Olivia smiled brightly and held out her hand. “You must be the infamous Dozer I’ve been hearing so much about.”
The Latina recovered her snark and snorted. “Dozer? If that isn’t truth in advertising, I don’t what it is.”
“This is one of those times you should use your filter,” Olivia said to her friend wryly. “Dozer, this is my obnoxious best friend—”
“Hello, Angel.” Dozer’s deep voice held an edge of strain. “Been a long time.”
Angie narrowed her eyes at him. “Not nearly long enough.”
“Come on, we have to talk.” He reached for her arm to lead her away, but she yanked it back.
“Like hell we do.” Angie planted her hands on her hips and burned twin holes into Dozer with flame-throwers for eyes. “We have nothing to talk about, but if you head into the locker room, you can tell Tall, Blond, and Gorgeous I’ve reconsidered his offer for a ride on his rig.”
“Over my dead body.”
“I can agree to those terms,” she said, her voice frosty. “And don’t call me Angel, Dozer.”
Dozer’s jaw muscle ticced. “Then don’t call me Dozer, Angel.”
What the hell? Erik had known his best friend for seventeen long years, and not once did he ever tell anyone not to use his call sign. He probably would have made it his legal name, but it required paperwork, so he refused to do it on principle. Even more intriguing was the fact he and Angie obviously had a history that Erik knew nothing about. Not that Dozer was required to tell him every detail of his life, but it wasn’t like him not to. If anything, the man tended to overshare.
The two glared at each other for several seconds, their eyes volleying silent arguments back and forth, before Olivia finally spoke up. “Okay, what the hell is with you two? Angie, how do you know Dozer, and why don’t I know about it?”
“We had a thing a long time ago. Wasn’t worth mentioning.” Angie severed eye contact with Dozer and turned to Olivia. “Sorry, mija, but I suddenly remembered I have something I have to do this weekend. Looks like I can’t make it to the barbeque after all.”
Olivia frowned, disappointed with the strange turn of events. Dozer’s entire body clamped down on his bones like it did right before a battle or a fight. “Don’t bother making shit up on my account, Angel. I promised to cover someone’s shifts, so I won’t be there.”
“And just like that, I’m free again.” Angie’s lips curled into a devilish smile. “I gotta go. The barbecue’s only a week away, and I need to find a date. Loveyoucallme,” she sang out as she left the room.
Seconds later, Dozer stalked off in the opposite direction, shoving the door open to the locker room so hard it bounced off the wall behind it and slammed shut instead of easing closed.
“That is not how I pictured this going when I thought of surprising you,” Olivia said, concern marring her brow.
“Well, look on the bright side.” Erik used the pad of his thumb to smooth the lines on her forehead. “Even without the real ones, we’ll have plenty of fireworks at the barbecue.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I know for a fact Dozer isn’t covering any shifts, and I’m guessing wild horses couldn’t keep him from turning up wherever your friend is that weekend.”
“Ah, good to know,” she said. “I highly doubt she’s going to bring a guy, but just in case, I’ll make sure the fire extinguisher is handy.”
“Sounds like a plan. Actually, it sounds like a date. Our second official one, to be exact.”
Olivia chuckled. “What are you talking about? We’ve had dozens of dates.”
“On the contrary, Dr. Jones, watching movies and hooking up at our respective apartments is not a proper date. Attending a party at your parents’ house, however, is definitely a date-type thing.”
“But my parents won’t even be there.”
“What about your godfather?”
A slow smile curved her lips. “Yes, I suppose Uncle Eddie and Aunt Tish will be in attendance.”
“There, you see? Anything that includes your family and my therapist is definitely an official date.” Erik gave her a sly grin and crowded her into the corner where the equipment lockers met the wall. “Come on, humor me. Calling it a date makes me feel like I’m not only a piece of meat being used for my body.”
“Fine,” she said with an exaggerated sigh and roll of those sexy hazel eyes. “It’ll officially be our second date. But just so we’re clear, I am only using you for your body.” Peering up at him coyly through the dark fringe of her lashes, Olivia placed a single manicured nail at the hollow of his throat and dragged it down the center of his body.
