Hot Seduction (4 page)

“Cutting
her
hair would be,” he insisted. And he reached out as if to finger one of the long strands. But he caught himself and pulled his hand back to his side.

Serena's face heated with embarrassment that she and her hair had become the topic of conversation. “What I decide to do about my hair is unimportant,” she said. “Have you learned anything more about the arsonist?”

Hopefully they'd caught him. She couldn't get over how close she had come to losing her home in the last big fire. She gazed around the kitchen at the cabinets she and Mama had stripped and re-stained a rich chocolate color, several shades lighter than the oak floor they'd also refinished. There was no part of the house—structure, contents or residents—that Serena and her mother hadn't cared for.

“Yes,” Fiona chimed in, “do you have any leads yet?”

Wyatt sighed and shook his head.

And Cody clenched his jaw so tightly a muscle twitched in his cheek. They were clearly troubled that they hadn't caught the guy yet.

Serena's nurturing instincts—inherited from Mama—kicked in and she turned toward the refrigerator. “I saved you some dinner,” she said. “There's enough for everyone.” She pulled out the fried chicken and potato salad she'd made earlier.

Fiona groaned. “If I didn't have an appointment to try on wedding gowns, I'd take you up on that offer. But I need to watch what I'm eating.”

“No, you don't,” Wyatt said as his hand slid over the curve of his fiancée's hip. “You're perfect just as you are.”

The envy kicked in again. But she couldn't be jealous of her friend. Fiona deserved her happiness.

Tammy emitted a wistful sigh. “You two make me sick.” It was clear she wanted what they had, too.

Cody was the only one who didn't seem envious. His focus was on the chicken instead. He pulled a leg from the bowl she'd set on the counter. But he looked at her as he bit through the crispy coating. Then he moaned with pleasure.

That moan had her stomach muscles clenching in reaction.

“I can heat it up,” she offered.

He shook his head. “It's perfect just as it is.”

Somehow she didn't think they were talking about the chicken anymore. But before he could clarify, other boarders entered the kitchen. Mr. Stehouwer hobbled into the room with his walker. With a big grin, he greeted all the young people. Stanley bounded in with Annie—both bustling with energy.

She was going to have a time keeping that dog out of the house. But she loved the kitchen being as full of people as it had been when her grandmother had been alive, when she'd had so much family living there.

She wanted to fill it with family again. She had to find a way to hang on to the house.

She wasn't going to find the answer in the wicked glint in Cody's green eyes. Even though the rent he paid for himself and for Stanley would fix the air-conditioning unit, it wasn't enough. She had to find a way to pay off that lawsuit and keep her family legacy.

4

F
OR
THE
PAST
HOUR
Cody had watched Serena charm and entertain everyone in her home. Everyone but him. Besides feeding him leftovers, she had pretty much ignored him. He wasn't used to women ignoring him unless they had fallen for one of his friends instead. But other women—single women—went out of their way to flirt with him and get his attention. Not that he gave them much.

During his couple of years as a Hotshot, he'd learned that significant others didn't last in this profession. The divorce rate was high among Hotshots because of all the time they spent away from home. So there was no point in his getting involved with anyone. He had to stay single.

Maybe Serena wasn't single. Sure, she wasn't wearing a ring, but that didn't mean she wasn't involved with someone. But hadn't Wyatt said something about her being too busy with the boardinghouse to socialize much? Had he been talking about her friendships or romantic relationships?

Cody was curious about her. More than he should be. Sure, Dawson had offered Cody his place. But the US Forest Service cabin didn't come with the fried chicken he'd just eaten. Or the creamy potato salad or homemade rolls.

Alone now in one of the second-floor bathrooms, he pulled off his shirt and patted his stomach. He had eaten too much. But he was still hungry. Not for food, but for the woman who'd cooked it.

She was beautiful—even more so when she had been so animated with her other boarders and guests. She'd joked and laughed and she'd even flirted a little bit—with everyone but him. He'd gotten a little irritated then, maybe even jealous.

No. He wasn't the jealous type. That was probably just indigestion from overeating. Although he worked out as strenuously as the other guys on the team, he wasn't as careful about what he ate. That might have to change if he lived with Serena for very long. He reached for the button on his jeans and pulled it free. His jeans were tight—not because of what he'd eaten, but because he couldn't stop thinking about Serena.

About that ice cube sliding down her throat to disappear between her full breasts. About what she would look like wearing nothing at all.

