deathbed.

Drew raised his mug. “To family.”

Chad and William raised theirs as well. “To family.”

William eyed Hollywood, who sat unsmiling, looking like William had felt earlier: left out. He knocked his mug against the lieutenant’s, where it rested on the table. “Come on, man. You’re a part of this too.”

Surprise widened Hollywood’s eyes. He stole a glance at Chad, who hesitated before giving a very brief nod, more a jut of his bruised chin really. But it was enough.

All four men raised their glasses.

“To family.”

As they made the toast, an image of his dark-haired beauty, smiling as she caressed a pregnant belly, took shape in William’s mind. And his heart broke for what he could never have.

Chapter 11

Hot water streamed through her hair and down her back, making Dani sigh with pleasure. The heat relaxed muscles gone tight from her long shift at the station. She’d managed to catch a few hours of sleep before the sun called to her and urged her out of bed. Dipping her head back into the jet, she worked the shampoo through the strands, enjoying the sensation of her fingers on her scalp. When she stepped out of the spray, she heard a noise from the living room. Before the idea had even become a conscious thought, she pushed the sliding door open and let out a loud moan.

“Oh! Oh. So good.” Struggling to keep the laughter from her voice, she smacked the flat of her hand on the tile, again and again. How long was it going to take that damn man to come and join her? She poked her head out the shower door, another moan ripping from her throat, and came face to face with—Jamie.

Shit!

Squealing like a little girl, she spun around, giving him her back, and shut off the water. She reached out and patted the wall where she’d hung her towel. Jamie’s laughter echoed against the tiles as he shoved it into her hand. “Looking for this?”

“Very funny, LJ,” she said, just as the front door slammed. She could feel her eyes grow round. The blood drained from her head.

Jamie smirked and whispered conspiratorially, “Thought you could use a little help.”

“No!” Dani’s stomach plunged to her knees. Whatever idea Jamie had, this wouldn’t end well.

He jerked his head toward the towel she still clutched in her hand. “You might want to cover up.”

Forcing her arms to move, she went to wrap the towel around herself, but her fingers shook and it fell from her hands. She watched, horrified, as it plummeted to the floor in a heap.

“Or not.” Jamie grinned. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the counter as if preparing for a show—or fireworks. Her chest aching from the tension, too tight to draw breath, Dani scrambled out of the shower and crouched to pick up the towel.

Will skidded to a stop in the open doorway. His gaze went from her to his brother, shock and something else passing over his features. Eyes like flint, he asked, “Am I interrupting something here?”

She started to explain the unexplainable. “I know how this looks,”

“Do you?” His lip curled in a snarl. “Do you really?”

Jamie snorted, and when Dani raised her eyes, she realized exactly how this looked: Jamie calmly watching her while she crawled naked on her knees at his feet.
Fuck!

“Get up.” Will’s voice lashed at her like a whip. Her body jerked. Arousal pooled in her belly and seeped between her thighs. With her eyes on his, she gripped the towel and stood, head up, shoulders back.

In her peripheral vision, she saw Jamie nod his approval to his brother, but Will’s eyes were on her. The intensity of his stare heated her, as though he were physically stroking her, caressing her with his large hands.

He crooked his finger. “Come here.”

Panting, she took the few steps that brought her within inches of him. She was naked in front of Will and his brother, her married boss. Why was this exciting her so much? She’d never had a thing for Jamie. It had only ever been Will for her.

As she stopped in front of Will, she took in the flags of color on his cheeks, the sharpness of his features, the heat of his eyes, a blue that burned like dry ice. Her gaze trailed down his body, over the thick muscles of his chest, his flat stomach, the erection tenting his fancy dress pants. By comparison, Jamie’s eyes were twinkling, his features relaxed, his grin broad. If he was turned on, he was covering it well.

She met Will’s stare. “Are you thinking of sharing me?”

“Would you like that?”

“Fuck no.”

Will nodded and his hunched shoulders relaxed, the tension visibly leaving him. “My room. On the bed. Now.”

She blinked, surprise sending tingles up her spine. When he narrowed his gaze, she jumped and then skipped past him, yelping as he swatted her still damp butt. Her heart pounded with excitement, adrenaline, and pure joy. Did Will realize what had just happened? Did he realize he’d acknowledged their relationship in front of his brother?

Jamie laughed and clapped Will’s shoulder as he walked out of the bathroom. “You can thank me later, bro.”

When the front door clicked shut, Will entered the master bedroom where Dani waited for him as instructed. Anything she might have said stuck in her throat at the sight of him. Tall, broad, and very male.

“Knees,” he barked as he shed his shirt, pants, shoes, and socks. But not his tie. He grabbed a condom from the nightstand and rolled it on. Rising on all fours, she suppressed a shiver as desire curled low in her belly. Her hips undulated in invitation. She could imagine how she looked to him, her ass up in the air, her pussy exposed, open for him. Could he see how wet she was? How desperately she wanted him?