A Firefighter in Her Stocking

Sarah.

Her whimpers of pleasure, her arches into his touch, her fingers curling into the quilt below her. Never had he experienced such pleasure at watching a woman, at giving pleasure.

He wanted to give Sarah everything. Every nuance of physical delight, emotional delight, everything.

When she looked back, thought of this night, he wanted only memories of perfection. He hadn’t wanted her questioning anything, not him, not other women, nothing.

He wanted to be the entire focus of her world.

He was. He felt it in her touch, her kiss, the way she looked at him.

“Sarah?”

Her eyes opened. “Please.”

Please. Such a hot word.

He trembled.

Not content to wait on him, Sarah reached for his waist, tugged on his boxers. “Now.”

“Now?” Had that hoarse crackling sound been his voice?

She nodded.

Jude shucked his boxer briefs, covered Sarah while supporting his weight so he didn’t squash her. He stared down into her lovely eyes and thought he was the luckiest man alive. Had to be. Because the way Sarah was looking at him made him so.

“Don’t forget you’re a safety guy,” she reminded him.

A condom had been the last thing on Jude’s mind.

How could he have forgotten something so crucial, something meant to protect himself and Sarah? Because she made him feel safe in ways that had nothing to do with her lack of sexual experience?

No matter the reason, he shouldn’t have forgotten. It was his job to protect her.

Always.

Even from him. Shifting his weight to one side, he reached with the other to find his pants, to maneuver the condom out of his pocket, to tear it open while praying that when he looked back into Sarah’s eyes reality hadn’t set in, that she hadn’t changed her mind about them. About him.

Because he was one hundred percent positive he didn’t deserve to be with her.

That he didn’t deserve the gift she was about to give him. Maybe that’s why he’d had to wait so long, so he could give something to her even if that something was simply the new confidence she exuded in herself, in her femininity.

When he met her gaze, relief filled him.

Her desire hadn’t waned. She. Wanted. Him.

“This

is your first time, isn’t it, Sarah?”

A brief moment of hesitation flickered on her face, then she nodded.

His heart slammed against his ribcage. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Trust shining in her eyes, she smiled. “You won’t.”

“I will,” he acknowledged, wishing there was a way he could take her pain instead. “But I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”