Page 94 of Burning Love
“Awww, I’m sorry I made you sad,” she said. “Or added to what you were feeling that day. Unless it only had to do with your mother’s birthday. And if it did, then I’m thinking more of myself and will stop now.”
“It had to do with both things. You’re not thinking more of yourself. Do you want me to bring up self-sabotage?”
“God no,” she said, laughing. “I’m so used to giving shit to my brothers like that. I should have realized not everyone is used to that.”
“I’ve got two sisters.”
Lauren might have tread carefully around him for years. Even his father after that first year.
Kelsey and Janey were kids and didn’t know any better. They were honest and he appreciated that more.
Which meant sibling disagreements.
“So you get it. We can be emotional creatures. And before we go down another path, text me tomorrow when you’re up and we’ll figure out a time to see each other. To talk...amongst other things.”
“I’ll talk to you later.”
He hung up the phone and put it on his desk.
“Are you dating someone? Like a girlfriend?”
He looked up to see Stephen, one of his men, standing in the open doorway.
“Does it matter?”
“We’ve worked together for years. I’m not sure I’ve ever known you to have a girlfriend. Or not someone that you’ve talked to at work.”
“I don’t share my private life here. You know that.”
“True,” Stephen said. “But are you seeing someone? You know the brotherhood. We stick together. We have to know who we are fighting for when the times are tough.”
He smiled.
It was another reason he wanted to be a fireman.
That brotherhood right there.
Something he’d never gotten as an only child.
Maybe he’d always wanted to be part of a big family. To be accepted for who he was and not be forced on someone.
“It’s new yet,” he said.
“Damn,” Stephen said. “I never thought I’d see the day. We just figured you had more fun playing the field.”
“I didn’t play it as much as you thought.”
Stephen lifted his eyebrow. “Really? Again, I’ve been out with you before when I was single.”
“The days of picking women up in bars for the night are long gone.”
He stopped that years ago.
“Well, hope whoever she is, it works out.”
“Yeah, me too.”
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