The muscles of his torso flexed and shuddered in its wake, shooting signals to his cock and balls that it was time to play. Thankfully, he still had a small supply of blood in his brain that prevented him from hauling her into his office and fucking her over his desk. Christ, that’s getting added to the fantasy bucket list. For now, though, he had to postpone the fun until later.
“Oddly enough, I’m very okay with being your boy toy, and I encourage you to get as much use out of me as you can. Now, I don’t know if you know this, but I also happen to be a firefighter. So if you’ve got any hot spots you need checked, I’d be more than happy to bring my hose by later and check them out thoroughly.”
“Mmm, that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day. You’re such a do-gooder, Lieutenant Grady.”
“Just doing my civic duty, ma’am. But you better get out of here before I decide you need to take the afternoon off so I can do some initial inspections.”
Laughing, she bussed him on the lips quickly and ducked under his arm, giving him a sexy wink before leaving him with the biggest hard-on that’d ever graced the firehouse gym. Fuck me. Time for a cold shower.
After showering and dressing, he went in search of his team. He wanted to make things right with Smoke and talk to Dozer about Angie before he left. He found Dozer in his bunk, ankles crossed and hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Taking a seat on his own bed, Erik leaned his elbows on his knees and studied the tension in his friend’s body. For D’s sake, Erik hoped it wouldn’t be a slow night or he wouldn’t have any way of expending it.
“Wanna tell me what the hell that was with you and Angie?”
“You heard her,” he ground out. “Nothing to tell.”
“If I believed that, I wouldn’t be sitting here and you wouldn’t look like you’re about to smash my face in just for asking.” Silence. “I’m not the enemy here, D.”
Releasing a heavy sigh, he sat up and swung his legs around, mimicking Erik’s position. “We were a thing back in high school.”
“She’s from Rockland?”
“Fuck no, man, Rockland is the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ from where she grew up in Hingham. Towns are right next to each other, though, and kids all share the same hangouts, so…”
Dozer purposely let the sentence hang, not needing to elaborate on how he’d met Angie, just that he had.
“Shit, the odds of her ending up in Boston and running into you have to be a fucking million to one,” Erik said in amazement. Dozer grunted in agreement. “What happened after high school?”
“Joined the army. End of story.”
“You must be mistaking me for someone else. I know you better than anyone, and you’re full of shit. Wanna try again?”
“Nope.”
“Do it anyway. Turnabout is fair play, my friend,” Erik quipped, referring to the grilling he got in the gym earlier.
Dozer scrubbed a hand over his short, sandy blond hair in irritation. “Angie was the closest thing I ever felt to love. I thought I loved her, anyway, but we were just kids, so fuck if I know.”
Erik had a feeling his macho friend was minimizing what he’d felt for her, but he didn’t push. “She cut you loose when you enlisted?”
D shook his head and looked at the floor between his legs. “Hell no. She wanted to get married and start a family, eve
n knowing I’d be deployed who knew how many times. I was enough of a selfish prick that I let her believe we were on the same page so I could have that last summer with her. Then if that wasn’t bad enough, the night before I left for Basic, I made love to her and held her while she slept. Then I woke her up, took her home, and did something unforgiveable.”
“Unforgiveable’s a pretty strong word. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad, bro.”
Dozer raised eyes laden with regret the likes Erik had never seen in his friend. “That night, I took her virginity, then told her we were over the very next morning.”
“Fucking hell, D. That’s bad.”
“Thanks, Sherlock, I hadn’t figured that one out,” he said drily. “It’s the only time in my life I’ve ever acted like a coward, and I’ve regretted that day ever since.”
“Jesus, no wonder she wanted to murder your ass. That the first time you’ve seen her since?”
“Yeah. Hence the de la Vega wrath,” he said, ire grating his voice. “Whatever, man. I tried talking to her—I owe her an apology, figured I’d clear the air, especially considering the circumstances—but she made her stance abundantly clear.”
