Chapter Eight – Cal

“These are for you.” Cal pulled a big bouquet of flowers out from behind his back, and presented them to Teagan.

“They are beautiful.” Teagan took them, and kissed him on the cheek. He inhaled her scent: perfume, something with a hint of jasmine if he wasn’t mistaken, mingled with the unique scent of her skin.

“So are you,” he murmured, kissing her neck. She shivered, and turned her face to his. Cal raised his head and captured her lips, tasting her, teasing her with his tongue. “Damn, I wish we had said no to this double date.”

He slid his hand over her right breast, feeling the taut bud of her nipple through her thin summer dress. Now that the rain had cleared they were left with a high level of humidity. If they didn’t have reservations, he would have suggested they went bear, or bare, he was happy either way, to go find a nice cool river to swim in.

“I should put these in water,” Teagan said, stepping away from him. He watched her go, admiring the sway of her hips, emphasized by the pale blue fabric of her dress that kissed her body. She looked beautiful in it, but she would look even better out of it. Naked, sprawled beneath him on the bed.

“Are we meeting Theo and Fern at the restaurant?” Cal asked, dragging his mind out of the bedroom with some reluctance.

“We are,” Teagan called from the kitchen.

Cal followed her voice, confident he now had his arousal semi–under control. “And after?”

“And after what?” Teagan asked.

“Your place or mine?”

“Oh.” She blushed as she filled the vase with water. “I guess I should pack an overnight bag if we’re going to your house.”

“I have a spare toothbrush, and you won’t need any clothes.” He came up behind her and put his arm around her waist, pulling her back against his body. He was hard, and he moved in small minute circles, touching her lightly, wanting her to know how difficult it was going to be to hang on until later to make love to her.

“I’m supposed to look after the house,” she stated, leaning back against him, her head resting on his shoulder as his lips kissed her neck.

“Then we come back here.” His hands roamed her body, and she squirmed against him. “And take things slow.”

Teagan placed the vase down on the counter, and turned in his arms, her face close to his, lips within kissable distance. “Very slow.”

“Very, very, slow.” He kissed her neck, his fingers dragging the neck of her dress down so that he could trace the hard contour of her collar bone, while his hands massaged her soft flesh. Such contradictions, hard and soft. “Hmm. I think we should go.”

Teagan slipped her hand down between their bodies. “I think you might be right.” Her hand curled around his hard shaft, squeezing, teasing, questing.

He groaned, and closed his eyes, leaning into her, his teeth nipping her skin. He wanted her, he wanted to lean her over the kitchen table and take her here in the expensive bespoke kitchen. He wanted to plunge into her heated depths and pleasure them both, right here, right now. “Fuck.” His voice was hoarse as her fingers ran up and down his cock.

“Later,” she said, her eyes dilated as she locked him with her gaze. But she didn’t stop, her fingers exploring his hardness, moving lower to cup his balls.

“OK.” Cal placed his hand over hers. “Unless you want me to come in my pants, you are going to have to stop.” He sighed as she removed her hand.

“I’m ready when you are,” she said, flashing him an innocent smile. Did she have any idea what she did to him? Her request that they take it slow led him to believe she had never been with a man before. Taking her over the table was not how he wanted to make love to her the first time. But the second time, or the third… Cal had lots of out of the bedroom ideas of where he would like to claim his mate. On top of the mountain was another one…

OK, he had to stop thinking about sex; they were about to go out to dinner with a married couple. He would much prefer it if he didn’t look like a horny schoolboy with uncontrollable urges.

Teagan fetched a wrap, and he waited by the front door for her to return. “I heard from Carter and Caroline,” she said as they left the house. “They will be home in two days.”

“Does that mean you can move in with me?” Cal asked. He kept his voice light, as if it were a joke, but he would have no objections to Teagan moving into his house.

“You don’t think it’s too soon?” Teagan asked, disregarding his humor.

“You see right through me, don’t you?”

“I’m a journalist. And I’m good at it because I am pretty good at figuring out what people are not saying, as much as what they are saying.”

“You have empathy. That’s a good trait to have.” He opened the truck door for her and she got inside, settling herself in the passenger seat.

“My foster parents taught me to watch people, and understand their bodies as much as their voices.” She blushed, and ducked her head. “Not in that way.”

“What? I didn’t say a word,” Cal protested.

“But you were thinking it,” she accused.

“I was thinking that you are welcome to understand my body anytime.” He grinned as he shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. “But, truly, empathy is a gift. Even in the fire service, we need to empathize with the people we help. We see them at their most vulnerable. Whether they are stuck in a vehicle and need cutting out, or their homes are on fire. We can’t look at it as if it is a job. It’s more than that.”

