Payback: The Men of Firehouse 69 (6 page)

His tone brooked no
argument and she reached down between her legs. Her fluids were all over her
mound and when she slid her fingers between her pussy lips, a zing of
electricity shot through her body.

Their cries and moans
mixed together and she didn’t know where his started and hers ended. The
beautiful tangle of sounds and bodies collapsed into one as the sensation
exploded inside her, fanning out to every inch of her.

Still, he kept going as
she rode the waves of her orgasm, his cock sliding in and out of her pussy. He
took her higher with every thrust until his movements went uneven and he cried
out. “Oh God, Mel. I’m coming,” he cried as his fingers tightened on her hips.

Even as he stilled and
they collapsed together in a tangled heap of arms and legs, she felt like he
was driving inside of her, unable to control his lust for her. She had taken
him there. The knowledge was heady and she loved it.

Chapter Six

Andre swirled his fork
in the carton of lo mein. “So how was work today?” They hadn’t talked much
since shutting her apartment door behind them, other than the necessities in
order to get their clothes off.

She sat cross-legged at
the bottom of the bed, giving him a perfect view of her naughty bits but he
wasn’t about to apprise her of that. “Tiring but good. Have you finished all
your Christmas shopping?”

In the past two weeks
since they first got together, he had found time between his shifts at the
station and their marathon lovemaking sessions to grab a few gifts, including
one he thought she might like. “All done and mailed. Thank God for gift cards.”
He stuck his fork in the carton. “What about you?”

“All wrapped and ready
to go. You’re coming to Christmas at my parents’ house, right?”

He bit back a grimace.
Since his parents had moved to Florida after raising him and his four siblings,
Andre had a standing invitation to the Brentley’s family holiday parties. He
had been over there most of time when growing up, so not much had changed.

But dating Mel had
transformed his life irrevocably. She was the best thing that had happened to
him and their whirlwind courtship left him dizzy. He had enjoyed every second
of the past two weeks but they had to face her brother freaking out over them
dating.

He realized he’d
hesitated too long when she cocked her head at him. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Maybe we shouldn’t
mention anything about us.”

She frowned. “Why?”

He sighed. “We’re so
new to dating, to being with each other… I would hate to get their hopes up
that we’re seeing other, especially your mom.”

She rolled her eyes.
“No one is going to get their hopes up about us.”

He winced. “It’s not
only that. Brian is going to kill me for touching you.”

“No, he won’t.” She
frowned and set down her Chinese food carton. “I’m an adult and I can do
anything what I want. Brian doesn’t dictate who I can see.”

“Mel, baby. You don’t
understand. He wants to protect you and I want to do the same for you and your
family. If we decide to move on, I don’t want there to be any hard feelings.”

“And there wouldn’t
be,” she said passionately. “When we started dating, I didn’t want anything to
change your friendship with Brian. I would hate myself if I came between you
two.”

“You don’t get it.
You’re his little sister. Think of how you would feel if someone hurt Brian and
magnify that times ten. It’s his job to shelter you.”

She scowled. “I can
take care of myself.”

“This is different.
Your dad and brother, their duty to you in life is to protect you. Like with my
sister, I would beat the hell out of any guy who hurt her.”

“If Brian touches one
hair on your head, I’ll kick his ass.” She pressed her lips together.

He chuckled. “I’m sure
he’s worried. He’s eight inches taller and outweighs you by about a hundred
pounds.”

“He should be. I don’t
fight fair and he can’t strike back because I’m a girl.” Her evil grin made
Andre shudder. “And a hundred pounds? I appreciate you think I’m that skinny
but it’s more like fifty.”

He grunted. “All the
extra weight must be in your boobs.”

Huffing, she aimed her
fork at him. “That may have seemed like a compliment to you but it makes you
sound like a macho pig.”

“So sue me,” he said as
he reached for her carton. He put them together and then walked it out to the
trash can. After throwing it all away, he walked back to her bedroom, hoping
she could just let it all go. He had a thirty-six hour shift at the station
tomorrow and he wouldn’t see her until Christmas day. He didn’t want to spend
their time arguing, he wanted to soak up all the time her could with her.

“So we’ll tell everyone
on Christmas we’re seeing each other?”

He sighed and pinched
the bridge of his nose. “No, we’re not telling anyone anything. We’ve been on
two dates, more if you count all the times we’ve said screw going out and
stayed in bed.”

“I’m not lying to my
family.”

“I’m not asking you to.
I’m just saying we shouldn’t bring it up.”

“So I have to basically
keep my hands to myself and not say anything about us.”

“That’s not what I’m
saying. All you have to do is act like we always did. Then you can offer to
drive me home and we’ll come back and exchange gifts here.”

“And you can keep me
your dirty little secret.”

“I don’t think about
you that way.” Fury raced through him. How could she even say he viewed that
way?

She put her hands on
her hips. “Then stop treating me like that’s all I am to you.”

He grabbed his pants
and put them on. “Look, we both need to cool down now and I need sleep before
work tomorrow. I’m going to my place and we’ll talk after Christmas dinner,
okay?”

“Fine.” She got under
the covers and faced away from him.

Feeling like a total
jerk, he couldn’t leave her like this. Reaching out, he ran his hand down her
back. “Melanie—”

She rolled over and
glared at him. “I said ‘fine’ so just go home, Andre.”

He turned and left, his
gut burning all the way to his car. They had really screwed up this evening,
his last chance to see her before Christmas. Maybe she was right, but she
wouldn’t even discuss keeping their relationship under wraps.

Staying quiet to her
family was about protecting her, couldn’t she see that? He gritted his teeth as
he left her complex and drove home. He wasn’t even sure he had a toothbrush
there. Most of his stuff was either at Mel’s or the station.

