Page 18 of Return By Fire

“She’s shared everything about you to me.” His eyes bore into mine. “I do mean everything.”

I drop into a lounger and gesture for Dean to do the same. He ends up across from me. Our feet are so close, they might as well be touching. Even as I admire the size and strength of his, I consider where to begin and decide to sketch out who I truly am with a few basics. “Alaska is in my soul. My family’s owned our brewhouse there for generations.”

“Third generation owner of Smith’s Brewhouse,” Dean states.

My head snaps in his direction, impressed despite his previous statement he knows more about me than I do him. Dean’s voice is wry. “Tell me something that isn’t on your resume because I’m pretty certain I could recite yours and despite you playing ignorant—”

“Who says I’m playing, Captain?” I stress.

“Let’s not beat around the bush. Be honest with me and I’ll offer you the same respect.”

Deciding to forgo my ignorance of this man since I immediately hit the computer when I got back to the boat, I ask, “How’s your new batch of recruits?”

Dean winks. “See how easy that was?” Then, to my surprise, he explains outrunning a probie up the tower earlier in the day. Then he groans as he flexes his foot, “I’ll never admit it to Kara or any of the guys at the station, but I am getting old. I’m officially closer to forty than thirty and even at thirty I had no business trying to outrun a recruit to make a point.”

“Then why do it?”

That’s when he pins me to my chair with his eyes. “Because it sets a good example for my nephew Kevin.”

Kevin. I swallow hard before deciding if I should try to dance around the fact that I know.

While I’m debating, Dean surges forward. He straddles the lounger, elbows braced on his knees, beer bottle dangling between them. Still, despite the relaxed pose, he’s poised to strike.

I feel it.

I don’t understand why. Instead of retaliating, something I’m more than comfortable doing considering I own a bar frequented by seamen, I sink deeper into the cushion of the lounge. I try for mild interest, “You have a nephew?”

Dean’s eyes narrow. “Don’t play me, man.”

“Play you how?” I challenge him. Come on, give it to me.

I don’t say anything, just keep my eyes trained on Dean. For long moments, we stare at one another—opposite sides of the same problem. Love.

Finally, he breaks his silence, “Are you here to meet my nephew? Who, for the record, I suspect is a carbon copy of his father. Kara's photos of him aren’t that great for me to get a complete picture.”

My breathing accelerates. Kevin looks like Jennings?

Dean takes a pull of his beer, not saying anything. He’s just waiting for me to react.

Why do I feel like I’m being tested? I wonder furiously. It was Kara who kept her baby from Jennings. Right? Yet, something in the way he’s acting is off.

I give him the truth. “I’ve known for a while. I figured it was time to put an end to the lies.”

Dean lowers the bottle and eyes me shrewdly. “Time for who? Time for Kevin? Time for Jennings? For you?”

I contemplate the individuals he named before replying, “Yes.”

Dean’s voice drops so low that when he growls I feel the vibrations in my dick. “Who tipped you off about Kevin? Was it Maris?”

Angry and uncaring of the yeasty ale I’ll have to scrub off the deck in the morning, I shove to my feet and tip over the bottle that was precariously at my side.

Seconds later, Dean’s hand clasps around my bare shoulder. He’s whipping me around so we’re facing one another. Close to each other in height, the other man is furious. Still, even in his fury, he’s controlled. He must make a hell of a fireman, I admire.

“I’ll give you a tour of the station another time,” he snaps impatiently, letting me know my thoughts weren’t limited to my mind. “How in the hell did you know my nephew existed, Jed?”

I stare headlong into eyes riddled with pain, worry, and above all, love. Love for Kara, love for Kevin. I know I can’t lie. I have to tell Dean the truth.

Laying my fingers against his wrist, I push it off my shoulder and mourn the loss even as I inform him, “I’ve known since the night Kevin was born.”

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