How to Seduce a Fireman: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance by Vonnie Davis

Buy them by the box?”
    The bed dipped when he pressed his knee into the mattress, spreading her legs so he could settle between her hips. Her question seemed a little naïve, but then maybe her other lovers were the type to tuck a singular rubber in their wallets. Damn fools.
    Visions of young, horny guys stretched over her, in her, forming the double-backed beast, twisted into an unfamiliar bitter rage of jealous possessiveness. He wanted to kill every male who had ever touched her—and he knew more than fifty ways to do the deed.
    “Quinn, what happened to your closet door?”
    “Temper tantrum.”
I was mentally killing the bastard who dared threaten you.
    A smile brightened her features and orneriness twinkled in her green eyes. “I’m glad I never have temper tantrums.”
    He laughed. “Me, too, angel.” Kissing a trail from her temple to her ear, he struggled for control. He had no right to such emotions. Once he left the boundaries of Clearwater, he’d lose contact with her. His life would be sterile again, cold and damn lonely. But for now, with her arms draped around his neck, her breasts against his pecs and the backs of her calves restlessly moving over his, she belonged to him.
    “How many?” He bit her neck and she gasped. “How many lovers have you had?” His male ego had put forth the question before his mind had a chance to censor it.
    “We’re not doing this, Quinn. I’m not telling you how many men I’ve had and I sure as hell don’t want to know how many women you’ve been with.” She kissed his jaw and nuzzled closer. “Let’s just enjoy the moment.”
    His lips feathered kisses down her neck and met the delicate gold chain. Pleasure rippled through him. “You’re wearing my necklace.”
    “I’ll wear it forever. Thank you. It means more to me than you can ever imagine. It’s the most beautiful necklace I’ve ever seen.”
    Her sentiments touched him deeper than he wanted to acknowledge. “Another guy will replace it with something better.’
    She made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat. “I can’t imagine who. Not when my heart will always belong to you.” Her sweet lips made contact and his mouth opened to touch her tongue with his. For several seconds, as the kiss deepened, the world faded. There was no botched mission, no dead comrades, no Renata with her devious feminine ruses—only his sweet angel. And in her arms, he was pure again. He was worthy.
    Be honest with yourself, man.
    He wrapped his hands around her head and pressed his forehead to hers. “Are you going to be okay with this? I never took you for a one-time only type of woman. I’m leaving, Cassie. This is sex. Nothing more. Sex between friends.”
    Tears pooled, and she blinked rapidly as if she were willing them away. “I don’t want you to leave. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I don’t understand why…”
    He kissed her with just the barest joining of lips. “I feel the same about you, but sometimes…” Sometimes what? How could he possibly explain to her why he had to leave when, right now, with her naked beneath him, his thinking made zero motherfucking-sense?
    ****
    Cassie waited for Quinn to finish his sentence. His forehead was furrowed as if he were deep in thought; he shook his head a couple of times and forced out a ragged sigh, saying nothing. Something had him in turmoil. Should she ask?
    Hillary, her steady Friday shampoo and style, always insisted the best time to worm information out of a man was after sex. Which was why Cassie was where she was, damn near naked, lying beneath a totally naked and aroused Quinn Gallagher. Once they did the deed, she planned on getting some answers, like why he was suddenly intent on leaving Clearwater.
    After all, Hillary had been right about the jealousy thing. “Mention the possibility of other men and the guy will go all possessive on you,” or so Hillary claimed as she doled out advice on how to snare and keep a man. As for