“Any women you care to mention by name?”
“All the women, probably. I mean, you’re kind of sexy firefighter calendar material.”
He choked out a laugh and studied his wineglass.
“You were on a calendar?”
“Years ago when I joined the department in Raleigh,” he admitted, feeling almost sheepish. He usually didn’t give much thought to the way he looked. Hell, he’d been staring at his own reflection in the mirror for nearly three decades. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing special about it.
But Avery’s grin did funny things to his insides.
“What month were you?”
“April.” He rolled his eyes. “I needed the money and it was a painless couple of hours.”
“Do you have a copy?”
“Uh, no. And even if I did I’d burn it before I showed it to you.”
“I’m going to track it down,” she threatened with a giggle.
“Can we stop talking about this? Let’s discuss your romantic history.”
She shook her head. “I haven’t even gotten to number two on the list of reasons your ex-wife was a fool to let you go.”
“I’m sure I can live without hearing it.”
“You’re an amazing father.”
Four little words but they hit him with the force of a bullet. He placed his wineglass on the counter when he realized his hand was shaking. “I’m lucky I’ve got a good kid. Violet is—”
“A handful,” Avery said. “Don’t bother denying it. It’s going to serve her well one day, but right now she needs a lot of parenting. You make it look effortless, like you love every minute of it.”
He blew out a breath, love for his daughter filling him like a ray of sunshine. “I do. She’s without a doubt the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I hate the times when she’s with her mom.” He cringed at how that sounded. “I don’t hate her being with Stacy. I hate that she’s not with me.”
“I get it.” Avery reached out and squeezed his hand. The touch was awkward, and he guessed she wished they hadn’t gone down this serious path. “She knows you love her whether she’s here or with her mom. I know that without a doubt.”
“Yeah.” He picked up his glass and took a slow sip. “Enough about my complicated history. Tell me about all the hearts you’ve broken.”
The shift in her energy was subtle but undeniable. It was as if a curtain drew down over her features, hiding the woman he knew behind the perfectly polished disdain he’d witnessed that first day at the gas station.
“No broken hearts in my wake,” she said, taking a step away from him. “Not much history to speak of. Was the house remodeled when you moved in or did you do the work yourself?”
The change in topic was obvious, but he didn’t call her out on it. The end of his marriage had practically destroyed him, and if it wasn’t for Violet things might have been worse. He had a feeling whatever had happened to Avery was more recent. She seemed raw and...vulnerable.
“How do you like your steak?” he asked instead, opening the fridge again and pulling out the tenderloin he’d been marinating.
“Medium,” she said. “And my love life is really nothing. I fell in love with the wrong guy. He didn’t care about me, and I learned a lesson about giving away my heart.”
“It wasn’t easy to share that.”
She shook her head, traced a finger along the rim of her wineglass. “Not a big deal. We’re friends, right?”
“I like the sound of that.” He took a pair of tongs from the drawer. “Still a little shocked, but I like how it sounds. Now I’m going to grill you the best piece of meat you’ve ever had.”
“Don’t get me started on your meat,” she said with a laugh.
He wanted to lean in and kiss her but let himself out onto the back patio instead. If she wanted to define what was between them as friendship, who was he to argue? And if their friendship turned out to be the kind that included benefits, he wouldn’t complain.
Avery might not be his type, but he liked her. He also liked that her stay in Magnolia wasn’t permanent. That would ensure that he kept things casual between them, even if his too-soft heart got in the way.
* * *
“THIS WAS THE most normal evening I’ve had in ages,” Avery said as she finished drying the final pot Gray handed to her.
Gray chuckled. “Normal isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.”
There’d been so much laughter as she helped him prep dinner, then during the meal and even after as they worked together to clean the cozy kitchen.
“I’m a big fan of normal.” She took the final sip of wine from her glass but shook her head when Gray held out the bottle to offer her a refill. This was her third glass and between the intimate quiet of the house, Gray’s innate sexiness and the way the alcohol loosened her inhibitions, she knew she needed to stop. Of course, she could still make it back to the guest cottage with no problem. She was buzzed but not drunk. The problem was she didn’t want to leave.
Spot let out a soft snore from where she’d fallen asleep under the kitchen table. Even her foster dog felt at home here.
“What did normal life look like before Magnolia?” Gray asked gently.
She clenched her fists tight and thought about how to answer. They’d spent the past couple of hours talking and laughing but she’d still managed to share very little about herself. It was easy to ask questions about life in Magnolia, and Gray seemed happy to share the history of the area. It was so different here than where Avery had grown up, and not just the dichotomy between a small town and the big city.
In San Francisco, she’d been anonymous. Yes, she’d had friends at work and remained as close as she could manage with her mother. But no one had really known her business—at least until her life had imploded.
Magnolia was all about roots and ties to the community, how long a person had lived in town and what brought them to the area in the first place. It was somewhat gratifying to know that although she might garner an extreme amount of interest because of her father, no one could escape the small-town microscope, at least according to Gray.
