“You’re better off,” Cade said. His deep voice broke into her internal struggle.
“You think?” she asked. Lily looked up at him.
His hazel eyes bored into hers. Does he know? Could he guess about the whole virgin thing?
“Sure,” he said. “The guy sounds like a total loser. Besides, you’re hot enough to bag any guy you want.”
Lily bit her lip and looked back down. He thinks I’m hot?
“You think?” she asked again.
“Absolutely.”
She willed herself to look up at him again. Before she could think or second-guess herself, she tilted her head up and closed her eyes. Lily couldn’t tell if she closed the distance or he did, but when his lips were on hers she eagerly opened her mouth.
She felt Cade’s hands move to her waist, the heat of his palms against the sliver of flesh between her skirt and t-shirt. Lily let out a moan into his mouth as he easily hoisted her onto his lap.
As she straddled him, she felt his growing hardness as it pressed against the thin material of her underwear. Cade didn’t need to do much to inch the short skirt up. She felt the air against the bare skin of her backside and his hands squeeze into her flesh.
Her hands made their way onto his chest, the muscles from hours of firefighter training evident.
“I’ve wanted this a long time,” he whispered into her ear as he bit gently at her lobe.
Should I tell him? she wondered, but already he’d ripped open her panties with a single tug.
Cade lifted up her tight shirt to expose her bra and pulled down the lace material. As his mouth moved down her neck and he took a firm nipple into his mouth, she let out a yelp. She felt her wetness begin to soak into the roughness of his denim.
What if I’m not good at it? she wondered, but pushed that thought aside.
Lily couldn’t stop herself from riding him. By the time she heard the sound of Cade unzipping himself, she had an ache deep inside her that begged to be filled.
“You’re so wet,” he said as he tested her opening with his tip.
Lily braced herself against him and felt just a small pinch as he lowered her onto him.
Soon, she bore onto him, unable to get enough. As Cade kissed and sucked her neck, she felt the wave build up inside her that she’d only ever managed on her own before.
“Come for me,” he murmured against her ear, and she had no choice but to obey.
As she climaxed, she felt a rush into her. Cade’s hot release filled her with a satisfaction she’d never felt before.
As he gently lifted her off him, a drunken sleepiness washed over her, and in the dark Oregon afternoon it already felt like nearly evening.
“EJ?” she wondered aloud even as sleep overtook her.
“Don’t worry,” Cade said as he pulled her against him to spoon on the couch—the same couch she’d sat on countless times over the years. “He’s gone until tomorrow night.”
Lily drifted into sleep with Cade’s sturdy arm wrapped around her.
***
Lily fluttered her eyes open to the sound of a steady morning rush of rain. The surroundings were only somewhat familiar.
“Cade?” she asked groggily as the previous day’s events began to creep back into her head. Lily groaned and pushed herself up from the couch.
“Cade?” she called again.
She could tell by the stillness in the air he was gone. Her phone, nearly dead, told her it was almost eight in the morning. The heartache she’d felt earlier returned with a vengeance.
I guess that’s why EJ and Aiden call him Morningside Manwhore, she thought, her mouth twisting.
The weight of what she’d done, of what she’d let Cade do—wanted him to do—started to dawn on her.
I’ve had a crush on him for so long, and now what? she wondered. I’m just another notch on his bedpost.
“Well,” she said aloud. “What did you expect would happen?” In her fantasies, this would always be just the beginning. She’d never imagined what would happen afterward.
Slowly, she picked up her clothes, now dry, and got dressed. A small soreness lingered between her legs.
She used the last of her phone battery to call an Uber, a little glazed over. What really stuck in her mind, though, was how pathetic the situation seemed.
****
Cade
Montana, Six Months Ago
“Here we go,” Barron said as he slid into his seat on one of the fire choppers beside Cade. “My guess is cigarette. Got five on it. You?”
Cade shook his head and grinned. “I’m not betting with you after that last time. How the hell’d you know it was a kerosene lamp anyway?”
Barron shrugged. “Saw it on Facebook before we got there.”
“Bastard,” Cade said with a chuckle.
Dominguez and Fields each stuck to their sides of the fire rescue chopper, looking down at the terrain below.
“Ain’t seen the fire yet, maybe we’ve been called out for a false alarm,” Barron said.
He was the youngest on the repeller crew, just nineteen years old, and came from an all-boys military prep school where he swore up and down he hadn’t seen a girl for four straight years.
“Doubtful. I’ve worked as a hotshot for fifteen years, and this would be my first,” Fields muttered.
The helicopter pilot made his way north, and soon enough they could see the smoke and little bits of orange flame here and there in the trees.
They kept going north, almost ten minutes, and Cade’s concern level grew. Each minute north they went, the flames were more and more prominent.
“What the hell?” Cade said under his breath. He called to the helicopter pilot. “Hey, Sean, I thought the Captain said this was just a two alarm. This—hell, this is a full-blown wildfire.”
“I’ll call in to report that,” Sean said and clicked on the his radio. “Sean here, you hear me, Captain?”
It crackled, but there was nothing.
“Captain, you copy? This isn’t a two alarm, you copy?” Sean clicked it off. “Fuck, man, this piece of shit isn’t working.”
“It’s
