A Lick of Flame Read online

  He arched a brow, and as he brushed his thumb over her wet cunt, he gave a slow shake of his head. “It’s going to take extreme measures to put out this kind of fire.”

  Excited by his bad-boy antics and deciding to play along, she found her voice and said, “You’re the firefighter in charge, so I guess I’ll have to trust that you know what you’re doing.”

  When he offered her a surprised grin full of sensual promise, she was both shocked and pleased by the boldness he brought out in her. Honestly, she’d never felt so free or uninhibited around a man before, but this sexy firefighter brought out another side of her, a side she hadn’t even known existed until tonight.

  The glint from the overhead moon allowed her to see the fire in his blue eyes. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m the right man for this job.”

  Madison arched a brow. “Oh, I’m not worried.”

  His edgy laugh churned with passion as he dipped his head. When his warm breath brushed over her damp hairs, Madison nearly cried out in heavenly bliss. He pressed a hot kiss to her pussy, and as her skin came alive, her body flushed with heat, quivering beneath his skilful touch.

  Oh yeah, he was definitely the man for the job!

  Feeling edgy and wild and knowing full well how close she was to losing it, it took all her effort to summon a modicum of control. Her sex clenched, but she didn’t want to tumble over. Not yet. Not before she had a chance to ride his mouth, his fingers, his cock, but goddammit that first sweet touch of his tongue to her pussy seared her clit and threatened all her composure.

  Sean groaned deep in his throat. “So sweet. So fucking sweet,” he murmured from between her legs, and she could hear the ache of lust in his voice.

  He slowly inched one finger inside. As he pushed deeper, shockwaves rocketed through her and her body ached to feel his thickness inside her, thrusting hard and deep.

  Oh God, she needed…

  “How the hell did you get so wet?” His soft voice whispered over her thighs, and with desire fuelling her actions, she jutted her hips forward, grinding her pussy on his mouth and making it perfectly clear what she wanted.

  With his finger moving inside her, he gave a long slow lick, all the way from the back to the front, then shot her a glance. “Is this what you want, baby?”

  Since a reply was beyond her, she simply moaned and struggled with the binding, eager to touch him in return.

  He pulled his mouth away but kept his finger inside as he shot her a daring look. “If you break them, I’ll stop.”

  She stilled her hands and cried out, “Sean, what are you doing to me?”

  “Wait and see.”

  Keeping her at his mercy, his to do with as he pleased, he turned his attention back to her cunt. Diving back in, he laved her slick folds with the soft blade of his tongue, giving homage to the swollen nub that was crying out for his attention.

  “Yes,” she yelled loudly as the warmth of his mouth fired her blood and pushed her to the brink in record time.

  A second finger joined the first and had liquid heat rushing to her pussy. Good God, he knew just what to do, just how much pressure to exert to stir the fire inside her.

  “Sean, I’m so close…” she murmured, her entire body tingling, pleasure racing through her bloodstream at breakneck speed.

  “Are you going to come for me now, baby?”

  His sexy words were her undoing. As he continued to feast on her, his thumb circling her clit, she began trembling from head to toe. He drove his fingers in harder, pumping in and out, and raising her passion to never before experienced heights. She grew slicker with each stroke and could feel the pressure building, coming to a peak.

  “Sean…please…” she cried out, entirely lost in his touch. Her breathing turned into ragged pants, and moisture pebbled on her skin.

  “Is this what you want, sweetheart?” In tune with her body, he pushed his fingers over her sensitive G-spot as he leaned forward to draw her clit back into his mouth. As he greedily pulled her taut bud between his teeth, taking her beyond her wildest fantasies, the world around her tilted. Her muscles clenched around his fingers, and as her body gave in to the powerful sensations, her liquid heat dripped down his hand.

  “Sean…” When she cried out his name, he shot her a glance. His lips curled, pleased.

  “That’s my girl,” he said, and as her body pulsed, he buried his face in deeper to drink in every drop of her cream.

