Laura simply stared at him as he took a long swig and her mind immediately turned back to the conversation she'd had that morning with Sophie about giving into the more carnal temptations and forgetting the plan. The condensation on the glass spilled down the fireman's fingers and cut a trail through the soot on his arm. Her gaze followed the droplet, longingly following its track down his muscular, strong arm. When she looked up, she saw that the firefighter was staring at her again. She blushed and cleared her throat and decided that she better speak at last.
“Was there anyone in the house?” she said at last.
“The house was clear,” the fireman replied. “Do you know the family?”
“Yes, Marie is my neighbor,” Laura nodded. “I live right over there.”
She pointed to her house, number thirty-two, and Laura followed his gaze. The way he smiled when his eyes settled upon her front door, made Laura's blush deepen and that's when she remembered that she was wearing the tiny pair of shorts she'd intended to throw away last summer and the shirt that Sophie had once said made her look like a wannabe glamour model because of the way it hugged her ample chest. It had been so hot in the house that Laura had thrown on the skimpiest outfit she could find and she now felt embarrassed to be wearing so little in the middle of the street, and bare-footed, too.
The firefighter's eyes moved from the door of her house to her bare skin and then his gaze shifted to meet her own eyes. She wondered if he could tell how fast her heart was beating when he looked at her. She shyly stood on her tiptoes on the dirty ground and tugged down her top to hide a little more of her navel and then tugged it up to hide a little more of her cleavage. Whatever she did with it, she still felt half-naked and this man was definitely aware of the fact. Once more, Laura tried to break the steaming sexual tension that was quickly mounting between them with small talk.
“Have you worked for the department long?” she asked him.
“Long enough,” he told her. “I was promoted to Captain last year.”
Captain. Something about the word made her skin tingle with excitement and she squeezed her bare legs together as she started to feel an arousal that didn't seem suitable when she was still surrounded by her wandering neighbors.
Every guy that Laura had dated in the last six months had been, as Sophie had so rightly pointed out, a loser. Even Ray, whom she thought had made her weak at the knees, had nothing on this guy. The captain made her feel exposed and wanting all at once and she knew instinctively that never in her life would she ever have been as satisfied as one night with this man would satisfy her.
The thought shocked her. Laura had never been particularly promiscuous—not that she was a complete saint either—but something about this man made her not care about whether he respected her. She had a feeling that a night sweaty and breathless in his arms would be worth feeling regretful in the morning.
She was feeling warm now. The way he looked at her, so knowingly, made her heart flutter and her skin flush. She was squeezing her legs together even tighter now. She was practically squirming under his gaze.
He was taller than her and the way he looked down at her made her feel like doing whatever she was told. Five minutes ago, she had been worried about being nearly naked in public and thinking about running inside to throw something over herself, but now she found that she didn't want him to stop looking. She liked the way that his eyes were sizing her up and reading her movements. She liked the way the corner of his mouth flickered in a smile when he noticed her thighs clenching once more.
He finished his glass of water and placed the cup back on the tray. Laura placed the tray with the glass on the ground and stood shyly next to the fire truck, self-conscious about the fire in her own body, which she was sure that everybody could sense.
“Your neighbor will be grateful that you were keeping a lookout,” he told her. “One room is pretty burned out, but she'll be able to save the house. It's a good thing you were watching.”
“I just looked up at the right time,” Laura said humbly.
“It's nice when you're in the right place at the right time and you get lucky.” the captain replied. He took a subtle step closer to her and leaned against the fire truck with one arm above her head so that he was leaning over her. “I'm feeling pretty lucky right now.”
Laura giggled slightly and turned her head away so that her dark hair fell over her face and hid her from his view. He brazenly reached out and tucked it back behind her ear.
“You've got soft hair,” he told her. “And a beautiful face. How old are you? Twenty-five?”
“A bit older than that,” Laura said. She flashed him an alluring gaze from under her thick eyelashes, surprising herself with how naturally the gaze had come to her. Usually she looked men directly in the eye without trying to tease them, but she found herself feeling unexpectedly sultry in the moment and lowered her chin like a repentant schoolgirl so that she was looking up at him in that innocent, but somehow erotic way that made men get excited.