Page 33 of Single Mom for the Firemen

She gazes up at me. “You’re a strong person, Jake,” she adds. “Really strong. You and your brothers. I admire the hell out of that.”

“We’re just doing what needs to be done.”

“Yeah, but you’re stilldoingit,” she points out. “You shouldn’t play yourself down like that. Everything you’re doing out here, it’s important. The number of lives you’ve saved, the number of people you’ve helped over the years…”

“The number of lost moms I’ve helped get back on the trail,” I tease back lightly. She laughs.

“Yeah, well, that too,” she agrees. And as she gazes up at me, I can’t help but notice how close the two of us are standing right now—how easy it would be to just lean in and kiss her, pick up right where we left off the other day.

And it’s as though she’s read my mind. She reaches up and plants a hand against my chest, letting it rest there lightly for a moment as she nibbles on her bottom lip.

“I…I’m really glad that you found us out there,” she murmurs, her gaze flicking down toward my mouth. “I’m glad we got to have this talk.”

“Me too,” I reply, and I reach up to cup her chin in my hand. There’s something so small and delicate about her when she gazes at me like this—despite her gorgeous curves and statuesque figure, she seems to turn into something precious and breakable when I lay hands on her, something I need to protect.

And before I can think any more on it, I lean down and graze my lips against hers. It’s not the same kind of kiss we shared before. No, this one feels different—more careful, more considered, more intimate. Though our clothes are still on, there’s something about kissing her like this that feels like we’re drawing in even closer than before, closing the distance between us, finally coming clean about everything that has happened in our past so we can be honest with each other.

And when I pull back, I can tell from the look on her face that she feels the exact same way. She bites her lip again, so damn cute it takes everything I have not to kiss her once more, but I manage to resist.

“I should get in and make sure Callie isn’t causing too much chaos,” she tells me, her hand still resting on my chest. “But…but if you ever need to talk…”

“I know where to go,” I reply. “Which is more than I can say about you and that trail.”

“Hey!” she exclaims, landing a playful slap on the side of my arm. “We would have been fine. Eventually. Probably. I just needed a little help.”

“Right, right,” I tease. “I’ll let you go.”

“Speak soon, right?” she asks me, gazing up at me with those beautiful, bright eyes.

I nod. “Of course,” I promise her. Because when she looks at me like this, I know there’s not a damn thing in the world I could do to deny her—no matter how much I might want to.

And no matter how complicated I know this is going to make things.

16

MASON

“So what exactly do I do?”

I lean back against the breakfast bar as she sets up her notebook and recording device—she’s clearly busy, but I need to know what to expect here.

“We’re just going to talk,” she assures me. “Nothing too heavy. And nothing you don’t want to get into.”

“And then, what, you’re going to print all this in a story and expose me and make me look like a terrible person?”

She laughs, raising her eyebrows at me. “I don’t know. I mean, have you got any skeletons in your closet that might require me to expose you like that?”

“None that I know of. But I guess we’re going to find out.”

“Guess so.”

I’m visiting Vanessa for the afternoon so she can finally interview me for this story she’s writing on us. Jake was the one who encouraged me to go for it, actually, which surprised me after the conversation we all had the other day about her. I knowthere’s something happening between her and all of us, and I don’t know exactly where that leaves me—or what to make of the fact that I’m going to be alone with her this whole afternoon, given that Jake and Killian have taken Callie out for a hike on the trails while it’s not too hot.

Finally, she finishes up, and plants herself down on the other side of the breakfast bar.

“So, you’re comfortable there?” she asks.

“Comfortable enough.”

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