“Holy shit.” He couldn’t stop the words. Not only was the pain gone, but Erin Hudgens also had her hands on him. It was better than he’d dreamed.
“Better?” She squeezed his quad gently, almost playing with his blonde leg hair. “Good thing I came by early to work out before shift.”
Never mind, it was infinitely worse than he’d dreamed. C-shift was asleep upstairs, and they had three hours to kill before either of them were supposed to be on duty. They were alone for the first time since getting locked in yoga class. Erin’s hands were on his leg, inches from the part of his body that was rather fixated on her. She was close enough for him to breathe in her scent, an arresting combination of coconuts and florals.
With the pain controlled, the electric awareness he felt whenever she was near was threatening to overwhelm him. He wasn’t wearing a jock, and his body was not restrained by his usual mental control of his inappropriate impulses.
Good thing he had the gloves on because he was two brain cells and five seconds from plopping her on his lap and offering her a ride. She could probably ride him several times before shift started.
“I’m fine now,” Noah said through gritted teeth.
Her eyebrows raised, and she deliberately glanced down at his erection, obvious through his shorts. She licked her lips, moving her hand slightly up his thigh, closer to putting him out of his misery. “Is there anything else you need help with?”
“The things I need,” he grumbled, then hissed as her thumb skimmed under the hem of his shorts. What heneededwas for her to take her hands off him before he lost control and begged her to handle him. He tried to shift his leg away. “I’m better. Thank you, Hudgens.”
“If you don’t let me finish, you’ll hurt later,” she warned him, going back to massaging his leg as if the intimate exchange hadn’t occurred.
“Your skills are exemplary.” Noah hated to sound pompous, but he needed to say something that wasn’t an innuendo. Or outright proposition. “Your team’s behaved admirably during my tenure here.”
She snorted. “Don’t worry, sir. We can be on our best behavior for one last shift.”
“Best behavior?” he echoed, unable to ask her to start behaving badly with him.
“You noticed how little A-shift seems to swear or talk shit about each other even though the probie was kind enough to share some of our issues?”
With difficulty, he fixed his eyes on a spot on the ceiling and considered her comment. Now that she mentioned it, A-shift was unexpectedly well behaved. “The real A-shift is full of shit-spewing people who hate each other?”
“I’m saying you punished Aiden and Luna for violating protocol in and out of the firehouse. Officers are a reflection of the team. Since you’re not pushing us, it’s easy to follow the rules. You run through the protocols. It’s pretty rote and unimaginative.”
“Unimaginative?” Noah’s gloved hand acted on its own, pinning her hand against his thigh. Later, he would be thankful that he hadn’t fixed her hand higher. But right now, he could hear his pulse roaring in his ears as he tried to control his wild imagination.
Hudgen’s gaze moved from his hand to his lips to his eyes. Her deep chocolate eyes stared steadily into his, not cowed the slightest. “You want us to be cogs spinning in the machinery of the department. You didn’t seem happy when left our own devices, we spun out of control. That’s why you’re here. Our lieutenants broke protocol, which means we’re unorthodox. We need discipline.”
“You need discipline.” He was too aware of her. Her scent, her warmth on his legs.
“Do I?” She didn’t seem inclined to move away from him. “Then discipline me.”
This couldn’t happen, no matter how all-encompassing this attraction was becoming. She liked challenging him. Few people stood up to him like this anymore; it was maddening, refreshing, and tantalizing all at once.
She was a subordinate. His subordinate.
Which meant sex with Hudgens was impossible.
Still, he couldn’t help himself. He leaned toward her, pausing mere inches from her, drawing in her heady fragrance. She didn’t put up even a paltry resistance, and he got the distinct impression her next move would be tohelphim.
“It’s not like that.” He couldn’t even say what he was denying at this point.
“It’s not? What do you want… Chief?” Her lips parted slightly, and he felt dragged forward against all logic. She inhaled sharply, ready to accept whatever he offered.
A taste wouldn’t be too bad.
The sound of footsteps on the floor above them snapped him back into reality. He swept her hand off his leg and rolled away from her. His thigh and cock protested her loss, but it was necessary. Nothing good could come of this.
“Thanks for the feedback on my performance as captain. My leg feels better.”
She smoothed over the bruised expression in her features, straightened, and headed toward the door. She snatched up her basketball and departed, throwing over her shoulder, “I serve the pleasure of the Chief. Make sure to stretch it. I’ll skip weightlifting for hoops outside instead. See you at lineup.”
Cursing silently, Noah calmly walked back to the captain’s office and entered the sleeping quarters with its attached bathroom. He tore off his boxing gloves with his teeth, slamming them savagely against the wall. He reminded himself that it was his job to mentor the firefighters of 15. And what he wanted from Hudgens had nothing to do with mentoring.
