Page 102 of The Spark Between Us

“Okay, I guess I exaggerated.” I gave him my deep-voiced imitation of how he sounded when he was grumpy. Then I looked past him when I realized we were apparently at the destination of our field trip.

And lo and behold, it was another firehouse.

“Aha, do I detect someone who’s interested in a little pole dancing action?” I smiled seductively, but I had my heart under lock and key. It wasn’t healthy to feel things for him when I didn’t know if we had any chance of a future.

“Not exactly, no.” He folded his arms across his chest, making his biceps look insanely sculpted.

“Okay, I’ve never asked you this, but I’m sorry...do you do that because you know how hot it makes you look?”

“Do what?” He actually said that. How could he not know?

“Nothing. Never mind. So why no pole dancing?”

He started walking me toward the front of the station. “Well, this particular station doesn’t have a pole. Most of the newer ones don’t. It’s only two stories. Doesn’t take that long to go down a flight of stairs.”

And yet...we were still standing at the front door.

“Okay, so what are we doing here?”

“I’m told it has a backyard. I wanted to see it, and I thought you might like to see it with me.”

Had he damaged his brain in that fire? What the hell was this man talking about?

He texted someone, and a minute later the door opened, and a firefighter in the same blue uniform Braden wore welcomed us. “Captain Michaels, I was told to show you out back.”

“Thanks so much.”

Thoroughly confused, I followed him through the fire station that looked a lot like the one in Carolwood where I’d done my pole dance. And for that matter, what part of town were we in now?

The backyard was big. Pretty with a wide-open grass area. Bella took off, running circles around the perimeter, and Braden led me to a bench under a tree.

“This is a great yard,” I said, still waiting for an explanation. When I didn’t get one, I had to ask. “Why are we here?”

Braden took my hand and interlaced our fingers. “Couple reasons. For one, last week there was a moment when I stared down into a flaming hole that I was pretty sure would be the last thing I’d ever see, and I got some pretty good goddamned clarity. I figured out a few things.”

He looked at me, the calm in his eyes something I hadn’t seen before. I’d never thought of him as troubled, just sad. But the absence of something that had weighed him down was now gone.

I felt bad that I hadn’t known it was there when I could have asked about it.

“What’d you figure out, fireman?”

“I’m done taking unnecessary risks. I’m selling the motorcycle. My job comes with enough adrenaline that I don’t need to push the envelope. I don’t want to risk my life unless it’s for you. I’d run into a hundred burning buildings for you. But that’s it.” He squeezed my hand. “Only for you.”

The thought warmed my heart, but the idea of him running into danger still made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “I hope you never have to do that,” I insisted, my eyes pressed shut at the image of him facing fire and danger for me.

“All that matters is that you believe—that you know—I would. I will.”

“Thank you.” The quiet solemnity of my tone was at odds with the intensity of my love for him and his desire to be there for me in the worst of circumstances. That was not lost on me.

He shook his head and looked around like maybe he was noticing our surroundings for the first time. It was a really nice yard, almost like a park. I could hear neighborhood noises like maybe a school was nearby.

Braden turned on the bench so he was facing me more squarely and brought my hand to his lips. When his breath warmed my skin, I felt a chill that I’d missed so much since I’d left town.

“The woman I described to you when we were hanging out on that night after you moved in, the one I said I was looking for, my idea of perfect love—that woman is you. It’s been you since the moment you insisted you could carry your book boxes after a car accident and told me you cared whether I died in a fire. You didn’t even know me, and I could tell it mattered to you—that I ...mattered to you.” His voice broke as he said it, and my heart clenched at the soft vulnerability I so rarely saw. I reached up and cupped his cheek in my palm, feeling the soft scruff on my hand. A tiny muscle in his jaw popped, and he swallowed.

“Of course it mattered. And you matter—more than I think you know.”

“You blew into town and turned my world upside down. I never planned on wanting more than a life alone in the same town where I’ve lived for a decade, and you’ve got me wanting it all.”

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