Page 43 of Flirting With Fire
Chapter Twelve
Dex
Iglanced around the immediate area, knowing that Cal and the guys would be wrapping up their day soon. If I was lucky, I’d be able to sneak Meyer into the house, and we could have the rest of the evening to enjoy ourselves uninterrupted. Waiting wasn’t remotely possible. Now that I knew the truth, knew that Meyer really had wanted me all these years—I refused to postpone a pornographic interlude between us until later.
“Come on,” I said. “I think the coast is clear.”
Meyer snorted and frowned. “Are you ashamed to be seen with me?”
Already I was killing the mood. My romance game went beyond rusty. It was apocalyptic.
“No, not at all. That’s not what I meant.” I dragged my palm across the top of my head. I’d been too sweaty and overheated to put my hat back on after retrieving it from the coffee shop. “If I make eye contact with Cal, he’ll be over here asking questions and making sure I’m okay.”
Meyer arched his eyebrows. “He’d know already?”
“Are you kidding?” I smirked. “A minimum of fifty people probably called him within five minutes after the call went outon the scanner. The emergency scanner is more popular in Charming than any podcast could ever hope to be.”
“Damn.” Meyer shook his head. “I’ve forgotten how insular small-town life is. Back in Chicago, nobody paid attention to what anyone else was doing or if they were in trouble unless it was someone they knew. Although…” He scratched behind his ear. “I suppose I fell into the same habit. If I’m being honest, the chaos of the city wasn’t working for me anymore.”
My heart flip-flopped. Did he mean that cozy living was what he wanted from now on? I didn’t dare get my hopes up, and I still didn’t know if he was long-term material. But that would at least give us options.
I cleared my throat. “Hopefully, Charming works out for you.”
He offered me a lopsided smile. “I think there’s an excellent chance it will.”
I smiled back then exited the truck with as much grace as I could before I said something goofy. I was still reeling from the day’s events and doubted my thoughts were very clear.
Meyer trailed behind me as I made my way to the front door. We’d almost ducked into the house undetected when excited voices met my ears. I turned around, my shoulders dropping. Yup. Cal and the guys were rushing down from the pasture area, the dirt from the long driveway kicking up behind them as they approached.
Meyer and I exchanged glances. “Called it,” I whispered.
“Dex, Meyer…” Cal said excitedly as he drew near. He paused, still huffing and puffing as he pushed his words out. “I called Rosie when I didn’t hear whether they’d found you yet. But then Diego,” he jerked his head in the direction of one of the younger hands, “He was monitoring the scanner and heard all units were cleared and no one was being transported.
Diego nodded. “As soon as I heard that everything was Code 4, we knew you guys were okay. But still, that must’ve been intense.”
The other two hands, Glen and Emilio nodded, murmuring their agreement.
Cal squeezed my shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay? It looks like you got a nasty bump on the head there.”
I pretended not to notice Meyer’s grumbling when Cal touched me. “The medics checked me out. I’m fine. Besides,” I smiled at Meyer. “I had a firefighter looking out for me the whole time.”
Meyer’s features softened, and I knew I’d said the right thing.
Cal regarded Meyer. “I’m grateful you were there. How did this happen? We heard something about the Bird kids getting lost in the mine?” He shook his head. “They should’ve closed off that death trap a long time ago.”
I wasn’t sure who ‘they’ were, but I imagined the topic would be brought up at the next council meeting. Not that I disagreed with the mine being closed off. However, like many things, it was likely due to ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Since no one had ever been hurt in all the years after it was abandoned, no one had considered what a danger it truly was. Undoubtedly, prolonged decay had contributed to what could’ve been a horrible disaster.
“It’s already been determined that it’ll be boarded off,” said Meyer. “It’s such a relief that Wildie was unharmed.”
Cal pressed his lips together. “You’re so right. I imagine his mom won’t be letting him out of her sight for the next twenty years.”
We laughed, but I was getting tired of the conversation. I needed to have a certain muscled hunk all to myself immediately.
I pointed to the bag of food I held. “Actually, we need to get this stuff inside, and I’m fixing to wash this cave off me. I’m like a walking dust devil.”
Cal gave me a wink, which briefly threw me off my game. Could he tell that Meyer and I were about to…? Nah.
“Well then,” Cal said. “We should get back to work.” He coughed into his fist. “Come on, men. There’s plenty more to be done before the day’s over.”
