“Was it your torn trousers or the bruised bottom that convinced you?”
She was thinking about his bottom?“Neither. I’d rather see you unharmed, and I can maneuver you inside the door without having you stand.”
Her head lifted. “How?”
“I mean to… push you.”
“Push me?”
He shrugged. “More like a gentle nudge.”
“With what? You’re too far away to touch me.”
Don’t remind me. “I plan to use this,” he said as he reached to the side of the door.
Her jaw dropped. “You’re going to poke me inside with abroom?”
“Not the bristly part, just the handle.”
“That’s not any better!”
He groaned and dropped his head forward. “Do you have any better ideas? You hold the handle, and I’ll try to shuffle my way inside and pull you with me.”
“Without falling.”
Her teeth were chattering now, and the need to get her warm became overwhelming. “Without falling. I won’t let you get hurt.”
Her eyes shuttered as she clenched her jaw. “Fine,” she spat after a moment. “I don’t suppose I have any other options.”
“And with that ringing endorsement, I’ll start shuffling.” After getting himself as close to upright as possible while standing on a sheet of ice and holding a broom with the woman he was definitelynotlusting after attached to the end, Garrett moved.
And nearly fell.
Sadie screamed as he lunged forward, dropped the broomstick, and grabbed the door frame with both hands. “Don’t leave me out here!”
“I won’t,” he cried, his palms screaming from gripping the wood. He wrenched himself back inside the door with a grunt, then spun and reached for the broom. His eyes met hers and held.Christ, she was shivering in earnest now, her eyes wide and searching. “I won’t leave you.” He crouched low and shifted his weight to his heels. “Get on your knees, Sadie.”
There was no retort, and that worried him most of all. Her entire body seemed to tremble as she cautiously brought her knees under her hips and balanced on all fours. Holding her gaze, he extended the handle of the broom until she held tight, then pulled. Sadie cried out as her knees skidded across the ice, but the moment her skirt made contact with the concrete floor inside the threshold, she stuck. Her upper body, however, remained in motion, colliding with Garrett and sending them both down once more.
Only this time, her entire figure pressed down on him.
Good lord, what have I done to deserve this torture?
Her breath escaped in fast pants against his neck, her nose cold as it brushed against his chin. The chill of her hands permeated the fabric of his shirt, as he had been too dunderheaded to button his coat before this adventure started. The scant layers between them did nothing to shield him from the heat of her body, the weight of her breasts and the press of her hips against his. Because the universe seemed to have it out for him, his palms had landed on her lower back in such a way that his smallest fingers pressed into the top of the swell of her backside.
Christ, she would fit perfectly with him. His Sadie wouldn’t be a passive lover, but she would meet his fire with her own, evenly matched in bringing each other pleasure.
But the frigid floor of a firehouse was no place to start. He shifted, and she—was that awhimper?
Before he could examine the sound more closely, she shoved off his chest like she’d been burned and scrambled to her feet. Garrett followed suit, commanding his knees to stop trembling. “Are you hurt?”
“Hrm?” She stared at him, her eyes darting down his torso to—
Oh lord, no. He would need to have a stern conversation with his cock about the appropriate time and place for making himself known. “Damn, Sadie,” he stammered. “I’m sorry—”
She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “We haven’t time to discuss natural biological processes. We need to get the stove warming.”
Anatural biological process? How dare she compare the way she set his body on fire to photosynthesis!
