Flaming Desire - Part 3 (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (3 page)

It was pitch black inside the tent, the sound of snoring all around us. His lips touched mine. I clung to him as if desperate for his touch, which I was. I returned his kiss with as much passion as I could. The passion of survival. The passion of life. The passion and overwhelming desire for him to touch me, to hold me close.

I clung to him. We were both dirty and disheveled, and we smelled of dirt, smoke and sweat, but it didn’t matter. In a matter of moments, he climbed out of his sleeping bag and joined me in mine. Feeling his body so close to mine made me feel instantly alive, alert, and filled with a burning desire to take him deep inside of me. We kissed, our tongues tangling as I entwined my legs around his. I wanted the feeling of close skin-to-skin contact, but we were surrounded by sleeping men.

This wasn’t right. I shouldn’t be doing this. I blew out a breath. At the same time, I couldn’t deny my desire. My pussy throbbed with an ache for his strokes that wouldn’t be assuaged. My breast tingled, hardened, and demanded his gentle touch. We both tried to be quiet, knew that we had to be. In a matter of seconds, one of his hands had made its way underneath my shirt. My fingers unbuttoned the buttons of his camo pants and I slipped my hand inside, grabbing his hard erection. So soft and velvety on the outside, the skin sliding softly beneath my fingers, while underneath was nothing but hard, pulsing muscle. In seconds, thick veins trailed down the surface of his shaft.

In the next moment, his hand left my breast and his fingers were unbuttoning my pants. Then his warm fingers separated my lips, stroked for a few seconds, and then, feeling wetness, his middle finger delved deep inside my slit. This thumb circled my clitoris. Our lips never parted. My hand stroked his hard cock up and down in a smooth, firm motion, my thumb occasionally caressing its wet tip. At the same time, his palm cupped my pussy, rubbing gently against my clitoris while his finger mimicked the movements of what his penis would be doing if we’d been able to assume a better position.

Our hips thrust against each other as we rocked to the throes of our passion. I ran a finger up the length of one of the thick veins threading its way along his shaft. His cock reacted like a magnet. His finger plunged as deep as he could make it, and my hips rocked forward, trying to encourage him deeper. Occasionally, his thumb circled my clitoris, and then pressed, then circled again. I felt like I was dry humping his hand, except I wasn’t dry at all. I was wet with passion.

I tried to shift my legs so that his finger could reach deeper inside me. My hand left his shaft for just a moment and I reached down further, cupping his balls. They felt firm underneath my fingers as I manipulated them like a couple of giant marbles. Once again, my hand grabbed his cock, and as the throes of passion encompassed every part of my being, I tried not to grip him too hard. As my hand stroked faster and my hips rocked harder, I also felt the urge and thrust of his own.

It took every fiber of my being not to make any noise. His lips never left mine while his tongue probed deeply in my mouth and my tongue tangled with his. It was as close as we were going to get, and I took definite advantage. The feelings he invoked in me were just as powerful, just as intense as if he had been sucking on my pussy. Just thinking about it made me wet and slippery. His finger moved in and out smoothly. The faster my hips rocked, the more firmly he pressed his palm against that most sensitive part of me.

In a matter of seconds, I felt myself come, and I had to hold my breath as everything flashed white and the waves of my orgasm swept through me, causing my body to arch and contract in rhythmic motion. I felt his release as well, the surge of semen as it pulsed its way up his cock, and then squirted out, warm and thick onto the inside of my forearm.

Both of us breathed hard, but with our faces pressed into each other’s shoulders, we remained silent, our hearts pounding, our chests heaving. Perhaps some of the passion and excitement I felt was because of exactly where we were, and who surrounded us. It made our coupling even more dangerous, more risky, more sensual and exciting. Despite the fact that I hadn’t felt his cock inside me, I wouldn’t take it back for anything.

Finally, as my heartbeat returned to normal, he lifted himself away from me. He pulled his dirty T-shirt up over his head and used it to wipe the traces of semen off my arm with the bottom of his shirt.

