“I like...” She stopped, frowning. “Wait. Do you mean on a pizza?”
“Yeah. Baked macaroni and cheese with buffalo chicken. And, bonus, it doesn’t have any vegetables.”
“When I said I like most toppings, I meant normal ones. Pepperoni. Sausage. Maybe some bacon. I’ll even have a slice of Hawaiian in a pinch, though I personally think pineapple on a pizza is a little sketchy.”
He raised one eyebrow, and then his mouth curved into a smile. “Do you trust me?”
“No.”
Gavin’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Pizza’s serious business. It takes time to build that kind of trust.”
“I can’t earn your trust if you don’t let me try.”
She considered that, and he was right. “Okay, I’ll try it. But just know I can hold a grudge for a long time.”
He winked at her as the server approached. “I won’t let you down.”
They both ordered sodas and he took care of ordering the pizza. Cait shook her head at the offer of bread, because of the doughnuts, and because putting baked macaroni and cheese and buffalo chicken on a pizza probably didn’t do much for its calorie count.
When they were alone again, he reached across the table and took her hand in his. It seemed as though he was a very touchy-feely person, which was sweet. Cait wasn’t, really, and her mom and Duke hadn’t been much for touching in public. But she liked the contact, and the fact he wanted it.
But when he ran his thumb over her nail, she wanted to curl her fingers and hide her hands from him. “I’m not really good at the whole long-fingernail thing, I guess. Or nail polish.”
“So? Some women paint their nails and some don’t. Some guys have beards and some don’t.” He chuckled. “I tried once, before I joined the fire department. I don’t grow a cool, hipster beard. Mine’s more like somebody glued dust bunnies to my face. Fuzzy and splotchy and...not a good look.”
That made her laugh. “I got a manicure once, with my mom. She got a gift certificate from my stepdad and brother for Mother’s Day a few years ago and made me go with her. It took forever and the nail polish lasted maybe two days.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Interesting word choice, made. Most of the women I know love to go to the salon or the spa or whatever the hell you call it.”
She pulled her hand free and curled it into a fist, to hide her nails. “I guess I’m not like most of the women you know.”
“No, you’re not.” He pried gently until she uncurled her fingers, and then he ran his thumb over her palm. Cait wondered if he could see the shiver that ran down her spine. “So you don’t paint your nails or grow them long. So what? You take care of your family with these hands. You save lives. You flip off firefighters. I like your hands.”
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or climb over the table, straddle his lap and kiss him until they both forgot what they’d been talking about.
“Tell me the Joe Grassano story.”
She was confused for a few seconds by the abrupt subject change, though the name seemed familiar. “Who?”
“The firefighter you pushed down the stairs.”
“That was an accident!”
He laughed, because he obviously knew that. “As I heard the story, you and Tony were going down the stairs and Joe got in the way. You bumped into him and then you yelled something, stuck your arm out and he fell down the stairs.”
“That is not what happened,” she said, but after a few seconds of thought, she frowned. “Okay, that is what happened. But it’s all in how you say it, I guess.”
“How would you say it?”
If it was just a random firefighter asking her that, she’d probably get defensive. But she knew Gavin didn’t believe she’d deliberately pushed Joe Grassano down the stairs. “We were carrying the stretcher down the stairs, and...let’s just say the guy could have used a calorie tracker. I bumped into Joe, which jostled my patient. And, yeah, I think I yelled something at him because what moron stops on the stairs in front of two EMTs carrying a stretcher? But I saw the oh, shit expression on his face and realized he was off balance, and I was reaching to grab his turnout coat—with my back jammed up against the stretcher to help stabilize it, I might add—when he fell. My fingertips did brush the coat, but I didn’t push him.”
He grinned, leaning back in his chair. “I didn’t think you did.”
“If I thought you believed I pushed the man on purpose, I wouldn’t still be sitting here.”
“For the record, Joe knows you didn’t push him.”
“I know. We had ice cream the next day and laughed about it. But I know how you guys like a story.”
“How come Tony was at the back, though? It seems like he should have gone first since the stretcher being at an angle puts more weight on the person in front.”
That got her back up a little, even though she supposed it was a valid question. “I went first because that’s where I was. You think I should have stepped aside and let the man handle it?”
His eyes widened and she saw the instant he realized his misstep. “Whoa. That’s not where I was going with that. Jamie would kick my ass.”
The name was vaguely familiar. “Jamie?”
“Jamie Rutherford...Kincaid, I guess. Scott’s wife. She’s LT at Ladder 41, but she filled in at E-59 when Walsh got hurt. She’s a great firefighter—one of the best—and she would kick my ass if she thought I implied a woman couldn’t do the job. Or your job.”
“As she should.”
“But when you’re a team, you’ve got people with different strengths and weaknesses—uh, not that carrying victims would be a weakness for you... I’m going to shut up now.”
