Page 12 of Spring Break with a Fire Chief

I close my eyes and let my head fall back on my neck. “Baylor.”

“Yes, Chief?” he replies with way too much excitement.

“Get to work.”

“Will do. Just gotta bring the ladies their coffee first.” I snap my head at him as he gives a smug grin and turns his back on me, walking toward the corner of the bakery. “Hey, Ma! Nurse Torre!” He places two coffees down on the table then pulls out a chair and sits with them. They look my way and my lips roll in as Madeline’s eyes connect with mine. Everything about last night comes barreling back. The way she spoke, the way she smelled... the way she crawled to me and laid her hands on my thighs.

Fuck.

I can’t be here. I can’t do this. Wanting her is too much and I’m about to throw everything shedidn’tsay back to me out the window just to have her once again.

Be a man, Donnelly.

“Ryan! Good to see you!” Candee calls out. My hands clench at my sides and I glance for my coffee and Danish but they aren’t on the counter. Poppy is enjoying the show way too much instead of making my coffee. I can’t be rude, Bill would have my ass, so I make the short walk to their table.

“Morning Candee. Madeline.” I lean on the chair in front of me, my other hand on my hip. I notice her eyes go straight to my forearms.

“Have a seat! What’s your hurry?” Candee says as Maddox kicks the chair I'm leaning on. I give him a dirty look.

“I need to see Ted before work. Something you should do, too, Baylor.”

“We already spoke with him,” Maddox replies and sips from his coffee.

I narrow my eyes on him. “You did? How is he?”

He nods. “I just called him. Nurse Torre wanted to make sure he was alright.”

I glance her way, her eyes still trained on me.Yes, I see you, Maddie.

“He sounded more upbeat today. Says his pain level is tolerable. I asked him to come down this afternoon so I could re-wrap him and do another check-up. I’ll be sure to keep you updated onyour guy, Chief.” She winks at me and Candee smothers a laugh.

These women, I swear. Now I know where Maddox gets it from. I nod. “I’d appreciate that.” She picks up her coffee cup and blows across the top to cool it off, while holding eyes with me. I know what she’s doing. She loved to tease me, always with the innocent act but she was anything but. Right now she’s trying to remind me of the good, and of the fun we had. She’stryingin general, though it’s only been a few hours since I last pushed her aside. Everything she does triggers a memory and all it does is make me want to make more memories with her. But how can I trust her this time around?

Maddox clears his throat and rises from his chair, standing next to me and clapping me on the back. “Stop staring,” he whispers in my ear before speaking to the table. “Come on, Chief, I'm riding with you.”

He breaks me from my trance and I look towards the counter. “Poppy! I’ll take it to go.”

“You got it, Chief,” she calls out. I pause and turn to Madeline. “Ted can be a baby so if he gives you a hard time about doing what’s best for him, just remind him I’m thedisciplinarian.” She freezes with her coffee cup in her hand and her eyes flare. I do my best to hide my smug grin. Grabbing my coffee and Danish, I walk to the front of the bakery and out the door with Maddox hot on my trail.

“Whew, boss!” he chuckles as he rounds my truck and climbs in. “What’s with that last comment?” He looks at me with excited eyes.

I roll my eyes and wave him off. “Such a gossip hound.”

“No way! That was like some top tier sexual innuendo shit. I’m quite impressed.”

I huff a laugh. He’s right and ifhecaught on, she sure did. Madeline used to tease me about her not being able to keep quiet about our bedroom habits. She said it was too good not to share. So I told her if I heard her dropping hints to her girlfriends, or someone looked at me a certain way, I’d have to discipline her for speaking out of turn. It was just one more way to keep things hot between us.

“The tension between you two is stifling,” he continues and shakes his head as he pulls on his seatbelt. “Can’t the last three years just be water under the bridge at this point?”

I shake my head at Maddox. All I can do is shrug as I remain quiet, thoughts of our past running through my mind.

“You know, you don’t have her now and you’re miserable. You might as well try to make things work and be happy. What’s to lose?”

What’s to lose?

My pride.

My heart.

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