Fire & Brimstone

  her soft slit that he fully planned on tracing with his tongue soon. Moaning as she continued to kiss and stroke him, he leaned in a little closer and moved his hand over her smooth supple ass until his hand was between her legs and his finger was moving over her wet slit sliding deep inside her.

  They groaned together as she pushed back against him, taking his finger deeper as she held onto to him, her hand never stilling on his cock. If anything her grasp on him had become a little more urgent. Her strokes had increased when she started to ride his finger, pushing back with every stroke. The position wasn’t comfortable and it took a lot of effort to manage, but the pleasure that they were giving each other more than made up for it.

  He knew that he could get her off like this, but he wanted more. Slipping his finger inside her one last time, and God, he’d never knew a woman could get this wet before, he pulled his hand free, wrapped his arms around her and turned so that he could lay her down on the bench seat. She kept her arms around him as she kissed him almost desperately as he yanked her pants off. By the time she managed to kick her shoes off, he had her pants shoved down to her ankles and in seconds, thrown onto the dashboard.

  Shoving his pants down to his knees, he followed her down, groaning when she wrapped her bare legs around him and pressed his cock against her wet slit.

  “Lucifer, please!” she cried, moving against him, making him groan in pleasure, but it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

  So, he rocked against her, telling himself that this was going to have to do for now, because there was no fucking way that he was going to settle for anything less than-

  “Christopher!” she yelled on a frustrated sob as she rocked urgently against him and just like that, he lost control.

  One minute he was grinding his cock against her wet slit and the next he was buried deep inside her and fucking her hard enough to rock the truck. She felt good, so fucking good, he thought as he pulled his cock out until just the tip was inside her and slammed back inside her, loving the way that she was digging her fingers into his back and moaning his name like a prayer.

  “Oh, God!” she cried out, tightening her hold on him as she held on for the ride.

  She felt so fucking good, so fucking good…so fucking wet and tight…

  He leaned down and kissed her before he pulled back, needing to watch her as he pushed her over the edge. When he felt her sheath tighten around him, he thrust harder and ground his teeth as he fought off his own orgasm.

  Several thrusts later he thought that he was going to fucking die when she started screaming. Her back bowed, nearly throwing him off, but he wasn’t going anywhere. He leaned down and kissed her, swallowing her screams as he fucked her hard and fast. He kept going until long after she’d stopped screaming and his own orgasm threatened to break him in two as it ripped through him.

  Gasping, and more satisfied than he’d ever felt in his entire life, he dropped his head onto her shoulder and chuckled, because he couldn’t believe the most amazing woman that he’d ever met was also the one that he’d spent the last five years fantasizing about-

  “I quit.”

  -throttling.

  Chapter 20

  Closing her eyes with a defeated sigh, she demanded of the large man sulking after her, “Why exactly are you following me?”

  “We need to talk,” Lucifer said and she really couldn’t help the pathetic groan that escaped her or the fact that she was becoming increasingly bitchy since all she wanted to do was sleep and all he wanted to do was argue.

  Why couldn’t he just enjoy the afterglow like a normal man and leave her alone? she wondered as she struggled to drag herself through her apartment. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed, close her eyes and savor the way her entire body hummed with pleasure from the most incredible orgasm that she’d ever experienced, but the stubborn son of a bitch following her to her bedroom wouldn’t let her have that.

  Selfish son of a bitch, she thought as she forced her feet past her bed and instead headed for her dresser, because today was Wednesday and she was supposed to work the evening shift. She was tempted to say that hell with it and go to bed for the night since she’d just quit. The problem was that she didn’t have a job lined up and after she finished her two weeks, money was going to be tight enough as it was.

  She needed the hours, she told herself over and over again in her head, hoping that it would give her the energy that she was going to need to survive the next eight hours. Forcing herself not to look at that inviting, messy bed where Mojo was currently snoring, she focused on getting ready for work.

  Oh, to be a dog…

  “What are you doing?” Lucifer asked when it should have been more than obvious.

  “Getting ready for work,” she mumbled, grabbing a fresh Fire & Brimstone tee-shirt, jeans, socks and panties before turning around and once again forcing her feet to take her away from her bed.

  “I thought you’d just quit,” Lucifer snapped, not really sounding all that happy for a guy that had been trying to fire her for the past five years.

  Before she got a chance to respond, the reminder that the walls were thin cut her off. “You quit?” Melanie asked from her bedroom, which just happened to be next to hers.

  “Yes!” she hissed with a glare at the wall.

  “Oh…,” came the response from the other side of the wall. “Are you going to apply for that bouncer job?”

  She probably would if it was still available, but it had been weeks since she spotted that ad so it was probably already filled. She was going to have to dust off her resume, think of new explanations to explain her checkered work history and start spending all her free time searching for jobs and filling out applications.

  “Maybe,” she said, hoping that would appease their audience.

