Burning Bridges (Beech Grove) Read online

  “Please,” I pleaded, moving my mouth away so it could hover over his.

  “You’re killing me,” he groaned, and I shivered. I loved how I could provoke that sound from him.

  “I’m not wearing panties,” I lied, and his eyes popped up to meet mine.

  “You’re lying.”

  “Am I?” I teased, pushing to have him check and see for himself.

  “Sof,” he tried to warn, but I could be stubborn when I set my mind to something. I wanted him.

  “Please, Mav,” I whimpered softly against his perfect mouth, knowing it was like Kryptonite for him. He swallowed hard, breaking our stare as he looked around the empty room. With a growl, he led me to the far end of the locker room. My back slammed against the wall, but it didn’t hurt.

  “Yes,” I hissed, my hands tugging on his pants as his hands busied themselves, pulling the hem of my dress up. Our lips were fighting for dominance of the kiss, and I gripped his lower lip into my mouth, biting down. His hands gripped my ass hard, and my sex dripped.

  “Thong,” he grunted, and I smiled.

  “G-string,” I clarified on something that sounded like a whimper.

  “Fuck. You are going to keep these on,” he rumbled against my mouth.

  “You’re not going to rip them off?” I sassed, and his eyes flared at the reminder of the way he had ripped my panties off only two days ago.

  “Later, after Gabe leaves to play basketball,” he promised devilishly.

  “Deal,” I panted.

  He lifted me up like I weighed nothing. My legs wrapped around his narrow waist. I was so wet and slick for him, he slipped into me, and I moaned way too loudly.

  “Shh, we do this, you have to be quiet,” he grunted against my mouth. When I willed my eyes to open, his eyes twinkled with humor. We both knew how much he liked how loud he could get me.

  “Yes, sir,” I remarked with a wink.

  “Fuck,” he growled. His dark blue eyes clouded over with heat and lust before I lost sight of them.

  His head tipped down, his mouth on my neck. “You feel so damn good.”

  “Mav…” I whimpered as he worked his thickness in and out of me. His teeth grazed my neck. “Later, you’re gonna call me sir again, but we are gonna get you loud,” he promised darkly against my skin. His tongue skated over my pulse, and I clenched tightly around him.

  “You feel so good.”

  “You feel better, Princess.” Princess. Why did I like the way his voice warmed by at least ten degrees when he called me that? “You’re so damn tight, baby.”

  He pulled out and slammed back into me. I had to bite down on my lip so I wouldn’t cry out.

  “You’re already close, aren’t you?” he asked in a tight whisper. That damn tone of his voice drove me even crazier and into more of a needy slut.

  “Yes,” I hissed.

  “You like my dick in you, don’t you, Sofi?”

  “Mav.”

  “Tell me. Tell me how much you like it.”

  “You told me to be quiet,” I reminded him, attempting not to lose my mind more than I already had. God, he felt good.

  “Tell me,” he whispered against my lips as if he needed it. My hands on his shoulders skidded their way into his hair.

  “I like you,” I admitted without meaning to, but I was too far gone. His eyes burned, and he thrust all the way in, grinding his pelvic bone deliciously against my clit. “A lot. Please…” I kept begging in a hushed, breathy tone.

  “Tell me,” he gritted tightly.

  “I love your dick. Please, I need it. I need you.”

  “Fuck,” he gritted.

  “Mav,” I panted.

  One of his hands dug into the bare flesh of my ass, and the other tangled in my hair. Our stare never wavered. The moment froze in time. We might have been in the back of the firehouse locker room, but we were in an intimate cloud. More than any other time before. Beautiful and close. The way his eyes reflected everything he felt, I was sure he could see my heart in mine.

  “Princess.” The sweet way he said it was a reminder. I was getting in too deep with someone I was supposed to be enjoying casually.

  “I’m close.”

  “I know,” he bit, his beautiful, scruffy jaw clenched. “Damn it. You feel fucking good.”

