The Protective Dominant (10 page)

But he wasn’t just making ‘time’ with her. She dug her heels into his buttocks, scalding heat igniting yet again as he moved slightly so he could touch her with one rasping finger. When he fingered her ass, her eyes widened in shock. “Taz!” How did he know how to do
that
to a woman?

He drove the tip of one soapy finger into her. Her body rioted, the heavy, almost wrong feeling dragging her deep…
Need it—

Softly this time, “Taz…”

* * * *

“Taz, stop the truck!”

Taz hit the brakes. Jenny exploded out with Jet in her arms. The puppy vomited in the tall grass on the side of the road.

“He can’t stop heaving!” Jenny gave him a frantic look.

“It’s okay, honey. He’s just having a hard time bein’ in the truck. Stay here.” Taz strode back to his vehicle, moved it to a place where he could safely leave it on the shoulder then returned to Jenny and Jet. Jet looked at him out of eyes that were somehow familiar. Weird. He obviously was feeling sleep deprived. “He’ll be fine. Maybe… Let’s walk him on the beach for a while. It might calm him.”

Jenny nodded and Taz settled the puppy on his shoulder. The little animal was shivering. Jenny took his free hand and they walked down the slope to a deserted stretch of windy beach.

“If he doesn’t improve by the time we finish the walk we’ll take him to the vet the shelter recommended in our neighborhood.”

“Okay.” Jenny knelt beside Taz as he put the puppy down. He unclipped the leash and for a second Jet froze, sniffing and looking around as if he was overwhelmed. Then he tentatively walked to a pile of sea kelp and driftwood, digging a giant paw in the mix.

Jenny wrapped her arms around herself as if to keep herself from going to the puppy. “He doesn’t seem to want to be anywhere near us.”

“He doesn’t know us, Jenny. He doesn’t have a reason to want to be with us yet.”

“Because he wasn’t treated well.”

Taz rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess.”

Jenny looked up at him. “I used to see that same look in your eyes sometimes. That hopeless look?”

Taz shook his head at her. “Where do you get this shit? Oh, yeah, ‘cause you’re a woman.”

Jenny’s eyes flared with hurt, but she kept her gaze on his. “You haven’t made a remark like that for a while. I guess I hit too close to home, huh?” Before he could say anything nasty, she walked to the puppy. She didn’t try to touch Jet but sat down and busied herself working bits of driftwood into a pile.

Taz sighed, feeling the tension of their fight soften as he watched her. Inevitably the puppy became curious and stabbed out a paw, demolishing Jenny’s woodpile.

Jenny Ann just built another one.

Taz carried Jet into Jenny Ann’s kitchen. “You have to work that fire tonight?” Anxiety spiked through her voice. She tried not to give in to it, but the wildfire reported on the radio during the drive home had alarmed her.

She didn’t have to ask if the men and women of Station 57 would be going out to help where they could. Much of the area surrounding their little sub-town was still desert scrub. It could go up like tinder. It had the night of her attack.

She swallowed. She could feel those long shadows in her mind growing larger.

“It’s my job, honey.” He had his hands on his hips, looking like an old-time gunslinger. The mirrored sunglasses, the stubble on his face. He was all about the dare.

“Just be careful, all right?”

He put his arms around her neck. “Are you gonna be all right? I can ask Dharma to come over and stay with you.”

“What? No, I don’t—”

But Taz had his phone out. As Jenny tried to steal it from him, thwarted by his height, he made a call. “Yeah, Sian, hi. I wondered if you and Dharma were doing something tonight while Luke, Fred and I are on duty.”

Jenny sagged against the counter, crossing her arms. The puppy nosed one of her runners, but then carefully backed away before she could touch him. Yep, she could see now why she’d fallen for him. He definitely reminded her of Taz.

Except… Lately Taz was letting her touch him.

“That would be great. She’d come to your place, but she’s got a puppy.” Taz held his phone away from his ear and Jenny heard some squealing. “Golden retriever. Oh, yeah? Well, they got another in the shelter. You and Luke could check it out tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, I’ll tell him. Okay, bye.”

Taz put his phone in his shorts pocket and looked at her. “They, um, they’re coming over here.”

