Walking into Fire Ch. 03

The hour was late when Jessie had left Danny sleeping in her bed and started to drive around town. She needed someplace to think through the whole complicated situation between her and Danny. Intuition told her that she was holding all the cards. She knew whatever she ultimately decided Danny would bow to her wishes.

Without realizing it, she found herself in front of Tessa's apartment complex. The absence of her friend's car meant she was staying at Duncan's house and possibly wouldn't be home until late the next day.

Jessie rooted around the crowded, small cove of her glove compartment for Tessa's apartment key. They were practically like sisters and Tessa thought it only natural that they have keys to each other's homes. Jessie stopped digging as a thought struck her. If Tessa and Duncan got married, would Jessie have the key to their house? It was a disturbing thought since they didn't believe in closed doors between each other.

It took a few more minutes before Jessie was able to pull out the key to Tessa's apartment. She made her way to the building, hoping that some soul searching and a good sleep without the distraction of Danny's body would help her sort out the problem she found herself in.

--~~--

The curtains were yanked aside; a shaft of sunlight came in to torment Tessa's closed eyes. She scrunched up her nose in annoyance. As she turned over to face the wall parallel the windows, her sleepy mind grumbled that sunlight was God's way of torturing those who worshiped the unbelievable bliss of sleep.

Tessa was drifting off into the abyss of dream world when the covers were wrenched from her partially naked body. The shock of cold rudely jarred her into complete wakefulness.

"What the hell!" Her yell reverberated within the room. She squinted around, trying to orient herself to the sudden brightness. Her bleary gaze halted upon a hulking figure that was grinning like a loon and holding up the blankets that had cocooned her in heavenly warmth only moments ago.

The figure dropped the blankets onto the floor. "Rise and shine, beautiful. Let's have breakfast," said Duncan.

Tessa fell back onto the bed; the pillows seemed to welcome her back. Duncan had always been a morning person despite his graveyard shifts at the firehouse. The morning sun always managed to energize him and give him the glow normal people could only find with a good dose of caffeine.

"No breakfast, just sleep," she mumbled as she rolled over onto her stomach.

His light touch on her calf was comforting. She felt his hand trail up to the back of her knee. Tessa sighed her contentment. She thought if luck were on her side, he would chuck his clothes and get into bed with her. Blankets were not needed when his unbelievably sexy body covered her.

"Sweetheart, your knee's about the size of a watermelon. What did you do to it?" Duncan asked concern laced his voice.

The note of worry he expressed brought her to full alert. She turned back over and looked down at her knee with clear eyes. The sight of her bloated knee had her cursing like a sailor. After the rigors of last night (e.g., wrestling Danny into submission), she forgot to put her knee on ice as soon as she entered Duncan's house.

Duncan sat down on the bed to better examine her knee. He moved her injured leg around carefully to gouge the extent of the swelling. As he bent the knee, he looked to her face for her reaction. By the time he was done, he had a vague amateur diagnosis and an idea how to treat it. If the swelling didn't go down by the next day, he resolved to take her to the emergency room.

His good intentions were momentarily forgotten as his attention finally took in the full scope of his nearly naked girlfriend in his bed. Tessa was wearing sensible blue cotton panties and nothing else. Her breasts were rosy with the same blush of sleep that tinged her cheeks.

He took in the softness of her skin through the pads of his fingers, which were busy cautiously massaging her swollen knee. With one hand, he started to unbutton his uniform shirt.

Tessa wasn't paying attention as she said, "I was in a small fight with Danny. After that absurdity, I have resolved to stay on the sidelines of Jessie and Danny's silent yet epic battle of wills."

Duncan's hands stilled at the hem of his undershirt. His expression was cautious as if he wasn't going to react until he had all the facts. "You were in an actual fight with Danny?" he asked haltingly.

"Yeah. Right after I dragged his sorry drunk ass into her house. I don't think my knee would be this huge if that's all I did, but then he heard me talk with Jessie on the phone. That's when all the," Tessa halted and pulled a sarcastic face before she went on, "fun really began."