She laughed, letting him off the hook. “Tony was at the back, but he also had all the gear slung over his shoulder and I had none. And yes, going down multiple flights of stairs makes it more difficult, but being at the front enables me to set the pace, and Tony has the strength to hold his end not only up, but back if necessary, so it isn’t pushing me down the stairs.”
“You guys have worked together awhile?”
“Four years. We don’t even really need verbal communication at this point. We’re a good pair, I think.”
He nodded, his face serious. “Do you guys spend time together off the job?”
Cait felt her eyebrows shoot up, and she cocked her head a little. The day was going so well, so she really hoped he wasn’t going there. “What exactly are you asking me, Gavin?”
* * *
Gavin kept his mouth shut for a few seconds, until he could work through what had just happened. He was having one of the best days he’d had in a long time, but right now he felt like he was leaning out over a cliff and Cait was deciding whether she’d reach out a hand to pull him back in or not.
“I was just asking if you guys hang out when you’re not working. Like, Grant was at my place yesterday before you got there. And I had dinner with Rick and his wife, Jess, a few weeks ago because I helped him do her closet shelving stuff. We all hang out at Kincaid’s and shoot pool. Like, are you friends in addition to being partners?”
Her face relaxed and he hoped that was a sign he’d given the right answer. “Okay, I’m sorry. You’d be surprised how often people say shitty things to one of us, with the whole wink wink nudge thing. I can get a little cranky about things.”
“No, you don’t say,” he said, laughing and squeezing her hand so she’d know he was messing with her.
“I was going to say I can be a little touchy, but I know you’d turn that into an invitation.”
He grinned. “Absolutely.”
“Anyway. Tony is married, and he and his husband have two kids who call me Auntie Cait. We’re friends, and I go to the kids’ birthday parties and their barbecues and stuff, but he and I don’t generally hang out apart from hi
s family just because we work together all day. There are more of you, so you can switch up who you’re drinking and playing pool with, you know?”
“That makes sense. The important thing is that you have such a strong working relationship. Makes the job easier, for sure.”
Somehow they were leaning toward work talk, and he didn’t really want to do that. They were both first responders so they had that in common, but it also meant work talk could become all they talked about. He’d dated a dispatcher for the PD once and the relationship conversation had gotten stale very quickly.
But he didn’t really want to talk about their families, either, because he didn’t want her thinking about her mom and brother right now. She’d had a relaxing night and a fun day, so far, and he’d seen the emotional toll worrying about them took on her.
He wanted her to keep enjoying herself because he was really hoping she’d go back upstairs with him when they got back to his place, rather than getting in her car and going home.
“I can’t believe you’ve never been here,” he said, for lack of anything else he considered a safe subject.
“I guess I’ve probably heard the name, but I don’t come down this way a lot and when there’s good pizza less than two blocks over, you don’t feel a need to broaden your pizza horizons.”
“I really hope today doesn’t ruin your usual pizza place for you forever.”
She laughed. “There you go, being cocky again.”
“Confident,” he corrected.
When the pizza arrived, she looked at it and groaned. “I might actually have to go for a run to work off those calories and I really hate running.”
“I hate to tell you this, but there’s no way you’re going for a run after you eat this pizza. We’ll probably have to sit here a few minutes before we can even walk to my truck.”
“Look at this thing. I have to do something to offset these calories.”
Even though he could think of a lot of ways they could burn a few calories together, Gavin kept his mouth shut. But the struggle must have shown on his face because she looked at him and rolled her eyes.
“You’d have to be really good to work off a slice of this.”
“Go ahead and have two slices,” he said with a grin.
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Is that confidence again?”
“No, that’s cocky.”
He knew as soon she took her first bite and made a low sound of appreciation that his spur-of-the-moment idea to bring her here had been the right decision. Just getting to spend the extra time with her in the truck had been enough, but the jolt of pleasure he got at seeing her enjoyment was a sweet bonus.
“Good, isn’t it?” he asked when she’d practically inhaled a few bites.
“It’s okay.” Her eyes crinkled with amusement, though, because she knew it was a hell of a lot better than okay.
They each had two slices, and Gavin was tempted to go for a third, but then he’d be uncomfortably full and he really hoped he had plans for the evening.
“I invited you,” he pointed out when she reached for the check. “So it’s my treat, if that’s okay with you.”
After a few seconds, she pulled her hand back. “Thank you. It was delicious.”
“You can take the leftovers home to your family, if you’re not afraid they’ll turn their noses up at your regular pizza from now on.”
She laughed as they pushed back their chairs. “I don’t know if it was that good, but I feel like we should do some laps around the parking lot because I’m so full.”
It felt natural to take her hand when they got outside, and she laced her fingers through his. They didn’t do any laps, but they did take their time walking back to his truck. It wasn’t a warm day, by any means, but it wasn’t bitterly cold. Or maybe it was just the heat of hopeful anticipation keeping him warm.
And the closer they got to his apartment—and her car—the more intense that hopeful anticipation got, until he would have been drumming his fingers on the wheel if he wasn’t holding her hand.
