Hot Shot (Chapters 25 -28)

Chapter 25-Jennifer

“Where to, lady?” The cabby asked as they pulled away from the curb.

She gave him her address and leaned her head back against the seat. She pressed her arms across her stomach. She felt like she was going to fly apart. This had been a perfect scenario to break off this relationship for good. Why couldn’t the man play by any set of rules she could make sense of. The dinner date and its humiliation should have sent him running. Her freakish behavior tonight should have filled him with exasperation instead he had kissed her. She brushed her fingers across her lips and felt them tingle with the memory it. He was the devil. He had made her doubt every conviction she had ever held tight to. Her body betrayed her. She wanted him. The physical need was only half of it. Right now, it was the stronger of the two.

Why now? Why had he come into her life when there was no hope for them? She absolutely would not let this good man become embroiled in her mess. One more date and she would sever all ties. Who was she kidding? For some unknown reason he wanted her. The harder she pushed him away the more recalcitrant he became.

“He’s in love with you, lady. Anyone can see that.” The cabby said over his shoulder.

Her eyes snapped up to the rear view mirror. A shiver crawled up her back. It was as if the man had been reading her thoughts. She shook her head and once again the voice of reason prevailed. Considering the scene he had just witnessed his comment wasn’t all that surprising.

“I wish it were that simple.”

“Love’s never simple.” His eyes framed in the mirror met her stare.

“I don’t want to hurt him.”

“Are you planning to?” She saw the corner of his mouth come up in a smirk.

“My life is complicated right now.”

“I hate to tell you this but it will always be something. Trust me.”

“He saved my life now he feels responsible for me.”

“That’s not a bad way to start a relationship.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“I absolutely refuse to have him try and save me from the mess I’m in. He will only get sucked into the quagmire and I couldn’t bear it.”

“Sounds like you love him too.” Their eyes met again in the mirror.

She dropped her gaze to stare at her hands. The ache in her chest almost rose up to choke off her words.

“Enough to want to save him from me.”

“Will you be surprised if he doesn’t want to be saved?”

“No, he is the most obstinate, pig-headed, irritating man I have ever had the misfortune of crossing swords with.” The chuckle from the front seat turned into a belly laugh as the cab pulled up to the curb in front of her apartment. “What do I owe you?” Her wallet was clutched in her hand.

“Your boyfriend took care of the fare and the tip.” The cabby wiped his eyes with the back of his leather glove that had the fingers cut from it. “Have you planned a date?”

“A movie at the Savoy. They’re doing a Hitchcock festival.” She pulled the door handle but didn’t swing open the door yet.

“My brother-in-law runs a great Italian restaurant about two blocks from there, Sam’s Pizza. They have the best Calzone in the city, 39th and Roosevelt.”

“Thanks that sounds great. Hey and thanks for everything else.” She pushed the door open.

“I wouldn’t let that one get away if I were you.”

“My heart says yes but my head says no. What can I do?”

“Always the heart.”

She looked up to read his name off his Taxi license.

“Goodnight, Bert.”

“Night, lady.”

“Jennifer.”

“Night, Jennifer.”

She smiled as she got out of the cab.



The stairway up to her apartment was lit by a single light fixture so the bottom steps were brighter than the top stairs. Jennifer missed seeing the package sitting by her door sill. It was a three foot long tube that she kicked with her foot as she was digging through her purse for her keys. It toppled over and started a rolling descent down the stairs. She pounded down the steps after it. It wedged itself against tires of a car parked at the curb. Her mother’s scrawling handwriting stared back at her from the tube.

“Leave it to you, mom,” she mumbled to herself.

She picked up the tube and slung it under her arm. She threw it on the couch with her purse when she got into her apartment. It was time to do some research on Mr. Wonderful. She got a few dollars out of her purse, shoved them into her pants pocket and grabbed her computer case. The coffee shop down the street had Wi-Fi and it was much quicker than her dial-up.



The two articles stood side by side on her computer screen. She had zoomed in on the faces of the homecoming court. The girl standing next to Blake had deep rich red hair in a curly mass pile on top of her head. She looked young, fresh and beautiful. Jennifer kept glancing back at that face as she read the article about the industrial fire. Tori had lived six days with burns over 70% of her body. The other two firefighters had not made it out of the building alive.

Jennifer tried to contemplate that kind of loss and it boggled her mind. Blake had dedicated his life to this girl’s memory.

Her phone rang and she blindly picked it up.