  He stayed between her legs for a long time, and as he licked her, soothing her pussy, his soft tongue began arousing her a second time.

  “Baby, you’re getting wet for me again.”

  “I want you inside me, Sean. I want you to fuck me.”

  “Jesus!” he bit out as he raked his hands through his hair. “You can’t say things like that to me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it makes me crazy, that’s why. And I can barely keep it together as it is.”

  The thought of Sean losing it with her had her blood pulsing hot. “But I really want you to fuck me, Sean. Hard and fast.”

  “Madison, what the hell are you trying to do me?”

  “Wait and see,” she said, toying with him as she threw his words back.

  Her teasing seemed to do something to him. His nostrils flared, desire burned in his eyes. He jumped to his feet and gripped her hips. Breathing ragged, he nudged his cock against her pelvis and his mouth found hers for a hard kiss.

  “Are you going to fuck me now?” she asked.

  He groaned low and deep. “So you want me to lose it then?”

  “Yeah, I do.” She gyrated against him, adding fuel to the flames.

  He let loose a growl, and everything in the way he was looking at her spoke of unchecked desire. Shaky hands pulled a condom from his jeans. A second later he tore open his pants to release his hard-on and sheathed himself.

  Madison gasped as he bent his knees to position the crown at her entrance. In one quick thrust, he drove into her, so deep and so damn hard her breath rushed from her lungs in a whoosh.

  “Yes,” she cried out as he slipped his arms around her to unleash the bindings.

  Once free, she wrapped her hands around his neck and he lifted her clear off the ground. He rammed her against the railing and began pounding into her. Sweat beaded on his body and she could tell he was desperately trying to hang on.

  His hunger was so carnal, so raw, it ignited her blood to near boiling. As heat exploded inside her, she bucked against him, wanting it harder, deeper. They established a rhythm, their bodies joining like they were meant to be together, and Madison took that moment to wonder how she ever thought she could keep her emotions under wrap.

  Not wanting reality to invade upon this fantasy, she pushed that thought aside for the time being and rubbed her nipples against his chest, scraping them over his body as she continued to squeeze her pussy muscles.

  “Baby, please…” he moaned. “You’re killing me here.”

  When she felt a shudder skip through him, her sex clenched harder around his cock and she buried her face in his neck as every nerve in her body came alive. Her loud moan cut through the silence of the night.

  “Fuck,” he cried out as he pumped deep, taking her higher and higher.

  As another orgasm ripped through her, hot cream dripped over his shaft. “So good, Sean. So good.”

  He closed his eyes in distress, and she could tell he was trying to slow down, to help her ride out the waves of ecstasy.

  “I’m going to lose it, baby.”

  “It’s okay. I want you to lose it. I want you to take what you need too, Sean.”

  With that, he grunted out loud and plunged so deep she thought he was going to break the rail at her back and send them both tumbling to the ground.

  He threw his head back and sucked in air, his seed jettisoning inside her. As his body pulsed and throbbed with the hot flow of release, her breath caught in her throat. She gripped his shoulders and tightened her cunt around him to he
lp draw out his orgasm. When his cock stopped spasming, he gave a low growl of satisfaction, and leaned in for a soul-searing kiss, a kiss that was soft, sensuous, less demanding than before but every bit as potent. Madison’s heart missed a beat, but she forced herself to put aside her feelings for him and swallowed the lump climbing into her throat.

  With her legs wrapped around him, he turned and walked to the blanket he’d taken from inside the pub. Still buried inside her, he dropped to his knees, and laid her out on the blanket. Following her down onto the makeshift bed, he kept their bodies joined as one. He caged her between his chest and the rooftop, like he was preventing her from fleeing, and stayed inside her for a long time until they both managed to regulate their breathing.

  It wasn’t until he grew flaccid that he pulled out and rolled beside her. “My God,” he whispered.

  Even though her insides were rattled, she forced a laugh. “Now look who’s praying.”

