My Filthy Fireman (A Steamy Older Man Younger Woman Romance) Read online

  But he looks as taken aback as I feel as soon as he sees me.

  “You!” he says

  “Yes, me! Thank you for getting me out of that house.” I say as if he had called around for the purpose of being thanked.

  “Don't mention it,” he says. “On the other hand, I've been awake for twenty two hours of the last twenty four. If you could make less noise that will be thanks enough. If Bon Jovi doesn't stop assaulting my ear drums, even exhaustion is not going to have the usual effect.”

  “But what are you even doing here?” Shit! That was rude.

  “I'll be living next door for a few weeks. I've got the builders in at my apartment and my uncle and aunt said I could stay here while they’re away. Just my luck they live next door to decibel loving party girl.”

  “Sorry, I'll turn the music off.” I say. “Thanks again.” Hell, why can't I say anything witty? A guy turns up next door—a gorgeous six-foot-plus fireman, cranky, right enough, but with sexy, crinkly eyes, and I don't know what to say. Typical!

  But I check him out while he's there. Those arms in his white t-shirt. No scrawny boy. Must be in his late twenties early thirties, maybe a bit older, but not much. Wow! I imagine how it would be to go out with him. He's not some crass boy. All that is going through my head and I open my mouth but it’s too late to say anything else. He's gone. I'm just the girl who puked on his pants.

  CHAPTER 4

  Luke

  Of all the places to end up, she's next door. The girl I keep thinking about. I've no idea why I can't get her out of my head. I've rescued plenty of women before her and a couple of women since that night but none of them has had any effect on me at all. She just seemed so delicate to be in that drunken state. It just wasn't right for her. Not right at all. Like she needed someone to watch out for her, but I am not it. I can't be watching out for women. They are nothing but trouble.

  Even so, when I can't sleep I pull open the curtains and she's there, still in the back yard, and irony of ironies, she's fast asleep, a note pad or sketch book or something fallen onto the ground. She looks beautiful in her little denim shorts with fraying edges, her checked shirt falling open showing her smooth stomach. Stop it Luke. Don't even think about it. So why am I out there in the back yard an hour later when I still can't sleep calling out to her?

  “Hey!”

  She opens her eyes and shakes her head in the delightful confused way she has that reminds me of how she was after the fire. She looks at me with her big eyes as if I woke her from a dream.

  “Oh, it's you again.”

  “Just thought you might be burning. From the sun I mean. There are all kinds of ways to burn. None of them are pleasant.”

  “Do you always go about warning women about things that are bad for them?”

  “Not all the time. No.” Shit! She must think I'm like her dad or something. “What are you drawing?”

  “Couple of things. Just trees and stuff.”

  “It was you!”

  She looks at me puzzled. “I thought we already said that. I said thanks. I also want to say sorry for throwing up on you.”

  “No not that. It was you who drew on my car.”

  “Oh that,” she says and blushes. “I couldn't resist.”

  “Nice cat. I took a picture before I put it through the car wash. I had Phoebe at a festival for the weekend.”

  I could swear her face falls but I'm not sure. Why would she care about me going to a god-damned festival? Then the penny drops. She thinks Phoebe is some woman.

  “That's what I call my car. Don't you call yours anything?”

  She smiles at me and I'm sure that's what she thought. That Phoebe was a woman. “I don't have a car.”

  “Isn't it a bit limiting stuck out here?”

  “It is, I'd like to go farther, find other things to draw, stop making sketches on dusty vehicles, but apparently I don't deserve a car. I'll get a car once I get a place at college.” She pulls a face.

  “Don't you want that? College I mean. I thought you were there already. Just home for the summer.”

  “No, not me. I’d like to go but only to study art. But that's not good enough for my parents.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Olivia

  How can this man have me tell him all that in the first five minutes of conversation? Maybe it's because he's shared my bed every night for weeks even if he doesn't know it.

  “I don't know your name,” I blurt out. Not sure why I didn't ask earlier. Perhaps I felt like I already knew him too well to ask.

  “Luke,” he says. “And you are?”

  “Olivia.”

  “Well, Olivia if you would like to meet Phoebe now that she has had a shower, you are welcome. I've got to go and see someone out at Oak Ridge tomorrow. Maybe you could find something new to sketch there while I visit.”

  Does he mean a date or is he just being kind? I can't take my eyes off him. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel the same way. Anyway I'm not going to turn him down even if he thinks I'm just some girl he once rescued.

  “Thanks. I'd love that.”

  I can't wait to be in his company again and hell getting to draw somewhere other than my back yard is pure magic. Being stuck here all summer is the pits.

  I thought I'd have some kind of wheels by the time I was eighteen but I think my parents think I'll get into less trouble if I can't go anywhere. I planned to have fun with Holly this summer, but she has Ben...and to hell with being a third wheel to them. They are all over each other. Holly doesn't hold back to spare my blushes.

  Luke says he'll come back in the morning and he disappears back into his aunt's house. I can't help admiring his ass in his jeans as he walks away. Aren't men supposed to go to seed as they get older? But then I don't really know what age he is. He's just not fresh out of High school like me and my friends, that's for sure.

