AARON

Thinking about Faith wasn’t anything new. Thinking about things I’d actually, in real-life, done with Faith was a completely different ball game.

All those years, I’d kept it to myself, but when Smokie and I walked across the street that afternoon for our shift, I was met with a lot of high-fives, and it wasn’t just because I brought them our leftover donuts. They’d seen her car at my house. They knew it had been there all night.

Things calmed down quickly when I wouldn’t talk about it, but that didn’t keep my mind from reliving the hours we’d spent together.

My phone was burning a hole in my pocket, but I didn’t want to suffocate her or come on too strong. Still, I couldn’t wait to hear her voice.

So after I swept and mopped the floors of all three bays and the common areas, and did every equipment check I could think of, I pulled my lawn chair out of the closet and set it up in front of engine two and called her.

It rang three—although it felt like three hundred—times before the call went through.

“Hello.” The voice on the other end wasn’t who I expected, but nevertheless, it brought a smile to my face.

“Hi, Delaney. It’s Aaron.”

“Hi,” she sang back through the receiver.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Watching a movie.” Additionally, it sounded like she was munching on something crunchy.

“Which movie?”

“Moana. Do you like this one?”

I gave Smokie’s head a scratch when he rested it on my knee. “I’ve never seen it.”

“What? It’s a big movie, Aaron. Everybody has seen it.”

“Not me. I can’t remember the last time I watched a whole movie.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she exclaimed. She was fun to talk to, and her conversation skills were more advanced than most of the guys at the station.

“It’s true. Hey, is your mom around?”

Crunch. “Yeah, she’s here.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“I think she’s poopin’. She’s been in the bathroom for a long time.” There was some rustling around on the other end, and then she bellowed. “Mom, are you still poopin’? Aaron’s on the phone.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth, but laughter rocked through my stomach and chest.

“Delaney,” I said when I caught my breath. “Can you just ask her to call me back?”

“I’ll talk to you until she’s done. Sometimes it takes a while.” Again she shouted at her mother. “Do you need some toilet paper?” Then I heard her pound on the door. “Mom?”

I couldn’t hear what Faith said back to her, but faintly I picked up her voice. A few seconds later, Delaney changed her tune.

“Aaron, I gotta go.” Then she hung up.

While I’d been on the phone, I’d received a text.

Vaughn: What afternoon are you off this week? Want to do nine holes?

Me: Thursday afternoon good for you?

I had to work the next few nights, but as long as there wasn’t an emergency and Faith didn’t make plans for us, I was up for hitting a few balls.

Vaughn: Perfect. I took Thursday and Friday off for a long weekend. I’ll call and get a tee-time.

My phone rang as I read his reply. I couldn’t answer it laughing, knowing she might be pretty damn embarrassed, but taking the call without cracking up was going to take some effort.

“Hello.”

“We are pretending that didn’t happen.”

I coughed through my chuckle, but it was in vain.

Faith groaned. “That’ll teach me to not leave my phone alone with a four-year-old. Lesson learned.” Quickly, and before I could comment, she changed the subject. “So I hear you’ve never watched Moana.”

“Nope.” I waved at a car passing by.

“Well, you don’t really have to. If you’re interested, I know the damn thing by heart. I’ve only suffered through it a few hundred times.”

“That’s all?” It began to sprinkle, so I moved my chair back a few feet. I could have gone inside, but Will and Carol were in there and I liked the rain.

“How’s your shift going?” she asked.

“So far, so good. Get caught up on your laundry?”

“Yep. I even have clean sheets.”

The mention of sheets had me revisiting the vision of her naked in mine that morning. Where was the rewind button on life when I needed one?

Her tone was charming and her words were paced, but unrushed. “Del said she had the best time yesterday in your pool. I give it a day before she asks to go swimming again.”

“I had the best time yesterday too,” I admitted and messed with a rivet on the armrest of the chair. “You guys can come over whenever you like.”

Anytime. All the time.

“Did you decide which flowers to put on your porch yet? Those planters only look good if they’re full, you know.”

The rain started coming down harder and I watched it rush out the front down spout, hoping her gutters were still in good shape. “What flowers do you like?”

“It’s kind of late to plant, I think. You might just have to see what’s available out at Motley’s. Then again, what do I know? I’ve almost killed the rose bush Delaney gave me three times.”

