Page 4 of Playing with Fire

“Felix,” Beckett called, waving.

Felix nodded at him as he started across the street, but Beckett was no longer paying attention to his brother. As he stopped waving, he spied a mass of spun gold attached to the same gorgeous face he saw the other day. A five-alarm fire could have broken out around him and he wouldn’t tear himself away. The wild woman he’d just been thinking about was waving at him. Had he conjured her with his thoughts? He liked to think so, but before he could do anything about it, she spotted Felix and smacked her forehead, peering down in embarrassment as she scurried away.

“No, wait!” Beckett called after her. His feet were moving before his brain had sent the signal to chase her down, but Beckett only got five feet before a hefty bag was being shoved in his arms.

Beckett tore his gaze away from her retreating form to glare at his brother. “Help me with this, will you?” Felix asked, flustered and out of breath.

“Give me a second,” Beckett commanded impatiently. His eyes darted back across the street, moving up and down the stretch of sidewalk as he desperately searched for her, but his Wild Woman was nowhere to be found. “Shitballs.”

A mother pushing her toddler gasped at his cursing as shepassed them, and Felix punched Beckett in the arm as he smiled apologetically to the woman. “Watch your pottymouth, brother. This is a family-friendly community,” he scolded Beckett. Turning, his brother opened the door to the bar and gestured for Beckett to head inside.

“Fuck off,” Beckett muttered. With one last glance around, he kicked a stray rock into the gutter, lamenting his lack of a second chance as he followed Felix. At least she was still in town. Did that mean she wasn’t a tourist? Maybe he would get lucky and catch her a third time. Beckett grasped onto that thin shred of hope and with a sigh, heaved the grocery bag on top of the bar. One peek inside had him smiling as he spotted the pound of beef, hamburger buns, and a brick of cheddar among other things. “Did you get this to make yourself lunch, or did you know I was coming?”

Felix ran his hand through his shoulder-length, sandy hair as he shrugged. “The first, though I had an inkling you might show up.” He reached underneath the bar to grab a glass, filling it with water before sliding it across the bar to Beckett. “Mom still keeps your shifts posted on the fridge. When I saw yours ended this morning, I wondered if you might not show up for something to eat.” He smiled as he poured himself some water and took a large gulp. “You’d think they didn’t feed you at the station or something.”

Felix nodded at the grocery bag, grabbed his apple crate and started back toward the small kitchen. Knowing the drill, Beckett grabbed the ingredients and followed along. “They feed me, just not nearly enough.” Between all the working out and training he did to keep his body in tip-top shape for the job, he required a lot of calories to keep himself going. Even considering the fact that they all rotated cooking during their shifts, the probie’s meals in particular left a lot to be desired. “Banks hasn’t quite gotten used to feeding a group of two-hundred plus poundmen yet. Can you believe he made oatmeal for breakfast using nothing but water? Soggy oats aren’t nearly enough to keep my energy up. He didn’t even have the good sense to toss us some blueberries or anything until we reminded him.”

Felix pushed through the kitchen door. “It’s too bad you don’t have two good legs and could’ve gotten your lazy ass over to the fridge to get them yourself,” he snarked. Dropping the crate filled with apples gently onto the ground, Felix speared him with a glare as he grabbed the groceries from Beckett’s arms. “You better not expect me to serve you with a smile when you have that kind of crap attitude.”

After flipping his brother the middle finger, Beckett helped him start prepping the food for their lunch. “You know it’s not like that. The probie has to go through all the same shit the rest of us did or he’ll never learn.”

During the first six months at the fire station, Beckett had been the only one allowed to clean the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the trash bins, as well as the person who cleaned the gear and washed the fire engine. The chief at the time even demanded that Beckett learn to replicate his mama’s favorite biscuit recipe and serve it to him with honey butter. All of that was in addition to all of his other duties. He remembered feeling more tired at that point in time than he had in his whole life.

Beckett may not have seen it then, but he knew now that the trial by fire prepared him for the challenges he would sometimes face on the job. “It toughens you up.”

Felix waved off his declaration as he started to add spices to the ground beef. “That’s what you guys used to tell me when we would play hide-and-seek in the orchard and you would purposefully leave me out there for an extra twenty minutes after you all had gone inside.” A withering look was shot Beckett’s way. He winced at the memory of how they’d often treated their little brother like an afterthought. “It was a dickmove then and pulling that probie shit is a dick move now.”

“Maybe,” Beckett admitted. Walking over to the sink, he wondered if Felix was right, and as he started washing lettuce and tomatoes, he felt a bit guilty for having Dale do so much. Peeking over his shoulder, Beckett smiled sadly at his little brother. “Hey. Sorry for leaving you out there back then. Itwasa dick move.”

Felix nodded as he formed the meat into patties and dropped them on the hot grill. “Thanks, but it’s okay. I know you guys did it because you were just jealous that I was Mom and Dad’s favorite.” His eyes twinkled merrily and he ducked quickly when Beckett tossed a tomato scrap at his head.

