My gaze settles on Joel, who now has Ben in his lap as he points at something on the fire truck. It’s hard to imagine Ben’s eyes any wider or his smile any bigger.
“I don’t know. I really like it here.” Given the personal things Noah just told me about Joel and his family, I let myself be a little vulnerable, too. “And I like Joel. A lot.”
“Joel wasn’t one to settle, but I haven’t seen him like this before.”
“And how is he with other women?” Joel hasn’t spoken about dating anyone else, and I haven’t wanted to ask after he noticed me being jealous when he told me about Maisie making pies for all the firefighters.
“A date here and there. Nothing serious, and definitely nothing that had him talking about freshening up before showing a kid around the firehouse.” He looks at me. “So obviously, I was intrigued.”
I give Joel a quick scan and can’t find anything that would require him to change or freshen up. My nose wrinkles. “But he looks fine.”
“That’s why I was intrigued.”
“What about you?”
He lifts a brow. “What about me?”
“Are you the settling kind?” He’s handsome, an alpha, and a firefighter to boot. There’s no way this guy is single.
“That’s a dangerous question to ask me while my little brother is here. But no, my job keeps me too busy for that.” He glances at Joel, a brief flash of amusement crossing his eyes, then turns to walk away. “Oh, and he’s jealous—so jealous that he warned all the men not to walk around shirtless near you. He would have seen us talking and wouldn’t have liked how close I was standing to you.”
“So why’d you do it?”
His serious expression softens, and his playful grin mirrors Joel’s as he winks at me. “Sometimes, it’s fun for a big brother to mess with his sibling. See you around, Rose.”
Joel pops up in front of me without warning, startling me. “Hey, you scared me.”
“Sorry.” He watches Noah, frowning as Noah opens his office door, then swings his gaze back to me. “So, do you have any plans later?”
It must be killing him not to ask what I was talking about with his brother. “The grocery store.” Seeing his confusion, I explain. “Win has been more than generous by cooking all the time. Since y’all refuse to let me pay rent, I wanted to stock the refrigerator and freezer.”
He frowns as he opens his mouth.
I rise on my tiptoes and put my finger to his lips before he can tell me no. “I’m not going to be argued with, so don’t you dareeven try. This is no longer asking how I can help out; this is me telling you that I intend to.”
Omegas are biologically submissive to dominant alphas. That doesn’t mean we don’t have backbones.
“Bossy,” he murmurs, those gorgeous dark green eyes hooded.
I pull my finger from his hard mouth as it tilts into a smile, my cheeks burning. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Depends,” he says in a voice so husky that I gulp.
“You can take him,” Noah calls out, startling us both so badly I’m not sure who jumps higher.
One quick glance reveals Ben collecting yet more stickers from the firefighters, happily chatting away with them. I don’t know how many stickers they usually give the kids, but the small pile forming in front of my son keeps growing.
Relieved Ben missed whatever just happened—or nearly happened—between Joel and me, I turn to find Noah standing in his office doorway with one hip against the doorjamb, arms crossed. Ben might not have seen, but Noah certainly did.
“Were you talking to me?” I ask, cheeks hot.
“Joel’s shift ends soon. You can take him if you want,” Noah says.
I frown. “If you need him, you can have him.”
“I feel like a trash bag blowing around in the street. Unloved. Unwanted. Never have I felt so rejected until this moment,” Joel mutters just loud enough to be heard.
Noah’s lips twitch. “Quit fishing for sympathy.”
