Page 13 of Playing With Fire
Cass let out a keening moan as the hot wetness enveloped her. Evelyn began tonguing at the hardened nub—flicking it, circling it, biting ever so softly until Cass threw her head back in pleasure.
Evelyn’s other hand teased over her left breast before sliding south, her long nails scraping over soft skin, to Cass’s belt. Unbuckled, unbuttoned, unzipped. Her fingers crept past Cass’s underwear and between her hot, slick folds. A pulse of need rippled through Evelyn as her fingers ghosted over Cass’s clit.
“Fuck,” Cass moaned.
“Shh, we wouldn’t want anyone to hear you now, would we?”
Cass flashed her a half-hearted glare as she moved her hand from where it was to Evelyn’s hip, sliding her hand down into the black lacy underwear. Cass slipped her rough fingers against her core and stroked in rhythm to match Evelyn’s pace.
Every time Cass’s fingers glided over her clit, she repaid in kind, each of them working faster and faster. Breathing hard. Skin on skin.
Evelyn couldn’t hold it back any longer. Her climax building steadily, it wracked through her, shaking, trembling, her clit pulsing with want. Cass’s hand stopped its motions, but Evelyn continued. Gradually firmer and faster until Cass, too, was shaking against her. Spent.
As the adrenaline ebbed, Cass pulled back, her breathing still uneven as the weight of what they’d just done settled heavily between them. She looked at Evelyn, searching her face for something—maybe an answer to the vulnerability she suddenly felt. But Evelyn’s expression had already shifted, her usual composed mask slipping back into place.
A silence hung in the air, thick and unresolved. Without a word, Evelyn recovered her clothes and gathered her things, her eyes flicking briefly over Cass before she turned and headed for the door. The quietclickof it closing felt like a final, unspoken line drawn between them.
In the hallway, Evelyn’s steps echoed in the stillness of the firehouse. Her pulse raced, each beat a reminder of the undeniable connection she’d felt, but also of the thrill and alarm that lingered in its wake. She forced herself to focus, steeling her thoughts and telling herself it had been a lapse, nothing more. But as she walked out into the night, every detail of the moment in Cass’s office replayed in her mind, leaving her rattled—and more than a little unsure of what might come next.
Evelyn navigated the darkened streets of Phoenix Ridge, the steady rhythm of her tires against the pavement a stark contrast to the chaos in her mind. She forced herself to breathe, to compartmentalize the night and push it behind her. Yet despite her best efforts, she couldn’t shake the lingering sense of excitement—and trouble—that Cass brought into her otherwise orderly world. The thrill of the unexpected burned in her chest, battling against the caution she’d built her career upon.
The road stretched out before Evelyn, dark and empty save for the rhythmic sweep of her headlights against the asphalt. The night air seeped in through the cracked window, cool against her flushed skin, but it did nothing to quiet the stormraging inside her. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter than necessary, the familiar tension in her jaw returning as she replayed the events of the evening in her mind.
What had she done? What had sheallowedto happen? Her stomach twisted with a cocktail of guilt and frustration as she thought of Cass—of the way her resolve had crumbled the moment they were alone, of the fire in Cass’s eyes that she’d been unable to resist. Giving in like that, letting herself be vulnerable…it was reckless, a mistake she couldn’t afford to repeat.
The city lights flickered on the horizon as she drove, but Evelyn barely registered them. All she could focus on was the nagging voice in her head reminding her of everything she stood to lose. She’d worked so hard to build her career and earn her reputation as someone who could make the hard choices without letting emotions cloud her judgment. But tonight, she had let those emotions take control, and now she felt untethered, like a ship adrift in a storm.
Her chest tightened as she thought about Cass—not just the heat of their argument, the intensity of their connection, but the person beneath it all. Cass was everything Evelyn wasn’t: passionate, grounded, unafraid to stand up for what she believed in. And that, Evelyn realized, was exactly the problem. Cass had a way of pulling her into a world she wasn’t sure she belonged in, a world where emotions ran deep and logic wasn’t always enough.
Evelyn sighed, her fingers drumming anxiously against the wheel as she stopped at a red light. The silence in the car was deafening, broken only by the soft hum of the engine. She had to regain control, to reassert the boundaries she’d let slip tonight. This wasn’t just about her; it was about the job, the future of the department, and her responsibility to see this through. Shecouldn’t let her feelings—whatever they were—derail everything she’d worked for.
