Page 26 of Airhead

Chapter Thirteen

Katie should run and never look back.

Dancing in a supply closet with Frank, after what had happened in the parking lot, and expecting her panties not to melt off her body was pretty much the definition of insanity.

Running was the smart option.

Instead, she closed the door behind her and stepped into place so her right hand was in his and her left on his shoulder. According to all the dance lessons the nuns had forced them to do in middle school, his hand should have rested lightly on her side. But when Frank brought his hand down, it landed on the indent of her waist and slid around to the small of her back. He didn’t pull her in closer. She went on her own, letting her hand glide across the length of his shoulder so her fingers brushed his hair.

There wasn’t enough room to do anything but sway to the music coming through the door, but that didn’t matter.

He brought their hands in so the back of hers rested against his chest, above his heart. It was beating as fast as hers was. Resting her cheek against his shoulder, she inhaled the woodsy scent of his cologne. It made her think of curling up with Frank in front of a crackling fire while the snow piled up outside. She could learn to really love that smell, and this feeling of warm anticipation and desire that made her senses go on full alert.

“This is the saddest song,” she said, the words coming from the need to distract herself before she did something dumb. “He dreamed big and took a chance on making a change and it didn’t work out.”

“True, but he doesn’t say what happened once he got off that dock. Maybe he went back to Georgia, fell in love, and lived his best life.”

She peeked up at him, half expecting a smirk or the grin, but neither were there. Frank was being sincere and it made her breath catch. Who was this guy?

“You’re a romantic,” she said, answering her unspoken question.

“Don’t rat me out,” he said, employing the grin for massive effect. “The guys will give me so much shit about it.”

Nope. It was too late. For the first time, she was actually seeing Frank Hartigan. “So you think there’s always a happy ending?”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to do my job,” he said as he spun her around—which was a bit of a miracle since they were squeezed against the shelves of cleaning supplies and pair of two-drawer filing cabinets.

“Why’s that?”

He didn’t say anything at first, and Katie thought he wasn’t going to answer. She couldn’t blame him. They weren’t anything to each other. They were just dancing in a supply closet.

“I see people at what is probably the worst moment in their life,” he said, finally. “Their house is burning down, or they’re stuck in a mangled car, or the people they love most in the world are trapped behind a wall of smoke or fire. I have to believe that it’ll be all right so I can go in there and make it as close to okay as I can—take that worst day and just make it a bad day.”

She bit the inside of her cheek to ward off the tears pricking her eyes. “You’re good at it. Dad says you’re one of the guys he can always depend on at the scene.”

He let go of her hand and tucked a loose hair behind her ear. “That’s just because I’m too dumb to run away from the flames like all the smart people.”

Katie slid her arm up so that she could join her fingers behind his neck and shifted her body so they were lined up perfectly. “I don’t think you’re dumb.”

He chuckled as he let his arm fall so he had both arms around her, his thumbs resting lightly on the sliver of skin between the top of her skirt and her sweater. “My grades in high school tell a different story—especially compared to yours.”

She glanced pointedly around at the stacks of brown paper towels and gallons of Clorox. “And look where that got me.”

“The job you love in a place that isn’t your favorite, for sure. But it’s home, and it’s filled with people who care about you.”

Her comeback was on the tip of her tongue, She was ready to give him a real what-for about how she’d had plans for her life, and she’d tried, and she’d failed. She might as well be sitting on that dock, watching the plans she’d had get washed out on the tide. That was what she was going to tell Frank.

But as soon as she looked at his face, his fierce expression stopped even a single syllable from passing her lips.

“I’m not a brainiac, Katie, but I know what I’m good at.” Determination and promise thickened his tone. “And I’d be really fucking good at loving you.”

Her heart stopped dead in her chest. There was no whooshing of blood in her ears or thump against her ribs. Everything just stopped, in the moment, because, God help her, she believed him. And that was the scariest thing that had ever happened to her in her life. Facing down a dozen Mike Myers would be less frightening.

This was utter fucking madness. She should get the fuck out of here. Hell, she never should have come in here to begin with. All this time, she’d been worried about her damn panties when her heart should have been her number one concern. Falling for Frank Hartigan was the absolute worst thing she could do.

So she wouldn’t.

She refused to.