“Hello.” The ache welled up in her voice.

“Are you okay?” Blake asked.

She shook her head and cleared her throat.

“Just doing a little cyber stalking.” She shut the lid of the computer.

“Who’s the victim?”

“You, of course.”

“What have you found?”

“If I tell you then it takes away the creepiness of it.” She slid her laptop back in its case.

“My life’s an open book. Ask me anything.”

“I was just reading about the fire that killed your friends.” She picked up the hot cocoa she had been nursing and threw the cup in the trash as she walked out the door of the coffee shop.

“Now you know why I became a firefighter.”

“She was very beautiful.”

“Tori?”

“Yes.”

“The biggest tragedy was she was pregnant.”

“With your baby?” Jennifer gasped, stopping in the middle of the side walk.

“No, no with her fiancée, Mark’s baby.”

“I’m sorry that was totally insensitive.”

“Jennifer, Tori and I parted amicably when I went off to college. We were always more friends than sweethearts.”

“Oh…I…it’s not that I…”

“Tell me about Peter.”

“No.” Jennifer inserted the key in her lock and let herself into her apartment.

“Fine, fine don’t tell me. Was it really that bad?

“Yes.”

“What did he do to you?”

She flung herself on the couch. She picked up the tube her mother had sent her and hugged it to her.

“I should have never agreed to these dates. This was a mistake.”

“Hold on sister don’t make me come over there. On second thought I am coming over.”

“No, Blake, I won’t renege on our last date.”

“Third date.”

“Please just for now let me keep this one little part of me from you.”

“Okay for now.”

“Thanks. Okay let see what my mother sent me in the mail. I found a package on my door step when I got home.”

“Jen?” His voice was laced with concern.

She popped off the end of the tube and pulled the rolled up paper out.

“Some kind of blown up picture.” She held on to the top and began to unroll it. “Oh, my stars, I am going to kill that woman.” Blake’s smoldering eye peeked from behind his bicep. Her mother had sent a life size copy of Blake standing in the doorway.

“What is it?”

“I can’t tell you. It’s too embarrassing. I don’t know what goes on in that woman’s head sometimes.”

“You have to tell me.”

“It’s a life size picture of you standing in the bunkroom door.”

“How do I look?”

“Gorgeous, of course.”

“You are going to hang it up aren’t you?”

“This conversation is over. Meet me at the Savoy Theatre tomorrow at 6:50 p.m. Bye Blake.”

“ Jen.”

“Bye.”

“Night.”





Chapter 26-Blake

His body was reacting to his nervousness; tense shoulders, fluttery stomach and racing heart. He didn’t know where he stood with Jennifer. Their conversations were always easy but he had stepped out of her prescribed order of casual dating. He had had to resort to coercion again to get this date. She described it as their last date on the phone last night and he couldn’t let that happen.

He rounded the corner and saw her standing in front of the theater. A smile lit up her face. She looked like a kid getting her first trip to the zoo. She was so excited she could hardly contain it. Blake felt himself physically relax and then she was in his arms. He kissed her before she could protest. She let him keep his arms around her while she rested her hands on his chest.

“They’re showing my favorite Hitchcock tonight, ‘Notorious’. I promise not to do a running commentary but there are some really cool cinematic moments in this movie.”

She pushed away and grabbed his hand dragging him toward the theater as she gave her running monologue.

“It has Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in it. There is a kissing scene to die for and then a long panning shot that comes down to the key clasped in Alicia’s hand. Hitchcock was a genius. Did you know he appears in all of his movies at least once?”

“I think I’d heard that somewhere.” He reached his arm behind his back to switch hands and pulled her arm around his waist. He draped his arm across her shoulders and planted a kiss on top of her head. This was heaven. She was happy to be with him.

“The cabby last night recommended a restaurant for after the movie and then I scored some concert ticket for a band my brother loves. It’s a jam band called Umphres’s McGee they are playing at the Best Buy Theater.”

She bought them a large popcorn and a soda. He lifted the arm rest between them and pulled her up against him. Every time there was kissing on the screen he got into the spirit of it and kissed her senseless. She was as good as her word and didn’t comment during the movie but she did squeak when Hitchcock appeared on the screen.

They laughed all through dinner. It was a family owned Italian restaurant and the owner had his muscle bound sons working the counter, pure New York and pure Italian. It was the best Calzone he had ever eaten. Jennifer chickened out and got spaghetti with meat sauce. He didn’t know sharing food could be so hysterical but it felt like everything set them laughing.