Once he’d found a place to park and killed the engine, he tried to come up with something smooth to say. The truck was parked between his building and her vehicle, so he’d either be walking her to her car or walking with her to his front door. He knew which direction he wanted to go, but he was inexplicably nervous and his brain couldn’t come up with anything that sounded charming or casual.
“You want to come up for a while?” Please say yes. Please say yes.
She said yes.
Chapter Ten
Cait had no idea why she was nervous all of a sudden. She wanted Gavin and he wanted her. And while she sometimes wished she could lose a few pounds without making much of an effort—especially after stuffing her face with pizza—she wasn’t particularly self-conscious about being naked.
But for some reason, the thought of being naked with Gavin made her feel jittery and anxious, and she told him she was going to use his bathroom while he put the leftover pizza in his fridge.
After using his bathroom and stealing some of his mouthwash, Cait rested her hands on his vanity and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked so serious, and she didn’t want to be. She was going to be fun and free and enjoy the hell out of this night.
When she walked out of the bathroom, Gavin was leaning against his kitchen counter, drinking from a bottle of water. He set it down when he saw her and smiled. “You’re not going to eat the leftover pizza while I’m in the bathroom, are you?”
“Maybe,” she said, even though she couldn’t eat another bite, and then she tilted her head and gave him a suggestive smile. “I guess you better be quick.”
He was only gone a few minutes, but it was plenty of time for the anticipation to start dancing in her stomach again. It had been a while since she’d spent any time in a man’s bed and the last one hadn’t affected her nearly as strongly as Gavin did.
When he walked out of the bathroom, he took his sweet time until he got about halfway to her and then seemed to hesitate. “So, do you want to hang out and watch TV or have a beer or...”
“I’ll take whatever comes after the or,” she said when his sentence trailed off.
He started moving again, at the same lazy pace. “Just to be clear, what came after the or involved you naked in my bed.”
“Does it also involve you naked in your bed at the same time?”
“Absolutely.”
She put her hands up as he reached her, running her hands over his chest. The muscles were firm under her palms, and she was looking forward to not having his shirt between them. “Then, yes, we’re clear on that being why I’m here.”
Gavin moved quickly then, his mouth covering hers. She moaned when his hand fisted in her hair and pulled her head back to give him more access. Her lips parted and his tongue slid over hers.
His other hand tugged at the hem of her shirt until he could slide it up under the fabric. The first touch of his fingers against her skin was a shock and she sucked in a breath.
Gavin chuckled against her lips. “Ticklish?”
“Not really, but a little bit in a couple of places.”
He pulled back to look at her while his fingertips skimmed up over her rib cage. “What places might those be?”
“I’ll never tell.”
“I bet I can find them.” He pressed his mouth to her jawline, then began kissing his way down her neck.
She tilted her head, sighing as the fingers still buried in her hair massaged the back of her skull, working their way toward the base. When Gavin’s mouth reached the collar of her shirt, he made a low, growling sound of frustration.
“How about we fast-forward through this part,” she suggested.
“You got somewhere else to be?” he asked, letting go of her hair so he could have both hands up her shirt.
; “Yeah, like naked in your bed as soon as possible.”
He grinned. “I’m all for skipping to that part.”
They left a trail of clothes on the way to his bedroom, which amused Cait because it was such a romantic movie thing to do, but once they reached the bed and he looked at her with hunger hot in his eyes, the amusement faded.
After flipping back the covers, she stretched out on the bed and gave him a come hither look. She expected him to go straight for putting a condom on and getting down to business, but he slid onto the bed beside her.
He kissed her, a deep and intense kiss that curled her toes. Or maybe that was his hand cupping her breast and the jolt of pleasure as he rolled her nipple between his fingers.
Then he stopped, just looking down at her face while he combed his fingers through her hair, spreading it across his pillow.
“Last night,” he said, “when you were in my bed, what were you really wearing?”
“I had a T-shirt on,” she admitted. “I wanted to be naked, but I was afraid being naked without you here being naked with me would just keep me from sleeping.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever fall asleep.” He paused to close his mouth over her nipple, his tongue making circles until he sucked hard enough to make her gasp. “I kept picturing you naked in my bed with your hair loose on my pillow and I swear you could have cut glass with my dick.”
Cait reached down and closed her hand over the dick in question. “And what did you do about it?”
An image of Gavin in a shower, water streaming over his naked body as he stroked himself made her skin tingle and Cait knew she’d be savoring that one for a while. Maybe bookmarking it for a future date.
“I suffered,” he said, and then he chuckled at her look of disbelief. “I thought if I fell asleep totally sexually frustrated, maybe I’d dream about having sex with you.”
That was sweet and she rewarded him by running her hand up the length of his erection, squeezing just enough before skimming the tip with her thumb.
He groaned and grabbed her wrist. “Maybe you missed the part about how I went to sleep totally sexually frustrated. There aren’t enough box scores or algebra problems to recite in my head if you keep doing that.”
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