“Good thing no one was there and good thing the woman who owns this place didn’t get hurt. You’re off shift when we get back to the station, right?”
“I am. I’m gonna crash when I get home too. Was up too late last night. Too much caffeine and too many hours of video games.” Josh had never been able to sleep immediately following a call. The adrenaline rush through his system was something he’d found in the military after missions and it would take hours, sometimes days before he could calm down enough to sleep. He’d also learned when he was on the job, not to sleep deeply. Only when he was off duty would he allow himself to relax and let go.
“I hear ya. You and Jay want to come by tonight for ribs? John put some in the smoker earlier and by the time we all wake up, they should be done.”
“Thanks man, but I think I’m just going to keep my ass at home. I’m fuckin’ beat. If there’s any left, maybe Jay and I’ll show up tomorrow before football starts.”
“You just want to sit in front of my sixty-inch television.”
“Not my fault you had to outdo everyone in the electronics department.” Tommy opened his mouth and Josh knew there was a protest on the tip of his friend’s tongue. Josh chuckled. “And don’t you dare blame John for that. He’d rather put his nose in a book than watch football all day Saturday and Sunday.”
“Fuck you.” But it was said without heat and malice because Josh had been right and Tommy was well aware of it.
Josh shook his head. “Love you like family, man, but not in a million years. That all belongs to John.”
Tommy and Josh had been friends since grade school and Tommy had come out of the closet in junior high. His family hadn’t been pleased with the idea, but they hadn’t shunned him for it either and Josh never treated Tommy any different. Hell, he had his own sexual preferences that were a little out of the ordinary in their conservative little town. He had no right to judge anyone else.
At that moment, he glanced over his shoulder at Jay and the woman he’d been treating. She was who Josh wanted and who he’d take up on any offer.
He knew everything about her. Her blog was an open book about her life, her cooking, her business as a food critic, restaurant reviewer, and cookbook author. She had never disclosed her address, but had posted pictures of her kitchen and the recent makeover she’d done to it. All that hard work was gone now and Josh felt bad for her.
The more he read her posts each day, the more his crush deepened and the more he didn’t know what to do about it. She was becoming a bit of an obsession and it was frustrating. He was hooked on a woman he’d never met, never even seen in real life until today. That she lived just a few streets over from him really threw him for a loop.
He knew she lived in Greenville because she’d done restaurant reviews for a lot of places downtown, but that was all he’d known.
Shit. He had it bad. He hadn’t even looked at another woman in months. Every time he went out downtown, he looked for her, hoping he’d be able to spot her, maybe even go up to her and say hello. And every time, he didn’t see her, called himself a fool for wanting her, telling himself she couldn’t be as amazing as he’d built her up in his head to be, and he vowed to forget she existed.
But, then, he’d be back to reading her words. She was a smartass and she was funny. She felt genuine through what she wrote, like she was talking to a friend instead of anonymous people online.
She was real, just as he was, even though she did what millions of others did every day. She made her mark on the Internet. She was also a few feet away, talking to Jay. He must have felt Josh’s eyes on him because Jay looked over. They shared a silent thought between them, something that even to this day was odd. He knew exactly what Jay was thinking same as Jay knew what Josh was thinking.
They wanted her. Together.
Chapter Two
Josh pulled his snow white chick magnet of a car to a stop in front of the small Craftsman house he’d left a little over an hour ago. He couldn’t figure out why, but on his way home and almost without thinking, he parked at the curb and got out. He tried to tell himself it was something of an official visit, but he scoffed at the lie. He didn’t make official visits. That was above his pay grade. He put out fires. He trained rookies. He gave tours and taught kids what to do if there was ever a fire in their house. He didn’t stop by homes where kitchens had burned. Until today.
His brain was screaming at him to go the hell home and sleep.
His body was screaming at him to tell the woman inside the house how much he wanted her so maybe he could get laid sometime soon. His body didn’t understand things just didn’t work like that. Not for him anyway. Jay, yes. Josh, no.
He walked up the single car driveway and up to the small front porch. Everything was well kept, neat and tidy, and something about that did and didn’t fit her. She’d posted pictures before of dirty dishes piled precariously high in her sink and along her counters when she’d been cooking and trying out new recipes. She’d also posted pictures of a kitchen so spotless you could eat off the floor. He had fallen for the contradiction she seemed to be.
Josh shook his head. Fallen, indeed. What the hell was wrong with him? He couldn’t fall for someone he’d never met. It just didn’t work that way. Not in his mind.
Then what are you doing here? He shook the internal question away and raised his hand to knock. The door was ajar and he was immediately alert and focused. Was she all right? Had someone snuck into the house when they saw the fire truck and ambulance leave thinking she was either gone or unable to defend herself? Had she inhaled fumes and tried to get back outside only to pass out at the door?
He knocked, but didn’t wait for a response. Slowly, quietly, he pushed the door open. He glanced at the floor and into the foyer. She wasn’t on the ground so that was a good thing. Josh stepped over the threshold and entered the house. “Hello?” he called out.
If there was someone in the house with her, they’d have heard him. He didn’t want her hurt, but he didn’t want anyone to think he was scared either. He could take down anyone who came at him and he’d rather draw the attention to himself.
