I’d thank her next time I saw her.
Only problem was, I’d come here with a plan. I would show her what needed to be done and offer to help her. I’d ingratiate myself and maybe even use the guys at the firehouse to prove our willingness to offer assistance. Anything to show her why she needed to stay.
All those ideas were dust now.
My impulse control had always been shit when it came to this woman. I prided myself on the rules and order of my job. For once, I didn’t want to control my urges in her direction.
I didn’t want to be the good guy.
I wanted to take.
“Because no one fucking cared until me, Freckles.” I moved in until my knee slipped between her thighs.
Her sweet breath puffed against my neck, and I couldn’t quite bury a growl.
I set the stick against the wall, pinning her in place with my hips. I waited a heartbeat, then two. I didn’t trust myself quite yet. I’d wanted her for so damn long.
I planted my hands on either side of her. “Is this where you run? Or where you knee me in the balls for invading your space?” I lowered my mouth to her jawline and breathed her in. Some spicy floral scent that I was willing to wear on my skin for the rest of my life.
“Why are you doing this?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
I flicked my tongue over the pulse in her neck. Her heart was racing. I leaned back enough to peer into her huge dark eyes. There was a little fear, but mostly want.
For me.
Finally.
“Because wanting you for almost fifteen years is just too much to ask of one man.”
Her fingers twisted into my shirt. “What?”
I brushed my lips ever so lightly along hers. Damn, she was sweet. My higher brain function was ready to leave the premises. “You had to know.”
She shook her head even as she dragged her nails over my belly through my T-shirt. I tightened my abdominal muscles instinctively to show her I wasn’t a skinny basketball kid anymore.
Danny’s sidekick.
The boy who had always loved her, even though my best friend did too.
The man who couldn’t bury those emotions anymore.
My fingertips were white from pressing into the wall to stop myself from holding her so tightly neither of us could breathe.
My arms ached.
My shoulders cast a shadow over her, but a sliver of sunlight streaked across her face. Just enough to show me that I wasn’t alone in this craziness.
I gave her one more chance to escape. The hint of mint lingered between us as her chest rose and fell with…excitement? Panic? Need?
I sure hoped some of it was need. I didn’t want to be the only one feeling desperate.
I tugged on her lower lip. Bit hard enough to feel it throb under my tongue as the blood came rushing back. I eased the hurt with a sweet brush of lips, then there was only her taste ruling me.
Distantly, I wondered if I was too much—too savage, too big and clumsy. But then she scraped her fingernails up my belly to my chest before she dug into my shoulders and held on. She lifted onto her toes to meet my mouth. Her undeniable moan of pleasure severed the restraint I had left.
I slid my arms around her, my hand cupping her ass as I pulled her ever closer to me. Our height difference made it far too easy for me to lift her.
She yelped, but instead of making a halfhearted attempt to say ‘oh, I’m too heavy,’ she simply wrapped her strong legs around my waist.