“You invited your best friends’ families to stay with me? Taz, they’re going to think I’m a basket case.” Her belly tightened at the idea of pretending to be okay for hours and hours. It had been hell when her mother had stayed with her. She didn’t think she could do that when her anxiety was running hot for Taz.

“We all pull together when it gets tough.” He pushed her hair behind her ears. “Jenny, I can’t do my job if I’m worried something will happen to you. There hasn’t been a fire like this since the night—”

She nodded, unable to speak.

His forehead rested against hers. “I remember how your face was the same color as the sheets back in the hospital. And you were a lot tinier than I thought. I never want to see you like that again. It’d kill me. Just do this for me, okay?”

She sighed. “You think I’m tall because normally it’s the force of my personality that gives me height.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “It’s going to be okay. We’re very careful. We have a meteorologist on site to make sure we don’t get in over our heads when we work these kinds of fires near the town.”

“I know I’m supposed to be brave and say ‘sure it is’, but I’m so worried about you I feel sick.”

“Now you know how I feel when I find you in your garden in the middle of the night. It scares the shit out of me and I want it to stop, Christ, I want it to stop, but I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Taz, you make sure I’m not alone. Thank you for that.”

He huffed out a sigh. “All right. Have you got everything for a night with a new puppy, a preggo woman who could pop at any moment—?”

“Taz!”

“…a feminist who hates my guts even if she has to admit I’m sexy…”

Jenny was smiling. How did he do that? Her fear was still floating around like a big iceberg in her chest, but Taz made her smile.

“You got chips?”

“And the fixings to make fresh salsa.”

His eyes gleamed. “You make it
fresh?
I so am coming over for nachos soon.”

“I’ll make them for you if you promise not to do anything too brave tonight.”

“I’ll be as cowardly as possible and still keep my job.”

“Jerk.”

From out in her driveway, Jenny heard a car parking. The company Taz had arranged had arrived so she had to put her game face on.

“I gotta go back to my place, grab some gear.” Taz backed away, then his sneakers skidded, squeaked. He looked down at the handmade Mexican tiles on her kitchen floor. “Uh, Jenny? I think you’ll have to clean up. Jet…”

Taz handed her some paper towels and then kissed her on the run.

Jenny rinsed them in soapy water before kneeling to wipe her floor. Having a brand new terrified and accident prone puppy maybe wasn’t such a bad thing.

It would be a welcome distraction tonight because there was no way she’d be able to sleep until Taz was back home.

Chapter Ten

“She makes salsa from scratch? Really?” Luke asked, chainsaw hanging from one arm.

Taz downed another huge gulp from his water bottle. “Yeah, maybe… Maybe you and Sian can come over to our neck of the woods soon, share a hot tub and I might persuade Jenny to make enough for all of us.”

Luke’s eyes widened, hot blue in his ruddy, dirty face. “You mean you want a couples’ night?”

Taz shrugged, avoiding his best friend’s gaze. “No big deal.”

“Taz, man, what is going on with you? Everyone at the station house has been wondering. First you practically glue yourself to Jenny’s hospital bed after she was hurt…”

“Her mom didn’t arrive for a couple of days. Someone had to watch over her.”

“Uh-huh. Then you come to work looking bagged all the time and I know it’s not because you’re tom cattin’ around. No one’s seen you at the club in months.”

Taz’s gut tightened. “Jenny doesn’t fit into that part of my life.”

“Oh, really?”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means I thought I’d keep my more dominant side safely away from Sian… But turns out she likes it.” Luke smiled, a happy, married guy’s smile.

“Jesus, she’s pregnant. You can’t still dom her in bed—”

Luke raised his eyebrows.

“Gah, I don’t want to know.”

“You single guys. No balls.”

Taz shrugged. “Jenny’s been through a nightmare. I have to protect her.”

“What if she doesn’t want protection from you?” Luke started humming the music for
Another One Bites the Dust.

Taz gave him the finger.

Then it was time to cut brush and dig again. The fire wasn’t as bad as the one that had left a blackened scar through town, but that could change at any moment. It all depended on the wind coming off the ocean and the heat radiating up from the desert.

Jenny placed a large plate of nachos in front of her two guests along with giant glasses of iced tea. “The tea is decaffeinated.”