  “You’re not quitting,” Lucifer snapped, making her cringe, because if there was one thing that Melanie liked, it was gossip. She loved to know everything that was going on, but she was surprisingly tight lipped, refusing to share anything.

  “Oh, this should be good,” she heard Melanie mumble to herself.

  Yeah, this was going to be great, she thought dryly as she paused by the towel closet, blindly reached inside, grabbed a semi-folded towel and headed towards the bathroom, praying that Lucifer would lose interest so that she could take a shower in peace.

  “You’re not quitting,” he said more firmly as he shut the bathroom door behind them as though that would somehow make her change her mind.

  Sighing, she tossed the crumpled towel on the sink counter. “I have to quit.”

  “Why do you have to quit?” Melanie asked, obviously too curious to wait until later to start her interrogation.

  “Mind your business, bitch!” she yelled, deciding that the next place they moved to was going to have walls lined with lead.

  “You are my business, bitch!” came the reply, making her shake her head and Lucifer glare at her, because apparently he wasn’t happy about having an audience either.

  “Look,” she said, too exhausted to argue, “do you think that we could talk about this later?”

  His scowl said it all.

  “Right,” she sighed, moving to turn the shower on when Melanie, who apparently had nothing better to do than to hang on their every word, announced, “There’s no more cold water!”

  Well, that would explain why Melanie hadn’t been in her usual spot on the couch with her laptop powered up and a pile of Hostess wrappers decorating the couch and floor. Whenever Melanie got stumped on a design or code, she took a bath to think it through and that usually meant a really long bath with the help of fresh hot water added every fifteen minutes or so.

  “Great,” Rebecca said, giving up the idea of a hot shower, which she desperately needed if she had any hopes of making it through this shift.

  “We need to talk,” Lucifer said, taking her hand in his and leading her to the door.

  “We can do that later,” she mumbled pathetically as she allowed him to drag her through her apartment only because she was too damn exhausted to argue.

  “Wait! You’re leaving?” Melanie yelled from the other room, sounding disappointed that she was going to miss everything.

  Ignoring Melanie, Lucifer led her across the hallway and into his apartment. Before his door had a chance to close behind them he was dragging her towards the back hallway.

  “You seriously need to stop dragging me everywhere,” she said even though she actually liked the way that he held her hand. His grip was firm, but far from punishing, especially since every few seconds or so he would absently caress the back of her hand with his thumb.

  “And you seriously need to stop pissing me off,” he said as he dragged her down the hall, through a surprisingly neat room and into-

  “What the hell…,” she breathed as she walked into the large bathroom.

  It was definitely a lot larger than her bathroom and a hell of a lot nicer. Not that she lived in a rat’s nest or anything, but where her bathroom was basic, his was something that she would expect to see in a five star hotel.

  Her entire bathroom could fit in the custom-made shower with room to spare. There were his and hers sinks, the toilet had its own little room and there was actually a closet! As she gazed around the bathroom that should have rightfully been hers, she couldn’t help but wonder how she’d got stuck with the lame bathroom.

  While she was looking around, she started to pull her clothes off, not really caring if he’d dragged her in here with the intentions of letting her use his shower or not, because she was damn well using it. After what he did to her in the truck she needed one, she thought, trying really hard not to think about what he did to her in that truck. Unfortunately for her, it was going to be hard enough getting through the next eight hours without wanting to rip his clothes off.

  With that in mind, she shimmied out of her panties and stepped inside the shower, amazed at how many showerheads there were. They were built into the sides, in front of her, and on the ceiling. It was really a thing of beauty. While Melanie loved baths, she was more into showers. Besides the fact that sitting in her own filth really didn’t appeal to her unless her stomach hurt and she really had no choice, she enjoyed standing under a spray of hot water as she washed the day away.

  When Lucifer wrapped an arm around her waist and reached around her to play with the complicated dials, she simply closed her eyes and leaned back against him so that she could relax and enjoy herself. As soon as the spray of hot water hit her from every angle, she sighed and felt herself relax completely in his arms.

  He kissed her shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. “Talk.”

  “Too tired to talk,” she mumbled as she tilted her head to the side so that he could kiss her.

  Sighing heavily, and that was probably because she was putting off this argument and not because she demanded a kiss, at least it better not be, he leaned down and tenderly brushed his lips against hers.

  “You’re a stubborn pain in the ass,” he whispered sweetly against her lips, making her smile as she leaned her head back against him and allowed herself to enjoy what would probably be the last moment of peace that she would have for the next two weeks.

  Chapter 21

  “Mr. Bradford?”

  “What is it, Patrick?” Lucifer asked, pretending that his mind wasn’t on his bed upstairs and the small woman currently curled up in it, hogging all the blankets. She was going to be furious when she finally woke up, he thought with a small smile as he tallied the credit card slips for the night.

