Burns So Bad (Smoke Jumpers) (7 page)

“You forgot to invite someone to
the party,” a throaty voice said from the door.

Hell.
Gia
.

Jack groaned. “When Gia sues for
sexual harassment, I want it duly noted that I had the best of intentions.”

“Me too,” Rio drawled.

She looked hot, and the fact he
knew that probably made him an equal candidate in that lawsuit. Today she’d
gone for urban waif or suburban homeowner on a DIY kick. Her ripped-up jeans were
faded almost white from washing, but she sported the usual pair of steel-toes.Now that he thought about it, last night
at the bar had been the first time he’d seen Gia wear anything other than work
boots or running shoes. He’d liked last night’s cowboy boots. Almost as much as
he liked the white tank top she rocked now. There had been a shower in her
recent past and her hair was slicked back wet. She was sun-bronzed, strong… and
he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. A small smile played around her lips as
she tucked her thumbs in her pocket and she leaned against the doorframe.

“I appreciate the vote of
confidence and the loaner penis, but everything else is nobody’s business.”

Jack didn’t hesitate, but Rio had
never made the mistake of underestimating his brother. “Got it.”

She eyed the pair of them calmly.
“We’re a team, right?”

Jack nodded, still clearly their
self-appointed spokesman. Which was fine, because Rio really had no idea what
to say.

“We are,” Jack said.

“Then no worries.” Gia smiled. “As
far as you’re concerned.”

###

“Come on,” Gia said, spinning on
her feet.

Rio should walk—run—the
other direction. She was team. She was one of them.

She was also
his
.

He had a primal need to mark her,
take her. Learn her from the inside out. He didn’t need a consult with Evan and
Jack to know that he had absolutely no business thinking this way.
Unfortunately, no part of his body—from his head to his
dick—appeared to be on board with the company policy.

Jack elbowed him. “She’s talking to
you. I’m off the hook.”

Rio had no idea why Jack got the
get-out-of-jail-free card here, but damned if he didn’t bound to his feet and
follow her out into the parking lot like a tame puppy. He could practically
hear Jack laughing.

Gia didn’t hesitate. She walked
over straight to her truck and opened the passenger-side door for him. “Get
in.”

She’d clearly been back to Ma’s to
collect her truck. He wasn’t surprised she’d left it there—Gia didn’t do
stupid or irresponsible, and driving after drinking tequila would have
qualified on both counts—but he’d bet she wasn’t happy he’d seen her like
that. Gia didn’t let her guard down often.

He didn’t budge. “Field trip?”

She shot him a look. “We’ll get it
out of our systems.”

He opened his mouth. Closed it. He
definitely needed “it” defined before he put his foot in his mouth.

“Well?” She looked at him
impatiently and jingled her keys. “Are you in or out?”

The way her gaze traveled down his
body and settled on his dick, she wasn’t talking about her passenger-side seat.
Not really.

“We need to talk,” he said weakly.
Christ. Who was the girl here?

She smiled. Slowly. Like she was
humoring him and didn’t care that he knew it. “Okay. Get in. We can talk while
I drive.”

He probably should have asked where
they were going—for all he knew, she planned on driving down to Death
Valley and dumping his ass out on the sand to roast—but he was pretty
much ready to go wherever she wanted. Because, holy Christ, Gia taking charge
was unexpectedly sexy. All that direct bluntness aimed his way and he had an
erection that wasn’t going to quit anytime soon.

Which she knew.

Because she’d checked him out.

He got in the cab while she walked
around and climbed in the driver’s side door. Gia’s truck was a mess, the seats
half-hidden beneath a pile of flannel and an extra pair of steel toes. The
woman also had enough tools to stock a small Home Depot. He shifted the junk so
he could buckle up and got comfortable in the seat.

After tossing her bag on the
backseat—which only added to the organizational carnage when half the
contents spilled out—she hopped in, flipped the key in the ignition and
peeled them out of the parking lot. When she turned on the radio, however, she
surprised him again. She apparently liked the same country crap his brother
liked. Which explained her enthusiasm for last night’s line dancing. She drove
as enthusiastically as she danced too. He’d jumped out of a dozen helicopter
bays with her and watched her wield a chainsaw with cool expertise but he
hadn’t, as far as he could remember, driven with her before.

