Page 65 of Almost Always

And there it is. Fuck me.

Tapping his chin, he lifted Cal’s head and smiled. “I understand. I have a question and I want you to be honest, okay?” His son nodded slowly, eyes wary. “Would it be better if I quit firefighting?”

“No!” The protest was instant, before he’d even gotten the last word out.

“If it scares you and makes you sad, it’s not worth it, son. You are the most important person in my life and your happiness matters.”

“And Miss Daisy?”

They glanced to where she was standing with the blanket folded over one arm, her other hand resting on Boots’s head. He smiled and she returned it before he turned to his son. “She’s very important to me too, but she knows that you’re themostimportant one.”

Cal swallowed hard. “I like that you’re saving and helping other people. I like that my dad is a hero.”

His heart clenched at the honesty. “Okay. But if it ever starts to scare you a lot and you want me to stop, you must tell me.”

“You’re my hero even if you’re not fighting fires, okay?”

He chuckled and kissed the top of Cal’s head. “I know. But you must promise to tell me if that changes.”

His son nodded and then looked back at Boots before tapping his thigh. The dog followed Cal into the house, leaving him alone with Daisy. Blowing out a heavy breath, he stayed in thatposition for a minute and weighed the situation at hand. This was the first time Cal actually saidI’m scaredand that meant he needed to rethink all of these life choices. Sure, being his kid’s hero was a big deal. But not at the risk of scaring him and almost dying.

Shuffling feet snapped him out of his thoughts and he stood up as Daisy set the blanket to the side. “Was looking forward to waking upwithyou,” he said, reeling her towards him, hands on her waist.

“I know. I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake you up.”

Nodding, he brushed his nose against hers. “Thought we could do more of what we did last night.”

“You want me to brush your hair again, Daddy?”

He poked her in the side and she laughed, pressing against him more. “Keep that up, and I’ll want to do so much more.”

She shuddered, eyes darkening as her head tipped back to look at him. “There’s breakfast in the oven.”

“Thank you.”

“Nothing fancy, just pancakes.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Smiling, she looped her arms around his neck. “He was really worried when he came out of his room and asked a lot of questions. Mostly about why I’m not scared and of course if I had another sleepover.”

He chuckled, reaching for his coffee with one hand. “What did you say?”

“That I am scared. But also that I trust you and know that you would be careful. That you’ll always come home.” He heard the wobble in her voice and sighed softly, pressing his forehead against hers. “You will always come home, right?”

The night before, in a lust haze, he’d said he could make whatever promises he wanted. But the truth was he couldn’t. “I…I can’t make that promise, Daze. You know that. But I will do everything possible to come home to you.”

“Yeah,” she said softly, squeezing the back of his neck before releasing him. As much as he didn’t want to let her go, he pulled his arm away.

“Thank you for talking to him. Dad would do the best he could back in the city, but he’s not good at hiding his worry and I know Cal could sense that too.”

“Maybe because we’re both worried about the same thing, it’s easier to talk about it.” She patted his chest and stepped around him. “Enough of that, let’s get some food in you.”

“I can’t tell if you’re aware of all the innuendos or not.”

“Considering how long you’ve known me, what do you think?”

Cal and Boots were on the couch distracted by the television, so he followed her into the kitchen. Before she could open the oven, he pinned her against the fridge. A gasp escaped her lips and he covered her mouth with his, swallowing the next sound. Her hands crawled up his body and gripped his shoulders as he licked into her mouth. They moaned together and he grabbed a handful of her ass, pressing against her some more. They had briefly talked about how it was okay for Cal to find out they were together, but this was probably not the right way.

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