Flirting With Fire (Hometown Heroes) (29 page)

“You know the
rules.”

* * * *

I stepped into
my room and closed the door behind me, then leaned against it for support. My
heart hammered in my chest. Had I done the right thing, walking away from what
could have turned very steamy, very fast? Oh, how I wanted to run my hands up
and into his dark hair, to pull him into my bed and not resurface for hours.

Yikes, time to
get a grip. I was stronger than this. Than some stupid crush.

I forced my eyes
shut and took long, deep breaths. Tried to think of nonsexual things like
baseball. Doing my taxes. Scrubbing toilets.

Ah, much better.

I made my way
into the large master bathroom, slid the textured glass shower door aside, and
turned the water on high. While that heated up, I turned and brushed my teeth
again. Those were some rather potent onions in our breakfast.

It was probably
best I hadn’t kissed Torrunn—the stench might have killed the poor guy.

With a grin I carefully
stripped out of my clothes, and stepping into the waiting shower. The pulsing,
hot water rained down over me, washing away any remaining remnants from last
night’s alley incident. I hadn’t realized just how much of a mess my body was
until the heat of the shower began to slowly unwrench my neck and back.

I began to ever
so gently lather my hair with shampoo, my kinked neck grouching at me all the
while.
See?
I told myself. Sleeping with Torrunn
had
been bad for
me. Well, if me passing out for an entire night atop his amazing pecs could be
considered sleeping with him.

Sleeping with
him…

I shook my head to
clear that dangerous line of thinking from my mind. Unfortunately, the action
sent soapy water from my hair flying, and of course it landed in both my eyes. I
slid the shower door aside and reached for a towel to relieve the stinging. A
few gentle dabs later, the burn was gone. I blinked a few times, then gasped as
a pair of feet came into view. Naked feet. Connected to slim ankles and sexy
shins.

“Soap in your
eyes?”

Torrunn’s voice
was low, throaty, and far too close for comfort.

“Y-yeah,” I
said, my gaze fixed on his shins. “You do realize you went through the wrong
door, don’t you?”

The sexy shins
moved closer to the shower. I took a step back in a futile attempt to use the glass
door as a shield. Damn it! Where was a good, old-fashioned dark shower curtain to
drape around you when you needed one?

“No, this was
definitely the right door. You wouldn’t want me stepping out into hallway like
this
,
would you?”

I took the bait
hook, line, and sinker. My gaze instinctively shifted upward and a gasp escaped
me as I took in what
this
referred to. All there in plain sight, gloriously
free of all clothing. I sucked in a sharp breath, clamped my eyes shut.

Not that it
mattered—the image was now burned into my mind. My naughty, racing mind.

“No, we can’t
have you roaming the halls like that. You’d probably give Mrs. Smith across the
way a coronary.”

Torrunn chuckled
as he pushed the shower door aside.

“W-what are you
doing?” I squeaked in a panic and tried in vain to cover all my essential parts
as he stepped into the space beside me.

“What I’ve
wanted to do for weeks now.”

Trapped. Nowhere
to run.

And, let’s face
it, absolutely no desire to do so.

My uninvited
shower guest reached out and lifted my bath scrunchie from its perch on the
shower’s side ledge. “Soap?”

I stood there,
hopelessly naked before him, and stared in disbelief. “Borrow my soap? For
weeks that’s what you’ve wanted to do? I would have bought you your own bottle
last night at Walgreens if you’d just thought to ask.”

A devilish grin
tugged at his lips as he reached past me, his hand brushing against my hip on
its way to my bottle of Nivea.

“Thanks, but it’s
not my usual brand,” he said, his mouth now dangerously close to my ear.

I heard the lip
pop open, scrambling my thoughts. What should I do? Scream?

No, I couldn’t
do that. The guy had saved me last night—I didn’t want him going to jail
for…for what? Breaking and entering into my
shower
?

A hand came up
and gently guided me to turn and face away from him. I lowered my hands,
feeling the tiniest bit less self-conscious. I felt him brush the length of my
hair over my shoulder, and then begin drawing lazy circles with the scrunchie upon
my back. A violent shiver raced through me, despite the heat from the shower.

