Brother's Fireman Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 106) Read online

  But he doesn’t know I saw him and probably never will. As fate would have it I was angling my body to avoid the reflection from my phone’s camera flash when I was preparing to take the picture.

  I breathe out, not even realizing I was holding my breath and press the picture button, my body relaxing from its tense state.

  That was…weird, and intense.

  I shake my head a few times, reminding myself why I’m back home in the first place, and make my way into the bar although my mind is still on him.

  The air is thick and some people are smoking despite laws against the contrary. I see a head pop up and a big hand motion me over. Just who I was looking for.

  “Hey sis,” my brother Daniel says, pulling me in for a hug. “You got in early.”

  “No traffic. I got lucky.” That’s only about ten percent of it. The other was I packed up early and got out of town early, not wanting anyone to know I’d already left for summer break. And I definitely didn’t want anyone back at college to find out that I had no plans on ever coming back.

  “But not quite lucky enough.”

  I pause, trying to decipher his cryptic response.

  “The captain just left. I wanted to introduce you to him.”

  “What’s he look like?” I blurt out.

  “Tall. Built. Basically me, but not as good looking.” I give a forced laugh at my brother’s attempt at humor. “He was wearing a white button down and probably walked out just as you were walking in.”

  “I might have seen him. What car does he drive?”

  “I don’t think he drove tonight. He knew he’d have a drink or two so he took a cab here and likely just left in one.”

  Goosebumps cover my body and my back straightens.

  “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost, Daphne.”

  My eyes focus in on his table. “Yeah, uh…I didn’t know you drank lite beer.” Good save, I think to myself.

  He looks down at his bottle and shrugs. “Thirty-two. Metabolism isn’t what it used to be.” He pauses. “So whaddya have?”

  “I’ll have a sparkling water with a lemon.”

  “I always forget that you’re not twenty-one. You just seem so grown up.”

  I let it hang, not feeling like talking about mom and dad’s death, especially considering the reason we’re here is to remember a fallen hero of our local fire department.

  “As long as you don’t think I look old. That’s all I care about,” I joke half-heartedly.

  Daniel gets the waitress’s attention and puts in my drink order.

  “So this friend of yours?” I can’t believe I’m still on this subject.

  “You mean Jonah?”

  “That’s the new fire captain?”

  “Not new. He’s been with us for four years.” Daniel looks around and lowers his voice. “Now’s not the best time to talk about it, but you’ll meet him this summer.”

  I know my brother’s not trying to hook me up. If anything he just wants another pair of eyes on me so his baby sister doesn’t get into any trouble and nobody tries to start any trouble with me. I want to remind him I’m grown up, but this isn’t the time or place for that either. And it’s certainly not the time to tell him I’m planning on skipping town sooner rather than later.

  “I was thinking about the fundraiser for Captain Callahan’s widow.”

  “It’s finished. We raised all we could. We barely hit the goal, but it will at least get her by another year. Plus the guys are always taking food over there and checking in on her so we’ll make sure she’s okay.”

  “What if there was a way to raise a lot of money, fast?”

  “I’m all ears.”

  The waitress brings my drink and I clink it to my brother’s lite beer bottle. I stir the lemon around a few times and catch myself biting my bottom lip. “This is kind of cliché and probably a bit embarrassing, but I know it works.” My brother says nothing, waiting for me to quit beating around the bush.

  I shift my weight to one leg and cross the other over it as I take a sip. “How about a fireman calendar?”

  My brother, who just went to take a sip, nearly spits out his drink. He rubs his nose and then says, “You mean like one of those shirtless calendars?”

  “That’s exactly what I mean.”

  “No way. Nobody’s gonna go for that, plus it undermines our authority.”

  “Oh, it won’t undermine your authority with the fairer sex and gay men, and those are the two biggest spending demographics in the country.”

  He shakes his head and laughs it off. “Nah, not gonna happen.”

  “Can you at least let me run it by the captain?” I feel my cheeks heat realizing I keep turning the conversation back to him.

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I mean, for starters, who could even shoot it?”

  I feel a shot of energy knowing that if he’s got objections I can shoot them down. A hard no is tougher to work around, but objections can be overcome.

  “I took a photography elective freshman year.”

  “That doesn’t mean you’re qualified to shoot a calendar. You know everybody wants to look their best, not like those cheesy middle school yearbook type shots or something.”

  “It’s all about lighting, and it’s easy. You just get it set up and then pick out thirteen poses and you’re set.”

  “Thirteen? There are only twelve months in the year.”