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Beckett grabbed a cutting board and started slicing the veggies, saliva pooling in his mouth as the smell of the grilled, seasoned beef permeated the air. “We all know who the real favorite is.”

Felix’s clear blue eyes met his as they stared at each other for a beat. “Travis,” they said in unison before chuckling. The man may be a bit of a recluse, but there was no doubt in any of their minds that he had always been the favorite of the five of them, the son who would continue his parents’ legacy on the farm. The pressure of maintaining that legacy was something Beckett had never wanted for himself and was happy to leave to his younger brother.

When the two of them finally sat down for their meal, Beckett bit into his giant burger, enjoying the feel of the hot juices as they slid down his throat. “Damn, kid. This is pretty tasty.” It wasn’t just the extreme hunger talking either. Even if cider was his real passion, Felix had seasoned and cooked the beef to perfection.

Felix rolled his eyes at the “kid” remark, but even at twenty-five he was still like a kid to Beckett, especially when he did things like that. “Of course, it’s tasty. Aiden isn’t the only onewho knows how to cook.”

“Damn right, he’s not.” Their older brother may be a star chef, but the rest of them still followed their mama around the kitchen from time to time when they were little, learning everything she was willing to teach them.

It was the same out in the orchards with their dad. With five boys underfoot and a farm to run, neither of their parents had the time to deal with loafers. As soon as they were able, the boys helped make family meals, prune trees, and harvest the apples. They all still helped with the annual harvest as much as they could, though tourists did most of the job for them now. Any apples that didn’t get pulled for selling at the family’s own small storefront got plucked and bought by people coming to Applewood to spend a day on one of the farms. Despite the town name, it wasn’t just apples that grew there, but also peaches, blueberries, and flowers. Each one added its own unique charm to the community, but apples were what Beckett’s family knew best.

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Beckett nodded over to the sign on one of the windows. “You think you’ll be able to actually join us for trivia night this time? You know we’ll never win without your science knowledge.” Felix was a wiz when it came to the subject, one Beckett only knew well enough to get by on his job. “We got our asses handed to us last week.”

Nate covered history and politics, Travis reluctantly joined in from time to time, contributing his knowledge of anything he’d gleaned from all of the books he read. Beckett covered sports. Aiden would have been a great addition with his knowledge of all things food, but he was unavailable. His brother wouldn’t be caught dead participating in something so fun. The man was wound tighter than a steel drum and liable to snap any moment. Though some fun would do him a world of good, Aiden would have to be dragged into it kicking and screaming. Felix’sbest friend Autumn joined in occasionally as well but spent most of her time chatting with his brother instead of playing.

Felix’s sigh cut into Beckett’s thoughts of their other trivia compatriots. “I hope so. Lottie can handle the bar on her own, but I don’t feel right leaving her for long stretches.”

Felix’s expression as he spoke was indecipherable, giving Beckett an opening to tease him. “Does little Felix have a crush?” He very much doubted that Felix had a thing for his employee, but then again the only thing Beckett knew about his brother’s love life was that it went about as well as his own.

Felix tossed a fry at Beckett, the golden stick grazing his arm with a smattering of grease before it dropped to the cement floor. “I think you have me confused with our other brother.” Beckett’s brow furrowed, but Felix spoke before he could get in on the gossip. Rumors and hearsay were the lifeblood of any small town and it might make him no better than the old biddies who gathered at the coffee shop down the street, reading the town newsletter and spreading rumors, but Beckett couldn’t help it. He liked to be in the know. “I just want to be a good boss. Mom and Dad put a lot of faith in me, in addition to a chunk of what could have been an early retirement. I don’t want to let them down.”

Clasping him on the shoulder, Beckett smiled. “You won’t. They’re already so proud of you. I’m sure they’ve told you a thousand times already.” Their parents had never been shy with praise. Though they never gave it when it wasn’t warranted, they always heaped it on the boys when it was. They told Beckett they were proud of him anytime he managed to make it home for a family meal. He knew they did the same for all his brothers.

“They do,” Felix admitted, biting into his burger. “Doesn’t mean I still don’t want to work hard. You get it.”

Beckett did get it, but lately he wondered if maybe he hadn’t let his parents down in another way. They’d never beenoverly vocal about wanting grandchildren, but he could see the glee on his parents’ faces and the twinkle in their eyes when families came to the farm. Beckett didn’t want children of his own out of obligation, but it did add a bit to the pressure he had already put on himself for wanting them. He was thirty-two, so there was still plenty of time for all that, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever get there. Finding someone who sparked his interest hadn’t been easy, but Beckett didn’t want to settle for less just to start a family. Besides, after his second run in with the wild woman from a few days ago, at least now he knew that sparks were a definite possibility, and absolutely something worth waiting for.

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