“I worked a lot,” she told him. “I was in risk management for a big finance company, Pierce and Chambers.”
Gray whistled under his breath. “Big-time.”
She nodded and wondered that she didn’t feel any pang of longing for her former life. “Sometimes I traveled but it was mainly long hours in the office.”
“But you loved it?” he prompted, as if he couldn’t imagine why someone would devote themselves to a career that didn’t mean something to them.
“I liked the paycheck,” she admitted. “I was good at the job. But it wasn’t a vocation. Not like what you do.” She could see the question in his gaze and figured she’d offer an answer before he could ask too much. “I was ready for a change, and then the letter came about Niall. It felt like a sign.”
She held her breath, gauging his reaction to her explanation. It was a version of what she’d told Carrie and Meredith and not exactly a lie. But somehow it felt as though she was deceiving him. This man had been cheated on by his ex-wife and it had hurt him badly. His daughter was the most important thing in his life.
How would he feel about her if he knew the full truth of the destruction she’d caused her ex’s family? She might have been an unwitting accomplice to the betrayal, but she should have known better. She hurt innocent people, and she never wanted to be in that position again.
Not if she could help it.
But she also didn’t want to destroy whatever this was blossoming between them. Not yet. She’d called him a friend, and she meant it. Avery felt comfortable with Gray in a way that she didn’t with most people.
Maybe it was because she knew nothing could ever really happen between them. Nothing serious anyway. There was a
lot at stake and too much either of them could lose.
Although, after today, the thought of leaving Magnolia held little appeal. How was that possible? Heatstroke? Desperation? Probably some pathetic mix of the two.
“Fresh starts are good,” he said, placing the two empty wineglasses in the sink.
“Just because I’m a lightweight doesn’t mean you can’t have another glass.”
“I don’t need anything else,” he said with a smile, then held up a finger. “Except dessert.”
“You made dessert, too?” She grinned. “I hope you have that in your dating profile.”
“Not exactly homemade,” he admitted. “But I have pudding cups, packaged cookies or an ice-cream sandwich to offer you.”
“Ice cream,” she said without hesitation. “It still counts in your favor that you have something in the fridge besides beer and stale Chinese.”
“I’m a dad,” he said with a shrug. “There’s some kind of parenting rule about a well-stocked kitchen.”
“I didn’t know that.” She took the package he handed her from the freezer, shocked when it didn’t completely melt from the heat of their fingers brushing. “My mom wasn’t much of a cook, but she hired a meal service to stock the pantry with healthy food every week.”
“No dessert from a box?”
She shook her head. “I thought if I had anything with processed sugar, my teeth would immediately rot and fall out.”
“Gullible,” he teased.
“No doubt.” She laughed. “It didn’t help that once I snuck down to the market around the corner, bought a huge bag of chocolate and ate the entire thing in one sitting. Of course, I got sick, a fact of which my mom reminded me whenever I begged for junk food.”
“I can’t imagine you begging for anything,” he told her, leading her through the kitchen toward the family room connected to it.
Her cheeks heated as she thought about begging Tony’s wife to forgive her for the part she’d played in destroying their family. Not that she thought she deserved any sort of absolution.
“I don’t make it a habit,” she said, lowering herself to the sofa. He took a seat next to her, a polite distance away but still close enough that she could almost feel the thrum of attraction pulsing between them.
“That sounds like a challenge.”
“Hardly.” She unwrapped the ice-cream sandwich and bit into it, the cold on her teeth sending a shiver through her. She pointed it toward him. “You’ll remember I kissed you today.”
“How could I forget?”
“Which makes me not much of a challenge.”
He leaned forward, as if he were sharing a secret with her. “You didn’t see me complaining.”
“So we’re friends who kiss?”
“That might be the best kind.”
She laughed. “Does that go for your buddies at the station? I’m open-minded—”
“Just you,” he interrupted with a sexy half smile that had her heart stuttering.
The kick in her heart was accompanied by a healthy dose of fear. She liked Gray. Based on her previous experience, that could easily lead to disaster.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” She gestured between the two of them, figuring he had to be as aware of the pull as she was.
“We don’t have to do anything,” he said gently, and didn’t his willingness to give her the reins just make her want to launch herself into his arms?
“Do you like movies?” she asked, needing to change the subject to something less charged.
She took another bite of ice cream as he glanced toward the television. “I can’t remember the last time I watched something that didn’t involve talking snowmen. By the time Violet goes to bed and I get the house in order, I’m normally beat. Most nights I don’t have her I’m at work. I’d taken today off because I thought Stacy would change her mind.”
“We could watch something tonight,” she suggested, then felt stupid for assuming he’d want to spend the whole evening with her. He’d helped her feel more comfortable at the fair and then made her dinner tonight. Maybe this had been his way of repaying her for helping with Violet’s braids.