Without a word, and with one last kiss, he returned to his own sleeping bag. My body still thrummed with the aftereffects of his skills. I felt myself grow lethargic, relaxed, and in a matter of seconds, I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The second day on the fire line was much like the first. The fire had not crested the ridge yet, but it was expected to, especially if the wind kicked up again today. Sighing, I realized the fire line I had worked on yesterday would be the same fire line I worked on today.

First, the break looked like a trail chopped out of the depths of the wilderness. Today, it looked wider and I knew that if everything went well, a bulldozer would soon be able to make its way through—at least halfway up the slope. After that, it was doubtful. Too many rocks. Too many trees. Too steep.

I began to get into a routine. Matt and I worked fairly close together, but since this morning, I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him. In fact, none of us did very much talking. As the morning wore on, with the firefighters shifting position on the line, Matt eventually ended up near the head of the line, halfway up the slope, while I was still down at the bottom. When I glanced at the firefighter about six feet from me, I recognized Sam.

She looked at me at the same time and we both nodded a greeting. Again I wondered how well Matt knew her, and if they were just friends that saw each other occasionally, or something more. Perhaps they had a history. However, I noticed as the hours went on, that Sam glanced at me more frequently. I began to wonder if I was falling behind, but no, I was keeping up the line.

Finally, during a brief break, the bottom half of our fire line paused and switched out with a fresh crew. Tired and exhausted, hoping to get something to eat, I joined Sam and a few others as we climbed into the crew truck after our replacements arrived. We bounced our way back to base camp. Sam sat next to me in the truck, the seats almost exactly like those that I had ridden on the school bus in my youth.

“Hopefully, the cook crew will have something warm for us to eat,” Sam said.

I nodded in agreement. At this point though, I didn’t care whether the meal was hot or cold. “I’d take a sandwich and a coke if that’s all they’ve got,” I said.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“Santa Fe. You?”

“Seattle.”

I couldn’t help myself. “How long have you known Matt?”

She shrugged. “About five or six years now,” she said, her gaze lingering out the window. She was looking up at the mountain. “We’d better get a handle on our section today, or we’re going to have to reposition.”

I followed her gaze and saw the flames topping another nearby rise. I nodded in agreement. “How long have you been a Hotshot?”

“About four years,” she said. “The Northwest division. How about you?”

“About the same,” I said, smiling. “I bounce around. Matt told me that his crew was short a person, so he invited me aboard.”

“The more the merrier,” Sam said and turned to me more fully. She stuck out her hand. “Allow me to introduce myself properly. I’m Samantha Reynolds.”

I smiled and extended my hand as well. “I’m Jessica Landers, but as I told you before, Matt insists on calling me Jesse.”

She laughed. “That’s right. He has a penchant for that. Since the moment I introduced myself to him, I’ve been Sam.”

I had to smile at that. I wondered about her, and I could imagine by the assessing looks she gave me that she wondered about my own relationship with Matt. As we neared the base camp, she finally asked. I was glad she did, because I wasn’t about to.

“How did you meet Matt?”

The crew truck came to a halt and the doors opened. I rose from the seat and stepped out, with Sam close behind. We walked together toward the mobile kitchen trailer. “I work at Santa Fe General Hospital as an ER nurse,” I explained. “Matt just came down, transferring from Sacramento. So actually, I’ve known him for about a week.”

We stepped up to the mobile kitchen, where several volunteers were handing out metal trays. Cold cheese sandwiches, an apple or an orange, a bag of chips, and either Coke, water, or coffee.

My throat was scratchy and dry so I opted for the Coke. I still had water in my canteen. Sam did the same and then we walked together to the covered tent with the tables. We sat down and began to eat. After swallowing a couple bites of sandwich, I continued our conversation. “What about you? Where did you meet Matt?”

