Freed by Fire (16 page)

I started to back away from him, losing the steadiness of the ground beneath my feet, I kicked my feet and churned water to stay afloat. He swam toward me, with those freaky hot eyes locked on mine. His mouth was pressed into a firm line. He was a shark in the water. And I was a piece of meat.

“
Caid
…” I said, my voice strong and questioning his motives.

“
Emery
.”

“What are you doing, Mr. Burke?”

He grabbed hold of me and spun me in the water. “Look at that,” he said, pointing to the mighty red and burnt orange sun that was slipping beneath the tree line. “That’s not even as beautiful as you.”

I chuckled.
Yeah right
. “Why do you keep telling me that? You don’t have to, you know.”

“Emery Finn,” he whispered, his tongue stroking the shell of my ear. “Someday I will explain things about my life, and you’re damn sure going to tell me why you don’t see yourself the way everyone else does.” His hands slid into my shirt and he palmed my breasts. “But, for now, I’m going to show you how beautiful I think you are…with all those people watching.”

“Umm,” I moaned. “No.”

“Umm,” he mirrored. “Yes.” With that, one hand slipped from my shirt and slid into my shorts. His fingers found what they were looking for and he circled my clit. “That’s my girl, so soft and sweet.”

I leaned my head back and let him touch me. I floated as he stood. He was still able to touch the ground as his frame was well over six foot to my 5’8”.

“I wonder how many times in one day you could come for me…” he groaned, kissing my neck behind my ear. “How many times do you think, Em?”

“Too many,” I whimpered. My fuzzy brain couldn’t even recall how many times today he already had.

He groaned and increased the speed of his fingers, but remained gentle all the while.

Chapter Twelve

Saturday, July 13
— 8:50 pm

“Okay, buddy. Let me talk to Nan now. Love you too, Caleb. Night…Hey, Sandy. No, it’s fine. I’m happy he’s having a good time…Did he? That’s great. I’ll call him in the morning. Okay, bye.” Caid ended his call and unzipped the tent to climb in. “Well, hello, love.”

“Hi,” I said. My ear-to-ear smile was infectious as I watched his turn into a grin.

“What’s with that look?” he asked, zipping the tent back up and sliding down next to me.

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, just you. How’s Caleb?”

Caid smiled. “Good. I guess he got a haircut today. He misses me.”

“You miss him, I can tell.”

Caid kissed me. “I do.”

With our clothing out to dry, I was completely naked. Caid had on a pair of shorts. I put my hand on his warm chest and traced the outline of the cross. “What do the dates mean?”

“Two of my buddies that died.” He held my finger and traced it along the first date. “This one is for Andy. He died when he got trapped in a building that we couldn’t get put out in time.” Caid closed his eyes and moved to the next date. “This is Jesse’s. We responded to a truck fire on the Interstate and he was struck by a passing car.”

“Holy shit, Caid…I’m so sorry.” I held his face. Both of those times that could have been him. He could have died, and his date may have been tattooed on someone else’s body.

“It’s the job. We know what we’re getting in to.” He shrugged.

“Have you always wanted to be a firefighter?”

He shook his head. “Not always. I wanted to be like my dad. He owned hotels in Ireland. Suit and tie, seven days a week.”

Owned? As in, past tense?

“What changed your mind?” I asked. Now I was really wondering.

“My parents sold everything off and moved us to the States. I don’t remember much because they didn’t talk about it around us—I wasn’t even ten years old, but I knew there were bad people back home who were trying to corrupt the name my father made for himself. We got out of there and came here.” Caid’s body tensed. “They found us and set our house on fire about five years later. Leland and I were pulled out by the firefighters. But my mom and dad weren’t.”

“Caid,” I whispered and wrapped my arms around him. “I’m so sorry.”

“At first I was mad…wondering why couldn’t they save them too? But then I grew up and decided to become one. To make sure that no one was ever left behind. Leland chose to deal with things like a true Irishman,” he laughed “by opening a bar and surrounding himself with his friends Jack, Johnny and some others.”

“Your parents would be very proud of you, I’m sure of it.” I kissed his cheek. I wanted to soothe him, even in some small way.

“I don’t know about that, but thank you.”

“What happened to the people that set the fire?”

