Sassy Ever After: The Sweetest Sass (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

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  The Sweetest Sass

  Alyse Zaftig

  Description

  My bakery is struck by lightning.

  Firefighters show up to fight the blaze during the thunderstorm. Two of them wrap me up in a blanket, give me coffee, and take me home.

  We agree to meet the next day.

  And the next.

  And the…you get the picture. Not surprising when I figure out I’m pregnant.

  But they have a secret that they haven’t told me. I’m a boring old human.

  They’re not.

  Lightning

  RAVEN

  "You have to be kidding me."

  It was raining cats and dogs. I was supervising a flour delivery in the back of my shop.

  And lightning had literally struck the roof of my bakery. The bakery was supposed to open tomorrow.

  Until flames started consuming the roof. My purse was in there. My life was in there. When I started to go through the back door, though, the delivery guy caught my arm. I tried to shake him off, but his hand gripped me even more tightly.

  "It's not safe to go in there, miss."

  "You don't understand," I said as I struggled to get away from his firm grip. "My whole life is going up in flames."

  "I'm sorry, but I can't let you go in there." I could see the regret and resolve in his face.

  I watched as the rain poured down and completely failed to diminish the rate at which the fire was spreading. Did you know that flour was flammable? Under pressure, it exploded like a bomb. I could hear the noises from outside. I didn't know if my face was wet with tears or rain. Probably a mixture of both.

  I'd worked so hard for this bakery. And now everything was gone.

  In a minute, a fire truck came wailing in, the lights flashing. Four firemen ran out with gear strapped to their backs to fight the blaze. I watched as they connected to a nearby fire hydrant.

  Minutes passed as they fought the blaze. I knew that even if they stopped it from spreading outwards, my bakery was toast. Burnt toast.

  And the rain kept falling. I don't know what kept me standing there, staring at my bakery. Maybe it was the morbid curiosity that people had when they stared at car wrecks on the highway. A healthier option would be walking away, going home, calling the fire department tomorrow for some kind of report, and then sending in an insurance claim for the dream that would never be mine.

  Instead, I got soaked to the skin even when the delivery truck drove away. I didn't have a jacket. I didn't have an umbrella. I'd only gone outside for a few minutes.

  It was probably less than an hour, but standing there in the rain, it felt like an eternity before the firefighters came out to talk to me.

  "Hello," one of them said. He had a close-cropped beard with a little bit of salt and pepper in it. "Are you the owner?"

  "Yes," I said.

  "You're shivering," he told me. "Let me get you a blanket."

  I hadn't even noticed that I was cold. I was drenched and it was late in the day, just past sunset on this spring day. He pulled a big blanket out of the truck and put it around me.

  "It'll do for now. Ma'am, you need to get inside and get warm. You need to go home."

  "Please tell me what's going on." I clutched the blanket a little tighter.

  "It looks like a lightning strike. That's what the dispatcher said."

  "I didn't call it in. Someone else who watched it happen must have."

  "We'll have a report for you tomorrow. Do you have a way to get home?"

  "I don't." My purse was in there. My keys were inside. All of them, including my car and house keys. I tried not to think of my shop keys on my keyring.

  "I can drive you home," he said, his voice softening. My face must've said something. I obviously was a second away from breaking down completely. "I know it's hard."

  "My purse is in there...can I go back in?"

  He was shaking his head. "You can't. There could be significant structural damage. It started at the roof, but it spread everywhere. It's not safe for you to go inside. We'll have someone come out tomorrow to see if the building can stand or if we have to ask for it to be demolished for safety's sake."

  I was shaking inside of the blanket. Misery consumed me from head to toe. I just wanted to take a warm bath and maybe get a time machine that could turn back the clock and somehow make lightning not literally strike.

  "Are you okay, miss? I think we'll stop for coffee on the way home."

  I laughed, surprising both me and him. "A coffee date? I don't even know your name."

  I didn't mean it in a flirtatious way, but he winked at me anyway. "My name is Orion Wolfe. And it doesn't have to be awkward. We'll have a third person with us, my buddy Quinton." He turned away from me. "Q!" he shouted. "Move your lazy butt and help me take this young lady home."

  Young lady. I sounded as if I were 12 again. "I'm in my twenties,” I protested. "I'm not that young."

  "I'm thirty-eight," he replied. "You're young to me."

  I lapsed into silence, unable to come up with some witty reply. It was late. I was wet and cold. My dreams had disappeared in smoke.

  Another guy came out. "You called? I was checking some of the debris to make sure we got everything."

  "We're taking the owner home. Well, not straight home. She needs coffee to warm her up."

  Quinton looked at me. I knew I looked like an absolute mess. My hair wasn't the most manageable thing in the world, and I knew that I looked like a drowned rat. My makeup had to be running, too, mascara dripping down my face.

  "I could use some coffee," he said.

  And that was it. Quinton helped me climb into the fire truck. Orion turned the heater on full blast. It didn't dry my clothing, but it did help me feel a little better.

