He shot her a naughty grin that froze her to her seat. “Oh, is that what you’re calling it? Dessert?” He nodded. “I’m game.”
She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “I meantI made strawberry cheesecake. And no, that is not a euphemism for anything but food.”
“Damn.” He looked so disappointed.
She cracked up.
He smiled with her. “I’m full right now. Do you mind if we wait onthatdessert?”
She tried to ignore his emphasis. “Want to take a walk and let our food settle?”
“Sounds like a plan.” He helped her into a light jacket, not wearing one himself. She didn’t know why not, as the weather typically cooled down in the evening.
As they walked, their hands continued to brush each other’s, until Reggie took her hand in his and held on. “Okay?” he asked.
More than okay. Tonight has been fantastic. So far…“Great.” She smiled and squeezed his hand.
“How’s the arm feeling?” he asked.
The sun had begun to set, and the pink-and-orange blanket of daylight slowly slid back to reveal an indigo sky. Puffs of white clouds turned dark gray, but the promise of a clear night came when a southerly wind blew the clouds away.
“Wow, that’s pretty.” She looked back at him. “But you asked about my arm. It’s healing. No problems, though it’s started to itch a little under the cast.” And her fingers looked like sausages. But no way she wanted to bring attention to her secret uglies.
“Whatever you do, do not stick anything down there to scratch,” he warned. “I’ve seen more infections from people using a coat hanger to reach an itch under their casts. They end up leaving a scratch. Infection sets in. And yuck. It’s never pretty.”
“Okay, I won’t.” She loved his hand in hers. He was so warm. “You’re not cold, are you?”
“Nope. I have the hottest woman in Seattle by my side. How could I be cold?”
She nodded in approval. “Oh, you’re good.”
“I really am.” He winked.
Another reference to sex.Yes!“Do you have to work tomorrow?”
“I do. We have changeover at seven thirty, so I’m usually there by seven, ready to go.”
“And your shifts? How do they work?” She wanted to know everything about Reggie, about his job, his family, how he looked when he pushed inside her…
“…four off, like I just had. I’m on tomorrow then off for two days. It’s a set of one on, two off, one on, four off. It seems like a lot of time off, but we work twenty-four hours when we’re on. That’s three eight-hour days if you think about it.”
“Can you sleep when you’re on duty?”
“You can if nothing’s going on. But in this city, we’re usually pretty busy if we’re working the medical side. The engine is less busy, since we focus on fighting fires, but even then, we have training, cleaning, and more training.”
She subtly turned them around, wanting to head back. Her legs were starting to get pretty chilly.
He must have seen her shiver because he apologized. “Oh, sorry, Maggie. We should have turned around earlier. Are you cold?”
“A little.”
“Then come closer so I can warm you up.”
“Reggie.”
“Maggie.”
She smiled. “You’re pretty funny tonight, aren’t you?”
