Page 24 of Firefighter Midlife Wolf

“Whatever,” Hayden said dismissively. He hadn’t given any further thought to the lack of water they’d experienced when they’d gone to that small forest fire. “It was just a simple mistake. Nothing to fret over.”

“Admit it, you’d be fretting over it if your mind wasn’t all foggy. Cloudy with a chance of Jessica is your personal weather forecast for at least the next several weeks, if not months.”

Hayden glanced sideways at his brother. “You haven’t changed since high school when you got all jealous that I was dating Vicki Newton.”

“Does that mean there’s something for me to be jealous of?”

That didn’t put him off the way Hayden had hoped. “No. Not exactly.”

Pierce continued to stare at him expectantly.

“See? You really are jealous.” Hayden got up off the couch and put his planner on the coffee table. He was tired of looking at it anyway, juggling Jack’s various appointments, who was scheduled to stay with him, and when Jessica would be coming back. It was all starting to blur together, and maybe he was just as cloudy as his brother said. “Do we need to find you a date?”

“Nope.” Pierce leaned back into the cushions, looking confident. “I’m just fine the way things are until the right one comes along. No offense, but I saw what you went through with your divorce. That wasn’t even as bad as some people have it, but that’s still not something I’m signing up for anytime soon.”

“It’s easier to end up with the wrong person than you think,” Hayden grumbled. He wasn’t particularly thrilled about his previous life choices, although he couldn’t blame Pierce for learning from them. “But maybe if you had a date lined up, you wouldn’t be hounding me about Jessica.”

“Or,” Pierce put his finger in the air, “maybe if you’d just tell me about Jessica, I wouldn’t have to hound you. I know something must be happening because you’re even worse than before.”

“Am I?” Even as he asked it, Hayden knew Pierce was right. He’d lied to himself, claiming that the kiss in his kitchen allowed them each to let off a little steam so they could continue to handle the necessities and not think so much about their fated attachment. He was wrong. So incredibly wrong. She refused to leave his mind, and he could only imagine what would’ve happened if they’d been alone and had a chance to take things further. “Yeah, well, you would be, too.”

“Something happened.” Pierce had his fingers intertwined behind his head, and he wore that overconfident look that’d always pissed Hayden off when they were kids. “I know it.”

“Nothing big,” Hayden hedged. Was there any real point in hiding it? He and Jessica would be together at some point if he had any say in the matter. There was just no telling how long it’d be. “We just had a conversation about what we are to each other.”

“And?” Pierce pressed.

“A kiss. Just a kiss.” That was definitely not ‘just’ a kiss. It was so much more. It was a promise of a future where neither of them had to wonder if they’d made the right decision. It was the culmination of everything he’d been destined for since he was born, yet it was also the sign of all he was currently deprived of. “It’s not like it’s going to happen again, at least not until Jack is better and we won’t be compromising her job.”

“And then, are you going to find some other excuse?”

“It’s not an excuse. It’s a valid reason, and there’s a lot more to consider here. It’s just not good timing for either of us. We’ll figure it out eventually.” He wished they could figure it out faster, but how? Life was complicated. Dating and relationships were that much harder when there were children to consider.

“If you say so.” Pierce scratched his face and stretched. “I really do understand why you wouldn’t want to get her in trouble at work. I can even understand taking it slow. I just don’t know if I’d have that much patience.” He leaned forward and glanced at the newspaper on the coffee table.

“You’re just saying that because you haven’t experienced it.” What was he thinking talking to Pierce, anyway? The brothers had always been close, but this was a new realm for Pierce. He ought to be talking to his father, but Rick would also tell him to go for it.

“I’ve just never thought about fated mates as something that had to be decided, you know?” Pierce moved a section of the newspaper aside to check out the one beneath it. “You meet your person, and you both know. The only thing you’d really have to figure out is whose place you’re going to live at or whose turn it is to do the dishes.”

“Yeaaaahhhh. You come back and talk to me about that when you meet your mate. I’ll be sure to give you all sorts of annoying advice.” Hayden snagged his planner before Pierce covered it with the newspaper. He looked over the month again. He’d used different colors to code each type of event. It looked nice, but he wished he didn’t have to actually deal with each of those events. The one that stood out to him was Jessica’s appointment tomorrow.

What would he do? They’d spoken all the right words to each other, acknowledging that they couldn’t do this right now, but their wolves had other ideas. He’d lost all control and had to get it back again. He owed that to himself and to her.

But it would feel so good to have her arms around him once again. It was a comfort he’d never felt before, like coming home. Who wouldn’t want that? Then again, he’d never denied he did.

“You said she’s divorced, right?” Pierce glanced at the sports page and put it aside.

“Yeah.”

“So, is it the ex holding you up? I mean, Maura has quite a strong personality. I think any new woman in your life might be hesitant about dealing with her. You could always hire Bennett to check the guy out, see what really happened and what he’s like.” Pierce suggested it as casually as if he were recommending a new restaurant in town.

“What? No way.” Their cousin Bennett had once been a top detective on the police force and had recently become a private investigator after experimenting with a less savory line of work. He was the wolf to call if Hayden wanted that sort of information, but he’d never do anything like that to Jessica. “I don’t know jack shit about the guy. We haven’t talked that much about our personal lives. If I want to know, I can just ask her. I don’t need to hire Bennett.”

“Hey, no skin off my back. It was just a suggestion.” Pierce finally found an article he wanted to read and settled the paper on his lap.

“Yeah, a shitty one.” There was no way in hell he’d hire a detective to check out anything about Jessica, whether it was her, her ex, or whatever. That was crazy, and it wasn’t like he had any reason to believe she was hiding anything from him.

“Hey, Hayden?”

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