And Gia drove fast.

Straight up the highway, like a
shot from a gun speeding toward some unseen target.

Hell
.

He white-knuckled the grab bar above
the door. It was just possible she’d mistaken the highway for the Indy 500.
“Are we in a rush?”

Because he had plans for tomorrow
that dying would put a kink in.

“You can drive next time.” She
flicked him a small smile and he had no idea what she meant. But he definitely
liked the idea of her on the back of his Harley. Taking her riding had all
sorts of possibilities.

All too soon, she pulled off and
killed the motor. She didn’t rush into speech, though. No, she sat there,
running a finger over the steering wheel, listening to the ping of the engine
cooling down.

“So,” she said eventually.

“Yeah.” He didn’t know whether she’d
brought him out here to have her wicked way with him, or if she was finally in
the mood for conversation.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and
turned toward him. The foot and a half of black vinyl between them was nowhere
near enough space. Not if she wanted him to keep his hands to himself.

She took a deep breath.

“You need to stop staring at me.”

He wasn’t sure what the right
answer was. Hell. Apparently everyone but him knew he had the hots for her.
Well, he knew too, but what he hadn’t known was that it was written all over
his face. He reached for his seatbelt and punched the release mechanism.

“Let Jack change the jump rotation,”
she suggested.

He shook his head. “That’s not
going to solve this, Gia.”

“Okay.” She inhaled again, like she
was getting ready to clear a forty-foot jump or wrestle sharks barehanded. “I
like jumping with you.” She
probably wasn’t imagining the same verb he was.
Jumping
was clearly a synonym for
fucking
in Rio-land. “I don’t want another partner.”

“Good,” he cleared his throat.

“God.” She stared at him. “You’re
supposed to be good at this.”

“At what?” He definitely felt like
she was having a conversation without him.

She waved a hand impatiently.
“Talking with girls. Seduction. All this romance crap.”

“You want romance crap?”
From me?

She shook her head. “I want sex,
Rio.”

###

“You want sex.” Rio shoved a hand
over his head.

“Guys ask for what they want,” she
pointed out. “And you did grant me the honorary dick and all back there at the
hangar.”

“You want sex,” he repeated. Apparently,
he hadn’t seen that coming, despite kissing her goodnight on her porch. Maybe
that was simply standard Rio operating mode: drive the girl home, kiss her
senseless, retreat before he had to go any further.

“You’re not a guy. If you were, I
wouldn’t feel like this.” He sounded certain. Good to know his interest was
all-female. She didn’t need anymore competition for Rio’s attention.

“So?”

“You really want me to answer a
question like that?” He looked like he was torn between a laugh and a growl. It
was a good look for him.

Her heart sped up a beat looking at
him looking at her and it wasn’t her PSVT kicking in. The conversation she’d
overheard kept replaying in her head, but she’d kind of gone past the point of
no return and that was fine with her.

“Yes,”
he said. “Yes, I want to have sex with you.”

“Are you busy now?” she asked and
he laughed.

“I think you kidnapped me,” he
pointed out. “Did you plan this?”

“Nope.” She opened the truck door
and swung down. “It’s your lucky day. If you get your ass in gear.”

She probably should have planned
ahead, but now she was acting on instinct—and something much, much more
basic. Tiptoeing around Rio wasn’t working out for her. She had a job to do and
she had to be able to concentrate. That was her excuse anyhow, when the truth
was that Rio Donovan was not only gorgeous, but he was lethal to her peace of
mind. She looked at him and she thought about sex.

It was really that simple.

Slamming the door, she marched
around to the back of the truck and lowered the tailgate. One quick shake and
she had a blanket tossed in the bed. “All aboard,” she gesture and Rio laughed
again.

She loved his laugh. The sound was
as warm and bold as the man.

“You’re direct,” he said, but he
came around to her side.

“Is that a problem?”

She told herself she wasn’t holding
her breath.

