Page 85 of That One Heartbreak

The future looked good. It was his and hers to take.

And then his phone started beeping.

Kate's eyes widened because she knew that alert sound as well as he did. Every wife of a firefighter knew it. Even those who hadn’t heard it for a couple of years.

“I’m not on call tonight,” he told her, firmly swiping the alert app shut and throwing his phone back on the blanket. And yeah, it had almost killed him not to read what the alert was about. But she was important. More than important.

He needed to show her that.

“Don’t you want to know what’s happening?” she asked him.

She knew him too well.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Her eyes met his. “Of course it does. I know you better than that.” She picked his phone up and held it out to him. “You can look. If it’s bad…”

If it’s bad he’d need to go. Because the service always came first. “Kate…”

“Just look. It’s okay. If somebody’s in trouble…” She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. “It’s okay,” she said again. “Please look.”

So he did. Pulling the app back up, he quickly skimmed the words on the alert. Then he looked at her, a soft smile on his lips. “It’s a request for backup from the Maple Cross volunteers. They’re taking the lead. It’s fine.”

The sound of a siren cut through the night air. And yes, he could feel the call of it. The way any of the volunteers did when they weren’t available. The guilt, the need to take care of the team never truly went away.

But this woman… she was more than any of it. He needed to show her.

“I would never expect you to ignore a call out,” she told him. “Not ever. I need you to know that. Yes, I find it hard at times. I’m afraid that you might get hurt. But I know it would hurt you more not to be part of the department.”

“You’re afraid that I might get hurt?” he asked, half smiling again.

“Is that funny?”

“No. It’s sweet.” He liked that way too much.

“You’re not the only one who’s falling, you know,” she whispered.

And damn it, he had to kiss her again. Their mouths moved slowly together as Bing Crosby started singing again. Her handwas on his chest, moving down. Every part of him felt like he was on fire.

“You know the best thing about having a favorite movie?” Kate asked him, her mouth sliding down to his jaw.

“What?” His voice was as tight as the rest of his body. She was falling for him. He ached for her. Why did he think it was a good idea to take her to his family’s drive-in movie theater?

“I know the ending.” She pulled away from him, smiling. “Now take me to your house. Before I start humping your leg like a puppy.”

He wasn’t as much of a steady driver on the way home. Maybe because she had her hand on his thigh, near the top of it, her fingers kneading his hard leg muscles as he drove along the empty country road. He hadn’t bothered to put on any music, and she was glad about that.

She liked the silence. The tension. Because tonight she was going to give everything to this man.

Being wanted by him was all she wanted right now. And yes, there was still that nervous feeling popping and firing in her lower belly.

They drove past her road, and she couldn’t help but look down it, to the house on the end. A fleeting glance, that was all, because her mind was on other things.

On this man and the way he could kiss. The way he made her feel so good.

When he pulled into his driveway she yanked her door open before he could walk around to help her down. She’d put her shoes back on, so it was with tentative feet that she tried to climb out of the cab of his truck.

“You took my job,” he murmured, taking her hand and helping her down the rest of the way.

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