Page 35 of Faking It with the Firefighter

Rex pulled his shirt off the rest of the way, letting the drenched fabric dangle from his fingertips before dropping it to the linoleum floor. The fabric hit with a wet slap, and Rex ran his fingers through his hair, then shook his head like a dog trying to dry off. Little droplets of water flew all around the bathroom (annoying) and dripped down Rex’s cut chest and back (not annoying).

“What the fuck, Rex?” Gabe demanded.

Rex gave Gabe one of those upward chin nods that guys do. “Hey.”

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Gabe glanced at me, frowning.

I reared back with my palms up. “Why’re you looking atme?”

“I’m fixing Abigail’s sink,” Rex said, then crouched in front of my vanity again. “You wouldn’t happen to have an adjustable wrench, would you? Abigail’s tools kinda suck.”

“Hey!”

“Yeah, sure,” Gabe said, cooling off and putting his tool bag down to dig through it. “Brought all my tools because I figured Abigail wouldn’t have what I needed.

“I’m right here, you know.”

“Here’s a basin wrench.” Gabe handed the wrench over to Rex. “But how did you know about the sink? Why’re your brother and his fiancée downstairs?” Gabe glanced at me. “And put your shirt back on, man.”

“It’s all wet,” Rex said, his voice echoing oddly from under the sink.

“Are you guys almost done?” Donny asked, looking a little sheepish. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “It’s just Blair’s getting a little impatient.”

Gabe looked like he wanted to ask some uncomfortable questions, so I shoved my brother inside the bathroom and said, “Nearly there. Give us a sec.” Then I closed the door and locked the three of us inside.

My brother looked unimpressed, but he put the toilet cover down and sat on it. Rex grunted, his back muscles shifting as he did whatever he had to do under the sink, and I spun around and stared at the wall.

“You guys going to tell me what’s going on?”

There was a gush of water against the plastic walls of a bucket, and Rex pulled his head out from under the sink. “Looks like Abigail’s hair caused a blockage. I’ll clear it out and put everything back together, and it should work fine.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Gabe said.

I glanced at Rex, who glanced right back at me. In his eyes, Isaw the man who’d propped himself above me and made me want dark and dirty things.

He stood up, his chest still glistening with moisture, and I decided to stare at the wall some more.

“Abigail’s doing me a favor,” Rex finally said.

Gabe was quiet for a moment. “Okay. Care to elaborate?”

Rex shifted, and I saw him rubbing the back of his neck in my peripheral vision. “She’s my date to Donny’s wedding.”

I shifted to look at Gabe, whose frown had deepened. He chewed on Rex’s words, then said, “Date, as in…”

“Not a real date, obviously,” Rex rushed to answer. “It’s just for the wedding. Just pretend.”

Gabe let out a breath, clearly relieved, and I stood very still. Why did that hurt so much when it was the plain truth?

Itwasfake. We weren’t actually dating. Hearing Rex say it out loud shouldn’t have affected me at all.

But my stupid, oversensitive feelings were hurt. Was it because we’d flirted this morning? Because maybe for a moment, I felt like Rex thought I was actually worthy of him?

I almost snorted at myself. Little Abigail the screwup, dating Rex the pillar of the community? Fat chance.

“Abigail?” my brother said, drawing my attention.

“Huh?”

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