“You were both blindsided, bro. Give her some time, she’ll come around.” Giving him a sly grin, he added, “We both know there’s not a woman alive who can withstand your charms.”
That dragged a chuckle from the big man. Dozer probably had the least amount of charm in the group. His style was more primitive caveman. “We’ll see.”
The tones sounded, and both men shot to their feet. It only took a moment for them to realize that only one of them would be riding The Animal to the call. Dozer clapped a hand on Erik’s arm and gave a supportive squeeze. “You’ll be back before you know it, Wolf.”
Tipping his head in acknowledgement, he watched with a bitter taste in his mouth as D disappeared to join the rest of the men in the house. Fucking hell. It killed him to see his men go out without him. He couldn’t get back here fast enough. Until then, he’d focus on getting through his sessions with Dr. Marion and spending as much time as he could with one Dr. Olivia J. Jones.
Chapter Thirteen
If a day could be perfect, this particular July Fourth was the epitome of perfection.
It’d started when she woke up to a sexy fireman burning her up with his mouth between her legs. Olivia didn’t have the words to describe how that felt.
She’d been hovering in the mist between sleep and wakefulness when one of her own moans pulled her through. Her eyes opened to see the sun’s pinkish-orange rays streaking across her ceiling as her back arched of its own volition from the intense pleasure vibrating through her pussy.
“Holy fuck.” Her voice was raspy with disuse, adding to the raw sensuality of her reality.
“Mmmmm…”
Olivia’s entire body jerked and her hands fisted into the sheets. That’s what had caused her to moan: the vibrations from his mouth buzzing her clit closer to climax. “Oh my God, that…I…uhn…”
Okay, so sentences were no longer possible. Good to know. Now she could stop trying to string one together. Peering down her naked body, she saw Erik lying between her legs, eyes closed as he feasted on her slowly and languidly as though he wasn’t quite awake. He was so damn primal and beautiful. The muscles in his back rippled with the slightest of movements and his exquisite glutes, paler than the rest of him from lack of sun, flexed with his lazy thrusts against the mattress.
When she raked her nails over his buzzed head, his eyes drifted open and locked on her without so much as a hitch in his ministrations to her sex. The early morning light struck the side of his body and made the amber of his irises glow like that of an otherworldly being. Neither spoke, but then neither had to. His eyes said everything she wanted to hear, and she hoped hers did the same.
Everything about that moment had been perfect. He’d used his entire mouth—lips, teeth, and tongue—to make love to her wet sex. Laving through her folds, French kissing the shallow depths of her entrance. He’d built her climax in thin layers, one atop the other, then again and again. A thousand layers laid and still her orgasm felt hours away, making frustration set in and her hips rock against his face in an effort to gain more friction. But the sadist just narrowed his eyes at her, used one of his large paws to press down on her pelvis, and kept right on going.
Then, when he was satisfied she’d ceded control, he went for the kill.
Keeping the one hand just above her pubic bone, he entered her with the middle two fingers of the other. Curling them up, he rubbed the pads of his fingers over her G-spot. Pleasure, intense and instant, flooded her body, and the layers started flipping down like a deck of bridged cards. A sheen of sweat shone on their skin in the sunlight and her breathing alternated between hyperventilating and stopping altogether.
The devil of a man held her at the crossroads of sheer rapture and utter torture, not allowing her to yet choose the former without first taking more of the latter. Her keening cries had probably roused the neighbors, but she didn’t care if the whole damn world heard. She couldn’t control them any more than she could control the lightning in a storm.
At last, Erik took sweet pity on her. Sucking her clit between his teeth, he gently bit down and released her to chase her orgasm. It crashed over her, causing tingles just below the surface of her skin as it rushed to her extremities and filled her up with wave after wave of pleasure. Too soon it began to ebb and fade, but in its wake, Olivia was left with a sated body swept free of tension, like the midnight tide erases the day’s footprints from the sand.
