Page 8 of She's Got that Heat

“And I’m not supposed to use my phone at work unless I’m on a break.”

“All good. We’ll talk soon.”

He takes three steps away, then darts back for one more kiss that leaves me twitching and breathless. Then he kisses my forehead. “Sleep well.”

I laugh to myself while slipping inside. Sleep well? It’ll be a miracle if I sleep at all after the best date ever.

Damon definitely likes me. And he clearly wants me as much as I want him.

I just hope that I can keep myself from overheating or glitching out. With work and firefighting, he’s too busy for a girlfriend who’s an energy drain. I’ll have to do my best.

Because I definitely need to feel a lot more of his heat.

5

DAMON

Thank goodness that my work yesterday was relatively simple. It was impossible to keep my mind off Allie. We were texting on and off all day and arranged another date for tonight. I also learned that she is still relatively close with her parents, even though they recently moved to Fort McMurray, Canada for her dad’s work, which was just too far north for her.

My body works on autopilot as I sand down the last piece of trim, then wipe it with a damp microfiber cloth so it’s ready for paint. Once I scrub my hands, I go out to the truck to change my shirt. The wind is so gusty that it nearly blows out of my hands, and on the drive to Fran’s Diner, I watch the tree branches swaying and bouncing as if they’re in danger of snapping off.

Allie is behind the counter pouring a glass of water as I walk in. “Hey,” she says, flashing a brilliant smile. “I’ll just be a second.” She digs around in her purse for a blue and white bottle, then takes two pills.

“What’s wrong?” I come closer, anxiously examining her eyes and the color of her cheeks.

She flaps her hand dismissively. “I’m fine. This wind is part of a huge air pressure shift, that’s all.”

“You have a headache?”

Allie laughs. “Not yet. But I have the sparkle tension.”

I give her a flat look, making her laugh again. “Sparkle the what now? You know you’ll have to explain that.”

As we leave the diner and head for my truck, Allie points to the left side of her head, around her temple and over her ear. “Sometimes when the air pressure makes a huge shift, I feel a pinpricky sort of tension here. A slight pressure with an odd tingling like sparkles under the skin. It’s totally bizarre!” Her charming laugh lights up her eyes. “If it lasts for more than a few minutes, it’s a warning that an air pressure headache is on the way.”

“Do you want to go home and sleep it off?”

“Not at all. I just took some painkiller muscle relaxants. They almost always head it off before it starts rocking and rolling.”

We get in and start driving, and I can’t help glancing over every so often to check her color and make sure her fingers aren’t trembling. Any signs of something worse.

There’s another huge gust of wind, and Allie takes a few deep breaths, rolling her shoulders back. “It’s fine,” she says before I can even ask. “It didn’t kick in full blast, and it’s going away already.” Allie reaches over to hold my hand for a moment. “Damon, it’s okay. This is my life. I’m used to it.”

“Okayyy…” Squinting, I give her the shifty side eye until she laughs. “But you’ll tell me if you need anything at all?”

“Of course.”

My house is only a four-minute drive from downtown, and that’s only because I go slowly so Allie can admire the flower gardens in front of some of the older houses. When I pull into the driveway, she exclaims, “Oh! So close! You could walk downtown from here.”

“Yeah, if you didn’t need all the supplies I keep in the truck. Sometimes I walk if I’m having a beer at Jim’s Pizza, or if there’s a party.”

I feel like the proximity to downtown is a point in my house’s favor. Yes, I’m already thinking about her living with me, where there is air conditioning, and I could take care of her any time she needed it.

Allie walks all around the first floor, commenting on my books, my nature photos, and the huge bin of tile and paint samples that I keep by the back door for reference. Then I set her up at the kitchen island with sparkling lemon water and some cheese and crackers. I’ve pre-chopped most of the salad, and the vegetables for the sauce, so dinner prep is minimal.

Honestly, she’s so distractingly pretty that it’s a good thing I’m not doing a lot of knife work. I’d probably slice off my hand while staring at the luscious goddess making herself at home in my kitchen. Her graceful fingers snap the crackers in half, adding a bit of cheese before stacking the halves to make a bite-sized sandwich.

We chat about the town, which I’m thrilled to discover Allie is falling in love with. “I can’t believe there’s a real honest-to-goodnessdepartment store,” she says, while helping me bring dinner over to the table, where we sit close together.

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