She was here to stay
and admitting it wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be. If only he hadn’t
picked a fight tonight of all nights. Wasn’t there supposed to be peace on
earth and all that?

Hopefully on Christmas
she would talk to him or he might find himself out on his ass, banned from the
Brentley household for good. He needed to make this right, for too many
reasons, none the least, for his the good of his heart.

* * * * *

Melanie let out a huge
sigh and took a sip of wine. Andre still wasn’t here and her mother wouldn’t
wait much longer to serve dinner. Great, she had driven a man off who didn’t
have any other family in town to share Christmas with. As far as she knew, all
of his family had moved away. Now she had ruined Christmas for him. Great.
Wasn’t life grand?

“Smile,” Ronnie said,
nudging her with an elbow to the ribs. “Or they’ll think something’s up.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want
that, would we?” She downed the rest of her wine, coughing as the fumes burned
her nose.

After her fight with
Andre, she had cried on Ronnie’s shoulder as she wallowed in the weird
non-breakup fight angst. She didn’t even know where they stood. Were they still
dating? Did he consider them fuck-buddies?

She was in way too
deep. Her resolve to stay uninvolved was shattered. What if Andre only wanted a
good time from her? She tried to swallow around the knot in her throat. She
thought he had fallen for her but maybe she was wrong.

Her mother, Candace,
walked in the kitchen. “The turkey’s done and I thought Brian told me Andre
would be here at six. Did Brian mention Andre was running late?”

Mel frowned. Andre had
told her his shift on Christmas ended at six so unless he had an airplane, he
couldn’t even get to her parents house until six-thirty at the earliest, which
was a few minutes from right now. But she shrugged, not wanting to let on she
knew more than Brian.

It drove her crazy,
having to watch every last word she spoke about Andre. Would she give away her
feelings? Did it show on her face how much she cared for him?

Brian walked in the
kitchen. “Let’s just sit down and Andre can join us when he gets here. You never
know with his schedule. He might be a few hours if he’s out on a call.”

“Oh, that’s right,” her
mother said as she shoved a dish at Brian. “Ben. It’s time to cut the turkey.”

Ronnie helped too as
they each carried a dish out to the table perfectly set for six. After a couple
trips, they managed to get all the food out on the table.

Her dad carried out the
platter of sliced turkey and her mother oohed and aahed over it. Normally, Mel
would too but her mood was so dark, she couldn’t see daylight.

“Mel, sweetheart, are
you okay?” Her dad put his arm around her shoulders.

She managed to drag a
smile out of her nasty mood. “I’m okay, Daddy.”

“Boy troubles?”

She pursed her lips.
“Unfortunately, yeah.”

“Well, if he doesn’t
know how good he has it with you, he’s not worth it.”

He kissed her forehead
as her brother walked in the room with the bottle of wine. “What’s wrong, Sis?”

“She’s having boy
troubles,” her dad said.

“Ah,” her brother said
as he moved on to pouring the next glass of wine. “You just point him out to
me. I’ll have a talk with him.”

She sighed. “That’s
what I’m afraid of.”

Brian kept talking as
if he hadn’t heard her. “And if he gives me a hard time, I’ll call in Andre and
we’ll beat the crap out of this guy.”

The thought of Andre
punching himself struck Mel as funny and she began to laugh, which sounded
sharp and slightly unhinged to her own ears. It must have sounded strange to
everyone else because all eyes turned to her.

“Sorry,” she said in
between giggles. She tried to explain her reaction but finally gave up.

Brian shook his head as
they all sat down at the table. “Crazy Mel.”

Her mother smiled as
she picked up her wine glass. “She always was the sweet, smiling child. Brian
was the one you had to watch out for like putting frogs in Melanie’s bed or
putting toothpaste all over the sink.”

“I thought they would
never stop fighting.” Her father started serving the turkey and passing it
around. “But they finally grew up and put aside their petty differences.”

Mel glanced over at
Brian, who frowned as he dished a large helping of potatoes onto his plate.
“Who said anything about petty? Mel is still a tyrant.”

He smirked at her and
she threw one back at him, even though her stomach churned. What would he do if
he found out? Andre could certainly hold his own against Brian but if Brian
couldn’t get past his best friend dating his sister, their friendship would
suffer.

Ronnie squeezed her
shoulder, pulling Mel from her reverie, and then sighed when her cell phone
rang. “They would pick the worst time to call,” she said, flipping her phone
open as she walked out of the room. “Hi Mom and Dad. How is Nassau?”

After Ronnie left the
room, they all kept eating with Brian and her father dominating the
conversation. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and Mel’s heart raced. She
half-wished it would be carolers on their doorstep, but she knew it was Andre.

Her mother went to
answer the door and Mel dropped her fork with a clang, suddenly not hungry. She
cleared her throat and took a sip of water, trying to calm her nerves.

He walked through the
doorway into the dining room and her father stood to shake his hand. The
greetings flew between her family and Andre but Mel couldn’t seem to bring
herself to say anything.

Not that anyone
noticed. Andre acted like nothing was wrong and kissed her mother on the cheek.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Mrs. Brentley.” He sat across the table from Mel, looking
anywhere but her.

Her mom patted him on
the shoulder before heading to her own seat. “As long as everything was all
right.”

“Just some traffic. Hey
Bri, how’s it going?” Andre asked with a grin.

“Pretty decent, man. I
can’t complain. You missed saying grace but we saved you some turkey.”

“I wait all year long
for today. I starve myself for days,” Andre said, holding out his plate as he
continued to lay it on thick to her mom.