Paper in Fire

Esme was so beautiful that she took his breath away and he couldn't believe that she was a firefighter. She came back to the table with his sister and he watched her walk. Long legs, round hips and a torso with nice breasts were topped by a smiling face and laughing brown eyes. But her hair was her crowning glory. Waist-length, thick and wavy, it fell in a silky, shiny waterfall down her back, adding height to her 5' 5" frame. His sister caught him watching and gave him the nod. He knew what that meant and his stomach twisted into knots.

Just talk to her, Ernesto

. His sister had said.

She's just a woman.

Just a woman was an insult to the person that was Esme Gutierrez. On her worst day, she would never be

just a woman

. When she'd moved into their neighborhood nineteen years ago, he'd known she was something special. Not because she suffered through a home life that would have left others broken, but because she'd emerged brilliantly. She forgot her always fighting alcoholic parents and attacked her school work, graduating near the top of the class and enrolling in Fire Science studies at the local community college.

"Hola, Ernesto." Esme smiled at the handsome but painfully shy older brother of her best friend, Chalina. "How have you been?"

"Fine." He answered nervously, sucking on his beer. Esme and Chalina exchanged a look as if to say, he's the same as always. They both knew that he wouldn't say anything else. He'd just sit there quietly and listen to their conversation as he always did.

"I hear you've been busy lately." Chalina handed Esme a beer and they settled into seats across from Ernesto.

"Yes. Damned firebug … "

"Firebug?"

"Yeah, you heard about it, haven't you?" Esme looked at the twosome who both shook their heads negatively. "Someone's going around the area setting small fires."

"That's horrible!"

"Well, they're not that bad, but any fire can turn out to be a dangerous one." She took a sip of beer. "I wish I could find out who's doing it. It's really taking a lot of time out of my day."

"Your day? Are you investigating them?"

"Yeah. The Chief's trying to train me to be an investigator. He says that I'm too smart to be in the field with the guys."

"He's right." Ernesto's words shocked the girls into silence. "Your beauty is wasted on the forest."

Esme laughed. "It's not always the forest, Ernesto, but thanks just the same." She continued her conversation with Chalina but noticed that something had changed between her and Ernesto. She parted with the pair later, spending a few extra seconds in his embrace and trembling at the heat she saw in his eyes, something she'd never seen before. "Call me."

The feeling of being in Ernesto's embrace stayed with her for a long time, even hours later, when she reported to her shift. She was daydreaming at the dining room table when the Fire Chief, Ed Morton, strode over, his face florid with anger.

"Got another one, goddammit!" He slammed his hand down, a sheet of paper pinned underneath it. "Check this one out, will you, Esme?"

"Sure, Chief." She picked up the call sheet and stared at the address particulars, a feeling of numbness spreading when she recognized the numbers. "Uh, Chief? Are there any injuries?"

"No. It was contained to a portion of the woods behind the complainant's home."

"Okay. I'll check it out."

Esme changed out of her work clothes and sped over to the house that Ernesto and Chalina shared. A large column of smoke rose from behind the structure and she parked in the driveway, tramping through the shrubs to get to the back and found Ernesto spraying a smoking pile of old lumber with a garden hose. At once, she knew that this was not an arsonist call.

"Ernesto?"

Even in the darkness, she could see that he hadn't looked up at her. "I'm sorry to call you like this, Esme. I was such a chicken shit that I couldn't dial your number."

"Why not? We've known each other for such a long time … "

"That's exactly why I couldn't call." He turned the hose off and walked past her, heading toward the spigot. For the first time, she noticed the wide strength of his shoulders and the muscles that covered his torso as it tapered into the waistband of his jeans. Tingles shot through her, raising the temperature in her cheeks and her nipples felt as if they were being shocked.

"But why, 'Nesto?"

"Because I'm in love with you."

He had whispered the words, afraid to give his feelings life. He felt her presence behind her and quivered at the soft touch of her hand on his shoulder, turning him around. "'Nesto?" Her dark eyes were glittering with tears and he knew that he had her then. He pulled her into his arms, crushing her slight weight against him and pressed his mouth to hers. The response of her body curling around his made the heat rise in his body and his cock hardened painfully in his jeans. "Oh, Ernesto."

His hands found her blouse buttons and he pulled them loose, bending to place kisses all along the exposed flesh. Esme helped him, pushing him back and dropping the shirt and quickly following with her bra. Ernesto caught one of her dark nipples with his lips and licking and sucking it. She threw her head back, arching against him and running her fingers through his hair. His hands smoothed her flesh, sliding over her stomach and he unbuttoned her pants, pushing them down over her hips along with her panties.

"¡Dios Mio!" Esme wanted to scream when his mouth found her liquid center. He was being so thorough with her, cupping her ass in his hands as he burrowed into her cunt, using his tongue to navigate. She stumbled backward and he followed on his knees, pushing her against the side of the house and eating her peach of a pussy until she gasped his name, coating his lips and moustache with pussy honey.

Ernesto pulled himself up quickly, attaching his mouth to hers and pulling his own pants down. He nearly came when she grabbed his cock and stroked it. "Geez, Ernesto, if I'd known you were this big … " She giggled in his ear and paused to nibble on his nipple before bending to slurp the head of his cum-dripping cock. He jerked, a low moan coming from his throat as Esme licked his root from base to tip but as good as it felt, he couldn't let it continue because he would have cum right away.

He pulled her up and moved between her legs, rubbing the head of his weeping cock against her thick lips. "Are you ready for me?"

"Ready and waiting." Esme whispered back, closing her eyes and gasping as the breath left her throat with his penetration. He was so thick that she vibrated as he drove into her cunt, stretching her tight passage and making her cum almost immediately. She wanted him to drive into her but she felt him holding himself back. Maybe he thought he'd hurt her so she flexed her hips, meeting his thrust. He growled in her ear, sucking on the lobe as she whimpered.

"Esme."

His whisper of her name was like a match lighting kindling. Esme moved against him, matching his breathless rhythm, her hips bucking hard and meeting his. Her second orgasm took her breath away and the third … she thought she'd died and gone to heaven, feeling her friend's hot cum flood her pussy. She trembled against him, loving the feel of his hard body against hers as their bodies cooled from the frenzy of lovemaking.

He was humming a song that she'd heard before but couldn't remember the name of. "What's that?"

"John Cougar Mellencamp. Just seemed appropriate." He helped her dress and took her into the house. After a wonderful dinner with Chalina, he took her up to his room and made love to her like she was the most precious woman on Earth.

In the morning, she left his bed with a kiss and a lunch promise, humming to herself as she got behind the wheel of her car. She knew the name of the song he was singing and it was funny that it was so appropriate to them. Ernesto's love for her had been smoldering all those years and his call had brought the flame to life.

Like paper in fire.