Page 7 of Flirting with the Mountain Man

“Content manager,” I blurted.

It wasn’t a lie. It was the most recent job I’d applied to. But I’d planned to go into marketing. I’d just hoped to do something a little more creative than sourcing keywords and moving cards around on virtual bulletin boards.

“Sounds interesting,” he said. “So you’re staying with your dad?”

“Temporarily,” I said. “My plan is to get my own place, but I’m not sure I’m a ‘cabin in the woods’ type. I’m looking at the little cottages they’re building in the Sugarplum Farms subdivision.”

Sugarplum Farms was a gated community built on the land that was once owned by the Ivey family. The cottages were perfect for someone on a single income, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to earn enough to pay for it. And I definitely didn’t have closing costs saved up.

“I know the developer,” Tyler said. “I don’t know what I can do to help, but I’ll do it if I can.”

We were getting dangerously close to me having to admit I didn’t have a job and therefore wouldn’t qualify for a mortgage. I couldn’t afford to rent a place right now, either. I just had to line up work and then everything else would fall into place.

“So do you get to drive the fire truck?” I asked in a desperate effort to change the subject.

“Most of the time, yes,” he said. “Last night, one of my guys drove by the station and grabbed the truck when he got the call. Your dad and a couple of the other firefighters met us at the site.”

“Must be pretty awesome driving through town clearing traffic out as you go.”

He shrugged. “Usually you’re so pumped full of adrenaline, you barely even notice. My goal is always to make sure nobody gets hurt and to get to the scene as quickly as possible.”

Oh yeah, that made sense. Maybe my comment was a little insensitive. I was searching my mind for a way to shift the topic from my blunder when he spoke again.

“You want to see it?”

I was chomping on a small section of the stack of three pancakes, but his question froze my movements. See it? Was he talking about something sexual? If so, I should be offended.

But instead, warmth spread through me, and the area between my legs felt a little tingly. I was turned on, and I wanted to do something about it, but I didn’t know what.

“The fire truck, that is,” he said, maybe sensing my confusion. “I can even show you how to turn the lights and sirens on.”

“You can do that?” I asked. “What if the other firemen are there?”

“I’m the boss, remember?” He shrugged. “Besides, if I want to give one of the firefighters’ daughters a look around the fire station after he’s been injured, who’s going to say something about it?”

That was a good point. And suddenly I was excited for an all new reason. More time alone with Tyler.

“We’ll grab your dad’s laptop and get it back to him first, if you want,” he said.

I shook my head. “The nurse said they were going to be doing a bunch of tests this afternoon. He’s not going to have time to watch TV. An hour or so of delay won’t hurt him.”

“Good,” he said. “We should hurry up and finish so I can give you a tour.” He smiled at me and lifted his coffee cup, holding it in front of him. “I might even make you a volunteer firefighter.”

I nearly laughed at that. It sounded like he already had enough of those. Besides, there was only one fire I wanted to do something about, and it was the one burning between the two of us.

6

TYLER

Bianca was like a kid in a candy store as I showed her the outside of the fire truck. But when I helped her up into the passenger seat, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Can we take it out?” she asked after I’d walked her through the sirens and lights, as well as a few other features.

Take it out. The words echoed in my head. Earlier, I’d asked her if she wanted to see it, meaning the fire truck. And at the time, the sexual tension in the air seemed to increase.

It wasn’t just me with my mind in the gutter. She was thinking about it too. But the question was a pretty innocent one. She’d meant the truck, not a certain body part that was straining the confines of my underwear and fireman’s trousers.

“Nope,” I said. “It needs to stay here, just in case.”

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