The concert was loud and the hall smoke filled, not all of it tobacco. Jennifer danced and sang along with the lyrics on several of the songs. He got a kick out of watching her enjoying herself.

They got back to her apartment by two am.

“You are going to plan all our future dates. Tonight was really fun.”

They stood at the base of her stairs.

“It was a lot of fun.”

She was looking down at his hand that she held with both hers. She was playing with his fingers and it was driving him crazy. He slipped his free hand behind her neck and she looked up at him. He had been stealing kisses from her all night but now in the wee hours of the night he wanted to be holding her, tumbling her, discovering her. His kiss reflected this. He let his lips gently caress hers until he felt her lips part with a sigh. The tip of his tongue slipped through the opening and she gasped. She was such an innocent it sent his senses reeling. He urged her lips further apart and playfully parried with her tongue. He was just about to plumb her depths when she broke off the kiss.

“I have to…” She stepped back onto the stairs. The look of consternation was almost laughable when she realized that put her face to face with him.

“No work tomorrow.” He countered. Her pulse was thrumming in her neck and he brushed his lips across the pulse point and then kissed down her neck to the hollow by her collar bone.

This time she backed up several steps.

“Blake, it’s late.”

“Very late.” Her followed her up the stairs, tracing his finger up her arms letting them slip just under the edge of her sleeves. He felt her shudder.

She escaped him again and made it up to her landing. She was digging through her purse for her key when he came up behind her pushing her hair off the back of her neck. He brushed feather soft kisses across the base of her neck. A small pressure on her shoulder caused her to turn into his arms.

“I can’t…”

While he cut off her protest with his lips, he ran his hand down her arm, took the key from her hand, inserted it into the lock and opened the door to her apartment. She let him back her through the door without breaking the kiss. He kicked the door shut with his foot, dropped her keys to the floor, and removed the purse from her hand. The lights from the street glowed through her window and gave just enough light for Blake to make out the shadowed outline of the furnishings of her apartment.

He bent his efforts to make her mindless with passion. He knew he had succeeded when she began to tug at his shirt. He let her slip it over his head. Her hands were tentative as they traced the muscles on his chest, her thumbs brushed across his nipples then her hands splayed across his ribs. The muscles bunched involuntarily. Crushing her to him he lifted her off her feet and made it the few steps to the bed.

He fell onto the bed pulling her on top of him. The sweet softness of her pressed the full length of him. She was kissing his face, his neck and across his chest. Her hair sent spikes of pleasure through him as it brushed his skin. It was going to take all his will power not to consummate this relationship tonight. She wanted to save her virginity for her wedding night. Well maybe not right now but in her heart when she was thinking clear that is what she wanted. He was going to make her beg for it. She would be his now and forever.

The phone rang.



Chapter 27-Jennifer

The waves of heat washed through her. She wanted to devour him with her lips, her hands. Touch him, feel him, be engulfed by him. There were still too many clothes and she tugged at the waistband of his pants. His hands encircled her wrists and drew her arms over their heads. Dragging her across his body till he claimed her lips again. Then the madness paused. She trailed kisses across his jaw and he pushed her away.

“Jen, your phone’s ringing.”

The fog in her head lifted slowly. Then the sound penetrated and she gasped. That was her father’s ring. She rolled off Blake and dove for her couch. She fumbled with the throw that lay crumpled on the cushions. The light from the phone was the beacon that led her to it. She felt guilt wash through her as she pushed the talk button. She had let a man in her apartment. Broken one her father’s cardinal rules. Not once but twice.

There were good reasons for the rules she lived by and now she was feeling the consequences of breaking one of those hard fast rule. Madness had burned through her brain, seared every moral standard she had set for herself. She had been a few short minutes away from throwing away her virtue. The shame overwhelmed her. Tears welled in her eyes.

“Dad?”

“Jennifer Melissa Warren, where the hell have you been? I have been trying since four o’clock this afternoon to reach you.”

She stood and pulled the phone away from her ear as he yelled at her.

“I was late for work this morning and couldn’t find my phone.” Her voice shook.

“I want you packed and out of your apartment in ten minutes.”

Jennifer paced across her darkened apartment her left arm wrapped across her chest her hand tucked under the arm that held the phone. He would know. He always knew. She could feel the shame as it burned red flags up her neck to her cheeks.

“What happened, Dad?”

