Burns So Bad (Smoke Jumpers) (6 page)

The key snicked in the lock and he
opened the door with a flick of his wrist. “Gia? You might prefer sleeping
inside.” A grin tugged the corner of his mouth. “As opposed to on the porch.”

When he smiled, she wanted to run
her tongue over his bottom lip until he moaned.
Bad libido
.

“I’m not ready for bed,” she said
and placed her hand on his chest.

He looked shocked—and that
made her giggle. And move closer. She could feel the hard pounding of his heart
trapped beneath her palm. “A man with your kind of reputation shouldn’t be so
easy to shock. I’m disappointed.”

“Can’t have that,” he drawled.
Bracing one hand against the doorframe, he snaked the other hand around her
waist and drew her towards him.

###

Rio tightened his arm around Gia’s
waist and swung her into the shadows. They weren’t entirely alone—no one
ever was at base camp—but darkness created an illusion of privacy.

Arousal
or tequila had pink flushing her cheekbones, and when she shifted her head, her
chopped-off hair brushed the line of her jaw the way he wanted to.

“I’m
kissing you now,” he warned. To hell with what he should or shouldn’t do. This
was just a kiss and one kiss couldn’t possibly hurt.

And
he was the king of rationalization.

“It’s
about time.” She grinned and leaned back against the cabin.

He
wanted her leaning into him, wanted her begging for more, so he gently thumbed
the blouse away from the smooth skin of her shoulder. The soft fabric snagged
on his calloused fingers then fell away.
Hell
yeah.
He cupped her tanned shoulders and pulled her towards him, done
waiting.

She
deserved sweet, but he didn’t give it to her. No, he pulled her right up
against him and wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her there. The move
pressed her breasts against his shirt and, even through the layers of clothing
separating them, he could feel her.

Her nipples were hard. That was the
one coherent thought left in his brain as he covered her mouth with his. She
wanted him. And he could take advantage of that. He brushed his lips over hers,
capturing her small gasp.

“See?” He whispered the question
against the corner of her mouth. “Kissing.”

Her response was half-sigh,
half-gasp, which he decided was all permission. He threaded a hand through her
hair, tilting her head back. And kissed her. A raw, hot, possessive kiss. He
thrust his tongue into her mouth, familiarizing himself with the taste of her.
He kissed her thoroughly, leaving nowhere untouched, and she moaned, opening
wider, letting him take her mouth so completely, he wasn’t sure where he ended
and she began. His own heated response shouldn’t have been a
surprise—hell, he’d started this and had the hard-on to prove
it—but at some point their kiss stopped being an exercise in sensual dominance
and became something
more
. Something
he had no intention of stopping because, Christ, Gia Jackson could kiss.

###

Rio lifted his head and she wanted
to groan in protest. To draw him back to her, but he had
that look
on his face. The one that said he wanted to do some more
talking instead of more kissing.

“I don’t play nice in bed.” His
eyes didn’t move from her face as he warned her, and yet she felt undressed.
Naked
.

“Maybe
I don’t mind.” Leaning forward, she curled her fingers around his right arm. He
had powerful biceps, probably from all that sailing he did. In fact, there was
nothing soft about him, just a strangely attractive masculine power leashed
beneath the skin. He could do whatever he wanted and she wouldn’t be able to
stop him. That should have scared the piss out of her because she wasn’t ready
for his kind of sexual games. But this was Rio. When push came to shove, he’d
always do the right thing—and doing the right thing meant not hurting
her. She believed that with everything she had.

“You
should.” One hand braced against
her door, he leaned into her. Now even going forward wasn’t an option. She was
going to stay put until he let her go. “You should turn around, go
inside and lock that door. Otherwise, I’ll be coming after you. I’ll have you
naked and underneath me so fast, you won’t have time for regrets.”

Right
now her only regret was that she’d decided he was off-limits for tonight.

“Maybe
I don’t want to play nice,” she said, echoing his earlier words, and tugged him
towards her. She knew her lips
were swollen and damp from his touch, but the erection punching the front of
his jeans promised he wanted more of her.

