Hearts on Fire 2: Michaela(11)

Hal walked by her. “We’re here to help. That’s the kind of people who live in Treasure Town. When one of us is in trouble or needs some help, the community is there to pitch in. Sometimes you just need a friend or friends to help get through things.” He set the machine thing down in the hallway.

“Let’s grab some bagels and coffee and then get started in the attic. Lou is bringing by the other Dumpster,” Jake told them. Michaela covered her mouth in awe as the other men came inside, introduced themselves, and then grabbed some bagels and coffee in her kitchen.

She walked into the hallway a moment and gathered her emotions. She’d never experienced anything like this before. No one cared about her. She was alone in this world. She didn’t even know that people like this existed.

The arm wrapped around her waist from behind. She tried to step out of the hold but Jake held firmly and whispered against her hair.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say a thing. It’s no big deal, baby. Everyone heard about the fire, and about the problems with the house, and they wanted to pitch in and help you. You don’t need to handle this alone. We’re here.”

“But I…I don’t know what to say. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.” She turned around. He held her still, and she leaned against the wall in the hallway. Jake reached down and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand.

“You’re strong and you’re brave, but everyone needs a little help now and then. Come have some coffee and bagels and then we’ll get started.”

She shook her head in disbelief at the offer and the generosity. “Thank you, Jake.”

He smiled at her and then took her hand and led her back into the kitchen.



* * * *



Billy was working side by side with Michaela in the attic. They had passed down numerous items, clearing the entire attic of debris. Jake was installing the new attic stairs pull-cord along with Hal.

Billy watched Michaela struggling with the insulation. She was trying to tear it back in order to assist the electrician downstairs with locating another main line. She was tugging on the wire but it wasn’t budging. Billy crawled along next to her, his body brushing against hers as he approached.

“Let me try,” he whispered. Their gazes locked and he felt his heart pounding in his chest. All day he and his brothers took turns working by her. He didn’t know if Hal and Jake took the opportunities that he did to rub against her, lock gazes with her, or absorb her natural beauty and strength. But right now, with gazes locked as he reached under the insulation and tugged the wire free, she mesmerized him.

So did the smudge of dust or dirt by her lower lip. Hell, the tiny droplets of perspiration dripping between her breasts aroused him, too. It brought some pretty wild images of her in bed with him and his brothers making love to her multiple times. They’d have her sedated and well loved in no time.

They heard the electrician yell from below that he got the wire. Michaela didn’t move, nor did Billy.

He reached up and gently ran his thumb along her lower lip and the slight bit of dust.

She parted her lips and looked too damn sexy to not kiss. Leaning closer, he held her gaze, staring into her deep blue eyes as he whispered. “There was something on your lip.”

“Oh,” she replied and began to lower her head, but he moved his fingers to her chin, gripped it, and covered her lips with his.

The kiss started out slowly. Hell, he was only going to take a sample taste, but his desire and the attraction between them was too much and that kiss grew wild quickly. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but he wound up halfway on top of her, felt her fingers running through his hair, pulling him closer as their tongues dueled for control of the kiss. She moaned into his mouth and he absorbed everything he could about the moment. The sweet taste of her, the scent of her perfume, and the burned wood left over from the fire. The humidity of the attic, their bodies perspiring, her breasts full and plump against his chest, and the feel of her petite body beneath his thighs and hips.

He ran his hand along her waist, past her ribs to cup her breast, and she lifted her thigh and tried to maneuver. They were losing breath from kissing so deeply, so wildly, and when he moved his mouth off her lips to her neck, he heard her rapid breathing. It matched his own.

“Billy. Billy we have to stop.” She panted and he stopped kissing her to look down at her face. He saw the arousal and brightness in her eyes but also something else. His heart ached. His chest tightened. Did she not feel what he felt? Oh God, please let her have felt the desire, the intensity like I did. I never felt like this before.

“Stop?” he questioned, and now she looked like she was in pain.