“They’ve arrested Peter but they didn’t find the wife. The fire inspector determined the fire in your apartment was arson. They are adding attempted murder to the embezzlement charges. I want you to get to a hotel tonight. I’m flying in to drive you home in the morning.”

“Attempted murder?” The blood drained as quickly as it had risen. She felt herself getting dizzy. Her foot brushed against something on the floor. She bent down to pick it up. The scent of Blake on the shirt sent her eyes over to the silhouette sitting on the edge of her bed. It was like watching a train wreck seeing the two parts of her life collide. She was the debris, splintered and falling apart.

“I should have waited to tell you but I wanted you to feel the urgency. I want you in a safe location now,” her father insisted.

She threw the shirt at Blake and walked over to switch on the light. She hit the switch, there was a popping sound, the lights flickered and then went dark.

“Oh great,” she groan in frustration.

“What was that?” her dad yelled.

“My lights went out.”

“Get out of the apartment now!”

“It was just a few bulbs, dad.” She walked over to the kitchen and flipped the switch. This time there was a roar. Jennifer was knocked to the ground. Just as she registered the flames sprouting from the light fixture and fire dripping down the wall, arms came around her pressing her face to a hard chest. 

Her lungs constricted and she gasped for air. Peter was trying to kill her. She gulped it in, taking greedy breathes. He wasn’t content to destroy her life, he wanted her dead. Over and over she filled her lungs but it wasn’t enough. The flames, he wanted to burn her alive. All she could think about was fire melting her flesh, smoke filling her chest, choking away life.

A sharp pain across her cheek intruded into her panic.

“Jennifer you’re hyperventilating.” Blake’s face filled her field of vision. “You’re safe.” Fingers dug into her shoulders. “Here hold on to your purse and your computer.” Her arms wouldn’t obey her. “Sit here. Head between your knees” She felt a pressure against the back of her neck and she fought against it. “It’s going to be okay. Wait here I’ll be right back.”

Safe, she needed to find someplace safe. They were trying to kill her. They found her here, it wasn’t safe. She gathered up her purse pulled the strap over her head. She clutched the bag to her chest. She stumbled down the few remaining steps. Lights flashed and whirled, blinding her. The panic rose in her chest. She turned around looking for an escape route. A mewling sound broke from her lips. She pressed her face against the brick and tried to inch her way down the sidewalk.

“Jen, where are you going?”

“I…I…” The words were choked off by tears spilling down her face and filling her throat. She pushed against the arms that encircled her.

“Bring me a blanket she’s in shock.” 

Her father’s angry voice echoed through her head. She looked around in panic.

“Where’s my dad? I was talking to my dad. Where is he?” she sobbed.

Arms came around her and she felt stifled.

“Stop it.” She pushed away. “I’ve got to find my dad.”

“Jen, I called him to let him know you are safe. He’s hopping on the first plane out here. He’ll be here in the morning.” A hand smoothed the back of her hair and stroked her back.

“Where’s my phone? He’ll be frantic.”  She began digging through all her pockets.

“Drink this first and then you can use my phone to talk to you parents.”

A paramedic put a cup of hot cocoa in her hands. She wrapped both shaking hands around it and sipped at the sweet warm goodness. Shivers coursed through her body and then she felt a tense calm until the next wave.

She talked to her dad through chattering teeth. He was leaving her in Blake’s capable hands. She tried to argue that she could find a hotel on her own but the words fell unheard to the pavement and blew away like dead brown leaves. Platitudes were all she got from her mother along with declarations of love.

The police talked to Blake as she sat in numbed silence. Some of the guys from the station came to check to see if she was okay as they got ready to pack up their fire truck and head back to the 55. Jennifer smiled and nodded her head even though she wasn’t cognizant of what they were saying. Mo grabbed her shoulder and gave her a little shake, others patted her knee or ruffled her hair.

Trevor cupped the back of her head with his gloved hand and pressed his forehead against hers.

“You okay?” he whispered.

“Fine, really I’m fine.” She felt some of the tension ease as she stared into friendly brown eyes.

“There are perks to dating a firefighter,” he chuckled.

“Really?” she droll.

“You now have a dozen more big brothers.” He kissed her on the forehead, patted her on the back before he walked away. Blake gave Trevor a friendly shove as they passed.

“Ready to go?” Blake asked.

She slid off the tailgate of the ambulance and let Blake lead her over to his car.