  That body must have something to do with all the physical exercise he has to do with fire equipment. I blush thinking of the kind of physical exercise I have been imagining him doing in my bed. It's nothing to do with rolling out a fire hose and climbing a ladder. Though he can climb a ladder to my room any day he likes.

  That's weird because I have been keeping Jed at bay for the longest time. Luke just makes me want him without even knowing him. I need to call Holly.

  ***

  “Hey, Holls. I'm going out tomorrow. What should I wear?”

  Holly squeals when she hears who I'm going out with “The guy who rescued you? Wow! I saw him but I wasn't taking much notice—I was just happy you were alive. Is he hot?”

  “As only an active serving strong as an ox fireman can be.”

  “Isn't he a lot older than us though?”

  “A bit. Not sure. And I'm not sure if it's a date or if he's just being nice.”

  “Sounds like a date to me. Who are you going to see in Oak Ridge?”

  “No idea.”

  “Are you sure he's not married?”

  “I haven't noticed a ring. It doesn't look like he moved next door with a family.”

  “He moved next door?”

  “Only for a while. His own place is getting fixed up.”

  “Wish Ben lived next door to me.”

  “You're never out of each other's houses anyway.”

  “Sorry, I've been so tied up this summer, Olivia. Just when you split up with Jed and all.”

  “It doesn't matter.” Though we both know it does.

  “Maybe we can go out to a movie or something next week to catch up on all your news. You can tell me about your fireman date.”

  We chat a bit and end the call. I know she doesn't mean to drop me. She's just so tied up with her new man. But it hurts all the same.

  Holly's advice on clothes is just to wear what I normally wear. But she's thinking of dates with guys our age. I look down at my shirt and shorts. That outfit will not do at all. I expect the women Luke usually goes out with are more sophisticated than me and I don't have a single thing
to fit that description. But there's a closet full of stuff upstairs in my mother's room. She'll have something and she'll never know I've borrowed it.

  CHAPTER 6

  Luke

  I ring the doorbell at ten. I hope Olivia is ready even if I'd really like to rouse her from her bed. I imagine her lying there all tousled and dreamy eyed, her night dress riding up her lovely legs and the picture that paints in my mind makes my cock jump to attention. I have to stop my thoughts going any further in that direction.

  But when Olivia answers the door, I can't help a gasp escaping my lips. What the fuck has she done to herself? The shock must be registered on my face.

  “What's wrong?” she says, a frown replacing her initial smile at seeing me.

  I've upset her. I feel really bad. “Nothing's wrong. Let's go.”

  “No. Tell me,” she says.

  “You look lovely but...” Oh fuck, I just have to say it. “You don't look like you.”

  That dress she has on is sleeveless showing off her slender arms but it's dark and tailored like a suit. I can't explain how wrong it looks on her but it seems hard somehow and I don't see her as hard at all.

  “But you've only seen me a couple of times. How can you know how I normally look?”

  “I mean you look like you don't feel easy in your clothes, not like I saw you yesterday. I liked that. Like you weren't conscious about what you were wearing and now you are.”

  “It's one of my mother's dresses. I just borrowed it. She won't care,” she says defiantly but I can tell by her face she wishes she hadn't worn it now that I've put my foot in my mouth.

  “I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything.” Hell. I'm useless at this. Why did I say anything? I've ruined the day before we even leave the house.

  “Come in,” she says, her voice breaking. “I'll get changed if you don't like this one.”

  I want to make it up to her but I don't know how. I go in and before she can run off, I reach out and pull her to me, kicking the front door closed with my foot.

  She gives a little sob against me. Fuck! We're not going anywhere with her upset like this.

  “Hey,” I say. “I really am sorry. You're lovely whatever you wear. You're just lovelier in your shorts and shirt.” And I can't help kissing the top of her head. Her hair is coming the fuck out of that bun though. I pull at the pins. “I like your hair down, flowing over your shoulders like this.”

  I kiss her properly then. Fuck! She's gorgeous, all minty fresh and some subtle girly fruity flowery who-knows-what-it-is scent tickles my nose. But she's more of a woman than a girl in the way she responds to me with her soft lips, her mouth opening to me, inviting me in. I think we're both lost in that kiss and surprised by its intensity. I look at her and smile. She seems a lot happier now.

  “I spent ages putting that up.” She laughs pushing her hair behind her ears.

  “But that librarian look—I feel like I should be taking you along to the town hall meeting on the misappropriation of funds.”

  “Is there a committee called that?”

  “I have no fucking idea.”

  She laughs. I can't take my eyes off hers. Hell, this is intense.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Out at work.”

  “Take the dress off.”

  “I'm just going to do that.”

  “Here.”

  “Here?” Her eyes are wide.

  “Yes, here.”

  She looks at me and I think she's going to refuse and then she unbuttons the front of the black monstrosity and drops it to the ground. She might have been wearing a dress fit for a library meeting but her under things are something else—lacy little boy shorts and bra in some kind of peachy color. Who the fuck knows what they call the color? Whatever it is, I like it, the color, the whole set.