Four, but who was counting?

She hummed. “I like mums in the fall, but those won’t be out for another month or so. I can’t believe it’s already August. The summer will be gone before we know it, but Delaney is so excited for school.”

“She’ll do great. She’s a fun girl.”

“She is, isn’t she? When she’s not trying to give me a stroke, she’s even funny.”

I went ahead and laughed because it felt safer than when she’d first called. “I seem to remember another girl who used to say whatever she wanted.”

“What?” Faith cackled. “Yeah, there’s no denying she’s mine.”

I loved our small talk, but I was ardent to know one thing. “When can I see you? Do you have plans for the weekend?”

“I’m off Friday evening,” she answered in a sing-song voice.

I hated being the bearer of bad news when she sounded so happy. “I have a shift. How about Saturday?”

She groaned. “I’m at the diner and the bar.”

We knew it would be like that, and although I was dying to spend more time with her—with them—I wasn’t about to let our schedules cause any more trouble than necessary.

“Well, I can come see you at the diner and the bar. What about Sunday? Bring Delaney over. We’ll swim and hang out.”

“It’s supposed to be rainy this weekend.”

“I guess I’ll get to watch Moana then.” That made her laugh and even though it was over the phone and I didn’t get to see her smile, it still counted.

Her voice got quieter and she said, “I had a good time last night.”

I was glad to hear it.

We talked for a while longer before she had to put Delaney to bed and I had to let her go. Will and Carol had been called to the nursing home, so I found my way upstairs for a few miles on the treadmill.

I wasn’t sure if it was the late night workout or the excitement from the past weekend, but that night I slept sounder than I had in a very long time.

#

RANDY MADE A HUGE POT of chili the next day, citing the rainy weather, but I still went to the diner, sat in my usual spot, and watched the same woman I had for years work in the kitchen. The only thing that was different was how she looked directly at me and beamed now.

What a welcomed change.

Her mom took my order, and like she usually did, headed home shortly after. Delaney had hung out with Darrell that day, and I missed catching up with her while I waited.

“Meatloaf, extra gravy, extra mashed potatoes, and green beans,” Faith recited back to me when she brought out my plate. I’d decided on eating there since I wasn’t taking food back for the station. Also, because I didn’t want to leave.

“Take a break with me.” My hand found hers as she stood beside my two-person table. The diner was empty at that odd hour of the day. Not many people eat at two in the afternoon. 

She looked around, and then her eyes fell on mine.

I gave her my most persuasive grin.

After a deep breath, Faith beautifully conceded, “Well, I haven’t had lunch yet and we’re not busy.”

“Go get a plate.” I hated feeling like I’d guilted her into it, which hadn’t taken much more than an invitation and as much charm as I could muster. I didn’t want to interrupt her work, but selfishly, I’d missed her.

There was a bounce in her step as she nearly skipped around the dessert case to the kitchen, solidifying that she wasn’t too put out.

When she returned only a minute later, she lowered her plate to the table as she sat. It had the same contents, that day’s special, but much less than she’d plated for me.

“Do you think you would have kept coming here and to the bar even if things hadn’t changed?” She cut off a chunk of meatloaf, drug it through the potatoes, capped it with a few green beans, and then dipped it in her gravy. A solid technique.

I loaded my fork with whatever would fit on it. “Probably,” I answered and took a bite.

“I wish it would have happened sooner,” she confessed and built another expertly loaded forkful.

I agreed. I’d taken way too long. “Me too.”

“All I hear from my friends now is I told you so.” She took a sip of whatever was in her Styrofoam cup, probably Diet Mountain Dew. “They’ve been telling me to go for it with you forever.”

I instantly loved her friends.

“Why didn’t you?”

Faith stared at her plate, and when she wasn’t looking at me it was harder to gauge what she was thinking. 

Wondering and wandering, my foot found hers under the table. I didn’t rub it against hers, a move that was both weird and cliché to me, but I needed the connection and it seemed like she might too.

“Because, Aaron, it sucked when you turned me down in high school. Honestly, I didn’t want to deal with that again.”

I deserved the kick in the gut I felt from her words. “It sucked for me too. It felt wrong, but I did it anyway. It seemed too selfish to leave you waiting here for me.”