“So.” I cleared
my throat, tried to fill in the awkward silence. “You’ve, uh, been wanting to…scrub
my back for weeks? Is that it?”

“No...” His free
hand came around and gently cupped my left breast. “I’ve been wanting to do
this
for weeks.”

I inhaled
sharply as all thoughts of self-preservation vanished. My eyes rolled back in
my head as his thumb trailed over the tip of my nipple. “Oh,” I breathed as a
new ache obliterated all others.

Logic tried to
push its way back to the forefront of my mind. Should we really be doing this? Yes.
No. Yes. No.

He took a step
closer, and I felt a prod in my back.

No.

“Torrunn, stop.”

His thumb froze
in mid-circle. “Do you really want me to?” he breathed, then nipped at my
earlobe.

I nearly came
unglued. “No. I mean, yes. It’s not right.”

“It feels right
to me,” he said, pressing himself tighter against my back. His thumb resumed
tormenting me, and my knees began to shake. “More than alright.”

The scrunchie came
around to my right breast and started drawing circles of its own. I sucked in a
ragged breath as I leaned back against him, unable to help myself.

“But I…can’t…get
involved…with my clients.”

The scrunchie
left my chest and slid down to the V between my legs. “Consider this me canceling
all future appointments at the spa.”

Any argument I
might have had died in my throat. It was all too much. The want. The need. I
couldn’t think straight, see straight.

“No more rules
in our way now. Liz,” Torrunn breathed as he pulled my hips tighter against his
own. “Do you still want me to stop?”

Unable to
control myself, I reached one hand up and grabbed a fistful of his hair. “Please
don’t.”

He froze for a
moment, misinterpreting my plea. “Don’t?”

I tipped my head
back and nipped at the stubble on his chin, something I’d been dying for weeks
to do. “Don’t…stop.”

The scrunchie
fell to the floor, and his fingers took its place. My knees did give out then.
I would have fallen had he not caught me. Without a word he lifted me up,
turned me to face him, and lowered me slowly back down. Suddenly the piece of
his anatomy that had been poking me in the back was now in a much deeper, more
satisfying location. The cry for help I’d considered making just minutes before
escaped my lips.

But instead of
filled with fear, this one echoed with pure, unadulterated bliss.

CHAPTER
24

I headed down to
Sarah’s around four-thirty, squeaky clean and riddled with guilt. Why hadn’t I
thought to lock the bathroom door? Or ensure that Torrunn had left
before
I headed off toward the bathroom? Now I was in trouble—serious trouble. Like an
addict jonesing for a hit, I’d gotten a taste of Torrunn. Several very thorough
tastes, actually, which had lasted all morning long.

All. Morning.
Long.

Unfortunately,
that made what I needed to do next all that much more painful: I had to end
this—whatever it was happening between us—before it went any farther. It was
the right thing to do, I told myself for the twentieth time as I turned off
U.S. 24 and headed into Autumn Lake. Rip the bandage from my skin now, before
the adhesive had time to set.

We wanted
different things. Had differences, I knew, that couldn’t be reconciled. I
wanted a stable, long-term commitment from a guy dying to be a daddy; he wanted
none of it, for fear of dying himself. Today’s escapades had been nothing more
than desire allowed to get out of control.

Out of
control and completely satisfying.

A sly grin crept
across my lips. Oh, what a day it’d been...

A car horn
honked, and I forced my eyes, and mind, to focus on the road ahead. A
spiky-haired teenager driving something akin to a low-riding roller skate
flipped me off as he passed. Yep, definitely needed to call things off before
someone got hurt.

Well, someone
other than me. That I would get hurt was a given. I’d known that since the moment
we met.

I wove my way
through town and out past my old apartment. Its lights were off, the shades
drawn tight. A tiny wave of homesickness washed over me. Followed by a much
greater desire to turn back around and return to my new home, in my new town.
Even knowing the Torrunn mess I had waiting for me back there. And the fires.
Damn, what was I going to do about the fires? Leave town? Come back here?

