Page 99 of Heating Up (Nugget)
“If it’s not assigned tables, save Lina and me seats next to you guys.”
Somehow Dana didn’t think that was gonna happen. “Okay. You taking off?”
“Yeah, I’m not dealing with that.” He pointed at the growing group of people snaking around the building. “Tell Aidan to come in to the store anytime. I’m sorry about your office, Dana. These fires really suck. But I’m glad no one has gotten hurt. If you and Carol need any help cleaning up . . . or anything . . . let me know.”
“Thanks, Griffin.”
Griffin sauntered off, looking as drool worthy as he always had in faded jeans, motorcycle boots, and a T-shirt with the Gas and Go logo stretched across his wide chest. But for the first time he did nothing for Dana. Not so much as an imperceptible sigh. That was because she only had eyes for the gorgeous, tall, ripped man coming toward her.
“I got us soft serve too, because there was no way I planned to wait in that line again.” Aidan put the tray down on the table and handed Dana a wad of napkins. “You might want to eat it first before it melts.”
Ice cream before the main meal; that was Aidan McBride. “Okay.” She reluctantly took a few licks of her vanilla cone, even though a month ago it would’ve been sacrilege.
He smiled at her, undoubtedly reading her mind. “What’s the difference between this and having a shake with your meal?”
“That’s why I don’t have shakes with my meals . . . it’s mixing dessert with the main course.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” Unlike her, he dug into his cone without hesitation.
“Why do you want to look at Griff’s security cameras?”
“It’s the only one on Main Street. I’d be remiss if I didn’t look at them.”
She put her cone down and started in on her burger. “But he said it only filmed the gas station and a little bit of the street.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t hurt to look.”
She got the impression there was more to it than that, especially from the way his eyes lit up when Griffin mentioned having cameras. “You’ve got a reason.”
She expected him to deny it; instead, he laughed. “You’re too smart for your own good.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Yeah, I’ve got a reason, but I’m not planning to tell you. Not since you and Harlee are best buds now.”
“I would never betray your confidences,” she argued.
“I was just teasing. I know you wouldn’t. But I really can’t talk about an ongoing investigation, not even with you, as much as I would like to.”
“You would?” That amazed her. She didn’t know a thing about firefighting or arson. Hell, she’d burned her own house down.
“I like how interested you are in it.”
Dana did find his job fascinating. She leaned over and laid her lips on him. “I’m interested in everything about you,” she said against his mouth, as he ardently returned the kiss.
They stopped when Aidan’s phone rang. With the fires, every call had them on edge. He fished the phone out of his pocket, looked at the display, frowned, and put it away.
“You don’t need to get that?”
“Nah,” he said, and then hesitantly added, “It was Sue.”
Dana’s stomach dropped. “Why do you think she’s calling you?”
“I don’t know,” he said, but she got the impression he did. “She called the other day about a friend of her husband’s being interested in my condo.”
“Did you talk to her then?”
“Yeah, for a little bit.” He didn’t elaborate, and she would’ve liked him to.
“Do you think this has something to do with that?” Evidently not, or he would’ve answered.
“I don’t know. But you and I are in the middle of lunch and you only have an hour. This is our time. I’ll call her later. It can’t be that important.”
