Page 68 of Every Beat of My Heart

“Surely you know if he’s built. Doesn’t he have to be strong to carry all that firefighter equipment?”

I thought it was cute that Violet’s mind went there. “He is hard all over.”

Violet raised a brow.

“He’s attractive, okay? I just don’t know if he wants me. I feel a bit insecure after the divorce. Eric pursued me, but then when we were married, he lost interest. He buried himself in work like he couldn’t stand to be home.”

“If you think back on your relationship, you met when you were so young. You got pregnant and then married. You probably grew apart as you got older and more mature.”

“You’re probably right.”

“You weren’t right for each other. But maybe you and Jameson are.”

“I don’t want to put any pressure on the situation. That’s why I suggested we keep it light.”

Violet leaned in and whispered, “I don’t think phone sex is keeping it light.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, my gosh. You’re too much.”

“I wish I had a hot firefighter stopping by my house to give me a few pointers. What did you say his brothers did for work?”

“They are all in law enforcement. Teddy is a police officer, Wes is a Department of Natural Resources officer, Axel’s in the military, and Ryder is something federal. FBI, CIA? Something like that.”

“Oh, secretive, I like that. They all sound hot.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just because of their professions?”

“That and I bet they’re all protective. You’d have to be in those fields.”

“Jameson definitely is.” In a way that made me feel all melty inside. Not in an overbearing way.

“Let me know how Thanksgiving dinner goes.”

“I’m a little nervous. It will be most of his family. Will they think something is going on between us? His brothers talked to me about it, and I insisted we were friends.”

Violet grinned. “Was that before or after the phone sex?”

“Not so loud.” I looked around, but no one was paying any attention to us. There was an after-work crowd of people dressed in suits and dresses. “It was before.”

“Ah. So you were telling the truth then, but now you’re worried that everyone will know that Jameson’s sexy voice got you off.”

I snorted. “You’re unbelievable.”

Violet sobered. “Listen, I’m in a serious drought right now. I’m busy with the business, and whenever I try to date on an app, I get guys who think I’m not a real business owner because I own an ice cream shop. Like it’s easy to create my own ice cream flavors. Why don’t people understand it’s an art form?”

“I’ve tasted your ice cream. It’s incredible.”

“Right? But everyone thinks I’m just another tourist shop.”

“You’ll get there. Businesses take time.”

“I hope so. In the meantime, I’m going to live vicariously through you. So enjoy your time at the Calloways’, and be sure to call me with all the details. Hopefully you’ll be too busy in his bed to call right away though.”

I laughed. “You realize I’m taking Owen, right? Eric was too busy working to take his son for any part of the holiday weekend.”

“He’s such a douchebag. I don’t know how you stayed with him so long.”

“I didn’t want to take Owen away from his father.”

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