Instead,
he stepped back. Suddenly, she had all the options in the world. Left, right,
forward or backward. She had her pick, and all she wanted was Rio.

“Go
inside, Gia. Dream of me,” he growled, tracing her lips with a finger. “You
want us to stay professional, it’s up to you, because I’m warning you right now
I plan on doing everything I can to make you want me, sweetheart. The next time
I hold you, I’m taking what
I
want.”

Got it.

She leaned up and brushed his lips
with hers. “Good night, hotshot.”

###

Rio spent the night
not
sleeping, so he was a cranky ass
bastard the next morning and he knew it. After Gia had gone inside, he’d gotten
back into his truck—reluctantly—and driven the short distance to
his own place. Too much tequila for her, too much Gia for him. Unfortunately,
he wanted more and that was a problem.

She was on his jump team for
Christ’s sake.

Now, pulling up at the hangar to
kick off the workday, he parked the truck harder than he needed to. Spitting
gravel was vaguely satisfying, but a ten-mile run was just what the doctor had
ordered to shake things straight in his head. Or his dick. Grabbing his duffel, he strode inside.

His dick was definitely the
problem.

Jack was just stepping out of their
makeshift office holding the week’s jump list. Slipping up behind his brother
was child’s play. Jack got in the zone when he was working and backing a Mack
truck into the hangar probably wouldn’t have broken his concentration as he
pinned up the list. Sure enough, Jack clearly hadn’t heard him coming, because
he jumped when Rio’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“Son of a bitch.” Jack slapped at
Rio’s hand. “You’ve got to stop with that Ninja stuff. You’re taking years off
my life.”

It wasn’t his fault his brother’s
ears weren’t what they should be. Or that he was possibly walking around in a
daze of happy love and sex. Reuniting with Lily Cortez had been good for Jack.
Rio liked the spark of happiness he saw in his eyes. God knew, the Donovans had
gotten a rough start in life. They’d formed their own family as young boys lost
in the foster care system, eking out a few rough years on the streets before
they’d landed with Nonna. Nonna had been their first happy ending, taking the
three boys under her wing and raising them with love. Now, it looked like both
Jack and Evan had found second happy endings with the women they loved.

Which was great.

Rio was happy for them.

He just had no intention of joining
them on the monogamy and marriage train. So he looked over his brother’s
shoulder, trying to read the list, and shrugged.

“You should listen better,” he
said.

“Right.” Jack speared the
eight-by-eleven with a red thumbtack. “I’ll get right on that. Or you could try
scuffing your feet.”

They had this conversation
regularly. Jack would complain about Rio’s super stealth skills. Rio would
dodge the underlying question and counter with his own slurs at Jack’s hearing
and general agility. On the best days, their bickering degenerated into an
impromptu wrestling match.

So, no, he wasn’t answering the
unspoken question. Jack didn’t need to know where Rio had spent the years Jack
had been working for the U.S. military. Not only would that have violated
several direct military orders that he didn’t give a crap about, but it would
have dragged Jack into the dark world of covert ops. There was no reason to
share the ugly memories.

Erasing
them would have been first on his to do list but, since that wasn’t possible,
he atoned when and where he could. Drugs ripped apart families and destroyed
lives firsthand—so when his country had asked him to step up and take
part in a war on drugs, he’d been all in. He
couldn’t
walk away from that fight because he knew firsthand what
happened when that product left the site in Colombia, or Mexico or Humboldt,
California. A match might take care of the immediate problem, but the growers
always rebuilt elsewhere and the pipeline was still in place. So Uncle Sam had
taught him how to go in and take care of the problem.

Permanently.

There was no reason to
share ugly memories with Jack, especially when knowing just a few of the
details were dangerous enough to get a guy killed. Needing a distraction, he
examined the list pinned to the board. Despite being one of the team owners, he
didn’t get into the daily ops stuff. That was Jack’s bailiwick and his brother
was a logistics wizard, which meant this week’s jump list was a surprise.

He
scanned it twice just to be certain. Jack hadn’t paired him with Gia. That was
definitely a mistake.

When Jack tried to slip by him, he body
checked him against the wall.