  I lean my head to the side and that same side of my mouth comes up as I give him a “really” look, as if he doesn’t know. “Gotta have a centerfold.”

  “Oh hell no. No way that’s happening.”

  “It’s for charity, Daniel. People will buy it even if the pictures are completely upside down, because they’ll want to support the cause, but trust me...I know how to shoot it.”

  “Not now, sis. Wrong time and place to discuss it.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  But what’s definitely wrong are the ideas that are filling my head right now. And those ideas all lead to Daniel’s friend being that very centerfold.

  Technically I only saw his reflection as he hung out of that cab, but that was enough. Now I want to see him through another piece of glass…a camera lens.

  But I need to drop it for now, and I should drop the idea of guys all together.

  It’s just something about him that I can’t get out of my head.

  And I know just the way to get into his.

  CHAPTER 3

  Jonah

  I breathe out hard, the air snapping from my chest and out my mouth as I crank out rep after rep of Bulgarian split squats.

  As a fireman we have to be ready to run up and down stairs weighted down with tons of gear, and possibly people on our backs. Bulgarian split squats with one hundred pound dumbbells in each hand prepare me for this.

  But I wasn’t prepared to break my record at age thirty-two.

  A man physically peaks around twenty-seven or twenty-eight…so they say.

  Well, I’ve got news for the guys in white lab coats who conduct experiments all day. A man peaks physically when he sees the woman of his dreams.

  I don’t just feel like I’m watching an episode of Animal Planet…I feel like I’m in one.

  Damn, I’ve never had the urge to mate, yes mate, like this before. Fuck I need to breed with this woman…make perfect babies that only she can give me.

  How in the hell am I so out of my mind for a woman whose face I haven’t even seen?

  Haven’t even touched her skin?

  Haven’t even kissed her?

  I crank out more reps, sweat dripping from my body as loud music blares from my Bose surround sound. My home gym is my refuge, but it was the last place I expected to find myself tonight.

  Especially after more than a couple of the most vile whiskey shots known to man.

  But here I am cranking out an exercise that requires extreme balance and focus. My knees aren’t wobbly at all. My muscles aren’t numb.
Everything inside me is firing.

  Everything.

  You’re supposed to perform the exercise with your head up and forward and your back straight. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing, but I can’t believe what I’m feeling.

  I look down briefly and see my cock stretching the fabric of my shorts to such an extent they’re tight around the hamstrings and ass. The synthetic shorts are being stretched to their limit. Even though they’re supposed to be made from some sort of hi-tech nylon or something, I swear it looks like the damn things are about to tear right at the seam or even split right up the middle.

  And this pair is new, a replacement I had for the exact same pair that lasted a solid five years…and never ripped. They faded.

  But my thoughts about this mystery woman aren’t anywhere near fading, despite pounding out high-intensity cardio for a solid ninety minutes now. Not just cardio, weighted cardio. Heavy weights.

  I drop the dumbbells and walk over to the shower that sits in my basement next to the gym. I have a shower down here in my man cave so after any kind of heavy workout I can wash off the primal musk before I head back upstairs to “civilization.”

  I flip on the shower, colder than normal, but I don’t notice it at all.

  I squeeze a drop of shampoo into my palm and lather it up, before pausing.

  I’m still breathing hard and still solid as marble.

  I tell myself I shouldn’t, but my body is easily winning the battle over my mind right now.

  I rub my hands together before squirting in another drop and really lathering it up, before I fist my cock with my right hand.

  There’s no time to waste. I need relief now.

  Stroking my cock hard and fast has me already close to coming, something I haven’t felt in ages. Hell, I can’t remember the last time I masturbated. Then again I never had a reason to, a vision.

  Now I know what a fucking angel looks like. A real life princess on earth.

  The visual image of her runs through my head like a broken record, like a VCR caught on loop, as my hand moves faster still.

  My grip is hard, and I feel the pain of my foreskin being manhandled too hard and it only pushes me closer. My tight grip makes me think of her tight hole.

  Is she a virgin?

  Has she ever had a boyfriend?

  If she has a boyfriend that’s gonna end…quick.

  I picture that long blond hair hanging down her back. That creamy skin that I just barely caught the smallest glimpse of on the side of her face as the taxi pulled away.

  My eyes close as the water washes over me and my body buckles.

  My torso dives forward from the hips as I absolutely unload on the tiles in front of me.

  “Ahhh. Ah fuck!” I moan as my dick continues erupting as my body spasms.

  My hand reaches for the wall as I try to balance myself, but my legs feel like they’re about to give out.