She hummed and her half smile almost appeared understanding. “We ended up waiting anyway.”

If there were really second chances, I believed I’d been handed one. Hell, I’d been handed the whole world if I could just make things right. That began with her trusting me, and I’d do my best to earn it.

“No more waiting,” I contended, dead serious.

I’d have to make some changes in the way I’d been taking care of her over the past few years, but at that moment, I just wanted her to smile at me again. 

Then she did. “I like the sound of that.”

“Good. So tell me more about these wise women who I need to thank.”

Faith’s face always lit up when she spoke about her daughter, but it also radiated as she spoke about her friends. She confessed that one of them, Abbey, was going through some stuff with her boyfriend and how she was concerned, but didn’t know how to help. She compared her friend’s relationship to the one she’d had with Chad. At any time, she expected Abbey’s live-in baby daddy to split, but wished things were different for her.

“I just hope he supports her when he finally leaves for good. He’s always coming and going. That’s one thing I have to give Chad credit for. He might be completely out of the picture, but he supports Delaney financially.” She wadded up her napkin and put it on her plate. “I don’t know.”

I took a drink of water and inhaled, uncomfortable with the topic. “Does Delaney ask about him?”

“No. Not really. I’m always waiting for her to, though.”

“What about your dad? Do you hear from him?” If I remembered correctly from high school, he’d moved to another state and started a whole new family.

She shrugged. “Nope.”

“Their loss.” Her father probably didn’t even know how great of a woman she was, no thanks to him. I hoped that by Chad staying away the same would be true for Delaney. They were better off without them.

Weren’t they?

The bell rang over the door and cut the silence. Our plates were empty and Faith stood to take them away.

“Hey, Russ. Hey, Wade. Need menus? It’s meatloaf day.”

Russ Owens was a few years older than me and worked at the quarry with Wade. I didn’t see Russ very often around town, but Wade was a volunteer first responder.

Wade answered, “No, we’re just here for a slice of pie. Lost a bet to this knucklehead.” He nodded at me. “Hey, Goodman.”

I lifted my hand in greeting as they passed my table for the dessert case.

Before Faith left to help them, she asked, “Are you full? Want anything else?” I was stuffed and certain I’d end up eating chili at the station later anyway.

“I’m good, but thank you.” Quickly glancing at my watch, I realized I’d been there longer than I’d planned. I pulled a twenty from my wallet and put it on the table, and then without thinking too much about it, I stood and leaned in to Faith, pressing my lips to hers.

It caught her off guard and she stiffened as our lips met.

Pulling away, I said, “I have to go, but I’ll call you later.”

She blinked up at me a few times, cheeks rosy, and muttered, “Okay.” 

When I turned to head out the door, Wade and Russ were standing stock-still, surveilling Faith and me.

“I’ll be damned,” Wade said under his breath. “Maybe we should have the meatloaf.”

As I reached the door, I said, “See you later, guys. Have a good one.” I winked at Faith, still as a statue in the middle of the floor holding our plates.

If giving her a kiss in front of people was shocking to her, I hoped she got used to it quick. I’d meant what I’d said; I was done waiting.

Things were changing and moving forward and I’d never again let her wonder how I felt about her. I didn’t care if the whole world knew.

It was one thing for me to tell her I wasn’t going to be just another guy who’d leave her. It was quite another to prove it.

#

THE WEEK DRONED ON and on. It wasn’t that I enjoyed terrible things happening to people, not in the least, but the station had been quiet and I was restless.

Randy and I had a discussion that I’d always known was coming about him going down to part-time again, and officially he’d be handing the full-time position of fire chief over to me. Furthermore, together we’d be picking the next person to promote into my old position.

Our department had many capable volunteers, but asking one of them to leave their job and join wasn’t something I’d take lightly. However, it was a good time to revisit scheduling. It wasn’t necessary that we had someone at the station around the clock, but there was certainly enough work to keep two full-time guys busy and our equipment and house up to the standards I was used to in the military.

Also, it would be nice to have more nights free throughout the week, possibly even a more regular weekend off here and there.

With my promotion, I’d be getting a raise, but as fall hit I’d have fewer side jobs. There were a number of things I was considering, changes I’d be making. Investments I could let go of.