A low growl emitted from Duncan displaying his impatience. "Did he hit you?"

She was confused by his lethal demeanor, but answered his question. "No. I hit him."

It was obvious to Tessa that he was confused by her statement and went on to explain; "He grabbed his car keys from my hand determined to drive to the firehouse so he could tell her something. I tried to grab them back, but he had to be one of those infernal men who's taller than I am."

At Duncan's disgruntled glare, she grinned sheepishly. He was one of those infernal men. She continued before he could say anything. "Danny didn't hit me or anything. He was just holding me off and trying to get past me to the door. We had a scuffle -- I think we wrecked Jessie's living room. I grabbed that hideous sculpture on her coffee table and hit him over the head with it. He went down like a sack of potatoes."

Tessa smiled remembering the satisfaction she had felt at seeing the lug go down. She looked back down at her gruesomely swollen knee and grimaced at the ending result of her nightly ordeal.

Duncan rose from the bed to finish undressing. He talked as he stripped. "So let me get this straight. You practically carried an inebriated Danny into Jessie's house. Then hit him over the head to keep him from leaving."

"Right," she confirmed distractedly. She wondered why Duncan was undressing if they were going to breakfast. Not that she complained. He had a fantastic body and every time she saw him naked, her own body reacted.

She had an idea what he might have in mind, but she wanted to hear him admit it. "I thought you wanted to have breakfast. Tired already?" One of her eyebrows rose as he toed off his shoes and took off his pants.

"Nope. Horny."

Pouting, Tessa rubbed her oversized knee. "What about my knee?"

Duncan got on the bed and started to crawl towards her. He smiled as he growled; "I'll take care of that and your stomach after you take care of me."

He knelt on the bed between her legs, helping her sit up. She looked at his protruding manhood with another raised brow. A teasing smile flitted across her face.

She ran an index finger along the underside of his hardness. "Do you want something?" she purred.

He put his hand in her hair and angled her head so she would meet his eyes. "You know what I want. Open that pretty mouth of yours."

Tessa felt an inkling of apprehension. He'd never been...forceful before, she thought to herself. Dutifully opening her mouth, she shrugged off his odd behavior as impatience. Her tongue circled around the tip of his erection, savoring the drop of pre-come beading from the little slit. His hand tightened in her hair.

"No teasing," he snarled. Pulling her face further towards his erection, he traced the seam of her suddenly closed lips with his hardness. "I want you to suck it. Take it all, as much as you can until I come or tell you to stop."

A thrill of excitement raced up her spine along with a healthy dose of fear. She knew that Duncan would never harm her, but he was doing something different. He was shocking her, pushing her slightly outside of her comfort zone and she didn't know what to make of it. She decided to play along, trusting that he'd stop if she asked.

Her mouth took him in all the way, till he hit the back of her throat. Three years of practice helped her to relax her throat muscles and control her gag reflex. Her tongue danced along the bottom of his cock while she applied suction.

His groan was music to her ears. Thinking that she knew the game he played, she smiled at the thought of pleasing her suddenly domineering man. She pulled back until the mushroom tip was the only part left in her mouth.

His hand massaged her hair indicating that he knew what was coming next. In one swift move, she took his whole length into her mouth, the head of his penis welcomed by the confines of her throat. She set a pace that was languorous, maddening to Duncan.

After three years of teaching her the way he liked to be sucked off, she had become an expert, surpassing even his expectations. The building force within his dick -- in so short a time -- was testament to her diligence in practicing and her creativity in making every experience mind-blowing.

He was possessed of the need to spill inside her welcoming warmth. His eyes noticed that one hand was missing from her ministrations. Her left hand was busy massaging his balls, but the right hand was busy ministering to her own needs.

Duncan's eyes narrowed to mere slits at the sight of her fingers plunging vigorously in and out of her wet sheath. His cock jerked in her mouth with want. He shoved her to her back in an abrupt manner and yanked her hand away from her pussy. Her fingers were dripping with her juices; he could smell the alluring, musky sent of her.

"Did I give you permission to pleasure yourself?" he asked. The question was quiet, dangerous.