He wasn’t sure that’s what was going on anyway.
Soft music came from the direction of the kitchen and he eased his way toward it. “Hello?” he called out again.
“In the back,” came the shouted reply immediately followed by the clattering of metal and a string of curses that would’ve made a sailor blush.
Josh smirked, but made sure to clear it from his face before he walked into the kitchen. At least, what was left of it.
The object of his desire knelt on the fairly new and now ruined laminate floor. She was stacking baking sheets in one of those precarious piles and he mirrored her position, kneeling opposite her. “Are you okay?”
She glanced up when he spoke as if she’d forgotten he was in her house. “Yeah,” she responded quickly. It seemed the question the surprised her. She looked around the scorched room, then at her stack of pans, and finally at him. “Well, no. I mean, I am, but my kitchen isn’t.”
The sadness in her voice touched him. He’d seen fires wreck lives, homes, families. Her kitchen was a small part of her house, though a big part of her life. It was how she made her living. However, from what he could tell, there wasn’t much that couldn’t be replaced and fixed to look good as new.
Her amber eyes were glassy and dilated and there were tear streaks down her face. To know she’d been crying and alone made him ache to take her in his arms, to hold her close, to comfort her until she could pull herself together.
Her normally full lips were pinched tightly shut. She looked tired. Josh had learned from his years in the military and as a firefighter that when tragedy struck, however small in scale it may be, that it always left its mark in several different ways, tiredness and exhaustion being among them.
Nothing about her or her circumstances changed his interest or his fascination with her. He still wanted to know her, hold
her, take her to bed. He wouldn’t make a move to do any of those, especially the latter. He wouldn’t take advantage of her like that.
Not that under different circumstances he wouldn’t make a move.
Seeing her in person tripped whatever triggers were left that her words hadn’t already flipped. She was beautiful with auburn hair in short waves around her face and the freckles that dusted her nose and cheeks made her seem sweet and innocent. He completely dug all those. But her body? Damn. Her body made him think of everything that was opposite sweet and innocent. Sinful. Wicked. Naughty.
Full hips and a full chest, along with a rounded ass and thick thighs. She was hot and lush and five feet five inches of pure sexual fantasy come to life. He wanted to taste her from the top of her head to the heels of her feet and if he didn’t get a grip on himself, he was going to be doing everything he said he wasn’t there to do. He —
“You must think me a real piece of work, huh?”
Josh mentally shook himself back to the present. “What do you mean?”
“You’re one of the firemen from earlier, aren’t you?”
“I am,” he confirmed. “Name’s Josh. Now, why would I think you’re a piece of work?”
“Because I was so stupid?” she asked as though he should know.
“Things like this happen.” He’d seen worse. A lot worse, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure exactly what had happened to set things on fire. It had originated at the stove, followed by a small explosion, and flames shooting from inside the oven. “It was a mistake. An accident.” Of that, he was sure. His tone was gentle, more tender than he’d ever heard himself use in speaking to anyone.
“It doesn’t lessen the damage and it doesn’t happen to me. Or shouldn’t happen to me. I’m a professional in the kitchen. I…” She shook her head and pulled her lower lip between her teeth for a few seconds before she spoke again. “You know what actually caught fire? The coupon paper they stick to the top of the pizza boxes. I normally tear it off, but this time? Nope. I put the box in the oven overnight so my cat wouldn’t get on top of it while I was sleeping. This one time…” Her voice caught on something between a laugh and a sob and the look on her face was nothing less than rueful and pitiful. He wanted to reach for her, to at least take her hand, but she moved before he could.
He stood as well, smoothing his hands against his jeans. She stood across the kitchen near the refrigerator with her back to him. He had an unobstructed view of her backside and his cock took unashamed notice. With a grimace, he shifted and turned to adjust himself before leaning against the counter about three feet away from her.
Josh knew he was a better man than to ogle a distraught woman. Most of him usually was, that is. The parts of him below the belt apparently didn’t get the memo. He crossed his feet at the ankle and his arms over his chest and waited. His body could damn sure get it together to wait, too.
She sniffled a couple times and he smiled when she straightened her spine and rolled her shoulders back. She faced him and offered him a wobbly smile. “I’m sorry about that.”
“No need to be. Your emotions are running high. It’s expected given the day you’ve had.”
She nodded. “Thank you. You must see quite a bit of horrible stuff in your line of work. Definitely more horrible than this.”
“I do, but it doesn’t change how personal it is for you.”
“That’s very kind of you to say.” They stood in silence. She looked around the charred room and he stared at her. She was easily the most adorable woman he’d ever seen. His view was likely clouded by his crush on her, but he didn’t care. He was near her, and talking to her, and trying to be there for her. “Was there ah… Was there something you needed? Or do you need to do another inspection before the insurance adjuster comes?” She wrung her hands in front of her and Josh wanted to take them and hold them steady.
“No,” he answered simply.
“I mean, this was my first fire. Ever. So, I don’t really know what the procedure is from here. I did what one of the other firefighters told me to do. I made a list of things that were damaged and found my home owner’s insurance policy and called them.”