  “I can take care of that if you want,” Patrick offered after a slight hesitation, making the same offer that he made every night around this time.

  “I have it, Patrick,” he said, not bothering to look up from his desk as he shifted his attention to the order slips.

  God, he was so fucking exhausted.

  All he wanted to do was call it a night, go upstairs and curl up with the woman that was going to kill him as soon as she woke up, but he knew that he would never get that far. He’d be lucky if he made it to the couch at this point.

  “Well, goodnight, Mr. Bradford,” Patrick said, sounding like he wanted to say more, but in the end he left, locking up and setting the alarm on his way out.

  He needed some fucking sleep soon or he was going to burn out, but one look at the pile of work waiting on the corner of his desk that needed his attention had him biting back a yawn and getting back to work. He only had a few hours to put a dent into all this paperwork before he had to oversee meal prep and the breakfast service. He also needed to make sure that the bar was fully stocked since tonight was going to be one of the busiest nights of the week.

  College night.

  It was one of his most profitable nights of the week, but it was also his busiest day. It was Thursday, which meant that he had to make sure that they were set up for the rest of the week. That meant calling venders, taking in orders, food prep, going over the schedule and making sure that the majority of his senior staff was scheduled to work, running to the bank to get change and make deposits, and making sure their online ordering system was working flawlessly.

  Just thinking about everything that he had to do today was making him tired, but that was too fucking bad because he had a job to do. For the next four days the Fire & Brimstone was going to be a mad house. They’d have the mornings and afternoons to prepare, but even those meal services were going to be brutal, especially since they were still down four waitresses, a bartender, a dishwasher and a cook. Sighing, he made a note to put another ad in Monday’s paper with the hopes that this set of applicants would actually bring him more than just college kids looking for beer money.

  Then there was the problem of the woman sleeping in his bed…

  He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do about her. The only thing that he was absolutely sure about was that he should be relieved that she was quitting instead of sitting here trying to figure out a way to make her stay. For five goddamn years he’d wanted her gone and just when he was finally about to get what he’d wanted, he’d not only backed down, but he’d also given her a raise to keep her around.

  As much as he’d like to say that he’d regretted manipulating her into staying, he couldn’t. She’d needed answers that she would probably never have gotten, because she’d long since given up. So, no, he couldn’t regret helping her when he’d had the chance, but he wasn’t sure that he could say the same about sleeping with her. He should have never slept with her, but he knew that he’d do it again in a heartbeat if he ever got the chance.

  Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and wondered what he was going to do about her. She was a complication, which was something that he really didn’t need in his life. He had too much going on in his life to add a pain in the ass girlfriend whose soul purpose in life seemed to be driving him out of his fucking mind.

  He didn’t need that in his life, especially not right now when he was still doing everything that he could to make Fire & Brimstone into something special. There was no way that he was going to be able to do that with Rebecca around. He should let her go, keep his hands to himself and focus on what really mattered, but even as he told himself that it was for the best, he found himself thinking about how much he wanted to go upstairs and put his arms around her.

  Letting her go wasn’t an option, he realized, not until he’d let this thing between them run its course. He had no idea if she was the one or just the one that his body wanted right now, but either way he wasn’t giving her up just yet. But, letting her take over every waking moment like this wasn’t going to work either.

  He needed to get his mind off her and back where it belonged and in order to do that, he was going to have to start treating Rebecca like he would any other woman and hope that she didn’t lose her fucking mind like the rest of them had.

  *-*-*-*

  “Why is Lucifer glaring at you?” Melanie asked from where she sat, perched at the edge of her seat with a fresh chocolate milkshake on one side, her computer in front of her and a half-eaten cheeseburger on the other.

  She chuckled as she placed Melanie’s bill on the table. “He’s always glaring,” she said, wondering why Melanie was suddenly unnerved by Lucifer’s favorite pastime.

  “True,” Melanie readily agreed with a nod as she continued to watch Lucifer with a perplexed expression on her face, “but normally he likes to diversify his glares to include everyone in the general facility.”

  “Maybe he’s glaring at you?” Rebecca suggested even as she glanced over her shoulder to find Lucifer not quite glaring at her as much as he was staring at her as though he was trying to figure something out.

  “No, he’s definitely looking at you,” Melanie said with a thoughtful expression as she took a sip of her milkshake. “Any idea why?”

  “Not a clue,” she said, honestly having absolutely no clue what was wrong with him.

  It had been an entire week since that amazing day they’d spent together doing, umm, things. She’d hoped that it would lead to something, at least an attempt at something, but as soon as she’d woken up the next morning she’d realized that she probably shouldn’t get her hopes up.

  After waking up and finding herself in her own bed, she’d realized that she’d missed her shift. Cursing Lucifer for exhausting her with amazing sex, she threw her clothes on, ran downstairs, only slightly looking forward to seeing him so that he -->