“Their plane crashed as they left the U.S.” He shrugged. “Karma.” He nuzzled into my body and I instantly felt the heat flow from him and warm me. Even in the thick of the July weather, Caid’s warmth and soft touch was more comforting than any blanket on a cold and frigid night.

We slept, wrapped up like that all night. As the morning sun hit the tent I felt the beads of sweat begin to trickle down my forehead. It was a like a sauna in there and I needed to get out. My sleepy eyes gained their focus and felt for Caid’s body. He was gone.

I tugged on one of the thin sheets and wrapped it around my body. Stepping out in to the morning air felt so good.
I
felt so good. For the first time in a long time, actually. I looked around, but didn’t see him anywhere.

“Caid?” I said, my voice soft. Clearing my throat I called his name once more. Nothing.

“Christ,” I heard his deep voice and turned to see him coming down the path with another paper bag. “You look like a fucking angel.”

I laughed. “Good morning to you too, Mr. Burke.”

He dropped the bag at my feet and took my face into his hands, he leaned in and inhaled my skin. His cheek rubbed against mine. “I like you wrapped up in my sheets.”

I stepped back and waggled my finger. “Oh, no…you need to feed me first. What’s in the bag?”

Caid gaped and laughed. “Looks like the honeymoon’s over…it’s okay, I’ve heard this happens. It’s your clothing. I took them in earlier, to the main building. They have coin laundry.”

“You washed my clothes?”

He shrugged and smiled. “Too much?”

“Yes!” I grabbed his shirt and pulled him into me, he dipped his head and met my lips. “You are way too much. But, thank you. Guess I don’t have to wear this sheet all day, after all.”

“Pity.”

***

Sunday, July 14
– 11:45 am

Caid was down at the lake when I came back from using the bathroom facilities. He sat on the sand with his knees pulled up and his arms wrapped around them. His sunglasses were on, but I could see from his smile that he was watching a man in the water trying to teach his young son how to jump off the floating dock in the lake in a cannon-ball form.

There were bikini-clad girls all over place, but it was like they weren’t even there. It warmed my heart. He loved his son so much.

“Hi,” I said as I sat down beside him. I dug my toes into the sand as I pulled my knees up in the same manner as he did.

“Hi.”

“Have you been here before with Caleb?”

“Yeah, we come every summer.”

“Are you going to bring him back before he starts school this fall?”

“I hope so, maybe next month for his birthday. See that dock right there?” He pointed. “Every year he tells me he’s going to swim out to it and jump off. But, he never does. Instead he runs along the shore and builds sand castles. “
I’m still thinking about it, Dad
” he tells me. I think this year just may be the one where he jumps off.”

“Does he have a fear of the water?” I asked.

“I think it’s the lake. That he can’t see what’s beneath him. We have a pool in our backyard, and he swims in there all the time.”

I smiled. I haven’t seen much of his house. I’d like to see the pool. I’d love to watch Caleb swim in there, and see Caid play and splash around with his son. “Sounds nice.”

“Remember that waitress from Big Boy?”

I elbowed him. “Nope.”

“Me neither.” He laughed. “Well, she said something about a drive-in, and it made me think…I haven’t been to one of those in years. What do you think about leaving early, taking in a movie then having a sleepover at my house tonight? I’ll make you hot chocolate and we can tell ghost stories under the blankets with flashlights.”

“I’ve never had such an offer extended my way. How could I refuse?” I kissed him. It was short, sweet, but powerful enough to knock my wind out of my body. “But, hot chocolate? It’s like, ninety-five degrees.”

“It’s never too hot for hot chocolate.”

“Are there even any drive-in’s around here?”

Caid pulled out his phone. “Yep, I already checked. You have two choices, love. The first is some movie…you won’t like it. The second has explosions and half naked women. I think that’s our best bet.”

“Let me see that, Burke.” I grabbed his phone and looked at the screen that listed the show times. “Well, I can tell you right now that I want to watch the first one.”

Caid gaped. “I thought I was enough man-candy for you. I guess I was wrong.” He reached for his phone but I held it away. “I’m no Channy Taytee.”

“Channing Tatum.” I corrected.
And baby, you are so much more than just man-candy.

“Right. That’s what I said.” Caid laughed and tackled me. His body towered over mine and he dipped down, brushing his nose over mine. “I like explosions and half-naked women. To be more specific, I like this half-naked woman.”

