Her hands ran down my arms under the guise of warming me up, but spent a lot of time in the bicep/tricep region.
“And sorry about our plans for the night. And that we couldn’t mark tonight off the list.”
She frowned. “I—It’s okay. Obviously. You’re a literal hero.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked and smoothed the pinch between her brows.
I worried that she regretted the kiss. That the whole thing was a mistake in the heat of the moment.
“I guess I forgot that when you aren’t helping me and most of the town and charming the pants off everybody, that you’re an actual freaking hero. You go running into buildings that are on fire.” Her voice was threaded with disbelief.
I shrugged. “Yep. That’s sort of the whole thing.”
“You’re amazing,” she said with such earnest sincerity that my throat tightened.
“You’re pretty amazing yourself,” I said, but the words came out rough.
She glanced around. I watched as she looked to Levi and Claire, across the road to the fire crew and all the people—some of them still looking at us—before coming back to meet my gaze.
It was hard to tell in the little bit of light from the scene, but the color drained from her. “I can’t believe I just came here. To your place of work like some stalker.”
I didn’t want to admit how much I liked it because I didn’t want her to get into the habit of throwing herself into dangerous situations. Even if it stroked my ego. I never thought I was jealous of the guys with wives and partners. They showed up with food or supported them at events. A forever built-in plus-one. I didn’t think it was something I wanted, let alone as desperately as I wanted it now, staring down at Sophie. I would drag her all over town and show her off.
“And then I just kissed you in front of everyone like that,” she said.
I straightened, feeling a hundred feet tall. “I kissed you back.”
“I am so sorry. People are going to talk.”
“I don’t mind,” I said.
She stilled and studied me carefully, not giving anything away.
“Do you?” I asked. Because, of course, she did. All she did was worry about what people thought.
“I can honestly say I haven’t thought clearly in hours,” she said.
That wasn’t the answer I’d been hoping for. Did she think the gossip mill would assume we were dating now? Was that so bad?
She smashed herself against me to hug me again. Her ear pressed against my chest. Could she hear how hard she made my heart beat for her?
“I’m all dirty,” I said futilely, but lowered my arms to squeeze her back.
Hugs were so nice.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she said. “That’s all that matters to me.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I’m okay.”
The fire chief whistled for me from across the street. “Yo, Leigh. Not done yet.”
I waved back to him in acknowledgment.
“I better go,” I said to Sophie.
“Yeah.God. Of course. Go do your job.” She rubbed at her temples, and I knew she’d be beating herself up all night for showing up here.
“You can’t be hard on yourself about this,” I told her.