“You’ve got a typo on your list.”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t think
so.”

“I jump with Gia.”

“Not this week.” Jack twisted,
almost breaking free, so Rio stuck out a foot and tripped him.

Hitting the floor hard, Jack hooked
an arm around Rio’s throat. Rio rolled, pinning Jack beneath him. Checkmate.

“Every week,” he said.

“Rio—” The warning in Jack’s
voice was clear.

“Do you have a problem with my
jumping with Gia? She saved my life. She’s damned good at her job.”

“She is.” Jack rolled, breaking
free, his left foot clipping the back of Rio’s knees.

“So I want to jump with her.”

“That’s not what you
want
,” Jack said. Rio considered the
implications of punching his brother. Friendly wrestling on the floor of the
hangar was one thing. Bruises were another. For one, they’d have to explain
bruises to Nonna and then there would definitely be hell to pay.

Rio settled for a few minutes of
hand-to-hand, wrestling with Jack until long minutes later they broke apart
panting.

“I’ve still got it,” Jack said with
satisfaction, letting his head thump against the floor.

“Go again?” Rio wasn’t entirely
sure he could lift his head, but he wouldn’t give Jack the satisfaction of
admitting that.

“Sure.” Jack flopped an arm weakly
to the side. “Christ. You killed me. And I need my energy.”

“For Lily.”

Jack grinned. “Absolutely. You have
any idea how much planning goes into a wedding?”

He had absolutely zero desire to
know. “You asked her,” he pointed out. “Weddings are a definite side effect of
engagement rings.”

“She’s worth it.” Jack sighed
happily. “If she wants the whole big white dress and church thing, she gets
it.”

The new rules in Jack’s universe
were simple. What Lily wanted, Lily got. In exchange, Jack got Lily. From the
besotted look on Jack’s face, his brother thought he’d got the best of the
bargain. As long as Lily made Jack happy, Rio would welcome her into their family.
Or try, he admitted. It had been him and his brothers and Nonna for so long
that letting some else in close seemed strange.

Okay. Worse than strange.
Completely wrong.

But he’d figure out how to do it
before the July wedding or how to fake it, because Jack and Lily were now a
package deal and he wasn’t losing his brother.

“She’s
going to want kids,” he said.

The
thoughtful look on Jack’s face should have warned him, but his brother’s next
words floored him. “I’m not opposed.” Jack grinned. “Making kids is good too.
The family’s getting bigger, Rio.”

Best of luck with that. Rio
couldn’t imagine having a kid of his own. Ever. He wouldn’t have the first idea
of how to be a dad. So instead he circled back to
his
problem.

“I want to jump with Gia,” he repeated.

Jack turned his head toward him and
cracked an eye. “I know, but I’ve got a problem with that. The way you look at
her isn’t professional.”

He knew how he looked at her. Like
he wanted to eat her up. He didn’t particularly like feeling this way, but he
couldn’t
not
jump with her either. If
that was the only way he could get close to her, touch her, he’d take it. He
was almost as pathetic as Jack.

“I haven’t touched her.” Kissing,
he decided, didn’t count. Not really. He certainly hadn’t done everything he
wanted to, and it had been a one-time aberration due to too much tequila on her
part followed by slow dancing. “She’s my teammate, Jack. My jump partner.”

Jack looked pained. “Is that
all
she is? Tell me you don’t want to
get horizontal with her.”

Having a conversation about this
was not something he wanted to do. “She’s on the team. That makes her
off-limits. You don’t have to tell me that because I’m not five. I understand
the rules.”

“It’s harder for her. She’s jumping
with the guys. We all pretend she gets an honorary dick with her chute, but at
the end of the day she’s a girl. If you look at her and see breasts, what stops
the next guy on the team from doing the same?”

“Newsflash,” Rio growled. “Most
workplaces are co-ed these days and you don’t see the employees going at it
like bunnies. It doesn’t matter whether Gia’s male or female. She can jump and
she can do the job. When I go out the plane, I trust her to have my back. I
think she proved she can handle it. Change the list.”

Jack closed his eyes and let his
head thump against the floor. “This won’t end well.”