Authors: Jennifer Bernard

How to Tame a Wild Fireman (32 page)

Her knees very nearly gave way beneath her. “What are you saying?”

He gripped her chin so she couldn’t look away. “If we could go inside, I could show you.” Those fierce blue eyes promised bliss beyond imagining. “But it comes down to this. I love you. I want you. I trust you more than anyone I know. I admire you. I respect you. And I can’t keep my hands off you. To me, that adds up to spending my life with you. But if you aren’t there yet, I’ll wait. Not patiently, though. I’ll be the kid in the backseat going, ‘Are we there yet, are we there yet?’ ”

A smile spread across her face. It felt so deliriously good to be with him again. The passion and love in his eyes had the power to make her cry if she let it. She fought back the tears, needing to get a few things settled first.

“What about that? Kids, I mean.”

Sheer emotion flashed across his face. “I’m for them.”

“They make things kind of crazy and chaotic.”

He shot her that vital, megawatt, daring grin. “Yeah. Just the way I like it.”

She surrendered to that magnetic pull, losing herself in the vivid light of his eyes. They made her think of the sunlight dancing on the waves in Mexico, the endless horizon promising all the wonders of the world. Complete, absolute love swamped her.

“We can probably handle it.”

“Honey, I’m pretty sure if I’m with you, I can handle anything.”

And then she was in his arms and she knew with every particle of her being that everything was going to be all right.

“I love you
too,” she told him, after they’d made it to the bedroom, stripped naked, and attacked each other like hungry wildcats. “I told you so in the hospital.”

“You mean when I was unconscious.”

She giggled in a way that made her seem sixteen again. “I might not be as brave as you seem to believe. I think I’m the one in the habit of running, not you. But I’m not doing that anymore.”

“Oh, you’re brave, all right,” he said. “You think being with me isn’t brave? You have the heart of a lion, my sweetest love.”

The endearment made her glow. Patrick made a mental note to say sweet words more often, just so he could enjoy the tender curve of her lips. She ran her foot up and down his shin. He exulted in the feel of her bare skin against his.

“I should probably mention that I’m going back to Loveless. I’m going to turn the Haven into a women’s health clinic.”

He gave a soundless whistle. “Now that
is
brave.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how it’s going to work out. The town can use a clinic like that, but it’s still a risk. A lot of people still hate the Haven and everything to do with it.”

“Not a lot. Might be a few diehards, but they’ll get over it. And if they say anything, they’ll have to deal with me. I intend to wield the Callahan name like a sword. Might as well do some good with it.”

“But you . . . you aren’t going to be in Loveless, are you?”

“Oh, I’ll be there, especially if you are. There’s a hotshot crew based in Nevada. I’m pretty sure I can get a spot on it. Hotshot crews travel a lot during wildfire season. But when I come home, I promise I’ll make up for lost time.”

“Are you really okay with leaving San Gabriel?”

“Yeah. It’s time. The family needs me. Mom’s going to need help with Big Dog, and it’s not fair to dump it all on Megan. I might even try to convince Liam to visit now and then. I’ll still get my adrenaline fix when wildfire season rolls around.”

She was doing something with her hands, some maddening, muscle-tracing, chest-hair-curling thing. It made his train of thought go right off the rails.

In a sudden move, he crouched over her and pinned her arms to the bed. “You know what a hotshot crew is?”

“Whatever it is, it sounds like you’ll fit right in.” She sounded a little breathless.

As he spoke, he kissed his way down her delectable throat. “They’re elite, specially trained, very physically fit firefighters who tackle the most dangerous,” he tugged her nipple with his mouth, “hottest part of the fire.”

“The hottest part?” She wrapped her hand around his cock. He closed his eyes at the sheer delight of her touch.

“Yes, the fastest-moving, most dangerous, hottest part. It’s called the ‘head.’ ”

She burst out laughing and moved her hand along the length of his shaft. “You’re joking, right?”

Smiling through his blood-pounding arousal, Patrick wondered if it was always going to be this way with them—laughter mixed with ferocious want. And underneath it all, bone-deep happiness.

Suddenly overcome, he dropped his forehead to touch hers. “You’re the love of my life, you know that?” he whispered.

A tear ran down her cheek, then another. She didn’t try to hide them or wipe them away. She let them flow. During all the things she’d been through—being a misfit in Loveless, Liam’s accident, the barn fire, even getting sick in Mexico—he’d never seen her cry. Tenderly, he used his thumb to absorb her tears.

“Don’t be sad,” he murmured.

“I’m not. I’m just too happy not to cry.”

“That might be a problem.” He ran his hand possessively down her torso, to the heat below. “Because I intend to make you so happy, you might never stop crying.”

She gave a gurgle of laughter. His toes curled. “Show me.”

“It’s going to take a while.”

“We have a saying at the Haven. ‘The longest journey starts with a single stroke.’ ” She lifted her hips to guide him into her entrance, where the hottest part of the fire awaited.

“Goddesses know best.” And he sank into her, sank into the rest of his life . . . sank into home.

About the Author

Jennifer Bernard
is a graduate of Harvard and a former news promo producer. The child of academics, she confounded her family by preferring romance novels to . . . well, any other books. She left big city life for true love in Alaska, where she now lives with her husband and stepdaughters. She’s no stranger to book success, as she also writes erotic novels under a naughty secret name not to be mentioned at family gatherings.

Visit www.JennyBernard.net.

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Romances by Jennifer Bernard

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An E-Book Original from Avon Impulse

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This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

HOW TO TA
ME A WILD FIREMAN
. Copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Bernard. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Epub Edition OCTOBER 2013 ISBN: 9780062273666

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062273659

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