“Up in Seattle,” she said, opening her bag of chips. “His wife and I were best friends in high school—”

“Matt has a wife?” I asked, stunned. I nearly choked on a chunk of cheese I had pulled from the sandwich. What the hell? Why hadn’t he said anything about—?

“Had,” she said. She said nothing for a moment, but began to pull one potato chip after another out of the bag, chewing thoughtfully as she consumed each one.

I wanted to ask her questions, but didn’t want to seem too curious or forward. Finally, when Sam had finished off the bag of chips, she popped open her can of Coke and took a deep sip. Then she looked at me.

“Matt’s wife and little boy died a few years ago in a car accident.”

I froze. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. Matt had a wife and child? They were both dead? In a car accident? How horrible. I supposed my eyes expressed my shock, because Sam spoke up.

“You didn’t know.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. I shook my head. I glanced down at the other half of my cheese sandwich, but I had lost my appetite. Still, I knew this was all I’d get to eat for who knew how long, so I had to choke it down. I took another bite.

“Not surprising,” Sam said. “He doesn’t talk about it. It hit him pretty hard though, naturally. After the accident and then the funerals, he left Washington and headed to California. I tried to keep in touch with him over the years, but he’s pretty much made himself a loner. I knew he was working in the ICU in Sacramento, but I had no idea he’d moved again, down to New Mexico.”

“I didn’t know that much about him,” I said. “He told me he was born in Colorado Springs, so I just assumed he came from there.”

“He did, but his wife, Tracy, came from Seattle. They met at Denver University. They fell fast and hard for each other, were married within six months, and then before I knew it, bang, they were pregnant.” Sam paused a moment, sipping her Coke, gazing out the tent opening.

I felt nothing but shock. Not that I expected Matt to divulge everything from his history, but I pretty much had, hadn’t I? To know that Matt also shared tragedy in his past overwhelmed me. I knew how much comfort Matt had been able to give me, but if Matt said nothing to me about his own pain, loss, and heartache, how could I reciprocate?

“I was really happy to have Tracy back in Seattle,” Sam continued. “At the time I was still married, and Tracy and Matt, myself and my ex-husband would hang out together on weekends, have barbecues, you know, the whole domestic thing.”

I nodded, although I had no idea what “the whole domestic thing” entailed. My mind was still reeling with the fact that Matt had not only been married, but also had a child. They were both dead. I wanted to know more, but at the same time, I wished I didn’t know anything.

“Matt was at work at the hospital up in Seattle. At the time he worked in the emergency department. I worked there too, but not in the ER. I worked up in pediatrics. Anyway, one day I heard that two accident victims were coming in—a mother and a small child, a two-year-old.” She paused. “They were both in bad shape. I went down with a pediatric surgeon, couldn’t believe it when I recognized Benjamin lying on the table in the ER.”

Benjamin. Matt’s little son? “Oh my God, that must’ve been horrible for you.” I couldn’t imagine. I couldn’t imagine how devastating it must’ve been for Matt.

“Matt was standing there, at the head of the gurney, holding his little boy’s hand, working the Ambu bag, tears streaming down his cheeks.” She shook her head, her eyes glistening with the sheen of tears. “God, it was the most heart-wrenching sight…”

I stared at her in dismay. Matt had been there when they brought in his little boy?

“I looked in the next bay and there was Tracy. It was obvious she was already gone.” She shook her head ruefully. “She was gone by the time they got her to the hospital. Benjamin was in critical condition. They whisked him up to surgery and after he made it through that into the ICU. The poor kid managed to hang on for a couple of days, but his little body couldn’t withstand the injuries.”

Sam blinked rapidly, brushing at the tears that ran down her dirt-streaked face. I also felt the burn of tears in my eyes. My heart thudded dully. I knew what it was like to watch loved ones die. Yet another commonality that Matt and I shared, sadly enough. That was the kind of commonality I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. My heart ached for him. Sam took another sip of her Coke and looked at me.

“You seem to care about him,” she said.

Again, it was a statement. Not a question. I nodded.

