Page 24 of Return By Fire

I sputter. “What? At me? What did I do?”

“Not at you—at the fucking snake.”

“Not that I disagree, but why?”

“I was going to see if you wanted to get a drink and talk.”

“Talk?” I parrot.

“About the fact I like you, Jed. Not just in a friend of my sister’s best friend kind of way.” As if his statement hasn’t just hit me like a sledgehammer, he quirks a brow and puts me in the hot seat. “Then again, it may just be me feeling this way. I can’t speak for you. Thus why we should talk.”

Faintly, I manage, “We still can’t do that?”

His brow furrows deeper. “You’re injured. You should refrain from making decisions that might... umph!”

I lean forward and crush my mouth to his. For a moment that lasts somewhere between half a second and an eternity, he doesn’t respond.

God, have I mistaken all this flirting? Is he really not interested?

By the time the thought makes its way through my mind, it is replaced by a surge of hunger so scorching, I’m not certain the cinderblock of the building would withstand the heat.

Oh my god.

Open mouths, sliding tongues, teeth scraping—this kiss is a culmination of explosive emotions. Dean hauls me into a standing position, hands gripping my hips. I smooth my hands up and over his chest as I mold my lower body against his. Fuck. This is wrong on so many levels and right on the remainder of them. As we kiss, his hand spears through my hair. Mine drops around his trim waist until I can cop a feel of his tight buttocks.

Who knew fire-resistant gear could be compromised from the inside out?

Dean’s hips begin to undulate against mine as a loud alarm sounds. We spring apart, like two teenagers caught necking by our parents as firemen and women I haven’t met stream by. Dean doesn’t make a move to shift away. Instead, his eyes focus on my chest with its rapid rising and falling. Finally, when he speaks, I don’t know whether to deck him for being so smug or grateful he dropped everything into the open. “So, it’s not just me.”

As calmly as I can, I give him the truth. “No, it’s not.”

He leans forward and presses his lips against the crown of my head. “I have to go.”

Understanding wars against a suddenly irrational anger. How can he turn my world upside down and just walk away?

But he does, leaving me to wonder why he asked me there in the first place.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“So, that didn’t go exactly like I planned,” I admit when I call Jed after we helped stop a flood from a burst water main.

“What exactly did you have in mind?”

“I wanted to find out if there was a chance to get to know you as Jed—not as Kara’s best friend’s big brother.”

His, “Hmm,” doesn’t reveal much. Sitting in front of the fire station, I run my hand through my hair as I absorb the richness of the Florida night. It’s a beautiful fifty degrees out and I shudder.

That gets a reaction. “Are you cold?” He barks out a laugh.

“Listen, it’s getting cold at night.” I twist around and find Axe asleep on the couch. “Plus, one of the guys is asleep on my sweatshirt.”

“A sweatshirt?” he hoots.

“Why?” I challenge. “What are you wearing?”

“Swim shorts. I just got out of the water.”

“All those times Kara and Maris said you were deranged, I told myself you couldn’t be that bad.”

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