  I slowly drop to a sitting position with a thud as the water drenches me from above. I feel the level rising and realize that I’m sitting on the damn drain.

  I try and slide to the side but I’m too damn weak. Damn, that climax took everything from me…everything.

  I put my hands on the bottom tiles, steadying myself as I rock myself off the drain before I overflow my entire basement.

  The water releases, spinning down the drainpipe as my mind spins right along with it.

  If I don’t find this woman it’s going to be the death of me. That much is the absolute truth.

  Hell, she’s the truth. She’s everything that’s right in a woman.

  Innocence. Resilience. Out late looking for a job when half the world is drinking.

  I swear women are tougher than men these days. It’s not even close. There’s no doubt that women are the new men, but when it comes to her, this man is going to make her his…and give her what every woman deserves but what I will give to her and only her.

  The world on a silver platter.

  CHAPTER 4

  Daphne

  I leave the bar and jump into the back of an Uber, pulling up the Nest app on my phone. I quickly scroll through the footage from the last couple hours when I was away. Nothing.

  Most people use Nest, and their security cameras, to monitor their property and to know when to unlock their front doors, remotely, when their guests arrive. It’s a pretty sweet deal.

  But it serves an entirely different function for me.

  I’m not trying to let people into my home or my life. I’m trying to keep them out.

  The Uber pulls up to the curb and by this point I’ve already scrolled through the complete footage five times. I pay and hastily make my way to the front door, letting myself in and locking the big steel door and the deadlock before going to check the windows and the rest of the apartment.

  No signs of foul play.

  The bars on the windows were a big selling point for me, not to mention that the owner had a big discount for a full month’s rental…a discount I desperately needed.

  I plop down on the couch, pull up my banking app, and stare at the three figure balance.

  If I wasn’t stressed enough being a bit on the run from a weirdo, now I have to worry about running out of money soon.

  I’m not about to ask my brother for a loan either. I’m a big girl and I need to act like it, especially when I meet Daniel’s friend Jonah. And I am going to meet him.

  But I need some rest so I don’t look absolutely horrendous tomorrow. It’s just that my chemistry professor, the guy I’m worried might be keeping tabs on me, is absolutely draining my energy. All these security precautions are costly and time consuming, yet unfortunately necessary.

  I run my hand along the back of my neck and then squeeze my shoulders a few times, not realizing how much tension I was holding in them.

  If I can land a job at that bar I know I can make tips quickly. I already worked as a hostess back at college and even then, not serving drinks, I did pretty good. It’s a bar that serves cops and fireman too so that makes it even better. I’m sure they’ll be well-mannered and if Geoff does show up then I know I’ve got backup.

  My mind wanders back to Geoff and my first day in his class. Chemistry is kind of a geeky class, which means it suited me perfectly. I was so impressed with my brother’s career that I wanted to somewhat follow in his footsteps and be a forensic scientist, which is why I needed the chemistry course.

  Geoff, as he asked us to call him which almost should have been a tip off to what was to come right there, started off great. He made learning fun and was more of a friend type professor than an authority figure…at first.

  But apparently that’s his m.o. He doesn’t ask you to call him professor or anything like that, just his first name. But the more time he has with you the more he gets into your head, where all that authority figure prejudice lives. As a professor you trust him, you have a positive prejudice for him and what he’s about.

  And he feeds on that.

  My body shivers as I think of the way he looked at me the last day of class when I handed in my final. “See you this summer,” he said.

  No, I don’t think so, and so far that was the last time I did see him. And I certainly want to keep it that way.

  But Jonah on the other hand…I feel this need to see him tomorrow morning. It’s so strong I don’t even want to wait.

  I giggle thinking how he’s going to react when he sees me in the station, if he’s working tomorrow. I should have asked my brother that, but I was already asking too many questions about Jonah. The last thing I need to do is create a weird dynamic between the two of them at their place of employment.

  So…I need to get some sleep.

  I move to the kitchen and dig around in the knife rack. I find something that’s not as big as a butcher’s cleaver, but thick enough and strong enough that it could definitely provide a fatal slice. That’s how seriously I’m taking this creep.

  The knife is just slightly bigger than the one I pract
iced stabbing into an old pillow at my old place, so it feels right in my hand. That sounds crazy but I need to be prepared.

  I set it down on the nightstand next to my pepper spray and head to the shower, but I get sidetracked and double-check that the door and all the windows are secured again.

  I can’t wait until this is finally past me. I’ve been thinking crazy thoughts like changing my name and even getting a concealed carry permit. It really has reached that point.