Tessa shook her head "no" to answer his question and her eyes widened at the sudden change in him. Duncan was wild with his domineering nature. The amber depths of his eyes burned with a fire she had never seen before. His burgundy hair shined with the brilliance of the morning sun. In that one brief moment, she imagined he was the untamable fire, scorching her with his white-hot heat.

The fear was back reinforcing the strength of her arousal. His game was obvious, but what confused her, and made her fear him, was her ignorance as to why he was playing it. She secretly thrilled at his domineering attitude. There was never a man who could domineer her successfully because she was tall and just as strong -- if not stronger -- as most men. It was a heady sensation to be controlled.

He licked the fingers of the hand he held. His tongue made sure to lave up every drop of her essence before he placed both hands above her head. He communicated with his eyes the severity of the punishment he'd give her if she didn't leave them there.

Those intoxicating amber eyes locked onto the lust-filled blue depths of her eyes; he brought his mouth close to hers, close enough to brush her lips as he said, "I'm giving the orders this morning. You have no say in the matter. Every order that I give you, you obey. You will do everything that I ask of you."

She reluctantly nodded her head in assent. The very thought of the word "obey" chafed at her very nature, but their love play was pretend. That was the only reason she went along with Duncan's command.

He knelt back, sitting on the heels of his feet. Then he grabbed Tessa's thighs and pulled her up his kneeling legs until his hard member touched the very core of her. She whimpered in dismay and tried to impale herself on him regardless of her unique position.

Duncan laid his hand on her pelvis, halting her wiggling movements. She looked at him again. The right side of his lips quirked up in a half smile; he had her where he wanted her. He teased her weeping slit by rubbing the head of his penis up and down the puffy, wet folds.

"Do you need me?" he asked. "Do you want me to fuck you?"

Tessa squirmed around in desperation. "Yes!" she screamed the word. "Ram it in me, now, please!"

His teasing stopped and he pushed his length into her until just the tip was inside her. "You want this, then you'll have to agree to dress like a woman at least once a week," he gasped out, his control was slowly slipping away.

Her movements stilled, eyes opened wide. "What?" she asked.

"I want you to wear women's clothes at least once a week -- blouse, skirt. The underwear is optional. If you decide to wear them, they should be sexy. I want you to start today. When you walk into the firehouse to visit me tonight, I expect you to be dressed in that fashion."

He waited for her answer, taking the head of his cock out of her aching warmth to tease her folds again. It was a desire of his to see her as a woman again. She had only dressed like a sexy temptress once for him. That time she risked their close friendship in exchange for a relationship.

"Tell me!" his voice was impatient, he could barely hold onto his control. "Say you'll do it or we stop."

The thought of him stopping at such a crucial moment spurred her words, "I'll do it! Anything! Just get inside me!"

With one powerful thrust, he was seated inside her. They both groaned their pleasure. The position they were in created a unique feeling. She felt tight around him, like a vise. It also allowed him to rub up against that special spot inside her as he moved.

"God, yes!" she panted. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Each one of his thrusts she punctuated with an exclamation of pleasure. Her cries were music to his ears. Usually she was quiet and intense in their lovemaking, but she was loud and unrestrained now.

She jerked him closer to her, hugging him with such strength. With a primal cry, she went over the edge. He went over with her with a shout of his own, collapsing on top of her when his arms gave out. Her pussy spasmed around him, milking every drop of semen he had to offer.

Tessa kept her hold on him. She didn't want to lose the feel of his weight on top of her nor did she want him to withdraw just yet. He might have been the dominant figure taking the lead of their pleasure, but she discovered that she could bring him to his knees with her uninhibited reaction.

--~~--

Danny woke up in Jessie's bed. He knew she wasn't in the house. Somehow he had expected she would leave the bed before he woke. Their fling was officially over; he understood she had some thinking to do. It was a good sign that she didn't kick him out of her bed and house first thing in the morning. The meaning was clear to him.

Jessie left to think over the situation, which meant he had a slim chance that she would give him another opportunity to prove himself. He wasn't an immature teenager anymore. Even when he was a teenager, he still understood what he lost when he broke things off with her.

