Page 5 of Holiday Flame

“Yours or theirs?” Maverick asks.

“Please.” I roll my eyes. “If I wanted to be with either of them, I would be.”

“Because you’re just that good?”

“What can I say?” I smirk. “I know what women like. And I’m more than happy to give it to them.”

“So why are you playing darts here tonight instead of ‘giving it’ to either of them.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Well, what’s wrong with them?” he asks.

“Nothing.” I shake my head. “I’m just not in the mood for another one-night stand.”

“Uh oh.” Maverick gives Calloway a knowing look. “It sounds like our boy is ready to fall in love.”

“Ugh.” He wrinkles his nose. “Just because the two of you drank the matrimonial Kool-Aid, it doesn’t mean everyone else is lining up to be fitted for a ball and chain.”

“Methinks the dude doth protest too much.”

“Not exactly.” I shrug at his fresh scowl. “I’ve just been thinking.”

“Dangerous last words.”

“I’ve been thinking that maybe it would be nice to get serious with someone. Not married,” I clarify. “At least not right away. But after seeing how happy the rest of you guys are”—not to mention that a certain woman is back in town—“I thought maybe I’d give monogamy a try.”

“That reminds me.” Calloway sets down the beer. “I need to give my woman a call.”

“You’ll let Leann or Lanie or whoever down gently for me?” I ask.

He just grimaces before racing away. I chuckle but stop as I catch Maverick’s stare.

“What?” I rub my nose. “Do I have something on my face?”

He studies me for another moment. I resist the urge to wriggle in my seat. “Did you mean that?”

Suddenly feeling awkward, I let my hand drop to my side. “Yeah. I did.”

I wish I could tell him the full reason my thoughts have turned that direction. But I can’t. Not yet. Maverick is like a brother to me. We’d lay our lives down to protect the other.

It doesn’t mean he’d be excited to find out I’m crazy about his baby sister. That I have been for years. Not when we used to beeach other’s wingman back when he was single and he knows all the good and bad things about me.

If I want to prove I’m ready to be a one-woman man—and that his sister is the one woman—I’m going to have to make some changes.

“You know…” Maverick arches an eyebrow. “If you’re really serious about wanting to get serious with a woman, maybe you should consider a vow of celibacy.”

Anderson, another of our smokejumper pals, drops at the table next to Maverick, scoffs. “Yeah. Right. Do you think this guy could actually last living like a monk?”

I scowl, which only makes Maverick’s smirk that much more smug.

“I’m not saying he’d have to do it forever,” he says. “But just long enough to take sex out of the equation when it comes to building a relationship with a woman.”

“How long would that take?” I ask, rubbing my forehead. A dull ache is starting to build even while my frown becomes more fierce.

“I don’t know.” Maverick lifts a shoulder. “A month. Three. I wouldn’t think it would take more than a year.”

“A year.” Anderson bursts into a fresh fit of laughter, which draws attention from the neighboring tables.

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