The buildings stood in black silhouette against the red dawning sky. They passed like ancient monoliths while Jennifer stared out the car window. She felt the gentle caress of Blake’s thumb across the back of her hand as he held it against his chest. He periodically lifted it to his lips to brush it with a kiss. The buildings blurred through the tears she tried to hold back. Her heart was breaking.

Her eyes drifted close as the exhaustion over took her. She woke when Blake opened her car door. He took her hand to help her out and immediately gathered her in his arms. He let his arms and lips speak to her. She felt his fear and longing through his kiss and embrace.

“I don’t ever want to let you go again,” he murmured staring down into her eyes.

She reached up and touched his face smoothing away some of the worry lines around his mouth and between his eyebrows.

“You’re going to have to let me go here in a minute because I need to pee like a horse.”

He hugged her fiercely as a laugh burst from him. She looked around for the first time and realized where they were.

“We’re at your sister’s house!” she exclaimed.

“I thought it would appease your dad. This way we are properly chaperoned.” He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to the front door. This time he didn’t even knock, he just walked right in the door. “I don’t want to wake them up in case Jr. is still asleep.”

A body was stretched out on the couch when they peeked their heads into the living room. Jennifer squeaked and the body sprang off the couch.

“Todd, what are you doing here?” she asked throwing herself into his arms. Her brother pulled her off her feet in a bear hug.

Todd was the tallest of her brothers. He topped out right at six feet. He had the rich brown hair and chocolate colored eyes of her other brothers but with a sharp angular jaw and heavy brows. He was a theater actor. He usually traveled with Broadway productions, city hopping all across the country, bringing Broadway to the masses. So she was dumbfounded to see him here.

“Not too tight,” Blake interjected. “She needs to use the bathroom.”

“Todd Warren.” Todd extended his right hand while keeping his other arm around Jennifer.

“Blake Hudson, I’m glad to meet you. Your sister speaks very highly of all her family. You’re the actor right.”

“In the flesh. You must be the firefighter we’ve all been hearing so much about.”

“Guilty.” Blake replied.

“Not that I’m not thrilled to see you but why are you here?” Jennifer asked.

“I was doing a little production in Connecticut, Dad called and I rushed down here.”

“Speaking of rushed, I’ll be right back.” She rolled out of Todd’s grasp. “The bathroom’s still upstairs, right?” she asked Blake.

“There’s one right down the hall here, first door on the right.” Blake pointed in that direction.

“There’s a family bet going,” Todd said as Jennifer started down the hall.

“What is it this time?” Jennifer quipped

“Whether you’ll ever be able to get fire insurance again.”

“Very funny,” she countered.

Funny like a tooth ache, Jennifer thought.



Chapter 28 – Blake

No matter how tightly Blake held Jennifer he could feel her slipping away. Todd was regaling them with tales of life on the road and all the backstage antics of the demi-celebs. He stood in front of them like a standup comedian playing to a nightclub audience. Nancy was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, Max and Jr. had joined Blake and Jennifer on the couch. Jennifer’s dad would be landing at the airport in a few hours and everything would change. She was leaving. Her father would drive away with her in her car and Blake would be left behind.



Every protective instinct in his being ached to keep her safe but he didn’t know from what yet. He couldn’t keep his lips from peppering her hair with kisses as he held her against him; his arm across her shoulders, his hand holding hers in his lap. She smelled of spring, her hair still damp from the shower. He needed time; he didn’t have, to try to convince her to stay. He needed to understand about the part of her life she had kept separate from him. Peter.



Jennifer’s hand went limp in his lap, her whole body relaxed in his embrace and her head bobbed forward. He pulled her closer and her head tipped to rest on his shoulder. He let his cheek rest on her hair and closed his eyes.



“This is the first time I’ve put an audience to sleep,” Todd said.



“I’m going to carry her upstairs to bed. It was a rough night for her,” Blake whispered. He started to rise, one arm around her shoulder and the other slipped under her knees to lift her off the couch, her head snuggled into his chest. She breathed in the essence of him with a sigh and he felt the deep rumble as she let out a satisfied ‘umm’. Her arm snaked up around his neck.



His body screamed at him to carry her upstairs and make her his, to claim her irrevocably. In a few short seconds his mind played out the seduction. The tender kiss as he lay her on the bed and her sleep muddled response as she pulled him down to her deepening kiss, his shirt coming off in one fluid motion as he pressed himself the length of her soft contours. Her hands exploring his exposed flesh while lips and hips ground together. Rolling till she lay on top of him his hand slipping under her shirt to feel her silken flesh. A flick of his fingers to unfasten her bra…



“Blake, you can put me down,” she whispered in his ear. Her warm breath against his neck mingled with the sensations he had conjured in his head till reality burst his euphoric bubble. Damn, he felt his knees start to buckle as his body was awash with disappointed expectations. He hadn’t even made it up the stairs. He lowered her to the ground before he dropped her.



