All in my head.
Ripping off his mask, he shared his oxygen, holding his breath as he made for the door with the child in his arms.
“This is Corey from East Street. We’ve got one victim and are heading out.”
Jagger placed his mask over his face and gulped for air. “A child about fifty pounds,” Jagger announced, hoping like hell they already had the other victim to safety. He hadn’t been paying close attention to the constant chatter in his ear.
Gabriel had called the room they were in the womb. The quiet part of the house. In the rest of the space, fire was eating everything in its path. Whoever found the other victim might not be dragging out a live person.
“Wally here. Found a female. Story 2. We need a ladder. We’re bringing her out the window.”
Jagger felt a rush of adrenaline as he made his way back through the smoke-clogged blackness toward the exit. He bumped into the couch and nearly fell over it. The child slipped in his arms, but he crushed the body against his chest and ran for it.
When he broke into the air, water overspray hit his mask and droplets momentarily blinded him as much as the smoke had. The rescue units were running for him, taking the child from his arms and spreading him on a backboard in the grass.
“Pulse?”
“Feeling.”
Jagger turned away, his stomach suddenly hollow. If he’d saved a child only to have him die, he would have a rough few weeks ahead. Losing a person he rescued came with a steep price—sleepless nights, flashbacks, loss of focus.
A steely hand locked around his shoulder. “Great work, Rookie.” Corey’s mask was blackened with soot, but he smiled from behind it.
“Thanks.”
“Your dollar value just went up. This will be all over the news, and every bidder at that auction will know that Chris Jagger saved that kid.”
“Good. Maybe we can fix that stench in the kitchen.” He forced a smile he didn’t quite feel and kept walking. Some distance away, he stripped off his mask to gulp fresh air.
Immediately his mind switched gears. His job done, he thought of things any mortal man who’d just been inside the bowels of an inferno would. His brother up north and the nieces he hadn’t seen in too long. His mom happily living in sunny Florida with his stepfather.
Hanna’s face flashed in his mind. He leaned heavily against the side of a fire truck. What would happen if he died before finding her again? Their one night together was fading in his memory, but the essence of Hanna hadn’t. He could still feel her soft body against him. The weight of her breasts in his palms. The sweetness lingering in her kiss right after he’d made her come.
Dammit, he had to find her again. When a man walked out of the flames and thought of a woman this way, he had to accept there was something more between them than pure desire.
The only way to know for sure was to discover her hiding place.
»»•««
God in Heaven, she was going to combust. Each firefighter who walked onto the stage was sexier than the last. Or maybe she was just getting hornier. Either way, she wasn’t going home without stopping at the store for several packs of batteries. She intended to give her toys a good workout.
Beside her, Joey made a restless movement, and she realized the man was adjusting his cock. He shot her an apologetic look, but she wasn’t going to judge. Not when she was starting to throb too.
The firefighter on the makeshift stage wore faded jeans and an East Street Firehouse T-shirt—exactly like the one Hanna may or may not have been sleeping in lately. She eyed his body, which was definitely a head-turner.
But he wasn’t Jagger.
“Jesse Wallace a.k.a. Wally is one of East Street’s pranksters. He’s been known to jam lockers so bad that we have to get the Jaws of Life out, folks. Today he’s offering his skill with kids. Wally is donating a night of babysitting.”
“How can he babysit if he’s going out with me?” a lady from the back of the room called, and they all laughed.
Jesse waved and got applause and catcalls in return.
One woman stood up. “Fifty dollars!”
“Sixty!”
In seconds the crowd had donated two hundred dollars for a night of babysitting. The bidding was closed and another fireman came onstage. Hanna was so busy peering at the rear door, hoping for a glimpse of Jagger, that she hardly noticed the man up for auction until Joey placed the first bid.
She gaped at him. “What’s he donating?”
“A date with him.” Joey’s face was fierce with determination, and she hoped he had deep pockets because every single female in the joint wanted a date with Gabriel. He stood with legs braced wide and his thumbs hooked in his jeans pockets. He filled out his firehouse tee to perfection.