  “Shhh, Maverick, quiet.” A squeak escaped from the back of my throat. Breathing was almost impossible. My lungs burned, and my body was wound up too tight. “Mav.”

  “Love when you say my name, baby,” he grunted as he quietly worked in and out of my body, hitting just the right spots with every thrust and release.

  “I’m… oh God, I’m so…”

  “Shh… Be a good girl for me,” he demanded in a low, hushed tone. All I could do was clench. Squeezing him tighter. His eyes pinched closed for a moment before he opened them again.

  “Damn it, Mav,” I whimpered.

  “Quiet!” he ground out. His hips rolled deliciously. I grabbed his hair tightly with both hands. A feral look fell over his masculine features, accompanied by the sexiest damn smirk I had ever seen. He shoved the edge of his hand into my mouth, and I opened wider. His hip worked double time, pounding into me more powerfully.

  “Ughh!” My muffled moans slipped through just as his face tipped down into my neck. His breathing was shallow. I could feel the light sheen of sweat covering both our bodies.

  “I’m close,” he hissed, and I loved it. I loved making him lose control. “You make me lose my shit, Princess,” he bit out, thick veins popping up on his corded neck.

  “Good,” I gasped.

  Suddenly, everything happened at once.

  Everything closed in. Bubbling and rushing up. Tingles of pleasure rose higher and higher until it rushed over us. Euphoria washed through us.

  Together.

  Sweeping us up in a riptide of ecstasy.

  I bit down on his hand just as his mouth came down on my shoulder, our sounds muffled by our heavy breathing and the sounds of our bodies.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Maverick

  She was going to kill him. Knowing that, he would still sign up for her sweet torture; over and over and over. Hell, he would sign up for lifetime after lifetime, letting her lead him to his destruction.

  Pinning her against the damn wall, he could hear the guys in the kitchen. Gabe was somewhere around the firehouse. He shouldn’t be balls deep in his little sister, but there he was doing just that. She was going to destroy him. Hell, she had already ruined him for anyone else. But he couldn’t get himself to stop.

  “Mav,” she whispered against his lips, and he looked at her, trying to brush away the need to say three little words. What the fuck was his problem?

  “Hmm?”

  “Where are you?” Her fingers relaxed, gently stroking the hair at his temples. It felt so damn good. He couldn’t pull away from her touch. He didn’t want her to stop. Gabe was going to kill him. Not only was he screwing his sister, he had done the unmentionable. He had fallen in love with her.

  Looking at his beautiful princess, Maverick knew right then and there that it was more than chemistry. He was head over heels about her. She should go ahead and jar up his balls for her nightstand because he was gone over her.

  “I’m right here,” he whispered, kissing her cheek, trying to clear his head.

  “Look at me,” she demanded, and he huffed, shaking his head. His eyes were fixed on the bite mark he had left on her shoulder. His eyes caught the teeth marks she had left on the edge of his hand. His mark on her, hers on him. They had come together. Pulling his face away, he peppered small kisses on his bite mark, then he gently set her down and let her go when her feet touched the ground.

  “You okay?” she asked as he pulled his pants up and righted her dress.

  “Yeah, babe,” he muttered, feeling too much. He needed a moment, so he opened his arms and she slipped into his embrace.

  “Thank you,” she whispered against his chest, and he closed
his eyes, letting her words wash over him.

  “For what?”

  “For right now. For all of it.” She shrugged. “I know you’re not ready to tell him, and I get it.”

  “Sofi—“ he started to say. The need to tell her how much he cared about her was suddenly overwhelming.

  “Maverick?” Gabe’s voice rung out, and he looked down at her. If his heart weren’t beating a mile a minute, he would have thought she was adorable with how her wide caramel eyes were looking at him. Guilt washed over him.

  “Here,” he whispered, ordering her to slip behind the uniforms hanging up on hooks, then he stood in front of her.

  “Bridges?” Gabe called out again, and he cleared his throat

  “Over here, man!” he yelled out, leaning in front of the uniforms she was hiding behind.

