Burning for the Fireman by J L Taft Page B

tonight,” I told him as I
stowed my gear.
    Travis came striding over. “What plans?”
    “Mind your own damn business, Travis.”
    One of the younger guys on the crew, a rookie who spent too
much time messing with his spiky blond hair-do, interrupted. “Did you really
get a date while we were working last night? Shit, man, that’s awesome!”
    I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away. The rookie caught
my arm. “Dude, will you teach me?”
    “Teach you what, exactly?” I asked but I already knew where
this was headed.
    “To get women!”
    “Forget it, kid,” I mumbled as I strode quickly to my truck,
parked across the street. I knew the guys didn’t mean anything by it but I
hated them digging into my personal life. They all saw me as a “love ‘em and
leave ‘em” kind of guy.
    While it might be true to some extent, I still didn’t care
for the reference and I certainly wasn’t teaching some kid how to ‘get women’.
    The kid irritated me. Just because I liked women and their
company didn’t mean I had fucked everyone I was seen with. Most, maybe, but not
all of them. I just didn’t trust them. They all wanted something. I chose to
pick the women who wanted the same things as I did.
    Jumping up into the cab, I sat for a few minutes, enjoying
the stillness. It had been a long shift. There had been several medical
emergency calls and then the apartment complex fire that had taken hours.
    I wondered how Allie was doing and if she should have gone
to the hospital. I shook it off. She didn’t need me to worry about her. She
looked as if she could take care of herself.
    After her blunt confession that she didn’t like sex and I
wondered what the hell I had been thinking. Starting the truck, I shook my
head. I needed some sleep.
    As I drove through the early morning streets, it came to me.
I remembered where I knew her from. I had seen her at Eclipse, a sex club I
liked to play at once in a while. I had gone there last weekend and she had
been there with some friends.
    She had caught my eye then too. She’d had on a dark-green
dress and sky-high heels, but it had been that curly, fire-colored hair that
had drawn me in, over and over. I had watched her all night and she had seemed
to be completely out of her element and had never talked to any one man for
more than a few minutes. I spent so much time paying attention to her I ended
up going home alone and unsatisfied.
    What the hell had she been doing at Eclipse? In any case, I
had a feeling the dinner date would be interesting.

Chapter Two
     
    I felt refreshed after a few hours of sleep. I was used to
working and being awake at odd hours, so waking up late into the afternoon was
normal for me. But it didn’t leave me much time to get around before I picked
up Allie.
    Taking a hot shower, I was surprised to find I was looking
forward to the evening. It had been a long time since I was this excited over a
woman. I didn’t like complications and always chose women who knew the score.
    I also liked to be in charge of the situation, which is why
I frequented Eclipse. Some of the women there were sexually submissive and it
was an easy place to meet someone who liked the same things I did.
    Allie was exactly the opposite. But something about her got
to me. As her face popped to mind and I thought about her tight little body, my
cock sprang to life and I groaned.
    Since I was going out with a woman who claimed not to like
sex, I fisted my cock and jerked on it until I came in quick little bursts. I
stood under the water, breathing heavily.
    I kept my hair cut short, so I only had to run a comb
through it. A few short minutes later, I’d dried off and gotten dressed. I had
called and made reservations at my favorite Italian place, so I’d put on slacks
and a light-blue button-up shirt that matched my eyes—or so my mother had told
me.
    Knowing the restaurant was casual and it was warm enough to
skip the jacket, I had the cuffs rolled halfway up my forearms