“I need to tell you about Peter.”



Those few words worked like a cold bucket of water over his head bringing his attention back into crystal clear focus. He sat beside her on the stairs a few critical inches separated them. The world felt like it was suspended between breathes and a simple exhale would shatter everything around him.



She stared at her hands. She stroked and kneaded fingers with nervous energy. He resisted the urge to capture one of those hands and bring it to his lips.



“I did an internship between my junior and senior years of college.” She finally began. “The small town girl came to the big city and was smitten. I loved the work; I loved the pulse and pace of the megalopolis and I loved how I alive I felt here.” She turned her head to look at him leaning her back against the stair rails. “I was thrilled and honored when Pardyn hired me full time right out of college. I was doing the job I loved, I had great friends and a year into my tenure I met a man that I thought I could spend the rest of my life with.” She dropped her eyes again.  “Peter was perfect; attentive, romantic and respectful.” Now her eyes unfocused looked down the hall. “He never tried to cross the bounds I had set. The only hitch was that we worked together so ours was a clandestine relationship. For a year we kept the secret even from my closest friends as we planned our future and our upcoming wedding. He was reticent about telling my parents incase somehow a slip of the tongue would expose us at work.”



She was on her feet she paced two steps then turned and looked him in the eye.



“Then one day he was gone along with twenty million of the company’s money.”



She paced in earnest.



“My life was a nightmare. I was implicated, there was proof he had used my computer to gain access to sensitive company records and passwords. I was fired of course and anyone who was closely associated with me; my friends. My clandestine romance became a torrid affair as it was exposed. Peter was a con artist. A married con artist.”



She stopped her arms akimbo her eyes flashed as she spit out the words.



“I am a police Captain’s daughter. I should have known better. I should have seen the signs; the secrecy, his lukewarm courtship I took for a signs respect. I was an idiot.” She raged.



“You were sweet and naive.” Blake reached up to capture her fluttering hands and pull her into his lap.



“Don’t touch me. Please, please don’t touch me. I’ll come undone.” Jennifer stepped away from him. “Four years of college wasted, a pariah in my field, my dreams up in smoke but that is not the worst part of it. My friends went down with me completely innocent but guilty by association their only crime was friendship with me.”



“You’re innocent too.” He stood to face her.



“Am I? I guess that’s for a court to decide.” She crossed her arms and hugged herself as he reached for her again. “Please, I have to make you understand and if you touch me…you just can’t.”



“Jen,” he pled.



“In a little while Todd and I are going to walk out the front door and you have to let me go.”



“Hell, no.” He grabbed her upper arm and dragged her up the stairs to the bedroom and slammed the door.



“He is trying to kill me.” She jerked her arm out of his grasp.



“He is in jail.” He yelled into her face. Shouting released some of the pent up frustration he was feeling.



“That hasn’t stopped him and his wife. Please. I couldn’t bear it if this mess hurt you anymore than it has.”



“I’m a big boy I think I can take it.”



“But I can’t. I should never have agreed to those dates.”  She barked back at him. The effect was ruined by the tears that broke from the corner of her eyes and tracked down her cheeks.



He crossed the few steps between them and gathered her into his arms. He heard the soft whimper as Jennifer buried her face into his chest.



“You were blackmailed. You didn’t have a choice.”



She lifted her head from his chest and looked up into his face. The quizzical look in her eyes was adorable.



“How did this happen? It was only three dates.” She asked.



“It happened the minute you looked up at me in that smoke-filled hall and I felt myself fall into your beautiful eyes. I love you, Jennifer.” He sealed his declaration with a kiss to rock the foundations of the earth.



A light tap on the door brought them back from heaven.



“Breakfast is ready.” Nancy’s muffled voice said through the door.



“Coming,” Blake answered daring to get in one more lingering kiss before they had to go down stairs.



“I love you too, Mr. Hudson,” Jennifer whispered as she traced her fingers across his swollen lips. He nipped her finger tips with his teeth.



“I’m not that hungry. We could skip breakfast.” He teased leaning them both toward the bed.



“I’m starved. So unless you want to get trampled I would get out of my way.”