  “Hey, I was looking for you all over the place. What you doing?” he asked. Mav shrugged, trying to act like he hadn’t just had the best sex of his life.

  “Nothing, just cleaning shit out. What’s up? You okay?” he asked, scratching the top of his head. He hoped to god he didn’t look like he had just been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

  “Yeah, I wanted to see if you want to go get a bite. Want to make a food run with me?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be right there. Let me go take a quick shower.” Maverick surprised himself with how casual he sounded. Gabe tilted his head toward him, his eyes narrowing.

  “You sure you okay? You getting a cold?”

  “What? You my mom now?” Mav joked, running his hands through his hair.

  “You look all flushed, and are you sweating?” Gabe asked. The ass was too damn observant for his own good.

  “Nah, man. I was just cleaning up in here. I’ll change and meet you outside.”

  “Okay, cool.” He nodded and walked away.

  “It’s safe, Princess,” he shared, and she peeked her gorgeous face through the jackets. Her eyes sparkled like shiny gemstones, making it harder to ignore how fucking in love he was with her.

  “Hi,” she whispered, an evil little smile on her lips as she stepped out of the jackets, fixing her dress.

  “Hey.”

  “That was close,” she observed, pressing her sensual lips together. They were swollen and puffy from his kisses, and he wasn’t sure which feeling won.

  Love or guilt.

  “Yeah,” he clipped a little too harshly. He regretted it the moment the words slipped from his lips. Her beautiful face transformed, losing the light and beauty from the moment they had just shared. It all washed away before his eyes, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

  “Back to this, huh?” she asked sadly, and when he took a step toward her, she took one back. Maverick could feel the distance in his gut.

  “Back to what?” he asked like a coward.

  “The regret show by Maverick,” she shared, obviously frustrated with him as she threw her hair up in a simple ponytail.

  “Sofi—“

  “When you said you would figure out a way to tell him, did you even mean it?” she asked, disappointment clear in her eyes.

  “Baby—“

  “Did you?” she pressed, her back straightened to match the seriousness in her voice, and he opened his mouth, then promptly closed it, the right words not clear in his head. “Right,” she whispered.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking, Princess.”

  “But it is.” She laughed humorlessly. “Look, this thing between us—“

  “Whatever you’re going to say, baby, don’t. Look, I—“

  “It’s been fun,” she cut him off, and he wasn’t surprised. “But we both know we had an expiration date.”

  “Not today.”

  “Probably. But I think the time is starting to close in, and it might be a good idea for us to start uncomplicating the situation.”

  “Uncomplicating the situation,” he repeated. Dread filled his lungs.

  “You should take up that little baker’s offer.”

  “Caroline’s offer? How do you even know about that?” he asked. He had gone out with Gabe to a new little bakery on the north end of town a couple of days back, where they had bumped into an old friend.

  “Gabe told me. But it doesn’t really matter how I know, since you didn’t feel the need to share.”

  “Sofia.” He didn’t need to share. He had tossed her number before returning home.

  “Go out with her. Go back to where your life was before me.” He knew she didn’t mean it.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” He closed the space between them, bringing her sexy little body close to his.

  “I’m done being your dirty little secret,” she bit back. Anger flashed behind her eyes. “I’ve always been in everyone’s way. My entire life, I’ve felt that way, except with you. But—“

  “But what?”

  “I get it. I’m in the way now. I shouldn’t have come here today.” Her voice tapered off before she looked away.

  He could let her believe that and have their fling end right then and there. No way, he thought to himself. Maverick found himself putting his fingers under her chin to pull her face back up toward his.

  “Don’t say that,” he ordered, hating she thought that way.

  “It’s true.”

  “It’s bullshit. You’re not in the way, and you’re not my dirty little secret.” And she wasn’t. Right?

  “Your little woe-is-me regret show proves otherwise.” She tried to push him away, but he didn’t let her. “Look, I gotta go. I’m going to be late for my shift.”