  “Much better.”

  “I can't go out like this.”

  “No. But I liked what you had on yesterday. It suited you.”

  “I can't wear those clothes again. They're in the laundry. But I'll find something.”

  As she walks away she has the nicest wiggle I ever saw. Not a sway like you see all the time on women in four inch heels, just a natural little wiggle in her boy shorts. I love it.

  When she comes back, I'm sure my eyes light up. She just wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of red shorts—not quite as short as yesterday's shorts, more demure, but still hot, with her ass and legs. With her wearing those and this weather, I'll smolder and burn in the car if I'm not careful.

  “So who are we going to visit?” she says.

  I knew I'd have to answer that question sooner rather than later and suddenly I wish I'd never suggested this trip as a way to get closer to her. “We'd better get going. I'll tell you on the way.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Olivia

  He doesn't tell me who we're going to visit. Not right away and I don't want to ask again in case he thinks I'm making a big thing of it or being too nosey. I don't know if I'm doing the visiting anyway. I think he might leave me somewhere to sketch and pick me up later.

  I only just remembered to grab my sketch book on the way out. That was supposed to be the reason for this trip—this trip I haven't mentioned to Mom or Dad. They don't approve of me wanting to be an artist, but they aren't going to flip about me sketching. I'm pretty sure they'd throw a fit about me going out with Luke for the day though, not to mention me taking off my dress for him and that kiss!

  I smile to myself at that but hell I need to know how much of a problem Luke's age is going to be with them, though I can imagine even five years would be something they wouldn't be happy about. I can't just ask though, can I?

  “How far is Oak Ridge?” I ask for something polite to say.

  It's about seventy miles. Have you never been there?”

  “Not since I was a kid.”

  “Not so long ago then.”

  “Long enough.”

  “How old are you anyway?”

  “Eighteen. Nineteen next month.”

  “Jeez, Olivia! You’re just out of high school? I thought that was a friends getting back together in the summer party. I was thirty-five last week.”

  Shit, he's older than I thought. “You don't look thirty-five.”

  “Thanks but maybe I should take you right back home. This is a bad idea. I didn't think it through. Even if you were at college, you’d still be much younger than me.”

  “Why do you care if I don't?”

  “You might not care but I can't see your parents being thrilled about it.”

  “They don't like anything I do so one more thing is not going to make any difference.”

  “I think you might find it does. And I don't want to be the cause of trouble between you.”

  He stops the car on the side of the road in a big cloud of dust.

  “Did you tell them you were going to Oak Ridge with me today?”

  “No. Why would I?”

  “Exactly for the reason they are not going to like it and they are especially not going to like you going behind their back.”

  “Did you tell your mom and dad?”

  “No, it's immaterial.”

  “Why? Because you're thirty-five and I'm eighteen? Why should they have any more say over my life than yours do over you?”

  “It's just different. I'm older. I haven't told them anything for years.”

  “It's the same for me. They don't care what I do, only about how it looks. All they care about is work and money. If you were a billionaire, I reckon you could be sixty and they wouldn't care how old you were.”

  “I'm sure they care more than you think.”

  “I'm sure you're wrong.”

  I don't want him to take me back home but I don't know how to convince him to start the car again and get back on the road to Oak Ridge.

  I put my hand on his arm. The strength of that forearm, the feel of his warm skin and the dark hair on it nearly takes my breath away. “Please. Just take me today. I'
ll not bother you again.”

  “You're not bothering me. Well you are, but not in that way. I don't mind taking you anywhere. But kissing you, telling you take off your dress—that was totally out of line. I didn't even think about your age. I just wanted to get that thing off you where it didn't belong.”

  “And there was me thinking you just wanted to look at my body.”

  “Well there was that too. Oh fuck, okay then. Just today. Probably a big mistake but what the hell.”

  He starts the car. I don't dare say anything else in case he changes his mind.

  I got up so early to be ready for our trip that I fall asleep and when I wake up we are in the middle of nowhere parked along the edge of a forest.

  CHAPTER 8

  Luke

  “Why have you stopped here?” Olivia asks

  “This is where we're going, through these trees. We're just a few miles on the other side of Oak Ridge. Bring your sketchbook.” I grab the bag I brought and her hand. It's so small in mine.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To visit my wife's grandmother.”

  “What? You're married?”

  “I was. Divorced now. Long story.”

  “Where's your wife?

  “Not here in case that's what you're worried about. She's in Vegas pursuing her dream of stardom and hell knows what else. I keep in touch with the old lady Beatrice because she has no other family as close as I am and I like her. I always did.”

  I thought telling Olivia about my past was all I had to worry about but the age thing suddenly hit me in the car. I haven't thought with my dick for years, not since I was in my twenties and got married. And now it is squashing every rational thought out of my brain, making me want to possess this girl, not just have her for a night, even a few nights. I want to look after her. Fucking stupid. I need to learn from the last time. But here she is. I brought her here so I have to suck it up for today. I created this situation so I have to deal with it. We make our way through the forest, twigs cracking underfoot. The thick canopy of leaves above us blocks the sun.