His cock was hard and aching for release. Maybe he should have gone into town to find someone who could relieve some of the tension in his body. But, just like thinking about Serena, that also would have been a mistake.

He pulled aside the lacy curtain and vinyl liner. Then he twisted the faucet to cold. If he wanted to sleep, he'd probably have to take a cold shower, so thoughts of her long curtain of black hair didn't keep him awake.

With the water still running cold, he stepped inside the tub and pulled the curtain closed. But the porcelain was slippery, ridiculously slippery, almost as if... His foot flew across the slick surface and sent him tumbling. His head struck the tile wall. Black spots obscured his vision and something dripped into his eye. It was too thick and sticky to be water.

He was bleeding. He reached up to touch his head, but his limbs were tangled beneath him in the slick tub. As if...
as if
it was covered in oil
. He struggled to move, but his vision blurred more until he couldn't see at all. And consciousness slipped away.

* * *

S
ERENA
HAD
JUST
undressed when she heard the crash. The sound came from the second floor.

But she heard no shout. No movement at all. All she heard was water running.

She pulled on a thin robe and then hurried down the stairwell. Mr. Tremont had left that morning with an overnight bag and Stanley had taken Annie for a walk, so there was no one else on the second floor. Except for Cody.

Her pulse quickened, but her footsteps slowed as she approached the door to the bathroom. She hesitated a long moment before lifting her hand to knock. She couldn't just walk in on him in the shower.

After that crash she'd heard, she had to make certain that he was all right, though. It was her responsibility as the landlady.

So she knocked again. Louder.

Still no reply.

“Hello?” she called out. “Are you okay?”

No one answered her. Had he fallen and gotten hurt?

“Cody?” she called his name. But she didn't expect a reply now. She gripped the knob and easily turned it. The door was unlocked. She drew in a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Water sprayed out of the showerhead, flying around the room and across the floor. The rod had been knocked down, the curtain and liner tangled beneath the naked body lying in the tub.

She gasped and hurried forward, but her bare feet slipped on the wet floor. She caught herself on the edge of the tub, so that she didn't fall on top of him. Hand shaking, she turned off the water, which was running cold.

“Cody!”

He didn't move. And blood streaked down his handsome face from a cut on his forehead. Calling upon the nursing training she hadn't quite completed, Serena reached for his wrist and closed her fingers lightly around it. His skin was cold, but his pulse beat steadily beneath her fingers. His chest—so muscular with only a light dusting of golden hair—rose and fell as he breathed. That was good.

He didn't need CPR. Then his pulse increased—pounding faster and harder. She glanced at his face to find his green-eyed gaze focused on her.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “What happened?” This was definitely no trick to get her inside the bathroom while he was naked. He was hurt. He was bleeding and his eyes looked dazed.

He just stared at her as if he couldn't hear. Or couldn't understand.

“I'm going to call 911,” she said. He needed a doctor. He obviously had a head injury—a concussion or worse. But when she started to move away, he caught her, his hand wrapping tightly around her wrist.

He hadn't lost his strength, despite being hurt. And the cut and swelling bump on his head didn't detract from his good looks.

He was so handsome it really wasn't fair. His blond hair was slick against his head and nearly as dark as the shadow forming on his strong jaw. And his body...

Her mouth dried, and she struggled to swallow the lump of desire filling her throat. He was masculine perfection—every muscle defined in his arms and in his chest and down the rippling washboard of his abdomen. Her gaze dropped lower to his long cock. As she watched, it began to grow even longer as it swelled and hardened.

But he was the one who murmured, “You're so damn beautiful.”

She was surprised that he could see her at all. He'd obviously been knocked out cold when he'd fallen.

“You need medical attention,” she said as she tried to tug her wrist free.

But he held on tightly, pulling her down so that she dropped to her knees beside the tub. Then he murmured, “I need
your
attention.”

“Cody,” she said in protest.

But he moved his other hand into her hair, pulling her head down. And his mouth covered hers. He kissed her with a passion she'd never experienced before.

His lips glided across hers. Then his tongue slipped out, swiping across her bottom lip, tasting her.

She gasped at the delicious sensation. His teeth replaced his tongue as he nipped gently on her bottom lip.

A moan rumbled in her throat. She wanted this—this physical contact. She needed it. It had been so long...

With the house and the lawsuit, she hadn't had any time for dating. But maybe she didn't need to date. Maybe she only needed a physical release. Cody could give her that. But then what would happen when he got bored? She would probably lose him and maybe even Stanley as boarders.

