Never Too Hot (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #3)(54)
Author: Bella Andre

But then, he was the one pulling her toward him and as the two boats slammed together, he leaped into the power boat.

She should have known better than to doubt his strength, even in conditions like this. She forced herself to hold focus until she had the boat safely tied up to the dock. They’d worry about recovering the sailboat later.

Only then did she let herself look at him, put her arms around him. Oh God, his skin had lost its color. He was so cold, he was shaking. Somehow she needed to get him inside, get him warm, make sure he was okay.

But he had more strength than anyone else would have; when she got out of the boat and reached in to help him out, he was quickly on the dock, moving with her through the hail into the cabin.

The minute they were inside she stripped him down, then pulled a thick blanket off a nearby chair and wrapped it around him. Somehow, she got all caught up in the blanket, her body pressed hard against his, but when she tried to pull away to go make some tea to warm him, she realized his arms were holding her fast.

“You scared me,” she whispered into his chest. She was trembling, more from the fear of almost having lost him than from the cold.

“You saved me.”

His skin was still so cold, his hard muscles like blocks of ice against her, his hands and arms stiff as she tried to massage life into them with her fingers.

“You need to get warm.”

Fortunately, the mud room in the back of the house had a shower, so they didn’t need to go all the way upstairs.

Seconds later, they were standing together under the spray, holding each other, Connor naked, Ginger fully clothed.

Quickly warming, she’d never been more glad to feel his lips on her than she did as he bent his head down to kiss her.

Her ni**les beaded against his chest and when he started pulling off her clothes, the only thing she could think was that it must mean he had feeling in his hands.

And then she was naked too and he was sinking down onto the tiled shower floor and she was going with him.

One last time, was all she could think as she felt the thick head of his c**k press into her, as he slowly filled her with his heat. She worked to memorize every last thing about him, the passion in his blue eyes, the emotion etched into his face.

One day she’d find another man to marry. She’d have children. And she’d work like hell to be happy.

But there would never be anyone like Connor.

After what had just happened, she deserved these last few final stolen moments in his arms.

And then she’d be strong.

She gasped with pleasure as he wrapped his hands around her hips and pulled her down hard, all the way onto him.

She never wanted to let go, never wanted to give him up as he told her how much he wanted her, needed her, had to have her. Her muscles started to contract around him and his roar of pleasure vibrated all the way through to the center of her.

One last time.

Thank God she was back in his arms. It was right where she belonged, the only way he could feel any peace at all.

Connor couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been to go out in the sailboat in the middle of a storm like that, without a life vest.

The worst part of it was that he hadn’t just put his own life at risk, he’d risked Ginger’s too. She shouldn’t have come out in that storm to save him, but she had.

He felt her shift in his arms and, selfishly, he almost didn’t let her move. But her arms were strong as she pushed away from him and stood up.

He watched her step out of the shower and wrap a towel around herself, then he turned off the water and did the same, his heart thumping hard.

“Connor. We need to talk.”

Oh f**k. He could feel what was coming — what had to come after the way he’d behaved last night and this morning.

Wanting desperately to stop her from leaving him, he said, “You were right. When you said I’ve been lying to everyone. Knowing I can’t go back to my job, to my crew-” He stopped, tried to put the loss into words. “It’s worse than the way I felt when I woke up in the hospital. I knew my skin would grow back. But I’ll never get to be out on the mountain again, never get to feel that rush of facing down the flames.”

He ran a hand through his wet hair, forced himself to say, “I was embarrassed by how much it hurt. That’s why I didn’t want to talk about it.”

There was no going back now. Time to lay it all out on the line.

“If it’s not too late, if you think you can ever forgive me for being a complete ass**le, I don’t want to lose you.”

She stared at him. Every other time he’d been able to read what she was feeling on her face. Not this time.

“For how long?”

He shook his head, didn’t get her question, especially after his difficult confession.

“How long?”

“How long do you want to keep me?”

Oh shit. This time he got it, but that didn’t mean he had an answer for her. “This is more than just a summer fling. You know that.”

“Okay then, throw fall in too. Then what?”

Ginger was well aware of the fact that he didn’t exactly have the future mapped out right now, that he was moving day to day without any sort of plan.

“I don’t know.”

She turned and left the bathroom. He wanted to pull her back into him, rewind five minutes, start this conversation over. Better yet, forget the conversation altogether and just lose himself in her again.

“When we started this,” she said when they were both out in the living room, “I thought I could do it. That a summer fling could work for me, that if I was really lucky it might bleed into fall. Winter even. I know we had an agreement. I’m the one who told you not to be such a hero. I’m the one who practically begged you to make love to me. I realize I’m suddenly changing all the rules. But I can’t keep going on like this. I can’t pretend that two or three seasons are good enough.”

Not reaching for her as she spoke was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.

“I want it all. Passion. Devotion. Kids. Love.” Her gaze didn’t waver. “I want a husband and a partner. I want a man who wants to figure out our plans and future together.” She pulled the towel tighter around herself. “I want to be with a man who loves me as much as I love him.”

Connor would have given anything to make the words come. To be able to tell her everything she needed to hear.

Because she was right, she deserved all of those things and more. Isabel’s words rang in his ears: “Ginger is awonderful person, Connor. She deserves so much more than she asks for.”

Damn it, he didn’t want to think of her in some other man’s arms, looking back on her summer with him with a distant smile of remembrance.