One in particular had been on my mind, and it was the one I was thinking about as I stood at the deep sink near the back of the firehouse, filling the mop bucket to clean the floor, when I heard her voice behind me. “Got a minute?”

I spun, seeing Faith standing beside the truck wearing a V-neck dress that looked like a long fitted T-shirt. She had on a pair of cowboy boots, and immediately I thought about her legs wrapped around me, but I highly doubted that was why she’d stopped by.

“Everything okay?” I shook the water from my hands and then wiped them on my jeans.

“Yeah, everything is fine. Delaney went to a friend’s to play this evening for a while, so I thought I’d drop by and say hi.”

I turned off the water, which was now overflowing the bucket and filling the basin, and walked over to her. “It’s a nice surprise.” As I got near, I peeked into the other room seeing that Randy had already left.

We were alone.

“I guess I just wanted to see you, and since you’re always coming by the bar and the diner to see me, I thought maybe I’d see what you were up to.” Her hands were behind her back and she swayed like she was slightly nervous. Her blond curls swung on either side of her neck like a bell.

Faith was gorgeous and the closest to mine I’d ever known. I loved how she was putting herself out there to me more. Little by little.

Standing before her, I cleared my throat. “I always like seeing you. Doesn’t matter when or where.”

Her head cocked to the side, and she stared into my eyes. The side of her bottom lip, pink and sweet, slid between her teeth and her jaw slowly worked back and forth. Her cheeks high on her face, lifted into a smile that reached her pretty eyes. Damn, they were gorgeous.

“Fay, have I ever told you how much I like your eyes?”

She guffawed, but there was no one but me to witness the slight embarrassment she had from the random compliment. “What? No.”

“The color. I’ve never known anyone with eyes like yours. I’ve always had a thing for them.”

She blinked, glanced at the truck beside us, and then brought them back to me.

“Well, I like it when you call me Fay.” She bounced on her toes. “And while we’re doling out compliments, you’re an okay kisser too.” She crinkled her nose, and I nearly lost it.

“Just okay?”

Her shoulders leaned right then left while she chose her words. “Maybe with some practice.” Her laughter echoed off the cement and filled my chest.

“Are you flirting with me?”

A blush painted her face. “Maybe. Is it working?”

If the growing tightness in my jeans was any indication... “Oh yeah.”

“Will you get into trouble if I’m here?” She took initiative, moving closer, and lightly pressed her hand against my stomach.

Did I care if I got into trouble? No fucking way.

“No one else is here.”

With gentle but firm pressure, she guided me back until my shoulder blades met the side of the engine.

God, please don’t let there be an emergency.

“Have you ever...?” Her head teetered, as she stalled short of finishing her question. “You know? Here?”

“Faith, I haven’t so much as touched another woman since I came home. So, no.” I cupped her cheeks, skimmed my thumb over her bottom lip, and her head tipped up to let me hold her gaze to mine.

Her palm smoothed over my shirt and around my back.

Something wild flared in her eyes and it matched the heat growing inside me. She inquired, “Have you ever thought about it?”

Of course I had. What fireman hadn’t? Fantasies about sex in, on, or around the firehouse just came with the territory.

I nodded.

“Me too,” she confessed.

She moved closer, pressing her waist between my legs as I rested on the metal behind me. The weight of her against my jeans, against my harder-by-the-second-cock, was almost more than I could take.

I didn’t peg her as a girl who would tease a man, especially a weak man like myself, but there she was, flirting and making a move. She needed something—hopefully me—but I wanted to be sure.

“Just say the words.”

She wanted to look away, but I directed her chin back to my face. My left hand wandered south, over her ass to her bare leg.

“I just can’t stop thinking about you. About the other night and the other morning.” Her voice was silky and delicate and as hot as any fire I’d ever gone up against. “I know you’re at work, and I don’t have much time before I need to leave, but, it’s just that, now I know what it feels like when you touch me, and I sort of can’t get enough.”

Oh. My. God.

How was this real?

Forces stronger than me melded my mouth to hers without responding to what she’d said verbally. Her hungry breath carried a whimper as my right hand also found her ass, and I lifted her off her feet.

Glancing around her hair to see my target, I crossed the room and smashed my hand on the overhead door button for it to close.