He looked around her bedroom and smiled at her décor. It was an incredibly elegant room just as she was an elegant woman, although it wasn't flashy like her.

His wandering gaze settled on the dresser with the old jewelry box on it. Danny rose from the bed and went toward it to get a better look. He remember that jewelry box, her grandfather had given it to her for her sixteenth birthday.

Sometimes she had put jewelry in it -- pieces that meant something to her. She had also put other things in there -- notes from him or Tessa that were especially meaningful to her, mementos from special days spent with the people she held dear to her.

Jessie never kept any secrets from him back then. She always let him look inside to see what new additions she had put in there. It had always humbled him the blind trust she gave him. He sighed at the thought of her past openness with him, the openness he had destroyed over a stupid cheerleader.

He felt guilty going through her old jewelry box now, but he felt the need to see what she held dear. Whatever trinkets were in there now would give him insight into her heart. The delicate rusted hinges of the box groaned as he lifted the lid.

Danny's hand stilled when he saw the shinny gold fire truck charm he had given her on their first year anniversary being boyfriend and girlfriend. It was placed on top of all the other items in the box, which meant she often took the fire truck out to either look at it or wear it. He picked up the long chain it was attached to and allowed it to dangle eye level in front of his face.

She still kept it after all this time. He thought she had thrown it away along with the other objects that held his memory. That's why he'd asked Tessa if she still had those things that Jessie threw out. He had planned to go through it all to find the gold fire truck once he had won her back.

Now he didn't have to worry, because it was the one memory Jessie kept. He vividly remembered the night he had given it to her. They were a few months into their senior year of high school; both were still reeling over the fact that they were eighteen.

He could have slept with her after her birthday, which proclaimed her of legal age, but he decided that their first time together should be special. Their first anniversary had been the perfect time to broach the subject. It also had been the perfect time to tell her about his scars.

Jessie had asked him about his scars only once, but he'd refused to talk about it -- was unsure if he would ever feel free to talk about it. She never asked again, but he knew that she still wanted to know. The story was to be her anniversary present, along with the gold fire truck charm.

Danny told her about the fire some kids had started in the alley behind their house. How it spread to his house. His father had collapsed in a burning room trying to save his mother. When he realized that his father wasn't safe with his mother, he ran back into the burning building. His father was lying face down on the floor unmoving, a wooden beam pinning him down.

He tried to pull his father out from under the beam; the fire closed in on them. When the flames were close enough to touch his left side, a fireman came barging into the room and pulled him out of the building. They weren't able to save his father.

He remembered the way Jessie cried after his story. In stilting words, she had told him that she liked his scars even more because they were a testament to his courage. Her eloquent words had made him blush. Danny had presented the charm to her saying that he wanted her to wear it. If she wore it all the time, it would help to remind him why he wanted to be a firefighter. He wanted to have the ability to save people, especially those he loved.

Danny abruptly came back to the present. Those past sentiments were cheapened when he broke up with her. His fist closed over the fire truck charm. He might have screwed up, but he wouldn't this time. Danny smiled to himself. The presence of the charm told him that she still had feelings for him, and that fact cemented his hope for the future.

--~~--

Jessie woke from a restless sleep. Her fears regarding Danny made her dreams erratic; some were nightmarish. She looked at the digital clock on the coffee table and was surprised to see it was noon.

The grogginess of her body made it seem like her sleep only lasted a few hours. She had let herself into Tessa's apartment around three in the morning. Unsure if her best friend would return sooner than expected, she claimed the couch as her own.

It had taken an hour to get to sleep. All factors of her and Danny's complicated relationship kept plaguing her mind, making her toss and turn on her lumpy temporary bed until she almost tumbled off.

Sleep was not the answer to her problems. Attempting to figure the mess out on her own was definitely not working. She needed a friend. One who would listen to her inner turmoil and to help her make sense of it all.

Jessie looked around the living room, a smile blooming. Tessa wanted nothing to do with her until after everything was settled. She wasn't about to get her wish because Jessie couldn't muddle her way through without her.