Fighting the Fire Read online

  Whatever it was that burned inside her now burned for Cy. She wanted to feel him in her hand as her fingers grazed lower, skimming under the water. She touched him. He tipped his head back and groaned. He twitched from her touch.

  “It’s perfect,” Mia said. Her body was all but hummed and fed off his emotions like a sponge.

  Cy came in for another long kiss, walking her backward, deeper into the river until the water was up to their necks. His fingers skimmed slowly back and forth across her taut stomach. She gasped when his head disappeared under the current taking a hardened, puckered nipple between his lips and then swirled his tongue to tighten it even more. Mia arched against him, not wanting this exquisite feeling to end.

  Cy surfaced, shaking water from his curly hair. “That was way more fun than bobbing for apples.” His head disappeared again. This time he bit down ever so gently, shooting sensations as his hands stroked her back then over a rounded cheek of her buttocks and slid between her legs.

  His breathing had quickened when he surfaced, and as he pulled her tighter she could feel his growing need press against her. He dipped his head to the shadowy hollow of her neck, running tongue and teeth over the already sensitized skin.

  Mia rubbed against him, the night hypnotic as the moon showed silver off the swirling waters. “I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night or a more perfect man. Make love to me.”

  Cy walked her through the shallow water, never leaving contact with her body, kissing her. Starting with her lips, her cheeks, her eyelids, back through the water until she felt something hit the back of her knees.

  “There’s a rock ledge here. It will keep you partially submerged in the water. Will that be enough?” His face was concerned. He kissed her again lightly on the lips and then closed his eyes chastising himself, “Damn, are you kidding me?”

  “What?”

  “I forgot a condom. But being a fireman we have medical checks 24-7 for anything from Covid-19 to staff infections.” He was frustrated with himself.

  “You want to hit pause?” Mia practically choked out the words with the passion that was flooding her senses. “No, we’re not going to wait. I’m on birth control. I have been since I was afraid someone might…you know…hear about my powers and attack me.”

  The look on his face almost brought her to tears. He really cared.

  She swallowed before continuing, “I would hear the boys in town talk about what they were going to do to me. The freak who starts fires. It was a precaution.”

  Cy took her face in his hands. “No one will ever hurt you again. I wish I could take away all those things in the past.”

  “I’ve never been with a man before.”

  He bent and kissed her again lightly. “We’ll take it slow.” He lifted her with his strong arms, sitting her on the raised rock ledge. The water rested and slapped against her bared nipples.

  “You’re so damn beautiful. Your hair, your body.” He ran a loving touch over her. “I dreamed about you the night of the fire when I was in the hospital. From that night on, I couldn’t get you out of my mind. If you think you can do this, I don’t think I can wait much longer.” Taking her ankles he wrapped them around his back and hips, pulling her slowly against him.

  Cy settled between her legs and she felt the hard press of him at her opening. Everything about him felt hard, as she grasped at his steeled arms.

  “Look at me.” He slowly slid inside her. “Mia, use your powers and see through my eyes how much I love you.” She felt the thick, hard glide of him as he entered her. There was a sharp stab of pain and then colors passed behind her eyes. Suddenly she could feel everything that he was feeling. Warm swirling colors. Loving her.

  With his body braced on the rock ledge beneath, she was fully aware of his weight and strength as he pushed deeper into her. Caging her in a loving embrace he drove in, overwhelming her by the sensation.

  Cy bent and whispered in her ear, “This is what it should be like. This is what I’ve waited for my whole life. You.”

  Mia felt her climax build with each glide, the force of it too powerful to stop. He waited for her, taking his time, slowly stroking in and out until she could take all of him.

  She threw her arms out to grasp the rock ledge, looking for something to ground herself. On the rocks, steam hissed from her exposed hands. She closed her eyes, fighting with the power, but with each thrust, she could feel control slipping.

  Almost telling him to stop Mia cried Cy’s name. Her entire body trembled and shuddered, as the first climax burst through her. Her inner muscles clenched down on his hard shaft and she lost control. Suddenly, blue light shimmered around them, there was a crack, as sensations tore through her, shattering.

