Page 20 of Fire and Ice
He laughed. “You’re beautiful, and I would be proud to be with you anywhere you wanted to go. But if it will make you feel more comfortable, how about we grab burgers in King Creek? We can take everything to my house, and you can meet Spot.”
“I’d love to meet him, but…” She hesitated, looking uncertain.
He smiled at her, loving the touch of innocence in her, and took both of her hands in his. “You have my word, I will be a total gentleman.”
She studied him and, after a moment, nodded. “I believe you.”
“Damn, I’m good,” he said with a teasing expression. “Now you’re mine.”
Her laughter was sweet. “Nah, I’ll take you at your word.” She picked up her bag and started hitching it onto her shoulder. “You’re just naturally a gentleman.”
He grabbed her bag from her grasp while he picked up his own. “Let me prove it and carry the bags.”
“You don’t have to prove anything.” She shook her head but smiled. “But if you insist on carrying them…”
“No question.” He had both bags—one over his right shoulder, the other in his right hand. “Time to eat.”
His stomach rumbled loud enough that she laughed. “Wouldn’t dream of keeping you away from food.”
“Good thing.” He kissed her. “Now let’s go get those burgers.”
7
Chelsea drove her car to her home. She parked, grabbed her jacket and purse from the vehicle, then climbed into his SUV. They went to the King Creek Cafe to get burgers to go, and she found herself willing the order to be finished quickly so that she could be alone with Grady. They didn’t get anything to drink because he had Coke and Sprite at his house.
When he paid and took the bags from the cashier, Chelsea immediately caught the aroma of their dinner. “Those burgers smell so darn good.” This time, her stomach rumbled loud enough to be heard.
Grady nodded and smiled. “Looks like we’re both ready to eat.”
To her surprise, he didn’t live far from her. His place was in one of the nicest housing communities in town, which just happened to be the same one her friend, Kyra, lived in.
“I’ve been to this neighborhood a few times.” Light displays covered homes and lawn ornaments decorated yards. She pointed to a house next to the one they stopped in front of. “That’s Kyra’s place.” It had a huge snowman in front of it. The one on the other side of his place had Santa in a sleigh with three reindeer, and the one in the lead had a red nose.
Chelsea glanced at Grady. “Kyra is the friend who was with me the first time you asked me out.”
“I thought she looked familiar.” Grady nodded. “I’ve seen her a time or two, but I haven’t been here long enough to meet her. Although I only had eyes for you, so I don’t remember much.”
Chelsea laughed. “Flatterer.”
After Grady parked, he managed to get to Chelsea’s door and open it before she had a chance to climb out. She liked that he was such a gentleman. He helped her down, then grabbed his equipment bag off the back seat. He slung it over his shoulder before grasping the bag of burgers with his opposite hand.
She took it and let him help her out of the SUV. It wasn’t a long walk to her front door, but it was too cold to go even that far without her coat. After she grabbed her jacket and slid it on, he grasped her hand and led her up the sidewalk. Lights adorned with wreaths stood along the sidewalk, looking like old-fashioned street lanterns, giving the street a quaint appearance.
“I rented this place when I got on with the KCFD.” He smiled at her. “I plan to buy a house when I decide what part of town I’d like to live in. I like this area enough that I’ll probably look for one around here.”
“It’s a good place to live,” Chelsea said as they reached the front door, the number 1313 on the porch pillar. “Lucky thirteen, huh?”
“Lucky depends on how the night goes.” He held up his hands and winked. “Just kidding.”
She laughed. “I knew you were.”
He lowered his hands, keys jangling, and unlocked the door. When he opened it, fifty-five pounds of wiggling, excited, white and black spotted dog lunged at Grady.
“Whoa, Spot.” Grady laughed as he tried to calm the enthusiastic animal.
Spot caught a glimpse of Chelsea and darted for her. She braced herself for the dog jumping on her, but he sat politely at her feet. His tail thumped on the porch, and he cocked his head to the side as he studied her.
She glanced up at Grady. “May I pet him?”