“How do you feel about Clark Gable?” He popped the last bite of his ice cream into his mouth and grabbed the remote from the coffee table.
“Is that a trick question?”
“I used to watch a ton of black-and-white movies when I was a kid. Are you up for something old-school?”
“Sure,” she agreed. “My mom loved classic movies, too. It Happened One Night was her favorite. But if you’d rather enjoy a rare night on your own, I understand.”
“You saved me from myself today.” As the television blinked to life, he moved closer, not so they were touching but enough that only inches separated them. “I put on a good face—or at least I try—but I would have moped around all damn morning feeling sorry for myself. Instead, it was a great day.”
Sparks danced along Avery’s spine like she was a teenage girl wishing her guy crush would pull her in to cuddle. As if everything with Gray was new and fresh and unspoiled by the complication of real life.
“Let’s go with It Happened One Night. You can’t beat Gable and Colbert.”
As the actors appeared on-screen, Avery settled in, trying to tamp down her awareness of Gray. Slowly, she relaxed again, her body recalibrating to deal with his nearness. At least she no longer felt as though she might spontaneously combust. In fact, she simply felt happy—able to put aside her worries and enjoy an ideal end to a perfect day.
CHAPTER TWELVE
SEVERAL HOURS LATER, Avery opened her eyes and her vision adjusted to the darkened room. It took a few moments to realize where she was. She sat up with a stifled gasp. The last thing she remembered was the tender moment of Clark Gable tucking in Claudette Colbert as they resorted to spending the night in a hayfield.
And she’d fallen asleep, ever the romantic at heart. She’d missed the end and the trumpet and the walls of Jericho coming down—all the good stuff.
She would have expected Gray to wake her, but instead it appeared he’d covered her with a blanket and arranged a pillow behind her head.
Embarrassment washed over her as she wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and then she stilled. As her gaze focused on the shadows, she noticed her handsome firefighter asleep in the chair across from the sofa, his head tipped back, feet propped on a leather ottoman. Not only had he tucked her in tightly, but he’d stayed, almost as if he were watching over her.
The thought made tears prick the backs of her eyes. She put aside the blanket, unsure how to deal with the emotions surging through her. She liked it here in Magnolia, even though she knew her stay couldn’t be permanent. There was no future for her in a sleepy Southern town, and definitely not with a sexy single dad.
He couldn’t be her firefighter. She’d already learned the difficult lesson that she could destroy people without even trying. There was no way she’d take that risk in Magnolia. Less than a month in town and the people here were already too important to her.
With the knowledge that she couldn’t stay came a particular kind of freedom. There was little risk to something inherently temporary, at least as far as Avery was concerned.
She stood slowly, pulse pounding, and moved toward Gray. Suddenly her reliance on a fleeting arrangement seemed naive. Of course she was risking something in wanting this man.
Rejection, for one, followed quickly by the potential for heartbreak.
But she couldn’t resist, not in the intimate stillness of the quiet house. Not with desire pumping a staccato tempo through her veins.
His eyes opened when her leg brushed against his. Before he could react or she could come to her senses, she leaned in and kissed him.
He tasted like vanilla and sleep. The stubble shadowing his jaw scratched her cheek,
goose bumps prickling her skin.
“Is this a dream?” he asked, his voice husky.
“If you need it to be,” she answered.
Before she could pull back, he tugged her closer, lifting her hips so that she climbed onto the chair, straddling him with her knees pushed into the soft cushions.
He kissed her deep and slow, claiming her mouth as if she were the most precious thing in the world to him. Tonight’s kiss was a revelation, and her body practically melted as heat licked along her spine. After minutes—or maybe hours—he broke their embrace, cupping her face in his strong, calloused hands.
“This is real,” he said, his gaze intent on hers. “I don’t want either of us to forget that.”
Real. Avery turned the word over in her desire-drugged mind, a puzzle she couldn’t quite solve. Nothing in her life seemed real at the moment but she understood what he meant.
So close to Gray she felt grounded, held firm not just by his embrace but by their surprising bond. She’d felt untethered in her life, but this man was like a lighthouse in a storm, solid and true. Somehow she understood deep in her bones that he had the power to guide her home.
“Tonight,” she said, then swallowed when the word came out rougher than she wanted it to. “Tonight doesn’t have to mean anything.” She didn’t believe the words but spoke them with conviction, needing to convince them both. “It won’t change us.”
Although he didn’t offer her a smile, the corners of his eyes crinkled in a way that told her he was amused by her rationalization. “So it’s just physical?”
“Right.”
He moved his hands, tracing a finger along the edge of her jaw as he studied her. “I can live with that.”
Avery blew out a breath.
Gray chuckled, the sound doing wicked things to her insides. “Did you think I’d say no?”
“It crossed my mind.”
“Then you should stop thinking so hard,” he told her and like she weighed nothing, he rose from the chair, lifting her into his arms.
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