But he still wasn’t Jagger. Besides, Joey had the top bid.
Gabriel strutted back and forth, and more bids came in. Joey upped his. “He doesn’t seem bothered that a man’s bidding on him,” he whispered to Hanna.
“That’s a good sign.” She looked over the beefy man. “You’ll look good together.”
Joey grunted in amusement and threw out a higher number. Hanna stared at the doorway. Who was next? She was crazy for coming here and putting herself close to Jagger. There was still time to duck and run.
Then she spotted him.
Six-foot-plus framed in the doorway, and his smoldering stare was right on her.
She locked gazes with him, her nipples tightening to pebbles and her breaths coming fast. Joey tossed her a look of concern, but just then someone outbid him. He leaped to his feet and threw out a number so large, it would take him a month of tips at the bar to pay for this date.
Hanna could hardly drag in a full breath. Jagger was less than twenty feet away, watching her with unwavering concentration. God, had he been that broad a few weeks ago? His chest had made her feel so dainty and feminine lying against it. But she’d somehow convinced herself most of that night was amplified by her imagination.
She glanced away, but her traitorous brain swung her gaze right back to him.
Not a hint of a smile played around his hard lips. Suddenly he was in motion, big body rolling with every predatory step. She clamped her fingers together and tried to get control of her rioting emotions.
This was what she’d come here for—to see Jagger. But now that she was here, she couldn’t help but remember the huge mistakes she’d made with Dominic, and her reason for staying unattached.
She’d never let a man make her feel unworthy of his time or attention again. But Jagger wasn’t doing that. In fact, he was giving all his attention to her alone.
Joey elbowed her in the ribs. “He isn’t looking away from you.”
She blinked and realized they’d been staring at each other for far too long.
“Are you going to bid on him?” Joey asked.
She got a hold of herself and then shook her head. “Not on him.” A new man onstage was donating a day of chauffeur duty. She held up a hand to bid.
“What are you doing?” Joey nudged her again.
“Avoiding public transportation while I run errands sounds heavenly. Besides, he’s gorgeous.” She put in the second bid and was immediately upped. She called out another number.
When she glanced up at the doorway, shock stabbed her. Jagger had pushed away from the jamb.
“He’s coming right toward you.”
She wished she hadn’t brought Joey if he was going to state the obvious, though his words unsettled her more than anything. Her skin prickled under Jagger’s dark look of warning.
Around them, women were fighting over the fireman turned chauffeur. Desperate, she added another digit to her original figure.
Jagger was at her row of seats, staring down like an avenging angel. His eyes glittered, and that five o’clock shadow on his jaw did bad things to her lady parts.
“What the hell are you doing? You don’t want him.” His gritty tone unhinged her. A full heartbeat ebbed between them before he reached down and clasped his fingers around her arm. But she was already his.
Throwing Joey a wild look and getting nothing but a knowing grin in return, she allowed Jagger to pull her down the aisle past a hundred women probably wondering how she’d won a man she hadn’t bid on.
His big body rolled with each step and his hand on her arm steadied her.
You can do this. You jump off bridges and out of airplanes.
As they hit the cooler air outside, he jerked her against him. She hit his big body with a thump. She blinked at his muscled chest. Slowly she followed the lines up to his chiseled jaw, which bulged as he worked his teeth together.
“Took you long enough to come to me,” he bit off a scant second before he swooped in and kissed her.
His warm lips ignited. In a blink she was melting into his hold. He wrapped his arms around her and pushed her against the brick of the fire hall. When he slashed his tongue through her mouth, need and passion roared in her ears. Her fingers had a mind of their own, running up his nape to tangle in his hair.
He smelled sun-kissed, and she suspected the scent would remain even if he never went outside. She burrowed closer to him.
Tearing away, he glared down at her. Awareness and trepidation filled her, but damn, she loved the dangerous look in his eyes.
“Why did you leave without waking me?” His breath passed over her lips.
“I only do one-night stands.”
