I pulled a face.
“I was making her favorite brunch meal,” the man insisted. “She’s on her way home now.”
I placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. “Next time you want to show your love, get her a freaking puppy or chocolates or whatever. Better yet, hire a chef.”
“Where’s the romance in that?”
I made a clucking sound with my mouth. “It’s in the fact that if you had hired someone to cook, you’d be sitting down to brunch right now instead of talking to me. Better luck next time.”
I smacked him on the back and started for the fire truck.
“You could’ve gone a little easier on the guy,” Carter said as we packed up our equipment.
“He’s gotta learn the hard way. Love isn’t worth all of this. Look where it got him.” I jutted my head toward the house. Light-colored smoke continued to billow out of the front door. “She’s probably gonna dump his ass.”
“So cynical.”
I waved off Eric’s comment. “No use talking sense into you two about it.”
Eric and Carter were blissfully in love and married.
Whatever.
Carter started to say something, but a yell from behind us stopped him. I turned to see a blond haired woman running from her car.
“Jake? Oh, my goodness.”
“I’m sorry, Donna. The house,” Jake said, gesturing toward the house.
“I don’t care about the house right now. Are you okay?”
She folded him in her arms.
“See?” Emanuel walked up behind me. “She cares more about him than the house. Love is worth it.”
I waved him off. Emanuel was one of those blissfully in love fools, too. He and I weren’t as close, since he was newer to Rescue Four, and essentially Corey’s replacement. But I knew about his relationship with Eric’s wife’s best friend. Rumor was that he was on the verge of popping the question to her.
“We didn’t need the water this time, but good job, rookie,” I said as the rookie began untying the hose from the hydrant. “You’re one of the best hose stretchers I’ve seen in a while.”
The rest of the guys around us laughed and patted the rookie on his shoulder.
“Let’s get our asses back to the station quickly. I need to head over to headquarters before they close.”
I had real things to worry about. Love wasn’t one of them.
The arsonist might have everyone else tricked, but not me. He’d been too quiet since the night of Corey’s accident, but he was still out there. I could feel it.
Chapter 4
Jocelyn
Marjorie spottedme as soon as she entered the Peruvian restaurant. She pointed in my direction over the hostess’s shoulder and moved past her, coming my way. This was our first meeting in person, but we’d had a few conversations over the phone and by email.
Marjorie appeared precisely as I thought she would. She was beautiful with dark brown skin that shined, relaxed hair that fell around her shoulders, and at five-foot-nine, she carried herself with confidence.
She’d paired her sleek three-inch heeled boots with a long black ruffle skirt and a dark purple sweater. The black felt hat she wore complemented the outfit well.
I stood and watched as she ran her gaze over my black moto boots, dark jeans, green button down and wine-colored leather jacket.