He’d made her soar, folded her into the warm comfort of his strong embrace, and then whispered beautiful things as she drifted off to sleep once more.
When the smell of fresh coffee knocked on her brain, she opened her eyes and stretched with two words poised on the tip of her tongue. “Utter bliss,” she’d whispered to herself, then threw on Erik’s worn T-shirt and practically bounced out to the kitchen to join him.
What remained of their morning had been spent cooking together and eating—thank God he knew his way around a kitchen because that was one domestic talent she’d never gotten the hang of. By the time they’d managed to leave her apartment, they only had a couple of hours to get groceries and head over to Cambridge for their Fourth of July party. She wasn’t sure what Erik’s level of triggering was since he’d been in therapy, but there wasn’t a fireworks display anywhere near her parents’ quiet, affluent neighborhood. The theme of the day was all about good food and good friends.
“You need to tell me what has you grinning like a loon over there,” Angie said. “As your best friend in the whole world, I deserve to know.”
“Yes, and as your nosy assistant, I insist on knowing. So spill it, lady.”
Olivia blatantly ignored the gazes of Angie and Cindi sitting on the settee perpendicular to her lounge chair on her parents’ flagstone patio and checked on her other guests (made up an excuse to catch a glimpse of her über-hottie boyfriend across the yard).
Erik and Uncle Eddie were manning the grill and telling stories about their mutual friend, Chief Bill Marshall, who was due to arrive soon with his wife. Mike, Cindi’s fiancé, was playing a game of horseshoes with “the kids,” Ashton, Sean, and Tyler—also known as Smoke, Bowie, and Preacher. Dozer stood with the “man pack,” too, but chose to merely look on instead of participate in the revelry. He divided his attention between the game and the barbecue conversation while nursing a Sam Adams and flicking heated glances over at Angie every few minutes.
He’d arrived fashionably late, and as soon as he pushed through the backyard gate, Angie’s laughing smile turned instantly to a frown. Not necessarily one of distaste, like she tried so hard to play off, but one of disappointment and maybe a hint of regret. It made Olivia even more curious about the story behind her best friend and the man who was closer than a brother to Erik. Whatever it was, Angie apparently preferred to brush it under the rug and throw a damn co
uch over it, because she wasn’t coughing up an explanation any time soon.
Olivia respected that, both as a friend and a psychologist. She knew Angie would tell her when she was ready. Until then, Olivia had given her a subtle pep talk about needing to at least act civil around him for the sake of the group. Now that she and Erik were a couple, their best friends were bound to run into each other at social functions. They had to play nice like adults or avoid each other, which no one wanted. Angie had agreed, albeit begrudgingly, but it was good enough for now.
“Hell-oooo. Earth to Olivia.”
She tried pulling in the corners of her mouth, but her attempts were futile. There simply wasn’t anything that could take away her smile when the one responsible for it kept shooting her lopsided grins from across the yard.
“You both know this is my favorite holiday,” Olivia finally answered. “It’s a beautiful day and I’m celebrating with my friends, old and new. Why wouldn’t I be smiling?”
Angie snorted. “You’re not just smiling, mija, you’re glowing. If I didn’t love you so much, I’d probably throw up in my mouth a little every time you two looked at each other.”
Cindi busted out in belly laughs, two of Angie’s famous blood orange margaritas aiding her mirth. Meanwhile, Olivia’s jaw dropped in her friend’s direction, the shock partly authentic but mostly mocking. After all, Olivia was more than used to Angie’s colorful way of speaking. Her middle name might as well be Frank, because that’s what she was to a fault. The woman never pulled her punches.
“You should see her in the office,” her assistant piped in.
“Cindi, you know I can fire you, right?” Olivia gave the perky woman her best think before you speak look, but as expected, Cindi completely ignored her.
“She walks around humming and I can’t count how many times I’ve caught her staring into space.” Angie made a big aha deal out of it and then Cindi asked, “Do you even listen to your clients anymore, or do you just smile and nod with a ‘that’s nice’ after everything they say?”