When the light turned green, Evelyn pressed down on the gas, her determination hardening with every passing mile. By the time she reached her apartment, she had convinced herself that tonight would be a one-time lapse, a momentary weakness she wouldn’t allow to happen again.
But as she climbed the stairs to her door and slipped inside, her resolve felt brittle, her mind still haunted by the memory of Cass’s touch, the fire in her voice, and the unspoken connection that had ignited between them. Evelyn shook her head, as if the action could rid her of the thoughts. She couldn’t let this happen again. She wouldn’t. Tomorrow, she told herself, she would focus. She would put everything back in its proper place.
She had to.
7
CASS
Cass couldn’t shake the memory, no matter how hard she tried to bury it under the routines and responsibilities of her work. The firehouse had always been her anchor, a place where duty and purpose overrode everything else, where her focus never wavered. But ever since that night, Cass felt like she was fighting against an undertow, drawn toward thoughts of Evelyn against her will. The routine of each shift felt heavier now, her concentration slipping in moments she couldn’t afford. A simple briefing with her team became an exercise in forcing herself to listen, to absorb the details, to drown out that flicker of something that lingered like an ember in her mind.
Evelyn. Her name felt like both a spark and a weight, something igniting inside Cass that she wasn’t prepared to handle. Cass prided herself on her ability to separate personal feelings from work. She’d faced high-stakes situations, put herself in danger for her team, and yet this—whatever this was—was testing her like nothing ever had.
But it wasn’t just Evelyn’s presence or even her sharp eyes or biting words. It was what Evelyn stood for: the challenges, the constant friction, and the unyielding strength in her gaze.It drove Cass crazy, the way Evelyn pushed back at every turn. It infuriated her, this woman who’d come in with her cost-cutting plans and her steady, relentless focus on efficiency. But beneath the frustration simmered something more dangerous, something that stirred in Cass a craving she didn’t want to admit.
She spent the days after their encounter trying to rationalize her behavior, trying to understand why she’d let herself slip. She knew how much the firehouse meant to her; she’d dedicated years to this job, to her team, and now, by allowing herself to be distracted by Evelyn, she felt she was letting them down. She imagined Becky’s voice in her head—the wise, encouraging words of her mentor, now a legend in Phoenix Ridge but someone who’d trusted her to lead. Cass couldn’t help but feel that she’d broken that trust somehow, that she’d let her guard down and lost sight of what was important. And that mistake was weighing on her, pressing down on her chest with each thought of Evelyn.
The rest of the week passed in a haze, each hour filled with drills, inspections, and meetings—all attempts to bury herself in her work. She wanted to stay too busy to think, too busy to let herself drift back into the memory of Evelyn’s eyes meeting hers, of the electric pull that had surged between them. Yet no matter how hard she tried, Evelyn lingered in her thoughts, frustratingly persistent. It was as if each thought, each memory of that night only strengthened the need to confront her and make sense of what had happened.
By Friday, Cass felt stretched thin, her focus shattered by the constant back-and-forth in her mind. She tried avoiding Evelyn and keeping her distance, hoping that time would blunt the intensity of her feelings. But instead, avoiding Evelyn only intensified her frustration, her thoughts spiraling into restlessconfusion every time she remembered the spark in Evelyn’s gaze, the unspoken challenge they both seemed to feel.
Late one evening, unable to sleep, Cass reached for her phone. She scrolled through her contacts until she found Evelyn’s name. Her thumb hovered over the call button, but she couldn’t bring herself to press it. Instead, she tossed her phone aside, a fresh wave of frustration welling up within her. She didn’t understand this pull toward Evelyn; it was reckless and went against everything she stood for. But the need to resolve things, to confront what had happened, was growing louder, harder to ignore.
Finally, as if compelled by some force outside her control, Cass found herself driving to Evelyn’s office.
Cass gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles pale against the worn leather as she drove through the quiet streets toward Evelyn’s office. She’d told herself over and over that she’d gotten a handle on her feelings, that she could compartmentalize them like everything else in her life. But as she replayed their last tense exchange in her mind, she felt the same pull—an ache of unresolved tension, of words left unsaid, and of emotions she couldn’t shake no matter how hard she tried. Every rational part of her had advised against this, warned her that driving over to see Evelyn now, at night, was a dangerous game. Yet here she was, unable to stop herself.