To Melissa, who listens to all my rants and raves and
understands the value of a good caramel brownie to
make everything shiny and new again.
Chapter One
Ryan
V egas. A hell of a place to call home. At least, until the bill collectors came a-calling.
Shit. Growling out a second curse, I pushed through the door that connected the garage to the kitchen and tossed the lease agreement for my inner-city rental house onto the table. Jenison Davis, the old guy I rented the place from, had been nice enough to tape the form to the front door so that I saw it as soon as I pulled in the drive from twenty-four hours on at the firehouse. Hed also been nice enough to highlight in yellow and circle in red the surcharges posed for not paying the rent on time. The rent I was almost two grand behind on.
Yeah. Real fucking nice.
Not that I expected him to let me freeload forever, but, damn, this blew. If I didnt find a housemate to cover the half of the rent my brother, Jack, quit paying when he moved out to settle down with his fiance, I was screwed.
Of course, there was the option of living at the firehouse full-time. A year ago I would have done so in a heartbeat. Women dug being sneaked into the house and were only too willing to shell out the oral gratitude. But then, a year ago, my guts hadnt roiled with the thought of being bottled up full-time with a couple dozen adrenaline junkies. And a year ago, I wasnt a mental case waiting to happen.
The barely contained nasty shit in my head was the reason I hadnt been more serious about finding a housemate. Now, I didnt have a choice. Even if it meant some stranger moving in, touching my stuff, moving things where they didnt belong, ticking me off in generalI had to find someone fast.
Going to the fridge, I pulled a longneck bottle of Bud from the crisper drawer and uncapped it. Cool, crisp ale slid down my throat, calming my irritation while washing away the sensation that smoke clung to my throat and lungs as much as my body. This mornings apartment fire was the last thing I wanted to think about. The building was located on the opposite side of the city from the blaze that changed my life. Still, it had looked enough like the other building to have guilt chomping a huge hole in my stomach and making me pissy long before Id gotten home.
I lifted the bottle back to my lips and chugged its contents. One beer wouldnt get me plastered no matter how fast I drank it. But one beer was a hell of a start. Two were even better.
Slamming the empty bottle onto the counter, I grabbed another longneck from the crisper and headed for the stairs sandwiched between the kitchen and living room. Before I could ascend the first step, someone knocked on the front door.
Or make that some chick who hadnt waited for an invitation to enter, but let herself inside. At present, she stood in the open doorway, giving me a visual head-to-toe pat-down. Id forgive her the indiscretion of trespassing. But only because she had waist-length red hair, huge, barely covered tits, glistening cherry-red lips and slanted ice-blue eyes that were screaming do me all night long.
Shallow? Yeah. But what the hell, I was having a shitty day.
Those stunning lips curved in a sirens smile. In a voice laced with smoke and sex, she asked, Are you Ryan Dempsey?
Before shed knocked, Id been in the process of heading upstairs to shower the acrid smell of smoke from my body. Now, I wanted smoke all over me. Or rather that sexy, smoky voice coupled with her hotter-than-a-four-alarm-fire body.
Goddamn, the woman was built!
Feeling like Id just come face-to-face with my destiny for the next seven or eight hoursor however long it took my dick, which was currently in the process of tenting my jeans, to get its fill of herI took a step forward. I am. I flashed the arrogant grin all the chicks dug and the guys at the firehouse nicknamed me Cock because of. Can I help you with something?
You can if the housemate position hasnt been filled.
Was I really thinking a couple minutes ago that I loathed the idea of a housemate? Spending my free hours mating in the house with this hot mama had the makings of all kinds of wicked good fun. It has.
Displeasure flashed in those devilishly seductive eyes. Oh. Thats too bad.
Not really. Since youre the one who filled it.
Relief took over her displeasure as the sirens smile returned. You dont want to get to know me first?
Hell, yeah, I did. I wanted to get to know every tanned, toned, naked inch of her. First, a little welcome to the house gesture was probably in order. You drink beer?
She glanced at the bottle of Bud in my hand for a few silent seconds, then closed the door and joined me near the foot of the stairs.
Outside, the temps were peaking in the high nineties. Inside, as she took the beer and proceeded to guzzle it down like a drunk on a bender, it felt twice that hot.
Love it. Winking, she slid the empty bottle into my left hand, and then took my right one in a shake. Im Deitre. Nice to meet you.
Like the air around us, the heat in the connection of our fingers felt electricraw and primal. The heat in her Southern drawl, which I hadnt noticed until now, was like a physical stroke down my spine and along the crack of my ass.
Something tells me the pleasures all mine. Something also told me I was right before. She could touch my stuff all she wanted and I wouldnt mind a bit. The stuff scattered throughout the house and the stuff now nearly stone-stiff behind my zipper.
Up until last year and that day my life changed irrevocably, I was an admitted horn dog. For all the women Id done, not one had gotten me so quickly and thoroughly aroused with barely a touch.
Sliding my gaze from hers, I eyed her lush red lips. If her presence and a gentle touch had me this hard, what kind of power would her mouth hold?
Find out.
I darted my gaze back to Deitres with the unexpected response to a question I hadnt asked aloud. At least, I dont think I had. My mind was doing a sort of tunnel-vision thing that focused entirely on sex with my newfound housemate. Come again?
Amusement gleamed in her eyes. Find out and maybe I will.
Holy shit, I was right a second time. She was my evenings, nights and, quite likely, mornings destiny.
Just to be certain we were on the same page, I asked, Want to be more specific?
With a slow nod, she thrust out her chest and leaned forward. You want to kiss me. Im telling you to go ahead.
Shed only been a foot away to begin with. Now, she was inches away and, with that thrusting move, it was all I could do not to stare at her tits. Better yet, push my hands beneath the sheered hem of her tiny black tank top and see if the generous mounds felt as good as they looked. Youre serious?
Id managed to waylay my urge to cop a feel. Deitre didnt bother.
Her fingers dove beneath my dirty gray T-shirt and splayed branding hot over the muscles of my chest. She knocked me back a foot with the press of her palms, far enough I could feel the last step riding against my sock-covered heels.