Fanning the Flames (Romance Firemen Series) Read Online Free PDF

his hard, toned body, breathing harder and faster as the pace of his strokes grew more rapid.
    Then he was on top of her, inside her, thrusting hard and groaning her name. She buried her face in the crook of his neck to stifle the scream that was building inside her as she came.
    Cassie woke dazed and disoriented. She looked around as if searching for the familiar surroundings of her room. As reality flooded in and she realized that the encounter with Brendan had been a dream, she glanced over at her clock.
    It read eight o'clock. The third of June. Friday! This was the day she’d arranged coffee with Brendan!
    She jumped out of bed and headed for the shower, feeling as hot and sticky as if the night of lovemaking had been real.
    Brendan arrived slightly late, carrying a promising-looking bakery box. He looked exhausted. Cassie flushed as she opened the door for him, her imagination flashing up images from her dream.
    “Sorry I'm late,” said Brendan, handing Cassie the box. “I brought these as an apology. Last night was busy. When I got back to the station, I put my head down for a moment and woke up four hours later. I figured you’d appreciate it if I scraped off some of the grime, so I thought I’d jump in the shower and risk being five minutes late. I hope you don’t mind.”
    “No problem,” Cassie said smiling, leading him into the kitchen where the coffee was already brewing. “I can’t imagine what a busy shift must be like for you!”
    “Ah, it’s not so bad.” Brendan gratefully accepted the coffee and took a seat. “Lots of false alarms last night. We'd get back from one call and another would come in. Mostly it was just a lot of driving and double-checking, figuring out who’d been smoking in their hotel room, that kind of thing.”
    “Do people do that a lot?”
    “They do. You’d think they’d look at the smoke detector in their room and think hang on, maybe I shouldn’t, you know, smoke in here – but apparently not. So everyone gets kicked out into the parking lot in the middle of the night and me and the guys get to turn up looking all heroic and then tell everyone there’s no fire after all. It’s quite anticlimactic, although I do wonder what happens to the smokers after we’ve left. Do the other guests chase them out of town?”
    “I know I would!” Cassie flipped open the box Brendan had brought, revealing an expertly chosen selection of donuts. She offered them to him.
    “I bet you would!” Brendan laughed, picking out a cinnamon twist. “A fierce little lady like you. We’d have to stick around for a bit just to hold you back!”
    Cassie tried to suppress the image of Brendan in his fire fighter's uniform restraining her, grabbing her around the waist, and hoisting her off the ground as she kicked and fought to be let go.
    Change the subject , Cassie, she thought. Any second now the blush is going to start creeping across your face, and he’s going to know exactly what you’re thinking!
    “Brendan, hi!” Francine wandered in to join them. “Great to see you! Did you bring donuts? Oh my God, you are the best!”
    Cassie, breathing a sigh of relief, got up to grab a cup for her roommate.             
     
    *****
    It turned out that Pine Street was on Brendan’s route home from the station, so it became his routine to drop by after shifts. He always brought donuts and he'd stay a while, keeping them laughing through the otherwise stressful process of getting Francine’s stuff packed and into storage.
    From time to time, the dream would surface in Cassie’s head and leave her a little flustered. She hoped he wasn’t noticing her tongue-tied moments, but the glint of amusement in his eyes told her he was.
    Each morning, Francine would cross off another day on the planner, bringing them closer to the date marked “Francine to Poland, Cassie to live with strangers!” The apartment became a little emptier as more of their belongings went into boxes.
    Cassie