  "Where do you live?"

  I told him my address and the closest intersection.

  "There's a café that I like about a block away from there. We can head there first." Orion adjusted the mirrors and then we were on our way.

  I'd never ridden in a fire truck before. On another day, I might have been excited about it. But I just couldn't appreciate being so high up and surrounded by two hunky men. Okay, I appreciated being sandwiched in between two hot firefighters, but probably not as much as I would have on another day in dry clothes with my business intact.

  I was still bundled into the blanket. I knew it looked weird, but I didn't want to let it go. When I was little, I hadn't sucked my thumb. I used to suck on my blanket. The blanket around me wasn't Bibby, but it gave me strength as a grown woman. I kept it around me even when I slid out of the high cabin of the fire truck.

  "Q, help her sit down over there. I'm going to get us all some strong, hot coffee. Make sure that her lips don't turn blue."

  Q put a big arm around my shoulders and drew me towards a couch.

  "I'm all wet," I protested.

  "They don't care. Water dries. And you're in a blanket, anyway."

  The blanket was wet, too, but I didn't have the strength to protest anymore. I sat down on the couch. He drew me closer.

  "I don't want you to ge
t hypothermia."

  It was a little late for that. I definitely had at least some mild hypothermia, but he held me close. His body heat reached through the blanket and my wet clothes to begin thawing me. My eyes slid shut as I felt his warmth wash through me.

  "Open your eyes, sweetheart. It's not good to fall asleep when you've been cold. You might not wake up."

  If I'd been awake, I might have argued with him about being an alarmist. But I half-cracked my eyes open. "It's been a hell of a day."

  "We'll get you home, soon, sugar."

  Our faces were very close together. I could smell the sweet scent of his breath.

  "You smell like peppermint," I murmured.

  "Addicted to it," he admitted. "I eat Altoids like other people smoke cigarettes."

  "Smells nice," I said, fighting my heavy eyelids.

  "Don't fall asleep," he warned.

  Orion walked back with three to-go coffee cups in a carrier.

  "Here or home?" he asked Q.

  "Could you take me home?" I asked. "I'm dead on my feet." It wasn't that late in the day, but I was totally beat. Just thinking about the stuff I'd have to do tomorrow made me feel like I was in the basecamp of Mount Everest.

  "Sure thing."

  Coffee

  ORION

  The curvy lady next to me was dead on her feet. I knew that we had to get her home soon. I drove the firetruck to her house. I needed to get it back to the station.

  When we pulled up, she moved towards Q, but he wasn't getting out of her way.

  "Don't be an asshole. She's tired," I told Quinton. "Let her out."

  "It's not safe for her to climb down. She's too exhausted and is going to hurt herself."

  Her hands were shaking, and it wasn't from hypothermia, not after the coffee and warming up inside of the truck. "Fine. We'll carry her in."

  She squeaked when I pulled her into my arms and dropped to the ground.

  "Put me down this instant! I'm too heavy! You're going to drop me." Despite her words, she was clinging to my neck like a vine.

  "You're fine. I've helped plenty of people out of burning buildings. You're not even half the weight of the heaviest guy I've taken out." We'd had to use a gurney to get him out. He hadn't fit through the door. I still shuddered when I thought about what could have happened to him. We were there to help and do our jobs, but he easily could have died that day.

  "I don't have my key," she said, distracted as I carried her closer to the door.

  "Do you keep a spare key anywhere?"

  Her lower lip trembled. "No, I don’t.”

  I could tell that she was at the end of her rope. She was about to start crying.

  "Do you have any porch doors?"

  "Yeah, I have my lanai in the back."

  "Let's try that."

  "Are you going to break my windows?" She didn't sound concerned, just curious. "I can have them repaired." she continued. "I just want to get into my house and take a long bath."

  "Do you have an alarm system?"

  "No. I always meant to get one, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

  I made a mental note to get an alarm system installed in her house after this. A single woman living alone needed at least the bare minimum of security.

  "Do you have a dog?"

  "No," she said, rubbing her eyes. "I've been too busy to get one. I grew up with a golden retriever, but Charlie died and I haven't tried to get another dog. I used to be an investment banker, so I was barely home anyway."

  "I-banking? You and I have something in common, then. I used to do that...long ago." Before I retired with a few million in an irrevocable trust handled by my lawyers and accountants and settled into the simple life of a fireman. Other people were content to golf around the world during retirement. I wasn't one of them. And I was too young to really stop working. Being a firefighter gave me the same adrenaline rush as making money and I didn't have to deal with office politics. As a rule, we all had each other's backs in the firehouse. And I actually got to sleep.

  "Really?" I could see that her eyes were lighting up.

  "A long time ago," I said. "I don't think that I fit into my suits anymore."

  She looked me up and down. "You look like you're in great shape."

  "All the alcohol, all the late nights...I was a different person then. The first thing I did when I left was head to the gym and study sleep science."

