SEx – Silver Expressions

(Emery wrote it, I’m just posting it.  We’re India Harper and we approve this message)

I’m a wing it kind of girl.  I do a bit of research to get enough color in a story, or more research than I need that doesn’t really apply to the story, etc.  Grey is research gal.  She’s got an eye for details and she knows how to get them right.  Such as going to our friend Scarlett’s husband who happens to be a local fire chief to get the lowdown on being a fireman—get a tour of the firehouse, a close up of the trucks, etc.  Well, we got all of that and much, much more.  I mean MUCH more.

Did I mention I’m a wing it girl?  That’s what I did for my story, Once Burned.   So I went up to Scarlett’s house that day, planning on killing time getting beaten by her kids at Mario Kart while Grey and Mr. Scarlett  went on the tour, for her research on High Heat.  Not that I wasn’t interested, mind, but my story was done and all that jazz and our story, The Arsonist’s Apprentice, wasn’t even a glimmer in either of our eyes.  Well, Grey and Mr. Scarlett picked me up at the train station and dragged me along with them, so I was spared humiliation—for the time being—and got my mind blown.

The firehouse itself kind of got glossed over and whirlwinded in our tour.  We’d wanted to know more about  people and procedures, but that didn’t seem all that important to Mr.  Scarlett.  What was important?  The trucks.  Those big, shiny, many compartmented trucks.  Mr. Scarlett showed us everything on those trucks.  And I do mean everything.  Rescue gear, hoses, ladders, axes, high-rise equipment, plywood, hose-hydrant connectors, gauges, infrared viewer, and so many other items that a) wouldn’t come to mind as being part of a fire truck, and b) being able to fit with everything else on said truck.  Everything has a place and goes in just so…it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.  I can now also tell a ladder truck from a pump truck from a quint (combo of ladder and pump).  By the end of the tour both of us were numb from detail overload, but some of it seems to have stuck, if these stories are any indication.

And now whenever either of us sees a fire truck go past, we identify it with a little grin and send a hug out to Mr. Scarlett.

The Arsonist’s Apprentice

by India Harper

For Josh Brooks, firefighting is in his blood. Unfortunately for him, Dylan Anderson was working the other side of the fire, having served eight years in prison for arson. The two are thrown together against everyone’s better judgment when Josh’s role in the Philadelphia Fire Department’s Fire Investigation Unit and Dylan’s role as an insurance investigator bring them together to investigate a string of suspicious fires.

Despite Josh’s reservations and the long held belief that firemen and arsonists don’t mix, he can’t seem to keep out of Dylan’s bed. But just when Josh starts to overcome his preconceptions, he becomes Dylan’s prime suspect. Losing Dylan and his career are the least of Josh’s worries. If he can’t find the real culprit, he’ll be following in Dylan’s footsteps.

To prison.

EXCERPT:

It took another ten minutes to twist back through the city, but Josh could see the flames still burning hotly when the cab finally pulled up. He paid the fare plus a large tip before getting out, gaze never leaving the fire. On the sidewalk, he breathed in deep, sucking the smell of old wood and water and ash into his lungs, letting it ground him. This made sense to him. Fire he understood, as fickle as it was.

He could see people moving around, shadows against the brighter illumination of the fire. Most of the action was around the corner, so that was where the crowd had gathered, but he could see one lone, familiar figure out of the way of the masses, silhouetted by the blazing inferno licking through the building. Josh went to join him.

Dylan barely acknowledged Josh’s presence, those mobile eyes of his flicking over before returning to reading the fire.

For his part, Josh watched the response teams, two ladders, two engines, and a service truck with their assigned men swarming in and out, each performing their functions with practiced tension, sure of what they were doing but not of what the fire would throw at them.

Dylan breathed out a low, soft moan, catching Josh’s attention.

“This is turning you on!” he charged incredulously.

Dylan raised an eyebrow, half-looking over at him. “It’s not turning you on?”

“Of course not! Those guys are putting their lives on the line in there and you’re getting off on it.”

He had Dylan’s undivided attention now. “Don’t lie to yourself, Brooks. It gets to you as much as it does me.”

“You don’t know–”

Dylan reached out and cupped the front of Josh’s jeans, thumb running along the hard ridge of his erection. “You do, Josh. You love the fire as much as I do.” His voice was low and seductive as he stepped close enough to hide what he was doing, bringing their faces together. “When you break down the doors, open the roof, find your way through the smoke-choked halls, you’re back in the arms of your favorite lover, and you can’t wait to see how it will climax each time.” He stepped even closer, their bodies touching. “I’m the foreplay, starting it, arousing it, building it until it can’t be stopped. But you, Josh, you’re the orgasm, penetration and satisfaction. We both need the fire, don’t think for a minute you don’t.”

At the moment all Josh could think about was how much he needed Dylan. The hard press of their bodies, the rough innuendo of his words were enough to overwhelm his restraint, and he forced his hand between them to cup Dylan through his trousers. Dylan’s eyes widened, then narrowed as he shoved Josh back against the silent building behind them, crushing his mouth to Josh’s when Josh pulled his head down in eager response.

This was what had been missing. Josh had been careful to keep his professional and personal lives very separate. At first it was so as not to tip off his family.  After he came out, he kept to the rule out of respect for his colleagues. But he had been missing out. To have someone get this about him, what the fire did to him, how it made him feel…

Josh pushed Dylan away just enough to reverse their positions, swallowing Dylan’s hungry groan as he slammed him against the brickwork.