“After the accident, Matt took chances, reckless chances. For a while, I wondered if he had a death wish. He struggled with survivor’s guilt for a long time. He had always taken good care of himself, but he let himself go. Even started drinking. About six months after the accident, he quit his job at Seattle Hospital. It was then that my ex-husband went to have a talk with him. It must’ve done some good, and I still don’t know what my ex told him, but Matt quit drinking and went to see a shrink for a while.”

I finished my sandwich, though it seemed to settle in a congealed lump in the pit of my stomach as Sam told Matt’s story.

“A few months later, he sold the house, and then came over, looking pretty much like he does now, and told us that he was moving to California to start over. He couldn’t bear living in Seattle anymore. Too many memories.”

I understood that. Well. I had been relieved that my aunt and uncle, who had taken me in right after the fire that devastated my family, lived a couple of towns away. My grandparents lived even farther. Since the night of the fire, I had never gone back to the old neighborhood. Never wanted to.

“He looks good now,” Sam commented.

“He’s an excellent nurse,” I said. “Extremely competent, compassionate, and he certainly knows his stuff.”

“And you said he’s working in the emergency room department down in Santa Fe?”

“Well he was, until we came up. He arrived last week and I was serving as his mentor, just until he gets familiar with the facility. Whether he decides to stay in the ER or go up to ICU or another department is up to him.”

“Well, just the fact that he opted for an emergency department slot says a lot about how far he’s come. I’m glad.” Sam shook her head, finishing off the last of her Coke. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him. Maybe we can catch up at some point, but with this, it’s hard to say,” she said, gesturing to the fire.

I agreed, shoving the apple in my pocket.

Sam smiled. “Matt turned into quite the philanthropist after the accident,” she said, lifting her tray from the table and taking it to the trash bin where she emptied the paper plates into it and then stacked the tray on top of the others.

I followed suit. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?” I asked, curious. Looking outside, I saw the hustle of people hurrying back and forth in the base camp, a group of men huddled around the maps mounted on the command post trailer. I glanced back at Sam and she seemed hesitant now, as if she had said something she shouldn’t have. I think I knew what she was going to say, or had meant to say before she changed her mind.

“You mean about him being rich?” I asked.

She sighed with relief. “Oh, you know.”

I shook my head. “Not really,” I explained. “We did ride-alongs as part of the hospital mentoring program, with the group of paramedics and firemen.” I shrugged. “One of them thought he recognized Matt from a magazine article. Said something about him being a billionaire. I didn’t know what to think of it… thought for sure he was confusing Matt with someone else.”

Sam shook her head. “He wasn’t. Matt’s a billionaire, many times over.”

I wasn’t surprised, but at the same time, I was. Once again I wondered what the hell he was doing working in an emergency room, an ICU, becoming a fireman, a Hotshot. All of it.

“You’re wondering why he does what he does.”

Again, it wasn’t a question, but a statement. Sam had an odd way of talking like that. I responded just as bluntly. “Yes. Do you know why?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Matt’s always been something of an enigma to all of us. All I know about his family is that he comes from Colorado. Apparently, his great-grandfather, or something like that, made a bunch of money in silver mines back in the 1800s. That’s how the family got most of their money. The rest of it came from careful investments.”

I didn’t know what to say. What could I say?

I had to admit that I was a little disappointed that Matt hadn’t shared something of his past with me, especially after I had pretty much bared my own emotions and literally my soul after sharing the tale of my own tragedy. Didn’t he trust me? Then again, he didn’t owe me anything, and I didn’t owe him anything. We weren’t even in a relationship, per se. While I considered us friends, maybe he felt differently. It made me wonder.

The break over, Sam and I returned to the fire line along our section of the mountainside. As I replaced one of the people on the fire line, I saw Matt climb into the crew truck with several others to take his break. I waved at him, but I don’t think he saw me. If he did, he didn’t respond. I don’t know how long he was gone, but I wasn’t really paying attention anymore.