“I—um—” I couldn’t get Caspian’s face out of my mind. It wasn’t a complaint, it was a blessing that he distracted me. “No, they were pretty busy by the time I left.”
Janey looked at her watch and then showed me. “You were there a little longer than normal for a routine check. Did you find anything unusual?”
I both nodded and shook my head, sending all the mixed signals, which seemed to be a common theme in my life right now. “Yeah—no, it was fine. They just need a little more ventilation in their kitchen, which I think they’re doing, and everything else seemed fine. I think some of the vents were actually pushing the smoke toward the alarm, so it was being triggered more often.”
“Sure that’s all you found?” She clicked her tongue.
I scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You look flustered, Rick.”
“I’m just—”
She giggled. “You’ve also got a little—” She reached out and brushed a thumb across my cheek. “Just some glitter. Where the heck did you even go? I’ve always wondered... did you find out if they’re a throuple?” She giggle-snorted. “Maybe I should’ve gone instead. I bet I would’ve foundout easily. Gay guys love me.”
My entire body shrank. I didn’t know if she was hinting to me or what—it was confusing, and I hated keeping secrets, especially when they seemed to already be uncovering themselves. I just smiled at her. “I wasn’t prying,” I said. “They’re very nice and friendly.”
Tom startled me with a pat on the back. “You smell like that bakery,” he said. “So, did you bring anything back? My kids went wild for those cupcakes last night. Bouncing off the walls, though. So much sugar.”
“And you wanted more?” I asked, trying to smell myself with a head to my shoulder. Cas had rubbed off on me—after all, we did make out and I could still taste his tongue on the inside of my mouth, as if he’d left crumbs of himself. “I could go back and get cake, but we’ve got to stay in shape, and as the fire captain of this house, I might even suggest we should all be doing sit-ups and push-ups right away.”
Tom laughed. “Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said.
There was a small gym inside the firehouse, which had a single treadmill, a weight bench, and a crossbar on the wall. It was mostly used after Tom or Rooney made a big meal and we all felt like we’d eaten too much.
“So, you have fun?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you were there for a while,” he said.
I folded my arms over my chest, pushing it out a little. “We’ve got to take care of the town, so I’ll take as long as it takes to make people feel safe.”
They both chuckled as I ordered them back to work. I looked back at the open storage cupboard and put away some of the equipment I’d removed—the screwdrivers, mostly.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was him.
If you really want to get to know me, you’ll have to take me on a date,Caspian sent.
And will I be seeing you as the baker, or you as the little?I was prepared for either side of him, but I really wanted to see the sweet, regressed side, the part of him that cuddled up with teddies and dressed in those onesies. The apartment tour had revealed a lot—but I wanted to see it on him.
What were you thinking?he asked.
What you want to do will decide where the date takes place.I’d never asked someone out on a public date, so I hoped he’d want it to be intimate, something we could do together in private.
Your place or mine? I prefer mine, because my things are here, but I have two roommates.
Can’t they leave for the night?
I’ll ask them, but they might not want to,he sent with a red heart emoji.
I stared at the phone as those dots appeared.
Toby here! Yes, we’ll leave for the night! Don’t let Caspian play hard to get. He wants you!
Snickering to myself, I looked around, making sure nobody could come and snatch my phone and see these messages. I figured he must have told them—or maybe they were just finding out right now. Either way, I wanted him, and I needed to keep this taste of him lingering on my tongue.
OMG! I’m so sorry!he added.
