AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With the boxes balanced on one hand, I held Hazel’s hand with the other and started toward the fire station.
The first large bay door closest to the entrance was open, and I could hear voices, so I led us in that direction. I knew several of the firefighters who worked for the Grapevine fire department thanks to it being such a small town, so I recognized the faces as soon as I saw them. Mike Crawford, Lydia Hernandez, and Darryl Smoates sat around a small, flimsy folding table, each of them holding cards in their hands while others were lying face up in the center of the table.
“Hope we aren’t interrupting.”
Their heads whipped around at my voice, and I could have sworn all three of them homed in on the pizza boxes before recognition even struck.
Darryl, a grizzled older gentleman well past his fifties pushed up first and started in my direction. “Not interruptin’ at all, as long as those pizzas are for us.”
I smiled and extended my arm, grateful when he relieved me of the weight and snatched them away. “Ford promised this one a private tour,” I said as I swung Hazel’s arm back and forth. “I figured the least I could do in return was bring dinner as a kind of thank you.”
Lydia moved to Darryl, flipping open the lid on the top box and inhaled deeply. “Lady, you feel free to bring us dinner whenever the mood strikes.”
Just then, a door that led into the station opened, and more people came filtering out. “I smell something really fuckin’ good,” one of them declared, earning a smack to the back of the head, courtesy of Mike. “Pay attention to your surroundings, would you? There’s a kid present.”
The guy who had gotten smacked took notice of Hazel and me for the first time, the apples of his cheeks burning red with embarrassment. “Sorry about that, ladies. Didn’t see you there.”
“That’s all right,” I assured him with a smile as Hazel laughed and told him, “My Mommy says worse when she’s cooking or trying to get on a pair of pants that are too tight.”
My eyes bugged out, and I choked on the saliva in my mouth as guffaws broke out around me. Leave it to my precious little angel to let that secret out.
Lydia, the only other woman there, moved to me and raised the hand not currently holding a slice of pizza for a high-five. “Been there, babe. Damn pregnancy shifting things around.”
In solidarity, I gave her the high-five she was waiting for, because wasn’t that the damn truth.
Just then, Ford pushed through the crowd of firefighters currently chowing down, and heat flashed across my skin the instant his blue eyes landed on me. His smile made my insides quiver. “Hey. You made it.”
I realized I hadn’t given myself time to prepare for how he might greet me, because my body gave a little jolt when he leaned in to brush a kiss to my cheek. In all honesty, the move was friendlier than anything else, but given that I still had a hint of beard burn beneath the concealer on my chin, thanks to him, I was struggling to behave normally.
“Yeah, I told you we would.”
As if sensing my discomfort—and getting off on it—he pulled back and shot me a wink that no one else could see, making me squirm a bit, before shifting his attention to Hazel.
“Hey, Hazelnut. You ready for that tour?”
She jumped in place, declaring, “Yeah!” so loud it bounced off the bay walls.
I released her hand and took a step back. “You guys have fun. I’ll wait for you out here.”
Ford stopped and turned to me, his handsome face pinched in a frown. “You aren’t coming with us?”
I held up my hands in surrender. “Oh, no. I don’t want to intrude; this is your thing.”
His throat worked on a swallow. “I thought I’d be taking both of you around.”
Hazel didn’t hesitate to jump on the side of Ford, her newest favorite person. “Yeah, Mommy. You have to come with us. You gotta see all the cool stuff too.”
Ford watched me, and I could have sworn I saw a challenge glinting in his eyes, almost like he knew I couldn’t help myself. I’d been hoping for a clean break, but no such luck, apparently. “Okay.” I pinned a strained smile to my face and moved forward. “I guess I’ll go on the tour too.”
When we entered the station, I realized I’d made a grave error in handing the pizzas over outside, because now, while I was in here alone with Ford, everyone else was outside. It wasn’t the most mature thing to do, I knew that, but as Ford took us from room to room, detailing everything along the way, I kept Hazel between us at all times. Lucky for me, she was so busy enjoying the hell out of herself she didn’t seem to notice, but I couldn’t say the same thing about the man who,twice now, had played my body with the skill of a concert violinist.
We headed up a set of stairs, so Ford could show Hazel the weight room, and she wasted no time abandoning me to hop on an elliptical machine against the back wall.
With my buffer gone, Ford moved in, closing the gap between us until barely an inch of space remained.
“So,” he started, both of us watching Hazel closely to make sure she didn’t do something to hurt herself of break something. “You give any more thought to what we talked about yesterday?”
Boy, had I. It was practically all I’d thought about for more than twenty-four hours now.
