Page 52 of A Little Tempting

“Are you and Finley okay? Lia’s with Mav, but?—”

I plug my opposite ear. “Mom, I’m at Rowdy’s. What’s going on?”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

“Mom, what’s wrong?” I try again as Reeves stares at me, not even bothering to hide the fact he’s most definitely eavesdropping on my conversation, or at the least, my end of it.

“The house, it’s… Oh, Colt.” Rustling sounds through the speaker, and my dad’s voice replaces my mom’s.

“Hey, Dyl. You there?”

“Hey, what’s going on?” I ask for what feels like the hundredth time.

“The fire department called. Your house is on fire.”

My heart leaps into my throat, and I blurt, “What?”

“Is Fin with you?”

“Uh…” My head bobs up and down with a nod as I search the restaurant, finding Finley with her cell pressed to her ear. She’s probably hearing a rundown of the situation from her parents like I am with mine. “Yeah. Yeah, she’s here.”

“Good.” My dad sighs. “The fire department is putting it out right now, but we don’t know how much damage there is. From what I understand, it only affected your side of the duplex, but it may have spread. I’m not sure. We’re on our way to check everything out right now.”

Still reeling, I close my eyes. “What can I do?”

“I don’t know,” he mutters. “I’ll call you as soon as possible with an update. I love you, Dylan.”

“Love you, too.” I hang up the phone with my mind spinning.

“What happened?” Reeves asks. His brows are pulled low, and his muscles are tight. Like he already knows something’s wrong, and he’s determined to protect me from the fallout. It’s…unexpected and confuses me even more.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and fight off my impending headache, or at least attempt to. Then again, impending is a bit of a stretch. The thing pulses behind my eyelids. The sooner I take my contacts out, the better.

“Dylan,” Reeves prods.

Dropping my hand to my side, I look up at him and tell him the truth. “My house is on fire.”

“Yeah, I caught that part.” His mouth lifts, but he backs away, giving me some room to breathe and think straight.

But the smile does me in. “I’m sorry, why is this funny?” I ask.

“It isn’t. But I always knew I had hot neighbors. Didn’t think they’d catch their house on fire, though.”

My nose scrunches. “Was that a pickup line?”

“It was a compliment.”

“A terrible one.”

“Ah, come on.” He bumps my shoulder with his. “Look at it like this. I just got out of my date.”

“Yeah, because that makes this situation so much better,” I argue dryly. “I need to find my manager.”

“You mean the guy Finley’s with?”

Sure enough, Finley’s already talking to Rowdy. As if they can feel my stare, Rowdy glances in my direction and mouths, “Go home. I got this.”

“Thank you,” I mouth back to him and slowly walk toward the main area of the restaurant.

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