Page 73 of Firecracker

“Yeah. Not gonna lie, it’s scary. We’re weighed down with equipment, facing a wall of heat and smoke. We have breathing tanks, but it’s awkward and we don’t have that much time. I went in, and of course it was totally unfamiliar. When it’s dark like that, we don’t know our way around, we don’t know what kind of hazards there are. We didn’t know if there was anyone in the house, so we had to check…basically crawling through the heat and dark, feeling our way around and trying not to get lost in the smoke and end up trapped ourselves.”

“Oh God. Was there someone?”

“No. Turned out the house was empty. We got the fuck out of there just before the whole roof collapsed.”

Her heart bumped, and she rubbed his shoulder. “That’s scary.”

“I was fine. I’ll do it again if needed.”

Something expanded in her chest—warmth, admiration, maybe pride. He was brave and strong. She wanted to be brave and strong like that.

Shewouldbe brave and strong like that. Sure, her life wasn’t what she’d thought it would be. Neither was Tyler’s…but he was doing what he wanted to do and had made a good life. It was up to her to make her life good. And maybe that even included having hot sex with a hot guy. Why the hell not?

She rolled toward him, pushing him onto his back and wriggling herself on top of him.

“Whoa.” His big hands clasped her hips.

“I want you.”

His smile was white in the dark room. He’d turned off the lamp a while ago. “I like that.”

She lowered her head and laid a string of kisses across his chest, then down the middle. She heard his sharp intake of breath as she wiggled lower, licking down the center of his chest, then lower over the rippled muscles of his abs.

God, she loved his abs.

Every time she saw him working without a shirt on, her mouth went dry while her panties dampened.

Now, she was up close and touching those abs, licking them, leaving lingering, open-mouthed kisses on them as she worked her way to his navel…and then the tender skin below that.

His groan rumbled up from his chest and his fingers threaded through her hair, tugging it back from her face so gently. “Arden…”

“Mmm.” She positioned herself between his thighs, curling her fingers around him again, as she had earlier, marveling at the soft skin over hardness. It had been a long time since she’d done this. She’s always enjoyed this part of a man’s anatomy, enjoyed giving him pleasure and reveling in the sensuality of it herself, but being perfectly honest, she hadn’t been enthusiastic about it when her relationship with Michael had started to deteriorate.

Now, excitement filled her with buzzing anticipation, her core clenching, her mouth watering. She glanced up at Tyler and found him watching her, eyes blazing. “Oh Christ.” His fingers tightened in her hair, clasping it back off her face.

Holding his gaze, she opened her mouth.

* * *

Moments later, she crawled up beside him, draping one arm and leg across his body.

He panted, eyes closed, finding her hip with one hand. “I think I just saw Jesus.”

She smiled. “Me too. He was here earlier.”

He chuckled and squeezed her hip. “I fucking love blow jobs. And that was amazing.”

A little shiver of delight worked over her. “Thank you.”

“You know what makes it so good?”

“Um, what?”

“You were so into it. You looked like you loved it.”

“That’s because I did love it.”

“And that makes it extra hot.” He shifted and pulled her into his arms. “I’m about to crash. Give me an hour and we can go again.”

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