“Absolutely not. Tell me what you
like in bed and I’m a happy man.”

Their impromptu bed probably didn’t
qualify as romantic, but Rio didn’t want romance and neither did she. When she
looked up, the trees made a green canopy overhead shutting out the sky and the
air was filled with that sleepy summer buzz of insects and God knew what else.
She didn’t care. Right now, she wanted Rio and she’d decided to take what she
wanted so… she’d turned over a new leaf. Got started on the new and improved
her. Hopping up into the truck bed, she patted the space beside her. The moment
felt awkward and yet not. So screw it.

She also wanted to kiss him, so
she’d start there. Clothes could come off later.

“I haven’t had sex in a truck since
I was in high school.” He dropped down onto the truck bed beside her. “I could be
rusty.”

She wasn’t worried. “Just shut up and
kiss me.”

He
pulled her onto his lap so that her legs straddled his hips, her groin notched
against his. When she stretched, there was no missing the heat or the strength
of him. Or the way his fingers curled over her hips. She rocked slightly and he
groaned.

“This
needs to take more than five minutes, Gia.”

She
grinned. “You have a reputation to live up to, hotshot. I’m expecting way more
than five minutes.”

He
shook his head. “You’re a tough customer.”

He
leaned up and his mouth captured hers, gentle but inexorable. His lips brushed
against hers like he was tasting her. Slow with the sweet promise of more, when
she wanted the speed and the heat, the pure adrenaline rush of Rio Donovan.

“I’m
sorry you overheard my conversation with Jack,” he whispered.

“Make
it up to me.”

“I
promise.” He kissed her again, harder and deeper, wrapping himself around her
and pulling her down onto his body. The last time she’d been this close to him
they’d been falling a hundred miles an hour toward the ground. She didn’t know
where they were headed in such a rush this time, but it felt right. He explored
her mouth and somewhere, somehow, their kiss changed. Became more. Her hands
slid up his arms, locking behind his neck and pulling him to her as she met him
touch for touch in a blaze of sweet heat that threatened to spiral out of his
control.

Good. God
.

Rio’s
mouth was perfect. She opened for him, angling her face so he could stroke deeper,
and he did. She broke away, panting.

She
wanted
more
.

More
kisses, more tongue, more Rio.

Reaching out, she tugged on the hem
of his T-shirt. “You’re taking too long.”

Her
fingers slid beneath the edge, finding hot, masculine skin. God. He felt
incredible. Her fingers moved lower, bumped against the hot tip of his
erection, and he sucked in a breath.

“I
take it you believe in providing incentives,” he said dryly and hauled the
T-shirt over his head.
Definitely
her lucky day
. His stomach was all hard, sculpted ridges, and she didn’t know whether to
look first or go straight to the touching-and-licking portion of the day’s agenda.
He wasn’t waiting for her to decide, however, because his hands went to the
waistband of his jeans. Unsnapped, unzipped and then shoved the denim down his
thighs. Her throat went dry.

Sweet
Jesus. He went commando. That figured. He was also sporting one hell of an
erection. Thick and veined, his fully erect penis had her reaching for him. She
was
so
done being hands-off.

“My
turn,” he said, and she heard the sensual warning loud and clear in his voice.

Thank
God.

She
reached for her boots, unlaced and toed them off before flopping on her back, giddy
with relief. This was going to work. He wanted her. She wanted him. The giggle
that worked its way out of her throat surprised them both. Who knew having Rio
could be both sexy
and
fun?

He
pounced, wrapping a sun-bronzed arm around her waist and taking her down. She hit
the blanket, and he swung himself over her, his knees parting her thighs as his
chest and shoulders blocked out her view of the sky. Trapped. In the best
possible way.

“You
still have too many clothes on,” he growled.

He
kissed her, and who knew just kisses could make her so hot? His lips rubbed and
pressed, his mouth slanting deliciously over hers as he devoured her like she
was his favorite flavor. She didn’t want to close her eyes because the fierce
concentration on his face as he penetrated her mouth made the erotic burn build
and build, but the sensations were so good, and she was lost, lost, lost in
him.