“Oh, thank you! I forgot to ask if you had anything like that,” Dharma said. She glowed, her tanned skin, her curiosity sparkling as she looked around Jenny’s small living room. Jenny was glad that it was full of the fresh cut flowers she placed almost daily from her garden. And it was neat, of course. Her mama had raised her to be a clean freak. In the South, you never knew who’d be dropping by and they
would
judge you for how you kept your house, at least in Jenny’s family.

“No problem. A friend at work pointed out recently how people don’t realize tea has more caffeine than chocolate or coffee.”

“So you work out of your home?” Sian asked. “That must be convenient with the puppy.”

She was the gentler of the two women and Jenny felt she had more in common with her. As well as a sharp longing every time she looked at Sian’s wedding ring and large belly.

Jenny sighed. What was she doing, dreaming about Taz in a role of husband and daddy? She was a small town girl with small town wants. Marriage, children.

But that was not who he was.

She wasn’t exactly sure she knew who he was, other than her protector in the night. He wasn’t letting her see.

“It helps working at home since I have to let Jet out every five minutes. Can I ask if either of you have ever had a dog?”

When both women shook their heads, Jenny sighed. “We had family dogs, but not one I was solely responsible for. It
has
to get easier, right?”

Sian grinned, patting her belly. “I think you’re in for it. Chaos.”

“I keep thinking I should take him back to someone who can take care of him because I’m not old enough, patient enough to do it! It’s a good thing Taz promised to help me train him to the leash.”

“Taz…said that?” Dharma asked. “Wow. He’s acting totally weird lately, but he
is
a guy. But what are you doing, Jenny?”

Jenny raised her brows. “Right now? Making sure my puppy gets lots of fluids since he was sick earlier, and feeding my guests.”

Sian laughed, looked at Dharma. “She’s got too much backbone for you to push around.”

Dharma grimaced. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, yes you would.” Sian winked at Jenny. “I’m her boss, but you wouldn’t know it some days. So I guess if you can stand up to Dharma, you can hold your own with Taz. That means you’re one of us now.”

“What does ‘us’ mean?” Jenny asked.

“In love with one of the men of Station 57,” Dharma said.

“You make it sound like a bad thing.” Jenny was clueless.

“Dharma is too young for Fred. And she’s artistic,” Sian said.

“So?”

Sian smiled. “And I was raised with Luke as brother and sister.”

“Ohhh. Was it weird, wanting him?”

“I don’t know, I never didn’t.”

Well, that was frank enough that Jenny thought she could be honest. “I’m think I’m falling for Taz.”

“Not smart,” Dharma said.

“Nope.”

“Well, he is sexy,” Sian said. “Even famous.”

“Famous? How do you mean?”

Dharma exchanged a look with Sian.

Jenny put her glass of iced tea down with a click on her coffee table. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“How well do you know Taz?”

“He’s sweet, protective…”

“Taz is a legendary dominant, Jenny,” Sian said gently. “And he’s not known for being either.”

The puppy ran over the tiles in Taz’s kitchen, which were Spartan all-white, before skidding into the cabinets. “Stop it!” Jenny’s voice was sharp.

The puppy cringed.

Great, she was scaring the little guy and she’d only had him a day.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just feeling”—
guilty
—“tense.”

Tense because she’d taken the key Taz had given her a few weeks ago and let herself into his house to snoop. Keys jangling, she walked over to the door that led to his basement. She headed down the stairs, hearing them creak extra loudly under her feet. As an afterthought, she closed the door behind her so that the puppy wouldn’t take those stairs and hurt himself.

Workout equipment. Barbells, a weight bench, a treadmill and a Bowflex. Taz worked hard to maintain that amazing body, not just running on the beach and swimming.

But what else did he do down here?

She chewed her lip, staring at the door on the far side of the room.

When she tried it, she found it was locked.

Taz rubbed his left eye as he let himself into his house near dawn the next morning. His body felt like he’d been beaten with a bag of potatoes. His neck was stiff and his eye… He rubbed it again, even though his own medical training told him to fucking leave it alone.

Jenny’s house was dark. He’d already been over there, let himself in. She and the puppy hadn’t been in her bedroom. He hoped to hell she was somewhere in his house because if she wasn’t, he’d have to go out looking for her.

He snapped on his kitchen light.