Never Too Hot (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #3)(38)
Author: Bella Andre

Bigger. Sweeter. A hundred times more intense.

A thousand times more frightening.

“Swimming?” she asked stupidly.

“Night swimming. Right now. Here. In the dark, beneath the fireworks.”

She tried to shake her head, tried to put voice to the word no. Sex wouldn’t solve anything for him. But his hands were already on her body, stripping her down, and his mouth was on hers, taking, giving, and she couldn’t help but go with him. And then her fingers were moving too, pulling at his clothes, wanting them off faster, wanting nothing between them, to be as close to him as she could possibly be.

Sliding his fingers through hers, he took her over to the edge of the dock.

“Ready to jump, sweetheart?”

It was the sweetheart that did her in, that took any chance of protest away from her. And then they were jumping through the warm evening air before splashing in and and going under, the cool water taking what was left of her breath away.

And still, the water had nothing on Connor who had taken her breath away from the first moment she’d met him.

Connor was doing everything he could to drown in her, to keeping losing himself in the softness of her skin, the taste of her mouth, the feel of her tongue against his.

And still, minute by minute, he could feel himself spiraling out of control, like a rope that was unwinding from the inside out, strangling his guts in the threads as it spun faster and faster.

It was taking everything he had to keep it together.

All his life, his instincts had been to get moving, to use blood and sweat to work through the kinks. But this was one hell of a kink. And right now, the only thing that made sense was to go to a place where all that mattered was sensation. Where his only goal was to take Ginger higher, to use his hands and mouth to make her soft and yielding beneath him, to hear her crying out his name as she came.

He pulled her out deep enough in the lake where he could stand, but she had to wrap her legs around him to stay above the water. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he didn’t kiss her hard, not this time. He wanted this moment to last forever, wanted the rest of the world to stay the hell away.

Only here, with Ginger, as her tongue slipped and slid against his, did he feel the deep ache inside begin to recede.

Only here, as her hands moved to cup his face, did he let himself accept that being with her was more than just great sex, that he was shaking from the power of their connection.

Only here, in the dark, cold water, as Ginger took him inside in a gasp of pleasure, and he let himself fall completely into her, could he see any light at all.

Chapter Fourteen

ISABEL WALKED in her front door just as the fireworks had ended. She dropped her keys on the front table, didn’t hear any music pumping out of her son’s bedroom and worried for a second before she realized he was probably still downtown having fun with his friends.

She went upstairs to her bedroom to get ready for bed, her heart pounding as she brushed her teeth, washed her face, put on her pajamas. All afternoon at the diner, all night as she plated dozens of meals, she’d only been half there. She’d wanted to pull out the letters a hundred times. But she’d had a restaurant to run.

Going to the spot in her closet where she’d dropped her purse, she reached in and pulled out the stack of papers. She still couldn’t believe Andrew had kept them all. It meant more to her than it should. Especially since she’d burned all of his.

Slipping beneath her sheets, she turned on her bedside lamp. And as she read one letter after another, two years of young love simply burning up the pages, it all came back to her.

Sailing beside him, capsizing the boat on purpose so that he could pull her against him in the water, kiss her until another boat came around the bend to where they were floating and they were forced to pull away from each other and right their craft.

Hiking through the thick forests, holding his hand at the top of the hill, the whole world at their feet, loving it when he pressed her up against a rough tree trunk, shivering as his fingers moved beneath her shirt, to her bra, crying out as his large palms cupped her, caressed her.

Rowing out to the island and lying in his arms beneath a full moon, listening to the strong, steady beat of his heart as shooting stars fell from the sky.

She nestled deeper beneath her blankets as she read, wishing these sweet memories were all there were, dreading the knowledge that they weren’t.

Because she only knew too well the letter she’d find at the bottom of the pile, what it would say.

“You wanted her. You can have her. Forever.”

Morning came too fast and Isabel was just taking her first sip of coffee for the day while slipping on her clogs when she saw the light blinking on her old-fashioned message machine. She was leaning into the front door only half listening, when she finally realized what Ginger had said.

“Andrew’s coming, Isabel. He’s taking the red-eye out tonight. I figured you’d want to know.”

No. God no. The only trick was the one her heart was playing on her. She wanted so badly to keep from losing her breath, to stop the room from spinning, but it was already too late, and she had to put a hand out against the front door to hold herself up as her most deeply repressed memory came back to life in brilliant technicolor.

Over the past two years, Isabel had gotten used to sneaking out at night to be with Andrew. During the summersat the lake it was easier when he was right there, just next door and they could meet at the island or out by theold carousel late a night. But the rest of the year, when they were back in the city, while she went to high schooland he attended classes at NYU, it was harder to see him without getting endless lectures from her parents.

She wished her parents understood her feelings, wished that they could see how perfect he was for her. Insteadthey said things like, “You’re too young.” “You have your whole life ahead of you.” And her favorite, “First lovedoesn’t last forever, honey.” As if what she felt for Andrew was nothing more than some kid crush.

Fortunately, he’d made sure the little apartment that he shared with a couple of friends was close to herparents’ house. Whenever her parents were out — which was often, as they were both heavily involved in the localmusic scene — she’d stuff her bed with blankets to look like a body before she went down the fire escape out back,just in case they came home early and checked on her.

Andrew was always waiting there for her. It was a safe neighborhood, just mothers with strollers and kidsplaying ball, businessmen coming home late from work. She would have been fine walking the four blocks to hisapartment, but he said he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her. If she got hurt coming to him.