Page 62 of When We Dare

“No reason,” Beck said quickly.

Leo glanced around. “Am I the only single guy here?” he asked under his breath to Griffin, who had stopped beside him.

“You’re definitely not the only single guy who’s a firefighter,” Griffin replied with a grin.

Leo let out a breath. “Good to know.”

“Why is that good?” Casey asked, before adding, “What can I get you?”

Leo’s gaze lifted to hers as he shrugged. “No reason.”

Beck bumped him with his shoulder. “Don’t worry, man, when you’re ready to settle down, I’m your guy.”

“My guy? That’s cool, but I thought you were married.” Leo looked genuinely befuddled.

Griffin chuckled. “If you haven’t figured it out, Beck is nosy.”

Leo rolled his eyes. “Oh, I figured that out.”

Stella was saying something to Madison at the table when I sat down beside her. I couldn’t resist and leaned over to press a kiss on her cheek. When she smiled at me, my heart tripped and stumbled. She did that to me, constantly knocking me off-balance emotionally. I didn’t mind because she always caught me.

“What is it?” she asked when she looked up at me.

“I’m really glad you ran over my crutches.”

Her cheeks flushed pink. “I’m really glad you rescued me from that silly fire.”

“Anytime.”

EPILOGUE

Casey Houston

I adjusted the knobs on the espresso machine, whipping through one drink after another. Even though I’d ended up in Willow Brook, Alaska because I was running away, literally, this was a great job. Firehouse Café was adorable, my boss was awesome, and I had a sweet little apartment next door.

I finished serving the last drink from this little cluster of customers and began tidying up. I always used the small lulls here to keep things at a baseline. Chaos could ensue if I didn’t. Maybe a full three minutes passed before the bell jingled above the door. I glanced up to see one of the firefighters walking in. With four hotshot crews based out of Willow Brook, there werea lotof firefighters in this town. Not a single day went by without seeing at least five firefighters. That was the minimum. I had actually counted a few times.

In this case, the firefighter in question was Leo Massey. Leo bordered on ridiculously sexy. He had dark gold hair, kind of like a lion. I figured it suited him since his name was Leo. Paired with that golden hair were his hazel eyes, mostly green with flecks of gold in them. All matters were made worse with a body designed to melt me. He was beyond fit and didn’t even seem to know it.

“Hey,” he said when he stopped in front of the counter.

“Hi, Leo!” I squeaked. Because, of course, I squeaked around him.

I could usually play it cool, but not with Leo. I silently sighed. I didnotneed to be crushing on anyone, much less this guy.

Before I could say anything else, a whole group of firefighters came in. I almost let out a giant sigh of relief. I could handle them in groups, especially when Leo was here. He was the only one who got to me.

They called out a few hellos as they clustered around Leo.

“Hey,” I pointed at them one by one as I replied, “Griffin, Hudson, Graham, Levi, and…”

“Beck,” said Beck as he approached last.

“As if I would forget you, Beck,” I teased.

I got busy making the coffees, relieved when more customers came in, including Stella, who was one of my first friends here and had introduced me to pretty much everybody else I knew in town.

Her curls bounced when she stopped beside Hudson and slipped her hand through his elbow. He gave her a lingering kiss. Her cheeks were pink when he lifted his head.

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