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So immature at age fourteen that she cringed when she thought of it now, they’d allowed Lila to date. The first guy who showed interest in her and bingo! She quickly succumbed, lost her virginity, and then he dumped her. That was the last time she allowed anyone to touch her heart.

After that, she had the reputation there in the same town where she now lived to be an easy lay. Good-time Lila. After high school graduation, moving her social activities to Oceanside at least gave her a clean slate and a new sea of men to bed.

“Grow up, Conner. Twenty years ago you had a bad experience, and you’ve let that rule your life.”

It was true. She’d remained a fourteen-year-old all this time, with the same level of commitment and maturity in the relationships she forged. Now confronted with a decent man who wanted to be with her, she was befuddled. Maybe the best course of action was to be straight-up with him. Not give him a list of her partners for the past twenty years, but let him know that she’d partied a lot.

After her shift was over, she cleaned up and walked to her car, texting Charlie. His response was that they were cleaning up after a brush fire run but to please stop by.

The ride through the foothills to the station eased some of her angst. Did she really owe someone she’d known for a day or two the story of her life? Maybe she was jumping ahead and would just see how the visit played out.

As soon as she saw him, she knew she’d make the effort. The sea of unfamiliar faces meant they had a big volunteer staff on that day. The only person she knew was a man she’d met at Devon’s house.

“We’ve been short of staff because of the accident,” Rick Jackson said, holding out his hand to shake hers and getting a little bit too close. “You’re Devon’s friend, right? You know he’s not here, right?”

“Right,” she answered, trying not to smirk. “I’m actually here to see Charlie.”

“Charlie! Is that right? I’ll call him…”

“No! Don’t bother, he knows I’m here,” she replied, wishing she could push him away from her.

In seconds, Charlie came striding out of his office, with eyes only for her. Everyone standing in his path looked down to the entrance, and when they saw Lila, they knew why he was smiling. There was no mistaking that they were a couple.

“The chemistry was so thick between them you could almost see vapor from their bodies mingling,” Katherine, a volunteer, said. “I’ve never seen Charlie happy before.”

“Yeah, it was pretty weird. He was almost skipping along.”

“I hope someone will want me like that someday.”

“I thought you and Tony Saint were dating?” one of the other volunteers asked.

“He went back to his girlfriend,” Katherine said, disgusted. Then looking at him, she smiled. “You available?”

“Me? No, I’m married with a baby on the way,” he said, and the group laughed.

Lila watched the banter from afar, picking up on the comment about the chemistry between her and Charlie. Probably any healthy female would send off pheromones to Charlie, who looked like one of the fashion models termed silver foxes but with none of the ego. He seemed almost clueless about his physical beauty, and Lila wondered if it wasn’t just an act.

“You’re here,” Charlie said. “Do you want a tour?”

“A tour would be lovely.”

They took the stairs to the second-floor lounge. “So this is where the men relax when they’re done with work.” He pointed to a lineup of recliners. “Each guy has his own chair, and there’ll be hell to pay if anyone else sits on it.”

She noticed one particularly ratty chair, a recliner so beat up it reminded her of a sitcom she once saw where the lead character’s chair ended up at the curb. “Who owns that one?”

“Oh, that’s my brother Mike’s. Big Mike. He bought that when he started here after he was discharged from the Marines.”

She shuddered, but he didn’t notice. Hopefully, the Saints didn’t remember the Conners. But the Conners knew the Saints. The Conners were well known in Escondido. Her father had been an attorney who ran for city council and won, serving for over twenty years. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom who probably should have gone out and worked. She remembered her father getting into heated arguments about the way the fire district was allocated funds, wanting money to stay in the city and not have services siphoned off to the county district. When Devon decided to go to the fire academy instead of an engineering program so he could work with Mike Saint, Bob Conner had a lot to say about it.

“I grew up here, so I sort of know the history,” Lila said.

“I did forget that. You’re closer in age to my nephew Joey, aren’t you?”

“Not really. I graduated high school just as he entered.”

“So I don’t have to worry about Joey, then.” He watched her, smiling.

“You never have to say that again, Charlie. You don’t have to worry about another man, okay? I’m not interested in any man but the one I’m with right now. And Joey Saint isn’t my type, anyway.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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