  "I didn't sleep too much after I left. I knew that I wanted to start a bakery, so I researched how much capital it would take and threw everything I had into it. That was my target."

  "Sounds great," I said to her.

  "Until it went up in flames."

  Both of us went quiet. I didn't know what to say to that. I dealt with victims of blazes on a daily basis. She'd lost the dream that she'd worked towards. I was saved from making an inane comment about her insurance company because Quinton came in.

  "Dude, are you going to be there all night?" He casually broke a window. "I guess she didn't have a key."

  Nobody in her neighborhood freaked out, seeing a fire truck in her driveway and their neighbor being held by a firefighter still wearing his gear.

  "Get in there and unlock the door."

  Q went inside. In another minute, he unlocked the door and I could take her in. Raven was no longer on the verge of tears.

  "I'm okay now. You both can just go home. You really went above and beyond." She smiled at us, but it was a weak smile.

  "It was okay. It was the end of our shift."

  "Are you allowed to take the fire truck out for that long?" She frowned a little.

  "I'll just tell the chief we took the long way home for a pretty lady." He wouldn't chew us out. He believed in going the extra mile to take care of our citizens.

  "This is goodbye, then." She looked a little lost.

  "Tell you what. I'll come back tomorrow to drive you to Best Buy so we can look at some simple security systems. And we'll call a glazier to take care of your window. Put a piece of cardboard over it tonight, okay?" I pointed with my chin.

  She smiled a little. "I'll see you tomorrow."

  Q and I waved and walked back to the truck. As I reversed, Q said, "Raven is one fine lady."

  "She's fire," I said. "But we shouldn't get involved with a human woman. You and I need to mate somebody for life. We can't do a casual relationship."

  "Who says that it'd be casual?"

  I gave him a look. "We need to have pups as soon as possible. You think that a would-be baker can handle two wolves? Get real."

  "I think she could." Q's voice was confident.

  "No."

  "Have a little faith." Q looked out the window. "She might surprise you."

  I didn't want to believe in a pie in the sky dream, but for a second I let myself imagine starting a relationship with Raven. The two of us were too much for a lot of women, but Raven's curvy little body might be able to take the two of us.

  "She's so small," I said.

  "She's big enough for what we need." He licked his lips. We'd shared women before, of course, but they always seemed to end up leaving. "It's not you, it's me," they said. I was getting tired of constantly having things fall apart.

  I knew that it was a lot to handle the both of us. I wasn't shy about taking what I wanted. Q was willing to go with the flow unless he really wanted to dominate in the bedroom. Thinking about the two of us taking Raven at the same time made me harden.

  "Have to get back to the fire station," I said, ignoring the bulge between my thighs. "I need to sleep."

  "You and me both." Q leaned his head back and closed his eyes. I drove us back to the fire station, still thinking of her. My erection wouldn't go down.

  Q and I both took off our gear. I headed for the shower. I stroked my cock while I thought about her.

  * * *

  "Wider," I told Raven. "Open your mouth wider."

  Her eyes were wide and a little afraid, but I stroked her hair.

&nbsp
; "I don't think I can fit that in my mouth," she said in a breathy little voice.

  "You can," I reassured her. "Now open wide."

  In another second, she was opening up. I teased her lips with the tip of my cock, without giving her any. After about ten seconds, she got impatient and yanked my cock into her mouth.

  "Careful." I stroked her hair. "That thing is attached to me."

  She sucked me hard, so hard that it almost hurt. She felt like she was hungry, ravenous even.

  "Damn, that's hot," Q said, standing beside us. He had his cock in his hand and was stroking himself.

  I put my hands in her hair as I felt myself get closer.

  "I want you to swallow," I groaned as I filled her mouth. I could feel her tongue and throat work to try to take my come. When I was done, I let go of her hair.

  "Come here, sweetheart," Q said. He put his hands under her armpits and brought her to her feet. He kissed her nose and then pushed her back on the bed. "Time for your pleasure."

  I caught my breath while I watched Q pleasure Raven with his tongue. He pushed it inside of her, almost like he was fucking her or French kissing her lower lips. From the way that she was moving her hips, I could tell that she liked it. Q knew how to make ladies go wild.

  She screamed as he rubbed her clit and forced her to come beneath him. When she was still shuddering and shaking, he got to his feet, put his dick in his hand, and pressed into her in one smooth, slow stroke. It pushed her straight into another orgasm. She was shuddering on the bed as Q thrust in and out of her body, putting her ankles over his shoulders.

  "So damned tight," Q panted on top of her. The sound of her moans brought me to climax for a second time.

  * * *

  The second time snapped me out of it. The water was getting cold. I didn't know if I'd ever see Raven again. I'd promised to come and take her security system shopping, but that wasn't really good first date material. I didn't know if coffee to treat hypothermia counted as a good date either.

  I rinsed everything off and turned off the faucet. The air felt cold, raising goosebumps on my arms. I ran a little hotter than normal humans, so cold air impacted me a little more than it did for them. I wrapped a towel around myself as I went towards my clothes.