  “We’re not done talking,” he told her, shocking the hell out of himself. When had he ever wanted to talk shit out?

  Damn. He was whipped by little Sofia Blanco.

  “We are. You are never going to tell Gabe about us. And it’s fine. You two are besties. I’m off-limits. Trust me, I’m used to it. But I deserve a real man.”

  “I’m a real—“

  “A real man with big enough balls to face whatever life throws at us. And that includes admitting that there is a relationship between us to anyone, including Gabe.” She sighed.

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “And that right there tells me I deserve more.”

  “You’re right.” He laughed harshly. “You’re fucking right about that, Princess. You do deserve more. But I love you,” he blurted out like a jackass. She started to laugh humorlessly.

  “If you loved me, Maverick, you would have told me before this. You wouldn’t care who knew.” She stepped closer to him, and it was him now who wanted to step back, afraid of the finality of her touch, but he didn’t. He stayed nailed down to the floor, her soft body pressed against his as she lifted on the tips of her toes before kissing him good-bye.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sofia

  He didn’t even flinch as I kissed him good-bye.

  It made me face reality.

  Whatever silly daydreams I had conjured up in my mind of having something more with Maverick faded away right in front of me. Actions spoke louder than words.

  I quickly stepped out of the locker room and out to the parking lot. All of it unnoticed. I should have been thankful, but it left me feeling more invisible than I had thought I was.

  Walking away and ending things with Maverick was for the best. The thought of ending things and having to watch him go out with women like Caroline from the bakery made my stomach churn. But the sooner I cut ties and went cold turkey from everything that was Maverick Bridges, the better.

  Shaking my head, I slid into my Jeep and drove away. All the while reminding myself that as much I didn’t want it, Maverick and I were probably never meant to be.

  ***

  “I haven’t seen you in over a week.”

  That was my brother.

  He didn’t beat around the bush, and I smiled at him as I walked into their house. I had avoided being around both Gabe and Mav.

  Not that Maverick had taken the hint.
He’d called and texted. Both of which I had ignored. He had even stopped by the bar, where I had lucked out being swamped with work, so he hadn’t had a chance to corner me.

  I knew the moment I found myself in his arms, I’d be a goner. I wouldn’t be able to walk away again.

  “I’ve been busy.” I smiled politely at Gabe before looking around the living room.

  “Working?” Gabe kept interrogating.

  “Yep. Working.” I smiled, and he smiled back at me.

  “I stopped by Hank’s two nights ago, but you weren’t there.”

  “I had the night off. I get those sometimes,” I huffed.

  “I know, Sofi. But I called you, and you didn’t answer,” he pointed out.

  “I was on a date.” It wasn’t a lie if you considered a bath bomb, a bottle of red wine, and three hours of mind-numbing Netflix a date.

  “Rumor around Hank’s last night was that you were out on a date with Rocco the Rookie.”

  The cop from my first night back home had been sniffing around, but he wasn’t interested in me. He was interested in being able to say he’d nailed Gabe Blanco’s little sister. Which didn’t matter because I wasn’t interested in him. Nope. My stupid, silly heart was interested in a sexy fireman with smoky blue eyes.

  “Look, Gabe, you know I love you, but I don’t see how this is any of your business.”

  “You’re right, honey.”

  “I am?” I stuttered, quickly recovering with a shrug. “I mean, of course I am.”

  “Yeah. You’re not a kid.”

  “I’m surprised you realized that.”

  “Look, it’s my job, kiddo. As your big brother, I gotta keep my overprotective guard up. Dad would have wanted that.”

  “Gabe—“

  “We’re having a family BBQ at the firehouse. Kind of a get-together. Everyone’s families getting together at the station,” he shared. I worried my lip. That meant Maverick would be there.

  “Gabe—“

  “Mav and I want you and Mom there. Please?”

  “I don’t know. I—“

  “Please,” Gabe asked so politely I knew it would be impossible to say no.

  “Fine.” I lifted and dropped a shoulder. “Sure. What time?”

  “Around two. That okay?”