  The flowing water disappeared, replaced by a cool breeze that caressed their naked bodies. They were surrounded by opalescent blue light.

  Sweat beaded on Cy’s forehead as he choked out each word, “Do. I. Need. To. Stop?”

  “No...” There was the muffled roar of the water as it rushed around them, but they were encased, dry.

  Cy rocked his hips and picked up the pace, driving deeper, faster, each trust putting him closer to her core, locking his body to her’s. She breathed out a moan, feeling need building again to the breaking point as another climax peaked, taking her over the edge.

  Visible white sparks shot between them and Mia’s vision blurred, her body pulsed to grasp him like a fist.

  Cy threw his head back and cried out. He spilled everything he had deep inside her.

  ****

  Both tried to catch their breath as Cy tipped his head against her damp forehead asking, “You still okay?”

  She wanted to cry, she wanted to laugh, she didn’t know what she wanted to do other than keep him with her as long as she could. “Hold me.”

  He obliged and held her tight. They looked at the opalescent bubble encasing them. “Guess we know one way to get your powers to come out.”

  Mia smiled, feeling drained. “It happens when I lose control.”

  Cy smiled and ran his tongue across the seam of her lips. “I love it when you lose control. We’ll have to try out your theory again soon.”

  The blue aura around them began to fade. As Cy stepped to the edge of the river with Mia in his arms, there was a lower toned snap and the bubble disappeared.

  “That’s cool !” Cy exclaimed, like a little boy.

  “But now it’s cold,” Mia complained, giggling at his enthusiasm.

  Cy carried her toward the cabin. “I wonder if we could go underwater? You know in the bubble, would it keep us dry? I wonder if there’s air for us to breathe?”

  Snuggling closer, she chuckled. “I guess I just had to find someone who looks at my powers like an adventure. Mr. Science, can we please go back to the cabin, before I fall? My knees are that weak.”

  “How can you fall, when I’m carrying you?” he asked with a rumble of laughter. “Which, if you knew how shaky my knees were, you would be afraid…you’d be very afraid. It’s not a very safe proposition.”

  He took the back steps of the cabin two at a time and set her on her feet on the back porch.

  “What about our clothes?” Mia asked remembering they’d been left at the river.

  Cy looked her slowly up and down. “Clothes are highly overrated. I think we should both go Bohemian and never wear them again.”

  Mia laughed. “Tree hugging, granola-eating hippies from Klahowya?”

  “We wouldn’t be the only ones.” He pulled a wool camp blanket off the bench and asked, “Your hair’s wet, are you cold?”

  She shivered in reply.

  He looked down appreciatively. “I hate to do this. I love to see you when you’re cold—at least some parts of you.” He ran a finger over the tip of one nipple, then covered her with the blanket and pulled her against his solid, warm chest.

  “Besides it would be hard to shop in town, I mean naked. People would talk,” Mia said.

  “They alrea
dy gossip about the two of us. Let’s give them something to talk about!”

  “Clothes?” She flipped her head toward the river.

  “Leave ’em. Who will walk off with them? A coyote? They’ll be there in the morning.” He grasped her hand and pulled her toward the door of the cabin. “Besides, I’m too tired to make it down the steps. It took everything I had to get us back to the cabin.”

  Chapter 15

  The two of them stumbled back into the house, giggling and laughing into the dark kitchen. Cy opened the refrigerator, poured a large glass of orange juice, and took a deep gulp. He wiped a hand across his mouth and then handed the glass to her.

  “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

  “I don’t know if I can again right now, I have to get back in control.”

  “Why, Miss Koda,” Cy said in a high Southern drawl. “Whatever do you mean? I hope you’re not thinking I would try anything to compromise you…again. I was just talking about sleeping.”

  Mia blushed. “Oh—of course.”

