Olivia scoffs. “I think pregnancy might be making you crazy, Reed.”
She’s smiling, but that semi-needy look in her eyes, the one that tells me she secretly likes my possessive side, is ever-present. It makes me question if I have time to make her come again before I even get her home.
Goddamn. She’s right. I am fucking crazy. Forher.
CHAPTER 41
Asher
“Ihave my phone with me at all times, Chief. I won’t miss the call,” I say into the phone as I look out onto my yard. Even after two years, the natural beauty of Kentucky and the peace it offers me still catches me off guard sometimes. There are some beautiful places in New York, but everything there was tainted by my father.
“Good. There are currently twelve burning now. The boys almost put them out, but damn wind picked up again and now they’re dangerously close to Franklinville. If one hits the town head-on, the team just don’t have the resources to fight this on their own. They’re already flying in hotshot teams from Washington to California. But they aren’t experienced with the structural side, and we may need all hands on deck. Can you talk to your team?” The head of Kentucky Emergency Management, Dale Brenner, is a straight shooter, and he wouldn’t be calling me if the wildfires in the eastern part of our state weren’t a worry. Abigfuckin’ worry.
“Yes, sir,” I tell him, knowing we have enough men to look after the town. “I can leave most of my volunteer deputies incharge here. I can bring Walker, and probably also three or four fairly experienced hose jockeys too.”
ME
Just got the call from the head of K.E.M. Stay on alert. With what’s going on in Franklinville, they may need us if it gets any worse.
WALKER
You got me any way you need me, Chief.
ME
Thanks. I’ll be in touch.
“Everything okay?” Olivia asks with a hint of worry as I emerge from my bedroom.
“Everything is fine. Just lining up the possibility of helping with the wildfires in Franklinville. If the wind stays on course, and they can’t get it under control, it could hit the town head-on.”
“Is that normal to call in firefighters from other towns?”
I nod as she checks her sour cream cake in the oven.
“Yep, if there is a threat of damage to the town. Wildland firefighters aren’t any more trained on the structural side than we are on the forest fire side. In an emergency, it’s best to have experts from every field. All hands on deck.”
“Hopefully they’ll be able to control it.” Olivia bends down to pick up the new love of her life as he purrs into her.Dick.“That seems scary.”
“We ready to get this show on the road?” I try to steer the conversation away from work as she sets her fluffy pet down. The wide-necked Mötley Crüe T-shirt she’s wearing distracts me every single time she bends over because it gives me the perfect view of her full tits, and I’m already itching to touchher after watching her wander through the vendors at the rodeo this evening, hair blowing in the breeze, her heart-shaped ass on full display.
“Yep.” She smiles as she washes her hands. “Icing making one oh one.”
I move to the other side of the island—whiskey in hand—and watch her. If anyone would’ve told me three months ago that I’d be letting the mother of my child baby talk a fuckin’ cat as she taught me how to make icing with a movie called13 Going on 30on the TV in my living room, I would’ve told them they were fucking high. But watching Olivia like this lets me get a glimpse of the nurturing woman she is, the kind of woman who will love my child more than anything in this world. And that might be the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Duke moves closer as she works, sniffing around to assess what the fuck is happening. My boy is already used to having Dick around, so the new addition of him in the house doesn’t seem to faze him.
“I’m supposed to be cooking for you, not the other way around,” I say to Olivia as I watch her check the consistency of the butter in one of the bowls.
“I like to bake. It calms me. And I have the best memories because of it.”
“You and your nana, right?”
She blinks up at me with a surprised expression.
“That’s right.The Joy of Cookingwas her bible.” She looks away for a moment, the reminder that it no longer exists hitting her all over again.
Olivia tucks a lock of red hair behind her ear. “Can’t be sad while I bake. It’s illegal. So get over here, cream this butter.”