“I’m not here officially. I actually live a couple streets over and thought I’d stop by on my way home to see if you needed anything.”
“Oh, umm… That’s…” She swallowed and looked away with her bottom lip caught between her teeth again. It was an adorable and he wanted to coax that lip back out with his tongue until she fell into the kiss he wanted so desperately to give her.
She opened her mouth and took a deep, shaky breath. “That’s so nice of you. I’m fine, I think. I just wanted to clean up a little bit. I guess I shouldn’t though.”
“You might want to let things be for now,” Josh agreed. She nodded, but she hadn’t met his eyes again. She seemed to be focused on his boots. Or maybe it was the floor that held her attention. Hell, he didn’t know. He only knew she looked lost and uncertain.
The longer the moment continued with neither saying anything, the more awkward it became. He wasn’t sure why he was there and he was pretty sure she didn’t know why he was there either. His cock on the other hand, continued to throb in his pants, reminding him why it was there and Josh did his level best to mentally shut his sexual urges down.
He cleared his throat. “Are you going to be okay here tonight?”
“Yeah,” she said absently, then quickly lifted her head. “I’ll be fine, I think.” She stepped toward him and laid her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry for the way I’ve behaved. I’m a little off after all this and I’m feeling pretty distracted. It’s been rude of me.”
Josh struggled not to lay one of his hands on top of hers and pull her in closer. She wasn’t aware what her touch did to him and until she’d done it, he hadn’t known what it would do to him. She wasn’t aware of his desires, the bent of his thoughts, or that he was a regular reader of her food blog. She wasn’t aware that he was infatuated with her and had been for months. “Don’t apologize. I dropped in and you obviously weren’t up for a visitor.” Especially a visitor who wants to strip you naked and take you on the nearest flat surface.
“It was a nice thing for you to do, though. Can I offer you a drink? I have tea and water. I don’t drink much else. I may have a beer or two that I use for work. That must sound so odd, right? Beer for work, but I —”
Josh did put one of his hands over the one she’d placed on his arm and never removed. “Hey. It’s okay. Really. I don’t need anything to drink and you don’t need to explain anything to me. I just stopped by to check on you, to see if you needed anything. Things like a fire can shake people up.”
The warm amber of her eyes darkened when she looked up at him and a blushed stained her cheeks making her freckles nearly disappear. Fuck what he wouldn’t give to lay his lips against hers. To cup her face in his palms and kiss her worries away. But he didn’t and he wouldn’t.
Not yet.
She offered up a rueful smile. “I was rambling, wasn’t I?”
He smiled in return and winked. “A little. I think under the circumstances, you’re allowed.”
“Probably a good thing you don’t really know me. I ramble. A lot.”
He did know. Some of her posts were fairly long winded, but he’d read every single word she ever wrote, whether about life, recipes, cooking procedures, life in Greenville, or places she wanted to travel and he only wanted more. Of everything. “I’m sure it’s not all that bad. Look, I’m going to head out, but before I do…” He stopped, left the words hanging between them and reached for a small pad of paper and the pen he’d seen at the end of the counter.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the puzzled look on her face. He slid the piece of paper toward her and smiled when her eyes widened at what he’d written on it. “My brother and I will be home tonight, so if you’d like to get out and get away from all this, if you don’t want to be alone, want to talk, whatever. We usual
ly grill out and just relax.”
Her tongue snaked out against her lips before she spoke. “Are you hitting on me?”
He’d done his best to keep his base intentions hidden and to make the offer as innocent as possible. Her words told him he might not have done such a good job of it. “I didn’t plan for it to sound that way, but I suppose it did.” He could be a good guy. He could be the kind of man he wanted to be, the kind of man he knew he was when a woman was down on her luck and in a bit of distress. “The invitation is genuine, no matter how it came across. No strings attached. Just a conversation, a beer, a burger if you’re interested.” Josh shrugged casually. He didn’t want to come on too strong and he didn’t want her to know that a rejection from her would sting. “You look like you could use a friend and pardon me for saying, but I don’t think you’ll be cooking or eating in your kitchen for a while.”
She smiled again, this time it was a sweet, beautiful smile. “No, you’re right about that. I won’t be cooking here and I definitely won’t be ordering a pizza again anytime soon. I’ll think about it. Is that okay? I just… Is it okay for me to think about it? I don’t know what I’m going to do about tonight. I had plans, but I don’t know.”
Josh stepped away from the counter and on pure gut instinct and acting on impulse, leaned toward her and placed a kiss in the center of her forehead. “Take all the time you need. We’ll be around when you’re ready.”
Chapter Three
Jessica stared after the pretty white muscle car until it disappeared around a corner. She’d stared after the firefighter who drove it until he was safely inside, barricaded behind metal and glass where she couldn’t get at him.
He was easily the sweetest and one of the most beautiful men she’d ever met, being kind and neighborly too. It was what people in the south did when there was an accident or someone was in need of help or a friendly shoulder.
Don’t forget he hit on you, the voice in her head whispered. Jess smiled to herself. No, she wouldn’t be forgetting that.
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