“Okay, I like the second movie, let’s go to that one.”

“Great idea,” Caid said as he nipped my lip with his teeth and pressed his growing erection into me. “I think we may just have an explosion on our hands before we get there though…”

“Caid!” I bucked my hips into him. “You don’t ever get tired of that, do you?”

“Nope.” He frowned. “Why, do you?”

“Not a chance.” I pulled him back down and kissed him as hard and with as much desire as I could. Every kiss was like our first and our last.

“Why do you smell like me?” he asked, his head cocked to one side.

“I used your deodorant.”

“That’s pretty hot, you know.” Caid sat back up and held out his hands to me. I gave him one hand and held his phone in the other. As I stood I swiped the screen from one Google search page to another. I blinked. “Caid…”

“Emery.”

“You Googled me?”

“I may have.”

I didn’t have much room to speak, since I searched him online last week. But, it was a tad surprising to see my author page on his phone. “Well...”

“Well, what? I may or may not have read the free online snippet of your book while you were sleeping.”

“Oh…”

“And, I may or may not have enjoyed what I read. It was possibly very
uplifting
.”

I gaped and tossed him his phone.

Caid tipped my chin up with his finger. His eyes searched mine. “I think there is so much more to you, Emery. There is someone in there that is dying to get out. I can see that in your book…and that was only one chapter.”

“You read the entire chapter?”

“May or may not have, love.”

“It’s fiction.”

“On paper, perhaps,” he said as he trailed his finger down my neck until it reached my heart. “But I think it’s more of a biography because it came from here. You wrote those words. You felt those feelings. Not…what was his name? Ah, yes. Toby.”

I started to blush. I didn’t even have complex conversations like this with the fans of my books. It was as if Caid saw past the paper and ink and saw me sitting at my laptop while I wrote each and every word. He saw me, the author. Not the characters and what I made them endure.

The tent came down in much less time, and everything was packed and put away in the large tote by one-thirty. I walked behind Caid this time, watching his body move as he carried the heavy box. It looked light as a feather in his strong arms.

“Nice view, Burke.” I whistled.

“Yeah, I work out,” he said, in a confident and teasing way.

He probably did too. Then my thoughts traveled to him shirtless again, running or lifting weights. Kickboxing…oh, hot damn. We reached his truck just as my mind started to really go crazy. I was in the gutter
and
digging myself deeper. He hadn’t touched me in
that
way since yesterday, and he hadn’t been inside me since we were in my old bedroom at my mom’s.

I was turning into a fiend. I craved him. I longed for his touch, his tongue and fingers and…oh, God, that cock. Yes, I’ll be blunt. I was a beautiful thing. Large and gloriously perfect. It wasn’t even how good it felt, it was
how
he used it. He had mastered his skill.

***

Sunday, July 14 – 9:57 pm

“Is that everything?” the young kid behind the counter asked.

“Uhhh, nope…” Caid said, perusing the display of candy bars. “This one too.” He placed down a bag of chocolate covered raisins. “That’s all you want, Em?”

“Yep, I’m good.” I took my popcorn, slushie and bag of Swedish Berries and thanked the kid. He nodded quickly then eagerly asked to help the next people in the line—a group of five bubble-gum blowing high school girls who were too busy on their cellphones to pay attention to anything going on around them.

“I bet they’re here for the explosions and half-naked ladies,” Caid teased.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, definitely not for the other movie.”

When we climbed back into Caid’s truck, he lifted the center console and pulled me over to sit beside him. “The movie might be scary. I may need a cuddle buddy.”

“Pfft. Sure, Burke. You’re probably hoping to cop a feel later.” I ripped open the bag of red berries and popped a handful into my mouth.

“I can’t help myself, you just smell so good.” He purred and nuzzled my hair.

Oh, right. The deodorant.

“You’re right. I do smell pretty fantastic.”

As the screen lit up to show the opening credits, I sipped my iced mixture of sugar and red dye and Caid reached to turn the radio up. I glanced up to the screen and saw that the movie wasn’t the one I had expected. It
was
the one with the hunky-dreamboat.
Channy Taytee.

“I thought…”

“You thought what? That what you want to see is out of the question? Hell, Em. I’ll watch a flick full of girl-on-girl with you. If that’s what you’re into…” He smirked and elbowed me playfully. “Is that what you’re into?”