She was ravenous, taking my mouth and leading the kiss. It was difficult to keep my eyes open, to navigate us to the space between the two trucks. Every other step, I’d force myself to peek so I didn’t run into anything, but she was consuming me. Holding on so tightly that she took no effort at all to carry. It wasn’t the weight of her in my arms that was making my knees weak—it was the reality of her finally being in them that did it.

I sat on the diamond plated stepping ledge in the center of the truck. If anyone were to come in, we’d be hidden. I doubted she’d want anyone to see how she was tearing at my belt and fumbling with my button fly.

After she gained just enough space between my pants and me, both her hands slipped into the waist of my jeans.

“Ah,” we sighed in unison.

Touching her would never get old, but her touching me made me crazy, reckless. It was sensational.

A rumbling sound rose in my chest and I kissed the hell right out of her. Our lips met, fevered and hungry. Both of us panted for air as she slid her gentle palms over, up and down the length of me, gripping and twisting each time she reached the tip.

She leaned back, but before I could reclaim her mouth, she was climbing off my lap and getting on her knees.

Foxtrot.

She hummed when she tasted my cock for the first time, and I nearly exploded from the sight of her with me in her mouth. Her cheeks hollowed when she pulled back without leaving my skin. Her eyes met mine through her lashes.

I had a solution to one of her problems. If she didn’t have much time, at least she’d be pleased when she found out it wasn’t going to take long.

A voice inside my head screamed for me to make her stop, to spin her around, and shove myself inside her. Yet, for the moment, I couldn’t move except for when my hips involuntarily bucked or when a sporadic twitch rippled through my stomach.

I’d been warned that looking into a fire could hypnotize a man, and for the first time I believed it.

Telltale signs of how she was quickly wrecking my control brought me back to reality, the one I wanted to occupy. A reality where I gave her pleasure, and she left my firehouse satisfied.

I wouldn’t only think of myself.

“Fay.” I brushed the springy strands of hair off her forehead and she paused. Planting my feet against the floor, I slipped from her red lips. “Stand up.”

Bracing herself on my thighs, she stood.

I wasn’t one to miss an opportunity, and her chest before my face was too perfect to pass up. My hands slid up her dress, under her bra, and she leaned into my touch. If there’d been more time, I would have enjoyed playing with her for hours. Days. Maybe forever.

Next time I’d selfishly get to all of her, but she was in a hurry.

On my feet, I stepped behind her. Immediately, I could tell that from how we stood, our height difference would make it difficult. A bed would have been better, a couch, or a chair, but we were in a fire station so I had to make do with what we had.

“Step up there.” I kicked the lowest step in front of her. My hands slid up her arms and raised them to the rails on either side of her head. “Hold on to these.”

Her back rose and fell as her breathing continued to come, fast and deep.

I lifted the back of her jersey dress, bent, and kissed the dip at the base of her spine. My fingers caressed her wet center over the scrap of lace between her legs, and then moved it aside to feel her flesh.

“Oh,” she panted when I happened upon the swollen spot at the front of her. I rolled it under the pad of my middle finger, caressing her side to side. As her back arched, I drew it back, slipping it into her opening, and felt just how badly she needed me.

My left hand attended to myself, and I squeezed my erection at the base as I aligned it with her. I prayed that she’d like it like that. From behind—hard and fast—because that was our best and possibly only option.

Her legs spread more, feeling my tip press against her. She writhed against me as I threaded myself into her.

Seated, my hips against her ass, she moaned again. Then everything happened in flashes.

Her fingers, white at the knuckles, hanging onto the steel.

Her curls swayed in front of me like a field of grain on a windy day. I wanted to lace my fingers through it and tug her back, but resisted. It felt brutal enough as it was.

The sound of our bodies slapping.

The what-would-otherwise-be-embarrassing grunt coming out of my throat.

Her staccato exhales every time I crashed into her. “Ah. Ah. Ah.” Escalating with each crash.

She tensed, like she had before when she orgasmed at my house, but I didn’t have extra minutes to cajole her climax like I had then. We only had seconds, and she was as close as I was, she just had to let it go.

I pressed my mouth to her neck beside her ear. “You can’t hold back, Fay. Come with me.”