“Hey, Hardy, can I talk to you about something?”
“Why do I know that I’m not going to like the sound of this?”
“I would never normally ask this, but there’s this girl I’m into, and she has childcare for only tonight. Do you think I could be off duty for a couple hours?” My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out, noticing Lucy’s “here” text.
He nods toward my phone. “That her?”
“Yup.”
“She in the parking lot?”
“Emm…”
He spins his computer monitor around, showing me the image of a car idling in our parking lot.
“Feckin’ hell. I can explain.”
“Do I need to remind you that you’re on call? That at any moment a call could come in that would require us to drop everything to go help someone?”
I nod, feeling like a royal arsehole.
Hardy stands, leaning over his desk as he lowers his voice. “Well then, I’m also going to remind you that the gym is the only room in the building with a locking door for some odd reason. And… oops, the camera just went out in that room. It does that sometimes. Someone really should fix it.”
I blink at him in confusion, trying to decipher if he’s being serious or fucking with me. Normally, I’m the one messing with him.
“If we get a call, you better haul ass to your rig. I don’t care if you’re balls-deep in your friend or not. Got it?” There’s a harshness to his tone that lets me know that he means business. “And this is your one free pass. If I ever catch you pulling anything like this at this firehouse again, I’ll go straight to the chief.”
“Got it. One time. It won’t happen again.” I feel like I’m being punished, when he’s actually given me the greatest gift. “Can I ask why you’re doing this?”
“Bella told me about Lucy’s date from hell. Said she could really use some good luck. Don’t fuck this up. And for Christ’s sake, clean up after yourselves.”
I hurry out of his office, texting Lucy to meet me at the back door. When I see her walk up, I hustle her inside and down the hall toward the gym.
“Are we going to get in trouble?” she whispers.
Opening the door for her, I gesture for her to go first and I lock the door behind us. The fluorescent lights flick on, and she blinks as she adjusts to the brightness. “How many rules are you breaking right now?” she asks.
“Don’t worry about it. Besides, you’re worth getting in trouble for.” I grip her by the hips and pull her against me.
Her hands land on my chest and she rests them there, pushing against me slightly. She looks around the room, taking in all the equipment. “That’s a lot of mirrors.” Her voice is quiet, a hint of nervousness in her tone.
“And I can’t wait to see every inch of you in them,” I say as I lean down to kiss her, but her words stop me.
“This was a mistake,” she says, shoving my chest, attempting to break my hold, but I wrap my arms around her tighter.
What spooked her? “Talk to me,” I plead, trying to get her to make eye contact with me.
There’s a riot of emotions on her face, and I’m having trouble deciphering them as I’m still learning to read her.
“This just doesn’t feel very…”
“Romantic?” I suggest.
She nods. “Sure, we’ll go with that.”
“It’s not supposed to be romantic, we’re not dating. Your rules, right?”
“Right.” She looks around the room again. “Could we turn off a few of the lights?”
