For You Complete Collection: Stay CloseHold TightDon't Go
Page 30
But while Cait’s mouth looked like a perfectly kissable mouth, the words that came out of it were a serious problem.
And she’d crossed a line today. She could be annoyed by him. She didn’t have to get his sense of humor. She could think he was an asshole and tell him so, if it made her happy. But to imply he didn’t take his job seriously? That wasn’t okay.
“You’re thinking about her right now.”
“Of course I am. We’re talking about her.”
“No, I mean like really thinking about her. You forgot I was even in the room.”
“I guess I just can’t figure out why she dislikes me so much.” It was partly the truth, anyway. If he mentioned Cait’s mouth, he’d never hear the end of it.
“Does she have any sisters? Maybe you hooked up with one of them and it went south and she has to hate you on principle now.”
“I don’t know if she does or not. I guess it’s possible.” At least that would be an explanation that made sense. “But I doubt it. What are the chances somebody dating a Boston firefighter doesn’t mention her sister’s with Boston EMS?”
“Good point. I guess she just doesn’t like you.” Grant grinned and reached for the chips.
Jerking the bag out of his reach, Gavin was in the middle of telling him where he could shove that suggestion when Jeff Porter walked into the kitchen.
“It’s like living with a couple of teenage girls around here,” he said, shoving his hand into the chip bag.
Danny Walsh, E-59’s LT, was right behind him. “We’ve talked about this, Porter. Pour some chips onto a napkin or paper plate and stop groping around in the bag. God knows where those hands have been.”
“Me? How ’bout where the kid’s hands were today.”
“Hey!” Gavin pointed at the pile of chips he’d shaken out onto the table. “I had gloves on. You could have helped but it takes an hour and half a bottle of baby powder to get gloves on those baseball mitts you call hands.”
He ducked when Jeff tried to cuff him with one of those enormous hands because even in fun, those suckers hurt when they connected.
“This coffee tastes like dish soap,” Walsh grumbled.
“For the hundredth time, LT,” Grant said, “the new dish soap is super concentrated, so you’re supposed to use less.”
“What was wrong with the old dish soap?”
“Coupon from Mrs. Cobb.”
Gavin snorted, knowing that would only escalate Walsh’s grumbling. Their chief’s wife got sick of him grumbling about grocery costs, even though they all had to contribute to the house fund, so she’d taken up coupon clipping. Now they had super turbo dish soap and a freezer full of Hot Pockets.
As they droned on about how embarrassing it was to hold up the entire line while the cashier scanned the coupons Cobb’s wife had sent in to work with him—all sorted into a pink wallet-type organizer with panda bears on it—Gavin’s mind wandered.
Straight back to Cait Tasker and that mouth of hers. He couldn’t stop himself from wondering what her reaction would be if he cut off the attitude-loaded words coming out of her mouth by kissing her and maybe catching that soft bottom lip between his teeth.
Knowing her, he’d end up in the back of her ambulance and she and her partner would stop for lunch on the way to the hospital.
Pick up Hot Response, book four in the Boston Fire series from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Stacey, wherever Carina Press books are sold.
Copyright © 2018 by Shannon Stacey
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ISBN-13: 9781488080630
For You Complete Collection
This edition copyright © 2018 by Author Alexa Riley LLC
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual works as follows:
Stay Close
Copyright © 2017 by Author Alexa Riley LLC
Hold Tight
Copyright © 2017 by Author Alexa Riley LLC
Don’t Go
Copyright © 2018 by Author Alexa Riley LLC
A Fighting Chance
Copyright © 2016 by Shannon Stacey
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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