“Auntie Lou, look! I’m a fighterfighter!” Charlee crows, holding her arms out wide to show off the jacket that swallows her whole.
“You’re just the bravest looking fighterfighter I ever did see, Charlee-Girl,” I praise, kneeling down to say hello to them both. The fireman still kneeling down in front of Charlee sticks his hand out. “Hi, I’m Lou. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Tommy,” he says quietly. His brown eyes are kind, his sandy brown hair unconventionally long. It curls over the collarof his shirt and is long enough to tuck behind his ears. He glances at Liv again, a shy smile tugging at his mouth when he looks at my single-mom friend.
Okayyyy, sir. We see you.
Tommy and Zach say hello, before Tommy excuses himself. Pushing to stand, I knock my shoulder into Zach’s arm and smile sheepishly at Liv. “Liv, this is Zach.”
Liv grins, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “So he does have a name after all… Nice to meet you, Hot Neighbor.”
Zach coughs out a laugh. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Oh, before she knew your name, you were dubbed Hot Neighbor,” she says simply, shrugging her shoulders and grinning widely as she puts the massive jacket and helmet on Noah, who beams from beneath the visor. “I heard you had a very unique introduction.”
Burying my face in one of my palms, I groan and shake my head in mortification. “Ohmygod, Livvvv.”
Zach chuffs, crossing his arms over his chest and grins down at me. “You talked about me, huh?”
“Would you both just stop.” My cheeks are a million degrees. “You flustered me.”
“The feeling was mutual,” Zach says quietly, leaning down to whisper in my ear. Then, straightening, he says to Liv, “Please, check everything out. Try some chili, cast your votes. There’s also hotdogs for the kiddos that don’t want chili.”
“Perfect,” Liv laughs, taking the jacket and helmet off her youngest and hanging both up on hooks inside one of the cubbies of the firetruck. Taking one kid by each hand, they disappear inside the bay.
Zach and I follow, our arms touching, and I have to remind myself that I’m an adult. He’s an adult. We are allowed to flirt. Allowed to touch.
Joel—no longer with Chloe on his shoulders—is standing next to a woman in the same fire department uniform, her bright, auburn red hair hanging down her back in messy waves. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she’s glaring up at him, and his expression isn’t any happier. So different than the Joel I’ve come to know, who seems to get along with everybody.
“That’s Scarlett,” Zach says quietly, his gaze following mine. “That’s the chief's daughter. She’s on the crew, too. She and Joel used to be really close, and then three years ago, something happened. They haven’t gotten along since.”
I want to ask more, but Zach stops us at the big wrought iron cauldron. Chief Jensen looks up, his hazel eyes bouncing from Zach’s to mine before a wide grin spreads across his face. The man is built like a train and has an easy four inches on Zach, who isn’t short at six feet tall himself.
Graying goatee and head clean shaved, he’s deeply tanned with tan lines on the side of his face from sunglasses hanging from the collar of his shirt. He’s handsome in a truly masculine, mature way, and when he reaches a hand out to shake in introduction, the sheer size of it swallows mine. I’ve known who Clay Jensen is for years but never had the opportunity to meet him before now.
The man gives big D energy.
Dick or Daddy, I’m not sure which.
Possibly both.
“Well, aren’t you just the prettiest thing,” he says, grinning as he shakes my hand. He looks at Zach and says, “You better keep your eye on this one, Zach.”
“Watch it, old man,” Zach warns good naturedly, stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his cargo pants. He glances down at me and says out of the corner of his mouth, “Chief’s the biggest flirt I’ve ever met. Don’t let him fool you.”
Batting my eyelashes at the older man, I smile and say, “It’s very nice to meet you, Chief. I do have a thing for mature men…”
“Fucking hell, Louise,” Zach groans, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger when Chief busts out laughing.
“I like this one,” Chief laughs, releasing my hand and turning to the giant cauldron. He ladles up a paper bowl full of chili and hands it to me, then points to a long table by the bay doors. “Any fixing you could possibly want is over on that table. There’s also a pan of cornbread in the warmer. Please, help yourself. If you need something else to warm you up, you know where to find me.”
Zach practically growls and Chief winks down at me before notching his chin toward the table.
Over at the toppings table, Zach runs his hand across the small of my back, and then down, over my ass discreetly. Leaning close, he growls in my ear, “This ass is mine tonight, Louise.”
Peeking up at him through my lashes, I breathe, “Did I behave?”
Zach squeezes a handful of my ass before letting go. “You’re such a fucking brat. Not even a little bit.”
