Page 68 of Flirting With Fire
“Well, speak of the devil!” Wally clapped his hands. “Here he is, Charming’s new assistant fire chief.”
Meyer had already stepped behind the table to stand next to me. He turned to greet Cash, and his face fell. He recovered quickly, though, and held out his hand. My head was spinning.Cash was new to town. Where had he come from? Why hadn’t I been paying attention? Was this Meyer’s ex-boyfriend coming to reclaim him?
Clearly, I was delusional. My brain had short-circuited, and I could no longer remember if Meyer mentioned he’d been dating a cowboy stud named Cash back in Chicago. It probably didn’t make much sense, but I was irrationally jealous, so my emotions ran with it.
After the perfunctory greetings, the mayor started rambling on about who knew what, and I was startled to find Cash stealing the occasional glance at me instead of Meyer. Perhaps subtlety wasn’t one of Cash’s superpowers, because Meyer seemed to have noticed the appraising stares as well.
Meyer sidled closer to me until our elbows were bumping. Cash’s eyebrows lifted, and Wally was oblivious. The next thing I knew, several others had gathered around, including Lindy, Destiny, Chief Brannigan, some of the guys from the station, Rosie, and the preacher—quite a sizeable crowd.
Everyone seemed to be curious and excited to see who the new sheriff was. Meyer turned and whispered in my ear, “Where did he come from? I didn’t know any decisions had been made yet.”
“Did you go to the last council meeting?” I whispered back.
“No, the chief did. But he didn’t say anything about anyone specific. I thought they were still going over candidates.”
“Huh,” I said. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Why was he staring at you?” asked Meyer.
My jaw went slack. “I don’t know. I thought maybe he was your ex and was checking out the competition.”
Meyer choke-snorted. “Not even close. And anyway, you’re mine, baby.”
I turned to face him fully. “Baby?”
“You don’t like that?”
I broke into a wide smile. “I love it. You know what else? You’re mine, too.” I tugged him close. “And I don’t care who knows.”
Meyer placed his hands on my hips. “Oh yeah? Prove it.”
I threw my arms around his neck and captured his mouth in a claiming kiss that left no question about what we were to each other. For a moment, everything fell away, and all that existed was Meyer and me, locked in an embrace, lost in each other.
A loud chorus of cheers and clapping erupted, and I should’ve been embarrassed over making such a display. My formerly shy self would’ve sooner eaten a live rattlesnake than put on such a show.
But that was before Meyer. He’d changed everything, and I couldn’t be happier.
Epilogue
Meyer
One year later
“It’s not my turn,” I insisted as I sat cross-legged on Dex’s bed, cooling down after my morning shower. “I did it last year. What did I do with my nail clippers? My toenails are like claws.”
The Dancing Chiles Food Fiesta was next weekend. It was hard to believe I’d been back in Charming Butte for a year now. So much had happened since then and most of it with Dex.
“They’re in here.” Dex sounded muffled, and I understood when he emerged naked from the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth and white foam around his lips. He held out my nail clippers.
“Thanks, babe.” I hopped off the bed and took them, taking the opportunity to squeeze his gorgeous ass at the same time. He made this sweet wriggling motion and pressed back into my hand. Then he reached up and kissed my cheek.
“I’ve got a white kiss on my cheek, haven’t I?” I sighed, but I left it there. I didn’t want to rub away his kiss.
“You have,” he agreed as he returned to the bathroom.
I sat on the bed and started clipping my toenails. “What were we talking about?”
“You were complaining it’s not your turn.”