“There’s something sticking into my spine.” She cringed.

“Oh shit.” He slid to the side bringing her up and off her back. She half straddled him as she reached back and patted away at her shirt in the back.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know but it is stinging.”

He grabbed the flashlight as she turned on her knees. He gently lifted her top in the back noticing the shredded bits of wood. As he stared at her skin, he saw the splinter.

“Shit, you got a splinter on your back.”

“Ouch. Can you pull it out?”

“Uhm, what exactly is going on up here?” Jake asked, staring at them from the top of the ladder.

He could only imagine what his brother was thinking with Billy holding Michaela’s shirt up in the back.

“Splinter,” he stated.

Jake’s eyebrows crunched up.

“Come over here. I’m great at taking out splinters,” he told her.

Michaela looked at Billy.

“Old attics, huh?” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and he reached out and ran his thumb along it.

“I’ll never look at old attics the same way again, baby, thanks to you.”

She turned a nice shade of red as she lowered her eyes and crawled toward Jake. Billy winked at his brother, and saw the look in his eyes. Jake would get out the splinter, and then he would take a taste of Michaela for himself.



* * * *



Michaela almost felt dizzy with giddiness. It was so silly, stupid actually, to react to a kiss in such a way, yet every ounce of her reacted. She was so inexperienced in many ways. For one, in the sex department.

She was a twenty-four-year-old virgin. And why? Because of the fear she had of giving away any part of her whatsoever because of her family. Her mother failed her, her father failed her and abandoned her, and even her sister, who she took a shot to the heart for, failed her. Even in the final moments before Annette’s death, her sister still supported Solomon, her boyfriend. She didn’t even look at Michaela.

In fact, when Michaela showed up, her sister asked why she was there. She told Michaela to leave, and that she didn’t have a sister. There was never any love or connection at all.

It broke Michaela’s heart because she had made the trip to New York in hopes of salvaging the only family she had left, her only blood relative, and that was the response she had gotten. It took Michaela some time to realize that giving any part of her to anyone one else might never happen. She just wouldn’t be able to handle that type of pain and disappointment again.

As Jake took her hand and guided her toward the bathroom with Hal right in the hallway, she focused on trying not to pass out or overanalyze the kiss with Billy.

But Jake closed the door slightly to the small old bathroom and told her to take off the tank top.

“What?”

“I need to see the splinter and make sure there aren’t more.”

She swallowed hard as he opened the medicine cabinet and rummaged through it.

“The tweezers are in there and I can grab a needle in the basket of sewing supplies under the sink.” She bent down and the splinter ached on her spine.

“Let me,” he scolded. She stood up straight and watched the oversized sheriff look for what he needed, including some peroxide and cotton balls.

He stood up and told her to turn around to face the mirror and vanity.

His lips were next to her shoulder. “Relax and let me take care of you.”

She closed her eyes and imagined how incredible life could be if he was sincere in that statement and she were willing to give it a try. What would it be like to be cared for by Jake? By Hal and even Billy? Oh God, I like them. I’m so attracted to them. I basically kissed Billy and ran my hands over his body possessively. Oh Lordy, this is insane.

“I need this tank top off, honey. You have more than one splinter.”

When his large hands landed on her hips from behind, she thought she might burst out a moan. He was big. His hands, his body, his chest, arms, every ounce of him was large and muscular. She took a deep breath as he began lifting her tank top up and over her head.

She grabbed it from his hands and placed it over her breasts where the bra barely covered her, and to hide the scar from her bullet wound. All she needed was for the sheriff to see that. She was a bit embarrassed by her choice of the purple, sexy, lace bra she wore, but bras and panties were her one obsession. She loved all colors, all styles of skimpy thongs, lacy, satin, you name it and she had a matching set.

He trailed his fingers along her skin and she swallowed hard.

“How bad? Can you get them out?” she asked, looking at him through the reflection in the mirror. His eyes were focused on her back.