Page 31 of Inferno

He blew out a harsh breath. “Yeah,” he grumbled darkly. “I won’t interfere. Damn it.”

“Good.” Suppressing a small smile, Prissy curved an arm around his waist and laid her head against his muscled bare chest. She felt the tension ebb from his body moments before he kissed the top of her head and wrapped an arm around her, drawing her protectively closer. She sighed and closed her eyes, enjoying the sinewy warmth of his skin and the strength of his heartbeat beneath her cheek.

They were silent for a few minutes, content to just hold each other. Since Stan spent half the week at the fire station, Prissy cherished these moments of togetherness when she could enjoy having him all to herself. As the wife of a firefighter, she understood the dangers that Stan faced every time he went out on an emergency call. She knew that he could be taken from her at any time. So she never,evertook his presence for granted.

“You’d better not be falling asleep,” Stan murmured, his deep baritone rumbling through her.

“Why not?” she teased without opening her eyes.“It’s been a long, stressful day. I’m tired.”

“You can sleep after I collect on my rain check.”

“What rain check? I don’t remember promising any—”

She was silenced by the warm pressure of Stan’s mouth covering hers. As a soft sigh of pleasure escaped her, Stan shifted on the bed until they were lying on their sides facing each other.

Prissy opened her mouth as his tongue slid inside, sensually stroking hers. As her nipples tightened, she lifted her leg and draped her thigh across his waist. Groaning softly, Stan pressed the hard, heavy ridge of his shaft against her belly and reached around to cup her butt cheek.

Prissy moaned as moisture seeped onto her panties, making the cotton crotch stick to the pulsing folds of her sex. As Stan deepened the kiss, she sucked on his tongue and rocked her hips against his.

Through the hazy fog of desire clouding her mind, her conscience nagged at her, demanding an answer to the question that had taunted her all day.

With a supreme effort, she broke the kiss and pulled back, ignoring Stan’s protesting groan. As his lashes slowly lifted, she searched his face.“Baby?”

“Yeah?”

She looked him in the eye. “Who paged you today?”

He blinked at her, nonplussed.“When?”

“This morning after we made love in my office.Someone paged you.”

“Oh.” His heavy brows furrowed in confusion. “I thought I told you it was someone from work.”

“No,” Prissy countered evenly, “Iassumed it was someone from work, and you never actually corrected my assumption.”

“Because you were right.Itwasone of my coworkers.”

Prissy shook her head slowly at him. “No, it wasn’t.”

He frowned. “What’re you talking about?”

“I called the station after you left my office. I asked Dora to check if anyone there had paged you. No one had. So again I ask, Stanton. Who paged you?”

He eyed her incredulously. “I can’t believe you called my workplace to check up on me, Pris.”

“Just answer the question.”

“I’ve given you no reason to—”

She bolted upright. “Justanswer the damn question!”

“I did, woman, but you ain’t trying to hear it!”

“Because I know you’re lying to me!”

Stan stared at her, his face as hard and impenetrable as granite.

Prissy stared back at him, her heart pounding violently against her ribs. She could feel the white-hot flames of that inferno sweeping dangerously closer, licking at her, threatening to consume her.