Page 34 of Burning for Alexander
I wasn’t proud that I took three times longer than necessary, but I couldn’t help my curiosity about the kid I’d met the last time I’d been at Timber. So I asked a few seemingly casual questions of Alex’s staff as I took my time inspecting clear exits, seasonal decor, and the pesky vent hood nozzle.
Alex must have trained them well on the art of stonewalling,though. Because they were all friendly, and no one was willing to say anything about Tavo other than “he’s a great guy.”
“I didn’t catch his last name,” I tried with a sous chef and server at different times. Both times, they shrugged and pursed their lips. “Can’t remember. It’s hyphenated, I think,” said the sous chef. And, “No clue,” said the server.
The visit was a bust. Maybe if Alex hadn’t gotten a large delivery of beer while I was there, he would’ve spent more time challenging me or, at the very least, glowering at me. But as it was, he passed the inspection, and I had to get on with my workday.
“See you next time,” I said on my way out the door.
“Asshole,” Alex muttered under his breath.
I turned back to him with as charming a smile as possible and reminded him he’d volunteered for these inspections. “Also, I forgot to ask how the Slingshot Showdown went? Was it any good for business?”
The answer had already been obvious. Everyone in town talked about how great the Timber food truck had been and how they’d run out of burgers because the turnout had broken event records.
“In fact, it was. Thanks for asking. I earned just enough to pay for the new sprinkler system you recommended in my residence upstairs.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “I never recommended a sprinkler system for your residence. Hell, I didn’t even know where you lived.”
Alex pursed his lips in a mock thinking expression. “Really? I could have sworn I heard you say this whole pile needs built-in sprinklers to keep it from murdering half the town.”
Now it was my turn to flush beet red. “It was my personal commentary. Not a professional recommendation. Although youcan’t go wrong with additional fire suppression in an old timber building like this.”
Honestly, I was happy to hear he’d have such a system. If he wasn’t being sarcastic. There was one way to find out.
“Who’s doing the work?”
He frowned. “Vic Norman, why?”
I thought of the no-nonsense woman I’d met at a local training event in May. “Good. I like her.”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, good. I wouldn’t want to use someone who wasn’t Kincaid-approved.”
“Glad to know you’re falling in line,” I said before walking away.
I could feel the heat of his glare on my back as I went.
The restof August was pretty much the same. When we saw each other, there was both an undercurrent of annoyance and undeniable attraction. But when Labor Day weekend rolled around, there was also flirtation and an unexpected confession.
I blamed the alcohol.
Well, that and the fact that Alex’s cousin Tommy and his new boyfriend, Foster Blake, were inadvertently providing a hot peep show with lots of touches and kisses that made my fingers itch and my mouth water.
The SERA crew had invited me out to one of their big bonfire nights, and Timber was there supplying tasting flights of their new autumn beer selection along with tables full of pizzas, sandwiches, and large trays of pasta. Everyone was happily buzzed, and there was quite a lot of flirting going on. Just as I’d promised Max there would be, when he’d interrogated me on my personal life over Zoom earlier in the day.
“Promise me you’ll at least find someone to fuck tonight,” he’d said with a laugh. “Jesus, Judd. You sound uptight as hell. You used to be fun. What the fuck happened?”
I’d wanted to tell him the explosion had happened. And that it had happened because of lax standards on the air base. And that being in charge of the safety of this town was a responsibility I took seriously.
But I couldn’t deny he was right. There was more to life than my job, and I needed to blow off steam.
“You’re the fire chief, right?” a tall, attractive man asked as he transferred his beer cup from one hand to the other in order to shake my hand. “Name’s Monroe Travers. I’m one of the instructors here.”
“Nice to meet you. Judd Kincaid.” I returned his friendly smile. “What do you teach?”
As he began to tell me about rescue aviation and helicopter evacuation, I paid close attention. Not only was I interested in aviation, since I was specialty trained in ARFF, but I also couldn’t deny the man was sexy.
“If you have your Airport Master Firefighter designation, what are you doing here? Wouldn’t you rather be working in aviation?”