  He kissed her gently, nipping her lower lip between his teeth. “But, I’ll take your body again the moment you think you’re ready.” A grin split his face and he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

  As Cy led her to the large four-poster pine bed she stood looking down at it. “You get in. I need a minute.”

  Cy nodded and pulled back the thin patchwork quilt, sliding beneath the cotton sheets.

  Mia sat on the edge and closed her eyes. Counting, she relaxed and heard Orenda’s voice in her mind. She imagined herself on the marshmallow cloud, drifting. She could feel the powers burning inside, but she concentrated on making them smaller and smaller until the feeling subsided.

  It was safe for now.

  Cy propped himself up on one arm and watched her. He patted the open side of the bed. “Come to bed before I change my mind about that promise of not touching you.” His eyes sparkled.

  Mia sat cross-legged and leaned against the headboard.

  “What’s the matter?” He pulled himself up next to her and kissed the bare skin of her shoulder.

  “I don’t know if I should sleep on the bed, it’s dangerous.”

  Cy yawned, his eyes already drooping heavily toward sleep. “It’ll be fine, stop worrying.”

  “It’s just the bed…you know. If we’re both asleep and something happens. I’m still not sure.” She bit her lip.

  “Mia…” Cy pulled her hair free and rubbed it between his fingers like a silk talisman. “Stop. I’m a fireman, remember? You’re in safe hands.”

  She shook her head. “I thought that was the slogan for an insurance company?”

  He chuckled, getting her dumb joke. “I also have lots of smoke detectors all over the place.” He pointed to all the white disks with blinking red lights around the room. “Outside, there’s even an early warning infrared detector, in case of forest fires, and”—he paused—“you don’t start fires.” He kissed her on the cheek. “You love me, right?”

  She nodded.

  He whispered, “Then I have nothing to worry about, and neither do you. I’m a light sleeper. After all we’ve been through, if we’ve made it this far in our lives, I think it’ll be smooth sailing from here on out.” He pushed her shoulders to lie down. “I want you to stay here tonight. It’s important. I need you.” She could tell that this was hard for him to admit that he was having trouble dealing with what had happened earlier. Cy rubbed a hand over his sleepy eyes. “Maybe I should get up and go see Sally.”

  Mia snuggled into the crook of his arm. “I’m sure she’s sedated, let the doctors do their jobs tonight. We can visit in the morning. You need to sleep.”

  Cy rolled toward her and said, “I hope this doesn’t diminish the love thing…When I’m around you I feel like I never say the right thing but damn, that was the most amazing sex I’ve ever had.”

  “The love thing?” She tried to give him a dirty look.

  “Hell, you know what I mean. Making love with you was…”

  The tightly curled chest hair tickled her palm as she kissed him over his heart. “Incredible? Amazing? And many other ‘love things’ all wrapped up in one. It was great…you were great.” She sighed, as her mind faded into the world of dreams, knowing Cy was there to keep her safe.

  The last thing she remembered was the feel of his long, strong arm draped across her bare middle, feeling for the first time in her life that she wasn’t alone.

  ****

  Mia’s eyes slowly opened and blinked from the morning sun shining through the sheer curtains. She stretched, yawned, and smiled remembering the night before. As the memories of their lovemaking flooded through her mind, her cheeks heated.

  Cy was stretched next to her, a bare arm bent over his head as he breathed deeply, his mouth partially open. His unruly hair stuck up around his head from being damp when he fell asleep. She needed to touch him and brush a hand softly down his stubbled cheek. He yawned and sleepily opened his eyes.

  “Good morning, beautiful.” Cy smiled, rubbing his eyes and kissed her gently. “Look, we’re both still here on the bed. I told you nothing would happen. Orenda’s great, isn't she? I knew she could make it work for us.” He ran a thumb up her bare arm and asked, “Do you always blush when you wake up in the morning?”

  Mia rubbed a hand over her tanned shoulder, feeling where his fingers had just been. “Not usually. But I’ve never woken up with a naked man in my bed.”

  “We'll have to change that, and make it a daily occurrence, as long as it’s me of course.” Cy wiggled his toes under the covers. “Do I snore?”