No, that didn’t
seem to be the right answer. Yes, Autumn Lake would always hold a special place
in my heart, but that was in the past. It held no draw for me now. In fact, if
it weren’t for Sarah, I wouldn’t have reason to come back at all. Well, her and
Mitch. Though, after the way he’d stormed out this morning, I had serious doubts
that he’d want to see me come back.

I pulled into
Sarah’s driveway and hoped like hell she wouldn’t be as angry at me as he had
been.

“Auntie Liz!”

Sarah’s oldest
two rug rats attacked me before I’d fully made it out of my Prix. Okay, so
Sarah and
her family
were the reason I’d keep coming back, because I
loved them like my own.

“Hi,
sweethearts!” I swept them both up into a huge, awkward hug. “Who’s got kisses
for me?”

“I do! I do!”

Megan and Mason
began pecking sloppy, wet kisses on each of my cheeks. The jarring motion
agitated my headache, which had only been slightly dulled by the three Tylenol
I’d taken an hour before. The stronger meds had worn off not too long after
Torrunn left, which meant I was safe to drive once again. Too bad what I’d
taken most recently wasn’t doing as good a job at killing the pain.

“Careful, kids,”
came a dark voice from behind us. “You don’t know what diseases Auntie Liz
might be carrying these days.”

Mitch stalked by
without a second glance.

“What’s a
diseases?” Mason asked, now straining to put distance between his face and
mine.

“It’s like germs
and stuff, duh,” Megan said, wiggling free from my grip to run away with her
little brother, who’d managed to wiggle free as well.

I smoothed out
my kid-wrinkled shirt, grabbed my purse, then slammed the car door shut. To
hell with Mitch. If he wanted to be an ass tonight, let him. I was here to see
Sarah and her fam. And once that was over, maybe it’d be best if I stayed away from
him and his bad attitude for a period of time.

Like…forever.

Thankfully,
Sarah seemed sincerely happy to see me. She greeted me with a bone-crushing
hug, then dragged me down the hall and into the kitchen where she had what
looked like blueprints sprawled out all over the table.

“What’s all
this?” I asked, leaning down for a closer look.

“Room
additions.”

I looked up and
found Sarah beaming with joy. A smile tugged at my own lips. “Oh?”

“Yeah. This
house fits us great right now, but if the twins are to have their own rooms, we
either need to move or add on. All these are Ron’s ideas. Aren’t they great?”

“They are!” I
skimmed over the sketches, impressed with Ron’s attention to detail. “Oooh, I
like this one.”

Sarah came to
stand beside me, and I couldn’t help but notice her growing baby bump. She’d
always joked that after her first pregnancy, her belly popped back out a little
earlier with every additional kid. Still, she looked amazing. I could only hope
I’d look half as good as she did when I finally started having kids.

If
I ever
started having kids.

“Oooh, that’s my
favorite, too. Turn our room into two smaller ones, then add a new master wing
at the back of the house here.” She pointed to the page, then leaned closer and
lowered her voice. “So, who is he?”

I kept my eyes
on the paper, fully aware that Mitch was somewhere inside and likely within
hearing distance, and whispered back, “Who is who?”

“The guy you
slept with.”

My hands balled
into fists. “Look, I don’t know what Mitch told you, but—”

“You told
Mitch
before you told me?”

“What? No!” I ran
a hand through my hair. “I…it’s complicated.”

Sarah kept her
voice low. “Complicated or not, I know when my best friend’s gotten laid. And
you, darling, are wearing the look of satisfaction like it’s a second skin. Now
dish
.”

“Look, I…”
Footsteps sounded in the hall, growing louder by the second. “Will tell you
more later. So,” I added, my voice back to normal volume as Mitch entered the
room, “when does construction begin?”

“Like you care,”
he muttered and passed behind us.

Sarah planted a
hand on her hip. “Mitch!”

“What? Liz is
all about the
big city
now. She doesn’t care about what goes on around
here anymore.”

“Yep, I guess
you’re right. That’s why I’m
here
. Because I
don’t care
.”

“Okay, you two,”
Sarah cut in, and threw me a desperate look.

Like a
schoolgirl, I made a face and pointed the blame toward Mitch, who was reaching
into the fridge for a beer. Sarah mouthed
play nice
then turned toward
our grouchy conversation intruder.