“Maybe I should interview you for the paper,” Teagan suggested.

“Not me.”

“Why not?” Teagan asked. “You don’t strike me as a shrinking violet.”

“I’m not. But what I am is new back in town. The guys I work with might think it strange if the new boy gets all the publicity.”

“True. So who else?” Teagan asked, her journalist head well and truly on her shoulders as they reached the restaurant.

“The chief. He’s been there for years.” Cal parked the truck and switched off the engine, pausing for a moment before he got out. “I was going to ask if you know him, but I forget you haven’t lived here too long.”

“So you knew the chief before you left?” Teagan asked all the right questions, that was for sure.

“I did.” He placed his hand on the door, ready to open it.

“Is he the reason why you left?” Teagan asked. There it was.

“Partly,” he admitted, he pressed his lips together in a tight smile. “I am not doing an interview.”

“Listen, Cal. I told you, even if you have a skeleton in your closet, I am not going to drag it out and put it in the paper.”

“I’m a private person.”

“As am I. I like it here in Bear Creek because we don’t do those tabloid exposés that might ruin someone’s life.”

“He told me I was wasting my time here. He said he had no intention of standing down from his job, but that I should be a chief someday, someday soon.”

“You must have thought a lot of him to follow his advice.”

“I did. I still do. But part of me thinks it was a waste. I moved away, and ended up back here in a lower position than when I left.” Cal shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me, but I get the feeling the chief thinks I should have fought harder to get a promotion, moved on to somewhere with prospects when things didn’t work out. Instead, I came back here.”

“Settling.” Teagan nodded.

“That just about sums it up.” Cal glanced at the restaurant. “There’s Theo and Fern, pretending not to watch us.” He turned to Teagan and said, “Maybe they think we are arguing.”

“No way, Fern and Theo know I am not the arguing kind.”

“Never?” Cal asked, happy to be off the subject of his mismanaged career.

“Hardly ever.” She shrugged. “My foster parents strike again. They lived by the mantra, never let the sun go down on an argument. So I never did, and then I learned not to get into them in the first place. I have a degree in diplomacy.”

“You are a remarkable woman, Teagan. Have I told you that already?”

“You may have.” She smiled, her hand reaching up to stroke his cheek, and then she leaned in and kissed him. “There, they have something to talk about now.”

“Anytime you want to give people something to talk about is fine with me,” Cal said, as they broke away from each other. His stomach growled, breaking the mood in the truck.

“Sounds as if a certain bear needs feeding.”

“I am starving.” He got out and met Teagan on the sidewalk. “We got a callout right at lunchtime and I didn’t get to eat.”

“You should have said, I could have fixed you something.”

“No, it’s OK, we got back as my shift ended, and I went straight home for a shower.” He looked at her, undressing her with his eyes. “I’m going to make up for it now, a man needs to keep his strength up.”

“I wonder what for?” Teagan asked, slipping past him, brushing up against his body while he held the restaurant door open for her.

“Hi there.” Theo waved from across the restaurant, and the waiter came over and helped seat them, and passed menus around, reeling off the specials.

“Thanks,” Teagan said politely, as the waiter went to the bar to fetch their drinks. “How are you two? Sorry if we kept you waiting.”

“We’re good. It feels like date night,” Fern answered, flashing Theo a smile.

“Is that your way of telling me I don’t take you out enough?” Theo asked, looking at Fern over his menu.

“Goodness no. I like our home, and being pregnant wipes me out. If I fall asleep, I do apologize.”

“You look beautiful though, when you are lying on the sofa, asleep in front of the TV,” Theo told his wife.

“See, cute.” Teagan beamed.

Cal watched the three friends: they were relaxed and happy around each other, leaving him feeling like an outsider. “So how is the paper doing?” Cal asked, trying to find a way into the conversation, which had switched to honey and beer.

“Sorry, we were talking shop.” Teagan turned her attention on him. “The paper is great. Once Carter gets back, Theo and I will have more time to expand the stories and the readership.”

“I’m trying to talk Teagan into dressing up as a bear for promotional purposes,” Theo said.

“We will be drawing straws on that one,” Teagan insisted.

“You have a strong woman there,” Theo said, sipping the beer the waiter had set down on the table. “Bear Creek Honey Beer, there is nothing quite like it.”

Cal sipped his beer, and had to agree, it tasted good, sweet and smooth. “Now I get your obsession with this stuff.”

“You’ve never tried it before?” Theo asked.

“Nope.” Cal took a deep drink, the alcohol threading through his veins, the tension leaving his body. This was what life was all about. The chief might be disappointed that Cal hadn’t earned a promotion, but there were more important things in life than work.

And one of the more important things was sitting right next to him, laughing, smiling, her arm brushing against his, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.