  His warm chuckle curled around her as he turned to his side and propped himself up on his elbow. “Funny girl,” he murmured, a delicious smile turning up those beautiful lips of his. His whisper lingered in the air then fell over her naked flesh. As it covered her bare body like a comfortable sweater, it created a new intimacy between them, one that warmed her from the inside out.

  Sean trailed a hand over her stomach and brushed along the underside of her breasts. Her body quivered as hunger moved through her—hunger for so much more than just his physical touch.

  As his heat seeped under her skin and wrapped around her heart, her insides clenched. Oh God, what had she been thinking? She couldn’t have sex with a guy like him without feeling some deeper emotion. Understanding she was in very serious trouble here, Madison took a deep breath and worked to harden herself, to keep her emotions out of this scintillating encounter, but everything in the way he cared for her body, made love to her with his mouth, hands and cock, had penetrated her defenses and pulled her into a place she had no business going.

  His hand trailed lower, lingering around her pubic area and his teasing voice interrupted her wanderings. “You were on fire, baby.”

  She turned to him, and when she caught the mischief in his eyes, she knew the fire she had for him would never burn out. She also knew no man had ever taken the time to strip away her layers before, to discover her wants and needs, and go to such lengths to satisfy them. Then again, she’d never slept with a guy like Sean before, either. He might be a playboy, but he’d proven to her that he cared about her pleasures, and her fulfillment was important to him.

  His hand slipped between her legs and he teased her lips open to lightly brush her wet folds. Then his eyes turned dark, serious. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  “Hurt isn’t the word I’d use.”

  “Come here,” he said, chuckling, and pulled her into his arms.

  When she snuggled close, he brushed her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ears. Conscious of her scar, and hating that she was feeling so emotional, she tried to inch away but he held her tight.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, and for a split second she thought she saw emotion in his eyes. But then she took a moment to clear her rattled brain and decipher his words.

  Beautiful?

  Was that something he said to all his girls after sex?

  As that one word bounced around inside her like a pinball, the truth behind it crashed over her like a cold bucket of water and instantly brought an end to this fantasy.

  She wasn’t beautiful. She was scarred and damaged. Nothing like the women he usually slept with.

  Reality came tumbling back in a thud and brought with it a reminder that what had happened between them wasn’t real. Oh no, it wasn’t real at all.

  It was sex—granted, it was amazing sex—but that’s all it was. The physical joining of bodies to sate an ache. Nothing more, nothing less. They weren’t playing for keeps, and when Sean was finally ready to settle down—and someday she was sure he would—he certainly wasn’t going to do it with a girl who had a scar that left her ugly and unlovable.

  Sex was one thing, but love was something else entirely, and it would serve her well to remember that.

  Chapter Four

  As Sean perused the gorgeous woman snuggling in next to him, taking in her dark, expressive eyes, her long silky hair, and the pink flush of her skin after the most incredible sex of his life, his heart did a double beat and he knew he was in a shitload of trouble. Tonight he’d set out to seduce her, not only to get her to open herself up to him, but to discover if sleeping with her would help get her out his system or if it would simply draw her in deeper.

  It didn’t take him long to discover that it was the latter, by far, and contrary to what Carter thought, this wasn’t about wanting what he couldn’t have. Madison was unlike any other girl he’d ever slept with. She was intelligent, real and giving. She cared about his wants and he didn’t for one minute believe she was just in this for her fantasy.

  After making love to her, Sean knew Madison was the kind of woman who deserved it all. And dammit, the second he’d gathered her into his arms, the second his lips had found hers for a soul-searching kiss, it became glaringly apparent that he was the guy who wanted to give it all to her. And not just in the bedroom, or the rooftop. When her body opened for him, and he felt her give herself to him completely, he knew he was in it for the long haul. Without even trying, the sweet and sexy Madison Kelly had squashed his appetite for casual affairs and promptly turned him into a one-woman kind of guy.

