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“We should have done a pool for how long it would last,” I teased.

Allen joined me in laughter, just as rough hands covered my eyes. I’d know that scent anywhere. It was the love of my life.

“Guess who! You’re a hot guy, you know?” His lips grazed over my ear before he bit the lobe and growled.

“I have a live-in boyfriend, but I could be convinced to leave him in the dust. Where do you live?”

“You’re not getting rid of me anytime soon, honey.”

I pulled his hands away and spun around. “Hey, you. Did you guys get your trucks set up?”

“Yep. Look what Lerner came up with for us.” Thatcher handed me a coupon for a pack of nine-volt batteries from a hardware store up the road. “Fits with our ‘change the batteries in your smoke detector’ campaign. Cap was stoked. He’s over by the truck when you get a break. I’d love you to meet him.”

“Sure. Let me see if there’s anything more in the truck that I can help with.”

I tilted up on my toes and kissed his lips, bringing a round of applause from the roadies. My face flamed, and Thatcher laughed before he kissed my cheeks and walked away.

When I headed toward the semi, I heard moaning and groaning from inside the cab. “Fuck, Kit, baby.” That was definitely Riv’s voice.

I walked up and banged on the door. “Hey, knock that shit off. There are impressionable children out here.” I then walked around the end of the trailer and found it empty, so I lifted the ramp and shoved it inside the trailer before reaching up to pull the gate down.

As I walked back around the truck, Kit and River were climbing out, adjusting their clothes. “You two horndogs are pitiful,” I teased them.

Kit laughed. “You know you’d do the same thing on one of those firetrucks if you could.”

Well, he had me there.

“Since everything is unloaded, I’m going to go find my firefighter and meet his boss. I want to thank the captain in person for agreeing to this.”

Riv put his arm around my waist. “I’ll come with you. Hell, let’s find everyone and go as a group. I definitely want Lerner to get their props for all their hard work on this event.”

We walked by the area where the DJ had set up next to where we would be playing. Goldie and Arlo were putting on a public display that had drawn a voyeur crowd.

“Knock it off, you two heathens. There are impressionable children around.” I laughed at Riv using my words to him and Kit.

Kit sniggered. “Where are those impressionable children, by the way?”

I pointed to myself, as did River, and the crowd who’d gathered around laughed before they walked away and went back to work.

We guilted Arlo and Goldie into coming with us, and when I looked around, I saw Lerner working with the director of the youth center as they poured over the clipboard in Lerner’s hand. “Hey, Lerner, will you come with us to meet the fire captain?”

They smiled. “I’d love to. I owe him a huge thank you for all their help.”

We all walked over to the ladder truck that was between the fire engine and the ambulance. Several firefighters were talking to each other, and when we approached the group, a tall, good-looking man was speaking with a shorter man who looked at him like he hung the moon. They must be a couple because the looks they exchanged were the same as the ones Thatcher and I did when we were together.

A young guy in swim trunks wearing a tank top grinned. “Good to see you, JD. Captain Blake, sir, this is Thatcher’s partner, JD Horn, and these are the members of Accidental Fire. Guys, this is our captain, Mark Blake, and the arson investigator, Max Cooper.”

Suddenly, a black-and-tan bloodhound strolled over and sniffed at us. Mr. Cooper laughed. “Blaze, girl, they’re not going to blow us up. Get back and let them come closer.”

Captain Blake reached over and grabbed the dog’s collar, pulling her back between the two of them and patting her head gently. I had no idea whose dog she was, but she seemed very comfortable between them.

We all shook hands with the two men as I heard boots running our way. I turned to see Thatcher and the paramedic who worked on me at the accident, AB. She’d come to the beach party.

I recognized many of the firefighters from that party, but best of all, Thatcher wore a warm smile as he reached for me. “Cap, this is my boyfriend, Jordan. Sorry I wasn’t here to introduce you, but we had a little emergency. A neighborhood kid wrecked his bike, and we had to clean up a little blood and reattach his chain.”

I understood what Thatcher had meant by community outreach. Something as easy as fixing a bike chain and bandaging a bloody knee would go a long way in the neighborhood.

We walked over to the dunk tank, where Procter Williams was sitting on the board across the tank. “Why is this water so damn cold?” he asked as he dipped his toes into the liquid.