Page 83 of Heat Advisory

“You love me.” It was more of a statement rather than a question.

“You know I do,” I replied, watching his face light up with pure delight. “But if you’re not ready, we can⁠—"

“I’m ready,” he cut in quickly, happiness radiating from him. “I just didn’t want to push you. Are you sure you’re ready to do this? Move in together?”

I stared at him for a brief moment and then smiled. “Yeah. I’m ready. I think I’ve been ready for a while. I’m looking forward to all the memories we’ll make.”

“Naked memories?” He wiggled his brows up and down, and I rolled my eyes.

“I meant all kinds of memories,” I deadpanned.

“Yeah, but I know which ones are your favorites.” He winked before kissing me again.

Barely pulling his face back, he stared into my eyes and whispered, “I’ll pack up some stuff this weekend and move it over here then.”

I smiled softly at him and then leaned up to give him a whisper of a kiss. “I love who I am with you. Who you make me want to be.”

“I love who I am with you, too.” He had no sooner said the words than his head jerked back and glanced over my shoulder.

A second later, I heard the sizzling sound and realized I had forgotten about the bacon.

Jay reached around to grab the pan and shifted it to one of my other burners, removing it from the heat. Upon further inspection, the bacon was more than done. Char-grilled was more like it.

“You’re lucky you have a sexy firefighter here to help keep you safe.” He puffed his chest out.

I laughed, turning to get us some plates. I’d already made toast and eggs, so we gathered everything up and ate at my counter.

I glanced over at him from time to time and realized I had many more of these moments to look forward to, and I couldn’t wait.

EPILOGUE

Cora

One Month Later

The drive to the California coast was wonderful. Jay had even made a pitstop at what he called “our spot,” where he had given me my first orgasm on our way to Morgan’s wedding all those weeks ago.

This time, we were headed to Misty Ridge, the town where my sister Hazel lived. It wasn’t far from Stratus Cove—where we’d lived with the O’Haras. Hazel had finally gotten the promotion at the aquarium where she worked and was moving into her new house. She was never one to directly ask for help, so I had organized it so that several of us would show up and help her move, whether she wanted us to or not.

“Knock, knock! Moving crew has arrived,” I shouted into Hazel’s apartment, as her door was already cracked open.

“Back here!” Iris hollered from what I assumed was the bedroom.

Jay and I walked in, and I saw Hector, Iris’s now husband.

“Hey, Hector,” I greeted, and he said hello and lifted his head in our direction as he stacked two boxes on top of each other.

Hazel, Hector, Iris, Jay, and I worked for the next hour loading all the boxes into a rental truck Hazel had gotten to move, and then we made our way over to her new place.

Her neighbor—an elderly man I guessed was in his seventies—met us there when we pulled up.

“Hazel, good to see ya again,” the man greeted from the small front porch.

“Hi, George.” Hazel smiled in reply as she turned to point at the rest of us. “These are my sisters, Iris and Cora. My brother-in-law, Hector, and my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Jay.”

I smirked at the fact that my entire family still treated this engagement as a real thing, even though my sisters knew the real story.

“Pleasure to meet you all,” George replied. “I’ll be just down the street if you need anything.”