Page 95 of That One Heartbreak

“I’m not.” He shook Craig’s hand. “Paul’s kid is here. I drove him up with his mom.” He inclined his head toward the registration desk where James and Kate were filling out some forms. James was lifting a lanyard around his neck and taking the yellow camp t-shirt that every junior firefighter was given to wear during their stay.

It had taken them just over two hours to get here. Kate had been pretty quiet, and he could feel the tension radiating fromher as he pulled into the tree-lined campus at West Virginia University, heading toward the large extension campus where the WV Fire Academy was based.

“That’s Paul’s kid?” Craig said, lifting his brow. “Jesus, he looks like his dad.” Then somebody called out his name and Craig gave Marley a nod. “You picking him up, too?”

“Next weekend, yeah.”

“Nice to see you’re looking after him,” Craig said, giving him a nod. “You’re good people. I’ll see you next weekend, bro.”

Kate was trying to hug James, but he wasn’t having any of it. Marley bit down a smile as her son lowered his head to kiss his mom’s cheek, then stepped away, into the mass of fourteen to seventeen-year-olds waiting to be taken to their dorms.

She turned to look for Marley, her eyes finally catching his. He gave her a smile and walked over to her, because he knew how much she hated this.

He could remember his own mom crying every time she dropped him and Pres off at camp when they were kids. And then at college, too. Their dad, on the other hand, would just press a twenty-dollar bill in each of their hands and gruffly tell them to be good.

“You ready to head out?” he asked her, sliding his arm around her shoulders.

“Nowhere close.” She let out a long breath. “Tell me they’ll look after him.”

His expression softened. “They will. Like he’s their own. He’s gonna have a blast, I promise you. Now let’s go before he sees you cry.”

She let him take her hand and lead her to his truck. And she looked back only five times. “You know what you need?” he asked her after they’d both climbed into the cab.

“What?” She tipped her head to the side, a smile finally playing at her lips.

And fuck, he’d do anything to keep that smile there. It made everything inside him feel alive.

“Ice cream.”

“I really thought you were gonna say sex.” Her smile widened. And now he was grinning too.

“I was,” he admitted. “But it felt like it was too soon.”

“Too soon for sex, or too soon to talk about it?” she asked him.

“Is it ever too soon for sex?” he asked, his brows lifting.

Her eyes dipped to his mouth and back up again. And he felt that pull in his stomach. The one he always got when she was close.

“No, I don’t think it is,” she told him. “But now I want ice cream.”

“Ice cream then sex. Got it.”

“And possibly ice cream after as well.” She pulled her lip between her teeth. “Just in case I need cheering up again.”

“You won’t need cheering up after I’m finished with you,” he told her gruffly.

“We’ll see,” she teased. “Now, are you gonna get me that ice cream or what?”

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Kate gaspedas Marley scooped an ice cold dollop of ice cream onto her nipple. A moment later she felt the warmth of his lips wrapping around her, his tongue swirling, scooping up the ice cream, his mouth sucking at her peak until her back was arching against the bed.

She was so pleased he’d booked a cabin in the middle of nowhere, because she couldn’t keep her voice down. Not when he was doing this to her. And of course it had been his idea to bring the pint of ice cream back here with them.

“Vanilla.” He’d smirked, looking at the box. “Let’s try to prove it wrong.”

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