Sophie stood up taller with an impatient huff, closing any distance I’d allowed, causing our mouths to move against eachother’s in earnest. With a shared moan of pleasure, we opened our mouths, no more hesitation as tongues clashed, seeking, tasting. My mouth watered with her sweet taste, my body tensed to have her. Again, I wished I wasn’t so sweaty and filthy from work.
My other arm moved around her back, bringing her closer to me. She threw her arms around my neck like she had when she first saw me. I groaned as the length of our bodies connected. The kiss deepened as we learned each other. I’d thought about this so much I couldn’t believe it was finally happening. I needed more.
The hand that held her to me began to move up and down her back, comforting yet desperate at the same time. Her body still trembled, but I hoped not from fear anymore.
Soft enough to be lost to anybody who wasn’t as close as I was, her needy sounds drove me wild. I was losing control quickly. I hadn’t yearned like this in so long. I wanted to pull her legs up and wrap her around me. I wanted to push her up against the fire truck and do filthy things to her.
She, too, seemed to feel the same ferocity overtaking us. Her mouth moved with a needy rhythm as my hands struggled to stay in place, thumbs rubbing along her rib cage and up her sides.
If I could feel more skin ... lay her naked into sheets.
We burned too hot, too fast. This kiss flamed out of control too quickly. A fire made of expectorant burned too quick and had no lasting power. But I wanted this to last beyond a fleeting moment. I wanted a long, slow burn with Sophie.
A voice in the back of my mind yelled that this wasn’t the time or place. I had just been about to break the kiss, maybe ... eventually, when a whistle beat me to it.
“Take it somewhere else, Leigh. No civilians need to be this close,” Chief Sutter shouted.
Reluctantly, bashfully, she pulled away. A slow smile spread as she bit her bottom lip. My heart raced harder than it had when I’d rushed into that factory earlier. She was heart-achingly beautiful as she looked up at me with a sheepish grin. Flushed cheeks and plump, red lips. Eyes I could fall into. I wanted to learn to draw so that I could have an excuse to stare at her uninterrupted for hours.
I was in so much trouble.
I’d heard the other guys talk about the adrenaline rush of a fire and the desire it caused. Like it was some long dormant animal instinct to claim what was yours and ravage it after the adrenaline burst of fighting fire. I had never felt that. I understood the adrenaline crash, but it had made me want to work out, burn off steam. I’d neverneededto be doused by consuming another person so desperately. Not even close. But I understood it now. I wanted her ferociously. I wanted to pour all this abundant heat I’d taken in and slowly release it over several hours with my tongue and her body.
So lost that I was, I had forgotten about the people all around, watching us.
Sophie was a fire I’d let consume me without a second thought.
The catcalls and whistles registered on delay.
Sophie brought a hand to her lips, eyes wide in surprise.
I hoped my pleasure was written all over me as it was on her dazed face.
Without wasting another second, I scooped Sophie up and carried her back across the street to where she’d come running, away from the clapping and whooping. Claire and Levi waited there, but I wasn’t ready for company, so I set her down a few yards away, and they pretended not to notice us. Claire did very little to hide the happy surprise all over her face until Levi gently turned her back to him.
“Did we just—in front of everyone?” Sophie asked as reality brought her shoulders closer to her ears.
“Yes, we did,” I said as confidently as any crowing cock.
“I have never done anything like that,” she said.
“Me neither,” I said softer, and lowered to kiss her cheek.
I hadn’t released her completely yet. My hands still rested on her shoulders, so it was easy to distract her by running a finger down the column of her neck to the strange houndstooth coat she wore.
“I like your costume.” I grinned.
She swallowed and blinked. “God, I completely forgot I was wearing it. I forgot it was Halloween. I forgot we were on Earth,” she mumbled.
“I get the text hint now. Sherlock Holmes.” I thought of the confusing emojis she’d sent, understanding now—the okay or sure sign, a lock, and a house or a home.
“That feels forever ago.” Her hand reached up and rubbed something off my cheek.
“Sorry. I’m so filthy,” I said.
She bit her lip. Her gaze raked me up and down. Without my jacket and blanket, my sweat had long cooled. I was dressed in only my pants, boots, shirt, and suspenders. I preened under her long gaze that tracked over my body as I got goose bumps.
“I do not mind,” she said.
