“I know what I want.” He stood and pulled out his wallet. “But I can pay for my own.”
I touched my hand to his arm. “I’m paying. I asked you out first and I don’t have a sitter to pay.”
Chewing on his bottom lip, he tucked his wallet away before meeting my gaze. “Thank you. You don’t have to but thank you.”
Already enraptured by the adorable omega, I cupped his elbow and leaned closer. “It’s my pleasure.”
He drew in a quick breath of air before he swallowed. “Um, they, um, have a really good turkey club sandwich here. That’s what I would like. Please.”
“You got it.” I smiled as I caught another slight flush of his cheeks. “Anything to drink?”
“Water, please. Just water.”
“Done. I’ll be right back.” I ran my fingers down his forearm before breaking contact with him to order our food. The entire time I’d touched him, my dragon had been thrilled, whispering something over and over, but I hadn’t caught what he’d said, too focused on the man in front of me.
It didn’t take me long to order and once the server handed me Ladon’s water, he told me he would bring the rest out to us.
Returning to sit with my date, I found I couldn’t resist staring at him with the sparkle of his blue eyes and his nervous smile. Absolutely irresistible. I wanted to know everything about him. “So, do you come here often, or did you check out the menu beforehand?”
He pointed over his shoulder. “I live a few blocks away, so it’s not too far for me to walk with Kirin. Not his favorite spot but definitely healthier than fries or pizza.”
I chuckled. “Pizza is our station’s go-to when we’ve been out on a call, and no one feels like cooking after. Not exactly what we want to eat if we have fitness training the next day, but no one cares at the time.”
With his forearms on the table, Ladon leaned forward. “How often do you train for stuff?”
“Everyday.” I longed to reach out and touch him, have some kind of connection with him, but didn’t want to move things faster than what he was ready for. Especially if this was his first date ever. “Our shifts are forty-eight hours, so two days. On one of those, we will do some kind of fitness training. Often cardio. And on the other, we train for whatever the theme of the week is. It could be confined spaces, water rescues, or a reminder of basic first aid. There are so many possibilities for us. That is, when we don’t have a call or a community event like last Saturday in Vista Park.”
Ladon sipped his water. “I didn’t know you would be there, but I’m glad you were. Kirin has been obsessed with fire trucks and becoming a firefighter since meeting you last week.”
I liked to think Ladon enjoyed seeing me there again, too. Since he was on the date with me without his son, I assumed that to be true. “Well, we always like to inspire young children to become one of us in the future. I just hope he feels the same way about the job when he’s old enough to start training.”
Ladon’s face paled. “But isn’t your job dangerous?”
“It can be.” I reached my hand out to touch him, running my fingers across his. “That’s why we are constantly training, and why we do building inspections. If there is any type of emergency, we want everyone to be as safe as possible. But with any job, there are always circumstances we can’t predict for.”
He grimaced. “I would be worried all the time.”
At first, I thought he meant if we were in a serious relationship, but then I remembered we were talking about his son becoming a firefighter. “As his dad, I’m sure you would worry about him in almost any job.”
“Yeah.” The corner of his mouth turned up in a slight smile. “I guess that’s true.”
“So, tell me how you came to work at the day care. To me, that seems dangerous, handling all those kids at once.” I needed to get his mind off what I did for a living. I wanted him to see me as more than a firefighter.
He chuckled. “Some days, it feels like it is, but you seemed to handle them well.”
I held my hands out in front of me. “I panicked and did the first thing that came to mind. But there is no way I could handle all of them for more than an hour. Near the end, my arms started to hurt, and I had no idea what I would have done after if we hadn’t left then.”
“I can tell you, they didn’t get their naps that day.” He crossed his arms with a playful smile tugging on his lips. “Because they couldn’t stop talking about the fire inspector and his sexy sidekick.”
“They thought I was sexy?” I couldn’t let that word go. I didn’t know if Ladon realized he said it, but I couldn’t help but mention it.
“Um, no.” He gulped, playing with his hands. “I guess not, but some of us who work there thought that.”
“You?” Maybe I was only trying to feed my ego, but I wanted to know what the omega thought of me.
His cheeks flushed, spreading to his ears this time. “Yeah. Yes. I did.”
“Well, I think you’re very attractive and have a bit of a fiery personality. That’s why I asked you out.” On top of that, my dragon had insisted upon it, was obsessed with him, but I wasn’t ready to tell him that yet. Not on our first date.