Men like Cody Mallehan always got bored.

Unfortunately they were never boring. His kiss ignited a new excitement in her. Her heart raced. Her skin tingled. She wanted him.

His fingers tangled in her hair as he held her head still for his kiss. And he kept kissing her—moving his lips across hers while teasing her with the tip of his tongue.

Just his kiss had her trembling as desire overwhelmed her. Passion heated her blood, had her breasts swelling, her nipples tightening. She felt the pull from their sensitive tips to her core.

One of his hands moved from her hair. His fingers trailed down the side of her neck and then lower—inside the opening of her robe.

“I've been so jealous,” he murmured.

“What?” There was no one in her life for him to envy.

His fingers slid down between her breasts. “I've been so jealous...of that damn ice cube.”

She shivered as sensations raced through her.

“The ice cube was colder than my touch,” he said, misinterpreting the cause of her shiver.

She was beyond hot for him. But his fingers were cold. And she remembered that he'd been lying under the almost icy spray of water. She reached out and touched the bump on his head. The blood was no longer flowing, but it continued to trickle from the cut.

“You might need stitches,” she said, “and a CT scan.” She'd taken enough nursing courses to know the consequences of a serious concussion. He could develop a bleed and swelling on the brain.

“I need you.” He moved in the tub, as if trying to get out, but he slipped again. “What the hell...”

“Don't,” she said. “You shouldn't try to move. You might have broken a bone.”

“It's not broken,” he said.

She glanced down at his erection. And a wistful gasp escaped from her lips. He was so big. So hard...

She wanted to touch him. “You're hurt,” she reminded them both.

He groaned. “I'm hurting...”

“Let me call for help—”

But he had her wrist again. When he tugged on it, though, he slipped and inadvertently jerked Serena into the bathtub with him. She tumbled down on top of his naked body. Her silky robe and her skin slid over his.

Her pulse raced. She gripped his arms, trying to steady herself to get up, but instead of pushing away, she held on to him. “Cody...”

He groaned again and touched his fingers to the bump on his head. He was hurting. Really hurting.

And she was thinking only of how amazing his body felt against hers. His cock pushed against her hip, pulsing like her heartbeat. She wanted to touch it, taste it...

But she couldn't act on her desire—for so many reasons. She reached for the tub instead of him, trying to use the porcelain for leverage. But her hand slipped. The surface wasn't just slick from the water. There was something on it—something oily.

She understood now why Cody had fallen. He could have been killed.

5

H
IS
BODY
ACHED
with desire. Cody had never wanted anyone more than he wanted Serena Beaumont. His head ached, too. Actually it pounded. He grimaced at the pain and tried to pry open his eyes. The light was so bright, though, that he groaned. Then a dark shadow, leaning over him, mercifully blocked the light.

“Serena,” he murmured.

The shadow chuckled—a deep, masculine-sounding chuckle. It definitely wasn't Serena leaning over his naked body.

Cody shifted against the bathroom floor. His butt slid over the wet porcelain tiles, producing a squeaking noise.

The chuckle turned into a loud, echoing laugh. “Jeez, Cody...”

He recognized that voice, and heat rushed to his face.

“Owen, what the hell are you doing here?” he asked. The last thing he remembered was stepping into the shower. How had he wound up on the floor? The only images that flashed through his mind were of Serena, in a thin robe.

Her nipples had pushed against the silky fabric, and then the robe had parted, revealing honey-toned curves...

Was that just a dream, like all the others he'd had about her since they'd first met months ago? But her skin and lips had felt so real.

It was almost as if he could taste her still, the sweetness of her mouth.

A light flashed in his eyes—just a small beam, but it felt like it was shining through his pupil and piercing his brain. “Damn it! Damn it!” He batted at the flashlight. “Shut it off!”

“I am trying to check you out,” Owen said.

Since Cody was sprawled naked across the bathroom floor, it shouldn't have been too difficult. At least he wasn't hard anymore—not now that he'd realized it was Owen leaning over him and not Serena.

Where was Serena? He peered around the white-and-blue bathroom, but he and Owen were alone. Had she ever been in there?

“Who called you?”

Had Stanley found him? That poor kid.

“Your landlady,” Owen said. “You kept murmuring her name.”

“Serena found me?” he asked. So he hadn't imagined it. She had been there while he was naked. “And she called
you
?” She knew Wyatt because she was friends with Fiona. But Owen?

