“Probably the weirdest date I’ve ever been on, but yes.It’s a date.”
Austin got to his feet and pulled his chair closer to Caleb.This way, he could see the computer screen and be closer to hisdate.“Should we start with the getting to know each other bit or with the arson bit?”he asked, leaning into Caleb’s space.
Caleb’s cheeks were still pink, but he didn’t seem to mind Austin’s presence.“I don’t know about you, but I don’t have anything new about the fires.I’ve been looking into the businesses that burned down, including the restaurant, and their owners, but it looks like the only thing they have in common is that they’re shifter-owned businesses.I don’t even know how the arsonist found out about that.”
Since shifters weren’t out to humans, it wouldn’t have been easy.“So either they’re a human in the know, or they’re a shifter themselves?”
“Could be, or maybe they somehow found out about shifters.”
“Knowing about shifters isn’t a good enough reason to set their businesses on fire, though.”Not unless whoever was behind this wasn’t in their right mind.
Caleb shrugged.“I’m sure that to some people, it is.You know humans.You know how scared they get when they’re confronted with something they don’t understand.”
That much was true.Austin had seen enough in his line of work to be aware that whatever the arsonist’s reason was, it probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone else.It could be fear or disgust.It could be something more logical like money, but also hatred.
It didn’t have to make sense to Austin, though.He just wanted to stop the person doing this, and he didn’t really care why they were doing it.
Caleb suddenly closed his computer before leaning back in his chair.“Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
Austin liked where this was going.“What about the arsonist?”
“They’ll still be here after this date, unfortunately.Anyway, I don’t know much about you except that you’re West’s best friend and a firefighter.Care to tell me more?”
Oh, yes, Austinreallyliked where this was going.“I think that the most interesting thing about me is being a firefighter, honestly.I had a happy childhood, I still talk to my parents, and there’s nothing traumatic in my past.I have two younger brothers, my parents are still happily married, and I want what they have eventually.”
Caleb arched a brow.“With me?”
“I don’t know.Itiswhat I’m looking for, though.I’m done with one-night stands and flings.”
Caleb nodded.“Me, too.I’ve had enough of those in the past few years.”He leaned forward.“I like that I won’t have to hide what I am from you.”
“I likeyou.”
Caleb blinked, then laughed.“That’s good.Well, as you know, I’m an only child.My parents are still married, although I’m not sure it’s happily, and I’m too afraid to ask, and it’s not really my business.My grandmother passed away a few years ago.”He paused and took a sip of coffee.“Listening to myself, I realize I’m not that interesting, especially not compared to you.I’m sure you have dozens of stories to tell me.”
“That goes with the job.We deal with serious emergencies, but also with people getting stuck in trees because they were trying to reach their cat and forgot that cats are much better than humans at climbing trees.”
Caleb chuckled.“Yeah?Why don’t you tell me about that?”
Austin relaxed.This wasn’t what he’d expected from today, but he couldn’t say he minded—in fact, he very much didn’t.
* * * *
CALEB FELT GUILTY.He wasn’t supposed to be enjoying himself, instead of investigating the arson.Sure, it wasn’t his job, but he’d still made promises, and he intended to keep them.One way or another, hewouldfind the arsonist, and he’d make sure they never hurt anyone ever again.
But he was also enjoying his time with Austin.He hadn’t expected this meeting to turn into a date, but when he’d seen the opportunity, he’d grabbed it.He wanted to get to know Austin better, and what better way to do that than listen to him tell stories about his job?
“It was obvious the guy wanted to impress his girlfriend,” Austin was saying as he gestured with his hands.“I don’t blame him.She was looking at him with stars in her eyes just because he’d climbed into the tree.”
“I suppose I’d be pretty grateful to anyone who rescued my cat from a tree,” Caleb agreed.
“Except that the cat didn’t need to be rescued.It’s a cat.It would’ve come down eventually.”Austin grinned.“Which is exactly what it did.The guy kept yelling that he had everything under control and continued moving toward the cat.At that point, I thought we were going to have to send two people up, one for the cat and one for the guy.When the guy reached the cat, though, the cat gave him this disgusted look, stepped away, and climbed down.We all watched, and if I hadn’t been a professional, I would have started laughing.The cat sauntered over to the girlfriend, rubbed against her legs, and asked to be picked up.I swear it looked up at the guy in the tree with disdain.If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought the thing was a shifter.”
Caleb grinned.“Cats.”
“And humans trying to impress their owners.”
“It was pretty sweet, though.I mean, if the cat hadn’t been an asshole.”
