Where There's Smoke by M. J. Fredrick Page B

hands.
    "God, Lauren,” he said, pulling back a little, looking down into her face. “God."
    Seth's eyes were dark and unfocused, his mouth wet from their kiss, his hair tousled from her fingers, and he'd never been more handsome. Lauren allowed herself a thrill of feminine pleasure that he looked this way because of her.
    "I didn't want it to be this way,” he said, threading his fingers through her hair and resting his forehead against hers.
    She went cold. That couldn't be good. “What way?"
    "This wild gotta-have-it way. I didn't think it would be, with you. I mean, we've been friends for so long.” He shifted his hips, as if she couldn't already feel his arousal.
    "So, you gotta have me?” she asked with a small smile. Okay, that was good.
    "God, don't joke,” he said on a moan.
    "Seth, are we going to have sex tonight?” she asked breathlessly.
    He made that desperate sound again, almost a sound of pain. She felt the tension running through his body, and ached to ease it.
    "Should we, um ... go?” she asked.
    "We can't.” His voice held the desperation she felt. “We have to wait until Crystal and Enrique leave. But give me a minute. I can't go back in there like this."
    God, please don't let this be a mistake, she wished fervently. Don't let us screw up a wonderful friendship because of hormones. Maybe this had been building for years. Maybe they were just at the stage in their relationship where familiarity led to passion, and they needed to get past it before they could go back to being friends.
    Maybe she was rationalizing, but she didn't care.
    Seth moved to the edge of the patio, taking deep breaths. She stood beside him. He turned and smiled, stroked her hair back.
    "You look like you snuck out of the wedding to kiss one of the groomsmen,” he teased, then turned his whole body. “You are beautiful."
    "We should go back in,” she said shyly, not wanting to go at all.
    "Not just yet.” He slid his hand under her hair and kissed her softly, gently.
    "People are going to talk if we walk back in there together, then leave together,” she whispered.
    "Yeah?” He brushed his lips lightly over her forehead. “And that would be bad because?"
    "If our families see us together...” She drew out the last word to let him derive his own conclusion.
    He pulled back slowly. “They'll think we're together."
    "And they'll never leave us alone about it.” And she wanted to savor this without having to explain it to anyone.
    "They'll think they were right all along."
    Lauren stepped back. “We can't do this."
    "Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He caught her arms, brought her toward him. “We can. We just have to do it very, very carefully."
    * * * *
    "I thought bridesmaids dresses were supposed to be ugly."
    Seth glanced sideways at Andy, one of his crewmates, as he joined him at the edge of the dance floor. Lauren danced with Ryan, another firefighter, and Seth hadn't missed a step. One wrong move and his family's interference be damned, he'd yank her away from that guy. “You better not be looking at any of my sisters."
    "No, man. No offense, but I've never seen Lauren Stokes look so good."
    Seth seethed.
    Andy must've noticed. “You guys have never—” He wagged his finger from one to the other in the universal signal for ‘got together'.
    "No,” Seth said honestly between clenched teeth.
    "Why not? Scared of her old man?"
    Seth nearly crawled out of his skin when Lauren slid her hand to the back of Ryan's neck. He wasn't jealous—he was self-aware enough to know he and Lauren were infinitely better suited, but seeing another man's hands on her when he couldn't touch her made him a little irrational.
    Lauren met his eyes over Ryan's shoulder and gave him a knowing smile. God help her, she knew he watched, knew he was wild with—no, not jealousy—he wasn't jealous, he was never jealous.
    "Seth?” Andy prompted from beside him. “Why didn't you two ever get together? Because of her dad?"
    "I respect Captain