Page 50 of Set Me On Fire

“Well, this has been a Christmas for the books,” Dad said, picking up his beer. “Here’s to becoming grandparents.”

“To Millie and her baby,” Jamie said, nodding at me.

Laughter turned to tears, but happy ones, because in the end this was true. My family loved me, they always would, even if I didn’t always agree with the way they did it.

Like this.

“Who was that?”Mum asked when the boys reappeared, eyeing a massive bunch of flowers Hunter carried. Hayden had a box of chocolates, making me think they’d organised a delivery for Jamie on Christmas day. I’ll say one thing for them, they knew how to treat a girl.

“Noah Taylor.”

My stomach fell as the flowers did, feeling like it landed on the table alongside the bouquet and chocolates, a sharp ringing sound starting up inside my head. One moment of peace, we’d had one moment before it all started up again. Everyone was talking all at once, getting louder and louder, but I could only focus on one thing, the card attached to the bouquet.

Call me, please, that’s all it said, along with a number written out neatly on the white card.

Chapter 26

Millie

Pacing back and forth across your childhood bedroom floor as your family lost their minds was kinda embarrassing at school. As a twenty eight year old, it felt like a moral failing, yet here I was, unable to stop until there was a gentle knock at the door. The rhythmic pattern one I recognised because it was Jamie and my secret knock from when we were little. I jerked open the door and saw her there, shook my head, and then held out the door for her to come in. It was shut and locked as soon as I heard shouts from down the hall.

“Hey,” she said, rubbing her hands on her shorts.

“Hey.” I swallowed hard, then shook my head. “How bad is it out there?”

She shrugged.

“They’re processing. We’re all processing, but you…” She moved closer and put a hand on my arm. “You’re the one who’s processing the most. How are you holding up?”

“What, apart from being treated like some kind of virgin that’s been despoiled? Dandy.” That came out way too abrupt. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She shook her head. “I knew your brothers were caught up in that whole protective he-man bullshit, but damn… We had an argument, and somehow that devolved into a feminist diatribe that women aren’t property as well as some uncomfortable truths about the fact that they are perfectly happy to have orgies with my brothers’ sister, but you doing the same is somehow beyond the pale.”

Her lips curved into a wicked smile.

“Three fucking firefighters?”

Someone finally got it.

“I know.”

“I mean, three hot ones.” She pointed to the old calendar hanging up on my wall. “Like Aussie firefighter calendar ones?”

“Hotter.”

I blushed and felt proud all at the same time because Jamie got it. I wasn’t her sister or daughter or someone to be protected. It was just us, and we always celebrated when one of us got the good dick.

“Oh my god.” She flumped down on my bed. “I half want to break up with your brothers and see if they have hot single friends.”

“God, don’t do that.” I sat down beside her. “Brock’s break up poetry would be worse than mine.”

She nodded slowly, then shot me a sidelong look.

“So… Noah Taylor?”

My bestie remembered the whole damn debacle, because she was the only one I could confess even half of what I was going through to.

“He came out of the smoke having just put out the fire and my eyes nearly fell out of my head.” Her grin widened. “That was after his big, gruff teammate picked me up and carried me away from danger.”

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