“She called 911,” Owen replied. “Remember, I'm a paramedic, too?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that,” Cody said. Fortunately Dawson wasn't working with him tonight; the assistant superintendent was too busy helping Zimmer try to catch the arsonist to go out on medical calls.

Hell, maybe Dawson
was
in the room too, for all Cody knew. His eyesight was fuzzy, making it hard for him to focus visually and mentally. Owen was still leaning over him with that damn light. The guy was so big—broad-shouldered and tall—he could have been blocking Dawson from Cody's blurry vision.

“What the hell happened?” he asked.

“Don't you remember?” Owen asked, and there was concern in his deep voice and blue eyes. He was older than Cody—not just in years but experience. Cody couldn't imagine what Owen had seen overseas, but the guy had come back with scars—one was visible, running down the left side of his face. He suspected there were more.

Cody shook his head and flinched as pain reverberated throughout his skull. His head was pounding so badly that he was surprised he could remember anything—even his own name. Well, the name the young couple had given him after they'd adopted Baby John Doe.

The last thing he remembered was turning on the water to cold because of
her
.

“You must have slipped and fallen,” Owen surmised.

He fought through the pain to make a cocky reply. “You think?”

“You don't remember.”

“No.” But then he recalled the porcelain had been so slippery. Why?

“Where are your clothes?” Owen asked.

“Clothes?” he repeated. He was still struggling to focus. Where had he left them?

“Some of the nurses have probably already seen you naked, but you should still get dressed before I take you in,” Owen said.

“In where?”

“To the hospital,” his friend patiently replied.

He was once again glad Serena hadn't called Wyatt or Dawson. He doubted either of them would have been nearly as patient with Cody's befuddled mind.

“Why would I go to the hospital?” he asked as he tried to remember how he'd wound up on the bathroom floor. Had he fallen out of the tub?

Serena wouldn't have been strong enough to move him. It must have been Owen; the guy was huge. How long had Cody been unconscious?

“You need to have a CT,” Owen said. “I think you have a concussion.”

That would explain the headache and memory lapse. But what about his fantasies about Serena? He'd had those long before he'd ever hit his head. What was wrong with him that he couldn't get the black-haired woman off his mind?

* * *

S
ERENA
STARED
OUT
the attic window into the darkness. Still no lights appeared in the driveway. Should she have gone to the hospital with him? Cody's coworker had taken him in hours ago. Seeing Owen James again—in this house—had been hard because it had reminded her of the day she'd lost her mother.

That horrible day when she had felt so helpless...

But, this time, Owen had assured her that Cody wasn't seriously injured. He only wanted to get him checked out at the hospital—get him the CT she'd suspected he needed and stitches for the laceration on his forehead.

Should she have ridden along with him anyway? Or followed the ambulance as Stanley had?

Was he truly all right?

Head injuries could be dangerous. Not only had he lost consciousness, he'd nearly lost control with her.

What was her excuse?

She hadn't hit her head. Why had she kissed him back? Why had she wanted him, a self-professed player?

Unable to bear the silence and all the thoughts flitting through her mind any longer, she picked up her cell phone and hit Fiona's number. It was late, but her friend answered right away.

“Serena?” She must have looked at her caller ID.

“Do you know that Cody got hurt tonight?”

“Yes, Wyatt, Dawson and Braden went up to meet him and Owen at the hospital,” she replied.

It must have been bad for Wyatt and his fellow Hotshots to go to the hospital, too. Owen hadn't let Cody walk out of the house; he'd had Stanley help carry him out on a stretcher.

She should have gone, too. It would have been better than pacing her apartment.

“Has Wyatt called to let you know how he is?” she anxiously asked.

“Yeah, Wyatt told me he's on his way home.” That must have been why Fiona was awake; she was waiting for her fiancé.

“What did he say about Cody?”

“He's fine,” Fiona assured her. “He has a slight concussion. But his pride is what's hurting most.” The other woman chuckled. “Probably because he knows the guys will never let him live it down.”

“Live what down?” she asked. “It was an accident. He slipped.”

“Exactly,” Fiona said. “Hotshots have these extraordinarily dangerous jobs, but he got hurt taking a shower. They're going to razz him about it.”

“He fell because the tub was unusually slippery,” Serena said. Why? She had washed it earlier that day after he'd left for his meeting, and she didn't think anyone had used it after that. “Do you think he'll sue me?”