His gaze pierced her. “Like hell.” He kissed her again. If she’d believed him in control during their first encounter, she was wrong. Now he was a wild beast, manipulating the kiss until she was panting and boneless for him. He rocked his hips into hers, jabbing his bulging cock right where she needed it.
A strangled noise left her.
Cupping her jaw, he ran his thumb back and forth over her cheek. His kiss softened, tongue teasing. His tenderness was infinitely worse for her libido. She quivered.
Lifting his head, he stared into her eyes. A light breeze stirred the longer hairs tumbling over his forehead. “You aren’t running again.”
“You need to go back inside.”
“I’m donating a day of yard work. Congratulations, you just won it.” He waved at the person running the auction. “She placed a private bid. Her name’s Hanna.”
When he turned to her, warmth spread through her core.
“Now we’re going to your place so I know where it is. And then I’m going to have a look at your bush.”
Need sliced through her.
“Which direction?” he demanded, taking her by the arm again.
Was she really going to let this man dominate her?
Yes. Over and over and over again.
They reached a corner and he pulled her up sharply. “Which direction?”
“Why would I tell you anything about me?” Her front was just that—inside she was quaking for more one-night stands with this man.
“Spill it, Hanna. Last name.”
She closed her lips. Giving him personal information was certain death. He already knew way too much about her—like how she couldn’t stop herself from saying his name when she came.
Before she understood his intention, she was in his arms again and he was grinding her up against the crossing light pole. Somebody wolf-whistled as Jagger captured her lips and tongue in a dance her body remembered too well.
When he pulled back, she was gasping. This time his eyes were soft with something she didn’t understand but damn if she didn’t want to. “Now,” he thumbed the corner of her lips, his hand perfectly cradling her jaw, “tell me your last name.”
“Reicroft.”
The corner of his lips tipped up in that panty-soaking, heart-surging bad-boy smile. “See how easy that was?”
“You still don’t know where I live.”
He ran his thumb from her chin to throat, sliding down to her breast and pressing lightly on her nipple. The pressure wasn’t nearly enough—she fought to keep herself from swaying into his touch. “If I have to persuade you to tell me right here on the street, I will.” He lifted her on his knee, sending spears of need into her pussy.
Gulping, she shook her head. “Jagger, I can’t…”
“That’s fine. We’ll only spend a night in jail for public indecency.” He started on her top button. A horn blasted. He nuzzled her throat, and her knees turned to water. How was it possible he touched every fine invisible hair and made it stand at attention?
This is a one-night stand. Besides, he owes me that yard work.
Plastering her hands to his chest, she felt his heart pumping hard and fast.
She pushed him away enough to gather her wits. “Fine. Come on.”
»»•««
How Jagger could manage to take a single step without his fly bursting open, he had no idea. Somehow, he made it up several flights of stairs to Hanna’s apartment.
Judging by her feminine appearance, he expected to walk into a shabby chic space filled with knickknacks. Again, she surprised him. Her space was minimalistic with only a few framed photos on the bookshelf and side table.
He picked up one of her dangling from a bungee cord. He blinked. “This is you?”
“Yes.” Her voice sounded as uncomfortable as she looked. He set down the photo. If he let her think too much, he’d be out on his ear and it wouldn’t shock him if she moved away just so he couldn’t find her again.
He settled his hand on her spine and swayed her against him. The instant her soft curves molded to his, need blasted through him.
With a hungry noise he took her lips. She parted for him without hesitation, and he plunged his tongue inside. The moan she fed him sent his pulse racing, and he couldn’t stop himself.
He cupped her breasts and pinched both nipples through her top. Softly at first with increasing pressure until she was squirming and her buds were hard pebbles. “Fuck, I’ve wanted this since the moment you walked out on me.”
As he opened his mouth over her the throbbing vein in her throat, she sucked in a harsh gasp. For a second her hands hovered around as if unsure where to land. When he scraped his beard-rough jaw down her cleavage, she threw her arms around him.
With triumph in his chest, he lifted her. He took two steps before realizing he didn’t know where her room was.
She yanked on his hair. “Second…door.”