  Oh man, Cole was right. He had it bad.

  Sean shifted, and when a pebble pressed into his back, he silently cursed under his breath. Fuck, he really should have found a more romantic spot to take her, but he’d been in such a hurry to get her naked that his brain hadn’t been firing properly. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he went at her like a rutting animal in heat. He really should have slowed down and taken his time with her, despite the fact that she asked for it hard and fast. The truth was, Madison deserved better from him.

  “Sean,” she said, and he heard something in her voice, some unspoken hesitation.

  “Yeah, baby?” As intimacy curled around them, he perused the sexy woman snuggled close.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but when his emotions got the better of him and the words, “You’re so beautiful,” slipped from his lips a second time, her mouth closed and her forehead creased. His eyes moved over her features as he brushed her hair back to expose her face. He leisurely ran his thumb over her eyes, her nose, and her lips before tracing the curve of her right cheek.

  When he brushed along her jaw, panic bloomed on her face and she rolled her shoulder to push his hand away. “You don’t have to say that,” she said, and a second later he felt her pull back, both physically and emotionally. He frowned and tried to draw her back into his arms, but she inched farther and farther away, severing the connection between them. She shook her hair free, and when he felt a shiver move through her, he tried to shift closer, to offer his heat.

  Her body stiffened and that’s when he realized he’d mistaken her shiver. “I uh…I should get back.”

  Sean’s stomach dropped as she widened the gap between them, distancing herself from him on all levels. Perplexed by her sudden mood shift, his mind raced, trying to think what he’d said or done to scare her away. A few minutes ago, in the heat of the moment, she’d readily handed herself over to him, but now, well, now he could feel her closing herself off and searching for an escape.

  What the hell was going on?

  As he took in her body language, and the way she masked her expressive eyes with her hair, he worked to sort things through, to think about what he’d said. He’d merely told her she was beautiful, but that simple word seemed to trigger a reaction from her. He looked at her long and hard, and when she lifted her lids to steal a glance at him, he detected a glimmer of vulnerability in her eyes, and it was that glimmer that spoke volumes.

  When she
angled her head, letting her hair fall over her cheek, his heart slammed against his chest. He briefly closed his eyes and sucked in a tight breath as a theory began forming in his brain.

  As understanding struck harder than a loose fire hose, a noise sounded deep in his throat. Jesus, did she really have no idea how beautiful she was, on the inside and out? Did she really think that scar on her cheek made her unworthy, less desirable—a scar that spoke of strength and courage? Is that why she always kept a safe distance and pretended she didn’t want him? Because she thought her flaws would keep him from wanting her in return? In all ways?

  “Madison,” he said, but before he had a chance to question her, or tell her how wrong she was, his cell phone rang.

  They stared at each other for a moment, then when the faint smell of smoke drifted by on a breeze, Madison’s eyes widened and she said, “You’d better get that.”

  Sean reached into his pocket, grabbed his cell and flipped it open. “Yeah?”

  “Sean, it’s Jim. Can you get down here? We’re short-staffed tonight and we need all the help we can get.”

  “I’m on it.” Knowing Jim wouldn’t call while he was off duty unless they really needed him, Sean snapped his phone shut. While he had so much he wanted to say to Madison, he knew now was neither the time nor place.

  “I have to go.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  He climbed to his feet and grabbed her hands to pull her up with him. When their bodies collided, she pulled away quickly and began rummaging around on the ground, looking for her clothes. After fastening his own pants, Sean found her jeans and held them out to her. When she took them, he caught sight of her ripped panties. Instead of handing them back, he stuffed them into his pocket, gave her a sheepish smile and said, “I’ll replace those.”

  She dressed quickly then slipped into her sandals before gathering the blanket. “No need,” she whispered, looking everywhere and anywhere but at him.

  After they climbed back down the ladder, he turned to her, and when he tried to pull her back into his arms for a kiss, she inched away.