“Possibly sooner if I can ge?”
“Make it sooner.”
She gave me a curious look.
“I’ll wait for you.”
“You just got off work. You’ll be exhausted by the time I finish closing up.”
I stared at her, not even realizing my brain was working to memorize every aspect of her face. “I’ll wait for you.”
Placing money on the bar, I grabbed the four beers and turned, surveying the bar and looking for the rest of my crew. I found them seated at one of the corner tables, talking with a few guys from another fire station. I strolled over in their direction, handing Corey, Carter and Don?who’d apparently ended his phone conversation?each of their beers.
“I’m starving. Wanna order a round of wings?” Don asked.
Corey, Carter, and I all grunted our agreement. The other firefighters had gone back to their tables. Don strolled toward the section of the bar where food orders were placed. He was back within a few minutes, tapping me on my back.
“That call was from my friend with the police department. She gave me the info you were looking for.” He pulled out a small piece of paper that he scribbled Marshall’s information on.
I looked it over, noting his home and work addresses, including the community center he worked at over the summer as a tutor.
“Thanks.”
“Should I even ask what you’re going to do with that?” He nodded in the direction of my hand, as I placed the paper in my back pocket.
“Probably not.”
We headed back to the table.
“Wanna tell us what’s up with you and the owner of the bar?” Corey asked, nonchalantly, just as the food Don ordered was brought to the table.
Three pairs of smirking eyes were trained on me. “No.”
“Aw, come on, man!” Carter cried.
“It’s about time you gave us something. We’re not gonna act like we didn’t just see what happened at the bar. Don’t say it’s nothing! The Harvard we know doesn’t do PDA,” Corey challenged.
Letting out a deep sigh, I attempted to divert attention back to the food. “I thought you bozos said you were hungry.” Nine times out of ten, it worked. Not this time.
“We can eat and talk. Spill it,” Don added.
I narrowed my gaze at him first, then the rest of them. “I can’t believe I call you guys my brothers.”
“Brothers from another mother. And don’t you forget it. Now spill,” Carter laughed.
“Look, it’s new. Really new, and I’m liking it. That’s all I’m saying about Angela and I. Now mind your fucking business and eat your goddamn wings.”
“Someone’s sensitive,” Corey sing-songed.
He was right, Iwassensitive over my budding relationship. Especially after what happened with my mother. And while I didn’t fear these guys wouldn’t accept Angela like my mother hadn’t, I didn’t want to share her either. Not yet. I turned back toward the bar and smiled as Angela danced behind the bar again, serving drinks. When she looked up and caught my eye, I gave her a wink, and her smile grew even wider. The stirring in my groin happened again, and I began counting down the minutes until the bar closed.
****
“You’ve been up for nearly twenty-four hours,” Angela commented, as we stepped up onto her porch.
“I suddenly got my second wind.” My hand went to the small of her back.
She grinned at me over her shoulder. Instead of heading right to the door, as I expected her to do, she turned for the wooden swing sitting at the far right side of the porch. She sat and patted the space to the right of her for me to sit. I joined her, but my need to touch her became overwhelming, so I picked her up, placing her on my lap, nuzzling my face into the crook of her neck. Her sweet scent made me feel heady and my fingers dug into the flesh of her thighs.