“Sue you? Why?” Fiona asked. As Serena's insurance agent, she should have been concerned.

“Because he was hurt in my house.” Maybe the cleaner she'd used on the tub had made it oily. Could she have caused his fall? A pang of regret struck her heart; she hoped she wasn't responsible for him getting hurt.

“I doubt it,” Fiona assured her. “From what I know about Cody, he doesn't seem to care about money or possessions or anything but having a good time—whether he's with a woman or fighting a fire.”

“But how well do you really know him?” Serena asked. As far as she was aware, she was the only one who knew that he paid half of Stanley's room and board. How did he have enough money to be that generous?

“I know he's an incorrigible flirt,” Fiona said. “He's cocky and funny and competitive.”

“And?” she prodded. She wanted to know more about Cody than his clean criminal background and good credit could tell her. On her circuit of pacing, she passed her bed. She loved the old brass frame—loved that so many of her ancestors had slept on it. Her grandmother had even been born on that bed. But Serena couldn't look at it now without imagining Cody in it, naked and sexy.

“Are you curious about Cody just because you're worried he's going to sue you?” Fiona asked. “Or are you interested in him?”

Serena snorted; she didn't care how unladylike it was. “He's not my type.” She had never gone for the sexy, cocky guy. Of course she had never stumbled across a naked one before either.

“No, he's not,” Fiona wholeheartedly agreed. “You want a guy who will settle down and raise a family here in Northern Lakes.”

Her friend might not have known Cody all that well, but she knew Serena. Of course she had never made any secret of how much she loved her hometown and, most especially, her house.

“And Cody's not that guy,” Fiona continued. “He can't wait to leave Northern Lakes again.”

“But he comes back...” Unlike Serena's twin, who had left Northern Lakes after high school and never returned—not even for their mother's funeral. Courtney had never made any secret of how much she'd hated her hometown.

And apparently her home...

“You do like him!” Fiona accused her. Before Serena could deny it again, her friend added, “I get it. Wyatt isn't my type either.”

“Then why are you marrying him?” If she was considering changing her mind, Serena and Tammy might want to hold off on the bachelorette party. They weren't getting too far with the planning anyway. Serena wanted to have it at the house while Tammy wanted to go to some new club on male stripper night.

“Because I love him,” Fiona answered, as if it was just that simple.

But Serena knew better. Her mother had loved her father. But he hadn't reciprocated, or he wouldn't have left her. While she wished her friend luck, Serena wasn't going to fall for someone who didn't want the same things out of life that she did.

It would only end painfully. Her mother had never recovered from that broken heart either. She'd never married. She'd barely even dated. Her only loves had been her daughters, her family and her home.

“I just want to know if Cody will sue me,” Serena said. She already had one lawsuit she couldn't afford to pay; she couldn't deal with another.

Fiona sighed. “I can't tell you if he'll sue. People file lawsuits for the most bizarre reasons.”

Serena knew that all too well. She hadn't expected the lawsuit at all, and she suspected she didn't know the real reason for it. She sighed, too. “Then it's very possible that he could.”

“He could,” Fiona admitted. “But he's Cody. And you're pretty.”

She was no beauty like her mother, but, thanks to her genes, she
was
pretty. “What does what I look like have to do with anything?”

“I think you could easily dissuade him from suing you.”

Lights glinted off the glass of the dormer window as a vehicle headed toward the house. Someone was coming home. Just Stanley or was Cody with him? If he was, she might know soon enough whether or not he was litigious.

“How?” she asked.

“I'll give you the same advice Tammy gave me when I wanted Wyatt's help to dissuade Matthew from quitting college to become a firefighter.” Matt was Fiona's younger brother, and she was very protective of him. In Matt's opinion, she was overprotective. He hadn't been hired, though, and had voluntarily decided to return to college and get his degree—just like his big sister had hoped.

Serena could already imagine what Tammy's advice had been, but she found herself asking anyway. “And what was that?”

“Seduce him.”

“Fiona!” she exclaimed. It was an outrageous idea.

Her friend laughed. She knew it was.

“Is that the advice of my insurance agent?” Serena asked. “Or my friend?”

“I'm kidding,” Fiona said. “I know you would never do that.”

But Serena flashed back to finding a naked Cody knocked out in the bathtub. Remembering how he'd touched her, how he'd kissed her, her skin heated. Maybe it wasn't that outrageous of an idea.