He winked and then strode off, leaving her without the satisfaction of a dramatic exit.
How infuriating!But she couldn’t help admiring his gorgeous ass as he walked away.
Leaving the firehouse, Kristine shivered in the January wind and made her way to her car in the Prudential parking garage. On the way there, she ran the gamut of emotions. Her outrage gave way to sympathy. She tried to give Jayce the benefit of the doubt. Some people coped with grief through denial. Maybe that was what he was doing. However, she had a feeling that wasn’t all of it. He was too charming. Too polished. He seemed totally comfortable in his own skin. Usually that would be a turn-on. But today of all days?
Something was off about that whole funeral. The only one who seemed truly devastated was the firefighter’s fiancée. She tried to be brave, but tears shimmered in the corners of her eyes. Occasionally her head dropped and her whole body shook as if she were literally racked with sobs, but no sound came out. She was a firefighter too—probably doing her best to be brave.Just another reason to stick to my vow of not dating firefighters.
And it wasn’t just Jayce who was acting like it was a normal Tuesday and not the solemn day they were burying his brother. All the brothers she met seemed to be taking it rather well. Their only complaint about Jayce’s flirting was that he was doing it wrong?What the hell?Of course, she wasn’t inside the church during the service. Thousands of firefighters from all over the country attended, so only family members and those closest to them were allowed inside. Maybe they got their tears out there.
Still…smiling and joking? If that had happened at the 9/11 funerals, somebody would have been pounded into Ground Zero…Her mind was definitely boggled.
“Scotty! Wait,” a familiar voice called.
She stuck her fist on her hip and waited for Donovan, the guy she had carpooled with.Damn.
“Jesus, Scott, were you about to take off without me?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I thought you could get a ride from any of the other hundred FDNY attendees.”
“Well, it would have been nice if you’d told me that you were leaving.”
She chewed her lip and popped the passenger side door open with her key fob. When they were both seated inside the tiny rented sports car, he scrutinized her.
“What’s wrong?”
There was no hiding emotions from guys you lived with almost as much as your family.
“It’s nothing.” The universal code forI don’t want to talk about it.
“Bullshit. Did the funeral hit you that hard? Enough to make you want to get the hell out of town without even telling me? Did you run into someone you knew?”
“No. Nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
She backed out of the parking space, turning the rented Corvette toward the exit without explaining herself.
“Are you on your period?”
She stomped on the brakes. “You are never, ever, ever allowed to ask a woman that—ever!”
He leaned away with his hands up. “Okay, okay. Don’t shoot.”
She resumed her exit from the parking garage with a bit more speed than was prudent. Donovan glanced over at her a couple of times but didn’t say another word.
* * *
Jayce and his brothers found their father and mother among the crowd. The chief was nowhere in sight.
“What did you want, Dad?”
“Me? Nothing. Why?”
“Miguel said you and the chief were looking for us.”
The brother in question spoke from behind them. “I was saving your ass. Do you even know how inappropriate your flirting with a girl at your brother’s funeral is?”
Their tiny mother stepped forward. “You were flirting with someone, Jayce?”