  She grinned. “I don’t think so.”

  “I could easily get used to this.” Pulling her long black hair out to flow over the pillows he shook his head as if to bring himself out of the trance of watching her. Cy took a long breath and then said, “I have a lot of great ideas that would keep us in bed all morning, but there are some things we need to do before I go back on my next shift.”

  “Such as?” Mia eyed him.

  “I need to go to the hospital and check on Sally. Then we need to call Orenda and see if she found your grandma. Orenda said she knew where she was.”

  Mia chewed on her thumb. “If I do have a grandmother, don’t you think that she would have found me if she wanted to?”

  “No, I don’t. You said yourself that they couldn’t even track down your mother. It’s a small town, and they probably don’t have a lot of resources or manpower to go on an extensive search. Let’s swing by Orenda’s, get some details, and spend the time together until I go on my shift. If we find some info., that’s great, if we don’t, we get to spend the day in the sun. I’ll pack a picnic, we can stop along the way.”

  “Glass half full?”

  “Always. That’s me. I need a shower and a cup of coffee. What about you?”

  Mia covered her upper half with the white sheets pulled tightly down while Cy yanked his side back and stretched his long legs. He was glorious, erect, and seemed to have no problem being naked. She licked her lips and tried not to stare.

  That body was there for her to touch? To feel? To taste? That was going to take getting used to.

  Cy got to his feet and padded toward the bathroom. She watched the muscled cheeks of his backside. He glanced over his shoulder, catching her staring. “You better get used to seeing me naked, because I plan on seeing you that way all the time.” He flipped a cocky grin. “I’d ask you if you’d join me in the shower, but we’re on a schedule and there would be no way that I wouldn’t get completely distracted. The shower, by the way, was my first water idea, but the river worked just fine. I’ll save that idea for some time soon.” Cy flipped the towel off the hook and shut the door. The water of the shower began to run and there was a metallic scrape from the shower curtain hooks.

  Everything was happening so quickly. Someone else had started the fires? How could that be, and who would want to hurt her? If Orenda had found her grandmother, maybe this woman would have s
ome answers.

  Mia pulled herself out of the bed, remembering her clothes were still down by the river.

  Damn.

  She was going to have to wait for Cy to come out of the bathroom so he could go and get them. There was no way she was going out there in a sheet.

  Let him traipse down to the river naked.

  Maybe, if she were lucky, he’d come out of the bathroom in a towel, or better yet, nothing at all. The door creaked opened and Cy’s body filled the bathroom doorway.

  Her wishes were starting to come true.

  ****

  The pick-up truck bumped along on the rough roads as they entered the Colville Indian Reservation. The sun beat down as they took the welcome breeze from the car windows rolled down. The farther east they’d driven, the more parched and dry the passing landscape became. Barren outcroppings of jagged rocks were sprinkled with brush.

  Tumbleweeds thumped under the bumper and then flew off down the road to take on another motorist who dared to get in their way. Mia tapped her hand nervously against her thigh as she watched the passing cars.

  “I didn’t know what to say to Sally. It’s so terrible about Mary.” Mia fidgeted with the strap of her purse as she stared out the window.

  “There is nothing you can say when someone loses someone they love. You just need to be there to help them through it. I’ll stop by again after my shift and see if there’s anything I can do to help Mary’s family.”

  “I still can’t come up with anyone who would do something like this.”

  Cy adjusted the visor to block the sun. “I told Captain West to call me on my cell phone if they find anything.” He reached across and touched her hand. There was a snap but he clutched it tightly, and then he raised her knuckles to his lips for a kiss. “I know a million things are going through your mind right now. But you’re anticipating things that haven’t happened.”

  She pulled her hair out from behind her back and re-wrapped it to secure it with a large clip. She poured a small amount of water from the bottle under the seat into her hands and used it to cool her face. She knew Cy was right, but she couldn’t help but be nervous. She’d been disappointed so many times, this could just be another check in the box.